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Politechniki Gdańskiej

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  • Understanding Sustainable Knowledge-Sharing in Agile Projects: Utilizing Follow-the-Sun Technique (FTS) in Virtual Teams
    • Edward Szczerbicki
    • Rodrigo Oliveira de Castro
    • Cesar Sanin
    2023 Pełny tekst

    In Agile IT projects, promoting effective knowledge sharing is essential not only for achieving success but also for supporting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, Companies using virtual teams may face challenges in coordinating work, particularly when teams are distributed across different time zones, ultimately hindering their ability to consistently share knowledge. This can lead to delays and inefficiencies, ultimately impacting the project outcomes and the organization's profitability. To ensure sustainable knowledge sharing, a comprehensive framework is necessary that addresses the environmental, social, economic, and political aspects of the project. This paper proposes a framework that combines the Follow-the-Sun (FTS) technique and the Sustainable Knowledge Sharing Model, enabling 24-hour knowledge sharing in virtual teams and benefiting IT agile projects.

  • Understanding the kinetics and atmospheric degradation mechanism of chlorotrifluoroethylene (CF2=CFCl) initiated by OH radicals
    • Saber Safari Balsini
    • Abolfazl Shiroudi
    • Farhad Hatamjafari
    • Ehsan Zahedi
    • Khalil Pourshamsian
    • Ahmad Reza Oliaey
    2023 PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY CHEMICAL PHYSICS

    The atmospheric degradation of chlorotrifluoroethylene (CTFE) by OH˙ was investigated using density functional theory (DFT). The potential energy surfaces were also defined in terms of single-point energies derived from the linked cluster CCSD(T) theory. With an energy barrier of −2.62 to −0.99 kcal mol−1 using the M06-2x method, the negative temperature dependence was determined. The OH˙ attack on Cα and Cβ atoms (labeled pathways R1 and R2, respectively) shows that reaction R2 is 4.22 and 4.42 kcal mol−1, respectively, more exothermic and exergonic than reaction R1. The main pathway should be the addition of OH˙ to the β-carbon, resulting in ˙CClF–CF2OH species. At 298 K, the calculated rate constant was 9.87 × 10−13 cm3 molecule−1 s−1. The TST and RRKM calculations of rate constants and branching ratios were performed at P = 1 bar and in the fall-off pressure regime over the temperature range of 250–400 K. The formation of HF and ˙CClF–CFO species via the 1,2-HF loss process is the most predominant pathway both kinetically and thermodynamically. With increasing temperature and decreasing pressure, the regioselectivity of unimolecular processes of energized adducts [CTFE–OH]˙ gradually decreases. Pressures greater than 10−4 bar are often adequate for assuring saturation of the estimated unimolecular rates when compared to the RRKM rates (in high-pressure limit). Subsequent reactions involve the addition of O2 to the [CTFE–OH]˙ adducts at the α-position of the OH group. The [CTFE–OH–O2]˙ peroxy radical primarily reacts with NO and then directly decomposes into NO2 and oxy radicals. “Carbonic chloride fluoride”, “carbonyl fluoride”, and “2,2-difluoro-2-hydroxyacetyl fluoride” are predicted to be stable products in an oxidative atmosphere.

  • Universities’ journey towards sustainability- systematic literature review
    • Magdalena Popowska
    • Monika Sady
    2023 Pełny tekst International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education

    Purpose: This research aims to identify a sustainable university's key features. It is an essential step in tracing the topics discussed in the context of a sustainable university and their evolution in the scientific discourse. Design/methodology/approach: This paper relies on a systematic literature review (SLR) conducted using two scholarly databases: Emerald and Scopus. The timeframe selected by the authors for reviewing the available sources spans from 2001 to 2021. Findings: The analysis distinguished seven sustainable university categories, each revealing critical features of sustainable higher education. Each of these categories represents an intriguing area for in-depth analysis. The systematic literature review (SLR) reveals gaps requiring further scientific exploration. Originality: SLR is a cornerstone of research synthesis and helps integrate scientific evidence from qualitative and quantitative published studies. Conducted research presents knowledge about university sustainability and can help scientists find research gaps. Research limitations/implications: The performed literature review was determined by the choice of entries (keywords) to identify the scientific papers in the selected databases. Moreover, since the authors aimed to focus on peer-reviewed sources, this SLR did not include books and doctoral dissertations dealing with the studied issues. The results of the analysis can be used practically by both researchers and practitioners in the field of sustainable development. Identified scientific gaps become a potential research field, and practitioners interested in the transition toward sustainable development (SD) may contribute by accompanying universities in this journey. Collaboration and networking with business stakeholders are critical vectors for spreading the idea of SD. Society's growing concern for climate change requires accurate and specific actions from institutions. As entities educating future generations, universities have a unique role in transforming toward SD. Our findings allow us to get acquainted with the existing main activities undertaken by HEIs in this field and understand the importance of this topic for researchers.

  • Unlocking the Secrets of River Pollution: Analyzing Organic Pollutants in Sediments—Experimental Study
    • Sadeq Abdullah Abdo Alkhadher
    • Suhaimi Suratman
    • Hussein Al-Hazmi
    • Mohamad Pauzi Zakaria
    • Bartosz Szeląg
    • Joanna Majtacz
    • Jakub Drewnowski
    2023 Pełny tekst Water

    Untreated wastewater released into rivers can result in water pollution, the spread of waterborne diseases, harm to ecosystems, contamination of soil and groundwater, as well as air pollution and respiratory problems for nearby humans and animals due to the release of greenhouse gases. The current study aims to investigate the recent input of anthropogenic loads into the rivers using linear alkylbenzene (LAB), which is one of the molecular chemical markers with application of sophisticated model statistical analyses. In order to determine the compositions of LABs, which act as wastewater pollution molecular indicators, surface sediment samples from the Muar and Kim Kim rivers were collected. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was utilized to identify LABs and investigate their sources and degradation. ANOVA and the Pearson correlation coefficient were employed to determine the significance of differences between sampling locations, with a threshold of p < 0.05. To assess the degradation degree and efficacy of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), LABs were identified based on chains ranging from long to short (L/S), C13/C12 homolog, and internal to external (I/E) congeners. The results indicated that LAB concentrations in the studied areas of the Muar River ranged from 87.4 to 188.1 ng g−1dw. There were significant differences in LAB homology at p < 0.05, and a significant percentage of sampling stations contained C13-LAB homology. Based on the LAB ratios (I/E) determined, which ranged from 1.7 to 2.2 in the studied areas, it was concluded that effluents from primary and secondary sources are being discharged into the marine ecosystem in those areas. The degradation of LABs was up to 43% in the interrogated locations. It can be inferred that there is a requirement for enhancing the WWTPs, while also acknowledging the efficacy of LAB molecular markers in identifying anthropogenic wastewater contamination.

  • Unprecedented Adhesive Performance of Propylene-Based Hydroxyl Functionalized Terpolymers
    • Jakub Kruszyński
    • Weronika Nowicka
    • Miloud Bouyahyi
    • Yingxin Liu
    • Lanti Yang
    • Artur Rozanski
    • Nithish Anbuchezhian
    • Lidia Jasińska-Walc
    • Rob Duchateau
    2023 ACS Applied Polymer Materials

    The synthesis of hydroxyl functionalized propylene-based terpolymers and their performance as hot melt adhesives were investigated. The products comprise uniformly distributed butyl and 4-hydroxyl-butyl branches along the polypropylene backbone. Despite the low hydroxyl-functionality level of ≤ 0.5 mol%, hydroxyl functionalized terpolymers show formidable adhesion to aluminum and steel providing an adhesive strength exceeding 16 MPa, whereas the non-functionalized congeners hardly adhere to these metals. As evidenced by rheological measurements, the functional groups form dynamic cross-links based on hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interactions with aluminum oxide hydroxide residues, remaining in the product after polymerization. At the industrial application temperature of 180 °C, non-deashed and deashed samples of polymers having 0.1 mol% or 0.5 mol% of incorporated 5-hexen-1-ol gave, upon cooling to room temperature, comparable adhesive strengths. Deashing and increasing the functionality level leads to a significant improvement of the adhesion strength at lower application temperature (130 °C), allowing application of the hydroxyl functionalized propylene-based terpolymers as high strength hot melt adhesive for combinations of polypropylene and metals.

