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A new strategy for PET depolymerization: Application of bimetallic MOF-74 as a selective catalyst
PublicationLarge-volume production of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), especially in the form of bottles and food packaging containers, causes problems with polymer waste management. Waste PET could be recycled thermally, mechanically or chemically and the last method allows to obtain individual monomers, but most often it is carried out in the presence of homogeneous catalysts, that are difficult to separate and reuse. In view of this,...
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Ball milling treatment of Mn3O4 regulates electron transfer pathway for peroxymonosulfate activation
PublicationHeterogeneous metal catalysts have attracted considerable interest in advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) for wastewater treatment by activating peroxymonosulfate (PMS). However, it remains challenging to the rational design of efficient reaction pathway for high-performance contaminants removal by regulating the inherent structure of metal oxides. Herein, a high-energy ball milling method was employed to modulate the electronic...
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Permeability of the small intestinal mucus for physiologically relevant studies: Impact of mucus location and ex vivo treatment
PublicationThe small intestinal mucus is a complex colloidal system that coats the intestinal mucosa. It allows passage on nutrients/pharmaceuticals from the gut lumen towards the epithelium, whilst preventing it from direct contact with luminal microorganisms. Mucus collected from intestinal tissue is often used in studies looking at inter-mucosal transport of food particulates, drug carriers, etc. However, detaching the highly hydrated...
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Regulated Assembly of LPS, Its Structural Alterations and Cellular Response to LPS Defects
PublicationDistinguishing feature of the outer membrane (OM) of Gram-negative bacteria is its asymmetry due to the presence of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in the outer leaflet of the OM and phospholipids in the inner leaflet. Recent studies have revealed the existence of regulatory controls that ensure a balanced biosynthesis of LPS and phospholipids, both of which are essential for bacterial viability. LPS provides the essential permeability...
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Limits of enhanced of macro- and meso-scale continuum models for studying size effect in concrete under tension
PublicationThe paper investigates a mechanical quasi-static size effect in concrete during splitting tension at the macro- and meso-level. In experiments, five different diameters of cylindrical concrete specimens were tested. Twodimensional plane strain finite element (FE) simulations were carried out to reproduce the experimental size effect. The size effect in experiments by Carmona et al. was also simulated. Two enhanced continuum concrete...
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Theoretical study of the photoelectron spectrum of ethyl formate: Ab initio and density functional theory investigation
PublicationThe first ionization energy and associated photoelectron spectrum of ethyl formate are investigated with quantum chemistry calculations. The geometries, harmonic vibrational frequencies and first ionization energy are computed at the Hartree-Fock (HF) and at the second order Moller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2). Moreover, accurate ionization energies are obtained with the Coupled-Cluster theory including singles and doubles...
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Structural Heterogeneity Between EU15 and 12 New EU Members – the Obstacle to Lisbon Strategy Implementation
PublicationThe aim of this article is to identify diversity between the EU-15 and the New Members in their implementation of the Lisbon Strategy in the period 2000-2010. By analyzing a set of structural indicators, we aim to fill a gap in the literature: a lack of publications providing complex evaluation of the implementation of the Lisbon Strategy using measurable indicators. Given their suitability for international comparisons, we use...
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Project-Based Collaborative Research and Training Roadmap for Manufacturing Based on Industry 4.0
PublicationThe importance of the economy being up to date with the latest developments, such as Industry 4.0, is more evident than ever before. Successful implementation of Industry 4.0 principles requires close cooperation of industry and state authorities with universities. A paradigm of such cooperation is described in this paper stemming from university partners with partly overlapping and partly complementary areas of expertise in manufacturing....
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Typology of towns in the peripheries of Polish coastal regions: conclusions for urban policy
PublicationPeripheries means the land outside metropolitan areas. One of the main problemsin these areas is a lack of growth factors. Some towns can contribute to the developmentof these regions, because there are few such factors, and it is easier to create the newones, especially in urban policy.The subject of this paper is a typology of towns within the Polish peripheral coastalregions, limited to towns with more than 5 thousand inhabitants....
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Multi-state vibronic interactions in the fluorobenzene radical cation: The importance of quadratic coupling terms
PublicationThe multi-mode multi-state vibronic interactions in the set of X^2B_1 - D^2A_1 electronic states of the monofluoro benzene radical cation are investigated theoretically, based on a quadratic vibronic coupling approach. The underlying ionization potentials and coupling constants are obtained from ab initio coupled-cluster calculations. Previous investigations (relying on the linear coupling approach) are extended by including all...
