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Search results for: pre-treatment
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Properties of an innovative multi-functional finish for the improvement of indoor air quality
PublicationDue to lifestyle changes, people spend most of their time indoors at present; thus, Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) is a matter of utmost importance. Multi-functional and innovative finishes can help to passively improve the IAQ, benefitting the health and comfort of occupants. For this study, reference and pre-mixed commercial mortars are compared to a new multi-functional hydraulic lime mortar for indoor finishes, in which conventional...
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Theoretical analysis and experimental tests of tilting pad journal bearings with shoes made of polymer material and low-boiling liquid lubrication
PublicationSelecting the appropriate bearing system for the rotor requires a good knowledge of the available solutions and the operating conditions of the machine. For newly designed machinery operating in adverse conditions, selecting bearings that ensure correct and long-lasting operation can be extremely challenging. Difficulties in- crease when the machine’s operating parameters are beyond the technical capabilities of available technical solutions....
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Thermal Image Processing for Respiratory Estimation from Cubical Data with Expandable Depth
PublicationAs healthcare costs continue to rise, finding affordable and non-invasive ways to monitor vital signs is increasingly important. One of the key metrics for assessing overall health and identifying potential issues early on is respiratory rate (RR). Most of the existing methods require multiple steps that consist of image and signal processing. This might be difficult to deploy on edge devices that often do not have specialized...
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Assessing the attractiveness of human face based on machine learning
PublicationThe attractiveness of the face plays an important role in everyday life, especially in the modern world where social media and the Internet surround us. In this study, an attempt to assess the attractiveness of a face by machine learning is shown. Attractiveness is determined by three deep models whose sum of predictions is the final score. Two annotated datasets available in the literature are employed for training and testing...
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Cathodic Protection System of the Spiral Classifier at the KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. Ore Concentration Plant—Case Study of Commissioning and Control of Operating Parameters
PublicationThe project involved designing, constructing and commissioning a cathodic protection system for a selected spiral classifier operating at the KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. Ore Concentration Plant (O/ZWR). The authors developed a concept and assumptions regarding the corrosion protection of a large industrial device using a cathodic protection system with an external power source. Pre-project studies included conducting a trial polarization...
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Determination of Heavy Metals Concentration in Water and Soil at Various Locations in Lahore and their Harmful Impacts on Human and Plants life
PublicationHeavy metals poisoning of soil and water has resulted from industrial expansion in Lahore, Pakistan, creating a significant environmental hazard. As a result, monitoring the contamination of soil and water around industrial sites is critical. The fact that higher concentrations of heavy metals have a negative influence on both plants and human life and this cannot be ignored. Higher heavy metal concentrations have a direct impact...
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Medical-Grade PCL Based Polyurethane System for FDM 3D Printing—Characterization and Fabrication
PublicationThe widespread use of three-dimensional (3D) printing technologies in medicine has contributed to the increased demand for 3D printing materials. In addition, new printing materials that are appearing in the industry do not provide a detailed material characterization. In this paper, we present the synthesis and characterization of polycaprolactone (PCL) based medical-grade thermoplastic polyurethanes, which are suitable for forming...
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On the Handling of Outliers in the GNSS Time Series by Means of the Noise and Probability Analysis
PublicationThe data pre-analysis plays a significant role in the noise determination. The most important issue is to find an optimum criterion for outliers removal, since their existence can affect any further analysis. The noises in the GNSS time series are characterized by spectral index and amplitudes that can be determined with a few different methods. In this research, the Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) was used. The noise amplitudes...
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A comparative study on selective properties of Kraft lignin–natural rubber composites containing different plasticizers
PublicationEffect of plasticizer type on the kraft lignin–nat- ural rubber composite microstructure and selected proper- ties was determined. The composites were prepared with addition of a commonly used naphthenic oil plasticizer to study the decomposition product of polyurethane (glyc- erolysate) and its characteristics. Kraft lignin powder was incorporated into the natural rubber matrix in amounts of 10 and 40 parts per 100 parts of natural...
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Organic solvents aggregating and shaping structural folding of protein, a case study of the protease enzyme
PublicationLow solubility of reactants or products in aqueous solutions can result in the enzymatic catalytic reactions that can occur in non-aqueous solutions. In current study we investigated aqueous solutions containing different organic solvents / deep eutectic solvents (DESs) that can influence the protease enzyme's activity, structural, and thermal stabilities. Retroviral aspartic protease enzyme is responsible for the cleavage of the...
