Filters
total: 912
filtered: 798
Search results for: LIMITED FISCAL AUTONOMY
-
Hospital chaplains facing the pandemic. A qualitative study
PublicationThe article explores hospital chaplains perspective on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the provision of spiritual care in Poland. Semi-structured interviews with sixteen hospital chaplains providing spiritual care in hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic were performed. Six main themes emerged during the interviews: chaplains' experience of the pandemic, chaplaincy during the outbreak, patients' needs, health professionals...
-
Does the coordinated development of two-way FDI increase the green energy efficiency of Chinese cities? Evidence from Chinese listed companies
PublicationBased on the evidence from listed company microdata and data from 285 cities in China, this paper studies the coordinated development of two-way FDI (CDFDI) in improving green energy efficiency (GEE). In particular, this paper examines the spatial heterogeneity effects of CDFDI on GEE. The results showed that CDFDI had a positive impact on the GEE of local and surrounding cities. Mechanistic examinations show that the effects...
-
A review on fungal-based biopesticides and biofertilizers production
PublicationThe escalating use of inorganic fertilizers and pesticides to boost crop production has led to the depletion of natural resources, contamination of water sources, and environmental crises. In response, the scientific community is exploring eco-friendly alternatives, such as fungal-based biofertilizers and biopesticides, which have proven effectiveness in enhancing plant health and growth while sustainably managing plant diseases...
-
Chronic Rhinosinusitis—Microbiological Etiology, Potential Genetic Markers, and Diagnosis
PublicationChronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a significant public health problem. Bacterial colonization and impaired mucociliary clearance play a significant role in the inflammatory process. Several inflammatory pathways and host defense elements are altered in CRS, which may contribute to observed differences in the microbiome. To date, researching CRS has been difficult due to limited access to the studied tissue and a lack of available...
-
The saga of a fish: from a survival guide to closing lemmas
PublicationIn the paper by D. Burago, S. Ivanov and A. Novikov, “A survival guide for feeble fish”, it has been shown that a fish with limited velocity can reach any point in the (possibly unbounded) ocean provided that the fluid velocity field is incompressible, bounded and has vanishing mean drift. This result extends some known global controllability theorems though being substantially nonconstructive. We give a fish a different recipe...
-
Odour Perception Using a Sniffing Team at a Municipal Solid Waste Treatment Plant: A Case Study
PublicationThe monitoring of odour intensity, generated by a landfill area, is a difficult activity since it is a multi-source problem with discontinuous odour emissions. A modified sniffing team method is described here and applied to determine the main odour sources in a landfill located in Pomerania, Poland. Four consecutive test sessions were performed during the following months: August, December, April, and June. It was found that the...
-
How the Depths of the Danish Straits Shape Gdańsk's Port and City Spatial Development
PublicationThe depths of the Danish Straits limit the drafts of ships entering the Baltic Sea. The largest ships calling the Baltic in a laden condition are called Baltimax. The article presents how the dredging works carried out in the Danish Straits in the 1970s enabled the development of the Port of Gdańsk and consequently also influenced the city, being a residential base for employees of the new port and shipyards. The analysed case...
-
Therapeutic biomaterials - application in neurology and cardiology
PublicationBiomaterials are of interest in most medical fields. It's hard to imagine life without them. And due to the ever-increasing demand, scientists are developing new materials. Diseases of the nervous and cardiovascular systems are still a big problem, which are associated with a limited ability to regenerate brain or heart tissues. Therefore, this review discusses the advancement in biomaterial engineering for the treatment of neurological...
-
Therapeutic biomaterials – application in neurology and cardiology
PublicationBiomaterials are of interest in most medical fields. It's hard to imagine life without them. And due to the ever-increasing demand, scientists are developing new materials. Diseases of the nervous and cardiovascular systems are still a big problem, which are associated with a limited ability to regenerate brain or heart tissues. Therefore, this review discusses the advancement in biomaterial engineering for the treatment of neurological...
-
Exploring the Benefits, Challenges, and Opportunities of Collaborative Business Intelligence
PublicationIn traditional business intelligence (BI) settings, the collective decision-making process is often hindered by the absence of knowledge and expertise exchange among various stakeholders, as well as lack of information sharing. The study delves into the concept of Collaborative BI, which aims to overcome these limitations by promoting collaboration, business networking, knowledge sharing, and improved communication among stakeholders....
