Search results for: NP-HARD
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Polyurethanes modified with natural polymers for medical application. I. Polyurethanes/ Chitosan and polyurethane/collagen.
PublicationFor over three decades polyurethanes (PUR or PU) have been reported for application in a variety of medical devices. These polymers consist of hard and soft segments, which allow for more subtle control of their structure and properties. By varying the composition of the different segments, properties of PURcan be tuned up for use in many areas of medicine. Recently there is a great interest in modification of biomedical PUR with...
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Determining and visualizing safe motion parameters of a ship navigating in severe weather conditions
PublicationThe paper presents a method of determining, organizing and displaying ship collision avoidance information, which is based on the Collision Threat Parameters Area (CTPA) technique. The method makes it possible to visualize navigational threats as well as possible collision avoidance manoeuvres. The solution is focused on supporting navigation in severe weather conditions. Normally collision avoidance decisions are made taking into...
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Hydrogen Production from Energy Poplar Preceded by MEA Pre-Treatment and Enzymatic Hydrolysis
PublicationThe need to pre-treat lignocellulosic biomass prior to dark fermentation results primarily from the composition of lignocellulose because lignin hinders the processing of hard wood towards useful products. Hence, in this work a two-step approach for the pre-treatment of energy poplar, including alkaline pre-treatment and enzymatic saccharification followed by fermentation has been studied. Monoethanolamine (MEA) was used as the...
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Enhancing Availability for Critical Services
PublicationTraditional approaches to provide classes of resilient service take the physical network availability as an input and then deploy redundancy and restoration techniques at various layers, often without full knowledge of mappings between layers. This makes it hard (and often inefficient) to ensure the high availability required by critical services which are typically a small fraction of the total traffic. Here, the innovative technique...
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Green TPUs from Prepolymer Mixtures Designed by Controlling the Chemical Structure of Flexible Segments
PublicationThis study concerns green thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU) obtained by controlling the chemical structure of flexible segments. Two types of bio-based polyether polyols—poly(trimethylene glycol)s—with average molecular weights ca. 1000 and 2700 Da were used (PO3G1000 and PO3G2700, respectively). TPUs were prepared via a two-step method. Hard segments consisted of 4,4?- diphenylmethane diisocyanates and the bio-based 1,4-butanodiol...
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Effect of the Drying Method of Pine and Beech Wood on Fracture Toughness and Shear Yield Stress
PublicationThe modern wood converting processes consists of several stages and material drying belongs to the most influencing future performances of products. The procedure of drying wood is usually realized between subsequent sawing operations, affecting significantly cutting conditions and general properties of material. An alternative methodology for determination of mechanical properties (fracture toughness and shear yield stress) based...
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Nanomaterials for photothermal and photodynamic cancer therapy
PublicationIn recent years, the role of optically sensitive nanomaterials has become powerful moieties in therapeutic techniques and has become particularly emphasized. Currently, by the extraordinary development of nanomaterials in different fields of medicine, they have found new applications. Phototherapy modalities, such as photothermal therapy (PTT) by toxic heat generation and photodynamic therapy (PDT) by reactive oxygen species, are...
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Applications of Additively Manufactured Tools in Abrasive Machining—A Literature Review
PublicationHigh requirements imposed by the competitive industrial environment determine the development directions of applied manufacturing methods. 3D printing technology, also known as additive manufacturing (AM), currently being one of the most dynamically developing production methods, is increasingly used in many different areas of industry. Nowadays, apart from the possibility of making prototypes of future products, AM is also used...
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An Overview of Sport and the Future Smart Cities
PublicationOne of the main challenges for future cities is to strengthen the role of people and their activities. Therefore, sport provides an opportunity to engage in physical activity, connecting citizens to the city. The question of how sport influences the development of cities and the concept of future smart cities arises. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between sport and the concept of smart cities by identifying...
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Numerical modelling of different airbag folding patterns and their influence on occupant responses in frontal vehicle impact
PublicationThis paper presented a procedure for airbag folding for the application in occupant safety studies and analysed the influence of different airbag folding patterns on the occupant severity in frontal impact. Airbags were folded in two patterns: zig-zag and top-roll, using two folding techniques: Initial Metric Method and Explicit Folding. The explicit folding was found to be more expensive in terms of preparation time. However,...
