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  • Electrical properties of organic and perovskite systems used in solar cells
    • Damian Głowienka
    2019 Pełny tekst

    Nowadays, a great progress in the areas of molecular and hybrid photovoltaics is observed. The devices based on organic and perovskite materials are getting attention mostly due to their low cost production process. However, their efficiency and stability are still lower than for inorganic materials which make them less popular. Therefore, a detailed understanding of the device physics is fundamental for organic and perovskite solar cells. The goal of this thesis is to understand which processes influence the electrical properties of both types of solar cells. Here, numerical and experimental techniques are used to accurately determine and understand electrical phenomena taking place in both photovoltaic cells. The special attention is paid to different effects, including excitonic processes, interface phenomena or recombination mechanisms which affect the photovoltaic parameters. The results of the thesis should help in further development of aforementioned solar cells.

  • Electrochemical behavior of a composite material containing 3D-structured diatom biosilica
    • Andrzej Nowak
    • Myroslav Sprynskyy
    • Weronika Brzozowska
    • Anna Lisowska-Oleksiak
    2019 Pełny tekst Algal Research-Biomass Biofuels and Bioproducts

    3D-structured diatom biosilica mixed with conducting carbon black was investigated as an active electrode material for lithium-ion batteries. Diatom biosilica was obtained by cultivation of the selected diatom species under laboratory conditions. Several instrumental techniques (XRD, FTIR, Raman, SEM-EDX, TGA) were used to characterize the physicochemical properties of applied biosilica. It was evidenced that the prepared new composite material has a significant impact on the electrochemical properties of the electrode. The ratio 1:1 of biosilica and carbon black exhibited a specific capacity of 400 ± 9 mAh/g over 90 cycles. Such a ratio ensured proper electric contact between biosilica particles. The specificity of the faradaic process suggests that biosilica-based electrodes might be suitable in large-scale energy storage applications.

  • Electrochemical capacitor temperature fluctuations during charging/discharging processes
    • Stanisław Galla
    • Arkadiusz Szewczyk
    • Łukasz Lentka
    2019 Pełny tekst Metrology and Measurement Systems

    Thepaperpresentsaproposalofusingadditionalstatisticalparameterssuchas:standarddeviation,variance, maximum and minimum increases of the observed value that were determined during measurements of temperature fields created on the surface of the tested electrochemical capacitor. The measurements were carriedoutusingthermographicmethodsinordertosupportassessmentoftheconditionofelectrochemical capacitorunderclassicdurabilitytestsbasedonmethodsofdeterminationofcapacityandequivalentseries resistance.Thepossibilityofusingsomestatisticalparametersinassessmentoftheelectrochemicalcapacitor quality was illustrated. The applied measurement methodology and the results of research associated with the classic methods of supercapacitors’ assessment are presented. The obtained results indicate that the variabilityofsomestatisticalparametersoftemperaturefieldscanbedirectlyrelatedtochangingthevalues of standard parameters describing electrochemical capacitor, which are capacitance and equivalent series resistance.

  • Electrochemical degradation of textile dyes in a flow reactor: effect of operating conditions and dyes chemical structure
    • A Pieczyńska
    • Tadeusz Ossowski
    • Robert Bogdanowicz
    • E.m. Siedlecka
    2019 Pełny tekst International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology

    In this study, electrochemical oxidation of five azo dyestuffs (Yellow D-5GN, Red D-B8, Ruby F-2B, Blue D-5RN, Black DN), that are widely used in the textile industry, was investigated in a flow reactor. BDD electrode with a high boron doping level (C/B = 10 000) was prepared and used. Two configurations of reactor were considered, i.e., one with the undivided cell, and the other with the cell divided by anodic and cathodic compartments. The effect of current density and the initial pH of the solution on the dyestuff degradation process was investigated. As expected, higher degradation rate was found for higher current density, while the effect of pH was marginal. Next, electrochemical oxidation of azo dyestuffs with different chemical structures was investigated. Based on the cyclic voltammetry measurements, the correlation between the dyestuff removal rate and the oxidation potential value of dyestuff was found. These results suggest that the direct oxidation of dyestuffs at the highly doped BDD anode plays a significant role in the electrochemical oxidation. Finally, the electrochemical removal of dyestuffs was carried out in two types of dyeing baths. The dyeing bath composition has a significant effect on the degradation efficiency. Chlorides in F-type dyeing bath accelerated electrochemical removal due to effective generation of Cl2/HOCl at the highly B-doped BDD anode. In contrast, OH− inhibited the D-type dyestuff removal from dyeing bath, because they acted as scavengers of ·OH radicals. Highly B-doped BDD anode is promising material to F-type dyestuff treatment in industrial wastewater.

  • Electrochemical performance of indium-tin-oxide-coated lossy-mode resonance optical fiber sensor
    • Paweł Niedziałkowski
    • Wioleta Białobrzeska
    • Dariusz Burnat
    • Petr Sezemsky
    • Vitezslav Stranak
    • Harm Wulff
    • Tadeusz Ossowski
    • Robert Bogdanowicz
    • Marcin Koba
    • Mateusz Śmietana
    2019 SENSORS AND ACTUATORS B-CHEMICAL

    Analysis of liquids performed in multiple domain, e.g., optical and electrochemical (EC), has recently focus significant attention. Our previous works have shown that a simple device based on indium-tin-oxide (ITO) coated optical fiber core may be used for optical monitoring of EC processes. At satisfying optical properties and thickness of ITO a lossy-mode resonance (LMR) effect can be obtained and used for monitoring of optical properties of an analyte in proximity of the ITO surface. However, EC response of the ITO-LMR device to a redox probe has not been achieved for ITO-LMR sensor whereas it is generally observed for commercially available ITO electrodes. The changes in the response to a redox probe are typically used as a sensing parameter when EC label-free sensing is considered, so it is crucial for further development of combined LMR-EC sensing concept. In this work, we focus on enhancing the EC activity of the device by tuning ITO magnetron sputtering deposition parameters. Influence of the deposition pressure on the ITO properties has been the main consideration. Both optical and EC readouts in 0.1 M KCl containing such redox probes as 1 mM of K3[Fe(CN)6] or 1 mM 1,1′-Ferrocenedimethanol were discussed at different scan rate. The performed studies confirm that for optimized ITO properties the ITO-LMR sensor used as the EC electrode may also show excellent EC performance. The observed EC processes are quasi-reversible and diffusion-controlled. Moreover, for the devices, which offer improved EC response, an optical monitoring of the EC process is also possible. According to our best knowledge, fully functional combined optical and EC sensor, where optical effect is resonance-based and other than well-known surface plasmon resonance, is presented for the first time.

  • Electrochemical properties of porous Sr0.86Ti0.65Fe0.35O3 oxygen electrodes in solid oxide cells: Impedance study of symmetrical electrodes
    • Aleksander Mroziński
    • Sebastian Molin
    • Jakub Karczewski
    • Tadeusz Miruszewski
    • Piotr Jasiński
    2019 Pełny tekst INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HYDROGEN ENERGY

    This work evaluates porous Sr0.86Ti0.65Fe0.35O3 (STF35) as a possible oxygen electrode material for Solid Oxide Cells. The powder synthesis was performed by solid state method. Characterization included DC electrical conductivity study of sintered bulk samples and impedance spectroscopy study of symmetrical electrodes deposited on gadolinium doped ceria substrates. Measurements were carried out in atmospheres with different pO2 levels: 0.1%–20% O2. Detailed equivalent circuit analysis was carried out in order to clarify the reaction pathway on porous electrode, which extends knowledge available for dense model electrodes. At 800 °C in 21% O2, the DC electrical conductivity of STF35 pellet was 0.6 S cm−1 and the polarization resistance of the electrode in the symmetrical cell was ∼100 mΩ cm2. Detailed impedance spectroscopy studies revealed that the largest contribution (∼80%) towards the polarization resistance is due to oxygen adsorption, which is limiting the oxygen reduction performance of the porous STF35 electrode. These results show the applicability of advanced impedance analysis methods (e.g. Distribution of Relaxation Times - DRT) for description of complex impedance electrode phenomena of porous electrodes.

