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Search results for: EFFICIENCY DECREASE
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Rheological properties, oxidative and thermal stability, and potential application of biopolyols prepared via two-step process from crude glycerol
PublicationIn this work, previously synthesized biopolyols were analyzed in terms of their rheological and thermal properties, very important from the technological point of view. For better evaluation of performed synthesis, the influence of its time and temperature on the properties of biopolyols was determined. In the end, obtained materials were used to prepare rigid polyurethane-polyisocyanurate (PUR-PIR) foams, to evaluate their potential...
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On the Correlation of Lignocellulosic Filler Composition with the Performance Properties of Poly(ε-Caprolactone) Based Biocomposites
PublicationIn this work, three types of agricultural waste: olive stones (OS), date seed (DS) and wheat bran (WB) were applied as potential lignocellulosic fillers in poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) based biocomposites. Differences in composites’ performance were related to the higher content of proteins, noted for WB comparing to other fillers applied, which enhanced plasticization of PCL matrix. The mechanical properties of biocomposites were...
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Portable Electronic Nose Based on Electrochemical Sensors for Food Quality Assessment
PublicationThe steady increase in global consumption puts a strain on agriculture and might lead to a decrease in food quality. Currently used techniques of food analysis are often labour-intensive and time-consuming and require extensive sample preparation. For that reason, there is a demand for novel methods that could be used for rapid food quality assessment. A technique based on the use of an array of chemical sensors for holistic analysis...
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Case Study of Stray Current Corrosion of Tall Ship Mast
PublicationNowadays, in the present technical civilization there are numerous complex technical systems that may generate various hazards. Large transport units like ships can be considered as the most dangerous systems. Therefore, it is important to eliminate all possible hazards, especially for ship crewmembers. Destruction of ship structural components caused by vast corrosion is one of these hazards. Usually, its activity leads to a decrease...
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Regeneration of marine engine valves using laser surfacing
PublicationThis article presents an analysis of the applicability of laser surfacing of the exhaust valve face of a marine diesel engine using cobalt-based powder. After preparation by machining, the selected valves were subjected to laser surfacing using a high-power ROFIN DL020 laser. The EuTroLoy 16012 powder was used in the surfacing process. One of the valves was cut and subjected to metallographic examination and hardness measurements,...
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The effect of heating and fermenting on antioxidant properties of white cabbage
PublicationIt is widely believed that natural antioxidants found in food are significantly lost during processing. Nevertheless, it was recently demonstrated that processed fruits and vegetables may retain their antioxidant activity. In the present work, the changes in the overall antioxidant properties as a consequence of fermentation of cabbage and/or heat treatment of cabbage juices and extracts were studied. Fermentation processes as...
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Role of nitrogen in evolution of sp2/sp3 bonding and optical band gap in hydrogenated carbon nitride
PublicationDrastic changes in the bonding are found in amorphous hydrogenated carbon nitride (a-CNx:H) film as a function of nitrogen concentration (or N/C ratio). The total C-sp3 fraction and hardness shows a sharp decrease (at N/C = 0.40) whereas optical band gap and resistivity shows a gradual increase as nitrogen concentration increases from 0.07 to 0.58. Raman spectrum of a-CNx:H film is fitted with both Gaussian (integrated intensity...
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EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF RUBBER AND STYROFOAM BUMPERS INFLUENCE ON THE COLLIDING STRUCTURES
PublicationPast and recent investigations of colliding structures under seismic excitation confirmed that pounding may have a significant influence on the structural response. Interactions between adjacent buildings may cause serious damage to the structures, leading even to its total collapse. The main reason of earthquake-induced pounding, besides insufficient distance between structures, are differences in stiffness or mass of colliding structures....
