Search
Search results for: target groups
-
Multisine impedimetric probing of biocatalytic reactions for label-free detection of DEFB1 gene: How to verify that your dog is not human?
PublicationAlbert is a dog (Canis familiaris), but he does not realize this. Albert loves human food (and beer), watching movies on the internet, sleeping in bed, and more. But he should not do all these things. To convince him that, we have desinged a test procedure. The DEFB1 gene is unique to human species. Detecting its presence from saliva and in short periods may offer an advantage in the field of forensic medicine, and influence Albert’s...
-
Advanced Oxidation Processes for Degradation of Water Pollutants—Ambivalent Impact of Carbonate Species: A Review
PublicationAdvanced oxidation processes (AOPs) hold great promise in the removal of organic contaminants. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced in AOPs react with target pollutants to initially form several intermediate compounds that finally undergo complete mineralization. Such observations are reported, especially for laboratory-scale experiments performed in pure water. On the other hand, while considering real contaminated wastewater...
-
Development of a new green analytical methodology for the determination of phthalates in single-use babies diapers using ultrasound-assisted extraction and polypropylene porous membrane
PublicationA green extraction strategy was developed and utilized for the extraction and determination of phthalates. The extraction is based on ultrasound-assisted extraction and a polypropylene porous membrane. The Box-Behnken model was performed to optimize the extraction condition. The optimal extraction conditions are 5.5 mL of ethyl acetate, 10 min of extraction time and 55 C for extraction temperature. The developed green extraction...
-
Mercury content in beetroot and beetroot-based dietary supplements
PublicationTotal mercury (THg) concentrations in fifty-four beetroot-based DSs and seven lots of conventional and organic beetroots (divided into unpeeled, peeled, and skins) were determined by direct thermal decomposition-gold amalgamation cold vapour atomic absorption spectrometry. The analytical procedure was optimised and validated. The recovery (%) for Hg was 101.9 and 92.73 in BCR-463 and DOLT 4, respectively. The intermediate precision...
-
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...
-
Chained machine learning model for predicting load capacity and ductility of steel fiber–reinforced concrete beams
PublicationOne of the main issues associated with steel fiber–reinforced concrete (SFRC) beams is the ability to anticipate their flexural response. With a comprehensive grid search, several stacked models (i.e., chained, parallel) consisting of various machine learning (ML) algorithms and artificial neural networks (ANNs) were developed to predict the flexural response of SFRC beams. The flexural performance of SFRC beams under bending was...
-
CHEMOTHERAPY-MEDIATED COMPLICATIONS OF WOUND HEALING. AN UNDERSTUDIED SIDE EFFECT
PublicationSignificance: Chemotherapy is a primary method to treat cancer, but while cytotoxic drugs are designed to target rapidly dividing cancer cells, they can also affect other cell types, including dermal cells and macrophages involved in wound healing, which often leads to the development of chronic wounds. The situation becomes even more severe when chemotherapy is combined with surgical tumor excision. Recent advances: Despite its...
-
Stream Reasoning to Improve Decision-Making in Cognitive Systems
PublicationABSTRACT Cognitive Vision Systems have gained a lot of interest from industry and academia recently, due to their potential to revolutionize human life as they are designed to work under complex scenes, adapting to a range of unforeseen situations, changing accordingly to new scenarios and exhibiting prospective behavior. The combination of these properties aims to mimic the human capabilities and create more intelligent and efficient...
-
Novel application of terminal restriction fragments length polymorphism method (t-RFLP) for identification of six clinically important Candida sp.
PublicationTerminal restriction fragments length polymorphism method (t-RFLP) is a modified classical RFLP method. The main difference is based on carrying out PCR using a fluorescently labeled primer or primers. The result of such modification is that after digestion of amplicons only terminal fragments of PCR product (containing fluorescent dye) are visualized. T-RFLP method has found application in environmental microbiology and epidemiology....
