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Gdańsk University of Technology

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Publications from the year 2022

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  • Health Enhancing Physical Activity Policies in Poland: Findings from the HEPA PAT Survey
    • Aleksandra Romanowska
    • Agnieszka Morawiak
    • Catherine Woods
    • Liam Kelly
    • Kevin Volf
    • Peter Gelius
    • Sven Messing
    • Sarah Forberger
    • Jeroen Lakerveld
    • Nicolette R. Den Braver
    • Enrique García Bengoechea
    • Joanna Żukowska
    2022 Full text International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

    Insufficient physical activity (PA) is one of major risk factors for serious diseases and premature mortality worldwide. Public policies to enhance PA across society are recognized as an effective tool against the problem. This paper presents the results of a comprehensive assessment of national-level PA policy approach in Poland. A standardized survey of Word Health Organization named the Health-Enhancing Physical Activity Policy Audit Tool (HEPA PAT) was used for data collection. Content analysis and strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats analysis (SWOT) were used to characterize various PA policy aspects, to appraise the current situation, and accommodate organizational and environmental factors that it is influenced by. The results show that the national PA policy approach has been constantly developing in Poland, but there is room for improvement in a number of areas. The most important weaknesses are the lack of clear leadership, no mechanisms in place to coordinate efforts undertaken at different levels, and lack of collaboration across different levels of government and across different sectors of economy. Providing an umbrella covering all PA promotion policies and activities is, therefore, a key issue to be addressed. The country should seize the opportunity coming from an increasing awareness of a healthy lifestyle among Polish society.

  • HEALTH SAFETY OF BREAD IN SMALL BAKERIES
    • Radosław Drozd
    2022 Full text Zeszyty Naukowe. Organizacja i Zarządzanie / Politechnika Śląska

    The aim of the article is to present the safety and health risks in the production process of bread, supported by research in small bakeries located in the Pomeranian Voivodeship. Health safety of bread is one of the features that decide its quality. This article additionally presents other determinants influencing the quality of bread. It also demonstrates opinions showing food safety as a separate attribute of quality. The paper cites Polish domestic and EU legislation in the areas of food safety, as well as competences of sanitary inspection bodies. The major part of the paper is devoted to the identification of types and potential sources of health threats in the production process of bread and the prevailing prevention system, i.e. HACCP. The research on the structure of the bread and the level of implementation of HACCP was performed in Pomeranian small bakeries, which form 89.4% of the overall Pomeranian bakeries.

  • Healthier and Environmentally Responsible Sustainable Cities and Communities. A New Design Framework and Planning Approach for Urban Illumination
    • Karolina Zielińska-Dąbkowska
    2022 Full text Sustainability

    Although sustainability and sustainable development are both considered necessary practices in various fields today, a recent analysis showed that the Sustainable Development Goal SDG11: Sustainable Cities and Communities established by the United Nations does not address urban illumination and its impact. This oversight is of concern because research carried out in the last 20+ years indicates artificial light at night (ALAN) in cities, and the light pollution this generates can have negative consequences on human health and well-being and the entire environment, including ecosystems and the flora and fauna that inhabit them. By applying a literature review, analysis and synthesis method, this work offers a new perspective on lighting and a timeline of key events that established ALAN and light pollution awareness in different disciplines and professional groups connected to urban illumination. It also identifies three fundamental aspects which require further transdisciplinary research and the translation of this knowledge into practice in order to enable the development of sustainable cities and communities at night. Finally, it presents in detail a new, theoretical environment-centred design framework for responsible urban illumination, with four iterative design phases, in order to help guide various stakeholders in cities, along with a four-level pyramid model that can be applied to urban illumination in the form of principles, processes, practices, and tools. This framework is especially relevant for those urban planners, architects, and landscape designers, who are unfamiliar with the subject in order to present the most effective and appropriate lighting design approach and methods that should be taken into consideration with the design of a given urban nighttime environment/situation.