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Parallel implementation of background subtraction algorithms for real-time video processing on a supercomputer platform
PublicationResults of evaluation of the background subtraction algorithms implemented on a supercomputer platform in a parallel manner are presented in the paper. The aim of the work is to chose an algorithm, a number of threads and a task scheduling method, that together provide satisfactory accuracy and efficiency of a real-time processing of high resolution camera images, maintaining the cost of resources usage at a reasonable level. Two...
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Physical properties of homogeneous TiO2 films prepared by high power impulse magnetron sputtering as a function of crystallographic phase and nanostructure
PublicationOptical, photo-electrochemical, crystallographic and morphological properties of TiO2 thin films prepared by high power impulse magnetron sputtering at low substrate temperatures (<65 ◦C) without post-deposition thermal annealing are studied. The film composition-anatase, rutile or amorphous TiO2-is adjusted by the pressure (p ∼ 0.75-15 Pa) in the deposition chamber. The different crystallographic phases were determined with grazing...
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Deep Eutectic Solvents as Agents for Improving the Solubility of Edaravone: Experimental and Theoretical Considerations
PublicationIn this study, both practical and theoretical aspects of the solubility of edaravone (EDA) in Deep Eutectic Solvents (DESs) were considered. The solubility of edaravone in some media, including water, can be limited, which creates the need for new efficient and environmentally safe solvents. The solubility of EDA was measured spectrophotometrically and the complex intermolecular interactions within the systems were studied with...
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Deep Eutectic Solvents as Agents for Improving the Solubility of Edaravone: Experimental and Theoretical Considerations
PublicationIn this study, both practical and theoretical aspects of the solubility of edaravone (EDA) in Deep Eutectic Solvents (DESs) were considered. The solubility of edaravone in some media, including water, can be limited, which creates the need for new efficient and environmentally safe solvents. The solubility of EDA was measured spectrophotometrically and the complex intermolecular interactions within the systems were studied with...
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Evolution of the nanostructure of Pt and Pt–Co polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell electrocatalysts at successive degradation stages probed by X-ray photoemission
PublicationWe present a set of XPS (X-ray photoemission spectroscopy) measurements and detailed data-analysis of electrodes for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) based on carbon supported catalysts (Pt and Pt–Co) subjected to a step-like potential cycling (accelerated degradation test). The results of the measurements complete and corroborate parallel TEM (transmission electron microscopy), XRD (X-ray diffraction) and XAS (X-ray...
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In Silico Safety Assessment of Bacillus Isolated from Polish Bee Pollen and Bee Bread as Novel Probiotic Candidates
PublicationBacillus species isolated from Polish bee pollen (BP) and bee bread (BB) were characterized for in silico probiotic and safety attributes. A probiogenomics approach was used, and in-depth genomic analysis was performed using a wide array of bioinformatics tools to investigate the presence of virulence and antibiotic resistance properties, mobile genetic elements, and secondary metabolites. Functional annotation and Carbohydrate-Active...
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Depressive symptoms in elderly people participating in University of the Third Age and residents of Nursing Homes: The role of optimism and acceptance of passing
PublicationThe elderly age group needs particular support in preventing development of depressive symptoms, among others, due to the prospect of passing. This group is heterogenous in terms of characteristics of ways of spending leisure time, which, as an important aspect of everyday life affecting the quality of interpersonal relationships and well-being, might be related to the level of their depressive symptoms. The aim of this study...
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Enhanced electrochemical activity of boron-doped nanocarbon functionalized reticulated vitreous carbon structures for water treatment applications
PublicationAn extraordinary charge transfer kinetics and chemical stability make a boron-doped diamond (BDD) a prom- ising material for electrochemical applications including wastewater treatment. Yet, with flat geometrical sur- faces its scaling options are limited. In this study, the reticulated Vitreous Carbon (RVC) served as a substrate for boron-doped diamondized nanocarbons (BDNC) film growth resulting with complex heterogeneity carbon structures...
