Standard shipping documents such as bills of lading, charter parties, ship management contracts or cargo declarations are prepared to facilitate international maritime traffic. Their application improves the process of determining the content of various types of contracts, which is important in view of the increasing pace of economic turnover. The Baltic and International Maritime Council (BIMCO) plays a leading role in the development of such documents. The shipping documents it creates, as well as individual contractual clauses, are widely used in global shipping. BIMCO's activity, including its contribution to the creation of rules, general terms and standard contracts for international trade, is fundamental, and BIMCO itself can be considered the most important international maritime non-governmental organization in this respect.
Based on laboratory tests of selected properties of secondary waste (ashes and dusts) from municipal waste incineration plants, the possibility of recovering some properties of waste in the process of filling the post-mining voids in the salt mine was assessed. The furnace bottom ash and the waste from the flue gas treatment from one of the national incineration plants were examined. The grain curves of dry waste and the density of the prepared mixtures were characterized. Twelve variants of the compositions of ash-based mixtures with varying proportions of the individual components were considered, taking into account both fresh water and brine. For each variant of the composition, the amount of redundant liquid appeared as well as the time of solidifying of the mixture to a certain strength and the compressibility values obtained. Considering the possibility of transporting mixtures in mines by means of pipelines at relatively long distances, and allowing the filling of large salt chambers to be filled and evenly filled, flow parameters were determined. In addition, the permeability of solidified waste samples was investigated, showing the potential for reducing the strength of the waste mass due to the action of water or brine. The technical feasibility of eliminating redundant liquid in the binding process has been confirmed, which is particularly important in salt mines. Preliminary values for the amount of binder (5%÷10%) to be added to the mixtures to obtain the specified strength properties of the artificially formed mass at Rc = 0.5 MPa. Attention was paid to the important practical aspect resulting from the rapid increase of this type of waste in the comming years in Poland and at the same time vast potential for their use in salt mining, where we have a huge capacity of salt chambers available.
This paper presents a mechanical positioning system for a measuring microphone designed for acoustic studies in anechoic and reverberation chambers at the Department of Mechanics and Vibroacoustics, AGH. The results are discussed in the context of mechanical positioning and its impact on the outcome of the execution of individual measurement procedures. Moreover, areas for research were identified and solution concepts shown for further development of the automation of acoustic measurements in different research rooms in order to reduce the human involvement in them.
The investigations deal with mass transfer in simulated biomedical systems. The modification of classical diffusion chamber, sequential unit (SU) system, imitated different biomedical setups, boundary conditions. The experiments simulated: diffusion chamber (also with two barriers), transport through the membrane to the blood stream, transport from the stent eluting drug simultaneously to the vessel cells and to the blood stream. The concentrations of substances and the relative mass increases/decreases for SU systems indicate that the order of the curves follows the order of mass transfer resistances. The strong dependence of mass transfer rates versus type of diffusing substance was confirmed. The calculated drug fluxes, diffusion coefficients, permeation coefficients are convergent with literature. Permeation coefficients for complex sequential systems can be estimated as parallel connexion of constituent coefficients. Experiments approved functionality of the SU for investigations in a simulated biomedical system. Obtained data were used for numerical verification.
A system setup for measurements of acoustic field, together with the results of 3D visualisations of acoustic energy flow are presented in the paper. Spatial sampling of the field is performed by a Cartesian robot. Automatization of the measurement process is achieved with the use of a specialized control system. The method is based on measuring the sound pressure (scalar) and particle velocity(vector) quantities. The aim of the system is to collect data with a high precision and repeatability. The system is employed for measurements of acoustic energy flow in the proximity of an artificial head in an anechoic chamber. In the measurement setup an algorithm for generation of the probe movement path is included. The algorithm finds the optimum path of the robot movement, taking into account a given 3D object shape present in the measurement space. The results are presented for two cases, first without any obstacle and the other - with an artificial head in the sound field.
The aim of this study was to compare computer assisted sperm analysis (CASA) results of frozen thawed bull semen using three different chambers. Sixty bull frozen semen samples were thawed (37°C; 30 sec), extended in PBS (30×106 spermatozoa/mL; 37°C) and incubated (37°C; 2 min). Each semen sample was analyzed by CASA [total motility, progressive (pro)/ non-progressive/rapid/medium/slow movement spermatozoa, VCL, VSL, VAP, ALH, BCF, LIN, STR, WOB and hyperactive spermatozoa] using three different chambers: a Makler® chamber (MC; 10 μm); a Leja 4 chamber slide (LC; 20 μm); and a Glass slide covered with a coverslip (GSC; 10.3 μm). The Makler chamber gave higher values compared to both the LC and GSC for almost all examined parameters. No systematic effect was evident between LC and GSC for VCL, VSL, VAP, LIN, STR, WOB, ALH, and BCF. Method agreement between MC and LC was generally moderate, between MC and GSC poor and between LC and GSC moderate to good. In general, narrower limits of agreement were found in samples with lower values. In conclusion, the CASA outcomes could be influenced by the analysis chambers. This finding should be taken into consideration when comparing results from different laboratories.