  • Heave Plates with Holes for Floating Offshore Wind Turbines
    • Ewelina Ciba
    • Paweł Dymarski
    • Mirosław Grygorowicz
    2022 Full text Polish Maritime Research

    The paper presents an innovative solution which is heave plates with holes. The long-known heave plates are designed to damp the heave motion of platforms. They are most often used for Spar platforms. The growing interest in this type of platform as supporting structures for offshore wind turbines makes it necessary to look for new solutions. Based on the available literature and the authors’ own research, it was concluded that the main element responsible for the damping of heave plates is not so much the surface of the plate, but its edge. Therefore, it was decided to investigate the effect of the holes in heave plates on their damping coefficient. Model tests and CFD calculations were performed for three different structures: a smooth cylinder, a cylinder with heave plates with a diameter of 1.4 times the diameter of the cylinder, and a cylinder with the same plate, in which 24 holes were cut (Fig. 1). Free Decay Tests (FDT) were used to determine the damping coefficient and the natural period of heave, and then the values obtained were compared. The full and punched heave-plate designs were also tested with regular waves of different periods to obtain amplitude characteristics. The results obtained are not unequivocal, as a complex motion appears here; however, it is possible to clearly define the area in which the damping of a plate with holes is greater than that of a full plate.

  • Hebb–Wagner polarization method for determining the oxygen ion conductivity in barium cerate-zirconate
    • Tadeusz Miruszewski
    • Kacper Dzierzgowski
    • Piotr Winiarz
    • Sebastian Wachowski
    • Aleksandra Mielewczyk-Gryń
    • Maria Gazda
    2022 Journal of Materials Chemistry A

    In this work, the partial conductivity of oxygen ions in BaCe0.6Zr0.2Y0.2O3 was studied at different temperatures and water partial pressures. For this purpose, a modified DC Hebb–Wagner polarization method with an electrode blocking for protons and electrons was used. A new type of measuring cell as well as a suitable calculation model were proposed for the determination of partial oxygen ionic conductivity in materials with three mobile charge carriers, namely, oxygen ions, protons and electrons. The obtained oxygen ion partial conductivity (σO) in the BaCe0.6Zr0.2Y0.2O3 mixed protonic oxygen ionic–electronic conductor was 2.3 × 10−3 S cm−1 at 800 °C and pO2 = 0.20 atm, pH2O = 0.023 atm. This is in agreement with the literature reports and indicates the feasibility of this method for characterization of mixed-conducting ceramics with unknown oxygen ionic conductivity. The obtained results also indicate the influence of protons on the conduction mechanism of oxygen ions. This information may be very useful for the analysis of the interaction between the charge carriers in mixed conducting materials.

  • High Dynamic Range Microwave Displacement and Rotation Sensors Based on the Phase of Transmission in Groove Gap Waveguide Technology
    • Ali Karami Horestani
    • Zahra Shaterian
    • Michał Mrozowski
    2022 Full text IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL

    This research is focused on the design and realization of displacement sensors in gap waveguide technology. It is shown that with a small but fundamental change in the structure of a conventional gap waveguide, a linear displacement can be sensed. To this end, a unique feature of gap waveguides, i.e. the fact that no electrical connection between the top and bottom parts of the gap waveguide is required, is used. It is further shown that the concept can be also used for the development of rotation sensors. To validate the proposed concept linear and angular displacement sensors are designed and simulated. A prototype of the proposed linear displacement sensor is fabricated for demonstration. Agreement between the computed and measured results validates the concept.

