This paper presents an approach based on NURBS (non-uniform rational B-splines) to achieve a seismic response surface (SRS) from a group of points obtained by using an analytical model of RC joints. NURBS based on the genetic algorithm is an important mathematical tool and consists of generalizations of Bezier curves and surfaces and B-splines. Generally, the accuracy of the design process of joints depends on the number of control points that are captured in the results of experimental research on real specimens. The values obtained from the specimens are the best tools to use in seismic analysis, though more expensive when compared to values simulated by SRSs. The SRS proposed in this paper can be applied to obtain surfaces that show site effect results on destructions of beam-column joint, taking into account different site conditions for a specific earthquake. The efficiency of this approach is demonstrated by the retrieval of simulated-versus-analytical results.

Many different characteristics affect the land prices. This work attempts to analyse the characteristics of agricultural parcels, which significantly affect the variability of agricultural land prices. The article presents the methodology of selection land parcel characteristics, rules for the selection of factors and possibility of automatic acquisition of data in mass valuation process. The research aims at selecting determinants of agricultural land parcels price and evaluate theirs significance in a local market for the purpose of land values map elaboration. Using advanced statistical analysis of a non-linear influence of a parcel inherent characteristics on its price we proved that in the relatively small area, like commune, only a few characteristics are essential, They are: parcel size, shape and location expressed by distance to the commune centre, paved roads and homestead buildings. Therefore, these ones should be used for elaboration of land values map. Soil quality and a cropland type although significant for the land prices do not diversify land prices in local market. The novelty of the research relays on determination of non-linear influence of parcel characteristics on variation of agricultural land values based on the correlation ratio (h eta). The research was conducted for the undeveloped agricultural lands located in south-west Poland, the rural municipality Krotoszyce.

The paper describes a fuel cell based system and its performance. The system is based on two fuel cell units, DC/DC converter, DC/AC inverter, microprocessor control unit, load unit, bottled hydrogen supply system and a set of measurement instruments. In the study presented in the paper a dynamic response of the proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell system to unit step change load as well as to periodical load changing cycles in the form of semi-sinusoidal and trapezoidal signals was investigated. The load was provided with the aid of an in-house-developed electronic load unit, which was fully PC controlled. The apparatus was commissioned by testing the steady-state operation of the module. The obtained efficiency of the fuel cell shows that the test apparatus used in the study provides data in substantial agreement with the manufacturer’s data.

In generalized method of data reconciliation as equations of conditions beside substance and energy balances can be used equations which don’t have precisely the status of conservation lows. Empirical coefficients in these equations are traded as unknowns’ values. To this kind of equations, in application of the generalized method of data reconciliation in supercritical power unit, can be classified: steam flow capacity of a turbine for a group of stages, adiabatic internal efficiency of group of stages, equations for pressure drop in pipelines and equations for heat transfer in regeneration heat exchangers. Mathematical model of a power unit was developed in the code Thermoflex. Using this model the off-design calculation has been made in several points of loads for the power unit. Using these calculations identification of unknown values and empirical coefficients for generalized method of data reconciliation used in power unit has been made. Additional equations of conditions will be used in the generalized method of data reconciliation which will be used in optimization of measurement placement in redundant measurement system in power unit for new control systems

Paper deals with examinations of properties of shape memory alloy actuators. Authors describe design of own laboratory stand for obtaining electro-thermo-mechanical characteristics of SMA wires (maximum length 900 mm). The stand allows for semi-automatic measurements of voltage and current (supplying the actuator), temperature of wire and its extension. Data acquisition and control signals are realized by PC computer. All elements of the measuring system are connected by GPIB network (IEEE 488.2 standard). Control program for static measurements was written in G language (LabVIEW environment). Temperature is measured using infrared camera Flir A325. Displacement measurement system contains optical sensor (converting piston movement into series of pulses), pulses counter, PWM signal generator (PWM signal fulfillment is proportional to number of pulses), lowpass filter and buffer conditioning external signal. For dynamic measurements data recording is performed using digital oscilloscope Tektronix MSO 2024 equipped with four separated channels and digital filter. Wide range of examinations of several SMA wires allowed for drawing its exploitative characteristic helpful for practical use. It shows length change of actuator as a function of mechanical load (Fig. 10). Finally some example static as well as dynamic characteristics are presented and short discussion is carried out.

