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Search results for: FECAL INDICATORS
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Interspecific and intraspecific variation in organochlorine pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls using non-destructive samples from Pygoscelis penguins
PublicationAs humans are present in Antarctica only for scientific and tourism-related purposes, it is often described as a pristine region. However, studies have identified measurable levels of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), such as organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), in the Antarctic region. These are highly toxic anthropogenic compounds with tendency to travel long distances and reach remote environments, where...
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Family business succession – the practical or also theoretical problem. Bibliometric analysis
PublicationFamily businesses, in various forms, have existed since societies began to be created. However, family business research has a decidedly shorter tradition. In favorable conditions, family enterprises develop for many generations, and their fate is intertwined with the fate of the families. The topics of family businesses are raised by researchers around the world. Estimates regarding the number of family businesses are a frequent...
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Spatial Heterogeneity Impacts of Bilateral Foreign Direct Investment on Green Energy Efficiency in China
PublicationAt present, green energy transformation and climate policy are increasingly connected. The need to improve national competitiveness and implement climate and energy strategies means that an energy-consuming country like China must rapidly enhance its green energy efficiency (GEE) and energy consumption structure. The following paper contributes to the existing literature by analyzing the effects of bilateral FDI on GEE from...
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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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Enhancing Customer Engagement in Social Media with AI – a Higher Education case study
PublicationPurpose. The study aims to demonstrate the importance of artificial intelligence (AI) and examples of tools based on it in the process of enhancing (building, measuring, and managing) customer engagement (CE) in social media in the higher education industry. CE is one of the current essential non-financial indicators of company performance in Digital Marketing strategy. The article presents a decision support system (DSS) based...
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Assessment of the factors influencing on the formation of energy-oriented modes of electric power consumption by water-drainage installations of the mines
PublicationPurpose. Performing the analysis to determine energy-efficient modes and assess the characteristics of the main indicators of electric power consumption by mine water-drainage installations based on the developed research mathematical model. Methods. To achieve the purpose set, a methodology is used to develop the multiple multifactor correlation-regression modeling with respect to the modes of electric power consumption by electrical...
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Long-Term Impact of Wind Erosion on the Particle Size Distribution of Soils in the Eastern Part of the European Union
PublicationWind erosion is the leading cause of soil degradation and air pollution in many regionsof the world. As wind erosion is controlled by climatic factors, research on this phenomenon isurgently needed in soil and land management in order to better adapt to climate change. In thispaper, the impact of wind erosion on the soil surface in relation to particle size distribution wasinvestigated. Changes in percentage of sand, silt and...
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Decomposition of halogenated nucleobases by surface plasmon resonance excitation of gold nanoparticles
PublicationHalogenated uracil derivatives are of great interest in modern cancer therapy, either as chemotherapeutics or radiosensitisers depending on their halogen atom. This work applies UV-Vis spectroscopy to study the radiation damage of uracil, 5-bromouracil and 5- uorouracil dissolved in water in the presence of gold nanoparticles upon irradiation with an Nd:YAG ns-pulsed laser operating at 532nm at dierent uences. Gold nanoparticles...
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Structure and performance properties of environmentally-friendly biocomposites based on poly(ɛ-caprolactone) modified with copper slag and shale drill cuttings wastes
PublicationThe potential application of two types of industrial wastes, drill cuttings (DC) and copper slag (CS), as silica-rich modifiers of poly(ɛ-caprolactone) (PCL) was investigated. Chemical structure and physical properties of DC and CS fillers were characterized using X-ray diffractometer, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, particle size and density measurements. PCL/DC and PCL/CS composites with a variable content of filler (5 to 50...
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A new assay for the simultaneous identification and differentiation of Klebsiella oxytoca strains.
PublicationKlebsiella oxytoca is the second most frequently identified species of Klebsiella isolated from hospitalized patients. Klebsiella spp. is difficult to identify using conventional methods and is often misclassified in clinical microbiology laboratories. K. oxytoca is responsible for an increasing number of multi-resistant infections in hospitals because of insufficient detection and identification. In this study, we propose a new...
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Mercury contamination, a potential threat to the globally endangered aquatic warbler Acrocephalus paludicola
PublicationMercury (Hg) contamination is considered a global concern for humans and wildlife, and although the number of studies dealing with that issue continues to increase, some taxonomic groups such as small passerine birds are largely understudied. In this paper, concentration of mercury in the aquatic warbler (Acrocephalus paludicola) feathers, a globally threatened passerine species, was examined. The concentration differences between...