  • High gain/bandwidth off‑chip antenna loaded with metamaterial unit‑cell impedance matching circuit for sub‑terahertz near‑field electronic systems
    • Mohammad Alibakhshikenari
    • Bal S. Virdee
    • Dion Mariyanayagam
    • Valeria Vadala
    • Mohammad Naser-moghadasi
    • Chan Hwang See
    • Iyad Dayoub
    • Sonia Aissa
    • Patrizia Livreri
    • Shah Nawaz Burokur
    • Anna Pietrenko-Dąbrowska
    • Francisco Falcone
    • Sławomir Kozieł
    • Ernesto Limiti
    2022 Full text Scientific Reports

    An innovative off-chip antenna (OCA) is presented that exhibits high gain and efficiency performance at the terahertz (THz) band and has a wide operational bandwidth. The proposed OCA is implemented on stacked silicon layers and consists of an open circuit meandering line. It is shown that by loading the antenna with an array of subwavelength circular dielectric slots and terminating it with a metamaterial unit cell, its impedance bandwidth is enhanced by a factor of two and its gain on average by about 4 dB. Unlike conventional antennas, where the energy is dissipated in a resistive load, the technique proposed here significantly reduces losses. The antenna is excited from underneath the antenna by coupling RF energy from an open-circuited feedline through a slot in the ground-plane of the middle substrate layer. The feedline is shielded with another substrate layer which has a ground-plane on its opposite surface to mitigate the influence of the structure on which the antenna is mounted. The antenna has the dimensions 12.3 × 4.5 × 0.905 mm3 and operates across the 0.137–0.158 THz band corresponding to a fractional bandwidth of 14.23%. Over this frequency range the average measured gain and efficiency are 8.6 dBi and 77%, respectively. These characteristics makes the proposed antenna suitable for integration in sub-terahertz near-field electronic systems such as radio frequency identification (RFID) devices with high spatial resolution.

  • High-conducting Bi4V2-xFexO11-δ ceramics containing Fe2O3 nanocrystals: Structure and properties
    • Natalia Wójcik
    • Katarzyna Polcyn
    • Jakub Karczewski
    • Karolina Górnicka
    • Ryszard Barczyński
    2022 Full text JOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN CERAMIC SOCIETY

    The topography, structure, thermal, magnetic, and electrical properties of Bi4V2-xFexO11-δ ceramics substituted with x = 0.5 and 0.7 Fe were studied. The microscope analysis showed the presence of iron-rich nanocrystals formed on the Bi-Fe-V-O grains. The X-ray diffraction studies confirmed that grains are built mostly of tetragonal Bi4V1.5Fe0.5O10.5 phase. Thermal properties analysis showed an order-disorder type γ ↔ γʹ phase transition at a temperature of around 916 K, pronounced in samples doped with x = 0.5 Fe. The magnetic anomaly was observed in ceramics doped with x = 0.7 Fe which was assigned to Morin transition of Fe2O3. The conductivity was measured over a wide frequency range from 10 mHz to 1 MHz and at a wide temperature range from 373 to 923 K, using impedance spectroscopy. The D.C. conduction process was due to oxygen vacancies hopping while at low temperatures electron holes hopping is also possible.

  • High-density Polyethylene - Expanded Perlite Composites: Structural Oriented Analysis of Mechanical and Thermomechanical Properties
    • Mateusz Barczewski
    • Aleksander Hejna
    • Paulina Kosmela
    • Olga Mysiukiewicz
    • Adam Piasecki
    • Kamila Sałasińska
    2022 Full text MATERIALE PLASTICE

    As part of this work, research was carried out on the effect of the addition of expanded perlite (PR) on the mechanical and thermomechanical properties of high-density polyethylene (PE) composites. Composites containing from 1 to 10 wt% of the inorganic filler were produced. Polyethylene-based composites manufactured by twin-screw extrusion and formed in the compression molding process were subjected to mechanical, thermomechanical, and structural analyses. The structure of polymer composites and filler was analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It has been correlated with the static tensile tests and results of dynamic thermomechanical analysis (DMA). As part of the work, several thermomechanical parameters were calculated, and the obtained results were discussed with the evaluation of interfacial adhesion based on microscopic analysis. The research indicate that despite introducing a 10 wt% of particle-shaped filler, the composites show increased stiffness without noticeable deterioration in tensile strength, simultaneously reducing toughness and brittleness. The analysis of the thermomechanical properties showed the lack of significant effects of the filler influence on the polymer matrix.

