Optimisation of a Hybrid Wall for Solar Utilisation in Agriculture

Rosana G. Moreira, Editor-in-Chief; Texas A&M UniversityThis is a Technical article from International Commission of Agricultural Engineering (CIGR, Commission Internationale du Genie Rural) E-Journal Volume 2 (2000): J. Radon, W. Bieda. Optimisation of a Hybrid Wall for Solar Utilisation in Agriculture

Weighted Radon transforms for which the Chang approximate inversion formula is precise

We describe all weighted Radon transforms on the plane for which the Chang approximate inversion formula is precise. Some subsequent results, including the Cormack type inversion for these transforms, are also given

The flip-graph of the 4-dimensional cube is connected

Flip-graph connectedness is established here for the vertex set of the 4-dimensional cube. It is found as a consequence that this vertex set has 92 487 256 triangulations, partitioned into 247 451 symmetry classes.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figures, revised proofs and notation

Influence of surface roughness on selected properties of the TiAlN coating

The HS6-5-2C steel samples with different surface roughness were used for the tests. After grinding had a roughness parameter of Ra = 0,03 μm, and after polishing Ra = 0,01 μm. A TiAlN coating was applied to the substrate prepared in this way. Using a confocal microscope with an interferometric mode, the geometrical structure of the samples was analyzed. The optical strain gauge was used to measure the contact angle. Tribological tests were carried out in conditions of technically dry friction. The polished sample with the coating was characterized by a more stable course of the friction coefficient, lower wear and a smaller wetting angle

Influence of surface roughness on selected properties of the TiAlN coating

The HS6-5-2C steel samples with different surface roughness were used for the tests. After grinding had a roughness parameter of Ra = 0,03 μm, and after polishing Ra = 0,01 μm. A TiAlN coating was applied to the substrate prepared in this way. Using a confocal microscope with an interferometric mode, the geometrical structure of the samples was analyzed. The optical strain gauge was used to measure the contact angle. Tribological tests were carried out in conditions of technically dry friction. The polished sample with the coating was characterized by a more stable course of the friction coefficient, lower wear and a smaller wetting angle

The influence of environmental conditions on the tribological properties of the Ti13Nb13Zr alloy

The paper presents the results of tribological tests of the Ti13Nb13Zr titanium alloy - carried out in the conditions of lubrication with liquids simulating body fluids. Artificial saliva solutions were used for the tests. Two pH values were used – 7,0 characteristic of a healthy organism and 4,9 - typical for the presence of inflammation. The countersample in the tested friction nodes were Al2O3 balls with a diameter of 6 mm loaded with a normal force of 1 N. The tests obtained showed a strong influence of environmental conditions on the tribological properties of the Ti13Nb13Zr titanium alloy. This applies to both the value of the coefficient of friction and linear wear. In the case of tests carried out under lubrication conditions with an artificial saliva solution at pH 7,0 they were 0,47 and 31,1 μm, respectively; in the case of a fluid at pH 4,9 they were 25 % and 45 % higher (0,62 and 65,6 μm)

MinMax Radon Barcodes for Medical Image Retrieval

Content-based medical image retrieval can support diagnostic decisions by clinical experts. Examining similar images may provide clues to the expert to remove uncertainties in his/her final diagnosis. Beyond conventional feature descriptors, binary features in different ways have been recently proposed to encode the image content. A recent proposal is "Radon barcodes" that employ binarized Radon projections to tag/annotate medical images with content-based binary vectors, called barcodes. In this paper, MinMax Radon barcodes are introduced which are superior to "local thresholding" scheme suggested in the literature. Using IRMA dataset with 14,410 x-ray images from 193 different classes, the advantage of using MinMax Radon barcodes over \emph{thresholded} Radon barcodes are demonstrated. The retrieval error for direct search drops by more than 15\%. As well, SURF, as a well-established non-binary approach, and BRISK, as a recent binary method are examined to compare their results with MinMax Radon barcodes when retrieving images from IRMA dataset. The results demonstrate that MinMax Radon barcodes are faster and more accurate when applied on IRMA images.Comment: To appear in proceedings of the 12th International Symposium on Visual Computing, December 12-14, 2016, Las Vegas, Nevada, US

The influence of environmental conditions on the tribological properties of the Ti13Nb13Zr alloy

The paper presents the results of tribological tests of the Ti13Nb13Zr titanium alloy - carried out in the conditions of lubrication with liquids simulating body fluids. Artificial saliva solutions were used for the tests. Two pH values were used – 7,0 characteristic of a healthy organism and 4,9 - typical for the presence of inflammation. The countersample in the tested friction nodes were Al2O3 balls with a diameter of 6 mm loaded with a normal force of 1 N. The tests obtained showed a strong influence of environmental conditions on the tribological properties of the Ti13Nb13Zr titanium alloy. This applies to both the value of the coefficient of friction and linear wear. In the case of tests carried out under lubrication conditions with an artificial saliva solution at pH 7,0 they were 0,47 and 31,1 μm, respectively; in the case of a fluid at pH 4,9 they were 25 % and 45 % higher (0,62 and 65,6 μm)

An international prospective general population-based study of respiratory work disability

Background: Previous cross-sectional studies have shown that job change due to breathing problems at the workplace (respiratory work disability) is common among adults of working age. That research indicated that occupational exposure to gases, dust and fumes was associated with job change due to breathing problems, although causal inferences have been tempered by the cross-sectional nature of previously available data. There is a need for general population-based prospective studies to assess the incidence of respiratory work disability and to delineate better the roles of potential predictors of respiratory work disability.Methods: A prospective general population cohort study was performed in 25 centres in 11 European countries and one centre in the USA. A longitudinal analysis was undertaken of the European Community Respiratory Health Survey including all participants employed at any point since the baseline survey, 6659 subjects randomly sampled and 779 subjects comprising all subjects reporting physician-diagnosed asthma. The main outcome measure was new-onset respiratory work disability, defined as a reported job change during follow-up attributed to breathing problems. Exposure to dusts (biological or mineral), gases or fumes during follow-up was recorded using a job-exposure matrix. Cox proportional hazard regression modelling was used to analyse such exposure as a predictor of time until job change due to breathing problems.Results: The incidence rate of respiratory work disability was 1.2/1000 person-years of observation in the random sample (95% CI 1.0 to 1.5) and 5.7/1000 person-years in the asthma cohort (95% CI 4.1 to 7.8). In the random population sample, as well as in the asthma cohort, high occupational exposure to biological dust, mineral dust or gases or fumes predicted increased risk of respiratory work disability. In the random sample, sex was not associated with increased risk of work disability while, in the asthma cohort, female sex was associated with an increased disability risk (hazard ratio 2.8, 95% CI 1.3 to 5.9).Conclusions: Respiratory work disability is common overall. It is associated with workplace exposures that could be controlled through preventive measures