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Structural Design and Sensitivity Analysis of Semi-Rigid Pavement of a Motorway
PublicationThis paper presents application of mechanistic-empirical methods in design of semi-rigid pavement for a section of a motorway in Poland. The stage construction was assumed. Three fatigue criteria were applied in the design. For asphalt fatigue cracking and subgrade soil the criteria from the Asphalt Institute (1981) were applied. For fatigue cracking of cement stabilized bases the Dempsey (1984) and De Beer (1992) criteria were...
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Effect of nitrogen doping on TiOxNy thin film formation at reactive high-power pulsed magnetron sputtering
PublicationThe paper is focused on a study of formation of TiOxNy thin films prepared by pulsed magnetron sputtering of metallic Ti target. Oxygen and nitrogen were delivered into the discharge in the form of reactive gases O2 and N2. The films were deposited by high-power impulse magnetron sputtering working with discharge repetition frequency f = 250 Hz at low (p = 0.75 Pa) and high (p = 10 Pa) pressure. The substrates were on floating...
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Femtosecond laser ablated trench array for improving performance of commercial solid oxide cell
PublicationThe performance of electrode-supported solid oxide cells (SOCs) is limited adversely by gas diffusion impedance in thick and porous support. This work focuses on the improvement of gas transport properties of commercial Ni-YSZ anode-supported SOFC by femtosecond laser-based micromachining where micro-holes of identical depth but different hole separations pitches with minimal heated affected zones were imposed. The polarization...
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Assessment of unusual failure in crankshaft of heavy-duty truck engine
PublicationThe unusual premature failure of a heavy-duty truck engine crankshaft has been the subject of a rigorous study, and this manuscript describes it in detail. The failure was happened to begin with the growth of the crack from the surface defects, in the form of the clusters of non-metallic inclusions, in the lubrication hole zone of the first main journal, which was the stress concentration zone. A series of experiments including...
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Nanostructure of the laser-modified transition metal nanocomposites for water splitting
PublicationAlthough hydrogen is considered by many to be the green fuel of the future, nowadays it is primarily produced through steam reforming, which is a process far from ecological. Therefore, emphasis is being put on the development of electrodes capable of the efficient production of hydrogen and oxygen from water. To make the green alternative possible, the solution should be cost-efficient and well processable, generating less waste...
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Laser-assisted modification of titanium dioxide nanotubes in a tilted mode as surface modification and patterning strategy
PublicationElectrochemical anodization is regarded as a facile and easily scalable fabrication method of titania nanotubes (TiO2NTs). However, due to the extended duration of calcination and further modifications, much faster alternatives are highly required. As a response to growing interest in laser modification of nanotube arrays, a comprehensive investigation of pulsed-laser irradiation and its effect onto TiO2NT properties has been carried out....
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Current trends in analytical strategies for the determination of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in samples with different matrix compositions – Part 2: New approaches to PBDEs determination
PublicationHerein, we review the latest technical solutions for polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) determination in samples with different matrix compositions, largely focusing on gas chromatography but also presenting some liquid chromatography–based solutions. Moreover, we discuss the use of diverse sample injection techniques while considering the advantages and disadvantages of each injection system in the context of PBDEs analysis....
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Speciation of heavy metals in bottom sediments of drinking water reservoir for Gdansk, Poland – changes over the 14 years
PublicationThere was conducted a comparative study of the concentrations of heavy metals (Zn, Cu, Pb, and Cd) in the surface layer of sediments collected in two investigation periods: 1999–2000 and 2013. Theresults demonstrated that the degree of metals pollution decreased over time. The contamina-tion factors (Cf) calculated for Zn, Cu, Pb, and Cd were respectively 3.63, 3.86, 3.23, and 3.25 in the first period of research and 1.35, 3.42,...
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Hydrogen Embrittlement and Oxide Layer E ect in the Cathodically Charged Zircaloy-2
PublicationThe present paper is aimed at determining the less investigated effects of hydrogen uptake on the microstructure and the mechanical behavior of the oxidized Zircaloy-2 alloy. The specimens were oxidized and charged with hydrogen. The different oxidation temperatures and cathodic current densities were applied. The scanning electron microscopy, X-ray electron diffraction spectroscopy, hydrogen absorption assessment, tensile, and...