  • Electrochemical simulation of metabolism for antitumor-active imidazoacridinone C-1311 and in silico prediction of drug metabolic reactions
    • Agnieszka Potęga
    • Dorota Żelaszczyk
    • Zofia Mazerska
    2019 Pełny tekst JOURNAL OF PHARMACEUTICAL AND BIOMEDICAL ANALYSIS

    The metabolism of antitumor-active 5-diethylaminoethylamino-8-hydroxyimidazoacridinone (C-1311) has been investigated widely over the last decade but some aspects of molecular mechanisms of its metabolic transformation are still not explained. In the current work, we have reported a direct and rapid analytical tool for better prediction of C-1311 metabolism which is based on electrochemistry (EC) coupled on-line with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). Simulation of the oxidative phase I metabolism of the compound was achieved in a simple electrochemical thin-layer cell consisting of three electrodes (ROXYTM, Antec Leyden, the Netherlands). We demonstrated that the formation of the products of N-dealkylation reactions can be easily simulated using purely instrumental approach. Newly reported products of oxidative transformations like hydroxylated or oxygenated derivatives become accessible. Structures of the electrochemically generated metabolites were elucidated on the basis of accurate mass ion data and tandem mass spectrometry experiments. In silico prediction of main sites of C-1311 metabolism was performed using MetaSite software. The compound was evaluated for cytochrome P450 1A2-, 3A4-, and 2D6-mediated reactions. The results obtained by EC were also compared and correlated with those of reported earlier for conventional in vitro enzymatic studies in the presence of liver microsomes and in the model peroxidase system. The in vitro experimental approach and the in silico metabolism findings showed a quite good agreement with the data from EC/ESI-MS analysis. Thus, we conclude here that the electrochemical technique provides the promising platform for the simple evaluation of drug metabolism and the reaction mechanism studies, giving first clues to the metabolic transformation of pharmaceuticals in the human body.

  • Electrochemical Stability of Few-Layered Phosphorene Flakes on Boron-Doped Diamond: A Wide Potential Range of Studies in Aqueous Solutions
    • Anna Dettlaff
    • Grzegorz Skowierzak
    • Łukasz Macewicz
    • Michał Sobaszek
    • Jakub Karczewski
    • Mirosław Sawczak
    • Jacek Ryl
    • Tadeusz Ossowski
    • Robert Bogdanowicz
    2019 Pełny tekst Journal of Physical Chemistry C

    Two-dimensional phosphorene has attracted great interest since its discovery as a result of its extraordinary properties. Two-dimensional single crystals of phosphorene can be useful for electrochemical (EC) sensing applications due to their enhanced surface-to-volume ratio. We proposed to investigate the electrochemical performance of phosphorene deposited directly on boron-doped diamond (BDD) electrodes. Noncovalent interaction of phosphorene with BDD was achieved due to van der Waals interactions. This extends the potential range of EC studies in aqueous solutions due to the extraordinary wide range of the BDD potential window (−2 to 2.5 V vs Ag|AgCl|3M KCl). Cyclic voltammetry studies demonstrated irreversible electrochemical oxidation of the phosphorene, with peaks observed at different potentials depending on the sonication power during the liquid exfoliation of black phosphorus (BP). This indicated the formation of polyphosphoric quasi-oxide layers with undefined oxidation states of phosphorus. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy showed the second time constant for high power sonicated BP, which was attributed to PxOy(OH)z formation. The subsequent film was responsible for limiting the charge transfer rate. The BDD enabled the EC behavior of phosphorene to be studied at high anodic potentials.

  • Electrodes array for contactless ECG measurement of a bathing person - a sensitivity analysis
    • Kamil Osiński
    • Adam Bujnowski
    • Piotr Przystup
    • Jerzy Wtorek
    2019 Pełny tekst

    An applicability of a remote (contactless) electrocardiogram (ECG) measurements in a bathtub is presented in the paper. Possibility of ECG measurements in shallowly filled tube with a water was examined. A bathing person was, both, sitting and lying during experiments performed. The problem became non-trivial when the bathing person was moving in reference to a fixed set of electrodes and located at the longer walls of the bathtub. However, the results obtained indicate that the sensitivity of a developed electrode array could enable such measurements. However, a spatial sensitivity distribution determines, both, the recorded ECG signal parameters and quality.

  • Electromagnetic plane wave scattering from a cylindrical object with an arbitrary cross section using a hybrid technique
    • Piotr Kowalczyk
    • Rafał Lech
    • Małgorzata Warecka
    • Adam Kusiek
    2019 Pełny tekst JOURNAL OF ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES AND APPLICATIONS

    A hybrid technique combining finite-element and mode-matching methods for the analysis of scattering problems in open and closed areas is presented. The main idea of the analysis is based on the utilization of the finite-element method to calculate the post impedance matrix and combine it with external excitation. The discrete analysis, which is the most time- and memory-consuming, is limited here only to the close proximity of the scatterer. Moreover, once the impedance matrix is calculated, any rotation or shifting of the post can be performed without the need for structure recalculation. All the obtained results have been verified by comparison with simulations performed using the hybrid finite-difference-modematching method and commercial software.

  • Electromagnetic-based derivation of fractional-order circuit theory
    • Tomasz Stefański
    • Jacek Gulgowski
    2019 Pełny tekst Communications in Nonlinear Science and Numerical Simulation

    In this paper, foundations of the fractional-order circuit theory are revisited. Although many papers have been devoted to fractional-order modelling of electrical circuits, there are relatively few foundations for such an approach. Therefore, we derive fractional-order lumped-element equations for capacitors, inductors and resistors, as well as Kirchhoff’s voltage and current laws using quasi-static approximations of fractional-order Maxwell’s equations. The proposed approach is not limited by the geometry of the considered lumped elements and employs the concepts of voltage and current known from the circuit theory. Finally, the proposed theory of circuit elements is applied to interpretation of Poynting’s theorem in fractional-order electromagnetism.

  • Electron collisions with X(CH3)4 molecules (X = C, Si, Ge)
    • Sylwia Stefanowska-Tur
    • Paweł Możejko
    • Elżbieta Ptasińska-Denga
    • Czesław Szmytkowski
    2019 Pełny tekst JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL PHYSICS

    Absolute grand-total cross sections (TCSs) for electron scattering from tetramethylmethane [C(CH3)4], tetramethylsilane [Si(CH3)4], and tetramethylgermane [Ge(CH3)4] molecules have been measured at electron-impact energies extending from around 0.5 to 300 eV in the linear electron-transmission experiment. The measured TCS energy dependences show very pronounced broad enhancement, peaking near 5.5 eV for Si(CH3)4 and Ge(CH3)4 molecules and around 6.5 eV for C(CH3)4. Additional weak structures are also located at higher electron energies. We attributed the TCS features to the resonant processes involved in the electron–molecule scattering. To examine the role of permethylation in the scattering, the measured TCS energy functions for X(CH3)4 compounds (X = C, Si, Ge) have been compared to the TCS curves for XH4 molecules. Additionally, the integral elastic cross section (ECS) and ionization cross section (ICS) have been calculated from intermediate to high electron-impact energies using model methods. At energies above 50 eV, the sum of ECS and ICS for the investigated targets is in satisfactory agreement with the respective measured TCS. The computed ECS+ICS values can be used as rough estimation of TCS at energies above 300 eV.

  • Electron energy-loss spectroscopy of excited states of the diazine molecules: Pyridazine
    • Ireneusz Linert
    • Mariusz Zubek
    2019 JOURNAL OF ELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY AND RELATED PHENOMENA

    Excitation of the valence electronic states of the pyridazine molecules in the gas phase have been studied using the technique of electron energy-loss spectroscopy. Varying the electron scattering conditions, the residual electron energy and scattering angle, enabled the optically-allowed and -forbidden excitations to be differentiated. The measured energy-loss spectra enabled the vertical excitation energies of the observed states to be determined and tentative assignments for them to be obtained. Comparison of the available vertical excitation energies of the correlating triplet and singlet states of the diazine molecules, pyridazine, pyrimidine and pyrazine, allowed systematic trends in the energy shifts to be determined.