-
Experimental Investigations of Forced Convection of Nanofluids in Smooth, Horizontal, Round Tubes: A Review
PublicationA comprehensive review of published works dealing with experimental studies of forced convection heat transfer of nanofluids is presented. The survey is limited to straight, smooth, and round tubes. Moreover, only mono nanofluids exhibiting Newtonian behaviour are considered. Works on experimental research of forced convection in tubes are presented in a chronological order in the first part of the article. In this part, attention...
-
Recycling of raw materials, silicon wafers and complete solar cells from photovoltaic modules
PublicationPhotovoltaic modules (PVs) are an attractive way of generating electricity in reliable and maintenance-free systems with the use of solar energy. The average lifetime of photovoltaic modules is 25 to 30 years. To offset the negative impact of photovoltaic modules on the environment, it is necessary to introduce a long-term strategy that includes a complete lifecycle of all system components from the production phase through installation...
-
Pharmaceutical and forensic drug applications of chiral supercritical fluid chromatography
PublicationTHE SUPERCRITICAL FLUID IS AN EXCELLENT CHOICE AS THE CHROMATOGRAPHIC MOBILE PHASE BECAUSE IT ALLOWS RAPID SEPARATION WITH HIGH EFFICIENCY AND APPLICATIONS INVOLVING ENANTIORESOLUTION ARE COMMON. SUPERCRITICAL FLUID CHROMATOGRAPHY (SFC) IS INCREASINGLY USED FOR ANALYTICAL, SEMI-PREPARATIVE AND PREPARATIVE PURIFICATION OF CHIRAL COMPOUNDS, INCLUDING PRODUCTION OF ENANTIOMERS THAT ARE MAINLY ENCOUNTERED DURING DRUG DEVELOPMENT. SFC...
-
Efficiency of gas mixtures detection by resistive gas sensors
PublicationResistive gas sensors are very popular and are commonly used to detect various gases and their mixtures. Theeir main disadvantage is very limited selectivity. Practical use of gas sensors in environenmental applications requires determination of concentration of a few mixed gases at the same time. We would like to present recent results of gas detection improvement by utilizing a single gas sensor and additional measurements to...
-
Efficient Multi-Objective Simulation-Driven Antenna Design Using Co-Kriging
PublicationA methodology for fast multi-objective antenna optimization is presented. Our approach is based on response surface approximation (RSA) modeling and variable-fidelity electromagnetic (EM) simulations. In the design process, a computationally cheap RSA surrogate model constructed from sampled coarse-discretization EM antenna simulations is optimized using a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm. The initially determined Pareto...
-
Green Aspects of Miniaturized Sample Preparation Techniques
PublicationCorrect monitoring and control of the state of the environment and scientific research on the subject of environmental protection often require that determinations of compounds present at very low concentrations be made in samples characterized by a matrix of complex composition (e.g., biological samples, water and soil samples). Moreover, due to the limited number of analytical techniques which are sufficiently sensitive to conduct...
-
Multi-stage magnetic-fluid seals for operating in water - life test procedure, test stand and research results. Part II Results of life tests of multi-stage magnetic - fluid seal operating in water
PublicationThe edge criteria for magnetic-fluid seals durability research were described in previous article [24] and now the tests results are presented. The tests were made with three magnetic fluids using various magnets quantity in magnetic assemblies. If values obtained in the repeated test deviated by more than 10 % from results of the first test an additional control test was made for final characteristics. The characteristics are:...
-
Hybrid DUMBRA: an efficient QoS routing algorithm for networks with DiffServ architecture
PublicationDynamic routing is very important issue of current packet networks. It may support the QoS and help utilize available network resources. Unfortunately current routing mechanisms are not sufficient to fully support QoS. Although many research has been done in this area no generic QoS routing algorithm has been proposed that could be used across all network structures. Existing QoS routing algorithms are either dedicated to limited...
-
Measurements of transmission properties of Acoustic Communication Channels
PublicationTough transmission properties of shallow water acoustic channels (SWAC) highly limit the use of underwater acoustic communication (UAC) systems. An adaptive matching of modulation and signaling schemes to instantaneous channel conditions is needed for reliabledata communications. This creates, however, unique challenges for designers when compared to radio transmission systems. When communication system elements are in move, the...