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Keratin-Butyrate Scaffolds Promote Skin Wound Healing in Diabetic Rats Through Down-Regulation of IL-1β and Up-Regulation of Keratins 16 and 17
PublicationImpaired wound healing particularly in diabetics creates a significant healthcare burden. The study aimed to evaluate the effect of keratin-butyrate fibers (FKDP +0.1%NaBu) in a full-thickness skin wound model in 30 diabetic rats. Physicochemical examination showed that the obtained dressing possesses a heterogeneous structure and butyrate was slowly released into the wound. Moreover, the obtained dressing is nontoxic and supports...
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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...
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Stannates, titanates and tantalates modified with carbon and graphene quantum dots for enhancement of visible-light photocatalytic activity
PublicationMost efforts in heterogeneous photocatalysis are focused on development of new and stable photoactive materials efficient in degradation of various pollutants under visible-light irradiation. In this regard, the wide-bandgap perovskite semiconductors, i.e., SrTiO3 (titanate), SrSnO3 (stannate) and AgTaO3 (tantalate), were prepared by a solvothermal method, and then modified with carbon quantum dots (CQDs) or graphene quantum dots...
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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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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)...
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Structural and dynamic changes adopted by EmrE, multidrug transporter protein—Studies by molecular dynamics simulation
PublicationEmrE protein transports positively charged aromatic drugs (xenobiotics) in exchange for two protons and thus provides bacteria resistance to variety of drugs. In order to understand how this protein may recognize ligands, the monomer and asymmetric apo-form of the EmrE dimer embedded in a heterogeneous phospholipid (POPE + POPG) membrane were studied by molecular dynamics simulations. Dimer is regarded as a functional form of the...
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Thermal utilization of meat and bone meals. Performance analysis in terms of drying process, pyrolysis and kinetics of volatiles combustion
PublicationA development of technology of thermal utilization requires a thorough knowledge of the physicochemical properties, as well as kinetics of combustion of volatiles and char. Due to waste management regulations the meat and bone meal (MBM) is regarded as biofuel constituting one of the alternatives to fossil fuels in the energy market. MBM is a heterogeneous material that may consist of several different fractions. The extensive...
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Distributed Evacuation in Graphs with Multiple Exits
PublicationWe consider the problem of efficient evacuation using multiple exits. We formulate this problem as a discrete problem on graphs where mobile agents located in distinct nodes of a given graph must quickly reach one of multiple possible exit nodes, while avoiding congestion and bottlenecks. Each node of the graph has the capacity of holding at most one agent at each time step. Thus, the agents must choose their movements strategy...
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Chemical-Assisted Mechanical Lapping of Thin Boron-Doped Diamond Films: A Fast Route Toward High Electrochemical Performance for Sensing Devices
PublicationThere is an urgent need for an effective and economically viable increase in electrochemical performance of boron-doped diamond (BDD) electrodes that are used in sensing and electrocatalytic applications. Specifically, one must take into consideration the electrode heterogeneity due to nonhomogenous boron-dopant distribution and the removal of sp2 carbon impurities saturating the electrode, without interference in material integrity....
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The possibilities for application of new comminution circuits in order to improve technological indexes of KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. copper ore concentrators = Możliwości zastosowania nowych układów rozdrabniania w aspekcie wskaźników technologicznych w warunkach O/ZWR
PublicationArtykuł opisuje zagadnienia związane z efektywnością procesu przygotowania urobku do wzbogacania. Przeanalizowano w nim aktualne układy rozdrabniające, oparte o kruszarki młotkowe i młyny prętowe, jak również warianty układów rozdrabniania z aplikacjami najnowszych rozwiązań techniczno – technologicznych tj. wysokociśnieniowej kruszarki walcowej oraz kruszarki stożkowej. Omawiane aspekty oparte są na badaniach prowadzonych...
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A demand for innovation support in samll and medium-sized enterprises in the baltic sea region
Publicationthe aim of the expertise is to analyze the actual demand of smes from the baltic sea region for innovation support. the results of the conducted study can help formulate recommendations designed to increase innovation and competitiveness of smes in the baltic sea region in the future. research activities of this study include: the evaluation of innovation level of the baltic sea region enterprises (type and intensity of implemented...
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Vegetable derived-oil facilitating carbon black migration from waste tire rubbers and its reinforcement effect
PublicationThree dimensional chemically cross-linked polymer networks present a great challenge for recycling and reutilization of waste tire rubber. In this work, the covalently cross-linked networks of ground tire rubber (GTR) were degraded heterogeneously under 150 °C due to the synergistic effects of the soybean oil and controlled oxidation. The degradation mechanism was discussed using Horikx theory and Fourier transformation infrared...
