THE FEATURE ARTICLE OF THIS ISSUE

Electric cars

The first generation of electric car buyers were owners of family homes where it is easy to plug in a car. A great majority of Nissan LEAF owners are families with 2.4 children at average, parents with a parking space which is not in the street. Experts envisage that charging spots will exist everywhere: at a working place, in malls, at railway stations, in front of hotels and cinemas. Devices for fast charging, those that can recharge a battery of a car in 30 minutes, will appear most quickly at service stations along the highways and at gas stations. A majority of electric cars presently in the market can make between 145 and 260 km before their battery is discharged. Some of the top models, like Tesla electric sport car, can run about 540 km before it is necessary to plug them in again.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

I n May 2018, the General EU regulation act on data protection should come into force. This legal act, announced as the most important change in protection of data privacy in the last two decades, has been provoking controversies in public for quite some time. One of the reasons behind it is that this act acknowledges that design of artificial intelligence algorithms is not merely a technical, but also en ethical issue. It is not a secret that computer algorithms are nowadays intensively used for profiling of people (read it: You), that is for automatic processing of personal data for assessment of personal aspects like economic status, health, affinities, interests, behavior, etc. This can be explained in the most plastic way: software, in operation of which you do not have insight, can be authorized to make a decision, on its own, with no human intervention, if a financial loan would be approved to you or not, based on the analysis of some data base, in which, also, you have no insight. Even if you trust that the algorithm upon which the software is objective, and there is no reason why you would trust it a priori, data collected about you and about other persons in that data base still can be biased and incorrect

CONQUERING THE UNIVERSE

Cosmic Plans

Visionaries of cosmic future of mankind are usually scientists and writers of science fiction, however, some successful businessmen can also enlist, which was proved not only by Elon Musk with endeavors of his „Space X” company . To that goal aspire also Jeffrey Preston Bezos who, according to the Forbes list, is presently the wealthiest man in the world, with assets value overcoming 100 billion USD. A significant portion of his assets he invested into a company „Blue Origin”, founded in 2000, which, using original development procedures, designs new rocket technologies with an objective to build their own carrier rockets capable of reaching the Earth’s orbit. The „Blue Origin” company started its development of rocket technology by mastering a technology of experimental models of rocket engines „be 1” and „be 2”, applied in pilotless modules „Godard” and „pm 2”, used to explore possibilities of vertical take-off and retropropulsive landing.

LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE

Orbital Habitats

Within a group of some dozen businessmen in USA who opted to invest in cosmic industry, a very special place is reserved for Robert T. Bigelow. In 1998 he founded a company „Bigelow Aerospace”. Production program of the company is focused at mastering of technologies for design of accommodation modules for astronauts, produced from flexible materials which would obtain their final shape and volume by blowing up in the outer space conditions. He obtained the cosmic technologies in 1998 through purchasing a NASA license for production of the blow-up module „transHab” which NASA dropped because of budget decrease. Bigelow employed about 130 former NASA staff. Cooperation with NASA and assistance provided by its experts and research institutes continues, which was stipulated in the contract. The main objective is to produce accommodation and working modules that would be lighter, cheaper, more spacious and safer for astronauts –than the existing modules which form the orbital station ISS.

MEDICA 2017

Digitalization in Service of Health

At the MEDICA 2017 fair visitors had an opportunity to see the latest achievements in the following areas: electro-medicine and medical technique, laboratory technique, diagnostics, physiotherapy/orthopedic technique, accessories and operating supplies for medical practice and hospitals, information and communication technology, facility manage ment, textile goods, medical equipment technology, medical services and publishing activity. „A significant meeting point between producers and users of medical apparatus, Medica and Compamed have always been of great international significance and as such are always useful and needed. The most influential experts for production and improvement of medical apparatus gathered this time again in Dusseldorf to learn what the latest achievements of the producers are”, emphasized the manager of the fair, Joachim Schafer, summing up results of the latest display of producers and suppliers of medical apparatus and the world largest exhibition of medical technology