-
Technology convergence and digital divides. A country-level evidence for the period 2000–2010
PublicationThe paper, mostly empirical in nature, investigates issues on cross-national new information and communication technologies (ICTs) adoption patterns and growth directions. In the period of 2000–2010, a great number of countries underwent substantial changes on the field of ICTs implementation. Many of them made a great “jump” starting with almost “zero level” of ICTs adoption in the year 2000 and during the ten- year period were...
-
Toward Mechanosynthesis of Diamondoid Structures: X. Commercial Capped CNT SPM Tip as Nowadays Available C2 Dimer Placement Tool for Tip-Based Nanofabrication
PublicationAccording to Drexler, advanced mechanosynthesis will employ advanced nano-machines, but advanced nano-machines will themselves be products of advanced mechanosynthesis. This circular relationship must be broken via TBN technology development. In this article, the possibility of using easily available commercial CNT tips to assemble carbon-based intermediate generations of nano-devices is considered. Mechanosynthesis of a target...
-
Deep eutectic solvents – A new platform in membrane fabrication and membrane-assisted technologies
PublicationDeep eutectic solvents (DESs) are a new class of solvents that can offset some of the primary drawbacks of typical solvents and ionic liquids (ILs). Since DESs fall into the guidelines of “Twelve Principles of Green Chemistry”, their implementation in several types of applications has exponentially increased over the last years. The usage of DESs has been directed to the designing, manufacture and purification of new materials...
-
Degradation of tetracycline antibiotic utilizing light driven-activated oxone in the presence of g-C3N4/ZnFe LDH binary heterojunction nanocomposite
PublicationIn the present study, a binary heterojunction nanocomposite composed of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) and Zn/Fe-contained layered double hydroxide (ZnFe LDH) was employed as heterogeneous catalyst for the decomposition of tetracycline (TC) antibiotic utilizing Oxone and UV light irradiation. The sole use of g-C3N4/ZnFe LDH as adsorbent led to the negligible elimination of TC. In addition, the sole use of Oxone or UV (photolysis)...
-
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...
-
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...
-
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...
-
Novel molecules containing structural features of NSAIDs and 1,2,3-triazole ring: Design, synthesis and evaluation as potential cytotoxic agents
PublicationFor the first time the template containing structural features of more than one NSAIDs and the 1,2,3-triazole ring was explored for the identification of potential cytotoxic agents. These new and complex molecules were predicted to be effective inhibitors of PDE4B by molecular modelling studies in silico. The multi-step synthesis of these compounds were carried out starting from the well-known drug nimesulide and involved the use...
-
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...
-
Long range molecular dynamics study of interactions of the eukaryotic glucosamine-6-phosphate synthase with fructose-6-phosphate and UDP-GlcNAc
PublicationGlucosamine-6-phosphate synthase (EC 2.6.1.16) is responsible for catalysis of the first and practically irreversible step in hexosamine metabolism. The final product of this pathway, uridine 5 diphospho Nacetyl- d-glucosamine (UDP-GlcNAc), is an essential substrate for assembly of bacterial and fungal cell walls. Moreover, the enzyme is involved in phenomenon of hexosamine induced insulin resistance in type II diabetes, which...
-
Antifungal Activity and Synergism with Azoles of Polish Propolis
PublicationThe aim of our work was to check if one of the products of natural origin, namely honey 19 bee propolis may be an alternative or supplement to currently used antifungal agents. The activity 20 of 50 ethanolic extracts of propolis (EEPs), harvested in Polish apiaries, was tested on a group of 69 21 clinical isolates of C. albicans. Most of the EEPs showed satisfactory activity, with minimum 22 fungicidal concentrations (MFC) mainly...
-
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...
-
Smart skills and education in a future economy
PublicationWhether the role of education is to prepare people for employment or to have meaningful lives in general, it will identify and develop skills and competencies, as well as vocational and personal attributes. Skills, such as critical thinking, novel ideation, and complex cognitive and social skills, are areas where humans continue to outperform smart machines. The purpose of this article is to review the skills and competencies that...
