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Pulse-Width Modulation Template for Five-Level Switch-Clamped H-Bridge-Based Cascaded Multilevel Inverter
PublicationThis article presents a carrier-based pulse-width modulation (PWM) template for a 5-level, H bridge-based cascaded multilevel inverter (MLI). The developed control concept generates adequate modulation template for this inverter topology wherein a sinusoidal modulating waveform is modified to fit in a single triangular carrier signal range. With this modulation approach, classical multiplicity and synchronization of the triangular...
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Making agile retrospectives more awesome
PublicationAccording to the textbook [23], Scrum exists only in its entirety, where every component is essential to Scrum’s success. However, in many organizational environments some of the components are omitted or modified in a way that is not aligned with the Scrum guidelines. Usually, such deviations result in missing the full benefits of Scrum [24]. Thereby, a Scrum process should be frequently inspected and any deviations should be...
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Preparation of Allyl Alcohol Oligomers Using Dipicolinate Oxovanadium(IV) Coordination Compound
PublicationCurrently, new precatalysts for olefin oligomerization are being sought in the group of vanadium(IV) complexes. Thus, the aim of our research was to examine the catalytic activity of the oxovanadium(IV) dipicolinate complex [VO(dipic)(H2O)2] 2 H2O (dipic = pyridine-2,6-dicarboxylate anion) in 2-propen-1-ol oligomerization as well as to characterize oligomerization products using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization–time-of-flight...
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The influence of photointercalaction and photochromism effects on the photocatalytic properties of electrochemically obtained maze-like MoO3 microstructures
PublicationMolybdenum oxide (α-MoO3) thin films with oriented crystalline facets were synthesised by anodization of Mo foils. The obtained samples were exposed to UV–Vis illumination in aqueous electrolytes providing different cations. The morphology and structure of modified samples were investigated. The effect of photointercalated alkali metal cations (Li+, Na+, K+) on optical and structural properties was studied using UV–vis and Raman...
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Evaluation of the Cathodic Electrodeposition Effectiveness of the Hydroxyapatite Layer Used in Surface Modification of Ti6Al4V-Based Biomaterials
PublicationThe important issue associated with the design and the fabrication of the titanium and titanium alloy implants is the increase of their biointegration with bone tissue. In the presented paper, the research results concerning the conditions used in the cathodic deposition of hydroxyapatite on the surface Ti6Al4V substrates primarily modified by the production of TiO2 nanoporous coatings, TiO2 nanofibers, and titanate coatings, are...
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Microfluidic SIW-Based Tunable Self-Diplexing Antenna for Sub-6 GHz Band Applications
PublicationThis work introduces a novel frequency tunable self-diplexing antenna (SDA) design based on substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) technology. A modified A-shaped slot is employed on the cavity’s top plane, which is excited by two independent 50 Ω microstrip feed lines to operate at each resonant frequency. The frequency flexibility of the proposed antenna allows for fine-tuning at each resonance frequency. The frequency flexibility...
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Shielded HMSIW-Based Self-Triplexing Antenna With High Isolation for WiFi/WLAN/ISM Band
PublicationThis article presents a novel design of a miniaturized self-triplexing antenna (STA) based on the shielded half-mode substrate integrated waveguide (S-HMSIW) for WiFi/WLAN/ISM-band applications. The S-HMSIW is constructed by assembling one row of vias and an open slot at the open-ended side of the conventional HMSIW. This configuration increases the quality factor and minimizes unwanted radiation loss, which allows for achieving...
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Sodium nitrite as a corrosion inhibitor of copper in simulated cooling water
PublicationThe corrosion inhibition behavior of sodium nitrite (NaNO2) towards pure copper (99.95%) in simulated cooling water (SCW) was investigated by means of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and dynamic electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (DEIS). NaNO2 interferes with metal dissolution and reduce the corrosion rate through the formation or maintenance of inhibitive film on the metal surface. Surface morphologies illustrated...
