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Search results for: IMPROVEMENT POTENTIAL
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Determination of long-chain aldehydes using a novel quartz crystal microbalance sensor based on a biomimetic peptide
PublicationThere is an increasingly popular trend aimed at improvement of fundamental metrological parameters of sensors via implementation of materials mimicking biological olfactory systems. This study presents investigation on usefulness of the peptide mimicking HarmOBP7 region as a receptor element of the piezoelectric sensor for selective analysis of long-chain aldehydes. Identification of odorant binding proteins creates new possibilities...
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An Analysis of Neural Word Representations for Wikipedia Articles Classification
PublicationOne of the current popular methods of generating word representations is an approach based on the analysis of large document collections with neural networks. It creates so-called word-embeddings that attempt to learn relationships between words and encode this information in the form of a low-dimensional vector. The goal of this paper is to examine the differences between the most popular embedding models and the typical bag-of-words...
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Flexible syngas-biogas-hydrogen fueling spark-ignition engine behaviors with optimized fuel compositions and control parameters
PublicationThis paper presents the results research on the optimal fuel compositions and the control parameters of the spark ignition engine fueled with syngas-biogas-hydrogen for the purpose of setting up a flexible electronic control unit for the engine working in a solar-biomass hybrid renewable energy system. In syngas-biogas-hydrogen mixture, the optimal content of hydrogen and biogas is 20% and 30%, respectively. Exceeding these thresholds,...
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Optimum number of actuators to minimize the cross-sectional area of prestressable cable and truss structures
PublicationThis paper describes a new computational method for determining the optimum number of actuators to design the optimal and economic cross-sectional area of pin-jointed assemblies based on the conventional force method. The most active members are selected to be prestressed to redistribute stress in the whole structure, resulting in regulating the internal force of bars that face high stress. Reducing stress in critical members allows...
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Irregularities in university processes concerning the Lean Management typology: The pilot study results
PublicationPurpose: Identify the attitudes regarding key irregularities in university activities of universities referring to muda, mura, and muri from the perspective of two groups of stakeholders - academic teachers and administration/service personnel. Study design/methodology/approach: A pilot quantitative study with the use of a questionnaire containing 48 statements regarding six categories of irregularities assessed according to the...
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Effects of full displacement pile installation on the stress and deformation state of surrounding soil: review
PublicationSeveral field and model tests have been conducted to investigate the impact of pile installation on bearing capacity. However, little is known about how piles behave during installation, how they interact with the surrounding soil, and how this affects sandy soil properties. This review paper investigates the effect of pile driving on surrounding sandy soil as it compacts sandy soil near to the pile. For this purpose, various related...
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Ukrainian Market of Electrical Energy: Reforming, Financing, Innovative Investment, Efficiency Analysis, and Audit
PublicationThe aim of this research is to determine the influence of electrical energy market regulation reform in Ukraine on the competitive environment, the reproduction processes of financial and innovative support, and the energy efficiency of the national economy. The authors have put forward and verified the hypothesis that, under conditions of institutional maturity of the Ukrainian electrical energy market, its liberalization and...
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Mitigating the seismic pounding of multi-story buildings in series using linear and nonlinear fluid viscous dampers
PublicationSeismic-induced pounding between adjacent buildings may have serious consequences, ranging from minor damage up to total collapse. Therefore, researchers try to mitigate the pounding problem using different methods, such as coupling the adjacent buildings with stiff beams, connecting them by using viscoelastic links, and installing damping devices in each building individually. In the current paper, the effect of using linear and...
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Physicochemical properties of Mn1.45Co1.45Cu0.1O4 spinel coating deposited on the Crofer 22 H ferritic steel and exposed to high-temperature oxidation under thermal cycling conditions
PublicationThe Crofer 22 H ferritic steel substrate was coated with an Mn1.45Co1.45Cu0.1O4 spinel by means of electrophoresis. After high-temperature oxidation under thermal cycling conditions, the physicochemical properties of the obtained system were evaluated. During 48-h cycles that involved heating the samples up to temperatures of either 750 or 800 °C, the oxidation kinetics of both coated and unmodified steel approximately obeyed...
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Expedited Optimization of Passive Microwave Devices Using Gradient Search and Principal Directions
PublicationOver the recent years, utilization of numerical optimization techniques has become ubiquitous in the design of high-frequency systems, including microwave passive components. The primary reason is that the circuits become increasingly complex to meet ever growing performance demands concerning their electrical performance, additional functionalities, as well as miniaturization. Nonetheless, as reliable evaluation of microwave device...