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Thermodynamics and kinetics of amphotericin B self-association in aqueous solution characterized in molecular detail
PublicationAmphotericin B (AmB) is a potent but toxic drug commonly used to treat systemic mycoses. Its efficiency as a therapeutic agent depends on its ability to discriminate between mammalian and fungal cell membranes. The association of AmB monomers in an aqueous environment plays an important role in drug selectivity, as oligomers formed prior to membrane insertion – presumably dimers – are believed to act differently on fungal (ergosterol-rich)...
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Study of microstress state of P91 steel using complementary mechanical Barkhausen, magnetoacoustic emission, and X-ray diffraction techniques
PublicationThe paper deals with assessment of microstress state of martensite P91 steel using three complementary techniques: mechanical Barkhausen emission, magnetoacoustic emission (MAE), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) profile analysis. Magnetic coercivity Hc and microstructure were investigated with inductive magnetometry and magnetic force microscopy (MFM), respectively. Internal stress level of P91 steel was modified by heat treatment....
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Explainable machine learning for diffraction patterns
PublicationSerial crystallography experiments at X-ray free-electron laser facilities produce massive amounts of data but only a fraction of these data are useful for downstream analysis. Thus, it is essential to differentiate between acceptable and unacceptable data, generally known as ‘hit’ and ‘miss’, respectively. Image classification methods from artificial intelligence, or more specifically convolutional neural networks (CNNs), classify...
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DESIGN LOGICAL LINGUISTIC MODELS TO CALCULATE NECESSITY IN TRUCKS DURING AGRICULTURAL CARGOES LOGISTICS USING FUZZY LOGIC
Publication: The study is aimed to develop the logic-linguistic models to design a number of rules for the correct calculation of the vehicles needed, taking into account the technical, technological, and weather and climate conditions of the harvesting and transport complex. The article has shown that the construction of the design of logic-linguistic models was not performed earlier to solve the problem of the agro-industrial production...
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Water uptake kinetics and electrical transport in BaCe0.6Zr0.2Y0.1M0.1O3−δ (M = Tb, Pr, Fe) protonic conductors
PublicationBaCe0.6Zr0.2Y0.1M0.1O3−d (M = Fe, Pr, Tb) is a mixed conducting oxide in which three mobile charge carriers – oxygen ion, electron/hole, and protonic defects – are present. These types of materials have gained much interest as electrode materials for protonic ceramic fuel cells (PCFCs) and protonic ceramic electrolysis cells (PCECs). In this study, the water uptake and oxygen transport properties of different BaCe0.6Zr0.2Y0.1M0.1O3−d...
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GUIDED WAVES IN SHIP STRUCTURAL HEALTH MONITORING – A FEASIBILITY STUDY
PublicationShips and offshore structures operate in a severe corrosion degradation environment and face difficulty in providing long- lasting corrosion protection. The Classification Societies recommend regular thickness measurements leading to structural component replacements, to ensure structural integrity during service life. The measurements are usually performed using ultrasonic thickness gauges and such an approach requires multiple...
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The lethal effect of hydrotechnical concrete on freshwater Bivalvia
PublicationMost hydrotechnical buildings under construction demand the concrete mixture to be set directly under water. The main reason for such a procedure is to limit the washing away of the the concrete binding mixture and to increase the efficiency of organisation of work so as to ensure continuity in concreting. The impact on the aquatic environment of recent developments in concrete technology and the use of new components has not yet...
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Effect of the integration into Global Value Chains on the employment contract in Central and Eastern European countries
PublicationResearch background: In the era of globalization, there is a need to address decent work deficits in Global Value Chains (GVCs). The forms of working conditions reveal a broad dispersion of contents. The literature review exposes hardly any Europe-focused research assessing the socioeconomic impact of global production links and going beyond their pure economic effects assessed in terms of employment, productivity or wages. Purpose...
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Seismic damage diagnosis in adjacent steel and RC MRFs considering pounding effects through improved wavelet-based damage-sensitive feature
PublicationThis paper aims to propose complex Morlet (cmorfb-fc) wavelet-based refined damage-sensitive feature (rDSF) as a new and more precise damage indicator to diagnose seismic damages in adjacent steel and Reinforced Concrete (RC) Moment Resisting Frames (MRFs) assuming pounding conditions using acceleration responses. The considered structures include 6- and 9-story steel and 4- and 8-story RC benchmark...
