Innovative potential of the European Union’s member states in 2017

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to evaluate the innovative potential of the European Union’s countries in 2017. Design/Methodology/Approach: The authors have proposed their methodology of measuring the innovative potential of the EU Member States. Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to the Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) was used to rank and evaluate countries’ ability to innovate with respect to internal sources of innovativeness. Findings: The analysis confirms moderate innovative capacity of the EU countries. The classification of countries on the account of their innovative potential in 2017 reveals some similarities to ranking of Global Innovation Index (Input Sub-Index). Practical Implications: The paper proves that the most innovative countries in the light of the European Innovation Scoreboard display the highest ability to innovate. Therefore, internal resources of financial and human character were found to influence the overall level of innovativeness of member states. European countries should benefit from developing their innovative potential in terms of national resources. Originality/Value: Most researchers adopt input and output approach to innovativeness because it represents a sophisticated phenomenon. Due to shortage of studies measuring solely the innovative potential of economies, the paper will contribute to the development of literature.peer-reviewe

HAZ microstructure in joints made of X13CrMoCoVNbNB9-2-1 (PB2) steel welded with and without post-weld heat treatment

The article presents the results of research butt welded joints made of X13CrMoCoVNbNB9-2-1 steel. The joints were welded with post-weld heat treatment PWHT and without PWHT, using the temper bead technique TBT. After welding the joint welded with PWHT underwent stress-relief annealing at 770 °C for 3 hours. The scope of structural tests included the microstructural examination of the coarse-grained heat affected zone (HAZ) areas of the joints, the comparison of the morphology of these areas and the determination of carbide precipitate types of the coarse grain heat affected zone (CGHAZ) of the joints welded with and without PWHT

Beam splitting and Hong-Ou-Mandel interference for stored light

Storing and release of a quantum light pulse in a medium of atoms in the tripod configuration are studied. Two complementary sets of control fields are defined, which lead to independent and complete photon release at two stages. The system constitutes a new kind of a flexible beam splitter in which the input and output ports concern photons of the same direction but well separated in time. A new version of Hong-Ou-Mandel interference is discussed.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure

Electromagnetically-induced transparency and light storing of a pair of pulses

Electromagnetically-induced transparency and light storing are studied in the case of a medium of atoms in a double Lambda configuration, both in terms of dark- and bright-state polatitons and atomic susceptibility. It is proven that the medium can be made transparent simultaneously for two pulses following their self-adjusting so that a condition for an adiabatic evolution has become fulfilled. Analytic formulas are given for the shapes and phases of the transmitted/stored pulses. The level of transparency can be regulated by adjusting the heights and phases of the control fields.Comment: text +6 figure

Using the Ultrasonic Tomography Method to Study the Condition of Wooden Beams from Historical Building

The need to evaluate the integrity of wooden structural elements is constantly increasing. Non-destructive methods are becoming more popular in this field of research. One type of non-destructive testing is the ultrasonic imaging method, which allows the analysis of internal wood structures without disturbing their state and integrity. In this study, we are interested in assessing the effect of wood condition on the ultrasound time of flight (TOF). The research was carried out on wooden beams, which were obtained from a historical building. The images obtained from ultrasound tomography were compared with results of a visual inspection.Places of discontinuities, voids and cracks in wood caused a much lower velocity of wave propagation.The location of the wood core was illustrated by the places with the highest velocity. The article proved the validity of using ultrasonic tomography to assess the technical condition of historic wooden beams

Light slowdown in the vicinity of cross-over resonances

Pulse propagation is considered in an inhomogeneously broadened medium of three-level atoms in a V-configuration, dressed by a counter-propagating pump pulse. A significant signal slowdown is demonstrated in this of the three frequency windows of a reduced absorption and a steep normal dispersion, which is due to a cross-over resonance. Particular properties of the group index in the vicinity of such a resonance are demonstrated in the case of closely spaced upper levels.Comment: 4 figure

Knitting for heart valve tissue engineering.

Knitting is a versatile technology which offers a large portfolio of products and solutions of interest in heart valve (HV) tissue engineering (TE). One of the main advantages of knitting is its ability to construct complex shapes and structures by precisely assembling the yarns in the desired position. With this in mind, knitting could be employed to construct a HV scaffold that closely resembles the authentic valve. This has the potential to reproduce the anisotropic structure that is characteristic of the heart valve with the yarns, in particular the 3-layered architecture of the leaflets. These yarns can provide oriented growth of cells lengthwise and consequently enable the deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins in an oriented manner. This technique, therefore, has a potential to provide a functional knitted scaffold, but to achieve that textile engineers need to gain a basic understanding of structural and mechanical aspects of the heart valve and in addition, tissue engineers must acquire the knowledge of tools and capacities that are essential in knitting technology. The aim of this review is to provide a platform to consolidate these two fields as well as to enable an efficient communication and cooperation among these two research areas

First insight into microbial community composition in a phosphogypsum waste heap soil

The aim of this study was to investigate the soil microbial communities of a phosphogypsum waste heap. The soil microbial community structures can differ over time, as they are affected by the changing environmental conditions caused by a long-term exposure to different kinds of pollutions, like is the case of soil in the post-production waste area in Wiślinka (in the northern part of Poland) currently undergoing restoration. Our analyses indicated that the most abundant phyla were Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, and Actinobacteria, and generally such an abundance is common for most of the studied soils. The most dominant class were Alphaproteobacteria, with their participation in 33.46% of the total reads. Among this class, the most numbered order was Sphingomonadales, whereas among this order the Sphingomonadaceae family was the most abundant one. The Sphingomonadaceae family is currently in the center of interest of many researchers, due to the ability of some of its members to utilize a wide range of naturally occurring organic compounds and many types of environmental contaminants. This kind of knowledge about microbial populations can support efforts in bioremediation and can improve monitoring changes in the contaminated environments