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Rapid Variable-Resolution Parameter Tuning of Antenna Structures Using Frequency-Based Regularization and Sparse Sensitivity Updates
PublicationGeometry parameter tuning is an inherent part of antenna design process. While most often performed in a local sense, it still entails considerable computational expenses when carried out at the level of full-wave electromagnetic (EM) simulation models. Moreover, the optimization outcome may be impaired if good initial design is not available. This paper proposes a novel approach to fast and improved-reliability gradient-based...
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Tolerance Optimization of Antenna Structures by Means of Response Feature Surrogates
PublicationFabrication tolerances and other types of uncertainties, e.g., the lack of precise knowledge of material parameters, have detrimental effects on electrical and field performance of antenna systems. In the case of input characteristics these are particularly noticeable for narrow- and multi-band antennas where deviations of geometry parameters from their nominal values lead to frequency shifts of the operating frequency bands. Improving...
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Developing the Urban Blue-Green Infrastructure as a Tool for Urban Air Quality Management
PublicationUrban structure is an important factor that shapes the process of urban ventilation and pollution dispersion. With proper planning of the urban spatial layout, city breathability can be effectively regulated, contributing to urban air quality improvement. This paper investigates the development and current management of urban systems of green and open spaces in four Polish cities: Gda ´nsk, Warsaw, Pozna ´n and Wrocław, with a...
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Efficient production of Staphylococcus simulans lysostaphin in a benchtop bioreactor by recombinant Escherichia coli.
PublicationLysostaphin is an enzyme with bactericidal activity against Staphylococcus aureus and other staphylococcal species. In spite of many advantages and promising results of preliminary research, the enzyme is still not widely used in medicine, veterinary or as a food preservative. One of the most important factors limiting application of the enzyme in clinical or technological practice is the high costs of its production. In the present...
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Professional activity and women entrepreneurship in Poland – Europe 2020 Strategy perspective
PublicationThe level of economic activity of women in Poland is the lowest among Baltic Sea Region countries. The analysis of Europe 2020 targets, shows that at least 3 of the 5 main objectives relate, more or less, to women (e.g. participation in labor market). The objective concerning social inclusion assumes the increase in the employment rate of men and women (aged 20-64) in Poland up to 71%. To achieve this goal, support programs to...
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Low Frequency Conducted Emissions of Grid Connected Static Converters
PublicationPulse-width modulated rectifiers are nowadays commonly used for AC to DC power conversion. PWM rectification technology is very effective and allows for bidirectional power flow with the possibility of power factor improvement and low-order harmonic emission limitation. Unfortunately, employed PWM boost topology results with generation of input current harmonic distortions in a frequency range tightly correlated to modulation frequency....
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IDENTIFICATION AND COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF FACTORS INFLUENCING ROAD SAFETY IN US REGIONS AND IN POLISH VOIVODESHIPS
PublicationAnalyses of road safety at national level have been run for many years and large number of publications concerning them appeared so far. How interdisciplinary the issue is, has been shown by literature studies done by the author of the paper. It appears that economists, mathematicians, doctors as well as engineers have studied the issue. It is not an easy one, as results of many analyses lead to conflicting conclusions and...
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Ionic liquids-based microextraction techniques
PublicationIn recent years, the development of highly efficient analytical techniques is of great importance, however, the direct analysis of complex sample matrix is still impossible in many cases. Therefore, the step of sample preparation is commonly involved in an analytical procedure. Over the years, it has been realized that the major source of inaccuracy and imprecision on general analysis results from the operations associated to sample...
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Multi-layered tissue head phantoms for noninvasive optical diagnostics
PublicationExtensive research in the area of optical sensing for medical diagnostics requires development of tissue phantoms with optical properties similar to those of living human tissues. Development and improvement of in vivo optical measurement systems requires the use of stable tissue phantoms with known characteristics, which are mainly used for calibration of such systems and testing their performance over time. Optical and mechanical...
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Psychosocial risks associated with the profession of train driver
PublicationExcellent competencies as well as a good physical and mental health are required in train drivers’ profession. Despite the changes in the structure of employment the train drivers above 46 years and job tenure longer than 30 years are the largest group. The generation gap is becoming more pronounced, and its fulfilment will not be easy. It is related not only to training of new personnel but also promotion of healthy work environment...
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Effect of kenaf fibre modification on morphology and mechanical properties of thermoplastic polyurethane materials
PublicationThe presented study examined the morphology and mechanical properties of biocomposites obtained from kenaf natural fibre and thermoplastic polyurethane. Kenaf was modified using various methods, namely: acetylation, blocked isocyanate, maleic anhydride and permanganate treatment. Those methods and ways of carrying out of surface modifications were not studied before on kenaf/thermoplastic polyurethane composites. Different fibre...