-
Geo-Questionnaire for Environmental Planning: The Case of Ecosystem Services Delivered by Trees in Poland
PublicationStudies on society and the environment interface are often based on simple questionnaires that do not allow for an in-depth analysis. Research conducted with geo-questionnaires is an increasingly common method. However, even if data collected via a geo-questionnaire are available, the shared databases provide limited information due to personal data protection. In the article, we present open databases that overcome those limitations....
-
Comprehensive dimension scaling of multi-band antennas for operating frequencies and substrate parameters
PublicationIn this paper, low-cost and comprehensive redesign of multi-band antennas with respect to the operating frequencies and material parameters of the substrate is presented. Our approach exploits an inverse surrogate model identified based on a set of reference designs optimized at the level of coarse-discretization EM simulations of the antenna at hand. An iterative correction procedure is also implemented to account for the initial...
-
X-ray and UV Radiation Damage of dsDNA/Protein Complexes
PublicationRadiation and photodynamic therapies are used for cancer treatment by targeting DNA. However, efficiency is limited due to physico-chemical processes and the insensitivity of native nucleobases to damage. Thus, incorporation of radio- and photosensitizers into these therapies should increase both efficacy and the yield of DNA damage. To date, studies of sensitization processes have been performed on simple model systems, e.g.,...
-
Compact 4 × 4 butler matrix with non‐standard phase differences for IoT applications
PublicationButler matrices represent a popular class of feeding networks for antenna arrays. Large dimensions and the lack of flexibility in terms of achievable output phase difference make conventional Butler structures of limited use for modern communication devices. In this work, a compact planar 4 × 4 matrix with non-standard relative phase shifts of –30º, 150º, –120º, and 60º has been proposed. The structure is designed to operate at...
-
Network design for surface water quality monitoring in a road construction project using Gamma Test theory
PublicationRoad construction has a negative environmental impact on the surrounding aquatic environment, requiring the continuous monitoring of surface water quality. Here, optimization of the water quality monitoring network (WQMN) is an essential step in supporting the sustainable development of road construction projects. This study introduces Gamma Test theory (GTT) as a practical method for optimizing the WQMN of surface waters during...
-
Chain Action - How Do Countries Add Value Through Digital Government?
PublicationThis study examineshow countries develop and benefit from Digital Government(DG).The literature proposes various conceptualizations of the value-adding logic of DG, but the benchmarking practice is not respondingto such proposals.For instance, the United Nations’E-Government Surveycombines the readiness and uptake indicatorsand failsto cover any impactindicators;thus,its diagnostic valueis limited. To overcome...
-
New insights of nanomaterials usage toward superhydrophobic membranes for water desalination via membrane distillation: A review
PublicationMembrane distillation (MD) is a promising technology for seawater desalination due to the ability to process high-salinity waters and the ability to be driven by low-grade or waste heat. However, practical applications of MD membranes are limited by the low vapor flux and fouling problem. Recently, there is a growing interest in developing novel MD membrane materials with enhanced hydrophobicity to improve the efficiency of desalination...
-
Detection of Lexical Stress Errors in Non-Native (L2) English with Data Augmentation and Attention
PublicationThis paper describes two novel complementary techniques that improve the detection of lexical stress errors in non-native (L2) English speech: attention-based feature extraction and data augmentation based on Neural Text-To-Speech (TTS). In a classical approach, audio features are usually extracted from fixed regions of speech such as the syllable nucleus. We propose an attention-based deep learning model that automatically de...
-
Effectiveness of toluene separation from gas phase using supported ammonium ionic liquid membrane
PublicationAmmonium ionic liquids (ILs) are relatively cheap in synthesis and environmentally benign and despite that they have been very rarely used in gas separation. In this research we used several ammonium ILs as liquid membranes for removal of residual toluene from gas phase. Ionic liquids used in this study were composed of bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide anion [Tf2N] and trimethylbutylammonium [N1114], trietylbutylammonium [N2224],...
-
Propulsion and Maneuvering Systems’ Characteristics of the U.S. Flagged Great Lakes Self-Unloading Bulk Carriers
PublicationPaper contains an overview of the propulsion and maneuvering systems’ characteristics of United States flagged Great Lakes self - unloading bulk carriers. A contrast between the importance of the transport task carried by those vessels to their low number and considerable age suggests the need to review and understand their complexity as well as complexity of their operations in order to provide suitable energy- and operational...