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Reinforcing and plasticizing effects of reclaimed rubber on the vulcanization and properties of natural rubber
PublicationThe production of high-added value reclaimed rubber (RR) is of great signifi-cance for the sustainability of rubber industries. To green recycle waste rub-bers and broaden the application of RR, a RR material with potentialreinforcing and plasticizing effects on nature rubber (NR) composites are pre-pared by a thermo-oxidative reclamation process. The reclamation degree ofRR is controlled by adjusting the content of soybean oil....
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Tuning of eg electron occupancy of MnCo2O4 spinel for oxygen evolution reaction by partial substitution of Co by Fe at octahedral sites
PublicationTo study the effect of partial Co substitution by Fe in the B site of MnCo2O4 spinel on its physicochemical and electrochemical properties, a series of MnCo2-xFexO4 powders (x=0.125; 0.250; 0.500; 0.750; 1.000) were synthesized by means of the sol-gel method. The produced powders were characterized by powder X ray diffraction (pXRD), scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM & TEM) coupled with energy dispersive spectroscopy...
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Towards large-scale application of nanoporous materials in membranes for separation of energy-relevant gas mixtures
PublicationMembranes containing nanoporous materials (such as zeolites, metal–organic materials and 2D materials such as graphene derivatives) may allow more efficient separation of gas mixtures relevant to emerging energy technologies. For example, such membranes could be applied in the separation of gases containing mixtures of carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrogen (H2). However, these membranes are currently at a relatively low technology...
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Utilizing pulse dynamics for non-invasive Raman spectroscopy of blood analytes
PublicationNon-invasive measurement methods offer great benefits in the field of medical diagnostics with molecular-specific techniques such as Raman spectroscopy which is increasingly being used for quantitative measurements of tissue biochemistry in vivo. However, some important challenges still remain for label-free optical spectroscopy to be incorporated into the clinical laboratory for routine testing. In particular, non-analyte-specific...
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Geoscience Methods in Real Estate Market Analyses Subjectivity Decrease
PublicationReal estate management, including real estate market analysis, is part of a so-called geosystem. In recent years, the popularity of creating various types of systems and automatic solutions in real estate management, including those related to property classification and valuation, has been growing in the world, mainly to reduce the impact of human subjectivity, to increase the scope of analyses and reduce research time. A very...
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Designing with Green and Blue – Climate Adaption Proposals for Lowland Areas of Gdańsk
PublicationThe paper gives insight into issues explored within the framework of the SOS Climate Waterfront workshop that took place in Gdańsk in June 2019. The aim of the study was to propose solutions that will decrease the number of flooding events and span the gap between flood prevention strategies and the provision of other benefits such as ecological, urban, cultural and social. Historical cartography enquiries and research by the design...
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Actual field corrosion rate of offshore structures in the Baltic Sea along depth profile from water surface to sea bed
PublicationThe paper presents the results of field electrochemical investigations on the corrosion rate of carbon steel in seawater of the Baltic Sea at the location of the Baltic Beta production rig. The measurements were conducted throughout the year in seawater at different depths from the sea surface to the sea bed (about 75 m). The results revealed corrosion aggressiveness of the seawater along the entire depth profile. There was...
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Robustness in Compressed Neural Networks for Object Detection
PublicationModel compression techniques allow to significantly reduce the computational cost associated with data processing by deep neural networks with only a minor decrease in average accuracy. Simultaneously, reducing the model size may have a large effect on noisy cases or objects belonging to less frequent classes. It is a crucial problem from the perspective of the models' safety, especially for object detection in the autonomous driving...