  • High-density polyethylene/EPDM rubber blend composites of boron compounds for neutron shielding application
    • Sajith Thottathil Abdulrahman
    • Bindu Patanair
    • Vineeth Puthuparampil Vasukuttan
    • Sabu Thomas
    • Emmanuel Cadel
    • Fabien Cuvilly
    • Allisson Saiter-Fourcin
    • Zakiah Ahmad
    • Maciej Jaroszewski
    • Michal Strankowski
    • David Laroze
    2022 Express Polymer Letters

    Novel materials with neutron shielding property were fabricated by incorporating boron compounds into highdensity polyethylene (HDPE)/Ethylene propylene diene monomer rubber (EPDM) blends. A detailed investigation on the morphological, thermal, mechanical, and neutron attenuation properties of suitable proportion of HDPE/EPDM blend with boric acid (BA), boron carbide (BC), and nano boron carbide (NBC) were performed. Morphology of the 20 wt% of EPDM shows better distribution in HDPE matrix. BA filler is localised in the HDPE phase, while NBC shows uniform distribution in HDPE/EPDM blend compared to its micro counterpart.

  • Higher platelet counts correlate to tumour progression and can be induced by intratumoural stroma in non-metastatic breast carcinomas
    • Natalia Bednarz-Knoll
    • Marta Popęda
    • Tomasz Kryczka
    • Barbara Kozakiewicz
    • Katarzyna Pogoda
    • Jolanta Szade
    • Aleksandra Markiewicz
    • Damian Strzemecki
    • Leszek Kalinowski
    • Jarosław Skokowski
    • Jian Liu
    • Anna Żaczek
    2022 BRITISH JOURNAL OF CANCER

    Background Platelets support tumour progression. However, their prognostic significance and relation to circulating tumour cells (CTCs) in operable breast cancer (BrCa) are still scarcely known and, thus, merit further investigation. Methods Preoperative platelet counts (PCs) were compared with clinical data, CTCs, 65 serum cytokines and 770 immune-related transcripts obtained using the NanoString technology. Results High normal PC (hPC; defined by the 75th centile cut-off) correlated with an increased number of lymph node metastases and mesenchymal CTCs in the 70 operable BrCa patients. Patients with hPC and CTC presence revealed the shortest overall survival compared to those with no CTC/any PC or even CTC/normal PC. Adverse prognostic impact of hPC was observed only in the luminal subtype, when 247 BrCa patients were analysed. hPC correlated with high content of intratumoural stroma, specifically its phenotype related to CD8+ T and resting mast cells, and an increased concentration of cytokines related to platelet activation or even production in bone marrow (i.e. APRIL, ENA78/CXCL5, HGF, IL16, IL17a, MDC/CCL22, MCP3, MMP1 and SCF). Conclusions Preoperative platelets evaluated alone and in combination with CTCs have prognostic potential in non-metastatic BrCa and define patients at the highest risk of disease progression, putatively benefiting from anti-platelet therapy.

  • Highly antifouling polymer-nanoparticle-nanoparticle/polymer hybrid membranes
    • Vahid Vatanpour
    • Maryam Jouyandeh
    • Seyed Soroush Mousavi Khadem
    • Shadi Paziresh
    • Ahmad Dehghan
    • Mohammad Ganjali
    • Hiresh Moradi
    • Somayeh Mirsadeghi
    • Alireza Badiei
    • Muhammad Tajammal Munir
    • Ahmad Mohaddespour
    • Navid Rabiee
    • Sajjad Habibzadeh
    • Amin Hamed Mashhadzadeh
    • Sasan Nouranian
    • Krzysztof Formela
    • Mohammad Saeb
    2022 SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT