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A New Adaptive Method for the Extraction of Steel Design Structures from an Integrated Point Cloud
PublicationThe continuous and intensive development of measurement technologies for reality modelling with appropriate data processing algorithms is currently being observed. The most popular methods include remote sensing techniques based on reflected-light digital cameras, and on active methods in which the device emits a beam. This research paper presents the process of data integration from terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) and image data...
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Expedited Acquisition of Database Designs for Reduced-Cost Performance-Driven Modeling and Rapid Dimension Scaling of Antenna Structures
PublicationFast replacement models have been playing an increasing role in high-frequency electronics, including the design of antenna structures. Their role is to improve computational efficiency of the procedures that normally entail large numbers of expensive full-wave electromagnetic (EM) simulations, e.g., parametric optimization or uncertainty quantification. Recently introduced performance-driven modeling methods, such as the nested...
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Metabolic transformation of antitumor acridinone C-1305 but not C-1311 via selective cellular expression of UGT1A10 increases cytotoxic response: implications for clinical use.
PublicationThe acridinone derivates C-1305 and C-1311 are promising antitumor agents with high activity against several experimental cellular and tumor models and which are under evaluation in pre-clinical and early phase clinical trials. Recent evidence from our laboratories has indicated that both compounds were conjugated by several UGT isoforms with the most active being extrahepatic UGT1A10. The present studies were designed to test...
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Machine Learning and Deep Learning Methods for Fast and Accurate Assessment of Transthoracic Echocardiogram Image Quality
PublicationHigh-quality echocardiogram images are the cornerstone of accurate and reliable measurements of the heart. Therefore, this study aimed to develop, validate and compare machine learning and deep learning algorithms for accurate and automated assessment of transthoracic echocardiogram image quality. In total, 4090 single-frame two-dimensional transthoracic echocardiogram...
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A case study on the rotomolding behavior of black tea waste and bio-based high-density polyethylene composites: Do active compounds in the filler degrade during processing?
PublicationThis study verified the possibility of using waste material from the food industry (black tea) as functional filler of rotomolded biobased high-density polyethylene-based composites. As part of the experimental work, the influence of the materials preparation, i.e., dry blending versus twin-screw extrusion, on the effectiveness of the stabilizing antioxidant effect of the black tea was analyzed. The aim of the work was to verify...
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OrphaGPT: An Adapted Large Language Model for Orphan Diseases Classification
PublicationOrphan diseases (OD) represent a category of rare conditions that affect only a relatively small number of individuals. These conditions are often neglected in research due to the challenges posed by their scarcity, making medical advancements difficult. Then, the ever-evolving medical research and diagnosis landscape calls for more attention and innovative approaches to address the complex challenges of rare diseases and OD. Pre-trained...
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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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Design-Oriented Two-Stage Surrogate Modeling of Miniaturized Microstrip Circuits with Dimensionality Reduction
PublicationContemporary microwave design heavily relies on full-wave electromagnetic (EM) simulation tools. This is especially the case for miniaturized devices where EM cross-coupling effects cannot be adequately accounted for using equivalent network models. Unfortunately, EM analysis incurs considerable computational expenses, which becomes a bottleneck whenever multiple evaluations are required. Common simulation-based design tasks include...
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On Computationally-Efficient Reference Design Acquisition for Reduced-Cost Constrained Modeling and Re-Design of Compact Microwave Passives
PublicationFull-wave electromagnetic (EM) analysis has been playing a major role in the design of microwave components for the last few decades. In particular, EM tools allow for accurate evaluation of electrical performance of miniaturized structures where strong cross-coupling effects cannot be adequately quantified using equivalent network models. However, EM-based design procedures (parametric optimization, statistical analysis) generate...
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Successive cytotoxicity control by evolutionary surface decorated electronic push-pull green ZnCr-LDH nanostructures: Drug delivery enlargement for targeted breast cancer chemotherapy
PublicationThe reason for the increasing bioavailability and biocompatibility of the porous nanomaterials in the presence of different (bio)molecules is still unknown. The role of difference functional groups and their interactions with the potential bioavailability and biocompatibility is of great importance. To investigate the potential contribution of the electronic effects (especially on the surface of the porous nanomaterials) on their...
