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Gdańsk University of Technology

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Publications from the year 2014

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  • HPLC-coupled post-column derivatization aims at characterization and monitoring of plant phytocomplexes, not at assessing their biological properties
    • Agnieszka Bartoszek-Pączkowska
    • Barbara Kusznierewicz
    • Jacek Namieśnik
    2014 Full text JOURNAL OF FOOD COMPOSITION AND ANALYSIS

    Two recent decades of research identified a number of environmental factors as well as mechanisms leading to pathogenic processes in the human organism. A common factor in pathogenesis of many diseases is oxidative stress, a condition in which the production of damaging reactive oxygen species (ROS), present in the body as an inevitable consequence of respiration and exacerbated by the inflammatory response and by exogenous factors such as environmental pollutants, exceeds the capacity of the body’s antioxidant defenses to neutralize them.

  • Human Factors and Functional Safety Analysis in Designing the Control Rooms of Industrial Hazardous Plants
    • Kazimierz Kosmowski
    2014

    In this work some aspects of human factors and functional safety analysis in designing the control rooms of industrial hazardous plants are presented. The “defence in depth” (D-in-D) concept is outlined. Some designing issues of the alarm system (AS) with regard to human factors to be supported using the human reliability analysis (HRA) are discussed. The AS and decision support system (DSS), when properly designed, would contribute to decreasing the human error probability (HEP) in various abnormal situations of the plant. The aim of research undertaken is to develop the methods and software tools consisting of the risk models and probabilistic models with relevant data and knowledge bases for computer aided assessment of human factors in performing HRA as well as optimizing the architectures of safety-related systems.

  • Human Factors in designing the Instrumentation and Control Systems Important to Safety
    • Kazimierz Kosmowski
    2014 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PERFORMABILITY ENGINEERING

    This work addresses selected aspects of human factors in designing the instrumentation and control (I&C) systems important to safety as a part of the functional safety management of industrial hazardous plants, in particular nuclear power plants. As it is known in such plants a concept of “defence in depth” (D-in-D) is widely applied and some layers of protection are designed with regard to functional safety (FS) concept given in the international standards: IEC 61508 (FS generic standard), IEC 61511 (FS in process industry sector) and IEC61513 (FS in nuclear power plants). These standards indicate generally the importance of human factors, as the human-operators can contribute significantly to performing of safety functions, however, there is no detailed guidelines how to deal with such issues. The aim of research undertaken and outlined in this article is to develop methodology for supporting the design of I&C systems important to safety that might include evaluation of human factors and human reliability analysis (HRA). It is of prime importance for correct verification of the safety integrity level (SIL) of defined safety functions being implemented using the I&C systems.

  • Human Factors in Nuclear Power Engineering in Polish Conditions
    • Agnieszka Kaczmarek-Kacprzak
    • Martin Catlow
    2014 Full text Acta Energetica

    The paper “Human factors in nuclear power engineering in polish conditions” focuses on analysis of dynamics of preparing polish society to build fi rst nuclear power plant in XXI century in Poland. Authors compare experience from constructing nuclear power plant Sizewell B (Great Britain) and Sizewell C, which is in preparation phase with polish nuclear power program. Paper includes aspects e.g. of creating nuclear safety culture and social opinion about investment. Human factors in nuclear power engineering are as well important as relevant economical and technical factors, but very often negli- gible. In Poland where history about Czarnobyl is still alive, and social opinion is created on emotions after accident in Fukushima, human factors are crucial and should be under comprehensive consideration.

  • Human poverty - measuring relative deprivation from basic achievements: a comparative study for 144 countries over the period 1990-2010
    • Ewa Lechman
    2014

