DESIGN OF SUPERVISORY CONTROL FUNCTIONS BASED ON FEEDFORWARD NEURAL NETWORKS

This paper presents the results of the research concerning possibilities of applying artificial neural networks for fault diagnosis, state estimation, and prediction in the gas pipeline transmission network. The influence of several factors on accuracy of the feedforward neural networks so applied was considered. The emphasis was put on neural network's function as state estimator. The choice of the most informative features, the amount and sampling period of training data sets, as well as different configurations of neural networks were analyzed.     

Prediction of traditionally utilised wheat dough technological quality parameters from Mixolab values: development and evaluation of regression models

The research was conducted with the aim to investigate the possibility of Farinograph, Extensograph and Amylograph values prediction with linear and/or multiple Mixolab regression models. In total, 163 flour samples were divided based on Machalanobis distances into three sets: prediction, validation and external sample set. Determination coefficients ranged from 0.145 to 0.640 for linear regression models and from 0.279 to 0.739 for multiple regression models. Internal and external validation of developed regression models was conducted. Testing of developed models resulted in a high share of samples for which predicted values were out of the ranges of method official reproducibility and a high share of samples for which predicted values were out of the quality level range obtained by analytical measurement. It was concluded that it is impossible to develop applicable regression models for prediction of Farinograph, Extensograph and Amylograph parameters on the basis of Mixolab values from standard protocol.     

Gronwall inequality for hybrid systems

The Gronwall inequality, a well-known and useful result both for continuous-time and discrete-time signals, is extended to hybrid signals, namely those that combine continuous time and discrete time. An application of the result to establishing a bounded energy bounded state property for hybrid systems with inputs is provided.     

Determination of 200 °C Isothermal Section of Al-Ag-Ga Phase Diagram by Microanalysis,X-ray Diffraction,Hardness and Electrical Conductivity Measurements

Ternary Al-Ag-Ga system at 200 °C was experimentally and thermodynamically assessed. Isothermal section was extrapolated using optimized thermodynamic parameters for constitutive binary systems. Microstructure and phase composition of the selected alloy samples were analyzed using light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy combined with energy-dispersive spectrometry and x-ray powder diffraction technique. The obtained experimental results were found to be in a close agreement with the predicted phase equilibria. Hardness and electrical conductivity of the alloy samples from four vertical sections Al-Ag₈₀Ga₂₀, Al-Ag₆₀Ga₄₀, Ag-Al₈₀Ga₂₀ and Ag-Al₆₀Ga₄₀ of the ternary Al-Ag-Ga system at 200 °C were experimentally determined using Brinell method and eddy current measurements. Additionally, hardness of the individual phases present in the microstructure of the studied alloy samples was determined using Vickers microhardness test. Based on experimentally obtained results, isolines of Brinell hardness and electrical conductivity were calculated for the alloys from isothermal section of the ternary Al-Ag-Ga system at 200 °C.     

Bread and durum wheat compared for antioxidants contents,and lipoxygenase and peroxidase activities

Potential beneficial components, including proteins, total phenolics, total flavonoids, carotenoids, tocopherols, and DPPH radical scavenging activity, were investigated in wholemeal of ten bread (T. aestivum L.) and ten durum (T. durum Desf.) novel wheat genotypes. In addition, the activity rate of lipoxygenase (LOX) and peroxidase (POD) enzymes implicated in the antioxidant metabolism was determined. The protein contnet and the antioxidant properties varied according to the two different wheat species, as well as, between the different bread and durum wheat genotypes themselves. The results indicated significant differences in proteins and antioxidant compounds between bread and durum wheat. Higher total proteins, wet gluten and antioxidants contents, combined with lower LOX and POD activities, point to a higher nutritive value of durum wheat than bread wheat.     

Aerodynamic design and analysis of a small-scale vertical axis wind turbine

Small-scale vertical axis wind turbines are regarded today as an attractive source of green energy, still insufficiently implemented and tested. This paper presents a fast design methodology of such a VAWT, in terms of choosing its main parameters: airfoil, rotor diameter and solidity. For obtaining generated power of each considered geometrical model at different undisturbed wind velocities and rotor angular velocities two models were used — momentum and vortex-wake model, combined with experimentally measured airfoil data (airfoil lift and drag coefficients). Even though the former model is simpler, it is the most utilized model, known to provide good results in stationary working regimes. Both models still present fairly accurate and fast tools for computation and optimization, particularly useful in the phase of conceptual design. In this research, the use of the momentum model resulted in determination of the maximal power coefficient, optimal- and minimal freestream velocity for every considered VAWT model. From these output parameters, a selection of the optimal geometric model was done, and a more detailed transient analysis and flow representation around the selected solution was obtained by the vortex-wake model. The results obtained by the two used computational models coincide satisfactorily.     

Borcalein: a Carborane-Based Analogue of Baicalein with 12-Lipoxygenase-Independent Toxicity

12-Lipoxygenase is crucial for tumour angiogenesis. 5,6,7-Trihydroxy-2-phenyl-4H-1-benzopyran-4-one (baicalein) is a suitable inhibitor for this enzyme but is rapidly metabolised in vivo. Thus, an improvement of the metabolic stability is necessary to enhance the therapeutic efficiency. An emerging approach to enhance metabolic stability of carbon-based pharmaceuticals is the use of metabolically stable, non-toxic boron clusters, such as dicarba-closo-dodecaborane(12)s (carboranes) as phenyl mimetics. Therefore, the unsubstituted phenyl ring of baicalein was replaced by meta-carborane, resulting in borcalein, the carborane analogue of baicalein. This substitution resulted in a decreased inhibitory activity toward 12-lipoxygenase, but led to increased toxicity in melanoma (A375, B16, B16F10) and colon cancer cell lines (SW480, HCT116, CT26CL25) with decreased tumour selectivity in comparison to baicalein. Surprisingly, borcalein displays a different mechanism of cytotoxicity with increased intracellular production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), reactive nitrogen species (RNS) and nitric oxide (NO).     

Sorption/release of diclofenac sodium in/from free‐standing poly(acrylic acid)/poly(ethyleneimine) multilayer films

Polyelectrolyte multilayer films deposited onto various substrates have been used extensively as drug delivery systems. However, little attention has been paid to the release of drugs from free‐standing polymeric films. Herein, we report the construction of thermal crosslinked free‐standing poly(acrylic acid) (PAA)/branched poly(ethyleneimine) (PEI) multilayer films composed of 25 double layers [(PAA/PEI)₂₅] and their use in sorption/release of diclofenac sodium (DS). The (PAA/PEI)₂₅ multilayer films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, potentiometric titrations and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, while the sorption/release of DS was monitored by UV – Vis spectroscopy. The DS sorption equilibrium data were fitted with five isotherm models (Langmuir, Freundlich, Sips, Dubinin–Radushkevich, and Temkin). The maximum equilibrium sorption capacity, q_m, given by the Langmuir model was 32.42 mg DS/g. The Korsmeyer–Peppas semiempirical equation showed that the release of DS from the free‐standing (PAA/PEI)₂₅ films proceeded by pseudo‐Fickian diffusion, irrespective of the releasing media. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133, 43752.