Search results for: fractions of heavy metals
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Superconductivity in the Cu(Ir1-xPtx)2Se4 spinel
PublicationWe report the observation of superconductivity in the CuIr2Se4 spinel induced by partial substitution of Pt for Ir. The optimal doping level for superconductivity in Cu(Ir1-xPtx )2Se4 is x = 0.2, where Tc is 1.76 K. A superconducting Tc vs composition dome is established between the metallic, normal conductor CuIr2Se4 and semiconducting CuIrPtSe4. Electronic structure calculations show that the optimal Tc occurs near the electron count...
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Environmental risk assessment of Polish wastewater treatment plant activity
PublicationWastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) play an extremely important role in shaping modern society's environmental wellbeing and awareness, however only well operated and supervised systems can be considered as environmentally sustainable. For this reason, an attempt was undertaken to assess the environmental burden posed by WWTPs in major Polish cities by collecting water samples prior to and just after wastewater release points....
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Crystal structure and physical properties of AePd1-xP1+x (Ae = Ca, Sr)
PublicationWe report the discovery of two new compounds AePd1-xP1+x (Ae = Ca, Sr) crystallized in different hexagonal structures. Single crystals of AePd1-xP1+x (Ae = Ca, Sr) are obtained using the Bi-flux method. Crystallographic analysis by both powder and single crystal X-ray diffraction shows that CaPd1-xP1+x crystallizes in a non-centrosymmetric hexagonal structure with the space group P-6m2 (No.187) and lattice parameters a = b = 4.0391(9)...
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Progress, Challenge, and Perspective of Bimetallic TiO2-Based Photocatalysts
PublicationBimetallic TiO2-based photocatalysts have attracted considerable attention in recent years as a class of highly active catalysts and photocatalysts under both UV and Vis light irradiation. Bimetallic noble metal structures deposited on TiO2 possess the ability to absorb visible light, in a wide wavelength range (broad LSPR peak), and therefore reveal the highest level of activity as a result of utilization of a large amount of...
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A review: Fabrication of porous polyurethane scaffolds
PublicationThe aim of tissue engineering is the fabrication of three-dimensional scaffolds that can be used for the reconstruction and regeneration of damaged or deformed tissues and organs. A wide variety of techniques have been developed to create either fibrous or porous scaffolds from polymers, metals, composite materials and ceramics. However, the most promising materials are biodegradable polymers due to their comprehensive mechanical...
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Synthesis of 5-Substituted 1H-Tetrazoles from Nitriles in the Presence of Heterogeneous Catalyst
PublicationTetrazoles are five-membered heterocyclic compounds containing in their rings four nitrogen atoms. They have wide applications as corrosion inhibitors, analytical reagents, high-energy materials and gas generating compositions. Tetrazoles also play important role in coordination chemistry as ligands and in medicinal chemistry as metabolically stable surrogates for carboxylic acids. In recent years, investigation of new method of...
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Effect of copper and silver modification of NH2-MIL-125(Ti) on the photoreduction of carbon dioxide to formic acid over this framework under visible-light irradiation
PublicationCu and Ag enhance the photocatalytic activities of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) toward CO2 conversion because of their CO2 adsorption capacities and effects on the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) overpotentials of MOFs. However, to date, targeted introduction of metals into MOFs to achieve visible (Vis)- light-active photocatalysts for CO2 photoconversion has not been realized. Herein, a series of aminefunctionalized...
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Mono- and bi-metallic plasmonic photocatalysts for degradation of organic compounds under UV and visible light irradiation
PublicationTitania powders were surface modified with gold and/or silver nanoparticles (NPs) by photodeposition method. Gold modified titania exhibited much higher photocatalytic activity during methanol dehydrogenation under UV irradiation than titania modified with monometallic silver and bimetallic Au–Ag NPs. Bimetallic photocatalysts exhibited either enhanced or reduced visible light activity, depending on properties of noble metal NPs,...