    Poverty – differently defined and measured – still remains one the crucial parts of the world development debate. It`s broadly perceived as multidimensional phenomenon which deprives people from basic capabilities and freedoms, limits their opportunity to educate and fully participate in the labor market contributing to overall country`s socioeconomic performance. Referring to seminal works of Sen and many others(see e.g. Morris 1979; Sen 1985, 1992; Desai 1991; Ravallion 1993), we present an specific approach to poverty issues, treating low incomes as consequence – not a cause – of poverty. The main target of the work is twofold. Firstly we aim to develop a new complex measure of relative poverty to set the most recent worldwide poverty estimates. For this purpose we deploy methods based on fuzzy sets (e.g. see works of Zadeh 1965; Dubois&Prade 1980; Bérenger&Verdier-Chouchane 2006), and we apply a wide array of non-income indicators (proxies) explaining level of socio-economic development. Following the logic of fuzzy sets theory, we explain poverty as deprivation from – for example – access to education or improved drinking water. Secondly, we run an analysis on disaggregated data, tracking for factors which contribute mostly to the level of poverty in different countries. Such approach let us to detect most backward areas of human development which shall be in the centre of interest of policy makers. All data applied in the estimates are derived from World Development Indicators Database 2012. The sample covers 144 world economies, and the set time framework is 1990- 2010.

  • Human-associated bacteria and their mobile genetic elements - important minority in wastewater and wastewater impacted ecosystems
    • Aneta Łuczkiewicz
    • Ewa Kotlarska
    2014 Medycyna Środowiskowa - Environmental Medicine

    Since human-associated bacteria have been recognized as vectors in two - way gene transmission between the pathogenic and environmental populations, health hazard connected with wastewater discharge requires reevaluation. In this paper the particular attention was given to antimicrobial-resistance of Escherichia coli and enterococci isolated from wastewater and wastewater impacted environments. The obtained results showed that during the wastewater treatment processes the fecal indicators with antimicrobial resistance patterns were positively selected. Among enterococci isolates resistant to high-level aminoglycoside (HLAR) were detected, while among E. coli - extended spectrum β-lactamases producing isolates were found. Detailed analysis of E. coli producing extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBL) indicated CTX-M β-lactamase type, which is produced by nosocomial and community strains of Enterobacteriaceae in different countries. The recently discovered, plasmid-borne sulfonamide resistance gene - sul3 was also detected in the WWTP effluent. Additionally among E. coli the positive correlations was found between antimicrobial resistance of clinical relevance and presence of class 1 integrons with occasional occurrence of class 2 integrons. Among E. faecium subjected to typing hospital-adapted polyclonal high-risk enterococcal complex (HiRECC) constituted altogether 25% of all isolates and were present at all sampling points. This suggests the ability of such clones to survive the wastewater treatment processes. The HiRECC often carried resistance determinants (located on mobile genetic elements) and pathogenicity factors The conventional wastewater processes do not prevent the receiver from dissemination of fecal bacteria with clinically relevant resistance patterns. It is suspected that antimicrobial-resistance patterns found in hospital settings could be also beneficial for survival in other compartments. With reference to the above, in the environmental risk assessment, the resistant bacteria should be monitored in both, treated wastewater and its receiver.

  • Human-computer interactions in speech therapy using a blowing interface
    • Jacek Rumiński
    • Adam Bujnowski
    • Jerzy Wtorek
    2014

    In this paper we present a new human-computer interface for the quantitative measurement of blowing activities. The interface can measure the air flow and air pressure during the blowing activity. The measured values are stored and used to control the state of the graphical objects in the graphical user interface. In speech therapy children will find easier to play attractive therapeutic games than to perform repetitive and tedious, traditional blowing actions. Therefore, we also propose a set of games that can be used together with the blowing device. The paper focuses on the design of the interface, preliminary experiments and results. Additionally, fours blowing games are described.

  • Hybrid Approach in Project Management - Mixing Capability Maturity Model Integration with Agile Practices
    • Artur Ziółkowski
    • Tomasz Deręgowski
    2014 Social Sciences/ Socialiniai Mokslai

    This paper introduces an idea of hybrid approach in managing software development projects. The main goal of this research is to prove that it is possible to design consistent method for managing software development projects which is based on different corporate standards and methods. Authors also want to show that this new hybrid approach is beneficial for IT organization, triggers synergy effects and brings software development process to a higher level, impossible to achieve when methodologies and standars are used separately. This paper talks over an exemplary implementation of hybrid management process which is based on CMMI and Scrum.