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Effects of electrophoretic deposition times and nanotubular oxide surfaces on properties of the nanohydroxyapatite/nanocopper coating on the Ti13Zr13Nb alloy
PublicationLoad-bearing implants are developed with a particular emphasis placed on an application of ceramic hydroxyapatite coatings in order, to enhance the bioactivity of titanium implants and to shorten the healing time. Therefore, thin, fully crystalline coatings that are, highly adhesive, hydrophilic and demonstrating antibacterial properties are ly looked for. The aim of this research was to develop and characterize the properties...
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Ion conduction in beryllium-alumino-silicate glasses doped with sodium or sodium and lithium ions
PublicationElectrical properties of beryllium-alumino-silicate glasses containing sodium ions or sodium and lithium ions were studied with impedance spectroscopy technique over a frequency range from 10 mHz to 1 MHz and at temperature range from 213 to 473 K. The frequency- and temperature-dependent conductivity spectra of individual single alkali glasses were superimposed by means of the Summerfield scaling. Mixed-alkali glasses do not overlap...
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Impact of Climate Change on Groundwater Resources in a Young Glacial Multi-Aquifer System
PublicationThe aim of this study was to evaluate the trends of climate change on the Kashubian Lake District and to determine the impact of expected trends on groundwater resources. The analysis of trends in temperature and precipitation was conducted for the six-decade history of meteorological measurements at the weather station in Koscierzyna. The analysis shows the trend of temperature increase of +0.0182ºC/year. The highest increase...
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Earthquake-Induced Pounding Between Asymmetric Steel Buildings
PublicationEarthquake-induced pounding between buildings has been the subject of numerous numerical and experimental studies in the resent years. The phenomenon may cause severe damage to structural elements as well as may also lead to the total collapse of colliding structures. A major reason leading to pounding between adjacent, insufficiently separated buildings results from the differences in their dynamic properties. The aim of this...
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Structural and electrical properties of Cr-doped SrTiO 3 porous materials
PublicationSeries of single-phase materials with assumed formula SrTi1−xCrxO3 (where x = 0, 1, 4, 6 mol.%) were obtained by sol-gel method. The structure and microstructure of materials were characterised by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy methods. Moreover, the study of electrical properties and evaluation of chemical stability in CO2/H2O atmosphere was performed by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and thermogravimery...
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Effect of Semiconductor Element Substitution on the Electric Properties of Barium Titanate Ceramics
PublicationThe investigated ceramics were prepared by a solid-state reaction from simple oxides and carbonates with the use of a mixed oxide method (MOM). The morphology of BaTi0.96Si0.04O3 (BTSi04) ceramics was characterised by means of a scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was found that Si+4 ion substitution supported the grain growth process in BT-based ceramics. The EDS results confirmed the high purity and expected quantitative composition...
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Can sodium 1-alkylsulfonates participate in the sodium dodecyl sulfate micelle formation?
PublicationThe aggregation behavior of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) was studied in an aqueous solution in the presence of increasing concentrations of selected sodium 1-alkylsulfonates, namely sodium 1-octanesulfonate, sodium 1-decanesulfonate, and sodium 1-dodecanesufonate. The critical micelle concentration (CMC) of SDS was determined by conductivity and fluorescence intensity measurements. The steady-state fluorescence quenching experiments...
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Probabilistic Approach to Precipitation-Runoff Relation in a Mountain Catchment: A Case Study of the Kłodzka Valley in Poland
PublicationOn the basis of daily precipitation and discharges recorded in 1974–2013 relations between precipitation and runoff in the Kłodzka Valley (KV) in south-western Poland were analyzed. The degree of synchronicity between them was determined using the bivariate Archimedean copulas. This study aims at identifying and then describe in a probabilistic way the precipitation and runoff relations in the area playing an important role...