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Influence of the boron doping level on the electrochemical oxidation of raw landfill leachates: advanced pre-treatment prior to the biological nitrogen removal
PublicationThe electrochemical oxidative treatment of landfill leachates (LLs) containing high amounts of ammonia nitrogen and organic matter was used as a promising method, prior to biological processes, to achieve the final effluent quality that would be acceptable by current regulations. The deposited boron-doped diamond electrodes (BDDs) with different boron doping concentrations (10000, 5000 and 500 ppm of B) were applied as anodes....
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The Business Environment of Georgia and Ukraine: Approaches to a Comparative Analysis
PublicationThe formation of a favourable business environment and the intensification of entrepreneurial activity on this basis is one of the priorities of economic policy of governments around the world. The aim of this article is to conduct a comparative analysis of some of the characteristics of the business environment of Georgia and Ukraine. The theoretical basis of the study is the understanding of the business environment as a necessary...
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Studies on the formation of formaldehyde during 2-ethylhexyl 4-(dimethylamino)benzoate demethylation in the presence of reactive oxygen and chlorine species
PublicationIn order to protect the skin from UV radiation, personal care products (PCPS) often contain chemical UV-filters. These compounds can enter the environment causing serious consequences on the water ecosystems. The aim of this study was to examine, the effect of different factors, such as UV light, the presence of NaOCl and H2O2 on the formaldehyde formation during popular UV filter, 2-ethylhexyl 4-(dimethylamino)benzoate (ODPABA)...
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Trophic Transfer of Mercury in a Temperate Marine Food Web, Southern Baltic Sea
PublicationMercury (Hg) is considered to be one of the most dangerous global environmental pollutants. The toxicity and bioavailabilityof Hg depend on its chemical form, and the greatest hazard is posed by the organomercurial compounds. Hg is introduced into the human body primarily through the consumption of fish and seafood. Despite numerous studies on Hg in marine organisms, there is still a gap in the knowledge on Hg uptake and...
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Materiały do poznania ważek (Odonata) Pojezierza Litewskiego (Polska północno-wschodnia), ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem Suwalskiego Parku Krajobrazowego, zebrane przy okazji XIX Sympozjum Sekcji Odonatologicznej Polskiego Towarzystwa Entomologicznego w 2023 r.
PublicationFrom 6-9 July 2023, the participants of the 19th Symposium of the Odonatological Section of the Polish Entomological Society carried out fieldwork on the dragonflies in and around the Suwałki Landscape Park (SPK) (NE Poland). The symposium was preceded by a field reconnaissance (8-10 June). The results of this fieldwork, which yielded 45 species at 22 sites, are presented and discussed. Three species...
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Physicochemical Properties and Application of Silica-Doped Biochar Composites as Efficient Sorbents of Copper from Tap Water
PublicationThis article concerns research on new sorption materials based on silica-doped activated carbon. A two-stage synthesis involved pyrolysis of plant material impregnated in a water glass solution , followed by hydrothermal activation of the pyrolysate in KOH solution. The resulting composite can be used as a sorbent in drinking water filters. The proposed method of synthesis enables the design of materials with a surface area...
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A Compact Circularly Polarized Antenna With Directional Pattern for Wearable Off-Body Communications
PublicationThis letter presents a geometrically simple and compact circularly polarized (CP) antenna with unidirectional radiation characteristics for off-body communications. The proposed antenna is based on a microstrip line monopole extension from a coplanar waveguide (CPW) and a protruded stub from one side of the coplanar ground plane along the length of the monopole. The orthogonal components of equal amplitudes required for circular...
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Comprehensive Evaluation of the Biological Properties of Surface-Modified Titanium Alloy Implants
PublicationAn increasing interest in the fabrication of implants made of titanium and its alloys results from their capacity to be integrated into the bone system. This integration is facilitated by different modifications of the implant surface. Here, we assessed the bioactivity of amorphous titania nanoporous and nanotubular coatings (TNTs), produced by electrochemical oxidation of Ti6Al4V orthopedic implants’ surface. The chemical composition...
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The concept of stream and system reliability on the example of the bakery industry
PublicationThis article presents a new concept of technological system reliability based on the analysis of the relationship of associations of elements of energy streams, matter, information, time and finance. The method of stream specification and the method of determining the reliability values of significant and supporting relationships are given. Relevant relationships between elements of system streams were defined as having one-time...
