Showing papers by "Jan Długosz University published in 2011"

Fractional catteneo-type equations and generalized thermoelasticity

Abstract: Following Compte and Metzler, the generalized Cattaneo-type equations with time-fractional derivatives are considered. The corresponding theory of thermal stresses is formulated. The proposed theory, on the one hand, interpolates the theory of Lord and Shulman and thermoelasticity without energy dissipation of Green and Naghdi and, on the other hand, generalizes theory of thermal stresses based on the fractional heat conduction equation. The fundamental solution to the nonhomogeneous fractional telegraph equation as well as the corresponding stresses are obtained in one-dimensional and axisymmetric cases.

Non-axisymmetric solutions to time-fractional diffusion-wave equation in an infinite cylinder

Abstract: The time-fractional diffusion-wave equation is considered in an infinite cylinder in the case of three spatial coordinates r, ϕ and z. The Caputo fractional derivative of the order 0 < α ≤ 2 is used. Several examples of problems with Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions at a surface of the cylinder are solved using the integral transforms technique. Numerical results are illustrated graphically.

Bioaerosol assessment in naturally ventilated historical library building with restricted personnel access

Abstract: The aim of this study was to check the degree and identify the sources of microbial contamination of the Jasna Gora (Bright Hill) monastery library 10 years after disinfection of the incunabula collection. The registered maximum viable indoor microbial concentrations were 1,875 and 7,100 cfu/m³ for stationary and personal measurements, whereas respective total concentrations were 71,000 and 100,000 counts/m3. There was no statistically significant difference between the concentrations of viable microorganisms measured in the stationary using Andersen, GSP, and Button samplers. Moreover, GSP and Button samplers can be interchangeably applied when viable or total microbial levels are stationary or personally measured. The culturable microorganisms constituted 0.5 - 3.9% of the total microflora only. Filamentous fungi were the most prevalent outdoors, whereas Gram-positive cocci and endospore forming Gram-positive rods dominated indoors in the air and settled dust, respectively. Hence, an unrestrained infiltration of ambient air through the draughtiness of the building envelope is probably the main process responsible for indoor fungal pollution, whereas bacterial contaminants have their major sources in the indoor environment. Moreover, even a chemically cleansed library collection, having a restricted personnel access, but under the influence of ambient air, can undergo microbial contamination and becomes an important microbial emission source.

Kinematics and Kinetics of Taekwon-do Side Kick

Abstract: The aim of the paper is to present an analysis of the influence of selected kinematic factors on the side kick technique. This issue is especially important in the traditional version of taekwon-do, in which a single strike may reveal the winner. Six taekwon-do (International Taekwon-do Federation) athletes were asked to participate in this case study. Generally accepted criteria of sports technique biomechanical analysis were adhered to. The athletes executed a side kick three times (in Taekwon-do terminology referred to as yop chagi) in a way which they use the kick in board breaking. The obtained data were used to determine the mean velocity changes in the function of relative extension length of the kicking leg. The maximum knee and foot velocities in the Cartesian coordinate system were determined. The leg lifting time and the duration of kick execution as well as the maximum force which the standing foot exerted on the ground were also determined. On the basis of the obtained values, mean values and standard deviations were calculated. The correlation dependence (r=0.72) shows that greater knee velocity affects the velocity which the foot develops as well as the fact that the total time of kick execution depends on the velocity which the knee (r = -0.59) and the foot (r = - 0.86) develop in the leg lifting phase. The average maximum speed was obtained at the length of the leg equal to 82% of the maximum length of the fully extended leg. This length can be considered the optimum value for achieving the maximum dynamics of the kick.

PlanICS - a Web Service Composition Toolset

Abstract: The paper presents a prototype toolset to planning by automatic composition of web services. The main idea consists in arranging the composition into two main phases: abstract and concrete one, as well as to handle fully declarative user queries. The first abstract stage aims at finding all the possible sequences of the types of the services that can potentially satisfy the user request. The result, referred to as an abstract plan, is used in the concrete planning phase, which substitutes the types of the services with their concrete instances registered in the system. This is obtained by translating the problem of finding a composition of concrete services satisfying the user query into the reachability problem for (timed) automata with discrete data and parametric assignments, taking into account the concrete instances of services as well as the user query. Next, SAT-based parametric bounded model checking is used to obtaining the solutions in form of sequences of services invocations together with the example services' input values.