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Possibility to use engine compression ignition engines in floating power plants marine
PublicationCompression-ignition engines used in ship technology as main propulsion engines are large units reaching even to 50-60 MW. The engines can be used in power industry for electricity generation in a simple or combined steam turbine system in combined heat and power plants. The leading engine in such an arrangement is an internal-combustion piston engine. The main propulsion engines are used in large piston internal-combustion engines...
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BP-EVD: Forward Block-Output Propagation for Efficient Video Denoising
PublicationDenoising videos in real-time is critical in many applications, including robotics and medicine, where varying light conditions, miniaturized sensors, and optics can substantially compromise image quality. This work proposes the first video denoising method based on a deep neural network that achieves state-of-the-art performance on dynamic scenes while running in real-time on VGA video resolution with no frame latency. The backbone...
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The New Test Procedure for Group-Type Composition of Base Oils of Lubricating Oils, Especially Emitted into the Environment
PublicationMineral base oil, a product of multistep fine refining of the relevant fractions from vacuum distillation of crude oil, is a main component of so-called mineral lubricating oils containing aliphatic and alicyclic substituted aromatic hydrocarbons, i.e., derivatives of benzene and biphenyl. Mineral lubricating oil is composed mostly of mineral base oil and a low amount of enriching additives, most often products of advanced organic...
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Analysis of Residual Stresses and Dislocation Density of AA6082 Butt Welds Produced by Friction Sir Welding
PublicationThe Friction Stir Welding (FSW) method was employed to join AA6082 sheets. The welds were produced with different tool traverse speed (200 and 250 mm/min), rotational speed (1000 and 1250 RPM) and tool tilt angle (0 and 2 deg). Based on the analysis of XRD patterns, the total precipitation volume fractions in the nugget zones and the base material were calculated. The FSW process resulted in a reduction in the fraction of precipitates...
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Chemical variability of Rhododendron tomentosum (Ledum palustre) essential oils and their pro-apoptotic effect on lymphocytes and rheumatoid arthritis synoviocytes
PublicationRhododendron tomentosum (Ledum palustre) is an aromatic plant traditionally used for alleviating rheumatic complaints which makes it a potential candidate for a natural drug in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treatment. However, the effects of plants’ volatiles on apoptosis of synovial fibroblasts and infiltrating leucocytes of RA synovia, have not been reported. Volatile fraction of R. tomentosum is chemically variable and chemotypes...
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Ionic Liquid Assisted Dissolution of Dissolved Organic Matter and PAHs from Soil Below the Critical Micelle Concentration
PublicationIncreased use and production of ionic liquids (ILs) may result in emissions into the environment. Particularly vulnerable are industrial areas and landfills where ILs are utilized and ultimately disposed of. This study investigates how IL contamination can affect soil properties and the sorption of pre-existing contaminants. The commonly used IL 1-methyl-3-octyl imidazolium chloride ([OMIM][Cl]) was added at various quantities...
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Evaluation of the suitability of electronic nose based on fast GC for distinguishing between the plum spirits of different geographical origins
PublicationPlum spirits are obtained exclusively via the alcoholic fermentation and distillation of meaty plums or must composed of plums, with or without stones. The European countries such as Poland, the Slovak Republic, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Romania are the leading producers of this alcoholic beverage. Information about the authentication of plum spirits produced in different countries can be found in the published literature....
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IN VITRO PROPAGATION OF RHODODENDRON TOMENTOSUM - AN ENDANGERED ESSENTIAL OIL BEARING PLANT FROM PEATLAND
PublicationRhododendron tomentosum Harmaja (formerly Ledum palustre L.) is a medicinal peat bog plant native to northern Europe, Asia and North America. This plant has a distinctive aroma thanks to the presence of essential oil, to which it also owes its anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antimicrobial and insecticidal properties. However, in Europe R. tomentosum is classified as an endangered species, mainly due to degradation of peatlands. In...
