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  • A Novel Method for Intelligibility Assessment of Nonlinearly Processed Speech in Spaces Characterized by Long Reverberation Times
    • Adam Kurowski
    • Józef Kotus
    • Piotr Odya
    • Bożena Kostek
    2022 Pełny tekst SENSORS

    Objective assessment of speech intelligibility is a complex task that requires taking into account a number of factors such as different perception of each speech sub-bands by the human hearing sense or different physical properties of each frequency band of a speech signal. Currently, the state-of-the-art method used for assessing the quality of speech transmission is the speech transmission index (STI). It is a standardized way of objectively measuring the quality of, e.g., an acoustical adaptation of conference rooms or public address systems. The wide use of this measure and implementation of this method on numerous measurement devices make STI a popular choice when the speech-related quality of rooms has to be estimated. However, the STI measure has a significant drawback which excludes it from some particular use cases. For instance, if one would like to enhance speech intelligibility by employing a nonlinear digital processing algorithm, the STI method is not suitable to measure the impact of such an algorithm, as it requires that the measurement signal should not be altered in a nonlinear way. Consequently, if a nonlinear speech enhancing algorithm has to be tested, the STI—a standard way of estimating speech transmission cannot be used. In this work, we would like to propose a method based on the STI method but modified in such a way that it makes it possible to employ it for the estimation of the performance of the nonlinear speech intelligibility enhancement method. The proposed approach is based upon a broadband comparison of cumulated energy of the transmitted envelope modulation and the received modulation, so we called it broadband STI (bSTI). Its credibility with regard to signals altered by the environment or nonlinear speech changed by a DSP algorithm is checked by performing a comparative analysis of ten selected impulse responses for which a baseline value of STI was known.

  • A novel method of creating thermoplastic chitosan blends to produce cell scaffolds by FDM additive manufacturing
    • Robert Tylingo
    • Piotr Kempa
    • Adrianna Banach-Kopeć
    • Szymon Mania
    2022 Pełny tekst CARBOHYDRATE POLYMERS

    Due to its remarkable and promising biological and structural properties, chitosan has been widely studied in several potential applications in the biomedical sector. Attempts are being made to use this polymer and its properties in thermoplastics dedicated to 3D printing in FDM technology. However, chitosan can be processed only from acid solution, which limits its applications. The paper presents a new path for the production of filaments based on unstable chitosan hydrogel obtained by carbon dioxide saturation, as well as synthetic polymers such as polyvinyl alcohol and polycaprolactone. The results confirm that the absence of acid allows formation of thermally stable and printable filaments containing from 5% to 15% of chitosan, capable of reducing S. aureus and E. coli bacteria by 0.41–1.43 in logarithmic scale (56–94%) and 0.28–0.94 in logarithmic scale (36–89%), respectively.

  • A Novel Method of Endotoxins Removal from Chitosan Hydrogel as a Potential Bioink Component Obtained by CO2 Saturation
    • Adrianna Banach-Kopeć
    • Szymon Mania
    • Joanna Pilch
    • Ewa Augustin
    • Iwona Gabriel
    • Robert Tylingo
    2022 Pełny tekst INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES

    The article presents a new approach in the purification of chitosan (CS) hydrogel in order to remove a significant amount of endotoxins without changing its molecular weight and viscosity. Two variants of the method used to purify CS hydrogels from endotoxins were investigated using the PyroGene rFC Enzymatic Cascade assay kit. The effect of the CS purification method was assessed in terms of changes in the dynamic viscosity of its hydrogels, the molecular weight of the polymer, microbiological purity after refrigerated storage and cytotoxicity against L929 cells based on the ISO 10993-5:2009(E) standard. The proposed purification method 1 (M1) allows for the removal of significant amounts of endotoxins: 87.9–97.6% in relation to their initial concentration in the CS hydrogel without affecting the solution viscosity. Moreover, the final solutions were sterile and microbiologically stable during storage. The M1 purification method did not change the morphology of the L929 cells.

  • A novel (Ti/Ce)UiO-X MOFs@TiO2 heterojunction for enhanced photocatalytic performance: Boosting via Ce4+/Ce3+ and Ti4+/Ti3+ redox mediators
    • Patrycja Parnicka
    • Wojciech Lisowski
    • Tomasz Klimczuk
    • Alicja Mikolajczyk
    • Adriana Zaleska-Medynska
    2022 APPLIED CATALYSIS B-ENVIRONMENTAL

    Titanium-substituted cerium-oxo-based UiO MOFs with terephthalate linkers modified by various groups (–Br, –NH2, –NO2) or their derivatives (N-heterocyclic or biphenyl groups) were combined with titanium dioxide in a multistep route to obtain a core-shell-like architecture. DFT simulations showed that Ce- and bimetallic Ti/Ce- MOFs exhibited different charge compensation. Extended characterization revealed the formation of heterojunctions between the (Ti/Ce)UiO-X MOFs and TiO2 nanoflowers, suitable band edge positions, and high specific surface area and porosity, which resulted in effective electron transfer and excellent photocatalytic activity. The photoactivity of the (Ti/Ce)UiO-X@TiO2 composites for hydrogen production or phenol degradation varied according to the order –NH2 > biphenyl > –N– > –H > –Br > –NO2 > pristine TiO2 or –Br > –NH2 > –NO2 > –N– > –H > biphenyl > pristine TiO2. The photocatalytic hydrogen production rate of (Ti/Ce)UiO-66-NH2@TiO2 was 4724 and 19.3 μmol⋅gcat–1 after 4 h of UV–Vis and visible light irradiation, which were 79 and 19 times higher than that of pristine rutile, respectively.

  • A numerical and experimental analysis of multi-hole orifice in turbulent flow
    • Anna Golijanek-Jędrzejczyk
    • Andrzej Mrowiec
    • Sławosz Kleszcz
    • Robert Hanus
    • Marcin Zych
    • Marek Jaszczur
    2022 Pełny tekst MEASUREMENT

    In this research study, the comprehensive metrological analysis is investigated for a 4-hole orifice with module m = 0.25 installed in the pipeline with an internal diameter of 50 mm. A detailed numerical simulation was performed for the turbulence models: k-ε-realizable and k-ω-BSL. The novelties of the research include model validation by comparing the results of numerical studies with the experiment conducted in the area of developing turbulent flow in the range of Reynolds numbers from 4,200 to 19,000. Such validated models are sought by the system designers and can be used for further analyses and optimisation of this orifice in this flow type. The multi-hole orifices are less sensitive to flow disturbances than the standardized standard centric orifice. In addition, orifices of this type can be mounted in installations with much shorter sections upstream and downstream of the orifice - which is very often the case in industrial flow installations.

  • A NUMERICAL STUDY ON THE DYNAMICS OF DENGUE DISEASE MODEL WITH FRACTIONAL PIECEWISE DERIVATIVE
    • Javed Khan
    • Mati Ur Rahman
    • Muhammad Riaz
    • Jan Awrejcewicz
    2022 Pełny tekst FRACTALS-COMPLEX GEOMETRY PATTERNS AND SCALING IN NATURE AND SOCIETY

    The aim of this paper is to study the dynamics of Dengue disease model using a novel piecewise derivative approach in the sense of singular and non-singular kernels. The singular kernel operator is in the sense of Caputo, whereas the non-singular kernel operator is the Atangana–Baleanu Caputo operator. The existence and uniqueness of a solution with piecewise derivative are examined for the aforementioned problem. The suggested problem’s approximate solution was found using the piecewise numerical iterative Newton polynomial approach. In terms of singular and non-singular kernels, a numerical scheme for piecewise derivatives has been established. The numerical simulation for the piecewise derivable problem under consideration is drawn using data for various fractional orders. This work makes the idea of piecewise derivatives and the dynamics of the crossover problem clearer.