Structural studies of spinel manganite ceramics with positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy

Abstract: The new transition-metal manganite Cu0.1Ni0.8Co0.2Mn1.9O4 ceramics for temperature sensors with improved functional reliability are first proposed. It is established that the amount of additional NiO phase in these ceramics extracted during sintering play a decisive role. This effect is well revealed only in ceramics having a character fine-grain microstructure, while the monolithization of ceramics caused by great amount of transferred thermal energy reveals an opposite influence. The process of monolitization from the position of evolution of grain-pore structure was studied in these ceramics using positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy.

Bioremediation of Contaminated Soils: Effects of Bioaugmentation and Biostimulation on Enhancing Biodegradation of Oil Hydrocarbons

Abstract: Contamination of soils with oil hydrocarbons is currently an important worldwide issue. Among all the available remediation methods, bioremediation is widely considered to be a cost-effective and environmentally friendly approach. For bioremediation to be effective, the overall rate of intrinsic biodegradation and subsequent removal of hydrocarbons must be accelerated, which can be done through biostimulation and bioaugmentation. A variety of techniques for bioaugmentation and biostimulation have been compiled and summarized in this chapter. The evaluation of the potentials to use such treatments to enhance biodegradation rates in oil hydrocarbon contaminated soil is provided, including some recent works from the author’s laboratory. Factors that may enhance biodegradation of oil hydrocarbons in soil are discussed in detail, and finally some examples of new approaches are presented.

Radiation effects in physical aging of binary As–S and As–Se glasses

Abstract: Radiation-induced physical aging effects are studied in binary As x S100−x and As x Se100−x (30 ≤ x ≤ 42) glasses by conventional differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) method. It is shown that γ-irradiation (Co60 source, ~3 MGy dose) of glassy As x S100−x caused a measurable increase in glass transition temperature and endothermic peak area in the vicinity of glass transition region, which was associated with acceleration of structural relaxation processes in these materials. In contrast to sulfide glasses, the samples of As–Se family did not exhibit any significant changes in DSC curves after γ-irradiation. The observed difference in radiation-induced physical aging between sulfides and selenides was explained by more effective destruction-polymerization transformations and possible metastable defects formation in S-based glassy network.

Light-assisted physical aging in chalcogenide glasses: Dependence on the wavelength of incident photons

Abstract: Physical aging induced by an exposure of As–Se, As–S, and Ge–Se glasses to the light of different discrete wavelengths is studied using differential scanning calorimetry technique The value of this effect is compared to the physical aging caused by natural storage in the dark It is shown that a choice of As or Ge atoms does not influence significantly the spectral dependence of light-assisted physical aging, whereas substitution of Se with S causes drastic changes in the magnitude of the effect The mechanism of the observed light-induced phenomena is discussed in terms of transient and metastable displacements of network chalcogen atoms

Topology and chemical order in AsxGexSe1 − 2x glasses: A high-resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study

Abstract: The evolution of topology and chemical order along the As x Ge x Se 1 − 2 x composition-line within the As–Ge–Se glass-forming region is studied by high-resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. It is shown that cation–cation bond formation becomes a dominant process for the compositions with x > 0.09. The results explain the peculiarities observed around this composition recently in the temperature-modulated differential scanning calorimetry data. Substitution of two selenium atoms within constituent structural units (pyramids and/or tetrahedra) by corresponding cations explains a second peculiarity point at x > 0.16 compositions observed recently with the above technique. The present observations show segregation of As and then Ge at high concentrations of cations in the system ( x > 0.20).

Peculiarities of the environmental influence on the optical properties of push-pull nonlinear optical molecules: a theoretical study.