    We introduce highly antifouling Polymer-Nanoparticle-Nanoparticle/Polymer (PNNP) hybrid membranes as multi-functional materials for versatile purification of wastewater. Nitrogen-rich polyethylenimine (PEI)-functionalized halloysite nanotube (HNT-SiO2-PEI) nanoparticles were developed and embedded in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) membranes for protein and dye filtration. Bulk and surface characteristics of the resulting HNT-SiO2-PEI nanocomposites were determined using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Moreover, microstructure and physicochemical properties of HNT-SiO2-PEI/PVC membranes were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and attenuated total reflectance (ATR)-FTIR. Results of these analyses indicated that the overall porosity and mean pore size of nanocomposite membranes were enhanced, but the surface roughness was reduced. Additionally, surface hydrophilicity and flexibility of the original PVC membranes were significantly improved by incorporating HNT-SiO2-PEI nanoparticles. Based on pure water permeability and bovine serum albumin (BSA)/dye rejection tests, the highest nanoparticle-embedded membrane performance was observed at 2 weight percent (wt%) of HNT-SiO2-PEI. The nanocomposite incorporation in the PVC membranes further improved its antifouling performance and flux recovery ratio (96.8%). Notably, dye separation performance increased up to 99.97%. Overall, hydrophobic PVC membranes were successfully modified by incorporating HNT-SiO2-PEI nanomaterial and better-quality wastewater treatment performance was obtained.

  • Highly efficient maximum power point tracking control technique for PV system under dynamic operating conditions
    • Syed Kumayl Raza Moosavi
    • Majad Mansoor
    • Muhammad Hamza Zafar
    • Noman Mujeeb Khan
    • Adeel Mirza
    • Naureen Akhtar
    2022 Full text Energy Reports

    The application of small-scale electrical systems is widespread and the integration of Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) control for Photovoltaic systems with battery applications further enhances the techno-economic feasibility of renewable systems. For this purpose, a novel MPPT control system using Dynamic Group based cooperation optimization (DGBCO) algorithm is utilized for PV systems. The population in the DGBCO is divided into exploration and exploitation groups. Due to effective mathematical modeling, the drawbacks of existing MPPT control techniques are undertaken. The drawbacks of modern MPPT control become prominent under partial shading conditions (PSC) which give rise to power loss, random fluctuations, and slow control action. The DGBCO is implemented using a search and skip mechanism which significantly enhances the performance of the MPPT controller and improves the efficiency of PV systems. The results are compared with recently developed Artificial Bee Colony (ABC), Cuckoo Search Algorithm (CS), DragonFly Optimizer (DFO), and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) techniques. The operating conditions case studies include fast varying irradiance and PS with skewed GM. The DGBCO based MPPT control technique is also validated by the experimental setup. The results are compared using statistical and analytical indices such as tracking time, settling time, power tracking efficiency, total energy, RMSE, MAE, and RE. The results show the superior performance of the proposed DGBCO. Relatively, 2%–8% higher energy harvest, and up to 60% faster tracking time helps to achieve up to 99.86% power tracking efficiency in both transient and steady-state control operation. Lower values of statistical metrices i.e. RMSE, MAE, and SR indicate the robustness and effective mathematic modeling of DGBCO for effective MPPT of PV systems under PS conditions.

  • Highly Reliable Passive RFID-Based Inductor–Capacitor Sensory System Strengthened by Solvatochromism for Fast and Wide-Range Lactate Detection
    • Md. Rajibur Rahaman Khan
    • Alireza Khalilian
    • Jungyoon Seo
    • Seungtaek Oh
    • Atul Thakre
    • Tae Kyu An
    • Hwa Sung Lee
    2022 IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL

    A passive radio frequency-identification-based inductor-capacitor (LC) lactate sensory system with a specific dye-containing interdigitated capacitor (IDC) in which the sensing signal is amplified by the solvatochromic effect is proposed. When a lactate solution contacts the IDC of the LC lactate sensor, the capacitance of the IDC changes, changing the resonance frequency of the sensor. This changes the oscillation frequency of the Colpitts oscillator in the readout circuit. By analyzing the frequency changes, the concentration of the lactate solution can be measured quickly and accurately over a wide range. To our knowledge, the proposed device is the first passive, battery-free LC lactate sensor that uses solvatochromic dye-containing IDC sensing elements to detect lactate solution concentrations. Four solvatochromic dyes were tested and incorporated into a polymer as the lactate-sensitive membranes of the IDCs. The proposed LC sensor tag offers excellent sensitivity and linearity over a wide lactate concentration range of about 10μM to 1 M. The response and recovery times of our LC sensory system were significantly shorter than those of previously reported lactate sensors. Our results are useful for the development of reliable wearable devices capable of real-time lactate detection at a low cost.