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Remote communication in Scrum teams - a COVID-19 preventive measure or work time optimisation?
PublicationThe article presents the impact of remote work, resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, on the functioning of Scrum teams. Attempts have been made to analyse the positive and negative aspects of remote work. The article also looks at the impact of remote work on the level of communication and efficiency of Scrum teams. For this purpose, the author conducted research on a sample of 40 organisations that declared to use Scrum methodology,...
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Information Retrieval in Wikipedia with Conceptual Directions
PublicationThe paper describes our algorithm used for retrieval of textual information from Wikipedia. The experiments show that the algorithm allows to improve typical evaluation measures of retrieval quality. The improvement of the retrieval results was achieved by two phase usage approach. In first the algorithm extends the set of content that has been indexed by the specified keywords and thus increases the Recall value. Then, using the...
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Three levels of fail-safe mode in MPI I/O NVRAM distributed cache
PublicationThe paper presents architecture and design of three versions for fail-safe data storage in a distributed cache using NVRAM in cluster nodes. In the first one, cache consistency is assured through additional buffering write requests. The second one is based on additional write log managers running on different nodes. The third one benefits from synchronization with a Parallel File System (PFS) for saving data into a new file which...
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Novel analytical method for detection of orange juice adulteration based on ultra-fast gas chromatography
PublicationThe food authenticity assessment is an increasingly important issue in food quality and safety. The application of an electronic nose based on ultra-fast gas chromatography technique enables rapid analysis of the volatile compounds from food samples. Due to the fact that this technique provides chemical profiling of natural products, it can be a powerful tool for authentication in combination with chemometrics. In this article,...
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The effect of anthropogenic activity on BTEX, NO2, SO2, and CO concentrations in urban air of the spa city of Sopot and medium-industrialized city of Tczew located in North Poland
PublicationThe major goal of the present study is to compare the air quality of two urban locations situated in Northern Poland – the spa City of Sopot and the medium-industrialized city of Tczew using chemometric methods. As a criterion for the assessment of atmospheric air quality, measurements of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and total xylenes were used (collected from atmospheric air using diffusion-type passive samplers) as well as...
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Extraction of stable foreground image regions for unattended luggage detection
PublicationA novel approach to detection of stationary objects in the video stream is presented. Stationary objects are these separated from the static background, but remaining motionless for a prolonged time. Extraction of stationary objects from images is useful in automatic detection of unattended luggage. The proposed algorithm is based on detection of image regions containing foreground image pixels having stable values in time and...
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Platelet RNA Sequencing Data Through the Lens of Machine Learning
PublicationLiquid biopsies offer minimally invasive diagnosis and monitoring of cancer disease. This biosource is often analyzed using sequencing, which generates highly complex data that can be used using machine learning tools. Nevertheless, validating the clinical applications of such methods is challenging. It requires: (a) using data from many patients; (b) verifying potential bias concerning sample collection; and (c) adding interpretability...
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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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Detection of circulating tumor cells by means of machine learning using Smart-Seq2 sequencing
PublicationCirculating tumor cells (CTCs) are tumor cells that separate from the solid tumor and enter the bloodstream, which can cause metastasis. Detection and enumeration of CTCs show promising potential as a predictor for prognosis in cancer patients. Furthermore, single-cells sequencing is a technique that provides genetic information from individual cells and allows to classify them precisely and reliably. Sequencing data typically...
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The effect of imidazolium ionic liquid on the morphology of Pt nanoparticles deposited on the surface of SrTiO3 and photoactivity of Pt–SrTiO3 composite in the H2 generation reaction
PublicationPhotocatalytic water splitting has great potential in solar-hydrogen production as a low-cost and environmentally friendly method. Different unique techniques used to obtain photocatalysts with various modifications to improve H2 generation have been introduced. In the present work, SrTiO3 was successfully synthesized via the solvothermal method in the presence of ionic liquid (IL) - 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide ([BMIM][Br])...