The paper deals with circuits, composed of bipolar transistors, diodes, resistors and independent voltage sources, having multiple DC solutions. An algorithm for tracing temperature characteristics, expressing the output signal in terms of the chip temperature, is developed. It is based on the efficient method for finding all the DC solutions sketched in this paper. The algorithm gives complete characteristics which are multivalued and usually composed of disconnected branches. On the other hand the characteristics provided by SPICE are fragmentary, lose some branches or exhibit apparent hysteresis.

A numerical analysis of the initially clamped bolt joint subject to the working pressure is presented in the paper. Special, hexahedral 21- and 28-node isoparametric finite elements have been employed to model the contact zone. In this model, one takes into account loading due to the working pressure in the gap between the gasket and the flange arising as an effect of the progressing joint opening, what has not been considered in recent papers. Nonlinear stiffness characteristics of the bolt and the flange with the gasket are developed. Working pressure corresponding to the critical bolt force resulting in the joint leakage (complete opening between the gasket and the flange) is determined. FE computational results are compared with the available experimental results. The numerical results are presented using the authors' own graphical postprocessor.

In this paper, a new lifting wavelet domain audio watermarking algorithm based on the statistical characteristics of sub-band coefficients is proposed. First of all, an original audio signal was segmented and each segment was divided into two sections. Then, the Barker code was used for synchronization, the LWT (lifting wavelet transform) was performed on each section, a synchronization code and a watermark were embedded into the first section and the second section, respectively, by modifying the statistical average value of the sub-band coefficients. The embed strength was determined adaptively according to the auditory masking property. Experiments show that the embedded watermark has better robustness against common signal processing attacks than present algorithms based on LWT and can resist random cropping in particular.

Research over a three year period indicated that P. ramorum occurred rarely in Poland on Rhododendron spp., in spite of established monitoring in nurseries, trade stands, forest and water from early spring to late autumn each year. The pathogen was not found in forests on Vaccinium vitisidaea, Calluna vulgaris, Fagus sylvatica and Quercus rubra, proving its limited spread. The species was detected, however, from 2 rivers. P. citricola was isolated from most of surveyed plants. Besides this P. cactorum, P. cinnamomi, P.citrophthora and P. nicotianae var. nicotianae were isolated from diseased plants. Additionally Pestalotia sydowiana, species of Fusarium, Botrytis cinerea and Trichoderma were often found in diseased plant tissues. Laboratory and glasshouse research showed slight differences in colonization of plants by P. ramorum and P. citricola. However, taking into account the range of host plants, and frequency of pathogen occurrence in infected plant material and water, it became clear that P. citricola poses a much greater danger than P. ramorum to the natural environment in Poland.

Monitoring of activated sludge flocs may provide important information for effective operation and control of wastewater treatment. The research objective is to demonstrate methodology for activated sludge image processing aimed to describe morphological characteristics of activated sludge flocs. The proposed software- -based method was presented and verified by analysis of several activated sludge samples. The results show high efficiency of image segmentation and floc recognition of more than 94% floc components. The analysis of a series of 50 pictures gives rapid and reliable results and can be performed in an automatic or semiautomatic mode. Given inherent heterogeneity of activated sludge flocs, multiple and repeated sample images capture (processing of 50 pictures at a time, repeated at least 4 times ) is recommended.

The Goss texture is a characteristic feature of grain-oriented transformer steel sheets. Generator sheets, which are produced as non-oriented steel sheets, should have isotropic features. However, measurement results of generator sheets, confirmed by crystallographic studies, indicate that these sheets are characterized by certain, quite significant anisotropy. The first purpose of this paper is to present the influence of textures of generator and transformer steel sheets on their magnetization characteristics. The second aim is to propose a method which takes into account the sheet textures in the calculations of magnetization curves. In calculations of magnetization processes in electrical steel sheets, models in which the plane of a sheet sample is divided into an assumed number of specified directions are used. To each direction a certain hysteresis loop, the so-called direction hysteresis, is assigned. The parameters of these direction hystereses depend, among other things, on the texture type in these steel sheets. This paper discusses the method which calculates the parameters of these direction hystereses taking into account the given sheet texture. The proposed method gives a possibility of determining the magnetization characteristics for any direction of the field intensity changes.