  • Hybrid design approach in education using a progressive rule-based digital design development. Sopot College experiences.
    • Grzegorz Pęczek
    • Jan Cudzik
    2014 Full text Architecturae et Artibus

    Budynek sam w sobie może być uznany za hybrydę inżynierii i Beaux-Arts. Obecnie istnieje wiele narzędzi, które mogą pomóc architektom w opracowaniu i optymalizowu ich innowacyjnych koncepcje. Artykuł opisuje projekt hybrydowego podejścia opartego na połączeniu tradycyjnej architekturze i Komputerowego projektowania na podstawie programu studiów w Sopocie College, Wydział Architektury. Artykuł bada dziedzinie współpracy i interakcji między projektowaniem manualnym i automatycznym w rozwiju koncepcji architektonicznych. Wyniki pokazują, że studenci chętnie eksperymentują z nowymi metodami projektowania. Ponadto wyniki, które osiągają w ten sposób są bardziej innowacyjne i złożone. Znajomość metod projektowania hybrydowego może przyczynić się do ekspansji awangardowej architektury i metodologii projektowania oparte na badaniach.

  • Hybrid fuzzy-ontological project framework of a team work simulation system
    • Cezary Orłowski
    • Paweł Kapłański
    • Irena Bach-Dąbrowska
    • Włodzimierz Wysocki
    2014

    The aim of this article is to present the project framework for constructing a Software Process Simulation Modeling (SPSM) system. SPSM systems can be used as a virtual environment for the selection of methods and tools of project management in IT support organizations. The constructed system simulates the Scrum methodology, including the management processes and the project roles. For the implementation of Scrum processes, the Scrum ontology is proposed and for the competences of the roles of project team members, a fuzzy-logic representation. As a result we present the hybrid fuzzy-ontological system. The framework of the design processes proposed in the article was verified on the basis of real courses of project management processes in a large IT company.

  • Hybridization of the FDTD method with use of the discrete Green's function
    • Tomasz Stefański
    2014

    In this contribution, a hybrid technique is presented which combines the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method and the discrete Green's function (DGF) formulation of this method. FDTD is a powerful technique for the analysis of complex penetrable objects but its application is not efficient when the computational domain includes many free-space cells. Therefore, the hybrid method was developed which is applicable to complex geometries comprising a wire antenna mutually coupled with an inhomogeneous dielectric scatterer. In the developed method, the antenna and the scatterer are separated using the surface equivalence theorem. Then, the dielectric domain is simulated using the FDTD method whilst the wire antenna is simulated using the DGF formulation of FDTD. Obtained results demonstrate that both methods can be perfectly coupled without introducing any additional errors to the FDTD solution (assuming infinite numerical precision of computations).

  • Hydration of urea and its derivatives - Volumetric and compressibility studies
    • Joanna Krakowiak
    • Jarosław Wawer
    2014 JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL THERMODYNAMICS

    The densities and sound velocities at T = (288.15, 293.15, 298.15, 303.15 and 308.15) K have been measured for aqueous solutions of urea, N,N-dimethylurea, N,N-diethylurea, N-propylurea, N-butylurea. From these data the apparent molar volumes, V the apparent molar isentropic compressions, KS,, and the Passynski solvation numbers of solutes have been determined. The concentration dependencies of the calculated quantities, their limiting values and temperature characteristics are discussed in terms of solute-solvent and solute-solute interactions.

  • Hydrodynamic analysis of multihull floating unit the catamaran type
    • Agnieszka Królicka
    2014 Logistyka

    Opis stanu morza można przedstawić jako krótkoterminowy okres falowania lub długoterminowy okres falowania. Aby prognozować odpowiedzi statku na stochastyczne wymuszenia od falowania nieregularnego można zastosować statystyczny opis takiego falowania. W prezentowanej pracy rozpatrujemy wielokadłubową jednostkę pływającą typu katamaran. Została przedstawiona analiza rozkładu mas katamarana oraz współczynniki hydrodynamiczne w równaniach ruchu katamarana na fali. Zostały zapisane wzory na uogólnione reakcje hydrodynamiczne oraz wzory na współczynniki hydrodynamiczne dla mas wody towarzyszącej, współczynników tłumienia oraz sztywności hydrostatycznej. Siły wymuszające zostały opisane jako siły uogólnione wywołane regularnym falowaniem morza o dowolnym kącie napływu fali (siły Froude’a- Kryłowa i siły dyfrakcyjne).