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IRREGULARITIES IN UNIVERSITY PROCESSES CONCERNING THE LEAN MANAGEMENT TYPOLOGY. THE PILOT STUDY RESULTS
PublicationPurpose: Identify the attitudes regarding key irregularities in university activities of universities referring to muda, mura, and muri from the perspective of two groups of stakeholders - academic teachers and administration/service personnel. Study design/methodology/approach: A pilot quantitative study using a questionnaire containing 48 statements regarding six categories of irregularities assessed according to the 5-point...
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Exploring the preferences of Polish EFL teachers towards the accents of English
PublicationThis language attitudes study investigates the preferences of EFL (English as a foreign language) teachers from Poland towards the accents of English they speak and teach. Despite the substantial amount of research on EFL learners, little has been done to investigate the impact of preferences of Polish teachers for different variations of English language on their...
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Fast Machine-Learning-Enabled Size Reduction of Microwave Components Using Response Features
PublicationAchieving compact size has emerged as a key consideration in modern microwave design. While structural miniaturization can be accomplished through judicious circuit architecture selection, precise parameter tuning is equally vital to minimize physical dimensions while meeting stringent performance requirements for electrical characteristics. Due to the intricate nature of compact structures, global optimization is recommended,...
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Approximation algorithms for job scheduling with block-type conflict graphs
PublicationThe problem of scheduling jobs on parallel machines (identical, uniform, or unrelated), under incompatibility relation modeled as a block graph, under the makespan optimality criterion, is considered in this paper. No two jobs that are in the relation (equivalently in the same block) may be scheduled on the same machine in this model. The presented model stems from a well-established line of research combining scheduling theory...
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Advancing sustainable hybrid bitumen systems: A compatibilization solution by functionalized polyolefins for enhanced crumb rubber content in bitumen
PublicationPolymer waste pollution has a profound effect on the environment and, consequently, on the lifestyle of hu- mankind. The massive production and disposal of cross-linked polymers clearly exemplify the challenges of recycling. Increasing efforts are being undertaken to introduce recycled polymers, especially crumb rubber (CR), into asphalt formulations. Due to the rather poor processability and phase separation associated with CR- modified...
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Investigations of the Working Process in a Dual-Fuel Low-Emission Combustion Chamber for an FPSO Gas Turbine Engine
PublicationThis investigation is devoted to an analysis of the working process in a dual-fuel low-emission combustion chamber for a floating vessel’s gas turbine. The low-emission gas turbine combustion chamber with partial pre-mixing of fuel and air inside the outer and inner radial-axial swirlers was chosen as the object of research. When modelling processes in a dual-flow low-emission gas turbine combustion chamber, a generalized method...
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Constrained multi-objective optimization of compact microwave circuits by design triangulation and pareto front interpolation
PublicationDevelopment of microwave components is an inherently multi-objective task. This is especially pertinent to the design closure stage, i.e., final adjustment of geometry and/or material parameters carried out to improve the electrical performance of the system. The design goals are often conflicting so that the improvement of one normally leads to a degradation of others. Compact microwave passives constitute a representative case:...
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Reverberation divergence in VR applications
PublicationThe aim of this project was to investigate the correlation between virtual reality (VR) imagery and ambisonic sound. With the increasing popularity of VR applications, understanding how sound is perceived in virtual environments is crucial for enhancing the immersiveness of the experience. By examining the relationship between visual scenes and sound scenes, this research attempts to explore how the interaction between vision and...
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Synthesis, characterization and application of cross-linked functional terpolymer through epoxy group as sorbent for extraction of cadmium from waters and foods: Multivariate optimization
PublicationThe purpose of this study was to develop a selective sorbent for cadmium ions (Cd(II)) enrichment in orbital shaker assisted solid phase microextraction (OS-SPME) from different aqueous and food samples. A maleic anhydride-styrene-glycidyl methacrylate (MA-St-GMA) terpolymer was synthesized and characterized in detail. Experimental variables of sample preparation step were optimized using a central composite design (CCD). The final...
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Impact of AlphaFold on structure prediction of protein complexes: The CASP15‐CAPRI experiment
PublicationWe present the results for CAPRI Round 54, the 5th joint CASP-CAPRI protein assembly prediction challenge. The Round offered 37 targets, including 14 homodimers, 3 homo-trimers, 13 heterodimers including 3 antibody–antigen complexes, and 7 large assemblies. On average 70 CASP and CAPRI predictor groups, including more than 20 automatics servers, submitted models for each target. A total of 21 941 models submitted by these groups...