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Preparation and characterization of monometallic (Au) and bimetallic (Ag/Au) modified-titania photocatalysts activated by visible light
PublicationThe Au-TiO2 and Ag/Au-TiO2 nanoparticles have been prepared using a water-in-oil microemulsion system of water/AOT/cyclohexane and water/Triton X-100/cyclohexane. The obtained photocatalysts were subsequently characterized by a BET method, DRS spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron emission spectroscopy (XPS), scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and X-ray powder diffraction analysis (XRD). For gold-doped titanium (IV) oxide...
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High-temperature Co-electrolysis of CO2/H2O and direct methanation over Co-impregnated SOEC. Bimetallic synergy between Co and Ni
PublicationTo study the synergy between the transition metals for enhancing the electrochemical and chemical activity, a series of SOECs were modified with a small amount of Co ions, namely 1.8, 3.6, and 5.4 wt% in the reduced state. The addition of βCD into the precursor solution allowed for extremely fine dispersion of Co species across the Ni-YSZ cermet structure. The sample containing 3.6 wt% Co reached an outstanding over 2.5-times-higher...
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Correlations between the wear of car brake friction materials and airborne wear particle emissions
PublicationAirborne wear particles emitted from transport vehicle brakes are one of the main sources of toxic metals in inhalable particulate matter. Prediction of wear particle emissions may become more accurate if the relationship between the wear and particle emission characteristics is known. An experimental study was performed to investigate proportional correlations between the mass wear, 0.01–0.42 μm particle emission measured by a NanoScan...
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Experimental tuning of AuAg nanoalloy plasmon resonances assisted by machine learning method
PublicationPlasmonic nanostructures based on AuAg nanoalloys were fabricated by thermal annealing of metallic films in an argon atmosphere. The nanoalloys were chosen because they can extend the wavelength range in which plasmon resonance occurs and thus allow the design of plasmonic platforms with the desired parameters. The influence of initial fabrication parameters and experimental conditions on the formation of nanostructures was investigated....
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Biocompatibility and potential functionality of lanthanum-substituted cobalt ferrite spinels
PublicationBulk and nanostructurized lanthanum-cobalt spinels have attracted a lot of interest from researchers, due to their unique physical and chemical properties as well as functionalities, which are interesting for biomedical and electronic industries. In this manuscript we show that introducing small lanthanum (La3+) content can tune magnetic, electronic and cytotoxic properties of the CoFe2− xLaxO4 system (x ≤ 0.1). The mechanisms...
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Multifrequency Nanoscale Impedance Microscopy (m-NIM): A novel approach towards detection of selective and subtle modifications on the surface of polycrystalline boron-doped diamond electrodes
PublicationIn this paper, we describe the modification of Nanoscale Impedance Microscopy (NIM), namely, a combination of contact-mode atomic force microscopy with local impedance measurements. The postulated approach is based on the application of multifrequency voltage perturbation instead of standard frequency-by-frequency analysis, which among others offers more time-efficient and accurate determination of the resultant impedance spectra...
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Effect of Tool Positioning Factors on the Strength of Dissimilar Friction Stir Welded Joints of AA7075-T6 and AA6061-T6
PublicationFriction Stir Welding (FSW) is a solid-state bonding technique. There are many direct and indirect factors affecting the mechanical and microstructural properties of the FSW joints. Tool offset, tilt angle, and plunge depth are determinative tool positioning in the FSW process. Investigating the effect of these factors simultaneously with other parameters such as process speeds (rotational speed and translational speed) and tool...
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Ultrasound-assisted wet-impregnation of Ag–Co nanoparticles on cellulose nanofibers: Enhanced catalytic hydrogenation of 4-nitrophenol
PublicationIn this study, a novel nanocomposite of bimetallic Ag–Co nanoparticles supported on cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) was synthesised using the ultrasound-assisted wet-impregnation method for catalytic applications. CNFs were prepared from cellulose acetate using the electrospinning technique. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis confirmed the successful synthesis of CNFs. Further, scanning electron microscopy (SEM)...