  • A Quantitative Investigation of Dislocation Density in an Al Matrix Composite Produced by a Combination of Micro-/Macro-Rolling
    • Behzad Sadeghi
    • Ali Shabani
    • Ali Heidarinejad
    • Aleksandra Laska
    • Marek Szkodo
    • Pasquale Cavaliere
    2022 Pełny tekst Journal of Composites Science

    An aluminum matrix composite with dispersed carbon nanotubes (CNTs) was produced via flake powder metallurgy using a micro-rolling process and vacuum hot pressing (VHP), followed by conventional rolling using a macro-rolling process. The microstructure and mechanical properties of the produced composites were studied. In addition, a new quantitative model was introduced to study the dislocation density based on the microstructural parameters. The results revealed that the distribution characteristics of the CNTs in the Al matrix and the Al-CNT interfaces were the two main governing parameters of dislocation density. Moreover, the dependence of dislocation density on the geometry of the grains and crystallographic texture was shown in this model. The microstructural evolution revealed that a lamellar grain structure had been achieved, with a high capacity for the storage of dislocation. A uniform distribution of CNTs with high bonding quality was also seen in the final microstructure.

  • A review of design approaches for the implementation of low-frequency noise measurement systems
    • Graziella Scandurra
    • C. Ciofi
    • Janusz Smulko
    • He Wen
    2022 Pełny tekst REVIEW OF SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS

    Electronic noise has its roots in the fundamental physical interactions between matter and charged particles, carrying information about the phenomena that occur at the microscopic level. Therefore, Low-Frequency Noise Measurements (LFNM) are a well-established technique for the characterization of electron devices and materials and, compared to other techniques, they offer the advantage of being non-destructive and of providing a more detailed view of what happens in the matter during the manifestation of physical or chemical phenomena. For this reason, LFNM acquire particular importance in the modern technological era in which the introduction of new advanced materials requires in-depth and thorough characterization of the conduction phenomena. LFNM also find application in the field of sensors, as they allow to obtain more selective sensing systems even starting from conventional sensors. Performing meaningful noise measurements, however, requires that the background noise introduced by the measurement chain be much smaller than the noise to be detected and the instrumen- tation available on the market does not always meet the specifications required for reaching the ultimate sensitivity. Researchers willing to perform LFNM must often resort to the design of dedicated instrumentation in their own laboratories, but their cultural background does not necessarily include the ability to design, build, and test dedicated low noise instrumentation. In this review, we have tried to provide as much theoretical and practical guidelines as possible, so that even researchers with a limited background in electronic engineering can find useful information in developing or customizing low noise instrumentation.

  • A review on computer‐aided chemogenomics and drug repositioning for rational COVID ‐19 drug discovery
    • Saeid Maghsoudi
    • Bahareh Taghavi Shahraki
    • Fatemeh Rameh
    • Masoomeh Nazarabi
    • Yousef Fatahi
    • Omid Akhavan
    • Mohammad Rabiee
    • Ebrahim Mostafavi
    • Eder C. Lima
    • Mohammad Saeb
    • Navid Rabiee
    2022 Pełny tekst Chemical Biology & Drug Design

    Application of materials capable of energy harvesting to increase the efficiency and environmental adaptability is sometimes reflected in the ability of discovery of some traces in an environment―either experimentally or computationally―to enlarge practical application window. The emergence of computational methods, particularly computer-aided drug discovery (CADD), provides ample opportunities for the rapid discovery and development of unprecedented drugs. The expensive and time-consuming process of traditional drug discovery is no longer feasible, for nowadays the identification of potential drug candidates is much easier for therapeutic targets through elaborate in silico approaches, allowing the prediction of the toxicity of drugs, such as drug repositioning (DR) and chemical genomics (chemogenomics). Coronaviruses (CoVs) are cross-species viruses that are able to spread expeditiously from the into new host species, which in turn cause epidemic diseases. In this sense, this review furnishes an outline of computational strategies and their applications in drug discovery. A special focus is placed on chemogenomics and DR as unique and emerging system-based disciplines on CoV drug and target discovery to model protein networks against a library of compounds. Furthermore, to demonstrate the special advantages of CADD methods in rapidly finding a drug for this deadly virus, numerous examples of the recent achievements grounded on molecular docking, chemogenomics, and DR are reported, analyzed, and interpreted in detail. It is believed that the outcome of this review assists developers of energy harvesting materials and systems for detection of future unexpected kinds of CoVs or other variants.

  • A Review on Deactivation and Regeneration of Catalysts for Dimethyl Ether Synthesis
    • Joanna Sobczak
    • Izabela Wysocka
    • Stanisław Murgrabia
    • Andrzej Rogala
    2022 Pełny tekst ENERGIES

    he deactivation of catalysts and their regeneration are two very important challenges that need to be addressed for many industrial processes. The most quoted reasons for the deterioration of dimethyl ether synthesis (DME) concern the sintering and the hydrothermal leaching of copper particles, their migration to acid sites, the partial formation of copper and zinc hydroxycarbonates, the formation of carbon deposits, and surface contamination with undesirable compounds present in syngas. This review summarises recent findings in the field of DME catalyst deactivation and regeneration. The most-used catalysts, their modifications, along with a comparison of the basic parameters, deactivation approaches, and regeneration methods are presented.

  • A review on electrospun membranes for potential air filtration application
    • Francesca Russo
    • Roberto Castro Munoz
    • Sergio Santoro
    • Francesco Galiano
    • Alberto Figoli
    2022 Pełny tekst Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering

    Air pollution is one of the major environmental concerns in most highly populated cities, which is typically caused by particulate (PM2.5 and PM0.1) or gaseous pollutants that can be removed using electrospun membranes. These membranes are characterized by different features in terms of uniform and controllable structure, tuneable porosity, and high surface area, where their separation efficiency strongly depends on their properties. In general, electrospinning is likely to be the most applied technique for the fabrication of nanofiber membranes for air filtration. The materials that can be employed for their production have been widely investigated relying on polymers and biopolymers which are key part for determining the overall membrane performance. Herein, the presence of additives often determines specific properties to the final membrane. Therefore, in this review, the current advances on fabricating electrospun membranes via electrospinning process for air filtration approaches and the potential air filtration applications are outlined.

  • A risk comparison framework for autonomous ships navigation
    • Cunlong Fan
    • Jakub Montewka
    • Di Zhang
    2022 Pełny tekst RELIABILITY ENGINEERING & SYSTEM SAFETY

    Maritime autonomous surface ships (MASS) may operate in three predefined operational modes (OM): manual, remote, or autonomous control. Determining the appropriate OM for MASS is important for operators and competent authorities that monitor and regulate maritime traffic in given areas. However, a science-based approach to this respect is currently unavailable. To assist the selection of the proper OM, this study presents a risk-based framework to compare risks in a given situation. To determine the risk level for a given OM, this framework utilizes expected failure modes (FM) related to people, organization, vessel, environment, and technology. FMs and associated accident scenarios (AS) were identified from conventional ship accidents, operating in manual control, in a coastal area in China, based on an extended 24Model. To expand these FMs to other OMs, experts’ knowledge elicitation sessions were carried out. Subsequently, a metric for navigation risk of MASS in given OMs was introduced and estimated for the expected AS, using interval-based risk prioritization numbers to convey inherent uncertainty. Finally, by ranking interval-valued metrics in the three OMs, a risk picture was obtained. The feasibility of the proposed framework for risk comparison was verified using grounding in coastal areas where accident data were collected.

  • A robust sliding mode observer for non-linear uncertain biochemical systems
    • Mateusz Czyżniewski
    • Rafał Łangowski
    2022 Pełny tekst ISA TRANSACTIONS

    A problem of state estimation for a certain class of non-linear uncertain systems has been addressed in this paper. In particular, a sliding mode observer has been derived to produce robust and stable estimates of the state variables. The stability and robustness of the proposed sliding mode observer have been investigated under parametric and unstructured uncertainty in the system dynamics. In order to ensure an unambiguous non-linear state (coordinates) transformation, the appropriate system model for the observer synthesis has been devised and analysed. The stability analysis of dynamics of estimation error has been carried out, based on the Lyapunov stability theory in relation to Lipschitz assumptions for non-linear functions. In order to validate the performance of the devised observer, it has been applied to the model of a continuous stirred tank reactor (bioreactor). The promising simulation results have been obtained and they demonstrate the high effectiveness of the devised approach.