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Photocatalytic hydrogen evolution from glycerol-water mixture under visible light over zinc indium sulfide (ZnIn2S4) nanosheets grown on bismuth oxychloride (BiOCl) microplates
PublicationZnIn2S4 (ZIS) is one of the widely studied photocatalyst for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution applications due to its prominent visible light response and strong reduction ability. However, its photocatalytic glycerol reforming performance for hydrogen evolution has never been reported. Herein, the visible light driven BiOCl@ZnIn2S4 (BiOCl@ZIS) composite was synthesized by growth of ZIS nanosheets on a template-like hydrothermally...
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Attention-Based Deep Learning System for Classification of Breast Lesions—Multimodal, Weakly Supervised Approach
PublicationBreast cancer is the most frequent female cancer, with a considerable disease burden and high mortality. Early diagnosis with screening mammography might be facilitated by automated systems supported by deep learning artificial intelligence. We propose a model based on a weakly supervised Clustering-constrained Attention Multiple Instance Learning (CLAM) classifier able to train under data scarcity effectively. We used a private...
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An automated learning model for twitter sentiment analysis using Ranger AdaBelief optimizer based Bidirectional Long Short Term Memory
PublicationSentiment analysis is an automated approach which is utilized in process of analysing textual data to describe public opinion. The sentiment analysis has major role in creating impact in the day-to-day life of individuals. However, a precise interpretation of text still relies as a major concern in classifying sentiment. So, this research introduced Bidirectional Long Short Term Memory with Ranger AdaBelief Optimizer (Bi-LSTM RAO)...
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Removal of phenolic inhibitor compounds from hydrolysates and post-fermentation broths by using a Hydrophobic Magnetic Deep Eutectic Solvent
PublicationHydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), furfural (FF), hydroquinone (HQ), and vanillin (VAN) are among the main inhibitors generated during most of biomass pre-treatments prior to fermentation processes. They are recognized as toxic to several fermentative microorganisms and therefore cause a decrease in biohydrogen or biofuel production (after hydrolysis). Moreover, if they are released into aqueous solutions (after fermentation), they can...
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Computationally efficient two-objective optimization of compact microwave couplers through corrected domain patching
PublicationFinding an acceptable compromise between various objectives is a necessity in the design of contemporary microwave components and circuits. A primary reason is that most objectives are at least partially conflicting. For compact microwave structures, the design trade-offs are normally related to the circuit size and its electrical performance. In order to obtain comprehensive information about the best possible trade-offs, multi-objective...
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Alternative methods for dark fermentation course analysis
PublicationDark fermentation course analysis is crucial, as complexed matrix of gaseous components may be formed and revealed during the process. The paper considers key issues related to the microbiological process in which complex organic substances are transformed into hydrogen. For the purposes of hydrogen generation, the application of wastewater mixed sludge pre-treated according to Faloye method (Faloye et al. in Int J Hydrog Energy...
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An Empirical Study on the Impact of Gender on Mobile Applications Usability
PublicationIn the area of broadband wireless Internet, mobile applications have already replaced their desktop equivalents and are recognized as valuable tools for any size of businesses and for private use. With the emergence of millions of apps, the quality of their interaction with the user remains an open question for software vendors. While female and male requirements and preferences are not always similar, to the best of our knowledge,...
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Processing of Polyester-Urethane Filament and Characterization of FFF 3D Printed Elastic Porous Structures with Potential in Cancellous Bone Tissue Engineering
PublicationThis paper addresses the potential of self-made polyester-urethane filament as a candidate for Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF)-based 3D printing (3DP) in medical applications. Since the industry does not provide many ready-made solutions of medical-grade polyurethane filaments, we undertook research aimed at presenting the process of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) filament formation, detailed characteristics, and 3DP of specially...
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Fast and reliable knowledge-based design closure of antennas by means of iterative prediction-correction scheme
PublicationA novel framework for expedited antenna optimization with an iterative prediction-correction scheme is proposed. The methodology is comprehensively validated using three real-world antenna structures: narrow-band, dual-band and wideband, optimized under various design scenarios. The keystone of the proposed approach is to reuse designs pre-optimized for various sets of performance specifications and to encode them into metamodels...
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Expedited Yield Optimization of Narrow- and Multi-Band Antennas Using Performance-Driven Surrogates
PublicationUncertainty quantification is an important aspect of engineering design, also pertaining to the development and performance evaluation of antenna systems. Manufacturing tolerances as well as other types of uncertainties, related to material parameters (e.g., substrate permittivity) or operating conditions (e.g., bending) may affect the antenna characteristics. In the case of narrow- or multi-band antennas, this usually leads to...