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Chiral Schiff base complexes as an effective catalyst in Diels-Alder reaction
PublicationDiels Alder reaction is a very important tool in carbon-carbon bond formation. It is a cycloaddition between a conjugated diene and a second compound called dienophile. Where one or more heteroatoms are present in the diene and/or dienophile framework, the cycloaddition is called hetero-Diels-Alder reaction (HDA). The asymmetric Diels-Alder reaction is among the most powerful available methodologies for that construction of optically...
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Biological responses to environmental contamination. How can metal pollution impact signal honesty in avian species?
PublicationEnvironmental pollution, for example with metals, can significantly affect the ecosystem balance leading to severe changes. Biologically active pigments are relevant for the appearance and condition of birds. Melanin and carotenoid particles are the most frequently deposited pigments in avian integument. They are responsible for the majority of colors of bird plumage. The phenotypic expression can be affected by metal contamination....
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Toxicity and chemical analyses of airport runoff waters in Poland
PublicationThe aim of this study was to assess the ecotoxicological effects of various compounds in complex airport effluents using a chemical and ecotoxicological integrated strategy. The present work deals with the determination of sum of PCBs, PAHs, pesticides, cations, anions, phenols, anionic, cationic, non-ionic detergents, formaldehyde and metals – as well as TOC and conductivity – in runoff water samples collected from 2009 to 2011...
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Drug-drug interaction potential of antitumor acridine agent C-1748: The substrate of UDP-glucuronosyltransferases 2B7, 2B17 and the inhibitor of 1A9 and 2B7
PublicationBackground The compound 9-(2′-hydroxyethylamino)-4-methyl-1-nitroacridine (C-1748), the promising antitumor agent developed in our laboratory was determined to undergo phase I metabolic pathways. The present studies aimed to know its biotransformation with phase II enzymes – UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs) and its potential to be engaged in drug-drug interactions arising from the modulation of UGT activity. Methods UGT-mediated...
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Optimal edge-coloring with edge rate constraints
PublicationWe consider the problem of covering the edges of a graph by a sequence of matchings subject to the constraint that each edge e appears in at least a given fraction r(e) of the matchings. Although it can be determined in polynomial time whether such a sequence of matchings exists or not [Grötschel et al., Combinatorica (1981), 169–197], we show that several questions about the length of the sequence are computationally intractable....
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A new method and equipment for the detection of presence and estimation of the content of the petroleum-based fraction in lubricating oils, especially those emitted to the atmosphere
PublicationLubricating oil, used in cutting equipment, works in the so-called open lubrication system and is entirely emitted to the environment. When such an oil contains even a small portion of the crude oil-derived fraction, which is still very common, the oil is a serious environmental pollution. In addition, the oil mist poses a serious threat to the health of employees. Current legal regulations require users of saws and harvesters...
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Superhydrophobic and superoleophilic melamine sponges impregnated with deep eutectic solvents for oil spill cleanup
PublicationThe extensive extraction of oil from the bottom of seas and oceans and its transportation by tankers increase the risk of potential environmental disasters associated with hydrocarbon fractions entering water reservoirs. Therefore, this paper presents the preparation of a simple impregnation of a melamine sponge with deep eutectic solvents (DES), which can be obtained from natural sources, including coconut oil, palm kernel oil,...
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The Analysis of Working Parameters Decrease in Photovoltaic Modules as a Result of Dust Deposition
PublicationThe aspect of dust accumulation on the surface of photovoltaic (PV) modules should be thoroughly understood in order to minimize possible obstacles affecting energy generation. Several elements affect the amount of pollutant gathered on the surface of a solar device, mainly its localization, which is irreversibly linked to factors such as annual rainfall, occasional snow coverage, or, in a dry climate, increased blow of dust during...
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Impact of overloaded vehicles on load equivalency factors and service period of flexible pavements
PublicationOverloaded vehicles occur less frequently in comparison to properly loaded vehicles but due to their greater potential to cause damage they significantly contribute to the distress of pavement structure. As the studies show, the phenomena of vehicles overloading intensifies when the control of traffic is poor and the average percentage of overloaded vehicles on analyzed roads varies from 6% to 23%. The main goal of the ar-ticle...