  • A shared curriculum for daylighting education to meet the educational needs of society
    • Niko Gentile,
    • Federica Giuliani
    • Mandana Khanie, Sarey
    • Natalia Sokół
    • Valerio Roberto Maria Lo Verso
    • Federica Caffaro
    • Mikkel Kofod Pedersen
    • Federica Pompili
    • Pimkamol Mattsson
    2022

    This article describes the collaborative creation of the curriculum for a new eLearning programme on daylighting design of buildings targeting both traditional and lifelong learners. The programme consists of an online platform integrated with a summer school for practical applications. The process was conducted through several workshops with professionals, representatives of national bodies on building regulations, academics, and a survey distributed among professional and potential users. The goal was to create a curriculum to meet society's educational needs while reflecting the status of research by bridging the current gap between requirements set on daylighting by the latest regulation and the low level of education on daylighting in university curricula.

  • A Simple Replica Method as the Way to Obtain a Morphologically and Mechanically Bone-like Iron-Based Biodegradable Material
    • Marlena Grodzicka
    • Gabriela Gąsior
    • Marek Wiśniewski
    • Michał Bartmański
    • Aleksandra Radtke
    2022 Pełny tekst Materials

    Porous iron-based scaffolds were prepared by the simple replica method using polyurethane foam as a template and applying the sintering process in a tube furnace. Their surface morphology was characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and phase homogeneity was confirmed using X-ray diffraction (XRD). Corrosion behavior was determined using immersion and potentiodynamic polarization methods in phosphate buffered saline (PBS). The surface energy was calculated by studying the changes of enthalpy of calorimetric immersion. A preliminary biological test was also carried out and was done using the albumin adsorption procedure. Results of our work showed that in using the simple replica method it is possible to obtain iron biomaterial with morphology and mechanical properties almost identical to bones, and possessing adequate wettability, which gives the potential to use this material as biomaterial for scaffolds in orthopedics.

  • A state of the art review on the use of fungi in biofiltration to remove volatile hydrophobic pollutants
    • Milena Marycz
    • Anna Brillowska-Dąbrowska
    • Raúl Muñoz
    • Jacek Gębicki
    2022 Pełny tekst REVIEWS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND BIO-TECHNOLOGY

    The physical/chemical abatement of gas pollutants creates many technical problems, is costly and entails significant environmental impacts. Biological purification of off-gases is a cheap and ecologically safe way of neutralization of gas pollutants. Despite the recent advances, the main technological challenge nowadays is the purification of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of hydrophobic character due to their low solubility in water. Among all known biological methods of air purification, the most cost-effective biodegradation of hydrophobic VOCs is conducted by biotrickling filters. In this context, fungi have gained an increasing interest in this field based on their ability to biodegrade hydrophobic VOCs. In addition, biotrickling filtration using fungi can support a superior hydrophobic VOC abatement when compared to the bacterial biofilters. This paper aims at reviewing the latest research results concerning biocatalytic activity of fungi and evaluating the possibilities of their practical application in biofiltration systems to remove hydrophobic VOCs.

  • A Strategy for Managing the Operation of Technical Infrastructure Based on the Analysis of “Bad Actors”—A Case Study of LOTOS Group S.A.
    • Tomasz Dziabas
    • Mariusz Deja
    • Aleksandra Wiśniewska
    2022 Pełny tekst Sustainability

    The article covers issues related to the selection of a management strategy for the operation of technical infrastructure. It contains the approaches, methodology and a general model of the system of operation of the Maintenance Services of the LOTOS Group production company, which is an example of a large oil concern. Nowadays, an increasing aspect is put on the efficiency of individual repair processes, as well as the operation of equipment. Doubts often arise as to which strategy is the right one and which one to choose. With numerous machines, there are problems related to work planning and optimal use of resources. In addition, there are frequently difficulties in identifying the devices that interfere with the processes. The aim of this article is to present the maintenance strategy of the LOTOS production company and to introduce a procedure that allows for the assessment of the efficiency of machinery and equipment operation. It includes a method extending the identification of "Bad Actors" used so far, based on data from the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system, with a solution based on reports made after device repairs. MTBR (Mean Time Between Repair) coefficients were calculated for particular Complex, Plants and Machines, which allowed for the identification of troublesome areas and the most difficult devices in production processes. This made it possible to select the equipment that should be repaired in the first place. After the implementation of the method and service activities, a decrease in the number of problematic machines was observed.

  • A subdomain model for armature reaction field and open‐circuit field prediction in consequent pole permanent magnet machines
    • Ahmed Abbas
    • Atif Iqbal
    2022 Pełny tekst INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NUMERICAL MODELLING-ELECTRONIC NETWORKS DEVICES AND FIELDS

    In this paper, the machine quantity, such as electromagnetic torque, self and mutual inductances, and electromotive force, is analytically calculated for non-overlapping winding consequent pole slotted machine for open-circuit field and armature reaction. The sub-domain approach of (2-D) analytical model is developed using Maxwell's equations and divide the problem into slots, slot-openings, airgap and magnets region, the magnet flux-density is calculated and analyzed for both permanent magnet (PM) and armature current reaction (AR) with radial magnetization pattern. The magnetization surface currents (MSCs) are considered at the borders of iron-pole magnets and the value of MSCs is accurately computed. The result obtained using proposed model compared with that of FEM, (2-D) analytical model required less computation time and achieve higher accuracy of AR and PM.

  • A Surrogate-Assisted Measurement Correction Method for Accurate and Low-Cost Monitoring of Particulate Matter Pollutants
    • Marek Wójcikowski
    • Bogdan Pankiewicz
    • Adrian Bekasiewicz
    • Tuan-Vu Cao
    • Jean-Marie Lepioufle
    • Islen Vallejo
    • Rune Odegard
    • Hoai Phuong Ha
    2022 Pełny tekst MEASUREMENT

    Air pollution involves multiple health and economic challenges. Its accurate and low-cost monitoring is important for developing services dedicated to reduce the exposure of living beings to the pollution. Particulate matter (PM) measurement sensors belong to the key components that support operation of these systems. In this work, a modular, mobile Internet of Things sensor for PM measurements has been proposed. Due to a limited accuracy of the PM detector, the measurement data are refined using a two-stage procedure that involves elimination of the non-physical signal spikes followed by a non-linear cor-rection of the responses using a multiplicative surrogate model. The correction layer is derived from the sparse and non-uniform calibration data, i.e., a combination of the measurements from the PM monitoring station and the sensor obtained in the same location over a specified (relatively short) interval. The device and the method have been both demonstrated based on the data obtained during three measurement cam-paigns. The proposed correction scheme improves the fidelity of PM measurements by around two orders of magnitude w.r.t. the responses for which the post-processing has not been considered. Performance of the proposed surrogate-assisted technique has been favorably compared against the benchmark approaches from the literature.

  • A Survey of Vehicular Network Systems for Road Traffic Management
    • Karol Jurczenia
    • Jacek Rak
    2022 Pełny tekst IEEE Access

    In this survey, we analyze the proposals of vehicular communication systems in the context of road traffic management. Starting with the definition of communications between vehicles (V2V), vehicles-to-infrastructure (V2I) and vehicles-to-everything (V2X), we first focus on the requirements and current standards for the Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), including the maximum communication delay, the communication range and the size of messages (in the case of V2I transmission). After that, we analyze the use cases in line with the implementation of intelligent traffic management and review the respective methods that support or directly manage traffic on roads. One of the primary objectives of this paper is to highlight the architectures of four classes of systems able to support vehicular traffic management and communication between vehicles and roadside infrastructure, namely: vehicular cloud computing (VCC), cloudlets, Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) and fog computing. In this context, we also present our classification of the methods for these four classes of architectures. In the end, we provide our opinion on problems and limitations concerning the deployment of mechanisms belonging to each considered architecture class.