  • Hydrodynamiczny model dolnej Wisły z uwzględnieniem koncepcji kaskady stopni piętrzących
    • Michał Szydłowski
    • Romuald Szymkiewicz
    • Piotr Zima
    • Dariusz Gąsiorowski
    • Jakub Hakiel
    2014

    Praca została wykonana w ramach usług doradztwa świadczonych przez Politechnikę Gdańską na rzecz ENERGA SA. Jej celem było określenie, na podstawie obliczeń i symulacji numerycznych, hydraulicznych skutków potencjalnej budowy kaskady stopni piętrzących na dolnej Wiśle, to jest na odcinku rzeki od ujścia Narwi do morza. Przedmiotem zlecenia było wykonanie numerycznego modelu hydraulicznego Doliny Dolnej Wisły z uwzględnieniem koncepcji kaskady stopni piętrzących; wykonanie obliczeń dla przepływów charakterystycznych - SSQ, SNQ; wykonanie obliczeń dla wybranych fal wezbraniowych oraz ocena dostępnego potencjału energetycznego Kaskady Dolnej Wisły (KDW).

  • Hydrogen Damage in Superaustenitic 904L Stainless Steels
    • J. Michalska
    • B. Chmiela
    • Jerzy Łabanowski
    • W. Simka
    2014 Full text JOURNAL OF MATERIALS ENGINEERING AND PERFORMANCE

    results on the influence of hydrogen on corrosion resistance and of hydrogen embrittlement of 904L superaustenitic stainless steel were investigated. The cracking behavior was studied by performing a slow strain rate test in synthetic seawater under varying cathodic polarization conditions. The results showed that the steel’s plasticity varied with the applied cathodic current density. Significant reductions in ductility were found, indicating its susceptibility to hydrogen-assisted fracture at current density of 20 mA/cm2. Fractographical examinations showed that an increase in hydrogenation current density causes a stepwise decrease in ductility on the fracture surface. The effect of hydrogen on passivity and on pitting corrosion resistance was qualified with the polarization curves registered in synthetic seawater. The conclusion is that hydrogen may affect the passive film stability and thus may decrease the corrosion resistance of the studied steel. The presence of hydrogen increases corrosion current density and decreases the potential of the film breakdown. It was also found that the degree of the susceptibility to hydrogen degradation was dependent on the hydrogen charging conditions.

  • Hydrogen migration in formation of NH(A3Π) radicals via superexcited states in photodissociation of isoxazole molecules
    • Mariusz Zubek
    • Tomasz Wąsowicz
    • Iwona Dąbkowska
    • Antti Kivimaki
    • Marcello Coreno
    2014 Full text JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL PHYSICS

    Formation of the excited NH(A 3Π) free radicals in the photodissociation of isoxazole (C3H3NO) molecules has been studied over the 14-22 eV energy range using photon-induced fluorescence spectroscopy. The NH(A 3Π) is produced through excitation of the isoxazole molecules into higher-lying superexcited states. Observation of the NH radical, which is not a structural unit of the isoxazole molecule, corroborates the hydrogen atom (or proton) migration within the molecule prior to dissociation. The vertical excitation energies of the superexcited states were determined and the dissociation mechanisms of isoxazole are discussed. The density functional and ab initio quantum chemical calculations have been performed to study the mechanism of the NH formation.

  • Hysteresis curves for some periodic and aperiodic perturbations in gases
    • Anna Perelomova
    2014 Full text CANADIAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICS

    Evolution of sound in a medium whose properties irreversibly vary in the course of wave propagation, is studied. For example, a gas that is a particular case of a Newtonian fluid is considered. Hysteresis curves, pictorial representations of irreversible attenuation of the sound energy, in the plane of thermodynamic states are plotted. The irreversible losses in internal energy are proportional to the total attenuation and depend on the intensity and shape of sound waveform. Curves and loops for some periodic (including the sawtooth wave) and aperiodic impulse sounds are discussed and compared.