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Silicon oxycarbide ceramics as anodes for lithium ion batteries: influence of carbon content on lithium storage capacity
PublicationWe report here on the synthesis and characterization of silicon oxycarbide (SiOC) in view of its application as a potential anode material for Li-ion batteries. SiOC ceramics are obtained by pyrolysis of various polysiloxanes synthesized by sol–gel methods. The polysiloxanes contain different organic groups attached to silicon, which influence the chemical composition and the microstructure of the final ceramic product. The structure...
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Measurement method for capacitive sensors for microcontrollers based on a phase shifter
PublicationA complete measurement method dedicated to capacitive sensors has been developed. It includes the development of hardware (an analogue interface circuit for microcontrollers with built-in times/counters and analogue comparators) and software (a measurement procedure and a systematic error calibration (correction) algorithm which is based on a calibration dictionary). The interface circuit consists of a low-pass filter and a phase...
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Impact of dyes isomerization effect on the charge transfer phenomenon occurring on the dye/nanosemiconductor interface
PublicationThe present work aimed to find the answer how does the isomerization of the Ru based dyes affect the overall photon-to-current efficiency of the DSSCs and to explain the charge transfer phenomenon occurring on the dye/ nanosemiconductor interface. Therefore, electronic and optical properties of three bipyridine derivatives anchored on the TiO2 electrode were investigated by computational simulations based on quantum chemistry codes...
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Characterization of home-made and regional fruit wines by evaluation of correlation between selected chemical parameters
PublicationSince the last decade of the 20th century, there has been rising interest in the production of fruit wines, as evidenced by the high number of published papers and books covering this matter. When aiming to produce quality fruit wines, it is essential to evaluate the analytical parameters of the beverage. In this context, there are a large number of analyses for the evaluation of wines and fruit wines. This article characterizes...
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Chemometric Assessment and Best-Fit Function Modelling of the Toxic Potential of Selected Food Packaging Extracts
PublicationFood packaging materials constitute an ever more threatening environmental pollutant. This study examined options to specifically assess the ecotoxicity of packaged wastes, such as cans, subjected to various experimental treatments (in terms of extraction media, time of exposure, and temperature) that imitate several basic conditions of the process of food production. The extracts were studied for their ecotoxicity with bioluminescent...
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Assessment of Lipophilicity Indices Derived from Retention Behavior of Antioxidant Compounds in RP-HPLC
PublicationReverse phase high pressure liquid chromatography was employed in order to evaluate the lipophilicity of antioxidant compounds from different classes, such as phenolic acids, flavanones, flavanols, flavones, anthocyanins, stilbenes, xantonoids, and proanthocyanidins. The retention time of each compound was measured using five different HPLC columns: RP18 (LiChroCART, Purosphere RP-18e), C8 (Zorbax, Eclipse XDBC8), C16-Amide (Discovery...
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Application of chemometric techniques in studies of toxicity of selected commercially available products for infants and children
PublicationThe goal of the present study is to assess the impact of the experimental conditions for extraction procedures (time of extraction, thermal treatment and type of extraction media) as applied to several baby and infant products checked for their possible ecotoxicological response when tested by various ecotoxicity tests(Microtox®, Ostracodtoxkit F™and Xenoscreen YES/YAS™). The systems under consideration are multidimensional by...
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An Analysis of Contextual Aspects of Conceptualization: A Case Study and Prospects
PublicationIn this chapter we present a new approach to development of modularized knowledge bases. We argue that modularization should start from the very beginning of modeling, i.e. from the conceptualization stage. To make this feasible, we propose to exploit a context-oriented, semantic approach to modularization. This approach is based on the Structural Interpretation Model (SIM) presented earlier elsewhere. In the first part of thischapter...
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Availability of UAV Fleet Evaluation Based on Multi-State System
PublicationUnmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) applications are extended extremely. Some applications need to use several UAVs for a general mission which can be considered a UAV fleet. One of the important characteristics for the evaluation of a UAV or UAV fleet is reliability. There are studies in which methods for analysis of their reliability are considered. Reliability analysis of UAV fleets is less frequently studied, although a single UAV...
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Non-Satellite Broadband Maritime Communications for e-Navigation Services
PublicationThe development of broadband network access technologies available to users on land has triggered a rapid expansion of a diverse range of services provided by terrestrial networks. However, due to limitations of digital communication technologies in the off-shore area, the maritime ICT systems evolution so far has not followed that trend. Despite the e-navigation initiative defining the set of Maritime Services, the progress in...