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Friction Stir Welding of Aluminum in the Aerospace Industry: The Current Progress and State-of-the-Art Review
PublicationThe use of the friction stir welding (FSW) process as a relatively new solid-state welding technology in the aerospace industry has pushed forward several developments in different related aspects of this strategic industry. In terms of the FSW process itself, due to the geometric limitations involved in the conventional FSW process, many variants have been required over time to suit the different types of geometries and structures,...
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Evaluation of adhesion strength, corrosion, and biological properties of the MWCNT/TiO2 coating intended for medical applications
PublicationMulti-wall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) coatings are gaining increasing interest because of their special properties used in many science fields. The titania coatings are known for their improvement of osteoblast adhesion, thus changing the surface architecture. Bi-layer coatings comprising 0.25 wt% of the MWCNTs and 0.30 wt% of titania (anatase structure) were synthesized in a two-stage procedure using the electrophoretic deposition...
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PVA-Based Films with Strontium Titanate Nanoparticles Dedicated to Wound Dressing Application
PublicationBioactive materials may be applied in tissue regeneration, and an example of such materials are wound dressings, which are used to accelerate skin healing, especially after trauma. Here, we proposed a novel dressing enriched by a bioactive component. The aim of our study was to prepare and characterize poly(vinyl alcohol) films modified with strontium titanate nanoparticles. The physicochemical properties of films were studied,...
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Study of Statistical Text Representation Methods for Performance Improvement of a Hierarchical Attention Network
PublicationTo effectively process textual data, many approaches have been proposed to create text representations. The transformation of a text into a form of numbers that can be computed using computers is crucial for further applications in downstream tasks such as document classification, document summarization, and so forth. In our work, we study the quality of text representations using statistical methods and compare them to approaches...
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Photocatalytically Active TiO2/Ag2O Nanotube Arrays Interlaced with Silver Nanoparticles Obtained from the One-Step Anodic Oxidation of Ti–Ag Alloys
PublicationThe development of a photocatalyst with remarkable activity to degrade pollutants in aqueous and gas phase requires visible lightresponsive stable materials, easily organized in the form of a thin layer (to exclude the highly expensive separation step). In this work, we present a one-step strategy for synthesizing material in the form of a self-organized TiO2/Ag2O nanotube (NT) array interlaced with silver nanoparticles (as in a...
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Networkig activities of general judiciary - from theory to practice
PublicationOver the last three decades, networks - as a field of research - have acquired a significant place among management sciences. Unfortunately, in the judiciary they have become a subject of more careful analyses only recently, which resulted in a large discrepancy of knowledge - both in theory and in its practical adaptation for the needs of the courts. In order to fill this cognitive gap, an attempt was made to identify levels of...
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Electrochemically Obtained TiO2/CuxOy Nanotube Arrays Presenting a Photocatalytic Response in Processes of Pollutants Degradation and Bacteria Inactivation in Aqueous Phase
PublicationTiO2/CuxOy nanotube (NT) arrays were synthesized using the anodization method in the presence of ethylene glycol and different parameters applied. The presence, morphology, and chemical character of the obtained structures was characterized using a variety of methods—SEM (scanning electron microscopy), XPS (X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy), XRD (X-ray crystallography), PL (photoluminescence), and EDX (energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy)....
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Ground tire rubber thermo-mechanically devulcanized in the presence of waste engine oil as asphalt modifier
PublicationCross-linked elastomers network is main limitation for industrial usage of ground tire rubber (GTR) as asphalts’ and road pavements modifier. GTR was thermo-mechanically devulcanized via extrusion in the presence of waste engine oil (WEO) at temperature ranges from 150 to 280 °C. Combined impact of WEO content and extruder barrel temperature on the change of cross-linked structure of degraded GTR (DTGR) was investigated through...
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Anterior subcutaneous transposition and simple decompression of the ulnar nerve at the elbow – the postoperative improvement in DASH score, VAS score and sonographic findings
PublicationIntroduction. Although a lot of studies have described long- term outcomes after surgical treatment of cubital tunnel syndrome, and the usefulness of sonography in diagnosing of this disorder, few studies have evaluated patients self-reporting outcomes or sonographic findings after surgery. Aim. We assessed patients self-reporting instruments and sonographic findings in patients with the cubital tunnel syndrome before and after...