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Diamond protection for reusable ZnO coated fiber-optic measurement head in optoelectrochemical investigation of bisphenol A
PublicationDue to the global problem with plastic contaminating the environment, with bisphenol A (BPA) being one of the highest demand, effective monitoring and purification of the pollutants are required. The electrochemical methods constitute a good solution but, due to polymerization of electrochemical oxidation bisphenol A products and their adsorption to the surfaces, measurement head elements are clogged by the formed film. In this...
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Electrocatalytic oxidation of methanol, ethylene glycol and glycerine in alkaline media on TiO2 nanotubes decorated with AuCu nanoparticles for an application in fuel cells
PublicationIn this work, we present the catalytic and photocatalytic activity of AuCu nanostructures obtained on TiO2 nanotubes toward methanol, ethylene glycol and glycerine oxidation. The electrode material is prepared by anodization of Ti foil, thin AuCu layer sputtering and rapid thermal treatment under argon atmosphere. Scanning electron microscopy images confirmed the presence of ordered tubular architecture of TiO2 as well as nanoparticles...
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Implicit Space Mapping for Variable-Fidelity EM-Driven Design of Compact Circuits
PublicationSpace mapping (SM) belongs to the most successful surrogate-based optimization (SBO) methods in microwave engineering. Among available SM variations, implicit SM (ISM) is particularly attractive due to its simplicity and separation of extractable surrogate model parameters and design variables of the circuit/system at hand. Unlike other SM approaches, ISM exploits a set of preassigned parameters to align the surrogate with the...
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Study of nanomechanical properties of (1-y)BST-yMgO thin films
PublicationIn the present study thin films of MgO – modified Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3 (BST60/40) solid solution were prepared by the sol-gel-type chemical solution deposition method on stainless steel substrates. A multilayer spin-coating approach was utilized for the Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3-MgO thin film deposition with subsequent thermal annealing at T=650-750C. Dried BST60/40-MgO gel powders were studied with thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis...
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Effective Friction Angle Of Deltaic Soils In The Vistula Marshlands
PublicationThis article presents the results of laboratory tests on soft, normally consolidated soils from the Vistula Marshlands. Samples of high-plasticity organic soils (muds) taken from 3.2–4.0 m and 9.5–10.0 m depth, as well as peat deposit at 14.0 m, are analysed. Presented case study confirms the applicability of the Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTH) method based on Cone Penetration Tests (CPTU) and allows for a conservative...
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A miniaturized solid-contact potentiometric multisensor platform for determination of ionic profiles in human saliva
PublicationThis paper describes a miniaturized multisensor platform (MP-ISES) consisting of electrodes: a reference one (RE) and ion-selective electrodes (ISEs) for monitoring Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Cl−, and SCN− ions and pH in human saliva. Gold electrode surface was modified by deposition of two layers: electrosynthesized PEDOT:PSS forming an intermediate layer, and ion-selective membrane. The developed ISEs were characterized by a wide linear...
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Insights into Compatibilization of Poly(ε-caprolactone)-based Biocomposites with Diisocyanates as Modifiers of Cellulose Fillers
PublicationThis study aimed to analyze the impact of cellulose fillers’ modification with diisocyanates on the performance of composites based on the poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) matrix. Four most commonly used diisocyantes (isophorone, hexamethylene, toluene, and methylene diphenyl) were applied as modifiers of cellulose fillers (5 and 15 wt% per mass of filler). Modified fillers were introduced in the amount of 30 wt% into the PCL matrix....
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Nanoindentation tests titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V after interference laser treatment
PublicationThe study aimed was to assess selected mechanical properties of surface layers obtained after interference laser treatment – DLIL of titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V used for implants. The samples were melted in still air at room temperature, for this purpose Nd:YAG laser was used, the number of laser shots was variable. Next, nanoindentation tests were performed, based on which Young’s modulus and nanohardness in the obtained surface...
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Frequency-Based Regularization for Improved Reliability Optimization of Antenna Structures
PublicationThe paper proposes a modified formulation of antenna parameter tuning problem. The main ingredient of the presented approach is a frequency-based regularization. It allows for smoothening the functional landscape of the assumed cost function, defined to encode the prescribed design specifications. The regularization is implemented as a special penalty term complementing the primary objective and enforcing the alignment of the antenna...