  • Unraveling a novel microwave strategy to fabricate exposed {001}/{101} facets anatase nanocrystals: Potential for use to the elimination of environmentally toxic metronidazole waste
    • Adam Kubiak
    • Anna Grzegórska
    • Elżbieta Gabała
    • Joanna Zembrzuska
    • Anna Zielińska-Jurek
    • Michał Cegłowski
    2023 MATERIALS RESEARCH BULLETIN

    This study present a novel microwave strategy to fabricate highly active anatase particles, exposing {101} and {001} facets. Microwave treatment time was shown to determine the growth of crystals in a certain direction. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first report revealing that the contact time of TiO2 crystals with fluorine ions during the microwave process affects the formed morphology, in particular exposed facets ratio. The important element of this study was a parallel approach to produce active photocatalysts and a convenient UV-LED light source. The simultaneous use of synthesized anatase nanocrystals with exposed {001}/{101} facets and tailormade LED photoreactor led to the enhanced elimination of metronidazole. Photocatalytic studies showed greater activity in the elimination of metronidazole with increasing microwave exposure time, which was associated with the presence of the surface heterojunction {001}/{101}, leading to better separation of charge carriers.

  • Unraveling the Interplay between DNA and Proteins: A Computational Exploration of Sequence and Structure-Specific Recognition Mechanisms
    • Kazi Hossain
    2023 Pełny tekst

    My PhD dissertation focused on DNA-protein interactions and the recognition of specific DNA sequences and structures. I discovered that acidic amino acid residues (Asp/Glu) play a crucial role by exhibiting a preference for cytosine. Their contribution to binding affinity depends on nearby cytosines, balancing electrostatic repulsion with specific interactions. Acidic residues act as negative selectors, discouraging non-cytosine binding, but can be favorable with increasing proximal cytosine count. They exclusively recognize cytosine due to electrostatic repulsion with adenine's N7 atom and stronger hydrogen bonding. In another aspect of my research, I explored conformation-specific DNA recognition. I found that the EXOG protein prefers A-DNA and selectively recognizes RNA/DNA chimeric duplexes. Specific arginine residues induce the A-DNA conformation when EXOG binds to DNA/DNA duplexes, providing insights into mitochondrial replication and base excision repair. Furthermore, I investigated the DHX36 helicase, which recognizes G-quadruplexes (G4s) through its DSM and OB subdomains. The planar face of a G-tetrad and the specific backbone conformation of a G-tract are critical features in this interaction. The DSM and OB subdomains cooperatively recognize these distinctive features of parallel G4s. Importantly, the recognition by DSM is mediated through van der Waals contacts and hydrophobic interactions, exhibiting a preference for the accessible 5'-side of the G4 structure.

  • UNRES-GPU for Physics-Based Coarse-Grained Simulations of Protein Systems at Biological Time- and Size-Scales
    • Krzysztof Ocetkiewicz
    • Cezary Czaplewski
    • Henryk Krawczyk
    • Agnieszka Lipska
    • Józef Liwo
    • Jerzy Proficz
    • Adam Sieradzan
    • Paweł Czarnul
    2023 Pełny tekst BIOINFORMATICS

    The dynamics of the virus like particles (VLPs) corresponding to the GII.4 Houston, GII.2 SMV, and GI.1 Norwalk strains of human noroviruses (HuNoV) that cause gastroenteritis was investigated by means of long-time (about 30 μs in the laboratory timescale) molecular dynamics simulations with the coarse-grained UNRES force field. The main motion of VLP units turned out to be the bending at the junction between the P1 subdomain (that sits in the VLP shell) and the P2 subdomain (that protrudes outside) of the major VP1 protein, this resulting in a correlated wagging motion of the P2 subdomains with respect to the VLP surface. The fluctuations of the P2 subdomain were found to be more pronounced and the P2 domain made a greater angle with the normal to the VLP surface for the GII.2 strain, which could explain the inability of this strain to bind the histo-blood group antigens (HBGAs).

  • Unveiling the Green Mirage: Unearthing Weaknesses in Pro-Environmental Applications
    • Ewa Duda
    • Hanna Obracht-prondzyńska
    • Helena Anacka
    • Jolanta Kowal
    2023 Pełny tekst

    Growing ecological concerns and a general shift towards tailored digitized solutions in cities lead to an increased popularity of pro ecological applications, especially those associated with transport-oriented functionalities. This research focuses on the results from a testbed of a pro-environmental application deployment among early adopters. Based on quantitative and cartographic analysis enriched with interviews’ results, by applying a triangulation research approach, we are able to answer three research questions: related to potential constraints or unintended negative outcomes of pro-environmental educational applications, deviation from the intended use of these apps, as well as range of climate- responsive behaviors these applications promote. Research results allow us to analyze to what extent a pro environmental application affects users’ behavior and ecological choices. It also helps to critically evaluate potential technological weaknesses, their interaction with end users and an impact on motivations and habits of urban dwellers.

  • Unveiling the Pool of Metallophores in Native Environments and Correlation with Their Potential Producers
    • Francisco Calderón Celis
    • Ivan González-Álvarez
    • Magdalena Fabjanowicz
    • Simon Godin
    • Laurent Ouerdane
    • Béatrice Lauga
    • Ryszard Łobiński
    2023 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

    For many organisms, metallophores are essential biogenic ligands that ensure metal scavenging and acquisition from their environment. Their identification is challenging in highly organic matter rich environments like peatlands due to low solubilization and metal scarcity and high matrix complexity. In contrast to common approaches based on sample modification by spiking of metal isotope tags, we have developed a two-dimensional (2D) Solid-phase extraction-Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (SPE-LC-MS) approach for the highly sensitive (LOD 40 fmol per g of soil), high-resolution direct detection and identification of metallophores in both their noncomplexed (apo) and metal-complexed forms in native environments. The characterization of peat collected in the Bernadouze (France) peatland resulted in the identification of 53 metallophores by a database mass-based search, 36 among which are bacterial. Furthermore, the detection of the characteristic (natural) metal isotope patterns in MS resulted in the detection of both Fe and Cu potential complexes. A taxonomic-based inference method was implemented based on literature and public database (antiSMASH database version 3.0) searches, enabling to associate over 40% of the identified bacterial metallophores with potential producers. In some cases, low completeness with the MIBiG reference BCG might be indicative of alternative producers in the ecosystem. Thus, coupling of metallophore detection and producers’ inference could pave a new way to investigate poorly documented environment searching for new metallophores and their producers yet unknown.

  • Upgrading low value-added activities in global value chains: a functional specialisation approach
    • Aleksandra Kordalska
    • Magdalena Olczyk
    2023 Pełny tekst Economic Systems Research

    This paper aims to identify patterns of functional specialisation (FS) in global value chains (GVCs) and determinants of upgrading them for selected Central Eastern European (CEE) economies. By combing the World Input-Output Database with data on occupations, we reveal a new FS pattern among subgroups of CEEs. Poland and Slovakia have an unfavourable GVC position and specialise in low value-added fabrication function. In contrast, other CEEs have competitive advantages in high value-added tasks: the Baltic countries and Slovenia in management services, the Czech Republic and Slovenia in R&D. We identify upgrading factors for different types of FS in GVCs. The wages convergence of CEEs with developed economies, and strong GVC backward linkages support the path to higher value-added in almost all business functions. Higher GDP per capita and lower economic distance to Germany allow CEEs to escape from ‘factory economies' status and also generate higher value-added in R&D activities.