  • ICT Diffusion Trajectories and Economic Development: Empirical Evidence for 46 Developing Countries
    • Ewa Lechman
    2014

    In economic theory, technology is treated as a crucial factor contributing significantly to economic development. Seminal works of Schumpeter (Theory of economic development. Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, 1934, J Econ Hist 7:149–159, 1947), Baumol (Am Econ Rev 76:1072–1084, 1986), Gerschenkron (Economic backwardness in economic perspective. Belknap Press, Cambridge, MA, 1962) or Abramovitz (J Econ Hist 46(2):385–406, 1986) emphasize the special role of technological progress in the process of economic development. The objective of the study is twofold. Firstly, using panel data, we analyze diffusion trajectories of ICTs in developing countries, assessing dynamics of the process. Secondly, we hypothesize about the existence of quantitative links between the adoption of ICT and economic development. The time framework for the analysis is the period 2000–2011. Statistical data are derived from the World Telecommunication/ ICT Indicators Database (2012), World Development Indicators (2013), and Human Development Report (2013).

  • Identification and characterization of single-stranded DNA-binding protein from the facultative psychrophilic bacteria Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis
    • Marcin Olszewski
    • Marta Nowak
    • Anna Cyranka-Czaja
    • Józef Kur
    2014 Full text MICROBIOLOGICAL RESEARCH

    Single-stranded DNA-binding protein (SSB) plays an important role in DNA metabolism such as DNAreplication, repair, and recombination, and is essential for cell survival. This study reports on the ssb-likegene cloning, gene expression and characterization of a single-stranded DNA-binding protein of Pseudoal-teromonas haloplanktis (PhaSSB) and is the first report of such a protein from psychrophilic microorganism.PhaSSB possesses a high sequence similarity to Escherichia coli SSB (48% identity and 57% similarity) andhas the longest amino acid sequence (244 amino acid residues) of all the known bacterial SSBs with one OB-fold per monomer. An analysis of purified PhaSSB by means of chemical cross-linking experiments,sedimentation analysis and size exclusion chromatography revealed a stable tetramer in solution. UsingEMSA, we characterized the stoichiometry of PhaSSB complexed with a series of ssDNA homopolymers,and the size of the binding site was determined as being approximately 35 nucleotides long. In fluores-cence titrations, the occluded site size of PhaSSB on poly(dT) is 34 nucleotides per tetramer under low-saltconditions (2 mM NaCl), but increases to 54–64 nucleotides at higher-salt conditions (100–300 mM NaCl).This suggests that PhaSSB undergoes a transition between ssDNA binding modes, which is observed for EcoSSB. The binding properties of PhaSSB investigated using SPR technology revealed that the affinity of PhaSSB to ssDNA is typical of SSB proteins. The only difference in the binding mode of PhaSSB to ssDNA is a faster association phase, when compared to EcoSSB, though compensated by faster dissociation rate.When analyzed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), the melting temperature (Tm) was determinedas 63◦C, which is only a few degrees lower than for EcoSSB.

  • Identification of acoustic event of selected noise sources in a long-term environmental monitoring systems
    • Maciej Kłaczyński
    • Witold Cioch
    • Tadeusz Wszołek
    • Wiesław Wszołek
    • Dominik Mleczko
    • Paweł Pawlik
    • Anna Grzeczka
    2014

    ABSTRACT Undertaking long-term acoustic measurements on sites located near an airport is related to a problem of large quantities of recorded data, which very often represents information not related to flight operations. In such areas, usually defined as zone of limited use, often other sources of noise exist, such as roads or railway lines treated is such context as acoustic background. Manual verification of such recorded data is a costly and time-consuming process. However, the use of special systems or devices that support the recognition of noise sources is an additional high cost. Thus, the said problems bring up an idea to use automated methods to identify noise sources and time of such events. The proposed solution is to use pattern recognition techniques for acoustic signal recorded by the monitoring station, without the need for additional equipment. Methods based on an automatic "meaning" of sounds recorded by measuring microphone (included monitoring station) and refer to the advanced techniques of cognitive referring to the human auditory perception. In this way will be possible to assign markers to acoustic events and calculate an acoustic indicator of environmental assessment. The recordings from the stations of long-term acoustics monitoring have been used while classifying the traffic noise - aircraft operations, movement of trains or cars.