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Reliability Analysis of Data Storage Using Survival Signature and Logic Differential Calculus
PublicationThe Data storage system is an important part of any information system. All the necessary data that must be available for the successful operation of the information system are stored here. Therefore, it is advisable to think about the reliability of such a data storage system. As part of reliability engineering, it is possible to perform a reliability analysis of any system. Therefore, the data storage system can be analyzed as...
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Soft Tissue Retraction Maneuver in Cone Beam Computed Tomography Prior to Crown-Lengthening Procedure—A Technical Note
PublicationBackground: An accurate determination of the biological width and the relationship of the cemento-enamel junction with the border of the alveolar bone is crucial during a clinical crown-lengthening (CCL) procedure. The aim of this study was to present a technical note about the retraction techniques in cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) prior to CCL, highlighting the significant enhancement in procedural accuracy and predictability...
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Effective Equations for the Optimum Seismic Gap Preventing Earthquake-Induced Pounding between Adjacent Buildings Founded on Different Soil Types
PublicationThe best approach to avoid collisions between adjacent structures during earthquakes is to provide sufficient spacing between them. However, the existing formulas for calculating the optimum seismic gap preventing pounding were found to provide inaccurate results upon the consideration of different soil types. The aim of this paper is to propose new equations for the evaluation of the sufficient in-between separation gap for buildings...
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Tilting pad thrust bearing with novel material selection - experimental comparison of low and medium speed operation
PublicationThe advances in material engineering led to the development of hard carbon based coatings applied in numerous applications in order to prevent or minimize wear of the parts in contact. With Triondur® coatings, the bearing company Schaeffler has succeeded in halving the friction losses in the valve trains of passenger cars. The coatings are optimized for high abrasive wear protection and low sliding friction moments. Altogether...
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Multi Parameter Sliding Test Result Evaluation for The Selection of Material Pair for Wear Resistant Components of a Hydraulic motor Dedicated for Use With Environmentally Friendly Working Fluids
PublicationIn the paper the method and results are presented of the testing of tribological performance of a number of hard materials available commercially. The tests consisted in unidirectional sliding with liquid lubrication. The load and velocity regime chosen were similar to a standard four-ball lubricity test with constant velocity and load increasing over time. The regime was modified in such a way that over the initial part of the...
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The changes of crosslink density of polyurethanes synthesised with using recycled component. Chemical structure and mechanical properties investigations.
PublicationThis paper aims at the utilisation of glycerolysate (Gly) obtained in polyurethane recycling process by means of crude glycerine, which has in its structure hydroxyl end groups that allow for further processing. Polyurethanes (PUs) were synthesised using prepolymer method with the mixture of neat polyol and glycerolysate, in different ratios, with 4,4-diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI). The prepolymer was subsequently extended...
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Deep CNN based decision support system for detection and assessing the stage of diabetic retinopathy
PublicationThe diabetic retinopathy is a disease caused by long-standing diabetes. Lack of effective treatment can lead to vision impairment and even irreversible blindness. The disease can be diagnosed by examining digital color fundus photographs of retina. In this paper we propose deep learning approach to automated diabetic retinopathy screening. Deep convolutional neural networks (CNN) - the most popular kind of deep learning algorithms...
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The Use of USV to Develop Navigational and Bathymetric Charts of Yacht Ports on the Example of National Sailing Centre in Gdańsk
PublicationApart from extensive infrastructure protection, modern yacht ports should primarily provide vessels with navigational safety associated with their maneuvering on the approach fairway, as well as mooring in the port aquatory. For this reason, yachts entering the harbor should have up-to-date, accurate, and reliable charts of the port and its surroundings. This article presents hydrographic surveys conducted in the National Sailing...
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A fast procedure of stress state evaluation in magnetically anisotropic steels with the help of a probe with adjustable magnetizing field direction
PublicationThe paper presents a novel approach to the stress state evaluation issue. It deals with a strongly (magnetically) anisotropic materials for which a direct interpretation of the Barkhausen effect (BE) intensity would lead to erroneous results. In such a case one has to take into account both the measured BE intensity and the orientation of the magnetisation direction relative to the magnetic easy axis. For the in plane stress distribution...
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Insights into Stoichiometry Adjustments Governing the Performance of Flexible Foamed Polyurethane/Ground Tire Rubber Composites
PublicationPolyurethanes (PU) are widely applied in the industry due to their tunable performance adjusted by changes in the isocyanate index—stoichiometric balance between isocyanate and hydroxyl groups. This balance is affected by the incorporation of modifiers of fillers into the PU matrix and is especially crucial for PU foams due to the additional role of isocyanates—foaming of the material. Despite the awareness of the issue underlined...