  • A Systematic Review for Establishing Relevant Environmental Parameters for Urban Lighting: Translating Research into Practice
    • Catherine Vega, Pérez
    • Karolina M. Zielinska-Dabkowska
    • Andreas Jechow
    • Sibylle Schroer
    • Franz Hölker
    2022 Pełny tekst Sustainability

    The application of lighting technologies developed in the 20th century has increased the brightness and changed the spectral composition of nocturnal night-time habitats and night skies across urban, peri-urban, rural, and pristine landscapes, and subsequently, researchers have observed the disturbance of biological rhythms of flora and fauna. To reduce these impacts, it is essential to translate relevant knowledge about the potential adverse effects of artificial light at night (ALAN) from research into applicable urban lighting practice. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to identify and report, via a systematic review, the effects of exposure to different physical properties of artificial light sources on various organism groups, including plants, arthropods, insects, spiders, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and non-human mammals (including bats, rodents, and primates). PRISMA 2020 guidelines were used to identify a total of 1417 studies from Web of Science and PubMed. In 216 studies, diverse behavioral and physiological responses were observed across taxa when organisms were exposed to ALAN. The studies showed that the responses were dependent on high illuminance levels, duration of light exposure, and unnatural color spectra at night and also highlighted where research gaps remain in the domains of ALAN research and urban lighting practice. To avoid misinterpretation, and to define a common language, key terminologies and definitions connected to natural and artificial light have been provided. Furthermore, the adverse impacts of ALAN urgently need to be better researched, understood, and managed for the development of future lighting guidelines and standards to optimize sustainable design applications that preserve night-time environment(s) and their inhabiting flora and fauna.

  • A Tutorial on AGREEprep an Analytical Greenness Metric for Sample Preparation
    • Francisco Pena-Pereira
    • Marek Tobiszewski
    • Wojciech Wojnowski
    • Elefteria Psillakis
    2022 Pełny tekst Advances in Sample Preparation

    Sample preparation is a key step in the analytical procedure and a critical component for achieving analytical greenness. AGREEprep is the first metric intended for evaluating the environmental impact of sample preparation methods. The approach consists of ten steps of assessment that correspond to the ten principles of green sample preparation and uses a user-friendly open-source software to calculate and visualize the results. Despite the simplicity of the approach, some assessment steps can be difficult to evaluate in a straightforward manner, either because essential data are not readily available or, in some cases, are poorly defined. This walkthrough tutorial on AGREEprep serves as an in depth yet simple guide for new users that elucidates all aspects of the greenness assessment. It will prove beneficial to analysts wishing to assess the greenness of their own developed procedures or those found in the literature, which can be challenging taken that critical data is often not reported. Particular attention is given to the calculations involved in estimating the amount of waste generated and energetic requirements. The impact of weight values of criteria on the overall final score are discussed and using two hypothetical scenarios is related to the analytical goals of operators. Finally, several assessment examples are given in the supplementary information to familiarize assessors with all assessment steps.

  • A Vision of Sustainable Design Concepts for Upgrading Vulnerable Coastal Areas in Light of Climate Change Impacts: A Case Study from Beirut, Lebanon
    • Bahaa Bou Kalfouni
    • Dorota Wojtowicz-Jankowska
    2022 Pełny tekst Sustainability

    Rapid urbanization combined with the effects of climate change has increased the vulnerability of poor urban communities to natural hazards, particularly to informal settlements located in coastal areas. Apart from socio-economic challenges, the effects of climate change threaten the very existence of these settlements. They are particularly vulnerable due to their poor structural quality and lack of adequate infrastructure to mitigate the consequences of any natural event. The article highlights an informal settlement belt, located on the coastline of the southern suburb of the capital Beirut. This area is an example of a complex urban, social, and economic structure. As a result, this research speculates on the possible sustainable design solutions and tested development strategies through urban, architecture, and landscape design proposals, derived from interventions that succeed in facing similar challenges compatible with the studied context. The aim is to advocate for comprehensive consideration and transformation of coastal informal settlements that can be used to encourage neutralizing the obvious challenges of climate change in urban settings. Therefore, planning specifications and quality aspects for future coastal informal settlements are proposed and extracted. The research involves analysis of qualitative data rather than quantitative data, as there is not much definite information available in terms of statistics, such as review of publications and grey literature. The scope of the study ranges from microscale improvement to providing usable and accessible city-wide ecological urban settings and sustainable spaces with new standards for coastal informal settlements as a potential backbone.

  • A Visual Method of Measuring Railway-Track Weed Infestation Level
    • Jacek Skibicki
    • Roksana Licow
    2022 Pełny tekst Metrology

    This paper concerns the assessment of railway track surface conditions in relation to the degree of weed infestation. The paper conceptually describes the proposed method using a visual system to analyse weed infestation level. The use of image analysis software for weed detection is also proposed. This new measurement method allows for a mobile assessment of the track’s weed infestation status. Validation of the assessment method in real conditions will allow for further expansion of the system using new shades of green from the RAL palette, and will take into account a more extensive and detailed assessment of weed infestation on the track in accordance with applicable railway regulations.

  • About Unusual Diffraction and Thermal Self-Action of Magnetosonic Beam
    • Anna Perelomova
    2022 Pełny tekst Archives of Acoustics

    The dynamics of slightly diverging two-dimensional beams whose direction forms a constant angle θ with the equilibrium straight magnetic strength is considered. The approximate dispersion relations and corresponding links which specify hydrodynamic perturbations in confined beams are derived. The study is dedicated to the diffraction of a magnetosonic beam and nonlinear thermal self-action of a beam in a thermoconducting gaseous plasma. It is shown that the divergence of a beam and its thermal self-action is unusual in some particular cases of parallel propagation (θ = 0) and has no analogues in the dynamics of the Newtonian beams. The nonlinear attenuation of Newtonian beams leads to their defocusing in gases, whereas the unusual cases correspond to the focusing in a presence of magnetic field. The examples of numerical calculations of thermal self-action of magnetoacoustic beams with shock fronts are considered in the usual and unusual cases of diffraction concerning stationary and non-stationary self-action. It is discovered that the diffraction is more (θ = 0) or less (θ = π~2) manifested as compared to that of the Newtonian beams. The beams which propagate oblique to the magnetic field do not reveal diffraction. The special case, when the sound and Alfvénic speeds are equal, is discussed. This magnetosonic beams incorporate acoustic and Alfvénic properties and do not undergo diffraction in this particular case.

  • AC Motor Voltage and Audible Noise Dataset
    • Beata Pałczyńska
    2022 Pełny tekst

    The dataset titled AC motor voltage and audible noise waveforms in ship’s electrical drive systems with frequency converters contains the voltage and sound measurement results recorded in a marine frequency controlled AC drive system. The dataset is part of research focussing on the impact of the ship’s electrical drive systems with frequency converters on vibrations and the level of audible noise on ships. The dataset allows the correlation between electric disturbances and vibration, as well as audible noise in marine frequency controlled AC drive systems to be investigated.