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Investigation of Weigh-in-Motion Measurement Accuracy on the Basis of Steering Axle Load Spectra
PublicationWeigh-in-motion systems are installed in pavements or on bridges to identify and reduce the number of overloaded vehicles and minimise their adverse eect on road infrastructure. Moreover, the collected trac data are used to obtain axle load characteristics, which are very useful in road infrastructure design. Practical application of data from weigh-in-motion has become more common recently, which calls for adequate attention to...
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Fatigue strength determination of ship structural joints. Part I - Analytical methods for determining fatigue strength of ship tructures
PublicationSpectacular accidents at sea which have happened for a few last years show that hull structures of contemporary sea-going ships are not perfect and must be systematically improved. Fatigue strength is one of the groups of strength problems which affect design of contemporary ship's structures and greatly contribute in their improvement process. In this paper several approaches to estimation of fatigue life of hull structural...
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Rapid multi-objective optimization of antennas using nested kriging surrogates and single-fidelity EM simulation models
PublicationEver increasing performance requirements make the design of contemporary antenna systems a complex and multi-stage process. One of the challenges, pertinent to the emerging application areas but also some of the recent trends (miniaturization, demands for multi-functionality, etc.), is the necessity of handling several performance figures such as impedance matching, gain, or axial ratio, often over multiple frequency bands. The...
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Assessment of the Effectiveness of a Short-term Hearing Aid Use in Patients with Different Degrees of Hearing Loss
PublicationThe study presents evaluating the effectiveness of the hearing aid fitting process in the short-term use (7 days). The evaluation method consists of a survey based on the APHAB (Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit) questionnaire. Additional criteria such as a degree of hearing loss, number of hours and days of hearing aid use as well as the user’s experience were also taken into consideration. The outcomes of the benefit...
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Thermodynamic analysis of the Compressed Air Energy Storage system coupled with the Underground Thermal Energy Storage
PublicationImprovement of flexibility is one of the key challenges for the transformation of the Polish Power System aiming at a high share of renewable energy in electricity generation. Flexible and dispatchable power plants will contribute to this ongoing transformation process as they compensate for fluctuations in electricity generation from renewable energy sources such as wind and photovoltaics. In this context, CAES storage tanks are...
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Novel composite of Zn/Ti-layered double hydroxide coupled with MXene for the efficient photocatalytic degradation of pharmaceuticals
PublicationIn the present study, a hybrid photocatalyst of Zn/Ti layered double hydroxide (LDH) coupled with MXene – Ti3C2 was synthesized for the first time and applied in photocatalytic degradation of acetaminophen and ibuprofen, two commonly present in the natural environment and prone to accumulate in the aquatic ecosystem pharmaceuticals. The effect of MXene content (0.5 wt%, 2.5 wt%, and 5 wt%) on the photocatalytic activity of LDH/MXene...
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Global Design Optimization of Microwave Circuits Using Response Feature Inverse Surrogates
PublicationModern microwave design has become heavily reliant on full-wave electromagnetic (EM) simulation tools, which are necessary for accurate evaluation of microwave components. Consequently, it is also indispensable for their development, especially the adjustment of geometry parameters, oriented towards performance improvement. However, EM-driven optimization procedures incur considerable computational expenses, which may become impractical...
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Tolerance-Aware Optimization of Microwave Circuits by Means of Principal Directions and Domain-Restricted Metamodels
PublicationPractical microwave design is most often carried out in the nominal sense. Yet, in some cases, performance degradation due to uncertainties may lead to the system failing to meet the prescribed specifications. Reliable uncertainty quantification (UQ) is therefore important yet intricate from numerical standpoint, especially when the circuit at hand is to be evaluated using electromagnetic (EM) simulation tools. Tolerance-aware...
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Low-Cost Yield-Driven Design of Antenna Structures Using Response-Variability Essential Directions and Parameter Space Reduction
PublicationQuantifying the effects of fabrication tolerances and uncertainties of other types is fundamental to improve antenna design immunity to limited accuracy of manufacturing procedures and technological spread of material parameters. This is of paramount importance especially for antenna design in the industrial context. Degradation of electrical and field properties due to geometry parameter deviations often manifests itself as, e.g.,...
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How can the work environment be redesigned to enhance the well-being of individuals with autism?
PublicationPurpose – This article examines the opportunities to create optimal conditions for individuals with autism, to work successfully within the contemporary workplace and improve their well-being. These opportunities arise from digital technology (DT) development, enabling the work environment to be remodeled by providing new possibilities and ways of working. The author discusses both technology-based as well as non-technological accommodations...