  • Upoważnienie do zaciągania zobowiązań na rzecz jednostek samorządu terytorialnego jako naruszenie dyscypliny finansów publicznych
    • Alicja Sekuła
    • Grzegorz Garbacz
    2023 Pełny tekst ZESZYTY PRAWNICZE BIURA ANALIZ SEJMOWYCH

    Artykuł poświęcony jest zagadnieniu upoważnienia do zaciągania zobowiązań na rzecz jednostek samorządu terytorialnego. W teoretycznej części zdefiniowano dwa pojęcia: zobowiązań oraz zaciągania zobowiązań. Następnie scharakteryzowano zagadnienie podmiotowego i przedmiotowego zaciągania zobowiązań. Nieprzestrzeganie przepisów dotyczących zaciągania zobowiązań, które zawarte są głównie w ustawie o finansach publicznych, prowadzi do naruszenia dyscypliny finansów publicznych. Problematykę tę przeanalizowano z punktu widzenia naruszenia dyscypliny finansów publicznych w związku z zaciąganiem zobowiązań. W części empirycznej artykułu omówiono trzy studia przypadków, tzn. opisano wyroki Głównej Komisji Orzekającej w sprawach o naruszenie dyscypliny finansów publicznych, dotyczące niezgodnego z prawem zaciągania zobowiązań.

  • Uproszczone metody obliczania wyboczenia silosów z blachy falistej wzmocnionych słupami na podstawie analizy MES i wyników doświadczalnych
    • Karol Rejowski
    2023 Pełny tekst

    Rozprawa doktorska dotyczy zagadnienia stateczności i nośności granicznej stalowych silosów z płaszczem z blachy falistej wzmocnionych pionowymi słupami. Przeprowadzono zaawansowane analizy numeryczne MES oraz badania doświadczalne dotyczące wyboczenia/stateczności analizowanych silosów. Analizy numeryczne zostały przeprowadzone w zakresie liniowej oraz nieliniowej analizy stateczności, z uwzględnieniem wstępnych imperfekcji geometrycznych w kształcie powszechnie stosowanej formy wyboczeniowej LBA oraz w kształcie rzeczywistych imperfekcji pomierzonych geodezyjnie dla rzeczywistego silosu. Na podstawie przeprowadzonych analiz numerycznych zaproponowano uproszczone modele numeryczne silosów w formie segmentu silosu lub pojedynczego słupa na podłożu sprężystym. Zaproponowane modele pozwalają na uzyskanie wyników analiz stateczności i nośności granicznej zgodnych z wynikami modelu powłokowego całego silosu. Zaproponowano również modyfikacje procedur normowych pozwalających na dokładniejsze w porównaniu z aktualnymi procedurami normowymi, określenie nośności wyboczeniowej analizowanych silosów metodami analitycznymi. W pracy omówiono także wyniki doświadczeń dotyczących wyboczenia słupa silosowego w skali laboratoryjnej oraz w skali rzeczywistej.

  • Urban flash flood hazard identification and assessment applying geospatial techniques and hydrodynamic modeling; Erbil city case study, Kurdistan Region of Iraq
    • Andam Mustafa
    2023 Pełny tekst

    This dissertation aims to investigate the factors behind flash flooding in Erbil's central district, located in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, and develop a methodology for assessing flood hazards in the city, despite limited data accessibility. In this thesis, each factor was investigated, including analyzing extreme precipitation events in the last two decades, including their spatial and temporal distribution of rainfall, intensity, and exceedance probability, and examines the impact of changes in Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) on the hydrological response of the Erbil basin. The hydrodynamic model's input data were generated using GIS-based modeling interface. HEC-RAS 2-D software package's suitability was ensured by evaluating two building representation techniques and two mathematical models (Diffusion-Wave Equations (DWE) and Shallow-Water Equations (SWE)) using the Toce River urban flood experimental model. The study utilized a two-dimensional hydrodynamic model (HEC-RAS 2-D) to assess the susceptibility, vulnerability, and socioeconomic impact of flooding in the study area. Using the model, flood hazard maps were created to show the extent of potential flooding in the study area during various rainfall events and return periods. Ultimately, the study concludes that without essential engineering measures, there is an increased probability of flooding in the center of Erbil.

  • Urban scene semantic segmentation using the U-Net model
    • Marcin Ciecholewski
    2023

    Vision-based semantic segmentation of complex urban street scenes is a very important function during autonomous driving (AD), which will become an important technology in industrialized countries in the near future. Today, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) improve traffic safety thanks to the application of solutions that enable detecting objects, recognising road signs, segmenting the road, etc. The basis for these functionalities is the adoption of various classifiers. This publication presents solutions utilising convolutional neural networks, such as MobileNet and ResNet50, which were used as encoders in the U-Net model to semantically segment images of complex urban scenes taken from the publicly available Cityscapes dataset. Some modifications of the encoder/decoder architecture of the U-Net model were also proposed and the result was named the MU-Net. During tests carried out on 500 images, the MU-Net model produced slightly better segmentation results than the universal MobileNet and ResNet networks, as measured by the Jaccard index, which amounted to 88.85\%. The experiments showed that the MobileNet network had the best ratio of accuracy to the number of parameters used and at the same time was the least sensitive to unusual phenomena occurring in images.

  • Usability study of various biometric techniques in bank branches
    • Arkadiusz Harasimiuk
    • Andrzej Czyżewski
    2023 Pełny tekst

    The purpose of the presented research was to evaluate the performance of the prepared biometric algorithms and obtain information on the opinions and preferences of their users in bank branches. The study aimed to determine users' attitudes towards particular modalities and preferences on how to use biometrics after the bank customers had practical experience with the operation of the prototype solutions. The research results allow a better understanding of users' needs and expectations, which can help to increase the knowledge of the need for biometric solutions in banking. Making appropriate changes based on the research results can help improve user satisfaction. The experiments included the collection of biometric sample collection and verification processes conducted by bank customers assisted by employees. The study collected biometric samples and questionnaires from 365 people, and 179 complete verifications were conducted. About 95% of those surveyed expressed acceptance of the implemented solutions for handling transactions using biometrics. The HandVein-FaceImage (hand vein scanning and face recognition) modality pair was rated highest in 70% of cases in the studied population.

  • Use of the AHP Method for Preference Determination in Yacht Design
    • Jan Sierzputowski
    • Artur Karczewski
    • Przemysław Krata
    2023 Pełny tekst Polish Maritime Research

    A sailing yacht is a human-centred product, the design of which revolves primarily around the wants and desires of the future owner. In most cases, these preferences are not measurable, such as a personal aesthetic feeling, or a need for comfort, speed, safety etc. The aims of this paper are to demonstrate that these preferences can be classified and represented numerically, and to show that they are correlated with the type of yacht owned. As a case study, the owner’s preferences for deck equipment are considered. These are determined by pairwise comparisons of the importance rankings for features previously defined by yacht owners, following the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method. As a result, a quantitative representation of these preferences is established, and they are shown to be correlated with the type of yacht. The findings of the current study show that the yacht owners’ preferences can be represented numerically, leading to a utilitarian conclusion that concerns the support and even some degree of automation of the design process.

  • User Authentication by Eye Movement Features Employing SVM and XGBoost Classifiers
    • Piotr Odya
    • Franciszek Górski
    • Andrzej Czyżewski
    2023 Pełny tekst IEEE Access

    Devices capable of tracking the user’s gaze have become significantly more affordable over the past few years, thus broadening their application, including in-home and office computers and various customer service equipment. Although such devices have comparatively low operating frequencies and limited resolution, they are sufficient to supplement or replace classic input interfaces, such as the keyboard and mouse. The biometric application we researched verifies a user’s identity based on parameters acquired with a low-cost eye tracker. The use of the eye-tracking device in bank booths has many advantages, including the fact that eye trackers are contactless devices, which, especially in the light of the Covid pandemic, has increasing importance, in addition to providing a solution for confirming the liveness of the user. This paper describes an experiment in which 20 features extracted from eye movement data related mainly to saccades and fixations are used as a complementary biometric modality to authenticate clients at banking kiosks. Data were collected from 39 subjects while operating a banking system using engineered biometric kiosk prototypes. Authentication performance employing eye-movement tracking and parameterizing was compared for two classifiers: Support Vector Machine (SVM) and eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost). The results showed that the XGBoost-based classifier outperformed the SVM-based one regarding equal error rates (6.76% to 8% vs. 16.21 to 18.78%). Similar differences were obtained for true acceptance rates at different false acceptance rates (0.1 and 0.01), where the SVM-based classifier achieved a maximum of 81.08% and the XGBoost-based achieved 98.65%. Finally, prospects for the broader application of eye movement tracking as a biometric modality are discussed.