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Physico‐Mechanical Properties and Flammability of PUR/PIR Foams Containing Expandable Graphite Core‐Shell Composite Particles
PublicationIn this work, polyurethane/polyisocyanurate (PUR/PIR) foams were modified by two types of expandable graphite (EG) core-shell composite particles. The pulverized EG core-shell composite particles were prepared during emulsion polymerization using methyl methacrylate or glycidyl methacrylate for the synthesis of the polymeric shells (poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and poly (glycidyl methacrylate) (PGMA)), and then the obtained EG_PMMA...
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Low-Temperature Requirements for Bitumen in Central East European Road Construction
PublicationThe paper presents the proposition of special assessment of lowtemperature requirements for bitumens in the region of Central and Eastern Europe where there is a moderate transitional area from sea to the continental type of climate. The results of the research program conducted on the road neat bitumens, Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene polymer and polymer-rubber modified bitumen, and multigrade bitumen types were presented and discussed....
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Photoplethysmographic Time-Domain Heart Rate Measurement Algorithm for Resource-Constrained Wearable Devices and its Implementation
PublicationThis paper presents an algorithm for the measurement of the human heart rate, using photoplethysmography (PPG), i.e., the detection of the light at the skin surface. The signal from the PPG sensor is processed in time-domain; the peaks in the preprocessed and conditioned PPG waveform are detected by using a peak detection algorithm to find the heart rate in real time. Apart from the PPG sensor, the accelerometer is also used to...
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Implant system for treatment of the orbital floor defects of blowout fractures in the maxillofacial region using polypropylene yarn and bioactive bone cement
PublicationFractures in the craniofacial region are a serious problem in terms of treatment. The most reasonable solution is the use of individual implants dedicated to a specific patient. The aim of this study was to develop the implant system specifically for treatment of the orbital floor defects of blowout fractures of maxillofacial region, using polypropylene yarn and bone cement. Three types of bone cement were used to fix the polypropylene...
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The effect of dehydration/rehydration of bacterial nanocellulose on its tensile strength and physicochemical properties
PublicationBacterial nanocellulose (BNC) is a natural biomaterial with a wide range of biomedical applications. BNC contains 99 % of water which makes it too thick to be used as a bioimplant material. The aim of the work was to determine the effect of the BNC dehydration followed by rehydration on its mechanical and physicochemical properties, in the context of the use of BNC as bio-prostheses in the cardiovascular system. Dehydration involved the...
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Structurally well-defined functionalized polyolefins and graft copolymers thereof as bitumen modifiers
PublicationHere we demonstrate the application of hydroxyl-functionalized propylene-based copolymers, poly(propylene-co-1-hexene-co-10-undecen-1-ol) (FPP) and poly(styrene-co-maleic anhydride) (SMA) graft copolymers derived thereof, poly(propylene-co-1- hexene-graft-styrene-co-maleic anhydride) (FPP-g-SMA) as bitumen modifiers. The FPP samples were synthesized via solution copolymerization, while FPP-g-SMA products were obtained via transesterification...
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Research on the effect of low-sulphur marine fuels on the dynamic characteristics of a CI engine
PublicationThe implementation of low-sulphur, so-called modified marine fuels into operation requires prior labora- tory engine tests to assess the energy, emission and structural effects of their usage. This type of research are carried out on the test bed of a diesel engine as a small-scale physical model that reproduces the adequate design and process (parametric) features of a full-size marine engine. Their key stage is to determine the energy...
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Crack Resistance of Asphalt Concrete Subjected to Environmental Factors
PublicationThe paper presents an analysis of the influence of environmental factors on the cracking susceptibility of asphalt concrete resulting in a change in the durability of asphalt pavement. In order to assess the phenomenon, laboratory tests were carried out taking into account the destructive effects of moisture, freeze-thaw cycle and long-term ageing. The influence of both factors occurring simultaneously was also verified. Due to...