  • Highly sensitive large strain cellulose/multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs)/thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) nanocomposite foams: From design to performance evaluation
    • Yanpei Fei
    • Ruitao Jiang
    • Wei Fang
    • Tong Liu
    • Mohammad Saeb
    • Aleksander Hejna
    • Morteza Ehsani
    • Mateusz Barczewski
    • S. Mohammad Sajadi
    • Feng Chen
    • Tairong Kuang
    2022 JOURNAL OF SUPERCRITICAL FLUIDS

    Aerogel-based polymer composite foams are promising for large strain piezoresistive sensors, but their aerogel skeleton is partially destroyed during the foaming process, limiting their sensitivity. Herein, the thermoplastic polyurethane was synthesized on the aerogel skeleton to obtain cellulose/multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs)/thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) nanocomposite materials foamed with the aid of supercritical carbon dioxide (ScCO2). A series of lightweight, high strength, and high sensitivity nanocomposite foams were developed, possessing an average diameter of ~9.11 μm and a cell density of 6.84×108 cells/cm3. The mechanical properties, including compressive strength and compressive modulus, were promisingly 5.56 and 28.90 MPa, respectively. Under 50% strain, apparent high repeatability of force-to-electricity conversion behavior was detected in 100 compression cycles.

  • Highly-Miniaturized Dual-Mode Bandpass Filter Based on Quarter-Mode Substrate Integrated Waveguide with Wide Stopband
    • Rusan Kumar Barik
    • Sławomir Kozieł
    • Stanisław Szczepański
    2022 Full text IEEE Access

    This paper presents a novel design of a highly-miniaturized dual-mode bandpass filter (BPF) employing a quarter-mode substrate integrated waveguide (QMSIW). The QMSIW resonator is based on a square cavity with metallic vias along two sides, and open-ended edges at the remaining sides that contain orthogonal feed lines. An open slot is introduced along the two sides of the square cavity with metallic vias to form a magnetic wall. A single metallic via is assigned at the corner of the two open-edged sides to form an electrical wall, which produces different resonances. By loading a slot diagonally, the mode frequencies can be controlled independently, which allows us to realize a second-order BPF. The detailed design steps and a flowchart explaining the filter’s topology evolution are presented. The eigen-mode analysis, field distributions, coupling matrix, and full-wave simulation of the proposed QMSIW filter topology are used to determine the filter’s operating principle. To verify the proposed theory, a second-order BPF is realized, fabricated, and demonstrated experimentally. The BPF prototype exhibits excellent performance such as a small footprint of 0.019λ2, a wide passband of 34.8-percent, low insertion loss of 0.43 dB, and a wide stopband of 3.36f0 with a rejection level greater than 20 dB. Excellent consistency is found between the EM-simulated and measured responses of the device.

  • High-performance anode-supported solid oxide fuel cells with co-fired Sm0.2Ce0.8O2-δ/La0.8Sr0.2Ga0.8Mg0.2O3−δ/Sm0.2Ce0.8O2-δ sandwiched electrolyte
    • Sea-Fue Wang
    • Hsi-Chuan Lu
    • Yung-Fu Hsu
    • Piotr Jasiński
    2022 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HYDROGEN ENERGY