  • USING ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS FOR PREDICTING SHIP FUEL CONSUMPTION
    • Giao Van Nguyen
    • Rajamohan Sakthivel
    • Krzysztof Rudzki
    • Janusz Kozak
    • Sharma Prabhakar
    • Nguyen Dang Khoa Pham
    • Phuoc Quy Phong Nguyen
    • Nguyen Xuan Phuong
    2023 Pełny tekst Polish Maritime Research

    In marine vessel operations, fuel costs are major operating costs which affect the overall profitability of the maritime transport industry. The effective enhancement of using ship fuel will increase ship operation efficiency. Since ship fuel consumption depends on different factors, such as weather, cruising condition, cargo load, and engine condition, it is difficult to assess the fuel consumption pattern for various types of ships. Most traditional statistical methods do not consider these factors when predicting marine vessel fuel consumption. With technological development, different statistical models have been developed for estimating fuel consumption patterns based on ship data. Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) are some of the most effective artificial methods for modelling and validating marine vessel fuel consumption. The application of ANN in maritime transport improves the accuracy of the regression models developed for analysing interactive relationships between various factors. The present review sheds light on consolidating the works carried out in predicting ship fuel consumption using ANN, with an emphasis on topics such as ANN structure, application and prediction algorithms. Future research directions are also proposed and the present review can be a benchmark for mathematical modelling of ship fuel consumption using ANN

  • Using Continuous Integration Techniques in Open Source Projects – An Exploratory Study
    • Michał Wróbel
    • Jarosław Szymukowicz
    • Paweł Weichbroth
    2023 Pełny tekst IEEE Access

    For a growing number of software projects, continuous integration (CI) techniques are becoming an essential part of the process. However, the maturity of their adoption in open source projects varies. In this paper, we present an empirical study on GitHub repositories to explore the use of continuous integration techniques in open source projects. Following the Goal-Question-Metric (GQM) approach, 3 research questions and 7 metrics were defined for such a goal. We mined 10 repositories of open source projects with 101,149 pull requests, 399,671 commits from 20,432 developers. This was followed by exploratory data analysis for each metric. In summary, our results indicate that (RQ1) most failed CI builds required a small change in the pull request to fix the code; (RQ2) CI builds of smaller pull requests are more likely to succeed than larger ones; (RQ3) there was no correlation found between developer experience in committing to the project and the success rate of CI builds. Most of the projects studied have not yet developed a mature approach to using continuous integration techniques. In these cases, developers do not thoroughly test code before submitting pull requests. Furthermore, the results of the study confirmed that developers tend to submit pull requests with small amounts of new or modified code.

  • Using creative approaches for discovering biomorphic forms for appropriate human habitation in natural environments. Case study of Kashubian Lake District
    • Agnieszka Kurkowska
    2023 Pełny tekst Cogent Arts & Humanities

    The research process consisted of studies of natural and cultural conditions of the Kashubian Lake District This is an area of exceptional natural conditions. For centuries, it has seen human habitation with respect to landscape values. Given its extensive forest cover and the lack of heterogeneity of natural conditions, the area has become an interesting inspiration for the author’s original project. The project is aimed at searching for appropriate forms of human habitation. Creative activities, owing to the creation of a large number of drawings and paintings that feature diagrams of initial forms, followed by sculptures inspired by them, aim at identifying biomorphic solutions, spatial forms that match the site of the study. Methodically, in order to achieve the goal, an original research and artistic concept was designed whose non-obvious results make it possible to treat the given task as a divergence problem. The essential artistic part comprised creating small-scale sculptures of clay, which were later to be placed in appropriately selected places. The photographic documentation offered the possibility to work at the analytical and comparative level, with an account of the obtained effects and their potential. Ultimately, the author seeks an answer to how to design houses in this region. The results come in the form of a complete multi-element set of biomorphic forms; directly or indirectly transformable into architectural objects, they provide model hints to classifiable sets of features conducive to arriving at a match with a place. The creative method proves appropriate for architectural design, as it constitutes its initial stage in the case of inhabiting natural environments. It yields favourable forecasts for creating a catalogue of design guidelines for residential buildings located in the area of the Kashubian Lake District.

  • Using Isolation Forest and Alternative Data Products to Overcome Ground Truth Data Scarcity for Improved Deep Learning-based Agricultural Land Use Classification Models
    • Agustín Pereira García
    • Lukasz Porwol
    • Adegboyega Ojo
    2023

    High-quality labelled datasets represent a cornerstone in the development of deep learning models for land use classification. The high cost of data collection, the inherent errors introduced during data mapping efforts, the lack of local knowledge, and the spatial variability of the data hinder the development of accurate and spatially-transferable deep learning models in the context of agriculture. In this paper, we investigate the use of Isolation Forest (IF), an anomaly detection algorithm, to reduce noise in a large-scale, low-resolution alternative ground truth dataset used to train land use deep learning models. We use a modestsize, high-resolution and high-fidelity manually collected ground-truth dataset to calibrate Isolation Forest parameters and evaluate our approach, highlighting the relatively low cost of the methodology. Our data-centric methodology demonstrates the efficacy of deep learning methods coupled with IF to create mid-resolution land-use models and map products for agriculture using an alternative groundtruth dataset. Moreover, we compare our deep learning approach with a traditional algorithm used in remote sensing and evaluate the spatial transferability of the created models. Finally, we reflect upon the lessons learnt and future work

  • Using water sources extent during inundation as a reliable predictor for vegetation zonation in a natural wetland floodplain
    • Tomasz Berezowski
    • Martin Wassen
    2023 Pełny tekst ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS

    Distinctive zones of inundation water during floods were shown to originate from different sources in some major floodplains around the world. Recent research showed that the zonation of water in rivers and floodplains is related to vegetation patterns. In spite of this, water source zones were not used for vegetation modeling due to difficulties in their delineation. In this study, we used simulation results of a fully-coupled groundwater-surface water integrated hydrological model (IHM) HydroGeoSphere and the Hydraulic Mixing-Cell method to provide standard hydrological predictors (e.g. water depth, inundation length, groundwater depth, exchange flux) and the extent of inundation zones having a certain water source (discharged groundwater, river, rainfall, and snowmelt). These variables were used to train a vegetation model for the lower Biebrza floodplain (about 290 km2) using vegetation maps from 1960, 1980, and 2000. We used a one-at-a-time (OAT) approach, where each map was validated based on a model trained on the remaining two maps to obtain realistic error estimates. We also used a fractional approach in which a fraction of each map was used for training and validation. The single model from the fractional approach was used to assess the importance of predictors and to predict vegetation for the 20th century and for the 21st century using IHM simulation forced by the Twentieth Century Reanalysis data and EURO-CORDEX RCP 2.6, 4.5, and 8.5 model ensembles. The model which used both water sources extent and standard predictors performed the best overall and was sensitive to the future trends. The extent of river water within the inundation area was by far the most important vegetation predictor. The models that neither used the water sources extent predictors nor the exchange flux were not able to predict the trends of areas covered by certain vegetation types under future climate. The advantage of the water sources extent predictors was their ability to represent the spatial effect of local hydrological phenomena. This was not possible with the standard predictors, because they show only the source of the phenomena (e.g. groundwater discharge zone), but do not indicate the actual area affected by its physical and chemical properties, which is more relevant for vegetation development. Our results highlight the relevance of using water extent predictors due to their ability to explain spatiotemporal ecological processe

  • UWB-Based Indoor Navigation in a Flexible Manufacturing System Using a Custom Quadrotor UAV
    • Petros Savvakis
    • George-Ch. Vosniakos
    • Emmanuel Stathatos
    • Axel Debar-monclair
    • Marek Chodnicki
    • Panorios Benardos
    2023

    A novel solution for indoor navigation of a transportation drone in flexible manufacturing is presented in this paper. To address the challenges of accurate and robust drone navigation in occluded environments, an ultra-wideband (UWB) navigation system has been integrated with a commercially available open source control platform. The system offers high accuracy (± 20 mm), low power consumption, resistance to electronic interference, and support for automatic navigation. UWB technology has not been applied to drone navi-gation in flexible manufacturing before. Acceptable navigation accuracy was demonstrated in preliminary testing, which is expected to have significant im-plications for the efficiency and safety of manufacturing operations.