Abstract: Gas-phase geometry optimization of NLO-active molecules is one of the standard approaches in the first principle computational methodology, whereas the important role of the environment is usually not considered during the evaluation of structural parameters. With a wide variety of environmentally influenced models in most cases only the high quality single point calculations are prepared. Among different approaches, the most used polarizable continuum model (PCM) seems to be promising. In this study, we have compared the electronic properties of gas-phase optimized geometries of imidazole-derived push–pull compounds with those optimized using PCM solvation approach including CH2Cl2 and PMMA as media. We have focused particularly on the linear optical properties of investigated molecules, namely on the UV–vis absorption spectra. The analysis of presented results shows the applicability of the different quantum chemical (QC) methods for the UV–vis spectra calculations of linear NLO molecules. Herein we als...

Polymerization mechanism of trimethylene carbonate carried out with zinc(II) acetylacetonate monohydrate

Abstract: The proposed mechanism of initiation and course of ring-opening polymerization of cyclic trimethylene carbonate (TMC) involving zinc(II) acetylacetonate is in accordance with the mechanism of monomer activation. At the first stage of the process, coordination of carbonate to Zn(Acac)2·H2O complex occurs with the release of weakly coordinated water molecules. This free water molecule reacts with active TMC–Zn(Acac)2 complex. The reaction results in the formation of propanediol and CO2 emission. During further stages of the investigated process, the formed propanediols, or later the oligomeric diols produced with polymerization, are cocatalysts of the chain propagation reaction. The chain propagation occurs because of repeating activation of the TMC monomer through the creation of an active structure resulting in the exchange/transfer reaction between the zinc complex and the monomer, with its following attachment to the hydroxyl groups, carbonate ring opening, and formation of the carbonic unit of polymer chain. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2011

Gamma Radiation Effects on Physical, Optical, and Structural Properties of Binary As-S Glasses

Abstract: Gamma radiation induces changes in physical, optical, and structural properties in chalcogenide glasses., Previous research has focused on As{sub 2}S{sub 3} and families of glasses containing Ge. For the first time, we present composition and dose dependent data on the As-S binary glass series. Binary As{sub x}S{sub 100-x} (x = 30, 33, 36, 40, and 42) glasses were irradiated with gamma radiation using a {sup 60}Co source at 2.8 Gy/s to accumulated doses of 1, 2, 3, and 4 MGy. The irradiated samples were characterized at each dose level for density, refractive index, x-ray diffraction, and Raman spectrum. These results are compared to those of as-made and 1 year aged samples. We report an initial increase in density followed by a decrease as a function of dose that contradicts the expected compositional dependence of molar volume of these glasses. This unusual behavior is explained based on microvoid formation and nanoscale phase-separation induced by the irradiation in these glasses. XRD, Raman, and EPR data provide supporting evidence, underscoring the importance of optimally- or overly-constrained structures for stability under aging or irradiation.

Short-range order evolution in S-rich Ge-S glasses by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

Abstract: The structure of binary GexS100 − x chalcogenide glasses (10 < x < 30) is determined by high-resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). On the basis of compositional dependence of fitting parameters for Ge and S core level XPS spectra, the ratio between edge- and corner-shared tetrahedra is determined. It is shown that short-range order of these glasses includes fragments of high-temperature crystalline form of GeS2. When subjected to X-irradiation, the structure of investigated glasses appears to become more homogeneous than that of the as-prepared samples.

The BMC method for the existential part of RTCTLK and interleaved interpreted systems

Abstract: In the paper, we focus on the formal verification of multi-agent systems - modelled by interleaved interpreted systems - by means of the bounded model checking (BMC) method, where specifications are expressed in the existential fragment of the Real-Time Computation Tree Logic augmented to include standard epistemic operators (RTECTLK). In particular, we define an improved SAT-based BMC for RTECTLK, and present performance evaluation of our newly developed BMC method by means of the well known train controller and generic pipeline systems.

Post-irradiation relaxation in vitreous arsenic/antimony trisulphides

Abstract: Instability caused by high-energy γ-irradiation was studied in (As 2 S 3 ) 1−x (Sb 2 S 3 ) x glasses ( x = 0, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3) using positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy, the obtained results being treated within a two-state trapping model. The observed decrease in the positron trapping rate of the glasses tested just after irradiation was explained due to renovation of destroyed covalent chemical bonds. This process was governed by monomolecular relaxation kinetics agreed well with corresponding changes in fundamental optical absorption edge.