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DC and AC Conductivity, Biosolubility and Thermal Properties of Mg-Doped Na2O–CaO–P2O5 Glasses
PublicationBioactive glasses have recently been extensively used to replace, regenerate, and repair hard tissues in the human body because of their ability to bond with living tissue. In this work, the effects of replacing Na2O with MgO on the electrical, biosolubility, and thermal properties of the target glass 10Na2O–60P2O5–30CaO (in mol%) were investigated. The electrical properties of the glasses were studied with the impedance spectroscopy...
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Experimental study on the feasibility of alternative materials for tilting pad thrust bearings operating in transition to mixed friction
PublicationIn hydrodynamic bearings traditional bearing alloys: Babbitts and bronzes are most frequently utilized. Polymer sliding layers are sometimes applied as a valuable alternative. Hard diamond-like carbon (DLC) coatings, which are also considered for certain applications may show some advantages, as well. Although material selection is of secondary importance in a full film lubrication regime it becomes important in mixed friction...
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Degradation of a nano-cutting tool: an MD simulation
PublicationW pracy przedstawiono wyniki symulacji wielokrotnego oddziaływania realistycznie ukształtowanego ostrza tnącego z modelowym, nieskończenie twardym ziarnem, przy zastosowaniu metody dynamiki molekularnej. Ostrze składało się z kilkuset tysięcy atomów metalu fcc, traktowanego za pomocą potencjału Suttona-Chena, przesuwane było ze stałą prędkością 20 m/s. Obserwowane deformacje plastyczne pojawiające się na skutek kontaktu ostrza...
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Linear game non-contextuality and Bell inequalities—a graph-theoretic approach
PublicationWe study the classical and quantum values of a class of one-and two-party unique games, that generalizes the well-known XOR games to the case of non-binary outcomes. In the bipartite case the generalized XOR(XOR-d) games we study are a subclass of the well-known linear games. We introduce a 'constraint graph' associated to such a game, with the constraints defining the game represented by an edge-coloring of the graph. We use the...
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Optimization-based stacked machine-learning method for seismic probability and risk assessment of reinforced concrete shear walls
PublicationEfficient seismic risk assessment aids decision-makers in formulating citywide risk mitigation plans, providing insights into building performance and retrofitting costs. The complexity of modeling, analysis, and post-processing of the results makes it hard to fast-track the seismic probabilities, and there is a need to optimize the computational time. This research addresses seismic probability and risk assessment of reinforced...
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Intracranial hemorrhage detection in 3D computed tomography images using a bi-directional long short-term memory network-based modified genetic algorithm
PublicationIntroduction: Intracranial hemorrhage detection in 3D Computed Tomography (CT) brain images has gained more attention in the research community. The major issue to deal with the 3D CT brain images is scarce and hard to obtain the labelled data with better recognition results. Methods: To overcome the aforementioned problem, a new model has been implemented in this research manuscript. After acquiring the images from the Radiological...
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Agile Methods In Formation of Metropolis Neighbourhood
PublicationA study of the zone adjoining the metropolis area of Tricity (Poland) was conducted on the basis of analyses of changes in spatial development, outline planning decisions and local plans of spatial development. Localities placed at several dozen kilometres from strongly urbanized areas do not constitute metropolis outskirts. The vicinity of large urban centres is an obstacle to the development of localities as self-sufficient units...
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Analysis of floor-to-column pounding of buildings founded on different soil types
PublicationThe aim of this study is to investigate the effect of the soil type on buildings experiencing floor-to-column pounding during earthquakes. Five buildings with 4-storeys, 6-storeys, and 7-storeys were considered. Three types of the 4-storey building with different total heights were taken into account which leads to floor-to-column pounding at 1/3, 1/2 and 2/3 of the height of the impacted column. Two pounding scenarios were considered,...
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Evidence of the impact of sport policies on physical activity and sport participation: a systematic mixed studies review
PublicationParticipation in sport contributes to increased physical activity (PA) levels. Increasing PA is a public health concern due to its recognised impact on health outcomes. International policy actors such as the Council of Europe, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Society for Physical Activity and Health (ISPAH) have recommended that ‘sport for all’ is promoted both for public health and as a basic right. This...