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Novel steroid sulfatase inhibitors based on N ‐thiophosphorylated 3‐(4‐aminophenyl)‐coumarin‐7‐O‐sulfamates
PublicationIn the present work, we described convenient methods for the synthesis ofN-thiophosphorylated 3-(4-aminophenyl)-coumarin-7-O-sulfamates as steroid sulfatase(STS) inhibitors. To design the structures of the potential STS inhibitors, molecularmodeling techniques were used. A computational docking method was used to deter-mine the binding modes of the synthesized inhibitors as well as to identify potentialinteractions between specified...
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Investigation of low-temperature cracking in newly constructed high-modulus asphalt concrete base course of a motorway pavement
PublicationThe paper presents the issue of low-temperature transverse cracks which have developed in newly constructed base courses made of high-modulus asphalt concrete mix (HMAC). Numerous transverse cracks developed in the analysed HMAC base during the winter season before the pavement was actually completed, both at the transverse joint locations and in the areas between them. This had not happened so far on such a scale during road construction...
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Selective H2 production from plastic waste through pyrolysis and in-line oxidative steam reforming
PublicationThis study deals with the proposal of pyrolysis and in-line oxidative steam reforming (P-OSR) for plastic waste valorization and assesses the potential of this strategy for the selective production of H2. Overall, the study aims at progressing towards the fine-tuning of the pyrolysis-reforming technology by co-feeding O2. Thus, a multi-point O2 injection system has been developed to ensure a suitable O2 distribution in the reforming...
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S09-4 The development of the Physical Activity Environment Policy Index (PA-EPI): a tool for monitoring and benchmarking government policies and actions to improve physical activity
PublicationBackground Insufficient physical activity (PA) is a global issue for health. A multifaceted response, including government action, is essential to improve population levels of PA. The purpose of this study was to develop the ‘Physical Activity Environment Policy Index’ (PA-EPI) monitoring framework to assess government policies and actions for creating a healthy PA environment. Methods An iterative process was undertaken. This...
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The Physical Activity Environment Policy Index for monitoring government policies and actions to improve physical activity
PublicationBackground A multifaceted response, including government action, is essential to improve population levels of physical activity (PA). This article describes the development process of the ‘Physical Activity Environment Policy Index’ (PA-EPI) monitoring framework, a tool to assess government policies and actions for creating a healthy PA environment. Methods An iterative process was undertaken. This involved a review of policy...
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Data augmentation for improving deep learning in image classification problem
PublicationThese days deep learning is the fastest-growing field in the field of Machine Learning (ML) and Deep Neural Networks (DNN). Among many of DNN structures, the Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) are currently the main tool used for the image analysis and classification purposes. Although great achievements and perspectives, deep neural networks and accompanying learning algorithms have some relevant challenges to tackle. In this...
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‘Personas for lighting’. Three methods to develop personas for the indoor lighting environment
PublicationThe objective of this research is to describe and compare three different methods of generating ‘persona for lighting’ to envision users’ behaviour within the lighting environment. ‘Personas’ are used to represent typical users, highlighting their needs, perspectives, and expectations to aid user-centric design approaches. The researchers looked for the most useful method of shaping ‘personas for lighting’ to learn about users’...
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Expedited Yield-Driven Design of High-Frequency Structures by Kriging Surrogates in Confined Domains
PublicationUncertainty quantification is an important aspect of engineering design, also pertaining to the development and performance evaluation of high-frequency structures systems. Manufacturing tolerances as well as other types of uncertainties, related to material parameters (e.g., substrate permittivity) or operating conditions (e.g., bending) may affect the characteristics of antennas or microwave devices. For example, in the case...
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Micro-cracking pattern recognition of hybrid CNTs/GNPs cement pastes under three-point bending loading using acoustic emission technique
PublicationThe generation of microcracks has an important influence on the behaviour of concrete structures. In this study, the acoustic emission (AE) technique was used to investigate the fracture phenomena and micro-cracking behavior of hybrid carbon nanotubes (CNTs, the 1-D allotrope of carbon atoms) and graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs, 2D monolayer of sp2-hybridized carbon atoms), cement composites under three-point bending loading. In...
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Recent Advances in Accelerated Multi-Objective Design of High-Frequency Structures using Knowledge-Based Constrained Modeling Approach
PublicationDesign automation, including reliable optimization of engineering systems, is of paramount importance for both academia and industry. This includes the design of high-frequency structures (antennas, microwave circuits, integrated photonic components), where the appropriate adjustment of geometry and material parameters is crucial to meet stringent performance requirements dictated by practical applications. Realistic design has...