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Monometallic nanoparticles decorated and rare earth ions doped KTaO3/K2Ta2O6 photocatalysts with enhanced pollutant decomposition and improved H2 generation
PublicationNew, monometallic nanoparticles (MNPs) decorated surface and rare earth (RE) ions doped lattice of perovskite-type (KTaO3)/pyrochlore-type (K2Ta2O6) photocatalysts were successfully prepared by facile hydrothermal incorporation of RE ions into KTaO3/K2Ta2O6 lattices followed by photodeposition of MNPs. The impact of noble metal type (MNPs = Au, Pt, Rh) and rare earth dopant type (RE = Er, Pr) on the physicochemical properties correlated...
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Recovery and re-use of photovoltaic solar cells from crystalline silicon
PublicationCrystalline silicon-type PV modules consist, in order of mass, of glass, an aluminium frame, an EVA coating, solar cells, a terminal box, back film and tapping screws. From the economic point of view, pure silicon, recoverable from spent cells, is the most important material owing to its cost and shortage. For crystalline, silicon-based PV cells, the following chemical treatments were performed: removal of the metal coating, followed...
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FPGA-Based Implementation of Real Time Optical Flow Algorithm and Its Applications for Digital Image Stabilization
PublicationAn efficient simplification procedure of the optical flow (OF) algorithm as well as its hardware implementation using the field programmable gate array (FPGA) technology is presented. The modified algorithm is based on block matching of subsets of successive frames, and exploits one-dimensional representation of subsets as well as the adaptive adjustments of their sizes. Also, an l1-norm-based correlation function requiring no...
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Arterial cannula shape optimization by means of the rotational firefly algorithm
PublicationThe article presents global optimization results of arterial cannula shapes by means of the newly modified firefly algorithm. The search for the optimal arterial cannula shape is necessary in order to minimize losses and prepare the flow that leaves the circulatory support system of a ventricle (i.e. blood pump) before it reaches the heart. A modification of the standard firefly algorithm, the so-called rotational firefly algorithm,...
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Settlement of a historic building due to seepage-induced soil deformation
PublicationThe research paper reviews issues associated with the impact of groundwater flow on soil characteristics and parameters, hence, the entire structure of a building set on it. Water seepage through the ground, building subsoil or structural elements of buildings made of soil affects the soil skeleton and may lead to changes in the arrangement of individual grains relative to each other, i.e., a modified soil structure. Soil solid...
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Electron-Induced Decomposition of 5-Bromo-4-thiouracil and 5-Bromo-4-thio-2′-deoxyuridine: The Effect of the Deoxyribose Moiety on Dissociative Electron Attachment
PublicationWhen modified uridine derivatives are incorporated into DNA, radical species may form that cause DNA damage. This category of molecules has been proposed as radiosensitizers and is currently being researched. Here, we study electron attachment to 5-bromo-4-thiouracil (BrSU), a uracil derivative, and 5-bromo-4-thio-20 -deoxyuridine (BrSdU), with an attached deoxyribose moiety via the N-glycosidic (N1-C) bond. Quadrupole mass spectrometry...
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EFFECT OF NANOFLUID CONCENTRATION ON TWO-PHASE THERMOSYPHON HEAT EXCHANGER PERFORMANCE
PublicationAn approach – relaying on application of nanofluid as a working fluid, to improve performance of the two-phase thermosyphon heat exchanger (TPTHEx) has been proposed. The prototype heat exchanger consists of two horizontal cylindrical vessels connected by two risers and a downcomer. Tube bundles placed in the lower and upper cylinders work as an evaporator and a condenser, respectively. Distilled water and nanofluid water-Al2O3...
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Induced-fit binding of laccase to gold and carbon electrodes for the biological fuel cell applications
PublicationAnalogues of laccase natural substrates (syringic, veratric, ferulic, vanillic, isovanillic, 3,5-dimethoxybenzoic aldehydes) were employed to bind and orient laccase molecules in a way which facilitates adsorption of the catalyst molecules and their electrical connection with the conductive support. Laccase was bound efficiently to these substrates both on gold and carbon electrodes forming, respectively, 2D and 3D films sensitive...