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Age, frequency of volunteering, and Present-Hedonistic time perspective predict donating items to people in need, but not money to combat COVID-19 during lock-down
PublicationRestrictions due to COVID-19 necessitated staying at home, but in some cases, encouraged charitable behavior, e.g., donating items to people in need (e.g., clothes, food), or money to support combatting COVID-19. Drawing on the previous findings regarding helping during disastrous situations and roles of time perspective in helping behaviors, the study tested the predictive value of age, gender, previous volunteering, altruistic...
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Concentrations of alfa- and gamma- tocopherols in human breast milk during the first months of lactation and in infant formulas
PublicationThe aim of this study was to determine the concentrations of alpha- and gamma-tocopherols in human breast milk samples from different periods of lactation and to compare them with tocopherol content in commercially available formulas for infants at corresponding ages. The study included 93 breast milk samples obtained on the 2nd (colostrum, n=17), 14th (n=30), 30th (n=27) and 90th day of lactation (n=19), along with 90 samples...
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INFLUENCE OF MEASURING CONDITIONS ON TYRE/ROAD NOISE
PublicationA decisive factor for the development of tyres and road surfaces is the ability to conduct representative and reproducible measurements of selected characteristics related to the interaction of tyres and road surfaces. In terms of tyre/road noise measurements in Europe two methods described in ISO/FDIS 11819-2 and ECE Regulation No.117 are used. The latter is compulsory for assigning the tyre noise labels. The methodologies differ...
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Linking of adjacent three-storey buildings for mitigation of structural pounding during earthquakes
PublicationThe reports after major earthquakes indicate that the earthquake-induced pounding between insufficiently separated buildings may lead to significant damage or even total collapse of structures. An intensive study has recently been carried out on mitigation of pounding hazards so as to minimize the structural damages or prevent collisions at all. The aim of this paper is to investigate the effectiveness of the method when two adjacent...
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An Experimental Investigation of Pressure Wave Celerity During the Transient Slurry Flow
PublicationTransportation of slurries in pressure pipelines is an example of a complex flow due to specific parameters of transported medium. For practitioners, the economy of designing and maintenance is usually the most important factor. For this reason, most of hydrotransport installations are fairly simple; however, they become more vulnerable to negative effects of the transient flow which can occur in pressure pipelines. As the consequence,...
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Preparation and characterization of natural rubber composites highly filled with brewers' spent grain/ground tire rubber hybrid reinforcement
PublicationBrewers' spent grain (BSG) and ground tire rubber (GTR) were applied as low-cost hybrid reinforcement natural rubber (NR). The impact of BSG/GTR ratio (in range: 100/0, 75/25, 50/50, 25/75 and 0/100 phr) on processing and performance properties of highly filled natural rubber composites was evaluated by oscillating disc rheometer, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy,...
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Amperometric sensing of chemical oxygen demand at glassy carbon and silicon electrodes modified with boron-doped diamond
Publication.A boron-doped diamond (BDD) sensor is proposed for effective detection of chemical oxygen demand (COD) by means of amperometric technique. Boron-doped diamond thin films, acting as active sensors, were deposited on both silicon wafer and glassy carbon (GC) substrates by microwave plasma assisted chemical vapour deposition. SEM micrographs showed that BDD–Si displays triangle-faceted crystallites ca. 0.5–3 μm in size, while BDD–GC...
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SEI Growth and Depth Profiling on ZFO Electrodes by Soft X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopy
PublicationZnFe2O4 (ZFO) Li-ion batteries (LIBs) represent a reliable, affordable, and safe energy storage technology for use in portable application. However, current LIB active materials (graphite, lithium/transition metal spinel or layered oxides, olivine structures) can store only limited energy since they rely on insertion storage based on solid-state host-guest interactions. Moreover, performances and durability of the cells are strongly...
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MINERAL MATTER IN MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE
PublicationMunicipal solid waste (MSW) contains mineral materials which are seldom considered as a potential resource. Currently, the waste management sector pays attention to recyclable parts, biodegradable material, waste-to-energy fraction, and residues after waste reuse and recycle. In contrast, this study focus as on the mineral matter in MSW. The aim was to analyze and discuss the sources of mineral matter in MSW, the impact which the...
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Comparative Analysis of Text Representation Methods Using Classification
PublicationIn our work, we review and empirically evaluate five different raw methods of text representation that allow automatic processing of Wikipedia articles. The main contribution of the article—evaluation of approaches to text representation for machine learning tasks—indicates that the text representation is fundamental for achieving good categorization results. The analysis of the representation methods creates a baseline that cannot...