MEDICINE

Surgery of Thyroid Gland

Surgery of thyroid gland has, in the course of the last century traversed the path from a very dangerous intervention accompanied with a series of great complications to a completely safe and therapeutically efficient surgery. The fact is that thyroid gland is, because of its anatomic position relatively unhandy for endoscopic (laparoscopic) surgery, therefore, endocrine surgery joined the trend of minimally invasive surgery rather late, while other areas of medicine were practicing them for decades. Dr. Dejan Ilinčić, PhD, specialist in thoracic and subspecialist in endocrine surgery, who performed more than 2000 of such interventions, emphasizes that the operation technique MIVAT, thanks to the fact that it is being performed through a surgical incision 2 cm long, maximally spares the surrounding tissue, thus providing good cosmetic result and enabling quick post surgical recovery of the patient. Primarily received with skepticism, this surgical innovation is, according to him, today the most frequently used technique of minimally invasive thyroidectomy technique in the world, with the growing list of indications.

MEDICINE

Polycystic ovary syndrome

Complex and syndrome which affects numerous women of reproductive age – caused by hormonal disbalance, most often by excessive quantity of male hormones. About its symptoms, diagnostication and treatment speaks endocrinologist Prof. Dr. Mirjana Šumarac Dumanović, Bel-Medic’s consultant. The most frequent endocrine (hormonal) disorder with women in reproductive period, Polycystic ovary syndrome – PCOS is one of the most controversial issues in the area of reproductive medicine. There is still no unique internationally accepted definition of this complex condition, it is not clear what causes is, and for two decades already a discussion is going on about a unique set of criteria for its diagnostication. All of it reflects complexity of this syndrome characterized by hormonal disbalance in a form of excessive male hormones – hyperandrogenism disturbs function of ovaries and can lead to infertility. It is clinically manifested also with cosmetic problems such as hirsutism and acne, however, it can include metabolic complications in a form of obesity, diabetes type 2, cardiovascular problems and some types of carcinoma (carcinoma of endometrium).

MEDICINE

Breast Cancer

Regular periodical checkup – clinical, ultrasound or mammography – are the best preventive and the way to timely detect breast cancer. This disease should be detected at an early stage, when chances exist for complete healing and surgical interventions can be applied which do not dramatically change the person’s visual form, says oncology specialist, surgeon, Prof. Dr. Miroslav Granić, consultant to Bel Medic. Breast carcinoma is, globally, the second most frequent malignant tumor, and the most frequent malignant tumor with women. Moreover, its frequency is growing, particularly in the most developed countries, where it is already most present. Increasingly often it affects women bellow the age of 50, what earlier was a rarer phenomenon. What worries us most is the fact that women younger than 40 are affected three times more frequently than it was the case ten years ago. The good news, however, is that at the same time the survival rate is growing, too, mostly thanks to mass mammographic screenings of healthy women that enable detection of new cases at an early stage and make timely treatment and better prognosis of the illness possible.

ORNITHOLOGY

Migrations of Species

Bird migration is a flight of bird flocks occurring every year from one area where they nest toward their winter habitat and back again. It is estimated at about 50 billions of birds migrate annually, 5 billion of which between Europe and Africa. It is well known that swallows, storks, nightingales, cuckoos… migrate toward warmer areas. Bird species that only partially migrate are known as partial migratory birds. Those that never leave their nesting areas are called sedentary birds. Around 360 species have been recorded in Serbia, out of those some 240 species are nesting in this country. Unlike the common understanding – birds do not migrate because of low temperatures – most species can endure the cold – but because of lack of food in the winter period. Caused by lack of light, many plants on which birds feed disappear or lose leaves. When this starts happening, birds know that it is time to get ready for the journey. Moving in the course of winter from moderate toward warmer areas, migratory birds, basically, go to the south, some 300 species of them