  • Electron scattering from tin tetrachloride (SnCl4) molecules
    • Paweł Możejko
    • Sylwia Stefanowska-Tur
    • Elżbieta Ptasińska-Denga
    • Czesław Szmytkowski
    2019 Pełny tekst JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL PHYSICS

    Absolute grand-total cross section (TCS) for electron scattering from a tin tetrachloride, SnCl4, molecule was measured at electron-impact energies ranging from 0.6 to 300 eV, in the linear electron-transmission experiment. The measured TCS energy dependence shows two very pronounced enhancements peaking near 1.2 eV and around 9.5 eV, separated with a deep minimum centered close to 3 eV. The low energy structure is attributed to the formation of two short-living negative ion states. Additional weak structures in the TCS curve are also perceptible. We also calculated the integral elastic and ionization cross sections for SnCl4 up to 4 keV within the additivity rule approximation and the binary-encounter-Bethe approach, respectively. To examine the role of the central atom of tetrachloride target molecules in collisions with electrons, we compared the experimental TCS energy functions for XCl4 molecules (X = C, Si, Ge, Sn).

  • Electronic Noses in Medical Diagnostics
    • Wojciech Wojnowski
    • Tomasz Dymerski
    • Jacek Gębicki
    • Jacek Namieśnik
    2019 CURRENT MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY

    Electronic nose technology is being developed in order to identify aromas in a way parallel to the biologic olfaction. When applied to the field of medicine, such device should be able to identify and discriminate between different diseases. In recent years this kind of approach finds application in medical diagnostics, and especially in disease screening. Despite the fact that devices utilizing chemical sensor arrays are not routinely used in everyday medical practice, their prospective use would solve some established issues in healthcare. It would also find application in prophylactics by facilitating a widespread deployment of screening tests. In this review the comprehensive summary of research in medical diagnostics using electronic noses is presented. A special attention has been paid to application of these devices and sensor technologies, in response to current trends in medicine.

  • Electrophoretic co-deposition of Fe2O3 and Mn1,5Co1,5O4: Processing and oxidation performance of Fe-doped Mn-Co coatings for solid oxide cell interconnects
    • E Zanchi
    • B Talic
    • A Sabato
    • Sebastian Molin
    • A Boccaccini
    • F Smeacetto
    2019 JOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN CERAMIC SOCIETY

    The “in-situ” Fe-doping of the manganese cobalt spinel was achieved by electrophoretic co-deposition of Mn1,5Co1,5O4 and Fe2O3 powders followed by a two-step reactive sintering treatment. The effects on the coating properties of two different Fe-doping levels (5 and 10 wt.% respectively) and two different temperatures of the reducing treatment (900 and 1000 °C) are discussed. Samples with Fe-doped coatings demonstrated a lower parabolic oxidation rate and thinner oxide scale in comparison with both the undoped Mn1,5Co1,5O4 spinel coating and bare Crofer 22 APU. The best corrosion protection was achieved with the combined effect of Fe-doping and a higher temperature of the reducing step at 1000 °C.

  • Electro-thermal buckling of elastically supported double-layered piezoelectric nanoplates affected by an external electric voltage
    • Mohammad Malikan
    2019 Pełny tekst Multidiscipline Modeling in Materials and Structures

    Purpose Thermal buckling of double-layered piezoelectric nanoplates has been analyzed by applying an external electric voltage on the nanoplates. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach Double-layered nanoplates are connected to each other by considering linear van der Waals forces. Nanoplates are placed on a polymer matrix. A comprehensive thermal stress function is used for investigating thermal buckling. A linear electric function is used for taking external electric voltages into account. For considering the small-scale effect, the modified couple stress theory has been applied. An analytical solution has been used by taking various boundary conditions. Findings EEV has a considerable impacted on the results of various half-waves in all boundary conditions. By increasing EEV, the reduction of critical buckling temperature in higher half-waves is remarkably slower than lower half-waves. By considering long lengths, the effect of EEV on the critical temperature will be markedly decreased. Originality/value This paper uses electro-thermal stability analysis. Double-layered piezoelectric nanoplates are analyzed. A comprehensive thermal stress function is applied for taking into account critical temperature.

  • Elektro- i magnetomodulacja dysocjacji ekscytonów w organicznych układach jednoskładnikowych i dwuskładnikowych typu donor elektronu - akceptor elektronu
    • Daniel Pelczarski
    2019 Pełny tekst

    W ramach rozprawy doktorskiej przeprowadzono badania procesu dysocjacji stanów wzbudzenia elektronowego w układach molekularnych jedno- i dwuskładnikowych typu donor elektronu - akceptor elektronu. Do tego celu wykorzystano technikę spektroskopii elektro- i magnetomodulacyjnej wykonując pomiary zarówno fotoprądu, jak i elektromodulowanej fotoluminescencji. Spektroskopia magnetomodulacyjna okazała się skutecznym narzędziem do opisu roli par elektron-dziura (e-h) w procesach fotogeneracji i rekombinacji nośników ładunku. Elektromodulowaną fotoluminescencję obserwowano w układach dwuskładnikowych: m-MTDATA:BCP, 2TNATA:BCP i m-MTDATA:BPhen. Wielkość wygaszenia fotoluminescencji w polu elektrycznym o natężeniu powyżej 106 V/cm przekraczała 7% - na przykład w układzie m-MTDATA:BCP maksymalne wygaszenie wynosiło około 90%, a w układzie mieszanym w którym BCP zamieniono na BPhen - około 35%. Sygnały EML przejawiały dodatkowo tendencje do „nasycania się”, szczególnie dobrze widocznego w przypadku układów 2TNATA:BCP i m-MTDATA:BPhen. Wartość promienia par pierwotnych uzyskana na podstawie analizy wyników pomiaru fotoprądu w układach dwuskładnikowych jest zwykle większa od wartości otrzymanej w pomiarach optycznych EML, co pokazano na przykładzie układu m-MTDATA:BCP. W celu przeprowadzenia spójnej interpretacji wyników fotoprądowych i optycznych założono - zdając sobie sprawę, iż rozkład par pierwotnych może mieć bardziej złożony charakter - że w generacji fotoprądu uczestniczą dwa rodzaje par: o promieniu krótkim i o promieniu dłuższym. Pary e-h o krótszym promieniu dominują w procesie wygaszania fotoluminescencji, z kolei pary o dłuższym promieniu - w generacji fotoprądu. Zatem, stany ekscypleksowe zanikające promieniście powstają zdecydowanie wydajniej w wyniku rekombinacji bliźniaczej krótkich par e-h, podczas gdy długie pary mogą efektywniej dysocjować na swobodne nośniki ładunku albo zanikać bezpromieniście do stanu podstawowego, nie wnosząc wkładu do sygnału EML. Zgodnie z zaproponowanym modelem, pary o dłuższym promieniu powinny z większym prawdopodobieństwem podlegać konwersji międzysystemowej do stanu trypletowego, ze względu na fakt, iż elektrostatyczne oddziaływania wymienne maleją wraz ze wzrostem promienia pary. Spośród singletowych i trypletowych par e-h o długim promieniu - wydajniej dysocjują te pierwsze, co wynika z ich silniejszego sprzężenia z produktami jonowymi reakcji rozpadu.

  • Elektrolity stosowane w kondensatorach elektrochemicznych
    • Dominik Knozowski
    • Monika Wilamowska-Zawłocka
    • Ewa Klugmann-Radziemska
    2019 Przemysł Chemiczny

    Przedstawiono trzy główne grupy elektrolitów ciekłych stosowanych w kondensatorach elektrochemicznych: elektrolity wodne, organiczne oraz ciecze jonowe. Przedstawiono ich właściwości, skład, problemy związane z użytkowaniem, a także najnowsze osiągnięcia w rozwoju poszczególnych grup elektrolitów ciekłych. Omówiono także dodatki do elektrolitów, ich rodzaje oraz wpływ na właściwości elektrolitu i pracę urządzenia.