-
Factors Affecting the Effectiveness of Military Training in Virtual Reality Environment
PublicationIn this paper, we explored the factors influencing the effectiveness of military trainings performed in a virtual reality environment. The rationale for taking up the topic is the fact that such trainings are often conducted under specific operational procedures. These procedures may create rigorous frameworks for all elements of the learning environment, including the teacher’s performance. Therefore, to ensure the most conducive...
-
Novel Resveratrol-Based Substrates for Human Hepatic, Renal, and Intestinal UDP-Glucuronosyltransferases
PublicationTrans-Resveratrol (tRes) has been shown to have powerful antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-carcinogenic, and anti-aging properties; however, its use as a therapeutic agent is limited by its rapid metabolism into its conjugated forms by UDP-Glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs). The aim of the current study was to test the hypothesis that the limited bioavailability of tRes can be improved by modifying its structure to create analogs...
-
Fungal Typin Methods
PublicationThe broad application of the molecular techniques in mycoses diagnosis is related to increase of infections caused by fungi in many countries. The oldest typing methods relaying on fenotypic observation, physiological and biochemical examination have had very limited importance from decades. Novadays, the molecular biology methods took their place. Most of the genotyping methods have been devoleped to be applied for typing of bacteria...
-
Zarządzanie zaufaniem w bezprzewodowych sieciach czujników - studium przypadku
PublicationW artykule przedstawiono studium przypadku dotyczące zastosowania bezprzewodowej sieci czujników do wspomagania pacjenta z nadwagą w jego środowisku domowym. Przyjęto, że sieć wykorzystuje metodę rozproszonego zarządzania zaufaniem i pokazano, że metoda ta umożliwia wykrycie i izolację czujników realizujących działania sprzeczne z polityką sieci. Ilościowe oszacowanie czasu niezbędnego do wykrycia takich...
-
The Effect of Welding Conditions on Diffusible Hydrogen Content in Deposited Metal
PublicationThe article presents the results of a literature survey and preliminary tests which set out effects of welding conditions on the amount of diffusible hydrogen in deposited metal. Experiments were conducted by using rutile coated electrodes which generate high contents of diffusible hydrogen in deposited metal. The amount of diffusible hydrogen was determined by a glycerin test.Eleven factors were considered: the electrode angle,...
-
Amphotericin B and Its New Derivatives - Mode of Action
PublicationAmphotericin B (AmB) is a well known antifungal and antiprotozoal antibiotic used in the clinic for several decades. Clinicalapplications of AmB, however, are limited by its nephrotoxicity and many other acute side effects which are not acceptable by patientswhen their life is not threaten. In order to improve the therapeutic index of this drug, lipid formulations have been introduced and manyefforts have been made to obtain less...
-
Numerical analysis of the container vessel's self-propulsion at different rudder deflection angles
PublicationNowadays, CFD becomes one of the most commonly used research method in ship hydrodynamics, limited to the analyses of hull resistance in calm water. With continuously improving computing power and increasingly more accurate numerical methods it is possible to simulate more complex cases. State of the art CFD tools also enable development of new ways of assessing ship maneuvering performance. This paper presents an attempt on...
-
User-generated images and its impact on consumer-based brand equity and on purchase intention
PublicationResearchers and brand managers have limited knowledge of the effects that different types of user-generated content (UGC) have on consumers’ perception of brands and behavior. In this study we investigated 301 authors of a specific category of UGC, i.e., user-generated images (UGI) on a social networking site to confirm the relationships of four drivers reported in literature (co-creation, empowerment, community, and self-concept)...
-
Planetary roller extruders in the sustainable development of polymer blends and composites – Past, present and future
PublicationScrew extruders as continuous flow reactors allow the synthesis of new polymers, preparation of polymer blends and composites, and modification or functionalization of commercially available polymers. Literature data shows that the twin screw extrusion is the most popular solution used for this purpose. In contrast, the number of scientific papers on alternative methods, such as multi-screw extruders, is somewhat limited. This...
-
Static and dynamic concrete calculations: Breakable aggregates in DEM model
PublicationThe paper deals with the calculations of a 3-point bending beam under static and dynamic loads. The real microstructure was obtained from laboratory tests using micro-tomography images. The quasi-static results were compared directly with experimental data at both macro and micro levels. Subsequently, higher strain rates were applied to investigate dynamic effects. The study focused on the influence of dynamic loading on the macroscopic...