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Treatment Wetlands in Rural Areas of Poland for Baltic Sea Protection
PublicationWater and wastewater management, especially in rural areas, greatly affects loads of nutrients discharged to the Baltic Sea. In Poland, this management is unbalanced because of the dispersed development and in many locations construction of sewerage system is uneconomic or even impossible. For this reason, a significant part of sewage from single-family houses in rural areas must be discharged into domestic sewage systems. The...
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Radioactivity of drilling cuttings from shale resources of the Lower Paleozoic Baltic Basin, Poland
PublicationFractionated drilling wastes originating from shale gas exploration in the Baltic Basin in Pomerania were subjected to the measurements of mean activity concentrations of naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORMs).To better understand rock structure and texture, the X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy(SEM) observation were used. To compare activity concentration of radionuclides in bulk wastes...
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Selected aspects of performance of organic Rankine cycles incorporated into bioenergy with carbon capture and storage using gasification of sewage sludge
PublicationThe study aims to investigate the application of the Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) in the bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) using gasification of sewage sludge. The tool used in the investigation is the Aspen Plus software with REFPROP property methods for calculating fluid properties. The reason for this study is that a detailed analysis of the proposed BECCS process flow diagram indicates that a certain amount of...
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Driving forces of informal employment: An empirical study based on Polish enterprise data
PublicationObjective: The article aims to indicate the determinants of informal employment in registered enterprises using company-level evidence from Poland. Research Design & Methods: The survey conducted among Polish small and medium-sized (SME) enterprises in 2018 was used to find the driving forces of informal employment in Poland. The adequate sample comprised 952 representative surveys derived from the computer-assisted telephone...
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Possible quadrupole-order-driven commensurate-incommensurate phase transition in B20 CoGe
PublicationThe B20-type cobalt germanide CoGe was investigated by measuring the specific heat, resistivity, and 59Co nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR).We observed a phase transition at TQ = 13.7 K, evidenced by a very narrow peak of the specific heat and sharp changes of the nuclear spin-spin (T −1 2 ) and spin-lattice (T −1 1 ) relaxation rates. The fact that the entropy release is extremely small and the Knight shift is almost independent...
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Numerical simulation of temperature distribution of heat flow on reservoir tanks connected in a series
PublicationThe flow of temperature distribution through a medium in thermodynamic studies plays an important role in understanding physical phenomena in chemical science and petroleum engineering, while temperature distribution indicates the degree of reaction that must be undergone to obtain the final product. Therefore, this paper aims to present and apply the exponential matrix algorithm (EMA), differential transformation algorithm (DTA),...
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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...
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Molecular mechanism of proton-coupled ligand translocation by the bacterial efflux pump EmrE
PublicationThe current surge in bacterial multi-drug resistance (MDR) is one of the largest challenges to public health, threatening to render ineffective many therapies we rely on for treatment of serious infections. Understanding different factors that contribute to MDR is hence crucial from the global “one health” perspective. In this contribution, we focus on the prototypical broad-selectivity proton-coupled antiporter EmrE, one of the...
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Assessment of the Current Potential of Hydropower for Water Damming in Poland in the Context of Energy Transformation
PublicationThe present paper indicates that hydropower, including small hydropower plants (SHPs), may play a very important role in Poland’s energy transformation in the near future. The development of SHPs may also increase water resources in the steppe Poland. Additionally, the aim of the present research is to conduct the PEST analysis of SHPs in Poland, taking into account the SHP potential. For the first time, maps showing the power...
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Rotational molding of polylactide (PLA) composites filled with copper slag as a waste filler from metallurgical industry
PublicationThe research work carried out so far indicates the ever wider possibilities and demand for shaping composite products in the rotational molding technology. This trend was the main reason to use waste-based filler from the metallurgical process as a filler for manufacturing polylactide (PLA)-based remolded composites. Copper slag (CS) was introduced in the single-step processing method to PLA matrix at 5, 10, 20, and 35 wt%. The...
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The impact of bankruptcy regimes on entrepreneurship and innovation. Is there any relationship?
PublicationThe literature review indicates that bankruptcy law may play an important role in and be one of the factors infuencing the development of entrepreneurship, innovation, and thus economic growth, among other things. In previous studies, the analysis of the impact of bankruptcy law on individual variables has been conducted independently. Our aim was to conduct a holistic analysis, taking several factors into account simultaneously....