  • Elektrownia Ostrołęka C w budowie a „momentum-FSI”
    • Janusz Badur
    • Jacek Chróścielewski
    2019 Nowa Energia

    Mimo przeszkód, trwa budowa elektrowni Ostrołęka C. O tym zapewniają nas główni decydenci – Jarosław Małkowski, Prezes Elektrowni Ostrołęka, czy Sławomir Żygowski, Prezes GE Power, firmy odpowiedzialnej projekt, wykonanie i budowę. Możemy o tym dowiedzieć się w mediach społecznościowych. Ale te same media informują również, że 31 lipca 2019 r. Sąd okręgowy w Poznaniu stwierdził nieważność uchwały Walnego Zebrania Akcjonariuszy spółki Enea, zezwalającej na budowę 1000 MW bloku elektrowni w Ostrołęce. Sąd uznał, że uchwała ma wady formalne dyskwalifikujące budowę. Czy oznacza to koniec tego wspaniałego projektu? Można się z dużym prawdopodobieństwem spodziewać, iż kolejnej instancji sądu UE utrzymają ten werdykt

  • Elementy psychologii w kontekście autonomii robotów
    • Michał Czubenko
    • Zdzisław Kowalczuk
    2019 Pełny tekst

    W niniejszym opracowaniu zaprezentowano szerokie spektrum zagadnień związanych z psychologią poznawczą w kontekście antropoidalnej robotyki. W szczególności omówiono sposób przetwarzania informacji u człowieka, od bodźca do reakcji, tak aby przedstawioną wiedzę można było wykorzystać przy projektowaniu robotów autonomicznych. Na początku pracy szczegółowo omówiono procesy poznawcze: percepcję sensoryczną, spostrzeganie, procesy uwagi świadomej i nieświadomej, pamięć oraz myślenie. Bodźce, postrzegane przez detektory sensoryczne, są przetwarzane najpierw do postaci wrażeń (pojedynczych cech), a następnie do postaci spostrzeżeń (pojedynczych obiektów). Spostrzeżenia są rozpoznawane w oparciu o pamięć długotrwałą (LTM). Uwaga jest swoistym systemem zarządzającym wszystkimi procesami poznawczymi. Z pomocą uwagi i pamięci długotrwałej funkcjonują mechanizmy myślenia, a wśród nich procesy podejmowania decyzji i rozumowania (uogólnionego wnioskowania). Z drugiej strony, aby jakakolwiek decyzja mogła być podjęta, jednostka, agent lub robot musi być poddany określonej motywacji. Dlatego w dalszej części pracy zaprezentowano systemy motywacyjne oparte na potrzebach, które m.in. można odnieść do popędów lub pragnień. Innym, szybkim systemem motywacyjnym jest moduł emocjonalny. W książce przedstawiono dwie podstawowe teorie, somatyczną i ocenną, które objaśniają tworzenie się emocji, jak również inne modele emocji człowieka, stosowane w psychologii. W ostatniej części książki znaleźć można przykłady zastosowań przedstawionych teorii. W szczególności wyróżniono roboty oparte na koncepcji antropoidalnej. Po krótkim ich przeglądzie, Czytelnik zapoznawany jest z zestawem wybranych obliczeniowych systemów emocji oraz kompletnych architektur kognitywnych.

  • EM‐driven constrained miniaturization of antennas using adaptive in‐band reflection acceptance threshold
    • David Johanesson
    • Sławomir Kozieł
    • Adrian Bekasiewicz
    2019 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NUMERICAL MODELLING-ELECTRONIC NETWORKS DEVICES AND FIELDS

    Numerical optimization of geometry parameters is a critical stage of the design process of compact antennas. It is also challenging because size reduction is constrained by the necessity of fulfilling imposed electrical performance requirements. Furthermore, full‐wave electromagnetic (EM) analysis needs to be used for reliable performance evaluation of the antenna structure, which is computationally expensive. In this paper, an improved procedure for optimization‐driven design miniaturization of antenna structures is considered. We investigate the properties of explicit formulation with the footprint area minimization being a primary design objective and a penalty function introduced to control reflection characteristic of the antenna at hand. Deficiencies of this approach are pointed out, in particular, difficulties in exploring the boundary of the feasible part of the design space (otherwise necessary due to the fact that the reflection constraint is normally active at the minimum size antenna design). A novel formulation with adaptive adjustment of the maximum acceptable in‐band reflection level threshold is proposed and demonstrated to be superior over the conventional (fixed threshold) setup, ie, leading to smaller footprints without degrading electrical performance parameters. Our considerations are illustrated using 2 broadband antenna structures.

  • Emerging anticancer activity of candidal glucoseamine-6-phosphate synthase inhibitors upon nanoparticle-mediated delivery
    • Ahmet Kertmen
    • Julia Przysiecka
    • Emerson Coy
    • Łukasz Popenda
    • Ryszard Andruszkiewicz
    • Stefan Jurga
    • Sławomir Milewski
    2019 LANGMUIR

    Numerous glutamine analogues have been reported as irreversible inhibitors of the glucosamine-6-phosphate (GlcN-6-P) synthase in pathogenic Candida albicans in the last 3.5 decades. Among the reported inhibitors, the most effective N3-(4-methoxyfumaroyl)-L-2,3- diaminopropanoic acid (FMDP) has been extensively studied in order to develop its more active analogues. Several peptide−FMDP conjugates were tested to deliver FMDP to its subcellularly located GlcN-6-P synthase target. However, the rapid development of fungal resistance to FMDP−peptides required development of different therapeutic approaches to tackle antifungal resistance. In the current state of the global antifungal resistance, subcellular delivery of FMDP via free diffusion or endocytosis has become crucial. In this study, we report on in vitro nanomedical applications of FMDP and one of its ketoacid analogues, N3-trans-4-oxo-4-phenyl-2-butenoyl-L-2,3-diaminopropanoic acid (BADP). FMDP and BADP covalently attached to polyethylene glycol-coated iron oxide/silica core−shell nanoparticles are tested against intrinsically multidrug-resistant C. albicans. Three different human cancer cell lines potentially overexpressing the GlcN-6-P synthase enzyme are tested to demonstrate the immediate inhibitory effects of nanoparticle conjugates against mammalian cells. It is shown that nanoparticle-mediated delivery transforms FMDP and BADP into strong anticancer agents by inhibiting the growth of the tested cancer cells, whereas their anti-Candidal activity is decreased. This study discusses the emerging inhibitory effect of the FMDP/BADP−nanoparticle conjugates based on their cellular internalization efficiency and biocompatibility.