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Analytical model with non-adiabatic effects for pressure drop and heat transfer during boiling and condensation flows in conventional channels and minichannels
PublicationIn the paper a method developed earlier by authors is applied to calculations of pressure drop and heat transfer coefficient for boiling flow and condensation flow with account of non- adiabatic effects for some recent data collected from literature. The first effect, the modification of interface shear stresses in annular flow pattern is considered through incorporation of the so called "blowing parameter". The mechanism of...
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Histogram of Oriented Gradients with Cell Average Brightness for Human Detection
PublicationA modification of the descriptor in a human detector using Histogram of Oriented Gradients (HOG) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) is presented. The proposed modification requires inserting the values of average cell brightness resulting in the increase of the descriptor length from 3780 to 3908 values, but it is easy to compute and instantly gives ≈ 25% improvement of the miss rate at 10‒4 False Positives Per Window (FPPW). The...
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New potential functions for greedy independence and coloring
PublicationA potential function $f_G$ of a finite, simple and undirected graph $G=(V,E)$ is an arbitrary function $f_G : V(G) \rightarrow \mathbb{N}_0$ that assigns a nonnegative integer to every vertex of a graph $G$. In this paper we define the iterative process of computing the step potential function $q_G$ such that $q_G(v)\leq d_G(v)$ for all $v\in V(G)$. We use this function in the development of new Caro-Wei-type and Brooks-type...
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Self-optimizing narrowband interference canceller - can reference signal help?
PublicationSONIC (Self-Optimizing Narrowband Interference Canceller) is an acronym of the recently proposed active noise control algorithm with interesting adaptivity and robustness properties. SONIC is a purely feedback controller, capable of rejecting nonstationary sinusoidal disturbances (with time-varying amplitudes and/or frequencies) in the presence of plant (secondary path) uncertainties. We show that even though SONIC can work reliably...
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Rhamnolipid CMC Prediction
PublicationRelationships between the purity, pH, hydrophobicity (log Kow) of the carbon substrate, and the critical micelle concentration (CMC) of rhamnolipid type biosurfactants (RL) were investigated using a quantitative structure–property relationship (QSPR) approach and are presented here for the first time. Measured and literature CMC values of 97 RLs, representing biosurfactants at different stages of purification, were considered....
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Modification of thermal and rheological characteristics of bitumen by waste PET/GTR blends
PublicationWaste poly(ethylene terephthalate) (wPET)/ground tire rubber (GTR) blends with variable compositions were applied as low-cost modifiers into bitumen and their performance has been evaluated via morphological, thermal and rheological analyses. Depending on the weight ratio of wPET/GTR, dispersion of single/composite domains of waste polymers in the bitumen has promoted the interaction between bitumen and blend components. Fourier...
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Effectiveness of a dual surface modification of metallic interconnects for application in energy conversion devices
PublicationA dual surface modification of an SOFC metallic interconnect with a Gd2O3 layer and an MnCo2O4 coating was evaluated. The tested samples were oxidized for 7000 h in air at 1073 K. Oxidation products were characterized using XRD, SEM-EDS, and confocal Raman imaging, and ASR was measured. The effect of gadolinium segregation at grain boundaries in Cr2O3 was evaluated using S/TEM-EDS. Area specific-resistance was measured and fuel...
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Proton-Electron Hole Interactions in Sr(Ti,Fe)O3−δ Mixed-Conducting Perovskites
PublicationOxides in which total electrical conductivity is determined by the partial conductivities of three types of charge carriers i.e. holes/ electrons, oxygen ions, and protons are key components of well-functioning proton ceramic fuel cells. Apart from electrochemical properties also easily modified microstructure is an important feature of the electrodes. In the paper, a group of SrTi1−xFexO3−δ (STF, x = 0.2–0.8) perovskites prepared...