  • Accident susceptibility index for a passenger ship-a framework and case study
    • Jakub Montewka
    • Teemu Manderbacka
    • Pekka Ruponen
    • Markus Tompuri
    • Mateusz Gil
    • Spyros Hirdaris
    2022 Pełny tekst RELIABILITY ENGINEERING & SYSTEM SAFETY

    The continuous monitoring and assessment of operational vulnerability and accident susceptibility of passenger ships is crucial from the perspective of ship and passenger safety. Despite the existing solutions for vulnerability monitoring, stemming mainly from watertight door operations, a comprehensive framework for accident susceptibility assessment and monitoring is missing in the literature. Therefore, this paper offers a straightforward approach, utilizing heuristics rooted in the solid foundations of the first principles related to human performance. The proposed approach allows the evaluation of accident susceptibility of a ship in operation involved in open-sea and coastal navigation. The framework presented is based on observable and relevant factors, known to affect the navigator’s performance, and as a consequence accident probability. The layout of the framework as well as the parameters of the developed model are based on literature survey in maritime and aviation domains, knowledge elicited from maritime experts and extensive simulations with the use of an in-house developed ship-ship encounter simulator. Subsequently, the model is applied to selected case studies, involving two distinctive ship types, namely a large cruise ship and a RoPax vessel. The results obtained for the case study presented in this paper reveal that most of their time the analyzed ships operate with negligible accident susceptibility (87%), while 1% of the cases are labelled as very high accident susceptibility. The remaining share of 12% is distributed among low, moderate and high values of accident susceptibility. The results are in line with earlier studies conducted in the same area but adopting different methods. The proposed solution can be applied as an onboard decision support tool, evaluating the operational accident susceptibility and vulnerability, thus increasing the crew’s situational awareness. Additionally, it can be applied to historical data, allowing ship navigational safety diagnosis and implementation of appropriate countermeasures.

  • Accumulation of radioisotopes and heavy metals in selected species of mushrooms
    • Oskar Ronda
    • Elżbieta Grządka
    • Iwona Ostolska
    • Jolanta Orzeł
    • Bartłomiej Cieślik
    2022 Pełny tekst FOOD CHEMISTRY

    Seven species of forest mushrooms from different regions of Poland (edible: Imleria badia, Cantharellus cibarius, Xerocomus subtomentosus, Suillus luteus and inedible by humans but being food for animals: Paxillus involutus, Tylopilus felleus and Russula emetica) were analyzed for radioisotope activity (Cs-137, K-40, Bi-214 and Pb-210) as well as concentrations of heavy metals (aluminum, chromium, cadmium, manganese, iron, lead, zinc, copper, nickel and mercury). The activity of radioisotopes was measured with a gamma spectrometer, while the concentrations of heavy metals were examined by microwave plasma – atomic emission spectrometry. The obtained results of the analyses were compared with the recommendations of the European Food Safety Authority concerning the consumption of the determined heavy metals and the European standards concerning the content of radioisotopes in food. The obtained results proved that the consumption of mushrooms may result in a significant exceeding of the consumption limits of cadmium, copper and Cs-137

  • Accurate Modeling of Antenna Structures by Means of Domain Confinement and Pyramidal Deep Neural Networks
    • Sławomir Kozieł
    • Nurullah Calik
    • Peyman Mahouti
    • Mehmet Belen
    2022 Pełny tekst IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION

    The importance of surrogate modeling techniques has been gradually increasing in the design of antenna structures over the recent years. Perhaps the most important reason is a high cost of full-wave electromagnetic (EM) analysis of antenna systems. Although imperative in ensuring evaluation reliability, it entails considerable computational expenses. These are especially pronounced when carrying out EM-driven design tasks such as geometry parameter tuning or uncertainty quantification, both requiring repetitive simulations. Conducting some of the design procedures, e.g., global search or yield optimization, directly at the level of simulation models may be prohibitive. The employment of fast replacement models (or surrogates) may alleviate these difficulties; yet, accurate modeling of antenna structures faces its own challenges. The two major obstacles are the curse of dimensionality, manifesting itself in a rapid growth of the number of training data samples necessary to render a reliable model (as a function of the number of antenna parameters), and high nonlinearity of antenna characteristics. Recently, the concept of performance-driven modeling has been introduced, where the modeling process is focused on a small region of the parameters space, which contains high-quality designs with respect of the considered performance figures. The most advanced variation of this class of methods is nested kriging, where both the model domain and the surrogate itself are constructed through kriging interpolation. Domain confinement is realized using a set of pre-optimized reference designs, and allows for significant improvement of the model predictive power while using a limited number of training data samples. In this work, the constrained modeling concept is coupled with a novel pyramidal deep regression network (PDRN) surrogate, which offers improved handling of highly-nonlinear antenna responses. Three examples of microstrip antennas are used to demonstrate the advantages of constrained PDRN metamodels over the nested kriging surrogates with the (average) accuracy improved by a factor of two without increasing the training data set cardinality.

  • Acid–Base Equilibrium and Self-Association in Relation to High Antitumor Activity of Selected Unsymmetrical Bisacridines Established by Extensive Chemometric Analysis
    • Michał Kosno
    • Tomasz Laskowski
    • Joanna Frąckowiak
    • Agnieszka Potęga
    • Agnieszka Kurdyn
    • Witold Andrałojć
    • Julia Borzyszkowska-Bukowska
    • Katarzyna Szwarc-Karabyka
    • Zofia Mazerska
    2022 Pełny tekst MOLECULES

    Unsymmetrical bisacridines (UAs) represent a novel class of anticancer agents previously synthesized by our group. Our recent studies have demonstrated their high antitumor potential against multiple cancer cell lines and human tumor xenografts in nude mice. At the cellular level, these compounds affected 3D cancer spheroid growth and their cellular uptake was selectively modulated by quantum dots. UAs were shown to undergo metabolic transformations in vitro and in tumor cells. However, the physicochemical properties of UAs, which could possibly affect their interactions with molecular targets, remain unknown. Therefore, we selected four highly active UAs for the assessment of physicochemical parameters under various pH conditions. We determined the compounds’ pKa dissociation constants as well as their potential to self-associate. Both parameters were determined by detailed and complex chemometric analysis of UV-Vis spectra supported bynuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The obtained results indicate that general molecular properties of UAs in aqueous media, including their protonation state, self-association ratio, and solubility, are strongly pH-dependent, particularly in the physiological pH range of 6 to 8. In conclusion, we describe the detailed physicochemical characteristics of UAs, which might contribute to their selectivity towards tumour cells as opposed to their effect on normal cells.

  • Acoustic Hysteresis in Flows with Different Kinds of Relaxation and Attenuation
    • Anna Perelomova
    2022 Pełny tekst Archives of Acoustics

    Graphs in the thermodynamic plane acoustic pressure versus excess acoustic density representing acoustic hysteresis, are considered as indicators of relaxation processes, equilibrium parameters of a flow, and kinds of wave exciters. Some flows with deviation from adiabaticity are examined: the Newtonian flow of a thermocon- ducting gas, the flow of a gas with vibrational relaxation, the flow of liquid electrolyte with a chemical reaction, and the Bingham plastic flow. The total range of characteristic frequencies of a harmonic exciter is taken into account. The impulsive sound is considered as well. The peculiarities of hysteretic behaviour are discussed in dependence with the kind and degree of deviation form adiabaticity. Examples of acoustically active flows are discussed.

  • ACTIVATED BIOCHAR AS AN ADSORBENT OF ORGANIC POLLUTANTS FOR WATER AND WASTEWATER TREATMENT
    • Beata Barczak
    • Paweł Kazimierski
    • Justyna Łuczak
    • Ewa Klugmann-Radziemska
    • Katarzyna Januszewicz
    2022

    The use of biomass, especially waste biomass, as an alternative energy source is a very important issue today. Pyrolysis is a process of thermal degradation of raw material and one of its products is biochar. This product is mainly distinguished by its high carbon content, and by improving its quality through activation, it can be more widely used. Activated biocarbon has a strongly developed surface and porous structure, and as an adsorbent, it can be used as a pollutant sorbent. Chemical activation is one way of improving the quality of carbon materials by applying high temperature and an activator, e.g. KOH. This method allows to obtain sorption materials with the highly developed specific surface area of more than 1100 m2 /g. Another important parameter characterizing activated carbons is the adsorption capacity of the model pollutant by the analyzed sorbent, which allows quantifying the ability to adsorb an organic compound from an aqueous solution. Pyrolysis of waste biomass, which consisted of corn cobs (without kernels) and cherry kernels, was performed. The results of the study of the adsorption capacity of organic pollutants from the aqueous phase by the activated with potassium hydroxide biocarbons are presented. An aqueous solution of Rhodamine B was used as a model pollutant. The effect of waste biomass type on the adsorption capacity of organic pollutant is discussed based on the study.