  • EMISJA AKUSTYCZNA JAKO SYGNAŁ DIAGNOSTYCZNY ODWZOROWUJĄCY ZMĘCZENIOWE ZUŻYCIE WARSTW ŚLIZGOWYCH PANWI ŁOŻYSK GŁÓWNYCH I KORBOWYCH SILNIKÓW O ZAPŁONIE SAMOCZYNNYM
    • Jerzy Girtler
    2019 Pełny tekst Journal of Polish CIMEEAC

    W artykule przedstawiono wyniki badań laboratoryjnych, z których wynika, że emisja akustyczna (EA) może być uznana za sygnał diagnostyczny, przydatny do identyfikacji stanu technicznego łożysk głównych i korbowych okrętowych silników o zapłonie samoczynnym. Wykazano w nim bowiem, że parametry emisji akustycznej takie jak: czas rejestracji, energia sygnału, amplituda sygnału, ilość przekroczeń poziomu dyskryminacji, czas narastania, RMS – pochodna energii, pozycja w domenie częstotliwości, rozkład wartości szczytowych amplitud, widmo częstotliwości uzyskane poprzez transformację Fouriera, przemieszczenia dominującej częstotliwości w czasie, mogą być parametrami diagnostycznymi, gdyż odwzorowują one uszkodzenia warstw ślizgowych panwi wspomnianych łożysk. Wykazano, że zastosowana w badaniach aparatura należącą do rodziny AMSY-5 Vallen Systeme GmbH jest przydatna do badania EA generowanej w panwiach łożysk silników spalinowych tłokowych. Scharakteryzowano ogólnie stanowisko laboratoryjne przysposobione do prowadzenia badań zmęczeniowych łożysk ślizgowych. Przedstawiono fotografie uszkodzonych panwi oraz opisy tych uszkodzeń i odpowiadające im rejestracje parametrów EA. Artykuł zawiera także analizę rezultatów badań, z których wynika, że istnieje możliwość wyselekcjonowania parametrów EA, które umożliwiają wykrywanie zmian stanu technicznego panwi łożysk ślizgowych silników spalinowych na wczesnym etapie inicjacji tych uszkodzeń. Zaproponowano hipotezę, która umożliwia sformułowanie odpowiedniej diagnozy o stanie technicznym panwi łożysk ślizgowych.

  • Emotion monitoring system for drivers
    • Zdzisław Kowalczuk
    • Michał Czubenko
    • Tomasz Merta
    2019 Pełny tekst IFAC-PapersOnLine

    This article describes a new approach to the issue of building a driver monitoring system. Actual systems focus, for example, on tracking eyelid and eyebrow movements that result from fatigue. We propose a different approach based on monitoring the state of emotions. Such a system assumes that by using the emotion model based on our own concept, referred to as the reverse Plutchik’s paraboloid of emotions, the recognition of emotions is carried out by means of a video camera and an external algorithm that recognizes real/internal emotions based on facial expressions. The final emotion is estimated by the Kalman filter, where the emotion is treated as measurement data. The aim of our future work is to determine the impact of the driver’s emotional state on driving safety.

  • Emulator and simulator of Terma SCANTER and ARPA radar data server
    • Maciej Sac
    • Sylwester Kaczmarek
    • Marcin Narloch
    2019 Pełny tekst Zeszyty Naukowe Akademii Marynarki Wojennej

    The software solutions presented in this paper generate real-time data compatible with ARPA radar standard as well as Terma SCANTER 2001 radar cooperating with Video Distribution and Tracking (VDT) server. Two different approaches to this problem are considered: emulation based on the data captured from real devices and simulation of objects on the sea. For both of them architecture, implementation details and functional test results are presented. The developed software will be used to test new functionalities of the multimedia surveillance system implemented for the Maritime Division of the Polish Border Guard within the STRADAR project.

  • Enabling Deeper Linguistic-based Text Analytics – Construct Development for the Criticality of Negative Service Experience
    • Ojo Adegboyega
    • Nina Rizun
    2019 Pełny tekst IEEE Access

    Significant progress has been made in linguistic-based text analytics particularly with the increasing availability of data and deep learning computational models for more accurate opinion analysis and domain-specific entity recognition. In understanding customer service experience from texts, analysis of sentiments associated with different stages of the service lifecycle is a useful starting point. However, when richer insights into issues associated with negative sentiments and experiences are desired to inform intervention, deeper linguistic analyses such as identifying specific touchpoints and the context of the service users become important. While research in this direction is beginning to emerge in some domains, we are yet to see similar efforts in the domain of healthcare. We present in this paper the results from our construct development effort for quantifying how critical a negative patient experience is using different elements of the available textual feedback as a key basis for prioritizing interventions by service providers. This involves the identification of the different dimensions of the construct, associated linguistic markers and metrics to compute the criticality index. We also present the results of the application of our developed conceptualization to linguistic-based text analysis of a small dataset of patient experience feedback.

  • Energy Demand of Short-Range Inland Ferry with Series Hybrid Propulsion Depending on the Navigation Strategy
    • Magdalena Kunicka
    • Wojciech Litwin
    2019 Pełny tekst ENERGIES

    Interest in hybrid propulsion systems that can be used on small vessels has increased significantly in recent years. They can replace inefficient and environmentally burdensome conventional systems based on diesel engines. Hybrid propulsion has many advantages such as high energy efficiency and virtually noiseless operation, and therefore it fits well with the current trends of “green shipping” and “zero emission”. The aim of the research conducted was to examine and analyse the varied energy demand of a small inland ferry with electric propulsion depending on the navigation strategy. The work included tests carried out on a model of the vessel. Conventional resistance tests involving towing the model at a constant speed proved to be of no use for the unit, which, during a short voyage, moves with variable speeds and manoeuvres. Therefore, atypical and unique tests were performed to determine the energy consumption during the acceleration of the unit and the parameters of navigation with the propulsion turned off. The work resulted in calculated forecasts of energy consumption by the ship depending on the adopted cruising style and a proposal of the most energy-efficient way to cross the shipping route connecting the two banks of the Motława River in the city of Gdańsk.

  • ENERGY EFFICIENT SMALL INLAND PASSENGER SHUTTLE FERRY WITH HYBRID PROPULSION - CONCEPT DESIGN, CALCULATIONS AND MODEL TESTS
    • Magdalena Kunicka
    • Wojciech Litwin
    2019 Pełny tekst Polish Maritime Research

    In recent years, there has been a significant development in “green” and energy efficient propulsion systems, which fits into the general trend of environmentally friendly “green shipping”. The pursued goal is to construct a safe passenger ship that is low in energy demand and equipped with a highly energy efficient, emission-free propulsion system. The paper presents main problems encountered by designers of a small, hybrid-powered ferry powered lithium batteries. The conducted research allowed to create a design of an energy efficient hull shape, which decreases the demand for energy. Completed remote control model tests resulted in a proposal of an energy efficient and safe propulsion system with good manoeuvring capabilities. Measurements completed on an existing ferry permitted completing energy balance and forming an energy management policy. The paper contains the emission calculations computed for the existing ferry that are necessary for the environmental impact analysis. The soon to be constructed, newly designed vessel will provide a valuable contribution to hybrid-propulsion, energy management and unmanned technologies research.

  • Energy Loss Coefficients ki in a Displacement Pump and Hydraulic Motor used in Hydrostatic Drives
    • Agnieszka Maczyszyn
    2019 Pełny tekst Polish Maritime Research

    The article aims at defining and analysing the energy loss coefficients in design solutions of rotating displacement machines, with a piston machine as an example. The energy losses observed in these machines include mechanical loss, volumetric loss, and pressure loss. The scale and relations between these losses in different machines depend on machine design and manufacturing quality, and on operating parameters. The operating parameters, in turn, which affect directly or indirectly the above losses depend on whether the machine works in pump or hydraulic motor regime. The article is also a contribution to the development of a library of ki coefficients which define the losses in displacement machines, as the knowledge about these coefficients makes it possible to assess fast and easily the energy efficiency of a machine or drive system at each point of its working area.

  • Energy losses reduction in the medium voltage cable line – case study
    • Krzysztof Dobrzyński
    • Stanisław Czapp
    • Jacek Klucznik
    • Zbigniew Lubośny
    • Janusz Grala
    • Sławomir Noske
    • Dominik Falkowski
    2019

    The paper presents an analysis of energy losses in a power cable system, which is composed of two 30 kV cable lines. This cable system is located at the seaside holiday area, so the load profile during a year is specific. Energy losses related to reactive power transmission, as well as to currents induced in the sheaths of the cables, are subject to analysis. Measurements were made in the system in order to prepare a computer model for calculation of current flow in the cable cores and the metallic sheaths, as well as to calculate power and energy losses. As a result of the conducted analyzes, the methods leading to the reduction of energy losses are shown, and potential savings related to them are revealed.