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Speciation of heavy metals in bottom sediments of a drinking water reservoir for Gdańsk, Poland – changes over the 14 years
PublicationThere was conducted a comparative study of the concentrations of heavy metals (Zn, Cu, Pb, andCd) in the surface layer of sediments collected in two investigation periods: 1999–2000 and 2013.The results demonstrated that the degree of metals pollution decreased over time. The contaminationfactors (Cf) calculated for Zn, Cu, Pb, and Cd were respectively 3.63, 3.86, 3.23, and 3.25 in thefirst period of...
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Consumer Bankruptcy Prediction Using Balanced and Imbalanced Data
PublicationThis paper examines the usefulness of logit regression in forecasting the consumer bankruptcy of households using an imbalanced dataset. The research on consumer bankruptcy prediction is of paramount importance as it aims to build statistical models that can identify consumers in a difficult financial situation that may lead to consumer bankruptcy. In the face of the current global pandemic crisis, the future of household finances...
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The effect of calcination temperature on structure and photocatalytic properties of Au/Pd nanoparticles supported on TiO2
PublicationBimetallic nanoparticles, composed of two different metal elements, can exhibit peculiar electronic, optical, and catalytic or photocatalytic properties that are absent in the corresponding monometallic nanoparticles. We show the effect of calcination temperature (from 350 to 700°C) on the structure and the photocatalytic properties of Au/Pd-modified TiO2. The composition of the bimetallic Au/Pd nanoparticles in relation to their...
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The influence of screw configuration and screw speed of co-rotating twin screw extruder on the properties of products obtained by thermomechanical reclaiming of ground tire rubber
PublicationThe results of our investigations on the process of continuous thermomechanical reclaiming of ground tire rubber (GTR) carried out using a twin screw extruder are presented.We used a co-rotating twin screw extruder with a special configuration of plasticizing unit, enabling generation of considerable shear forces. The influence of screw configuration and screw speed on breaking of chemical crosslink bonds contained in ground tire...
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Earthquake-induced pounding between asymmetric steel buildings
PublicationEarthquake-induced pounding between buildings has been the subject of numerous numerical and experimental studies in the resent years. The phe-nomenon may cause severe damage to structural elements as well as may also lead to the total collapse of colliding structures. A major reason leading to pounding between adjacent, insufficiently separated buildings results from the differences in their dynamic properties. The aim of this...
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Interaction of cisplatin and two potential antitumoral platinum(ii) complexes with a model lipid membrane: a combined NMR and MD study
PublicationIn this study, the interaction of cisplatin (1) and two potential antitumoral Pt(II) complexes (2 and 3) with a model DMPC bilayer was investigated by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy and MD simulations in order to understand its implication for the different antitumoral properties shown by the three complexes. In particular, 31P, 13C and 2H solid state NMR experiments were performed to obtain information on the phase structure, phase...
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Mass spectrometric identification of 13C-Labeled metaboloites during anaerobic propanoic acid oxidation
PublicationBiowaste digestion is a possibility to gain biogas as a renewable fuel source. However, the anaerobic food chain may be disrupted by, e.g., substrate overload or by inhibitors, leading to the accumulation of volatile fatty acids (VFAs), predominantly of propanoic acid (PA). VFA Accumulation may cause a rapid pH decrease, less biogas production, or even a total inhibition. To maintain high biogas productivity or to prevent a collapse...
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Fluvial ecology disasters: the impact of the Gliwice Canal on the ecological crisis in the Oder River basin, Poland (2022)
PublicationIn August 2022, the Oder River experienced an ecological disaster, resulting in the extinction of hundreds of aquatic organ- isms. Mass fsh deaths also occurred during that time in the Gliwice Canal, located in southern Poland, which connects to the upper section of the Oder River. The aim of the article was to assess the impact of the waters from the Gliwice Canal on the water quality changes in the Oder River, as expressed by...
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Low-Cost Method for Internal Surface Roughness Reduction of Additively Manufactured All-Metal Waveguide Components
PublicationIn this study, a novel low-cost polishing method for internal surface roughness reduction of additively manufactured components, developed for waveguide (WG) circuits operating in the millimeter frequency range is proposed. WG components fabricated using powder bed fusion (PBF) generally feature roughness of ten to fifty microns, which influences the increase of roughness-related conductor power losses having a major effect on...