-
Low to intermediate energy elastic electron scattering from dichloromethane (CH2Cl2)
PublicationWe report a theoretical-experimental investigation of electron scattering by dichloromethane (CH2Cl2) in the low- and intermediate energy ranges. Experimental elastic differential cross sections (DCS), in the incident electron energy range of 0.5-800 eV and scattering angle range of 10°–130°, were measured using a crossed beam relative flow technique. Integral and momentum- transfer cross sections were determined from the experimental...
-
Imidazoacridinone-dependent lysosomal photodestruction: a pharmacological Trojan horse approach to eradicate multidrug-resistant cancers
PublicationMultidrug resistance (MDR) remains a primary hindrance to curative cancer therapy. Thus, introduction of novel strategies to overcome MDR is of paramount therapeutic significance. Sequestration of chemotherapeutics in lysosomes is an established mechanism of drug resistance. Here, we show that MDR cells display a marked increase in lysosome number. We further demonstrate that imidazoacridinones (IAs), which are cytotoxic fluorochromes,...
-
Impact of slow breathing on the blood pressure and subarachnoid space width oscillations in humans
PublicationThe aim of the study was to assess cardiac and respiratory blood pressure (BP) and subarachnoid space (SAS) width oscillations during the resting state for slow and fast breathing and breathing against inspiratory resistance. Experiments were performed on a group of 20 healthy volunteers (8 males and 12 females; age 25.3 ± 7.9 years; BMI = 22.1 ± 3.2 kg/m2). BP and heart rate (HR) were measured using continuous finger-pulse photoplethysmography....
-
A Method for Determination and Compensation of a Cant Influence in a Track Centerline Identification Using GNSS Methods and Inertial Measurement
PublicationAt present, the problem of rail routes reconstruction in a global reference system is increasingly important. This issue is called Absolute Track Geometry, and its essence is the determination of the axis of railway tracks in the form of Cartesian coordinates of a global or local coordinate system. To obtain such a representation of the track centerline, the measurement methods are developed in many countries mostly by the using...
-
High Signal Resolution Pulse Oximetry as a Prognostic Indicator of Radiotherapy Toxicity: A Pilot Study
PublicationIntroduction: Radiotherapy plays a prominent role in the multidisciplinary treatment of cancers. Despite new irradiation techniques, radiation-induced cardiotoxicity remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Therefore, prognostic indicators of radiotherapy toxicity are essential. This study aimed to investigate the influence of applied radiotherapy on the pulse wave recording and thereby on...
-
Dynamics of algae growth and nutrients in experimental enclosures culturing bighead carp and common carp: Phosphorus dynamics
PublicationThis is the third paper of the series about “Dynamics of algae growth and nutrients in experimental enclosures culturing bighead carp and common carp”. In this paper, phosphorus dynamics were investigated under the condition of culturing bighead carp and common carp with added fish food (nitrogen dynamics is discussed in the second paper because their behaviors are so different from each other). Nearly fifty days’ observation results...
-
Mechanisms of azole resistance among clinical isolates of Candida glabrata in Poland
PublicationCandida glabrata is currently ranked as the second most frequently isolated aetiological agent of human fungal infections, next only to Candida albicans. In comparison with C. albicans, C. glabrata shows lower susceptibility to azoles, the most common agents used in treatment of fungal infections. Interestingly, the mechanisms of resistance to azole agents in C. albicans have been much better investigated than those in C. glabrata....
-
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...
-
Application of mechanistic and data-driven models for nitrogen removal in wastewater treatment systems
PublicationIn this dissertation, the application of mechanistic and data-driven models in nitrogen removal systems including nitrification and deammonification processes was evaluated. In particular, the influential parameters on the activity of the Nitrospira activity were assessed using response surface methodology (RSM). Various long-term biomass washout experiments were operated in two parallel sequencing batch reactor (SBR) with a different...