  • Energy Neutrality Versus Carbon Footprint Minimization In Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants
    • Mojtaba Maktabifard
    • Ewa Zaborowska
    • Jacek Mąkinia
    2019

    The study presents analysis of the carbon footprint (CF) in six medium and large-size municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) located across Poland. The novelty of the presented study is searching the relationship between level of energy neutrality and CF in the case studies. Although energy and CF go hand-in-hand to some degree but moving towards energy neutrality in WWTPs might also lead to an increase in the total CF of the plant. A comparative study of CF has taken place by taking into account both direct and indirect emissions for each WWTP. At the end a correlation between level of energy neutrality and the ratio of the indirect to direct emissions has been found.

  • Energy-Aware High-Performance Computing: Survey of State-of-the-Art Tools, Techniques, and Environments
    • Paweł Czarnul
    • Jerzy Proficz
    • Adam Krzywaniak
    2019 Pełny tekst Scientific Programming

    The paper presents state of the art of energy-aware high-performance computing (HPC), in particular identification and classification of approaches by system and device types, optimization metrics, and energy/power control methods. System types include single device, clusters, grids, and clouds while considered device types include CPUs, GPUs, multiprocessor, and hybrid systems. Optimization goals include various combinations of metrics such as execution time, energy consumption, and temperature with consideration of imposed power limits. Control methods include scheduling, DVFS/DFS/DCT, power capping with programmatic APIs such as Intel RAPL, NVIDIA NVML, as well as application optimizations, and hybrid methods. We discuss tools and APIs for energy/power management as well as tools and environments for prediction and/or simulation of energy/power consumption in modern HPC systems. Finally, programming examples, i.e., applications and benchmarks used in particular works are discussed. Based on our review, we identified a set of open areas and important up-to-date problems concerning methods and tools for modern HPC systems allowing energy-aware processing.

  • Engineering method of tire rolling resistance evaluation
    • Jerzy Ejsmont
    • Wojciech Owczarzak
    2019 MEASUREMENT

    Tire rolling resistance is one of the most difficult tire parameters to measure. The reason is that for modern tires the force of rolling resistance corresponds to 0.5–1% of tire load, thus measurements of very small forces must be performed in a heavily loaded system. This constitutes great problems, especially in road conditions. Laboratory measurements are easier to perform, as the environment may be better controlled, but roadwheel facilities based on outer drums, in general cannot be equipped with real road pavements. Typically they have steel drums or drums covered by replicas at best. This article describes a laboratory method of rolling resistance evaluation that may be used in preliminary assessment of road pavements (based on small pavement samples) and tires. The method is based on impact induced tire oscillations and gives good ranking of tires and road pavements related to the energy losses that control rolling resistance.

  • Enhanced boron doping of thin diamond films grown in deuterium-rich microwave plasma
    • Robert Bogdanowicz
    • Michał Sobaszek
    • Mirosław Sawczak
    • Galina Grigorian
    • Mateusz Ficek
    • Piotr Caban
    • Aleksander Herman
    • Adam Cenian
    2019 Pełny tekst DIAMOND AND RELATED MATERIALS

    The boron-doped diamond thin films were growth in deuterium rich microwave plasma in CVD process. The mechanism of influence of plasma composition on boron doping level was studied using optical emission spectroscopy. Deuterium rich plasma results in an increased dissociation of B2H6 precursor and intense boron-radicals' production. In consequence, a higher doping level of diamond films was observed by means of Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Deuterium species modify the mechanism of boron incorporation into thin films leading to increased boron concentration. Lower concentrations of sp2 phases and CH defects have been noticed in the films deposited in the plasma with deuterium than with hydrogen. Moreover, all BHx (x = 0–3) species can bind to radical sites on the diamond {100} surface to form stable complexes. The enhanced boron doping is attributed to the lower energy of BH bond at the growth surface, when compared to CH bond. The hydrogen abstraction from BH site is providing dangling bond for diamond growth and boron incorporation. This effect plays a main role due to extended dissociation caused by deuterium rich plasma. The increase in the carrier concentration and the decrease in the Hall mobility for the BDD samples grown in deuterium was registered.

  • Enhanced hydrogen evolution reaction on highly stable titania-supported PdO and Eu2O3 nanocomposites in a strong alkaline solution
    • Mohamed Ibrahim
    • Amine Mezni
    • Mohammed Alsawat
    • T. Kumeriah
    • Manash Das
    • Shaykla Alzahly
    • Ali Aldalbahi
    • Karolina Górnicka
    • Jacek Ryl
    • Mohammed Amin
    • Tariq Altalhi
    2019 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENERGY RESEARCH

    In this work, PdO/TiO2 and Eu2O3/TiO2 nanocomposites (NCs), were synthesized using a new facile, template-free and one-step solvothermal approach, and characterized by several instrumentation techniques. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) studies revealed the presence of oxidised form of the Pd and Eu nanoparticles within the nanocomposite materials (PdO and Eu2O3). The two catalysts exhibited remarkable activity for the HER in a strong alkaline solution (4.0 M NaOH) with PdO/TiO2 catalyst being the best, which recorded an exchange current density (jo) of 0.26 mA cm-2 and a Tafel slope (βc) of 125 mV dec-1. Such parameters are not far from those recorded for a commercial Pt/C catalyst (0.71 mA cm-2 and 120 mV dec-1) performed here under the same operating conditions. Eu2O3/TiO2 catalyst recorded jo and βc values of 0.05 mA cm-2 and 135 mV dec-1. The Tafel slopes 125 and 135 mV dec-1 calculated on the PdO/TiO2 and Eu2O3/TiO2 catalysts suggest a HER kinetics controlled by the Volmer step. PdO/TiO2 catalyzed the HER with a high turnover frequency (TOF) of 2.3 H2/s at 0.2 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), while Eu2O3/TiO2 catalyst only measured a TOF value of 1.25 H2/s at the same overpotential. The two catalysts exhibited excellent stability and durability after 10,000 cycles and 72 h of controlled potential electrolysis at a high cathodic overpotential, reflecting their practical applicability. SEM and XPS examinations revealed that the morphology and chemistry of both catalysts were not altered as a result of the performed long-term stability and durability tests

  • ENHANCED MASTER CYCLE - SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT OF STEAM RANKINE CYCLE
    • Stanisław Głuch
    • Marian Piwowarski
    2019 Pełny tekst

    The present paper focuses on an enhancement of the Master Cycle. In the first part, the paper presents a classical Master Cycle which is a modification of the double reheat Rankine cycle. This modification allows to slightly increase efficiency, resolves problems caused by superheated steam on bleeds and decreases mass flow rate of steam directed to reheat. These improvements include the implementation of a tuning turbine from which a few bleeds are taken. In the proposed Enhanced Master Cycle all bleeds are placed on the tuning turbine. This alteration results in an increased efficiency, further reduction of steam mass flow on reheats and simplification of low pressure turbine. Comparative calculations of the double reheat cycle, Master Cycle and Enhanced Master Cycle are presented. Cycles operate on the advanced ultra-supercritical parameters. The Enhanced Master Cycle achieved the highest net efficiency 54.64% and required the lowest steam mass flow on superheaters.

  • Enhanced photocatalytic activity of transparent carbon nanowall/TiO2 heterostructures
    • Mattia Pierpaoli
    • Aneta Lewkowicz
    • Michał Rycewicz
    • Karol Szczodrowski
    • Maria Letizia Ruello
    • Robert Bogdanowicz
    2019 Pełny tekst MATERIALS LETTERS

    The synthesis of novel tunable carbon-based nanostructure represented a pivotal point to enhance the efficiency of existing photocatalysts and to extend their applicability to a wider number of sustainable processes. In this letter, we describe a transparent photocatalytic heterostructure by growing boron-doped carbon nanowalls (B-CNWs) on quartz, followed by a simple TiO2 sol-gel deposition. The effect on the thickness and boron-doping in the B-CNWs layer was studied, and the photocatalytic removal of nitrogen oxides (NOx) measured. Our results show that TiO2, in the anatase form, was uniformly deposited on the carbon nanowall layer. The underlying carbon nanowall layer played a double role in the heterostructure: it both affects the crystallinity of the TiO2 and promotes the separation of the photoexcited electron-holes, by increasing the number of contact points between the two layers. In summary, the combination of B-CNWs with TiO2 can enhance the separation of the electron–hole photogenerated charges, due to the peculiar CNWs maze-like structure.