  • Activation Energy and Inclination Magnetic Dipole Influences on Carreau Nanofluid Flowing via Cylindrical Channel with an Infinite Shearing Rate
    • Assad Ayud
    • Tanveer Sajid
    • Wasim Jamshed
    • Rolando William Miranda Zamora
    • Alonso Leandro Vallejos More
    • Marina LuzGalván Talledo
    • Isabel Nélida Rodríguez Ortega de Peña
    • Syed Hyssain
    • Muhammad Bilal Hafeez
    • Marek Krawczuk
    2022 Pełny tekst Applied Sciences-Basel

    The infinite shear viscosity model of Carreau fluid characterizes the attitude of fluid flow at a very high/very low shear rate. This model has the capacity for interpretation of fluid at both extreme levels, and an inclined magnetic dipole in fluid mechanics has its valuable applications such as magnetic drug engineering, cold treatments to destroy tumors, drug targeting, bio preservation, cryosurgery, astrophysics, reaction kinetics, geophysics, machinery efficiency, sensors, material selection and cosmology. Novelty: This study investigates and interprets the infinite shear rate of Carreau nanofluid over the geometry of a cylindrical channel. The velocity is assumed to be investigated through imposing an inclined magnetic field onto cylindrical geometry. Activation energy is utilized because it helps with chemical reactions and mass transport. Furthermore, the effects of thermophoresis, the binary chemical process and the Brownian movement of nanoparticles are included in this attempt. Formulation: The mathematics of the assumed Carreau model is derived from Cauchy stress tensor, and partial differential equations (PDEs) are obtained. Similarity transformation variables converted these PDEs into a system of ordinary differential equations (ODEs). Passing this system under the bvp4c scheme, we reached at numerical results of this research attempt. Findings: Graphical debate and statistical analysis are launched on the basis of the obtained computed numerical results. The infinite shear rate aspect of Carreau nanofluid gives a lower velocity. The inclined magnetic dipole effect shows a lower velocity but high energy. A positive variation in activation energy amplifies the concentration field.

  • Activation of the C=P bond in phosphanylphosphaalkenes C=P–P bond system) in the reaction with nucleophilic reagents: MeLi, nBuLi and tBuLi
    • Aleksandra Ziółkowska
    • Natalia Szynkiewicz
    • Łukasz Ponikiewski
    2022 Pełny tekst RSC Advances

    Three reactions of phosphanylphosphaalkene (1) with nucleophiles were performed to activate the diphosphorus monomer. We observed similar results in the reactions with MeLi and nBuLi, in which the P–P bond is cleavaged and triphosphorus systems [P(Me)2–CH(biph)–CH(biph)–P–(PtBu 2)]- (1a'') and [P(nBu)2–CH(biph)–CH(biph)–P–(PtBu 2)]- (1b''), respectively, are formed depending on the nucleophilic reagent (biph ¼ biphenyl). In the case of tBuLi, the P–P bond remains intact; on the phosphorus atom,only one -tBu group is substituted, and as a result, [(biph)(H)C–P(tBu)–PtBu2]- (1c) is generated as a stable carbanion. We additionally investigated the effect of substitution in the phenyl ring in the course of these reactions by involving two other phosphanylphosphaalkenes (3 and 4). All initial reactions were conducted in tetrahydrofuran (THF) solution at ambient temperature.

  • Active Learning Based on Crowdsourced Data
    • Tomasz Boiński
    • Julian Szymański
    • Agata Krauzewicz
    2022 Pełny tekst Applied Sciences-Basel

    The paper proposes a crowdsourcing-based approach for annotated data acquisition and means to support Active Learning training approach. In the proposed solution, aimed at data engineers, the knowledge of the crowd serves as an oracle that is able to judge whether the given sample is informative or not. The proposed solution reduces the amount of work needed to annotate large sets of data. Furthermore, it allows a perpetual increase in the trained network quality by the inclusion of new samples, gathered after network deployment. The paper also discusses means of limiting network training times, especially in the post-deployment stage, where the size of the training set can increase dramatically. This is done by the introduction of the fourth set composed of samples gather during network actual usage.

  • Activity of Patents in Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Production in the Context of Passenger Car Fleet in the V4 Countries
    • Sylwia Pangsy-Kania
    • Aleksandra Romanowska
    • Katarzyna Wierzbicka
    • Katarzyna Kania
    2022 Pełny tekst Studies in Logic, Grammar and Rhetoric

    The hydrogen market in the world today is capable ovule and em-pirical evidence on activity of patents in fuel cells and hydrogen production islimited so far. Patent applications in zero-emission mobility in the aspect of fuelcells include: DAFC/DMFC&DMFC, PEMFC, SOFC, AFC, PAFC. As for thepatents relating to the hydrogen production, they concern low carbon, electrol-ysis and inorganic. The purpose of the study was to investigate certain aspectsof the activity of patents in fuel cells and hydrogen production in the context ofpassenger car fleet in the Visegrad group (V4) countries and to explore the rela-tionship between patent registrations and GDP per capita in V4. The researcharea relates to the answer to the question of whether a country’s involvementin zero-emission patent activity (patents in fuel cells and hydrogen production)could contribute to the renewal of the country’s passenger car fleet. The theseswere formulated as follows: 1) activity of patents in fuel cells and hydrogen pro-duction in the V4 countries doesn’t depend on the car fleet in these countries,2) the level of GDP per capita in the V4 countries is not followed by the numberof patents registrations in hydrogen technology, 3) the highest patent activityin fuel cells and hydrogen production doesn’t mean that the car fleet in thesecountry will be zero-emission in coming years. The method used in this article isa comparative analysis, but also the relationships between patent registrations,GDP per capita and passenger car fleet in V4 are considered

  • Actual field corrosion rate of offshore structures in the Baltic Sea along depth profile from water surface to sea bed
    • Juliusz Orlikowski
    • Michał Szociński
    • Krzysztof Żakowski
    • Piotr Igliński
    • Kinga Domańska
    • Kazimierz Darowicki
    2022 Pełny tekst OCEAN ENGINEERING

    The paper presents the results of field electrochemical investigations on the corrosion rate of carbon steel in seawater of the Baltic Sea at the location of the Baltic Beta production rig. The measurements were conducted throughout the year in seawater at different depths from the sea surface to the sea bed (about 75 m). The results revealed corrosion aggressiveness of the seawater along the entire depth profile. There was no multiple decrease in the corrosion rate of carbon steel at deeper levels (below 15 m), which had been observed in the literature reporting the investigations in the seas and oceans of higher salinity (3.5%) than southern Baltic Sea (about 0.8%). A model for monitoring water physico-chemical parameters along a depth profile showed the presence of a substantial amount of oxygen far below the sea surface, which translated into high corrosion aggressiveness of the Baltic seawater. Throughout the year corrosion rate is higher than 0.8 mm/year at the sea surface and even 0.4 mm/year at the sea bed. Presented results can constitute a guideline for the design of the anticorrosion protection systems for offshore wind farms or oil and gas production platforms in the Baltic Sea region.