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A New Approach to Assess Quality of Motion in Functional Task of Upper Limb in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
Publication(1) Background: This study presents a new method for the motion quantitative analysis of Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients (DMD) performing functional tasks in clinical conditions. (2) Methods: An experimental study was designed to define how different levels of external mass (light and heavy) influence the performance of the upper limbs of a tested DMD and reference subject (RS) during horizontal movements (level of the waist)...
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A new approach to design of weather disruption-tolerant wireless mesh networks
PublicationWireless Mesh Networks, offering transmission rates of 1–10 Gb/s per a millimeter-wave link (utilizing the 71–86 GHz band) seem to be a promising alternative to fiber optic backbone metropolitan area networks because of significantly lower costs of deployment and maintenance. However, despite providing high transmission rates in good weather conditions, high-frequency wireless links are very susceptible to weather disruptions....
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A Novel Approach of Using Selected Unconventional Geodesic Methods of Estimation on VTS Areas
PublicationThe Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) systems belong to the fundamental tools used in ensuring a high level of safety across sea basins with heavy traffic, where the presence of navigational hazards poses a great risk of collision or a ship running aground. In order to determine the mutual location of ships, VTS systems obtain information from different facilities, such as coastal radar stations, AIS, and vision systems. Fixing a ship’s...
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Mercury concentration in the sediments as a function of changing climate in coastal zone of Southern Baltic Sea – preliminary results
PublicationMercury, despite of its many uses in industry, is also highly toxic. It is highly neurotoxic, and because of the ability of mercury to penetrate placental barrier, in some countries ban on predatory fish consumption (the main route of mercury into human organism) by pregnant women was introduced. There are very little publications describing the consequences of weather anomalies on contaminants cycles. No research was published...
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Study of the anticancer potential of Cd complexes of selenazoyl-hydrazones and their sulfur isosters
PublicationThe biological activity of Cd compounds has been investigated scarce since Cd has been recognized as a human carcinogen. However, the toxicity of cadmium is comparable to the toxicity of noble metals such as Pt and Pd. The paradigm of metal toxicity has been challenged suggesting that metal toxicity is not a constant property, yet it depends on many factors like the presence of appropriate ligands. Studies on anticancer activity...
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Synthesis of CoFe2O4 Nanoparticles: The Effect of Ionic Strength, Concentration, and Precursor Type on Morphology and Magnetic Properties
PublicationThe present study highlights the effect of metal precursor types (SO4 2¯, Cl¯, and NO3¯), their concentration, and the influence of ionic strength of reaction environment on the morphology, surface, and magnetic properties of CoFe2O4 particles. The magnetic nanoparticles were obtained by chemical coprecipitation in alkaline medium at increasing metal concentration in the range of 0.0425 mol·dm-3 to 0.17 mol·dm-3 and calcination...
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Prediction of metal deformation due to line heating; an alternative method of mechanical bending, based on artificial neural network approach
PublicationLine heating is one of the alternative methods of forming metals and this kind of forming uses the heating torch as a source of heat input. During the process, many parameters are considered like the size of the substrate, thickness, cooling method, source power intensity, the travel speed of the power source, the sequence of heating, and so on. It is important to analyze the factors affecting the...
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Ionic liquids for nano- and microstructures preparation. Part 1: Properties and multifunctional role
PublicationIonic liquids (ILs) are a broad group of organic salts of varying structure and properties, used in energy conversion and storage, chemical analysis, separation processes, as well as in the preparation of particles in nano- and microscale. In material engineering, ionic liquids are applied to synthesize mainly metal nanoparticles and 3D semiconductor microparticles. They could generally serve as a structuring agent or as a reaction...
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Lanthanide co-doped TiO2: the effect of metal type and amount on surface properties and photocatalytic activity
PublicationPreparation of new rare earth metal-containing TiO2 nanocomposites (Nd3+/Er3+, Nd3+/Eu3+, Eu3+/Ho3+-TiO2) using sol–gel route and their photoactivity under visible and ultraviolet light is reported. The obtained photocatalysts were subsequently characterized by Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) method, UV–Vis diffuse-reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), luminescence spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray powder diffraction...