  • Enhanced uniform data sampling for constrained data‐driven modeling of antenna input characteristics
    • Sławomir Kozieł
    • Ari Sigurdsson
    • Anna Pietrenko-Dąbrowska
    • Stanisław Szczepański
    2019 Pełny tekst INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NUMERICAL MODELLING-ELECTRONIC NETWORKS DEVICES AND FIELDS

    Data-driven surrogates are the most popular replacement models utilized in many fields of engineering and science, including design of microwave and antenna structures. The primary practical issue is a curse of dimensionality which limits the number of independent parameters that can be accounted for in the modelling process. Recently, a performance-driven modelling technique has been proposed where the constrained domain of the model is spanned by a set of reference designs optimized with respect to selected figures of interest. This approach allows for significant improvement of prediction power of the surrogates without the necessity of reducing the parameter ranges. Yet, uniform allocation of the training data samples in the constrained domain remains a problem. Here, a novel design of experiments technique ensuring better sample uniformity is proposed. Our approach involves uniform sampling on the domain-spanning manifold and linear transformation of the remaining sample vector components onto orthogonal directions with respect to the manifold. Two antenna examples are provided to demonstrate the advantages of the technique, including application case studies (antenna optimization).

  • Enhancing electrochemical properties of an ITO-coated lossy-mode resonance optical fiber sensor by electrodeposition of PEDOT:PSS
    • Michał Sobaszek
    • Dariusz Burnat
    • Petr Sezemsky
    • Viteszlav Stranak
    • Robert Bogdanowicz
    • Marcin Koba
    • Katarzyna Siuzdak
    • Mateusz Śmietana
    2019 Pełny tekst Optical Materials Express

    A sensor working in multiple domains may offer enhanced information about the properties of an investigated analyte, including those containing biological species. It has already been shown that a dual-domain sensing capability, i.e., in optical and electrochemical domains, can be offered by lossy-mode resonance (LMR) sensors based on indium-tin-oxide (ITO) thin film. The spectral response of the LMR sensors depends on the refractive index (RI) at the ITO surface. In this work, we discuss a capability for enhancing the electrochemical properties of these sensors by electrodeposition of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)–poly(4-styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) on the ITO surface. This conjugated polymer shows high electrical conductivity, high optical transmittance, as well as good chemical stability, and thus can be used as a transparent electrode. We have found that the PEDOT:PSS deposition improves the reversibility of the electrochemical reduction/oxidation reactions by 2.5 times with no negative impact on LMR-based measurements of the RI of the analyte.

  • Enriching the Context: Methods of Improving the Non-contextual Assessment of Sentence Credibility
    • Aleksandra Nabożny
    • Bartłomiej Balcerzak
    • Danijel Korzinek
    2019

    This paper presents several methods of automatic context enrichment of sentences that need to be evaluated, tagged or fact-checked by human judges. We have created a corpus of medical Web articles. Sentences from this corpus have been fact-checked by medical experts in two modes: contextually (reading the entire article and evaluating sentence by sentence) and without context (evaluating sentences from all articles in random order). It is known that non-contextual evaluation is faster, but some sentences are impossible to evaluate without context. We have designed and evaluated several methods of summarizing context that we hypothesized were suitable for supporting evaluation of sentences without reading the entire text. Then, we collected new assessments from medical experts for the sentences with enriched context. The context enrichment methods have been evaluated using two measures: conversion, which calculates how frequently a method allows experts to evaluate sentences that were impossible to evaluate without context, and agreement, which depends on how frequently the new expert evaluations match with evaluations from experts who had read the whole text before rating a sentence. Our results show that the best method achieves a high conversion rate, while providing experts with a condensed context summary. Moreover, the method significantly reduces the time needed to evaluate one sentence, compared to the baseline method (which provides the expert with the entire paragraph surrounding the target sentence). The problem of automatically enhancing the context of a sentence for fast fact-checking or tagging has not appeared in other studies before. We present preliminary results of the research in this area and a framework for testing potential new methods.

  • Entanglement of genuinely entangled subspaces and states: Exact, approximate, and numerical results
    • Maciej Demianowicz
    • Remigiusz Augusiak
    2019 Pełny tekst PHYSICAL REVIEW A

    Genuinely entangled subspaces (GESs) are those subspaces of multipartite Hilbert spaces that consist only of genuinely multiparty entangled pure states. They are natural generalizations of the well-known notion of completely entangled subspaces, which by definition are void of fully product vectors. Entangled subspaces are an important tool of quantum information theory as they directly lead to constructions of entangled states, since any state supported on such a subspace is automatically entangled. Moreover, they have also proven useful in the area of quantum error correction. In our recent contribution [M. Demianowicz and R. Augusiak, Phys. Rev. A 98, 012313 (2018)], we have studied the notion of a GES qualitatively in relation to so-called nonorthogonal unextendible product bases and provided a few constructions of such subspaces. The main aim of the present work is to perform a quantitative study of the entanglement properties of GESs. First, we show how one can attempt to compute analytically the subspace entanglement, defined as the entanglement of the least-entangled vector from the subspace, of a GES and illustrate our method by applying it to a new class of GESs. Second, we show that certain semidefinite programming relaxations can be exploited to estimate the entanglement of a GES and apply this observation to a few classes of GESs revealing that in many cases the method provides the exact results. Finally, we study the entanglement of certain states supported on GESs, which is compared to the obtained values of the entanglement of the corresponding subspaces, and find the white-noise robustness of several GESs. In our study we use the (generalized) geometric measure as the quantifier of entanglement.

  • Entrepreneurial Business and Economic Review
    • Nelly Daszkiewicz
    2019 Pełny tekst Entrepreneurial Business and Economics Review

    The objective of the article is to explore internationalisation patterns of family high-tech firms, especially their internationalisation motives, intensity, speed, and entry modes. The empirical part adopts a quantitative approach. The results of the survey are presented on the sample of 263 high-tech production firms from Poland, including 101 family firms. The survey was conducted in all 16 Polish regions. The calculations from obtained survey results were made using Statistica PL 10.

  • Environmental characteristics of a tundra river system in Svalbard. Part 1: Bacterial abundance, community structure and nutrient levels
    • Klaudia Kosek
    • Aneta Łuczkiewicz
    • Krystyna Kozioł
    • Katarzyna Jankowska
    • Marek Ruman
    • Żaneta Polkowska
    2019 Pełny tekst SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT

    The Arctic hosts a set of unique ecosystems, characterised by extreme environmental conditions and undergoing a rapid change resulting from the average temperature rising. We present a study on an aquatic ecosystem of the Revelva catchment (Spitsbergen), based on samples collected from the lake, river and their tributaries, in the summer of 2016. The landscape variety of the study site and the seasonal change in the hydrological regime modify the availability of nutrients. In general, the upper part of the catchment consists of the mountain rocky slopes which are especially abundant in iron minerals, sulphides and phosphorus minerals. The lower part of the catchment is covered by plants - lichens, saxifrages and bryophytes, which are a different source of nutrients. In the analysed water samples, the maximum concentrations of nutrients such as iron, boron and phosphorus were 0.28 µg L-1, 4.52 µg L-1 and 1.91 µg L-1, respectively, in June, while in September, Fe and B reached the concentrations of 1.32 µg L-1 and 2.71 µg L-1, respectively. The concentration of P in September was below the detection limit of 1.00 µg L-1, which may be explained by the necessity of bacteria to consume it immediately on current needs. We noted also an increase in TOC concentration between the June and September samples, which could originate both from the biomass accumulation in the catchment and the permafrost melting contributing to the hydrological regime of the river. The bacterial community developed in this environment consisted mainly of Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes phylum, while the presence of Acidobacteria was less pronounced than in other tundra-related environments. The described catchment shows that despite the relatively small amount of bioavailable nutrients, the Revelva system is biodiverse and one of the most significant biogeochemical changes occurs there in response to seasonally switching water sources.