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Shaking table experimental study on pounding between adjacent structures founded on different soil types
PublicationThe aim of this study is to extensively investigate the effect of the soil type on the response of colliding structures based on shaking table experimental tests. Two single-storey models of steel buildings with different dynamic parameters were considered in this study. Three pounding scenarios were taken into account by applying different seismic gaps (0.5 cm, 1 cm and 1.5 cm as well as the no pounding case). First, the effect...
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Estimation of Stresses in a Dry Sand Layer Tested on Shaking Table
PublicationTheoretical analysis of shaking table experiments, simulating earthquake response of a dry sand layer, is presented. The aim of such experiments is to study seismic-induced compaction of soil and resulting settlements. In order to determine the soil compaction, the cyclic stresses and strains should be calculated first. These stresses are caused by the cyclic horizontal acceleration at the base of soil layer, so it is important...
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Exploiting multi-interface networks: Connectivity and Cheapest Paths
PublicationLet G = (V,E) be a graph which models a set of wireless devices (nodes V) that can communicate by means of multiple radio interfaces, according to proximity and common interfaces (edges E). The problem of switching on (activating) the minimum cost set of interfaces at the nodes in order to guarantee the coverage of G was recently studied. A connection is covered (activated) when the endpoints of the corresponding edge share at...
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Tensile and Fatigue Behavior of Additive Manufactured Polylactide
PublicationThis article presents the results of monotonic tensile and fatigue tests conducted on commercial polylactide or polylactic acid (PLA). The results of fatigue tests for this material present in the literature are limited, especially for additive manufactured elements. The specimens were manufactured using the injection molding and the fused filament fabrication (FFF) method. The FFF specimens were divided into five subgroups, depending...
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Gossiping by energy-constrained mobile agents in tree networks
PublicationEvery node of an edge-weighted tree network contains a data packet. At some nodes are placed mobile agents, each one possessing an amount of energy (not necessarily the same for all agents). While walking along the network, the agents spend the energy proportionally to the distance traveled and collect copies of the data packets present at the visited network nodes. An agent visiting a node deposits there copies of all currently...
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Effects of FSW Tool Plunge Depth on Properties of an Al-Mg-Si Alloy T-Joint: Thermomechanical Modeling and Experimental Evaluation
PublicationOne of the main challenging issues in friction stir welding (FSW) of stiffened structures is maximizing skin and flange mixing. Among the various parameters in FSW that can affect the quality of mixing between skin and flange is tool plunge depth (TPD). In this research, the effects of TPD during FSW of an Al-Mg-Si alloy T-joint are investigated. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method can help understand TPD effects on FSW...
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CMGNet: Context-aware middle-layer guidance network for salient object detection
PublicationSalient object detection (SOD) is a critical task in computer vision that involves accurately identifying and segmenting visually significant objects in an image. To address the challenges of gridding issues and feature...
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Structure-Property Relationship and Multiple Processing Studies of Novel Bio-Based Thermoplastic Polyurethane Elastomers
PublicationCurrently, the growing demand for polymeric materials has led to an increased need to develop effective recycling methods. This study focuses on the multiple processing of bio-based thermoplastic polyurethane elastomers (bio-TPUs) as a sustainable approach for polymeric waste management through mechanical recycling. The main objective is to investigate the influence of two reprocessing cycles on selected properties of bio-TPUs....
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The Impact of Isocyanate Index and Filler Functionalities on the Performance of Flexible Foamed Polyurethane/Ground Tire Rubber Composites
PublicationThe structure and performance of polyurethane (PU) foams are strongly driven by the stoichiometry of the polyaddition reaction, quantitatively described by the isocyanate index. It determines the balance between isocyanate and hydroxyl groups in the reacting system and is affected by the introduction of additional functionalities originated, e.g., from applied fillers. Nevertheless, this issue is hardly taken into account in research...
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Architects and urban planners in the face of energy transition - smart cities energy aspects in shaping building structures and cities
PublicationContemporary architects and urban planners are facing steadily increasing challenges. The growing problems around environmental issues, shrinking natural resources and climate action are just some of them. Currently, planning should also include balancing with all the aspects of sustainable development such as not only the environmental issues, but also social and economic ones. How to meet them in the era of energy transition...