-
Development and experimental validation of a novel double-stage yield steel slit damper-buckling restrained brace
PublicationThis research is focused on the development and experimental validation of a novel double-stage yield steel slit damper-buckling restrained brace (SSD-DYB) system designed for seismic resistance of steel structures. The SSD-DYB integrates the energy dissipation capability of a steel slit damper (SSD) in its initial segment, enhancing performance in the case of lower seismic intensities levels while employing a larger segment for...
-
Network effects—do they matter for digital technologies diffusion?
PublicationPurpose The main research target of this paper is to capture the network effects using the case of mobile cellular telephony, identified in European telecommunication markets, and its determinants enhancing the process of digital technologies diffusion. Design/methodology/approach This research relies on panel and dynamic panel regression analysis. The empirical sample covers 30 European countries, and the period for the analysis...
-
The effects of the IM1-12Br ionic liquid and the oxytetracycline mixture on selected marine and brackish microorganisms
PublicationThe number of applications and commercialized processes utilizing ionic liquids has been increasing, and it is anticipated that this trend will persist and even intensify in the future. Ionic liquids possess desirable characteristics, such as low vapor pressure, good water solubility, amphiphilicity, and stability. Nevertheless, these properties can influence their environmental behavior, resulting in resistance to biotic and abiotic...
-
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...
-
Design, synthesis and high antitumor potential of new unsymmetrical bisacridine derivatives towards human solid tumors, specifically pancreatic cancers and their unique ability to stabilize DNA G-quadruplexes
PublicationNew promising unsymmetrical bisacridine derivatives (UAs), have been developed. Three groupsincluding 36 compounds were synthesized by the condensation of 4-nitro or 4-methylacridinone, imi-dazoacridinone and triazoloacridinone derivatives with 1-nitroacridine compounds linked with anaminoalkyl chain. Cytotoxicity screening revealed the high potency of these compounds against severaltumor cell lines. Particularly, imidazoacridinone-1-nitroacridine...
-
Online Volatile Compound Emissions Analysis Using a Microchamber/Thermal Extractor Coupled to Proton Transfer Reaction-Mass Spectrometry
PublicationIndoor air is a complex and dynamic mixture comprising manifold volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that may cause physiological and/or psychological discomfort, depending on the nature of exposure. This technical note presents a novel approach to analyze VOC emissions by coupling a microchamber/thermal extractor (μ-CTE) system to a proton transfer reaction-mass spectrometer (PTR-MS). This configuration provides an alternative to...
-
Improved-Efficacy Optimization of Compact Microwave Passives by Means of Frequency-Related Regularization
PublicationElectromagnetic (EM)-driven optimization is an important part of microwave design, especially for miniaturized components where the cross-coupling effects in tightly arranged layouts make traditional (e.g., equivalent network) representations grossly inaccurate. Efficient parameter tuning requires reasonably good initial designs, which are difficult to be rendered for newly developed structures or when re-design for different operating...
-
In vivoevaluation of the CB1allosteric modulator LDK1258 reveals CB1-receptor independent behavioral effects
PublicationIn the present study, we examined whether LDK1258, which produces strong CB1receptor allosteric effects ininvitroassays, would elicitin vivoeffects consistent with allosteric activity. In initial studies, LDK1258 reducedfood consumption and elicited delayed antinociceptive effects in the chronic constrictive injury of the sciaticnerve (CCI) model of neuropathic pain, which unexpectedly emerged 4 h post-injection. UPLC-MS/MS analysisquantified...
-
Cyclodextrin polymers as efficient adsorbents for removing toxic non-biodegradable pimavanserin from pharmaceutical wastewaters
PublicationPresence of even small amount of active pharmaceutical ingredients in the environment carries risks tohuman and animal health, presenting an important issue. The paper presents issues related to the newdrug - pimavanserin (PMV). Biological treatment efficiency of pimavanserin (PMV) was evaluated usinglab-scale Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR). It has been shown to have a negative effect on aquatic or-ganisms by classifying it as...