  • Environmental characteristics of a tundra river system in Svalbard. Part 2: Chemical stress factors
    • Klaudia Kosek
    • Krystyna Kozioł
    • Aneta Łuczkiewicz
    • Katarzyna Jankowska
    • Stanisław Chmiel
    • Żaneta Polkowska
    2019 Pełny tekst SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT

    Bacterial communities in the Arctic environment are subject to multiple stress factors, including contaminants, although typically their concentrations are small. The Arctic contamination research has focused on persistent organic pollutants (POPs) because they are bioaccumulative, resistant to degradation and toxic for all organisms. Pollutants have entered the Arctic predominantly by atmospheric and oceanic long-range transport, and this was facilitated by their volatile or semi-volatile properties, while their chemical stability extended their lifetimes following emission. Chemicals present in the Arctic at detectable and quantifiable concentrations testify to their global impact. Chemical contamination may induce serious disorders in the integrity of polar ecosystems influencing the growth of bacterial communities. In this study, the abundance and the types of bacteria in the Arctic freshwater were examined and the microbial characteristics were compared to the amount of potentially harmful chemical compounds in particular elements of the Arctic catchment. The highest concentrations of all determined PAHs were observed in two samples in the vicinity of the estuary both in June and September 2016 and were 1964 ng L−1 (R12) and 3901 ng L−1 (R13) in June, and 2179 ng L−1 (R12) and 1349 ng L−1 (R13) in September. Remarkable concentrations of the sum of phenols and formaldehyde were detected also at the outflow of the Revelva river into the sea (R12) and were 0.24 mg L−1 in June and 0.35 mg L−1 in September 2016. The elevated concentrations of chemical compounds near the estuary suggest a potential impact of the water from the lower tributaries (including the glacier-fed stream measured at R13) or the sea currents and the sea aerosol as pollutant sources. The POPs' degradation at low temperature is not well understood but bacteria capable to degrading such compounds were noted in each sampling point.

  • Enzymatic activities behind degradation of glucosinolates
    • Karol Parchem
    • Anna Piekarska
    • Agnieszka Bartoszek-Pączkowska
    2019

    Myrosinase (thioglucosidase, EC 3.2.1.147) is the enzyme responsible for the hydrolysis of glucosinolates (GLs). In plant tissue, myrosinase and GLs are sequestered in separate cellular compartments. As a result of cell disruption, e.g., after pathogen attack or on chopping or grinding during food preparation, the myrosinase comes into contact with GLs and catalyzes the hydrolysis of thioglucosidic bond in GL structure. Consequently, glucose is cleaved off and an unstable aglucon—thiohydroximate-O-sulfate—becomes released. Depending on the parent GLs, the hydrolysis conditions such as pH, temperature, presence of Fe2+ ions, and additional protein factors, the aglucon is converted into different classes of degradation products embracing: isothiocyanates, thiocyanates, nitriles, epithionitriles, hydroxynitriles, oxazolidine-2-thiones, or indoles. This chapter presents information on the myrosinase structure, its enzymatic activity, and the role of additional protein factors involved in the GL metabolism. In addition, we discussed methods to determine the activity of myrosinase in plant material.

  • Epigenetic inhibitor zebularine activates ear pinna wound closure in the mouse
    • Piotr Sass
    • Paweł Sosnowski
    • Justyna Podolak-Popinigis
    • Bartosz Górnikiewicz
    • Jolanta Kamińska
    • Milena Deptuła
    • Ewa Nowicka
    • Anna Wardowska
    • Jarosław Ruczyński
    • Piotr Rekowski
    • Piotr Rogujski
    • Natalia Filipowicz
    • Alina Mieczkowska
    • Grażyna Peszyńska-Sularz
    • Łukasz Janusz
    • Piotr Skowron
    • Artur Czupryn
    • Piotr Mucha
    • Arkadiusz Piotrowski
    • Sylwia Rodziewicz-Motowidło
    • Michał Pikuła
    • Paweł Sachadyn
    2019 Pełny tekst EBioMedicine

    Background:Most studies on regenerative medicine focus on cell-based therapies and transplantations.Small-molecule therapeutics, though proved effective in different medical conditions, have not been extensivelyinvestigated in regenerative research. It is known that healing potential decreases with development and devel-opmental changes are driven by epigenetic mechanisms, which suggests epigenetic repression of regenerativecapacity.Methods:We applied zebularine, a nucleoside inhibitor of DNA methyltransferases, to stimulate the regenerativeresponse in a model of ear pinna injury in mice.Findings:We observed the regeneration of complex tissue that was manifested as improved ear hole repair inmice that received intraperitoneal injections of zebularine. Six weeks after injury, the mean hole area decreasedby 83.2 ± 9.4% in zebularine-treated and by 43.6 ± 15.4% in control mice (pb10−30). Combined delivery ofzebularine and retinoic acid potentiated and accelerated this effect, resulting in complete ear hole closure withinthree weeks after injury. We found a decrease in DNA methylation and transcriptional activation ofneurodevelopmental and pluripotency genes in the regenerating tissues.Interpretation:This study is thefirst to demonstrate an effective induction of complex tissue regeneration in adultmammals using zebularine. We showed that the synergistic action of an epigenetic drug (zebularine) and a tran-scriptional activator (retinoic acid) could be effectively utilized to induce the regenerative response, thus delin-eating a novel pharmacological strategy for regeneration. The strategy was effective in the model of ear pinnaregeneration in mice, but zebularine acts on different cell types, therefore, a similar approach can be tested inother tissues and organs

  • Epoxy Composites Filled with Natural Calcium Carbonate. 1. Epoxy Composites Obtained in the Presence of Monoperoxy Derivative of Epidian-6 Epoxy Resin
    • Michael Bratychak
    • Olena Astakhova
    • Olena Shyshchak
    • Olha Zubal
    • Maciej Sienkiewicz
    • Ostap Ivashkiv
    2019 Pełny tekst Chemistry & Chemical Technology

    Physico-mechanical properties of the products based on filled epoxy-oligomeric mixtures composed of Epidian-5 epoxy resin, oligoesteracrylate TGM-3 and monoperoxide derivative of Epidian-6 epoxy resin (PO) have been investigated. CaCO3 was used as a filler and polyethylene polyamine was a curing agent. The effect of PO and CaCO3 on the gel-fraction content and physico-mechanical properties was examined. Using a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) the morphology of the samples has been studied.

  • Equitable coloring of hypergraphs
    • Hanna Furmańczyk
    • Paweł Obszarski
    2019 Pełny tekst DISCRETE APPLIED MATHEMATICS

    A hypergraph is equitablyk-colorable if its vertices can be partitioned into k sets/colorclasses in such a way that monochromatic edges are avoided and the number of verticesin any two color classes differs by at most one. We prove that the problem of equitable 2-coloring of hypergraphs is NP-complete even for 3-uniform hyperstars. Finally, we apply the method of dynamic programming for designing a polynomial-time algorithm to equitably k-color linear hypertrees, where k≥2 is fixed.

  • Equivalent single-layer models in deformation analysis of laminated multilayered plates
    • Ireneusz Kreja
    • Agnieszka Sabik
    2019 Pełny tekst ACTA MECHANICA

    The performance of selected Equivalent Single-Layer (ESL) models is evaluated within several classical benchmark tests for linear static analysis of multi-layered plates. The authors elaborated their own Finite Element software based on the first-order shear deformation theory (FOSD) with some modifications incorporated including a correction of the transverse shear stiffness and an application of zig-zag type functions. Seven different ESL models were considered in the study; beside the classical FOSD model, there were three FOSD models with various transverse shear corrections and three ESL models enhanced by the application of zig-zag functions. In addition, particular attention was paid to investigation of differences related to the “soft” and “hard” variants of the simply support.