  • Validation of Interpolation Algorithms for Multiscale UV-VIS Imaging Using UAV Spectrometer
    • Tomasz Berezowski
    • Marcin Kulawiak
    • Marek Kulawiak
    2023

    In this study, we present a comparison of popular methods for the interpolation of irregular spatial data in order to determine the applicability of each algorithm for hyperspectral reflectance estimation. The algorithms were benchmarked against a very high-resolution orthoimage from an RGB camera and medium-resolution satellite imagery from Sentinel-2A. We tested five interpolation algorithms: Triangulated Irregular Network (TIN), Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW), Ordinary Kriging (OK), Universal Kriging (UK), and Kriging with external drift (KED) for transformation of spectrometer reflectance footprint into reflectance images. Next we tested four downsampling methods: Box filtering, Gaussian, Catmull-Rom (Catrom) and Lanczos to compare the interpolated reflectance images with Sentinel-2 reflectance. Overall the best interpolation was achieved with the KED algorithm, and the lowest errors were achieved with the Gaussian downsampling method.

  • Vascular stents - materials and manufacturing technologies
    • Klaudia Malisz
    • Beata Świeczko-Żurek
    2023 Pełny tekst Engineering of Biomaterials / Inżynieria Biomateriałów

    The objective of this article is to present materials and technology for the manufacture of vascular stents with appropriate design requirements. The use of the right material is very important in implantology. A biomaterial introduced into the circulatory system must be biocompatible and hemocompatible. At the same time, it should not initiate toxic, mutagenic, or immunological reactions. Currently, 316L stainless steel (316L SS), nitinol (Ni-Ti alloy) and cobalt-chromium alloy (Co-Cr) are used as standard stent materials. Additionally, drug-containing coatings are used to provide antithrombotic properties. Nowadays, scientists are trying to create biodegradable stents (BDS) using magnesium (Mg) or zinc (Zn) alloys. Laser methods are generally used to manufacture stents using Nd:YAG lasers with a pulse length in the range of several milliseconds. Material removal is based on the ejection of the melt using a high-pressure gas. The result is remelting and heat-affected zones. Various post-processing procedures are necessary to remove residues, including etching and electropolishing. Minimizing the heat-affected zone could be achieved by using femtosecond lasers. Additionally, immersion of the material in water prevents the deposition of residues on the workpiece. Interesting alternatives used in the manufacture of vascular stents are electrospinning or additive techniques. 3D printing enables obtaining of geometrically complex and personalized implants and reduces the consumption of materials and the production of waste.

  • Very accurate time propagation of coupled Schrödinger equations for femto- and attosecond physics and chemistry, with C++ source code
    • Jan Kozicki
    2023 Pełny tekst COMPUTER PHYSICS COMMUNICATIONS

    In this article, I present a very fast and high-precision (up to 33 decimal places) C++ implementation of the semi-global time propagation algorithm for a system of coupled Schrödinger equations with a time-dependent Hamiltonian. It can be used to describe time-dependent processes in molecular systems after excitation by femto- and attosecond laser pulses. It also works with an arbitrary user supplied Hamiltonian and can be used for nonlinear problems. The semi-global algorithm is briefly presented, the C++ implementation is described and five sample simulations are shown. The accompanying C++ source code package is included. The high precision benchmark (long double and float128) shows the estimated calculation costs. The presented method turns out to be faster and more accurate than the global Chebyshev propagator.

  • Vessel Energy Requirement Prediction from Acceleration Stage Towing Tests on Scale Models
    • Klaudia Wrzask
    2023 Pełny tekst Polish Maritime Research

    One of the most crucial tasks for naval architects is computing the energy required to meet the ship’s operational needs. When predicting a ship’s energy requirements, a series of hull resistance tests on a scale model vessel is carried out in constant speed stages, while the acceleration stage measurements are ignored. Another important factor in seakeeping analysis is the ship’s hydrodynamic added mass. The second law of dynamics states that all this valuable information, that is, the dependence of the hull resistance on the vessel’s speed and the added mass, is accessible from just one acceleration stage towing test done up to the maximum speed. Therefore, the acceleration stage, often overlooked in traditional towing experiments, can be a valuable source of information. For this reason, this work aims to generalise Froude’s scaling procedure to full-scale vessels for the accelerated stage towing tests.

  • Vibration monitoring of structures in the light of the Polish and international requirements
    • Aneta Herbut
    • Anna Jakubczyk-Gałczyńska
    • Marek Wyjadłowski
    2023 Pełny tekst Studia Geotechnica et Mechanica

    The paper concerns the wide range of strategies used to protect structures against man-made dynamic excitation. The most popular approaches applied worldwide are compared, and the main differences and similarities are summarized. The literature studies are supported by the results of the measurements performed on different types of real structures, which are sensitive and insensitive to the dynamic load. To make the conclusions more general, various types of excitation forces are examined (long-term and shortterm excitations, traffic load, and loads resulting from geotechnical works). The main issue raised in the paper is the problem of unequivocal and accurate assessment of the potential structure damage, based on the different legislations. It can be seen that the application of different codes can even result in opposite conclusions about the safety of the structure.

  • Vibrational Properties of LaNb0.8M0.2O4-δ (M=As, Sb, V, and Ta)
    • Aleksandra Mielewczyk-Gryń
    • Sebastian Wachowski
    • Kacper Dzierzgowski
    • Iga Szpunar
    • Judyta Strychalska-Nowak
    • Tomasz Klimczuk
    • Sawczak Mirosław
    • Maria Gazda
    2023 Pełny tekst CHEMPHYSCHEM

    LaNb0.8M0.2O4-δ (where M=As, Sb, V, and Ta) oxides with pentavalent elements of different ionic sizes were synthesized by a solid-state reaction method. The vibrational properties of these oxides have been investigated. These studies revealed that the substituent element influences both Debye temperature value as well as the Raman active vibrational modes. Additionally, the low-temperature vibrational properties of LaNb0.8Sb0.2O4-δ have been determined to show the phase transition occurrence at 260 K which is lower than previously reported.

  • Vibrational Quenching of Optically Pumped Carbon Dimer Anions
    • Markus Nötzold
    • Robert Wild
    • Christine Lochmann
    • Tanja Rahim
    • Sruthi Purushu Melath
    • Katrin Dulitz
    • Barry P. Mant
    • Jan Franz
    • Francesco Antonio Gianturco
    • Roland Wester
    2023 Pełny tekst PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS

    Careful control of quantum states is a gateway to research in many areas of science such as quantum information, quantum-controlled chemistry, and astrophysical processes. Precise optical control of molecular ions remains a challenge due to the scarcity of suitable level schemes, and direct laser cooling has not yet been achieved for either positive or negative molecular ions. Using a cryogenic wire trap, we show how the internal quantum states of C2- anions can be manipulated using optical pumping and inelastic quenching collisions with H2 gas. We obtained optical pumping efficiencies of about 96% into the first vibrational level of C2- and determined the absolute inelastic rate coefficient from v=1 to 0 to be k_q = (3.2±0.2stat±1.3sys)×10−13  cm3/s at 20(3) K, over 3 orders of magnitude smaller than the capture limit. Reduced-dimensional quantum scattering calculations yield a small rate coefficient as well, but significantly larger than the experimental value. Using optical pumping and inelastic collisions, we also realized fluorescence imaging of negative molecular ions. Our work demonstrates high control of a cold ensemble of C2−, providing a solid foundation for future work on laser cooling of molecular ions.

  • Virtual reality as a tool for development and simulation. Research projects and experience of the Gdańsk University of Technology
    • Jacek Lebiedź
    2023

    By supporting the human imagination, virtual reality technology can be applied in almost every human activity. This is evidenced by the cooperation of the Immersive 3D Visualization Lab with specialists representing such different professions from architects and artists, astronomers and chemists, through historians and museologists, criminologists and military educators, mechanical and ship engineers, up to physicians and psychologists. The results of this cooperation are presented with an emphasis on architectural applications including not only building prototyping. New applications are welcome.