  • Adaptive Dynamical Systems Modelling of Transformational Organizational Change: with Focus on Organizational Culture and Organizational Learning
    • Lars Rass
    • Jan Treur
    • Wioleta Kucharska
    • Anna Monika Wiewiora
    2022

    Transformative Organizational Change becomes more and more significant both practically and academically, especially in the context of organizational culture and learning. However computational modeling and a formalization of organizational change and learning processes are still largely unexplored. This paper aims to provide an adaptive network model of transformative organizational change and translate a selection of organizational learning and change processes into computationally modeled processes. Additionally, it sets out to connect the dynamic systems view of organizations to self-modelling network models. The creation of the model and the implemented mechanisms of organizational processes are based on extrapolations of an extensive literature study and grounded in related work in this field, and then applied to a specified hospital-related case scenario in the context of safety culture. The model was evaluated by running several simulations and variations thereof. The results of these were investigated by qualitative analysis and comparison to expected emergent behaviour based on related available academic literature. The simulations performed confirmed the occurrence of an organizational transformational change towards a constant learning culture by offering repeated and effective learning and changes to organizational processes. Observations about various interplays and effects of the mechanism have been made, and they exposed that acceptance of mistakes as a part of learning culture facilitates transformational change and may foster sustainable change in the long run. . Further, the model confirmed that the self-modelling network model approach applies to a dynamic systems view of organizations and a systems perspective of organizational change. The created model offers the basis for the further creation of self-modelling network models within the field of transformative organizational change and the translated mechanisms of this model can further be extracted and reused in a forthcoming academic exploration of this field.

  • Adaptive identification of sparse underwater acoustic channels with a mix of static and time-varying parameters
    • Maciej Niedźwiecki
    • Artur Gańcza
    • Lu Shen
    • Yuriy Zakharov
    2022 Pełny tekst SIGNAL PROCESSING

    We consider identification of sparse linear systems with a mix of static and time-varying parameters. Such systems are typical in underwater acoustics (UWA), for instance, in applications requiring identi- fication of the acoustic channel, such as UWA communications, navigation and continuous-wave sonar. The recently proposed fast local basis function (fLBF) algorithm provides high performance when identi- fying time-varying systems. In this paper, we further improve the performance of the fLBF algorithm by exploiting properties of the system. Specifically, we propose an adaptive time-invariance test to identify whether a particular system tap is static or time-varying and exploit this knowledge for choosing the number of basis functions. We also propose a regularization scheme that exploits the system sparsity and an adaptive technique for estimating the regularization parameter. Finally, a debiasing technique is proposed to reduce an inherent bias of fLBF estimates. The high performance of the fLBF algorithm with the proposed techniques is demonstrated in scenarios of UWA communications, using numerical and real experiments.

  • Adaptive Identification of Underwater Acoustic Channel with a Mix of Static and Time-Varying Parameters
    • Maciej Niedźwiecki
    • Artur Gańcza
    • Lu Shen
    • Yuriy Zakharov
    2022 Pełny tekst

    We consider the problem of identification of communication channels with a mix of static and time-varying parameters. Such scenarios are typical, among others, in underwater acoustics. In this paper, we further develop adaptive algorithms built on the local basis function (LBF) principle resulting in excellent performance when identifying time-varying systems. The main drawback of an LBF algorithm is its high complexity. The subsequently proposed fast LBF (fLBF) algorithms, based on the preestimation principle, allow a significant reduction in the complexity for recursively computable basis functions, such as the complex exponentials. We propose a debiased fLBF algorithm which exploits the fact that only a part of the system parameters are time-varying. We also propose an adaptive technique to identify whether a particular tap is static or time-varying.

  • Adding Interpretability to Neural Knowledge DNA
    • Junjie Xiao
    • Tao Liu
    • Haoxi Zhang
    • Edward Szczerbicki
    2022 Pełny tekst CYBERNETICS AND SYSTEMS

    This paper proposes a novel approach that adds the interpretability to Neural Knowledge DNA (NK-DNA) via generating a decision tree. The NK-DNA is a promising knowledge representation approach for acquiring, storing, sharing, and reusing knowledge among machines and computing systems. We introduce the decision tree-based generative method for knowledge extraction and representation to make the NK-DNA more explainable. We examine our approach through an initial case study. The experiment results show that the proposed method can transform the implicit knowledge stored in the NK-DNA into explicitly represented decision trees bringing fair interpretability to neural network-based intelligent systems.

  • Additive Manufacturing as a Solution to Challenges Associated with Heat Pipe Production
    • Paweł Szymański
    • Dariusz Mikielewicz
    2022 Pełny tekst Materials

    The aim of this review is to present the recent developments in heat pipe production, which respond to the current technical problems related to the wide implementation of this technology. A novel approach in HP manufacturing is to utilise hi-tech additive manufacturing techniques where the most complicated geometries are fabricated layer-by-layer directly from a digital file. This technology might be a solution to various challenges that exist in HP production, i.e., (1) manufacturing of complex or unusual geometries HPs; (2) manufacturing complicated and efficient homogenous wick structures with desired porosity, uniform pore sizes, permeability, thickness and where the pores are evenly distributed; (3) manufacturing a gravity friendly wick structures; (4) high customisation and production time; (5) high costs; (6) difficulties in the integration of the HP into a unit chassis that enables direct thermal management of heated element and decrease its total thermal resistance; (7) high weight and material use of the part; (8) difficulties in sealing; (9) deformation of the flat shape HPs caused by the high pressure and uneven distribution of stress in the casing, among others.

  • Adjusting the Stiffness of Supports during Milling of a Large-Size Workpiece Using the Salp Swarm Algorithm
    • Krzysztof Kaliński
    • Marek Galewski
    • Natalia Stawicka-Morawska
    • Michał Mazur
    • Arkadiusz Parus
    2022 Pełny tekst SENSORS

    This paper concerns the problem of vibration reduction during milling. For this purpose, it is proposed that the standard supports of the workpiece be replaced with adjustable stiffness supports. This affects the modal parameters of the whole system, i.e., object and its supports, which is essential from the point of view of the relative tool–workpiece vibrations. To reduce the vibration level during milling, it is necessary to appropriately set the support stiffness coefficients, which are obtained from numerous milling process simulations. The simulations utilize the model of the workpiece with adjustable supports in the convention of a Finite Element Model (FEM) and a dynamic model of the milling process. The FEM parameters are tuned based on modal tests of the actual workpiece. For assessing simulation results, the proper indicator of vibration level must be selected, which is also discussed in the paper. However, simulating the milling process is time consuming and the total number of simulations needed to search the entire available range of support stiffness coefficients is large. To overcome this issue, the artificial intelligence salp swarm algorithm is used. Finally, for the best combination of stiffness coefficients, the vibration reduction is obtained and a significant reduction in search time for determining the support settings makes the approach proposed in the paper attractive from the point of view of practical applications.

  • Advanced Control With PLC—Code Generator for aMPC Controller Implementation and Cooperation With External Computational Server for Dealing With Multidimensionality, Constraints and LMI Based Robustness
    • Jarosław Tarnawski
    • Piotr Kudełka
    • Mateusz Korzeniowski
    2022 Pełny tekst IEEE Access

    The manufacturers of Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) usually equip their products with extremely simple control algorithms, such as PID and on-off regulators. However, modern PLCs have much more efficient processors and extensive memory, which enables implementing more sophisticated controllers. The paper discusses issues related to the implementation of matrix operations, time limitations for code execution within one PLC cycle, and memory requirements. The adaptive Model Predictive Controller (aMPC) algorithm is selected for predictive control with on-line adaptation of model parameters. The combination of predictive and adaptive properties in the regulator enables control of many industrial objects for which PID control is ineffective, e.g. nonstationary plants with time-varying delays. The presented generic approach consists in developing a C++ application for desktop PC that generates, based on user provided parameters - such as MPC horizons, the code in Structured Text (ST) language compliant with the IEC-61131 standard for PLCs. Despite the enhanced capabilities of programmable controllers, there are limitations to this platform that cannot be overcome. The implementation of optimization-based control algorithms requires cooperation with an external computing server. In the article, the PLC/external computer cooperation is used to implement the control with constraints taken into account. The robust control using the Linear Matrix Inequalities (LMI) for a multivariable plant is also presented. A number of tests were carried out to verify the correctness of implementation of this control in software-in-the-loop and hardware-in-the-loop structures.

  • Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) based wastewater treatment - unexpected nitration side reactions - a serious environmental issue: A review
    • Manoj Panayamthatta Rayaroth
    • Charuvila T. Aravindakumar
    • Noor S. Shah
    • Grzegorz Boczkaj
    2022 Pełny tekst CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL

    Chemical compounds containing nitro group (nitro-products) are a one of toxic by-products, that can be formed during wastewater treatment processes. In case of presence of nitrite or nitrate ions, the formation of nitro-products during advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) is very common. It is caused by the reactive nitrogen species (RNs) such as nitrate radical (NO3•), nitrite radical (NO2•), nitrogen oxide radical (NO•) and peroxynirite (ONOO–). In fact, the oxidative degradation of N-containing pollutants releases nitrate, nitrite and ammonium ions. In some cases, secondary reactions of mineralised nitrogen species (nitrate and nitrite ions) with the parent or intermediate compound generate next several nitro-products. The nitro-products are more toxic comparing to the primary pollutants and act as the precursors of the nitrogenous disinfection by-products. Moreover, some studies reported unexpected nitro-products formation during the oxidative degradation. In case of such processes a special attention should be made to monitor and minimize these effects. De-nitration of the initial nitro-compounds induces the formation of various nitro-products in AOPs. It was observed for UV light driven, Fenton and persulfate based AOPs. The sonochemical nitrogen fixation is a key mechanism for the formation of nitro-compounds in ultrasounds based AOPs. Therefore, this paper is focused on comparison of various AOPs in terms of nitro-products formation mechanisms and the associated environmental issues.

  • Advancements in the Additive Manufacturing of Magnesium and Aluminum Alloys through Laser-Based Approach
    • Sachin Kumar Sharma
    • Harpreet Singh Grewal
    • Kuldeep Kumar Saxena
    • Kahtan A. Mohammed
    • Chander Prakash
    • J. Paulo Davim
    • Dharam Buddhi
    • Ramesh Raju
    • Dhanesh G. Mohan
    • Jacek Tomków
    2022 Pełny tekst Materials

    Complex structures can now be manufactured easily utilizing AM technologies to meet the pre-requisite objectives such as reduced part numbers, greater functionality, and lightweight, among others. Polymers, metals, and ceramics are the few materials that can be used in AM technology, but metallic materials (Magnesium and Aluminum) are attracting more attention from the research and industrial point of view. Understanding the role processing parameters of laser-based additive manufacturing is critical to maximize the usage of material in forming the product geometry. LPBF (Laser powder-based fusion) method is regarded as a potent and effective additive manufacturing technique for creating intricate 3D forms/parts with high levels of precision and reproducibility together with acceptable metallurgical characteristics. While dealing with LBPF, some degree of porosity is acceptable because it is unavoidable; hot ripping and cracking must be avoided, though. The necessary manufacturing of pre-alloyed powder and ductility remains to be the primary concern while dealing with a laser-based additive manufacturing approach. The presence of the Al-Si eutectic phase in AlSi10Mg and AlSi12 alloy attributing to excellent castability and low shrinkage, attaining the most attention in the laser-based approach. Related studies with these alloys along with precipitation hardening and heat treatment processing were discussed. The Pure Mg, Mg-Al alloy, Mg-RE alloy, and Mg-Zn alloy along with the mechanical characteristics, electrochemical durability, and biocompatibility of Mg-based material have been elaborated in the work-study. The review article also summarizes the processing parameters of the additive manufacturing powder-based approach relating to different Mg-based alloys. For future aspects, the optimization of processing parameters, composition of the alloy, and quality of powder material used will significantly improve the ductility of additively manufactured Mg alloy by the LPBF approach. Other than that, the recycling of Mg-alloy powder hasn’t been investigated yet. Meanwhile, the post-processing approach, including a homogeneous coating on the porous scaffolds, will mark the suitability in terms of future advancements in Mg and Al-based alloys.

  • Advances in analysis, quantification and modelling of N2O emission in SBRs under various DO set points
    • M S Shourjeh
    • Mohammad Javad Mehrani
    • Przemysław Kowal
    • Bartosz Szeląg
    • Jakub Drewnowski
    2022 Pełny tekst Journal of Physics : Conference Series

    Nitrous oxide (N2O), considered a major greenhouse gas (GHG) in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), is produced during both nitrification and denitrification processes; hence, it needs to be controlled by internal and external strategies. Various factors, such as DO, temperature, and pH, could be incorporated into the mitigation of emissions in WWTPs. In this research, potential operational strategies were investigated in order to find the optimal range for DO and temperature for controlling the N2O production during the nitrification process. In parallel, the activity of nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) could also be limited under optimal conditions to make the process more cost-effective and energy-saving. In this regard, under a lab-scale environment, DO = 0.7 mg/l was detected as the optimal range for inhibiting NOB activity and maintaining AOB activity. Moreover, the importance of developing mathematical modelling methods has gained significant attention in order to better understand the possibility of minimizing GHG in WWTPs. In this study, advanced mathematical modelling methods were used for simulating the kinetics of the nitrification process to determine the interaction among different operating factors compared to nitrification rates.

  • Advances in Modelling and Analysis of Strength of Corroded Ship Structures
    • Krzysztof Wołoszyk
    • Yordan Garbatov
    2022 Pełny tekst Journal of Marine Science and Engineering

    The present study reviews the recent advances in modelling and analyses the strength of corroded ship structures. Firstly, the time-variant methodologies that consider only the mean structural element thickness loss due to corrosion degradation are identified. Corrosion degradation is regarded as the phenomenon that causes uneven thinning of specimens. This has been captured by various researchers as the loss of mechanical properties of structural steel components. A review of the existing experimental and numerical studies shows significant interest in this field of study. The advances in modelling and analysis of structural behaviours of different ship structural components of larger sizes (including plates, stiffened plates and panels, and entire hull girders) are outlined. Research on the impact of general and pitting corrosion degradation is reviewed separately since the phenomena are different in terms of modelling and analysis. Additionally, recent advances concerning the reliability analysis of corroded ship structural components have also been reviewed. Finally, the general conclusions are drawn and future research topics are outlined.

  • Adversarial attack algorithm for traffic sign recognition
    • Juan Wang
    • Lei Shi
    • Yang Zhao
    • Haoxi Zhang
    • Edward Szczerbicki
    2022 MULTIMEDIA TOOLS AND APPLICATIONS

    Deep learning suffers from the threat of adversarial attacks, and its defense methods have become a research hotspot. In all applications of deep learning, intelligent driving is an important and promising one, facing serious threat of adversarial attack in the meanwhile. To address the adversarial attack, this paper takes the traffic sign recognition as a typical object, for it is the core function of intelligent driving. Considering that the black box attack does not need to know the internal characteristics of the model, it can have more practical value. However, the existing black box attack algorithm has high visit time and low efficiency in attacking sample generation. In this regard, the SimBA algorithm with high efficiency is selected and improved according to the characteristics of traffic signs, named the L-SimBA algorithm. According to the graphic characteristics of traffic signs that are already known, L-SimBA algorithm limits the search subspace consciously and specifies the set of search directions, and that is the core idea of it. By this way, L-SimBA algorithm can generate adversarial samples faster. Experimental comparison shows that in the field of traffic sign recognition, L-SimBA algorithm is better than SimBA algorithm. On the premise of obtaining similar quality adversarial attack samples, the success rate of adversarial measures gets higher, and the number of model visits reduces considerably, thus the attack efficiency of the algorithm improves greatly

  • Affect aware video games
    • Mariusz Szwoch
    2022

    In this chapter a problem of affect aware video games is described, including such issue as: emotional model of the player, design, development and UX testing of affect-aware video games, multimodal emotion recognition and a featured review of affect-aware video games.