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The Impact of Spatiotemporal Changes in Land Development (1984–2019) on the Increase in the Runoff Coefficient in Erbil, Kurdistan Region of Iraq
PublicationNowadays, geospatial techniques are a popular approach for estimating urban flash floods by considering spatiotemporal changes in urban development. In this study, we investigated the impact of Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) changes on the hydrological response of the Erbil basin in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). In the studied area, the LULC changes were calculated for 1984, 1994, 2004, 2014 and 2019 using the Digital Elevation...
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Effects of the Covid-19 travel restrictions on metropolises mobility: empirical evidence from the Tricity metropolis (Poland)
PublicationThis paper aims to assess changes in mobility and modal shift caused by COVID-19 travel restrictions among the residents of Gdańsk Bay Metropolis (Poland). Measurement’s moments were assumed in periods differing in the level of restric- tions. The computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) was carried out in November and December 2020. The results did not confirm the expected modal shift. However, significant changes in the number...
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A Simplified SVPWM Technique for Five-leg Inverter with Dual Three-phase Output
PublicationThis article proposes a simplified space vector pulse-width modulation (SVPWM) technique five-leg inverter with dual three-phase output. An idea to fed the dual tree-phase machine by the multiphase voltage source inverters (VSIs) is not new. Dual- and multi-motor drive systems are widely used in the industry applications. The most popular fields are: electric vehicles (EVs) and traction systems. Moreover, the specific characteristic...
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Experimental and numerical investigation on shell and coil storage unit with biodegradable PCM for modular thermal battery applications
PublicationThermal energy storage (TES) in automotive applications is currently growing in importance. TES can visibly reduce primary energy consumptions, decrease CO2 emission, and improve thermal comfort in electric as well as hybrid vehicles. However, to meet the new ambitious target (15% reduction of CO2 emissions in the new cars until 2025) it is required to use plug-in electric vehicles. For this reason, this paper focuses on the optimization...
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Mass Spectrometric Identification of 13C-Labeled Metabolites DuringAnaerobic Propanoic Acid Oxidation
PublicationBiowaste digestion is a possibility to gain biogas as a renewable fuel source. However, the anaerobic food chain may be disrupted by, e.g., substrate overload or by inhibitors, leading to the accumulation of volatile fatty acids (VFAs), predominantly of propanoic acid (PA). VFA Accumulation may cause a rapid pH decrease, less biogas production, or even a total inhibition. To maintain high biogas productivity or to prevent a collapse...
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Changes in the structure of Armenia’s labour resources between 1993 and 2020
PublicationThe article characterises the structure of Armenia’s labour resources in the period between1993 and 2020. It aims to assess the changes on the Armenian labour market by means of a deductive analysis of historical data and observation of changes in the structure of resources based on generally available macroeconomic data. The authors evaluate these processes against the background of demographic and economic changes, by presenting...
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Some Aspects of Shear Behavior of Soft Soil–Concrete Interfaces and Its Consequences in Pile Shaft Friction Modeling
PublicationThis paper examines the stiffness degradation and interface failure load on soft soil–concrete interface. The friction behavior and its variability is investigated. The direct shear tests under constant normal load were used to establish parameters to hyperbolic interface model which provided a good approximation of the data from instrumented piles. Four instrumented piles were used to obtain reference soil–concrete interface behavior....
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Determinants of COVID-19 Impact on the Private Sector: A Multi-Country Analysis Based on Survey Data
PublicationOur paper aims to investigate the impact of COVID‐19 on private sector companies in terms of sales, production, finance and employment. We check whether the country and industry in which companies operate, government financial support and loan access matter to the behaviour and performances of companies during the pandemic. We use a microdata set from a worldwide survey of more than 15,729 companies conducted between April and...