Shape optimization on mufflers within a limited space volume is essential for industry, where the equipment layout is occasionally tight and the available space for a muffler is limited for maintenance and operation purposes. To proficiently enhance the acoustical performance within a constrained space, the selection of an appropriate acoustical mechanism and optimizer becomes crucial. A multi-chamber side muffler hybridized with reverse-flow ducts which can visibly increase the acoustical performance is rarely addressed; therefore, the main purpose of this paper is to numerically analyze and maximize the acoustical performance of this muffler within a limited space.
In this paper, the four-pole system matrix for evaluating the acoustic performance - sound transmission loss (STL) - is derived by using a decoupled numerical method. Moreover, a simulated annealing (SA) algorithm, a robust scheme in searching for the global optimum by imitating the softening process of metal, has been used during the optimization process. Before dealing with a broadband noise, the STL's maximization with respect to a one-tone noise is introduced for the reliability check on the SA method. Moreover, the accuracy check of the mathematical models with respect to various acoustical elements is performed.
The optimal result in eliminating broadband noise reveals that the multi-chamber muffler with reverse-flow perforated ducts is excellent for noise reduction. Consequently, the approach used for the optimal design of the noise elimination proposed in this study is easy and effective.
In the family of iron-based alloys, ductile iron enjoys the highest rate of development, finding application in various industries. Ductile iron or the cast iron with spheroidal graphite can be manufactured by various methods. One of them is the Inmold spheroidization process characterized by different technological solutions, developed mainly to increase the process efficiency. So far, however, none of the solutions has been based on the use of a reactor made outside the casting mould cavity. The method of spheroidization inside the casting mould using a reaction chamber developed at the Foundry Research Institute is an innovative way of cast iron treatment. The innovative character of this method consists in the use of properly designed and manufactured reactor placed in the casting mould cavity. Owing to this solution, the Inmold process can be carried out in moulds with both horizontal and vertical parting plane. The study presents the results of examinations of the microstructure of graphite precipitates and metal matrix of castings after spheroidization carried out by the Inmold process using a reactor and mould with vertical parting plane. Special pattern assembly was made for the tests to reproduce plates with wall thicknesses of 3; 5; 7; 10; 20 and 30 mm. The content of residual magnesium was determined for all tested castings, while for castings of plates with a wall thickness equal to or larger than 10 mm, testing of mechanical properties was additionally performed.
Recently, aluminum matrix syntactic foams (AMSFs) have become notably attractive for many different industrial areas like automotive, aerospace, construction and defense. Owing to their low density, good compression response and perfect energy absorption capacity, these advanced composite materials are also considered as strong alternatives to traditional particle reinforced composites and metal foams. This paper presents a promising probability of AMSF fabrication by means of industrial cold chamber die casting method. In this investigation, contrary to other literature studies restricted in laboratory scale, fully equipped custom-build cold chamber die casting machine was used first time and all fabrication steps were designed just as carried out in the real industrial high pressure casting applications. Main casting parameters (casting temperature, injection pressure, piston speed, filler pre-temperature and piston waiting time) were optimized in order to obtain flawless AMSF samples. The density alterations of the syntactic foams were analyzed depending upon increasing process values of injection pressure, piston speed and piston waiting time. In addition, macroscopic and microscopic investigations were performed to comprehend physical properties of fabricated foams. All these efforts showed almost perfect infiltration between filler particles at the optimized injection parameters.
The article presents the results of the research on the influence of the shape of reaction chamber on spheroidisation of cast iron produced with use of the inmold method. The amounts of nodular graphite precipitates in castings produced with the use of different reaction chambers have been compared.
The effectiveness of cast iron spheroidization with FeSiMg master alloy by the traditional method and using a reaction chamber placed in the cavity of foundry mould was compared. The method of cast iron treatment in mould cavity using a reaction chamber is an innovative technology developed by the Foundry Research Institute in Krakow. The effectiveness of the spheroidization process carried out by both methods was checked on a series of test castings. The article also presents the results of metallographic examinations and mechanical testing, including the discussion of magnesium yield and its assimilation rate.
This article provides a thorough description of a range of non-standard application cases in which EMC laboratories can be used other than those traditionally associated with this kind of facilities. The areas covered here include investigations of: wireless and radio systems (such as IoT and broadband radio systems) also that require ultra-high operational dynamic range, emulation of interference-free and/or heavilymultipath propagation environment, shielding effectiveness of cabinets and materials (i.e. thin, light and flexible as textiles as well as heavy and thick such as building construction elements).