The paper presents definitions and relative measures of the system sensitivity and sensitivity of its errors. The model of a real system and model of an ideal measuring system were introduced. It allows to determine the errors of the system. The paper presents also how to use the error sensitivity analysis carried out on the models of the measuring system to the correction of the nonlinearity error of its static characteristic. The corrective function is determined as a relation between the input variable of the tested system and its chosen parameter. The use of the proposed method has been presented on the example of a phase angle modulator. The obtained results have been compared with the results of analytic calculations. The idea of a phase angle modulator is also presented.

Current methods of fault diagnosis for the grounding grid using DC or AC are limited in accuracy and cannot be used to identify the locations of the faults. In this study, a new method of fault diagnosis for substation grounding grids is proposed using a square-wave. A frequency model of the grounding system is constructed by analyzing the frequency characteristics of the soil and the grounding conductors into which two different frequency square-wave sources are injected. By analyzing and comparing the corresponding information of the surface potentials of the output signals, the faults of the grounding grid can be diagnosed and located. Our method is verified by software simulation, scale model experiments and field experiments.

The article shows the methodology and calculation procedures based on Lagrange polynomial interpolation which were used to determine standard performance characteristics of the Polish production engine, type ANDORIA 4CTi90-1BE6. They allow to simplify the experimental research by maintaining a minimum number of measurement points and estimating the remaining data in an analytical way. The methods presented are convenient when it comes to the practical side because they eliminate the need for exploration of mathematical equations describing the various curves, which can be cumbersome and time consuming in the case of nonautomated accounts. The results of analysis were applied to actual experimental results, indicating sufficient accuracy of the resulting approximations. As a result, procedures may be used in bench testing of a similar profile, especially with repeated cycles of the experiment, such as optimization of operating parameters of combustion engines.

In the article, analysis of the work conditions and the metrological characteristics of the air gauges dedicated for the roundness assessment is described. To reach the required accuracy of the acquired data, the phenomena of gas dynamics had to be analyzed in the whole flow through elements of the air gauge. A model based on the second critical parameters was used, because it reflects the true processes of the air flow. As a result, fast and accurate simulations provided series of the characteristics to be considered. Nevertheless, the chosen air gauge configuration underwent the experimental verification of its metrological characteristics. Finally, the entire measurement system Geoform with the gauge head based on the chosen air gauges underwent the accuracy test in order to make sure of its overall measurement quality.

MDAP-2 is a new antibacterial peptide with a unique structure that was isolated from house- flies. However, its biological characteristics and antibacterial mechanisms against bacteria are still poorly understood. To study the biological characteristics, antibacterial activity, hemolytic activi- ty, cytotoxicity to mammalian cells, and the secondary structure of MDAP-2 were detected; the results showed that MDAP-2 displayed high antibacterial activity against all of the tested Gram-negative bacteria. MDAP-2 had lower hemolytic activity to rabbit red blood cells; only 3.4% hemolytic activity was observed at a concentration of 800μg/ml. MDAP-2 also had lower cytotoxicity to mammalian cells; IC50 values for HEK-293 cells, VERO cells, and IPEC-J2 cells were greater than 1000 μg/ml. The circular dichroism (CD) spectra showed that the peptide most- ly has α-helical properties and some β-fold structure in water and in membrane-like conditions. MDAP-2 is therefore a promising antibacterial agent against Gram-negative bacteria. To deter- mine the antibacterial mechanism(s) of action, fluorescent probes, flow cytometry, and transmis- sion electron microscopy (TEM) were used to study the effects of MDAP-2 on membrane perme- ability, polarization ability, and integrity of Gram-negative bacteria. The results indicated that the peptide caused membrane depolarization, increased membrane permeability, and destroyed membrane integrity. In conclusion, MDAP-2 is a broad-spectrum, lower hemolytic activity, and lower cytotoxicity antibacterial peptide, which is mainly effective on Gram-negative bacteria. It exerts its antimicrobial effects by causing bacterial cytoplasm membrane depolarization, increas- ing cell membrane permeability and disturbing the membrane integrity of Gram-negative bacte- ria. MDAP-2 may offer a new strategy to for defense against Gram-negative bacteria.

AC and DC input characteristics of the flyback converter are analysed and investigated via Spice simulations and measurements. The influence of parasitic effects in converter components on input characteristics is studied in continuous conduction mode (CCM) and discontinuous conduction mode (DCM). The results of the calculations based on analytical formulas and averaged models are in a good accordance with Spice simulations and measurements.