Time-frequency and time-scale analyses for structural health monitoring

Signal processing is one of the most important elements of structural health monitoring. This paper documents applications of time-variant analysis for damage detection. Two main approaches, the time-frequency and the time-scale analyses are discussed. The discussion is illustrated by application examples relevant to damage detection.     

Evaluation of the in vitro inhibitory effects of buckwheat enhanced wheat bread extracts on the formation of advanced glycation end-products (AGEs)

In this study, the inhibitory effects of extracts from buckwheat enhanced wheat breads, on the formation of fluorescent advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) were studied in bovine serum albumin (BSA)/glucose and BSA/methylglyoxal (MGO) systems. Correlations with total phenolic compounds (TPC), total flavonoids (TF) as well as rutin (Ru) and quercetin (Q) contents were also identified.     

Comparison of flavonoids profile in sprouts of common buckwheat cultivars and wild tartary buckwheat

In this study, major types of flavonoids in 7‐day sprouts of five common buckwheat cultivars grown in Poland (Hruszowska, Kora, Panda, Luba and Emka) and wild tartary buckwheat were investigated. Results demonstrated that sprouts of common buckwheat cultivars and wild tartary buckwheat contained both known and a newly discovered flavonol: quercetin 3‐O‐galactosyl‐rhamnoside. An exceptionally high content of this flavonoid was found in cotyledons of wild tartary buckwheat (30.79 ± 0.14 mg g^?1 DW), exceeding about 10 times level of rutin (3.16 ± 0.07 mg g^?1 DW). The results are not consistent with the data published so far on the content of flavonoids in sprouts of tartary buckwheat. Higher levels of flavonoids were measured in cotyledons than in hypocotyls with the exception of anthocyanins, which were present in higher amounts in hypocotyls. Cotyledons of common buckwheat sprouts were rich in C‐glycosides of luteolin and apigenin, the total content of which exceeded ca. 5 times the concentration of rutin.     

Using the Mallard to biomonitor heavy metal contamination of wetlands in north-western Poland

Contents of iron, zinc, copper, manganese, nickel, lead and cadmium were determined in the brain, pectoral muscle, kidney, liver and bones of the Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), a cosmopolitan, herbivorous duck species. Both immature (im; in the first year of life) and older (adult, ad) ducks were studied. The birds originated from wetlands in two areas in north-western Poland, one located in the S?ońsk waterfowl reserve (n = 32 im + 24 ad) and the other near the city of Szczecin (n = 21 im + 21 ad). There were numerous significant age-dependent differences in the metal contents of the organs of the Mallards obtained from near Szczecin (Sz) and/or S?ońsk (S). Copper contents in the brain (Sz and S), muscles (Sz) and kidneys (Sz) as well as cadmium contents in the liver (Sz, S), kidneys (Sz, S) and muscles (S) were observed to increase with age. Between-area differences in metal contents of individual organs were recorded as well. The S Mallard showed higher contents of iron and copper (in muscles, liver and kidneys), zinc (in liver and kidneys) and cadmium (in muscles, liver and kidneys), while the Sz ducks revealed higher contents of manganese and lead (in brain and bones). The differences observed may be related to the habitat specificity: the Sl?ońsk reserve is periodically flooded by the River Odra (Oder) waters that carry pollutants from a copper mining area 250 km away. On the other hand, the mid-field ponds near Szczecin are affected by pollutants, including those that are manganese-rich, generated by agriculture and traffic.     