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ANALYSIS OF THE IMPACT OF THE PLANNED SEWAGE DISCHARGE FROM THE ‘NORTH’ POWER PLANT ON THE VISTULA WATER QUALITY
PublicationThe paper presents results of analysis of the industrial sewage discharge impact from the ‘North’ Power Plant on the Vistula water quality around 45+330 of the river kilometer. For the analysis, the two-dimensional models of flow, impurities and temperature transport were used. Hydrological conditions of the analyzed section of the river, characteristic flows and bathymetry of the riverbed in the first instance were defined....
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A new B-D-galactosidase with a low temperature optimum isolated from the Antarctic Arthrobacter sp. 20B: gene cloning, purification and characterization.
PublicationA psychrotrophic bacterium producing a coldadaptedB-galactosidase upon growth at low temperatureswas classiWed as Arthrobacter sp. 20B. A genomic DNAlibrary of strain 20B introduced into Escherichia coliTOP10F' and screening on X-Gal (5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl-B-D-galactopyranoside)-containing agar plates ledto the isolation of B-galactosidase gene. The B-galactosidasegene (bgaS) encoding a protein of 1,053 amino acids,with a...
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Conductive printable electrodes tuned by boron-doped nanodiamond foil additives for nitroexplosive detection
PublicationAn efficient additive manufacturing-based composite material fabrication for electrochemical applications is reported. The composite is composed of commercially available graphene-doped polylactide acid (G-PLA) 3D printouts and surface- functionalized with nanocrystalline boron-doped diamond foil (NDF) additives. The NDFs were synthesized on a tantalum substrate and transferred to the 3D-printout surface at 200 °C. No other electrode...
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Manufacturing and Recycling Impact on Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Innovative Wind Power Plant Part 1/2
PublicationWind power plants are considered as ecologically-clean source of energy. However, manufacturing processes cannot be treated that way. Manufacturing processes consume huge amount of electrical and thermal energy and significant amount of materials, e.g. steel, polymers, oils and lubricants. All of the above could be potentially harmful for environment. There are not many works and publications regarding life-cycle analysis of wind...
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Development of Intelligent Road Signs with V2X Interface for Adaptive Traffic Controlling
PublicationThe objective of this paper is to present a practical project of intelligent road signs, under which a series of new products for the regulation of traffic is being created. The engineering part of the project, described in this paper, was preceded by a series of experimental studies, the results of which were described in another paper accepted for publication at the MTS-ITS conference 2019, entitled "Comparative study on the effectiveness...
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Reduced-cost optimization-based miniaturization of microwave passives by multi-resolution EM simulations for internet of things and space-limited applications
PublicationStringent performance specifications along with constraints imposed on physical dimensions, make the design of contemporary microwave components a truly onerous task. In recent years, the latter demand has been growing in importance, with the innovative application areas such as Internet of Things coming into play. The need to employ full-wave electromagnetic (EM) simu-lations for response evaluation, reliable yet CPU heavy, only...
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Artificial neural network prophecy of ion exchange process for Cu (II) eradication from acid mine drainage
PublicationThe removal of heavy metal ions from wastewater was found to be significant when the cation exchange procedure was used effectively. The model of the cation exchange process was built using an artificial neural network (ANN). The acid mine drainage waste’s Cu(II) ion was removed using Indion 730 cation exchange resin. Experimental data from 252 cycles were recorded. In a column study, 252 experimental observations validated the...
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BODIPY‐Perylene Charge Transfer Compounds; Sensitizers for Triplet‐Triplet Annihilation Up‐conversion
PublicationBODIPY heterochromophores, asymmetrically substituted with perylene and/or iodine at the 2 and 6 positions were prepared and investigated as sensitizers for triplet-triplet annihilation up conversion (TTA-UC). Single-crystal X-ray crystallographic analyses show that the torsion angle between BODIPY and perylene units lie between 73.54 and 74.51, though they are not orthogonal. Both compounds show intense, charge transfer absorption...