Filament-induced self-written waveguides in glassy As 4 Ge 30 S 66

Abstract: The filamentation of femtosecond laser pulses and filament-induced self-writing of a permanent waveguide are observed in As4Ge30S66 chalcogenide glass. The radial profile of the self-written waveguide is extracted from the defocused transmission microscopic images via a two-step procedure: at first the phase image of the waveguide is computed using the transport-of-intensity equation and then the index profile is obtained from the phase image by applying the inversed Abel transform.

Solutions to Time-Fractional Diffusion-Wave Equation in Cylindrical Coordinates

Abstract: Nonaxisymmetric solutions to time-fractional diffusion-wave equation with a source term in cylindrical coordinates are obtained for an infinite medium. The solutions are found using the Laplace transform with respect to time , the Hankel transform with respect to the radial coordinate , the finite Fourier transform with respect to the angular coordinate , and the exponential Fourier transform with respect to the spatial coordinate . Numerical results are illustrated graphically.

Pseudo-self-organized topological phases in glassy selenides for IR photonics

Abstract: Network-forming cluster approach is applied to As-Se and Ge-Se glasses to justify their tendency to self-organization. It is shown that reversibility windows determined by temperature-modulated differential scanning calorimetry using short-term aged or as-prepared samples do not necessary coincide with self-organized phase in these materials. The obtained results testify also pseudo-self-organization phenomenon in Ge-Se glasses: over-constrained outrigger raft structural units built of two edge- and four corner-shared tetrahedra are interconnected via optimally-constrained ≡Ge-Se-Se-Ge≡ bridges within the range of compositions identified previously as self-organized phase by temperature modulated differential scanning calorimetry technique. (© 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Kinematic analysis of the side kick in Taekwon-do.

Abstract: The aim of the paper is to present the analysis of the influence of chosen kinetic factors on the side-kick technique. This issue is of a significant importance in the traditional version of Taekwon-do, where a single strike may reveal the winner. A male athlete, a black-belt holder, has participated in this case study. Generally accepted criteria of sports technique biomechanical analysis were adhered to. The athlete executed a side kick four times (in Taekwon-do terminology referred to as yop chagi) in a way most typical of his usual kick execution in board breaking. The parameter values obtained were used to determine the individual curves of the changes in velocities in the function of relative extension length of the kicking leg. The maximum knee and foot velocities in the Cartesian coordinate system were determined. The leg lifting time and the total time of kick execution as well as the maximum force which the foot exerted on the ground were also determined. On the basis of the values obtained the average values and the standard deviation were calculated. The correlation dependence (r = 0.97) shows that a higher knee velocity significantly affects the velocity which the foot develops and that the total time of kick execution depends on the velocity which the knee develops in the leg lifting phase (r = 0.75). The average maximum speed was obtained at the length of the leg equal to 82% of the maximum length of the fully extended leg. In the kicking technique used by the athlete, this length can be considered for this athlete the optimum value for achieving the maximum strike dynamics.

Study of thermal stability of β-cyclodextrin/metal complexes in the aspect of their future applications

Abstract: The interaction of cyclodextrins with transition metal ions, mostly due to the presence of similar complexes in biological systems. Metal polysaccharide chemistry plays a crucial role in crosslinking of many biomolecules, and the formed polysaccharide/metal complexes are promising for pharmaceutical applications, as well as for heavy metal collectors and material for production of various substances i.e. drilling muds. In the study of β-CD/metal complexes made in order to explain the influence of Co(NO3)2, Cu(NO3)2, Ni(NO3)2, Co(CH3COO)2, Cu(CH3COO)2, Mn(CH3COO)2, Ni(CH3COO)2, CoCl2, CuCl2, FeCl3, MnCl2, NiCl2, CoSO4, Cr2(SO4)3, CuSO4, Fe2(SO4)3 and MnSO4 on thermal decomposition of β-cyclodextrin. The theoretical AM1 (Austin Model 1) studies confirm the experimental results. Moreover the studies show that β-cyclodextrin can be a convenient model of starch, which may be useful for examination of starch–metal interactions.