  • Virulence analysis and antibiotic resistance of Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates from hospitalised patients in Poland
    • Barbara Kot
    • Małgorzata Piechota
    • Piotr Szweda
    • Joanna Mitrus
    • Jolanta Wicha
    • Agata Grużewska
    • Małgorzata Witeska
    2023 Pełny tekst Scientific Reports

    Klebsiella pneumoniae (KP) is a nosocomial pathogen causing difficult-to-treat infections. The presence of virulence genes and antibiotic resistance of 109 KP isolates from hospitalized patients were investigated. Among them, 68.8% were multi-drug resistant (MDR) and 59.6% produced extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs). Metallo-β-lactamases (MBLs) were produced by 22% of isolates (mainly from anus), including 16.5% of isolates producing New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase (NDM-1). The genes encoding adhesins (fimH-91.7%, mrkD-96.3%), enterobactin (entB-100%) and yersiniabactin (irp-1-88%) were frequently identified. The genes encoding salmochelin (iroD-9.2%, iroN-7.3%) and colibactin (clbA, clbB-0.9%) were identified rarely. Iron acquisition system-related kfu gene and wcaG gene involved in capsule production were identified in 6.4% and 11% of isolates, respectively. The rmpA gene associated with hypermucoviscosity was present in 6.4% of isolates. In 19.2% of isolates magA gene was detected, specific for K1 capsule serotype, while 22.9% of isolates showed K2 capsule serotype. The rmpA, iroD or iroN genes being diagnostic biomarkers for hypervirulent KP (hvKP) were detected in 16.5% of isolates. We found that 55.5% of hvKP were MDR and produced ESBLs, thus hospital KP isolates pose a serious threat to the healthcare system.

  • Visual Features for Improving Endoscopic Bleeding Detection Using Convolutional Neural Networks
    • Adam Brzeski
    • Tomasz Dziubich
    • Henryk Krawczyk
    2023 Pełny tekst SENSORS

    The presented paper investigates the problem of endoscopic bleeding detection in endoscopic videos in the form of a binary image classification task. A set of definitions of high-level visual features of endoscopic bleeding is introduced, which incorporates domain knowledge from the field. The high-level features are coupled with respective feature descriptors, enabling automatic capture of the features using image processing methods. Each of the proposed feature descriptors outputs a feature activation map in the form of a grayscale image. Acquired feature maps can be appended in a straightforward way to the original color channels of the input image and passed to the input of a convolutional neural network during the training and inference steps. An experimental evaluation is conducted to compare the classification ROC AUC of feature-extended convolutional neural network models with baseline models using regular color image inputs. The advantage of feature-extended models is demonstrated for the Resnet and VGG convolutional neural network architectures.

  • VOCs absorption from gas streams using deep eutectic solvents – A review
    • Patrycja Makoś-Chełstowska
    2023 JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS

    Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are one of the most severe atmospheric pollutants. They are mainly emitted into the atmosphere from anthropogenic sources such as automobile exhaust, incomplete fuel combustion, and various industrial processes. VOCs not only cause hazards to human health or the environment but also adversely affect industrial installation components due to their specific properties, i.e., corrosive and reactivity. Therefore, much attention is being paid to developing new methods for capturing VOCs from gaseous streams, i.e., air, process streams, waste streams, or gaseous fuels. Among the available technologies, absorption based on deep eutectic solvents (DES) is widely studied as a green alternative to other commercial processes. This literature review presents a critical summary of the achievements in capturing individual VOCs using DES. The types of used DES and their physicochemical properties affecting absorption efficiency, available methods for evaluating the effectiveness of new technologies, and the possibility of regeneration of DES are described. In addition, critical comments on the new gas purification methods and future perspectives are included.

  • Volatile Compound Emissions from Stereolithography Three-Dimensional Printed Cured Resin Models for Biomedical Applications
    • Y Lan Pham
    • Wojciech Wojnowski
    • Jonathan Beauchamp
    2023 CHEMICAL RESEARCH IN TOXICOLOGY

    Stereolithography three-dimensional printing is used increasingly in biomedical applications to create components for use in healthcare and therapy. The exposure of patients to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from cured resins represents an element of concern in such applications. Here, we investigate the biocompatibility in relation to inhalation exposure of volatile emissions of three different cured commercial resins for use in printing a mouthpiece adapter for sampling exhaled breath. VOC emission rates were estimated based on direct analysis using a microchamber/thermal extractor coupled to a proton transfer reaction-mass spectrometer. Complementary analyses using comprehensive gas chromatography–mass spectrometry aided compound identification. Major VOCs emitted from the cured resins were associated with polymerization agents, additives, and postprocessing procedures and included alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, hydrocarbons, esters, and terpenes. Total VOC emissions from cubes printed using the general-purpose resin were approximately an order of magnitude higher than those of the cubes printed using resins dedicated to biomedical applications at the respective test temperatures (40 and 25 °C). Daily inhalation exposures were estimated and compared with daily tolerable intake levels or standard thresholds of toxicological concerns. The two resins intended for biomedical applications were deemed suitable for fabricating an adapter mouthpiece for use in breath research. The general-purpose resin was unsuitable, with daily inhalation exposures for breath sampling applications at 40 °C estimated at 310 μg day–1 for propylene glycol (tolerable intake (TI) limit of 190 μg day–1) and 1254 μg day–1 for methyl acrylate (TI of 43 μg day–1).

  • VREA PROJECT - A DIGITAL CURATOR FOR ARCHITECTURE AND DIGITAL PERSPECTIVES FOR HERITAGE MANAGEMENT AND ENHANCEMENT
    • Justyna Borucka
    • Sandro Parrinello
    2023 Pełny tekst International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences

    Thinking about architectural education, one must face the challenges of the ever-changing and digital world and bear in mind the figure of the architect of the future - the curator of digital data. Nowadays the aim is to train specialists who know how to manage the production of digital products and are able to face the challenges of digital change in the field of architecture and architectural heritage management. Virtual Reality Engineering and Game Design for Architecture and Cultural Heritage (VREA) will be a new Master’s degree course designed to generate a new professional figure in charge of the technological evolution and at the same time having critical sensitivity towards the architectural heritage, its conservation, and enhancement. These objectives received funding as part of the call of European Erasmus Mundus Design Measures (ERASMUS-EDU-2021-EMJM-DESIGN) for the development of new, innovative, high-level integrated transnational study programmes at the Master level. VREA project aims to create a basis for a new international joint Master level course to create a new generation of architects and engineers equipped with the cultural and technical knowledge for managing Digital Twins in the field of Cultural Heritage, outlining at the same time the future course of study for architects and engineers. The result of the work is an innovative, international and comprehensive programme, strengthening the competences of all project participants and aimed at educating architects and engineers of the future, prepared for the challenges of the 21st century.

  • W poszukiwaniu równowagi: aplikacja do nauki analizy statycznej układów prętowych
    • Katarzyna Szepietowska
    • Violetta Konopińska-Zmysłowska
    • Magdalena Oziębło
    • Anna Pestka
    • Mateusz Sondej
    • Karol Winkelmann
    • Łukasz Żmuda-Trzebiatowski
    • Agnieszka Tomaszewska
    2023

    Praca dotyczy interaktywnej aplikacji mającej wesprzeć naukę analizy statycznej układów prętowych. Aplikacja jest tworzona z myślą o studentach I roku budownictwa i kierunków pokrewnych. Wyznaczenie wykresów sił wewnętrznych jest podstawą procesu projektowania konstrukcji. Chociaż współcześnie stosuje się programy do komputerowej analizy konstrukcji, to projektant nadal musi potrafić zinterpretować wynik i ocenić jego poprawność. Aplikacja ma służyć jako narzędzie treningowe do nauki wyznaczania wykresów sił wewnętrznych w układach statycznie wyznaczalnych oraz oferować system natychmiastowej informacji zwrotnej i wskazówek służących nauce samodzielnej kontroli poprawności rozwiązania. W pierwszym etapie pracy z aplikacją użytkownik może rozwiązywać zadania sprawdzając wyniki cząstkowe i uzyskując szczegółowe podpowiedzi w przypadku uzyskiwania złych wyników. Po przejściu na wyższe poziomy zaawansowania, cząstkowe informacje zwrotne będą stopniowo ograniczane, a system będzie podpowiadał, jak samodzielnie weryfikować wyniki. Cześć analizowanych schematów statycznych będzie wprost odzwierciedlała rzeczywiste konstrukcje budowlane, co pomoże studentom lepiej zrozumieć połączenie mechaniki (teorii) z obiektami fizycznymi. Proponowana interaktywna aplikacja ma wyjść naprzeciw potrzebom współczesnych studentów i ułatwić im systematyczną i efektywną pracę własną.