-
Export diversification and dependence on natural resources
PublicationLow export diversification is a risk-augmenting factor for many countries dependent on natural resources. The literature tends to focus on the growth effects of resource dependence (‘resource curse’ debate) while not much is known on how it affects the variety of non-resource exports. To quantify this effect we decompose the relative Theil index using product-level export data from 160 countries over the time period 1996–2018....
-
Antimicrobial molecular nanocarrier–drug conjugates
PublicationMany antimicrobial drugs are poorly active against pathogenic microbes causing intracellular infections, such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis or Plasmodium falciparum. On the other hand, several known antimicrobial agents are not effective enough because of their limited cellular penetration. A common feature of both challenges is the inability of an active agent to cross the biological membrane(s). One of the possible approaches...
-
Solid phase microextraction–comprehensive twodimensional gas chromatography–time-of-flight mass spectrometry: a new tool for determining PAHs in airport runoff water samples
Publicationfundamental aspect of airport operations is the pollution caused by airport runoff waters. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are one of the most important groups of xenobiotics which are commonly found in runoff water originating from airports. Only very limited data on the analysis of airport runoff water have been published until now. Therefore, a reliable and accurate analytical method based on headspace solid-phase microextraction...
-
Phosphoroorganic Metal Complexes in Therapeutics
PublicationThe present mini-review highlights recent developments on antitumor activity of metal-based therapeutics which have been a subject of researches for the last few decades. In 1965, Rosenberg found that during an electrolysis on platinum electrodes a complex of Pt is generated which inhibited to a great extent a binary fission in Escherichia coli bacteria. This discovery started a new chapter in medicinal chemistry and the interesting...
-
An electronic nose for quantitative determination of gas concentrations
PublicationThe practical application of human nose for fragrance recognition is severely limited by the fact that our sense of smell is subjective and gets tired easily. Consequen tly, there is considerable need for an instrument that can be a substitution of the human sense of smell. Electronic nose devices from the mid 1980s are used in growing number of applications. They comprise an array of several electrochemical gas sensors...
-
Isothiocyanates may chemically detoxify mutagenic amines formed in heat processed meat
PublicationMeat consumption represents a dietary risk factor increasing the incidence of common cancers, probably due to carcinogenic amines (HAAs) formed upon meat heating. Interestingly, cancers whose incidence is increased by meat consumption, are decreased in populations consuming brassica vegetables regularly. This inverse correlation is attributed to brassica anticarcinogenic components, especially isothiocyanates (ITCs) that stimulate...
-
EFFICIENCY OF GAS MIXTURES DETECTION BY RESISTIVE GAS SENSORS
PublicationResistive gas sensors are very popular and are commonly used to detect various gases and their mixtures. Their main disadvantage is very limited selectivity. Practical use of gas sensors in environmental applications (e.g., in sewage systems to protect workers, in air conditioning systems to monitor atmosphere quality) requires determination of concentration of a few mixed gases at the same time. We would like to present recent...
-
Typology of towns in the peripheries of Polish coastal regions: conclusions for urban policy
PublicationPeripheries means the land outside metropolitan areas. One of the main problemsin these areas is a lack of growth factors. Some towns can contribute to the developmentof these regions, because there are few such factors, and it is easier to create the newones, especially in urban policy.The subject of this paper is a typology of towns within the Polish peripheral coastalregions, limited to towns with more than 5 thousand inhabitants....
-
Three-dimensional representation of geographic data in a Web-based GIS
PublicationPresenting geographic data in a web environment has been a long standing problem. For many years the low performance of web browsers has limited the visualization of spatial data to only two dimensions. More recently, the introduction of open standards for 3D acceleration of web applications sparked the emergence of new methods of presenting three-dimensional data in a web browser without using third-party extensions. However,...
-
Client-server Approach in the Navigation System for the Blind
PublicationThe article presents the client‐server approach in the navigation system for the blind ‐ “Voice Maps”. The authors were among the main creators of the prototype and currently the commercialization phase is being finished. In the implemented prototype only exemplary, limited spatial data were used, therefore they could be stored and analysed (for path-finding process) in the mobile device’s memory without any difficulties. The...
-
Limitations of WSSUS modeling of stationary underwater acoustic communication channel
PublicationPerformances of underwater acoustic communication (UAC) systems are strongly related to specific propagation conditions of the underwater channel. Due to their large variability, there is a need for adaptive matching of the UAC systems signaling to the transmission properties of the channel. This requires a knowledge of instantaneous channel characteristics, in terms of the specific parameters of stochastic models. The wide-sense...