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A novel concept of negative CO2 emission power plant for utilization of sewage sludge
PublicationCarbon Capture and Storage (CSS) technology is considered an important “bridge technology”, allowing effective abatement of CO2 emissions for power units using fossil fuels. However, if biomass is used in a power plant, equipped with CCS system, negative CO2 emissions can be achieved. In practice, wide development of such technologies would enable not only reduction of CO2 emissions, but also reversal of the harm done so far. In...
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Microcracking monitoring and damage detection of graphene nanoplatelets-cement composites based on acoustic emission technology
PublicationThis study aims to identify the micro-cracking pattern and structural applications of cement composites replaced with 0 wt%, 0.04 wt%, and 0.08 wt% contents of graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) over cement weight through acoustic emission (AE) monitoring under mechanical degradation. The ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV–vis) results showed that at 60 min sonication period, GNP-4 showed maximum absorbance rate of 16.15% compared...
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Which transport policies increase physical activity of the whole of society? A systematic review
PublicationPurpose: There is strong evidence of the links between car-dependence and the physical inactivity pandemic. Physical inactivity accounts for 6–10% of major non-communicable diseases. Research consistently shows that unlike passive transport, active transport is associated with higher total daily physical activity (PA). While there are public policies that support PA in transport and, as a result, overall PA levels, the specific...
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Multiplicative Long Short-Term Memory with Improved Mayfly Optimization for LULC Classification
PublicationLand Use and Land Cover (LULC) monitoring is crucial for global transformation, sustainable land control, urban planning, urban growth prediction, and the establishment of climate regulations for long-term development. Remote sensing images have become increasingly important in many environmental planning and land use surveys in recent times. LULC is evaluated in this research using the Sat 4, Sat 6, and Eurosat datasets. Various...
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Direct-contact condensation from vapour- gas mixture in a spray ejector condenser for negative CO2 power plant
PublicationDirect-contact condensation of vapour containing the inert gas on a spray of subcooled liquid exists in a number of technical applications. For example, it may be found in the nuclear industry (e.g. pressurized jet under normal operating conditions, in safety analyses) or in the chemical industry (e.g. mixing-type heat exchanger, degasser, sea water desalting). The problem is also essential to modelling and analysis of some...
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Comparative analysis of three‐phase dual active bridge converter with different transformer topology and modern universal control for DC microgrids
PublicationThe presented work discusses issues related to the use of modern multiphase topologies of Dual Active Bridge (DAB)-type converters. Converters of this type are widely used in most DC microgrid applications. The introduction emphasizes a comparative analysis between single-phase and multi-phase DAB topologies within high-power DC microgrids, delving into their respective advantages, drawbacks, design procedures, and considerations...
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Hydrothermal synthesis of vanadium ammonium compounds – the crucial role of the pressure
PublicationDue to the structural diversity and chemical activity, vanadium oxides and their derivatives are continuingly in the great interest of scientist. In a large family of vanadium compounds, one of the most interesting are ammonium vanadates (with the general formula (NH4)xVyOz). They have received much attention because of their promising application as cathode material in mono- and multivalent-ion batteries [1]. Hydrothermal synthesis...
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Knowledge-based performance-driven modeling of antenna structures
PublicationThe importance of surrogate modeling techniques in the design of modern antenna systems has been continuously growing over the recent years. This phenomenon is a matter of practical necessity rather than simply a fashion. On the one hand, antenna design procedures rely on full-wave electromagnetic (EM) simulation tools. On the other hand, the computational costs incurred by repetitive EM analyses involved in solving common tasks...
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Accurate Modeling of Antenna Structures by Means of Domain Confinement and Pyramidal Deep Neural Networks
PublicationThe importance of surrogate modeling techniques has been gradually increasing in the design of antenna structures over the recent years. Perhaps the most important reason is a high cost of full-wave electromagnetic (EM) analysis of antenna systems. Although imperative in ensuring evaluation reliability, it entails considerable computational expenses. These are especially pronounced when carrying out EM-driven design tasks such...
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New patterns in the position of CEE countries in global value chains: functional specialisation approach
PublicationResearch background: High servitisation of manufacturing makes it impossible to separate services from manufactured goods properly, which implies difficulties in the assessment of the position of the country on the smile curve, i.e. in the proper assignment of products or services to one of the industrial process steps: pre-production, pure fabrication or post-production services. Therefore, we propose to use the business functions...