-
Modeling of medium flow processes in transportation pipelines - the synthesis of their state-space models and the analysis of the mathematical properties of the models for leak detection purposes
PublicationThe dissertation concerns the issue of modeling the pipeline flow process under incompressible and isothermal conditions, with a target application to the leak detection and isolation systems. First, an introduction to the model-based process diagnostics is provided, where its basic terminology, tools, and methods are described. In the following chapter, a review of the state of the art in the field of leak detection and isolation...
-
Physicochemical and Mechanical Performance of Freestanding Boron-Doped Diamond Nanosheets Coated with C:H:N:O Plasma Polymer
PublicationThe physicochemical and mechanical properties of thin and freestanding heavy boron-doped diamond (BDD) nanosheets coated with a thin C:H:N:O plasma polymer were studied. First, diamond nanosheets were grown and doped with boron on a Ta substrate using the microwave plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition technique (MPECVD). Next, the BDD/Ta samples were covered with nylon 6.6 to improve their stability in harsh environments and...
-
Knowledge management in the IPv6 migration process
PublicationThere are many reasons to deploy IPv6 protocol with IPv4 address space depletion being the most obvious. Unfortunately, migration to IPv6 protocol seems slower than anticipated. To improve pace of the IPv6 deployment, authors of the article developed an application that supports the migration process. Its main purpose is to help less experienced network administrators to facilitate the migration process with a particular target...
-
The role of glucuronidation in drug resistance
PublicationThe final therapeutic effect of a drug candidate, which is directed to a specific molecular target strongly depends on its absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion (ADME). The disruption of at least one element of ADME may result in serious drug resistance. In this work we described the role of one element of this resistance: phase II metabolism with UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs). UGT function is the transformation...
-
PAYMENT TRANSACTIONS’ ENERGY EFFICIENCY
PublicationThe payment system and infrastructure is a sector that is not given enough attention today in the context of energy efficiency. This sector plays a big role in organizing and ensuring money circulation and funds. It has its value consisting on the one hand of the cost of payment equipment, infrastructure, payment instruments. On other hand, its value consists of the cost of energy for their manufacture and maintenance. The European...
-
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...
-
Antifungal Effect of Penicillamine Due to the Selective Targeting of L-Homoserine O-Acetyltransferase
PublicationDue to the apparent similarity of fungal and mammalian metabolic pathways, the number of established antifungal targets is low, and the identification of novel ones is highly desirable. The results of our studies, presented in this work, indicate that the fungal biosynthetic pathway of L-methionine, an amino acid essential for humans, seems to be an attractive perspective. The MET2 gene from Candida albicans encoding L-homoserine...
-
Amberlyst-15 catalysed synthesis of novel indole derivatives under ultrasound irradiation: Their evaluation as serotonin 5‑HT2C receptor agonists
PublicationA series of indole based novel Schiff bases was designed as potential agonists of 5‑HT2C receptor that was supported by docking studies in silico. These compounds were synthesized via Amberlyst-15 catalysed condensation of an appropriate pyrazole based primary amine with the corresponding indole-3-aldehyde under ultrasound irradiation at ambient temperature. A number of target Schiff bases were obtained...
-
Emerging strategies for enhancing detection of explosives by artificial olfaction
PublicationExplosives detection systems need to be able to reliably detect a wide range of explosive materials and their vapours. The continued development and improvement of artificial olfaction techniques, including electronic nose (EN), remains important to overcome existing challenges and meet requirements posed by new improvements in the field of explosives. There is an increasingly popular trend aimed at improvement of fundamental metrological...
-
Mechanisms of Damage to DNA Labeled with Electrophilic Nucleobases Induced by Ionizing or UV Radiation
PublicationHypoxia—a hallmark of solid tumors—makes hypoxic cells radioresistant. On the other hand, DNA, the main target of anticancer therapy, is not sensitive to the near UV photons and hydrated electrons, one of the major products of water radiolysis under hypoxic conditions. A possible way to overcome these obstacles to the efficient radio- and photodynamic therapy of cancer is to sensitize the cellular DNA to electrons and/or ultraviolet...