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A Novel Method for the Deblurring of Photogrammetric Images Using Conditional Generative Adversarial Networks
PublicationThe visual data acquisition from small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) may encounter a situation in which blur appears on the images. Image blurring caused by camera motion during exposure significantly impacts the images interpretation quality and consequently the quality of photogrammetric products. On blurred images, it is difficult to visually locate ground control points, and the number of identified feature points decreases...
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Seismic gap between buildings founded on different soil types experiencing pounding during earthquakes
PublicationSeveral formulas have been suggested in the literature to evaluate the minimum seismic gap that would prevent collisions between adjacent buildings during earthquakes, including those based on the absolute sum of the peak displacements (ABS), square root of the sum of the squares (SRSS), the double difference method (DDC), Australian code, and approach proposed by Naderpour et al. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the...
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Entrepreneurial intentions of students from Latvia, Poland, and Ukraine: The role of perceived entrepreneurial education results
PublicationOur main aim is to establish which factors influence entrepreneurial intentions, with a particular focus on the role of entrepreneurial education and university support in Central and Eastern European countries (CEE). To verify hypotheses quantitative research was conducted using surveys among 2,085 first-year undergraduate students from three technical universities in three countries: Latvia, Poland and Ukraine. The results of...
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Framework for gamification of specialized subjects within engineering studies
PublicationGamification is a relatively new term forged along with the occurrence of new information technology, especially easy access to internet and smartphones. Gamification is a use of game mechanics, to modify the behavior of people in non-games situations to increase the involvement of individuals. The method is based on the pleasure that comes from overcoming the obstacles to reach next achievable level, which consists of challenges,...
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Ships - inspiring objects in architecture
PublicationSea-going vessels have for centuries fascinated people, not only those who happen to work at sea, but first and foremost, those who have never set foot aboard a ship. The environment in which ships operate is reminiscent of freedom and countless adventures, but also of hard and interesting maritime working life. The famous words of Pompey: “Navigare necesseest, vivere non estnecesse” (sailing is necessary, living – is not necessary),...
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Modelling of Asphalt Mixes under Long Time Creep at Low Temperatures
PublicationProper description of asphalt mixtures behavior under long time load is one of the most important factors in analyses of strain and stress relations at low temperatures both from traffic and environmental loads. For example different models of thermal stress accumulation require different approaches of description of asphalt concrete. But in all cases it is required to describe its behavior under long time loading, which in some...
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Novel Research on Biomedical Polyurethanes
PublicationThe variety of mechanical properties characterizes properly designed PURs. They may be biocompatible and reveal compatibility with blood, making them attractive materials for the fabrication of tissue scaffolds; however, like all synthetic materials, PURs don’t reveal sufficient biocompatibility. PURs may undergo certain chemical modifications (e.g., 1,4:3,6-dianhydro-D-sorbitol, ascorbic acid (AA), growth factors, covering with...
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Segmentation-Based BI-RADS ensemble classification of breast tumours in ultrasound images
PublicationBackground: The development of computer-aided diagnosis systems in breast cancer imaging is exponential. Since 2016, 81 papers have described the automated segmentation of breast lesions in ultrasound images using arti- ficial intelligence. However, only two papers have dealt with complex BI-RADS classifications. Purpose: This study addresses the automatic classification of breast lesions into binary classes (benign vs. ma- lignant)...
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Topological invariants for equivariant flows: Conley index and degree
PublicationAbout forty years have passed since Charles Conley defined the homotopy index. Thereby, he generalized the ideas that go back to the calculus of variations work of Marston Morse. Within this long time the Conley index has proved to be a valuable tool in nonlinear analysis and dynamical systems. A significant development of applied methods has been observed. Later, the index theory has evolved to cover such areas as discrete dynamical...
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Cement kiln dust
PublicationThe volume of cement production in the world has remained at the level of approxi mately 4.1 billion tons/year. The cement production process is energy intensive and is the world’s leading emitter of carbon dioxide. Therefore, the main activities cement plants are aimed at introducing technologies changes in production of clinkier.The construction industry is responsible for the majority of CO2 emissions to the atmosphere: the...
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Turning maneuver as a potential cause of the next stability failure mode for a ship in operation
PublicationThe only formal stability-related requirement referring to a turning maneuver of a ship results from the IS Codeand its application is limited to passenger ships only. The goal of the adopted criterion is to prevent an excessiveangle of heel in turn. Likewise, the remaining prescriptive criteria, this one is simply based on the concept ofa threshold that must not be exceeded. In this case, the angle of heel...