    In this study, intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cells (IT-SOFCs) with a nine-layer structure are constructed via a simple method based on the cost-effective tape casting-screen printing-co-firing process with the structure composed of a NiO-based four-layer anode, a Sm0.2Ce0·8O2-δ(SDC)/La0·8Sr0.2Ga0.8Mg0·2O3−δ (LSGM)/SDC tri-layer electrolyte, and an La0·6Sr0·4Co0·2Fe0·8O3-δ (LSCF)-based bi-layer cathode. The resultant SDC (4.14 μm)/LSGM (1.47 μm)/SDC (4.14 μm) tri-layer electrolyte exhibits good continuity and a highly dense structure. The Ro and Rp values of the single cell are observed to be 0.15 and 0.08 Ω cm2 at 800 °C, respectively, and the MPD of the cell is 1.08 Wcm-2. The high MPD of the cell appears to be associate with the significantly lower area-specific resistance and the reasonably high OCV. Compared to those with a similar electrolyte thickness reported in prior studies, the nine-layer anode-supported IT-SOFC with a tri-layer electrolyte developed by the study demonstrates superior cell properties.

  • High-performance graphene-based biosensor using a metasurface of asymmetric silicon disks
    • Mohammad Salemizadeh Parizi
    • Fatemeh Salemizadehparizi
    • Mahdi Molaei Zarasvand
    • Saeed Abdolhosseini
    • Shahram Bahadori-Haghighi
    • Alireza Khalilian
    2022 IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL

    In recent years, optical biosensors widely applicable for medical applications, have received much attention. In this paper, we propose a high-performance polarization-insensitive optical biosensor based on a graphene-dielectric metasurface. The metasurface consists of an asymmetric dielectric disk array that supports a high Q-factor Fano resonance. The provided sharp Fano resonance results in an enhanced light-matter interaction leading to a highly sensitive biosensor. The proposed structure is analyzed using the finite element method and the corresponding transmission and reflection spectra are calculated. According to the presented results, a sensitivity of as high as 550 nm/RIU, linearity R2 value of 0.999 with a figure of merit (FOM) more than 378 RIU-1 around the operating wavelength of 1550 nm are obtained. This is the largest FOM ever reported for a polarization-insensitive biosensor. Such a large FOM accompanied by high sensitivity and linearity make our proposed graphene-based biosensor promising for the effective detection of biomolecules like hemoglobin.

  • High-resolution fire danger forecast for Poland based on the Weather Research and Forecasting Model
    • Alan Mandal
    • Grzegorz Nykiel
    • Tomasz Strzyzewski
    • Adam Kochanski
    • Weronika Wrońska
    • Marta Gruszczynska
    • Mariusz Figurski
    2022 Full text INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF WILDLAND FIRE

    Due to climate change and associated longer and more frequent droughts, the risk of forest fires increases. To address this, the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management implemented a system for forecasting fire weather in Poland. The Fire Weather Index (FWI) system, developed in Canada, has been adapted to work with meteorological fields derived from the high-resolution (2.5 km) Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. Forecasts are made with 24- and 48-h lead times. The purpose of this work is to present the validation of the implemented system. First, the results of the WRF model were validated using in situ observations from ~70 synoptic stations. Second, we used the correlation method and Eastaugh’s percentile analysis to assess the quality of the FWI index. The data covered the 2019 fire season and were analysed for the whole forest area in Poland. Based on the presented results, it can be concluded that the FWI index (calculated based on the WRF model) has a very high predictive ability of fire risk. However, the results vary by region, distance from human habitats, and size of fire.

  • High-Speed Binary-to-Residue Converter Design Using 2-Bit Segmentation of the Input Word
    • Robert Smyk
    • Maciej Czyżak
    2022 Full text Scientific Journal of Gdynia Maritime University

    In this paper a new approach to the design of the high-speed binary-to-residue converter is proposed that allows the attaining of high pipelining rates by eliminating memories used in modulo m generators. The converter algorithm uses segmentation of the input binary word into 2-bit segments. The use and effects of the input word segmentation for the synthesis of converters for five-bit moduli are presented. For the number represented by each segment, the modulo m reduction using a segment modulo m generator is performed. The use of 2-bit segments substantially reduces the hardware amount of the layer of input modulo m generators. The generated residues are added using the multi-operand modulo m adder based on the carry-save adder (CSA) tree, reduction of the number represented by the output CSA tree vectors to the 2m range and fast two-operand modulo m additions. Hardware amount and time delay analyses are also included.