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Hebb–Wagner polarization method for determining the oxygen ion conductivity in barium cerate-zirconate
PublicationIn this work, the partial conductivity of oxygen ions in BaCe0.6Zr0.2Y0.2O3 was studied at different temperatures and water partial pressures. For this purpose, a modified DC Hebb–Wagner polarization method with an electrode blocking for protons and electrons was used. A new type of measuring cell as well as a suitable calculation model were proposed for the determination of partial oxygen ionic conductivity in materials with three...
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MICROSEISMIC EVENT DETECTION USING DIFFERENT ALGORITHMS ON REAL DATA FROM PATCH ARRAY GEOPHONE GRID FROM EASTERN POMERANIA FRACTURING JOB
PublicationThe microseismic monitoring is a method of monitoring of fracture propagation during hydraulic fracturing process. Hydraulic fracturing is a method of reservoir stimulation used especially for unconventional gas recovery. A matrix of several thousand geophones is placed on the surface of earth to record every little tremor of ground induced by fracturing process. Afterwards, the signal is analysed and the place of tremor occurrence...
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Fish gelatin-nanoclay films. Part I: Effect of a kind of nanoclays and glycerol concentration on mechanical and water barrier properties of nanocomposites
PublicationThe aim of work was the improvement of the mechanical and water barrier properties of nanocomposites prepared from fish gelatin and nanoclays (5–15%), plasticized with glycerol at different concentrations. The effect of hydrophilic Cloisite Na1 and Nanomer®PGV was compared with that exerted by organically modified more hydrophobic Nanofil®2 and NanoBent ZR-1. Antimicrobial activity of nanocomposites containing hydrophobic nanoclays...
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Dimensionally Consistent Nonlinear Muskingum Equation
PublicationAlthough the Muskingum equation was proposed nearly 75 years ago, it is still a subject of active research. Despite of its simple form, the real properties of this equation have not been comprehensively explained. This paper proposes a new interpretation of the linear McCarthy’s relation. This relation can be interpreted only together with the storage equation, whereas the Muskingum equation can be derived directly from the system...
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The Application of a Multi-Criteria Decision-Making for Indication of Directions of the Development of Renewable Energy Sources in the Context of Energy Policy
PublicationThis paper presents the application of multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) for evaluating what technologies using renewable energy sources (RES) for electricity production have the chance to develop in Poland under the current socio-economic conditions. First, the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method was used to determine the weights of the optimization criteria. Five main criteria and 30 sub-criteria were identified. Next,...
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Adaptive Method for Modeling of Temporal Dependencies between Fields of Vision in Multi-Camera Surveillance Systems
PublicationA method of modeling the time of object transition between given pairs of cameras based on the Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) is proposed in this article. Temporal dependencies modeling is a part of object re-identification based on the multi-camera experimental framework. The previously utilized Expectation-Maximization (EM) approach, requiring setting the number of mixtures arbitrarily as an input parameter, was extended with the...
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Estimation of structural stiffness with the use of Particle Swarm Optimization
PublicationThe paper presents the theoretical background and four applications examples of the new method for the estimation of support stiffness coefficients of complex structures modelled discretely (e.g. with the use of the Finite Element Model (FEM) method based on the modified Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm. In real-life cases, exact values of the supports’ stiffness coefficients may change for various reasons...
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Electron-Induced Decomposition of Uracil-5-yl O-(N,N-dimethylsulfamate): Role of Methylation in Molecular Stability
PublicationThe incorporation of modified uracil derivatives into DNA leads to the formation of radical species that induce DNA damage. Molecules of this class have been suggested as radiosensitizers and are still under investigation. In this study, we present the results of dissociative electron attachment to uracil-5-yl O-(N,N-dimethylsulfamate) in the gas phase. We observed the formation of 10 fragment anions in the studied range of electron...
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Modelling of dark fermentation of glucose and sour cabbage
PublicationIn the article, modified Anaerobic Digestion Models 1 (ADM-1) was tested for modelling dark fermentation for hydrogen production. The model refitting was done with the Euler method. The new model was based on sets of differential equations. The model was checked for hydrogen production from sour cabbage in batch and semi-batch in 5 g VSS (volatile solid suspension)/L and at the semi-batch process from glucose at 5 and 10 g VSS/L....