  • W stronę postliberalizmu. Filozofia społeczna i polityczna Johna Milbanka
    • Jakub Gużyński
    2023

    Celem rozprawy jest krytyczna analiza programu postliberalnego anglikańskiego teologa Johna Milbanka. Jego twórczość nie tylko wpisuje się w nurt teologii postliberalnej, która przyjmuje kulturowo-językową interpretację religii, uwydatniając pierwotność narracji w poznaniu, lecz także stanowi istotny wkład w postliberalną filozofię polityczną, który porzuca charakterystyczny dla liberalizmu indywidualizm, uniwersalizm i racjonalizm, szukając inspiracji w tradycyjnym rozumieniu polityki. Łącząc te dwa wymiary, Milbank przedstawia niezwykle oryginalną perspektywę, która być może najpełniej wyraża ideę postliberalizmu, oferując spójną wizję polityki chrześcijańskiej. W toku wywodu zwracam uwagę na szereg wątpliwości, problemów i obaw, które towarzyszą teologiczno-politycznej wizji Milbanka. Większość z nich wynika z jego skrajnego dualizmu, który tworzy fałszywe dychotomie – chrześcijaństwo albo nihilizm, ortodoksja albo sekularyzm, socjalizm albo faszyzm – upraszczając wiele skomplikowanych kwestii i utrudniając otwartą dyskusję. Co za tym idzie, mimo wielu cennych spostrzeżeń, trafnych diagnoz i interesujących postulatów Milbanka w mojej ocenie jego program postliberalny nie jest jeszcze gotowy do zastąpienia liberalizmu jako dominującego systemu ideowego. Mimo to daje on wskazówkę, jak może wyglądać nasza przyszłość polityczna i oferuje godną uwagi, postsekularną wizję chrześcijaństwa.

  • Wake-Up Receiver for Underwater Acoustic Communication Using in Shallow Water
    • Jan Schmidt
    • Aleksander Schmidt
    2023 Pełny tekst SENSORS

    A data frame transmitted over the underwater acoustic channel usually begins with a preamble. Therefore, underwater communication systems have a dedicated receiver that constantly listens to the preamble signals. A receiver that is to work effectively in shallow waters must have solutions that effectively reduce the impact of the permanently occurring multipath propagation. The article presents a solution based on complementary broadband signals. Initial tests were carried out using theWatermark simulator to determine its reliability in such a difficult propagation environment. The results of experimental tests carried out in a model pool are also included. Details of the implementation of the wake-up receiver are presented.

  • "Walerian Wróbel - Zwei Blicke auf das Unrecht am jungen Zwangsarbeiter"
    • Krzysztof Wróblewski
    2023

    Zur Ausstellung Die tragische Geschichte über das Schicksal des jungen polnischen Zwangsarbeiters Walerian Wróbel (2. April 1925 in Falków — 25. August 1942 in Hamburg) bewegt heute noch viele Menschen. Er wurde im Alter von nur 17 Jahren nach einem Urteil des Sondergerichts Bremen von den Nationalsozialisten hingerichtet. In dieser Ausstellung geht es jedoch nicht um Walerian Wróbel selbst, sondern um den Versuch der Aufarbeitung seiner Geschichte, gesehen aus zwei künstlerischen Perspektiven: einmal die des Fotografen Stefan Weger, Urenkel der Bauerstochter, die damals den jungen Zwangsarbeiter angezeigt hatte und einmal die des polnischen Malers Krzysztof Wróblewski, der 2004, während eines Aufenthaltes in Bremen, zufällig auf diese Geschichte gestoßen ist. Im Anschluss an einen dokumentarischen Teil mit den offiziellen Berichten sind in der Ausstellung auf der einen Seite Bilder und Zeichnungen des Malers Krzysztof Wróblewski zu sehen, die auf diese Dokumente Bezug nehmen. Auf der anderen Seite versucht Stefan Weger, mit seinen Fotografien diese Geschichte atmosphärisch nachzuempfinden.

  • Waste printer ink as modifier for natural rubber/carbon black composites: No haste, use waste
    • Aleksander Hejna
    • Paulina Wiśniewska
    • Daria Kowalkowska-Zedler
    • Jerzy Korol
    • Paulina Kosmela
    • Mariusz Marć
    • Peyman Ezzati
    • Marek Szostak
    • Mohammad Saeb
    2023 Pełny tekst Sustainable Materials and Technologies

    From a sustainability perspective, achieving a greener future with a minimal carbon footprint requires maximizing waste materials' reuse. The four pillars of satisfying customer demands are processing, price, properties, and performance. Along with such a global policy, this work seeks to utilize waste printer ink (WPI) as a source of carbon in combination with low- and high-surface carbon black (LCB and HCB, respectively) additives to enhance the performance of natural rubber (NR). Using WPI together with NR underlines the importance of this work from a sustainability angle. By altering the type and amount of CB and WPI content, a broad properties window was unravelled, such that a very high elongation at break of ~970% and elasticity of 53% were achieved under optimized conditions and formulation compared to 385% and 27.5% assigned to the reference (or neat) NR. Thermal stability was also changed quite broadly, depending on the formulation. The volatile organic compounds (VOCs) analysis revealed that propanol and its derivatives were the most abundant volatiles detected, accounting for above 85% of the total emission. Analyzing environmental contamination and properties investigations opened avenues to standardize the usage of WPI and CB additives in NR compounding.

  • Wastewater reuse in agriculture: Prospects and challenges
    • Hussein Al-Hazmi
    • Ali Mohammadi
    • Aleksander Hejna
    • Joanna Majtacz
    • Amin Esmaeili
    • Sajjad Habibzadeh
    • Mohammad Saeb
    • Michael Badawi
    • Eder C. Lima
    • Jacek Mąkinia
    2023 ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH

    Sustainable water recycling and wastewater reuse are urgent nowadays considering water scarcity and increased water consumption through human activities. In 2015, United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6 (UN SDG6) highlighted the necessity of recycling wastewater to guarantee water availability for individuals. Currently, wastewater irrigation (WWI) of crops and agricultural land appears essential. The present work overviews the quality of treated wastewater in terms of soil microbial activities, and discusses challenges and benefits of WWI in line with wastewater reuse in agriculture and aquaculture irrigation. Combined conventional-advanced wastewater treatment processes are specifically deliberated, considering the harmful impacts on human health arising from WWI originating from reuse of contaminated water (salts, organic pollutants, toxic metals, and microbial pathogens i.e., viruses and bacteria). The comprehensive literature survey revealed that, in addition to the increased levels of pathogen and microbial threats to human wellbeing, poorly-treated wastewater results in plant and soil contamination with toxic organic/inorganic chemicals, and microbial pathogens. The impact of long-term emerging pollutants like plastic nanoparticles should also be established in further studies, with the development of standardized analytical techniques for such hazardous chemicals. Likewise, the reliable, long-term and extensive judgment on heavy metals threat to human beings's health should be explored in future investigations.

  • Water uptake and energetics of the formation of barium zirconate based multicomponent oxides
    • Aleksandra Mielewczyk-Gryń
    • Tamilarasan Subramani
    • Daniel Jaworski
    • Kristina Lilova
    • Wojciech Skubida
    • Alexandra Navrotsky
    • Maria Gazda
    2023 Pełny tekst PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY CHEMICAL PHYSICS

    A group of multi-component oxides based on BaZrO3 have been prepared using a solid-state reaction method and examined in terms of their water uptake and thermodynamics of formation. Depending on the type and amount of acceptor substitution, the synthesized compounds exhibit various proton defect concentrations, reaching up to 0.2 mol/mol for a compound containing 10 different elements in the B-sublattice, where 50% of them are acceptors. For the most promising materials, van’t Hoff plots were created and the enthalpies and entropies of hydration were calculated. At higher temperatures, these parameters do not differ from the values for the reference yttrium doped barium zirconate. However, at lower temperatures they are more negative, indicating a more exothermic process of proton incorporation.

  • Water uptake kinetics and electrical transport in BaCe0.6Zr0.2Y0.1M0.1O3−δ (M = Tb, Pr, Fe) protonic conductors
    • Jagoda Budnik
    • Aleksandra Mielewczyk-Gryń
    • Maria Gazda
    • Tadeusz Miruszewski
    2023 Pełny tekst Journal of Materials Chemistry A

    BaCe0.6Zr0.2Y0.1M0.1O3−d (M = Fe, Pr, Tb) is a mixed conducting oxide in which three mobile charge carriers – oxygen ion, electron/hole, and protonic defects – are present. These types of materials have gained much interest as electrode materials for protonic ceramic fuel cells (PCFCs) and protonic ceramic electrolysis cells (PCECs). In this study, the water uptake and oxygen transport properties of different BaCe0.6Zr0.2Y0.1M0.1O3−d samples were investigated at different pH2O using Thermogravimetry (TG) and Electrical Conductivity Relaxation (ECR) methods at various temperatures. TG results showed that in all samples the mass increases during the switch from dry to wet atmospheres, which indicates proton incorporation into the materials. The kinetics of the water uptake process differed depending on the type of substituent used. The studies of pO2 dependence of total conductivity allowed for the determination of partial conductivities in BaCe0.6Zr0.2Y0.1Tb0.1O3−d (BCZYTb), which shows a predominant p-type conduction mechanism above 600 °C. The electrical conductivity relaxation (ECR) studies performed for a chosen BCZYTb sample have shown that the hydration/dehydration processes were asymmetric twofold, whereas the oxidation/reduction processes had typical single-fold kinetics. Furthermore, a significant influence of pH2O on the oxidation and reduction kinetics was observed.

  • Water-Lubricated Journal Bearings Marine Applications, Design, and Operational Problems and Solutions
    • Wojciech Litwin
    2023

    Water-Lubricated Journal Bearings: Marine Applications, Design, and Operational Problems and Solutions provides cutting-edge design solutions, common problems and methods for avoiding them, and material selection considerations for the use of water-lubricated journal bearings in marine environments. These bearings have many advantages, including the absence of the potential for oil contamination. They are also sensitive, and their production processes can be challenging, but this book outlines techniques and concepts designed to overcome these challenges, emphasizing their role in durable and reliable propulsion systems in modern, safe, and environment-friendly shipping.Propeller shafts, water-lubricated stern tube bearings, problems frequently encountered with water-lubricated propeller shaft bearings and sliding bearings alongside solutions to these problems are all covered, as are the hydrodynamic properties of water-lubricated bearings, operation at low revolution speeds, high-speed bearings, hybrid bearings, and more. Foundational concepts of tribology related to friction, lubrication, wear, and fluid/solid and solid/solid interactions in ship stern tube and water-lubricated turbine machinery are also discussed.

  • WAYS TO IMPROVE THE EFFICIENCY OF WASTEWATER TREATMENT OF A CARDBOARD AND PAPER MILL
    • Larysa Sablii
    • Veronika Zhukova
    • Jakub Drewnowski
    2023 Pełny tekst ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRESS

    The results of research on physical and chemical methods for the preliminary treatment of wastewater of a cardboard and paper factory in Khmelnytskyi region of Ukraine are presented. At the cardboard and paper factory, wastewater is treated at a sewage treatment plant, which includes sand traps, primary radial sedimentation tanks, aeration tanks with activated sludge regenerators, secondary radial sedimentation tanks, and bioponds. The use of coagulation and chlorination methods before biological treatment in aeration tanks was proposed. Alumoflock 18 % was used as a coagulant, polyacrylamide was used as a flocculant, and sodium hydroxide was used as an alkalizing reagent. The study was conducted on a mixture of industrial and domestic wastewater with COD and BOD5 – 3200 and 1575 mg/dm3, respectively, and on industrial wastewater with COD and BOD5 – 4480 and 1960 mg/dm3, respectively. The effects of reducing COD and BOD5 indicators in the first case after coagulation were 30 and 40 %, after chlorination - 37.81 and 43.17 %, respectively, in the second after coagulation – 28.57 and 47.24 %, respectively. It was established that a significant proportion of organic substances according to the COD indicator is in a dissolved state – 60–70 %. It has been proven that as a result of chlorination, the maximum reduction of “pure” COD is achieved, therefore, the possibility and expediency of chlorination of water after the secondary settling tank with increased doses should be considered in the wastewater treatment technology of the cardboard and paper factory.

  • Western Front of the City Centre of Gdańsk. An Urban Conservation Study
    • Łukasz Bugalski
    2023

    The western front of Gdańsk`s city centre is the key fragment of a ring road scheme, which was created at the turn of the 20th century during the great transformation of the city. It was at that time that new streets and squares were delineated on the site of the early modern earthen bastions, which for more than three centuries marked Gdańsk`s border. The new city development was set up in their surroundings. In 1945, Gdańsk was destroyed and attempts at its redevelopment were undertaken after the war. The majority of the prepared designs were not implemented at all or were implemented fragmentarily only, which led to a visible degradation of the western front, which currently functions mainly as a thoroughfare. Łukasz Bugalski undertakes an effort to read the subsequent layers making up the urban heritage inscribed in the urban structure of the western front of Gdańsk's city center. Analysing the urban plans, designs and concepts, he provides evidence that the area - although currently rather chaotically organised - has a huge potential.

  • What should we know when choosing feather, blood, egg or preen oil as biological samples for contaminants detection? A non-lethal approach to bird sampling for PCBs, OCPs, PBDEs and PFASs
    • Aneta Pacyna-Kuchta
    2023 Pełny tekst CRITICAL REVIEWS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

    Birds are considered as good bio-monitors and they can provide highly valuable data about the level of contamination in their habitat. During the design of biomonitoring studies one of the first issues after choosing species is the choice of biological material. Non-lethally collected samples have recently been gaining greater attention as they offer several ethical and practical advantages. However, not all sample matrices are suitable for biomonitoring of certain compounds. The main aim of this review is to bring to closer attention the utility of non-lethally collected samples from avian species, based on recent literature. The selected samples are feathers, blood, preen oil and eggs, as these are the types of biological materials most often chosen and may reveal birds’ exposure from their diet. It is not my intention to single out one of them as the ultimate tool for organic compound analysis, but rather to present their utility in order to support or advise on future choices, as a single matrix might not be sufficient to fully evaluate birds’ exposure. Therefore, this paper presents the current status of the non-lethal approach in avian species for determination of PCBs, OCPs, PBDEs and PFASs

  • When all we have is not enough: a search for the optimal method of quantifying inflation expectations
    • Aleksandra Rutkowska
    • Magdalena Szyszko
    • Michał Pietrzak
    2023 Pełny tekst Economic Research-Ekonomska Istrazivanja

    Although inflation expectations are pivotal variables for central banks, they are not directly observable. Therefore, central banks use qualitative survey results to proxy consumer expectations, and their quantification in this manner is often criticized. In this study, we investigate and identify an optimal quantification procedure for survey results based on a set of regression and probabilistic models. Specifically, we seek to identify the method that returns time series that are most highly correlated with an unbiased representative of survey-based expectation: balance statistics. We place additional constraints on this criterion to identify the procedure that returns expectations that are most closely related to consumer intentions (directional co-movements and forecast accuracy). Our sample covers the European Union member states over the period of January 2002 to June 2019. We also test a post-crisis subsample. Our results suggest that different procedures may be optimal for different economies, in line with previous findings on cross-country divergences of expectations formation. However, we find that the most applied assumption of normal distribution does not prove to be the best one. Our recommendation is to apply probabilistic procedures rather than regression methods.