Trace metal concentrations are higher in cartilage than in bones of scaup and pochard wintering in Poland

Bones and cartilage of two species of diving ducks: the scaup Aythya marila (n=24) and the pochard A. ferina (n=24) were studied. Scaup is protected in Poland where it spends only the winter, while pochard is a game bird, abundant and breeding in Poland. In winter, the two species form large flocks off the southern coast of the Baltic, particularly in the Szczecin Lagoon where they were collected for this study. The bones and cartilage (trachea) were assayed for concentrations (dry weight-based) of three essential metals: iron (Fe), copper (Cu), and zinc (Zn); concentrations of the two toxic metals: lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) were assayed as well. These hard tissues of the two species showed the following order of metal concentrations Zn>Fe>Pb>Cu>Cd. In scaup and pochard bones, the respective geometric mean concentrations of Zn, Fe, Pb, Cu, and Cd were 94.4 and 102.0; 20.2 and 24.7; 6.2 and 9.6; 0.19 and 0.26; 0.114 and 0.162 mg/kg. The levels of all the metals in cartilage (Zn 149.1 and 165.8; Fe 58.4 and 116.3; Pb 10.6 and 14.9; Cu 1.41 and 3.31; Cd 0.144 and 0.175 mg/kg, respectively) were higher than in the bones of A. marila and A. ferina. However, statistically significant differences were found in respect to the essential metals only (Zn, Fe, Cu). The inter-species comparisons showed the two species to differ in their cartilage concentrations of Fe, Cu, Zn, and Cd and in their bone concentrations of Pb and Cd. In each case, the pochard exhibited higher concentrations of metals. This study showed distinct differences between trace element accumulation by two heavily mineralised avian body parts: leg bones (tarsometatarsus) and cartilage (trachea). The results are in agreement with data reported by other workers who analysed trace metals in cartilaginous and bone components of the femoral head in homoiotherm vertebrates, including humans. Therefore it is important that intra- and inter-species comparisons of hard biological components be based on corresponding body parts, and that relevant biochemical and ecotoxicological research be pursued.     

Multi-core implementation of the symmetric cryptography algorithms in the measurement system

The paper presents the implementation of symmetric cryptography algorithms in the measurement system, where the virtual instruments equipped with the multi-core processors are used to process large amounts of data. The security requirement in such systems is first considered, then the possible solutions to ensure reliable data transmission are proposed. The Advanced Encryption Algorithm (AES) is described in detail as the example of the strong encryption and decryption scheme. Its modifications to take utilize the multi-core processor are then presented. Implementation of the latter in the virtual instrument (VI) working under the Real-Time (RT) mode is described in detail. Finally, required tests are conducted to confirm validity and efficiency of the proposed solution. Comparison between the traditional and modified algorithm is performed to draw conclusions about the possible advantages and applications of such algorithms.     

Analysis of the position-based quantum cryptography usage in the distributed measurement system

The paper presents the analysis of a secure transmission channel between nodes in the distributed measurement system. Its security is discussed, using the position-based scheme, where each node is authenticated based on its geographical position. To decrease the threat of the adversary disguising as the authorized node and eavesdropping the transmission, the quantum cryptography scheme is used. The paper presents the modifications and practical implementation issues of such a communication scheme in the distributed measurement system. Time measurement accuracy and clock synchronization are considered, as well as technical difficulties in delivering the secure quantum channel in the open space.     

Hierarchical ANN system for stuttering identification

The presented work covers the issue of applying neural networks to the recognition and categorization of non-fluent and fluent utterance records. Speech samples containing three types of stuttering episodes (blocks before words starting with plosives, syllable repetitions, and sound-initial prolongations) were applied. The proposed system, built with hierarchical neural network framework, was used and then evaluated with respect to its ability to recognize and classify disfluency types in stuttered speech. The purpose of the first network was to reduce the dimension of vector describing the input signals. The result of the analysis was the output matrix consisting of neurons winning in a particular time frame. This matrix was taken as an input for the next network. Various types of MLP networks were examined with respect to their ability to classify utterances correctly into two, non-fluent and fluent, groups. Good examination results were accomplished and classification correctness exceeded 84–100% depending on the disfluency type.     

Shared processor scheduling

We study the shared processor scheduling problem with a single shared processor to maximize total weighted overlap, where an overlap for a job is the amount of time it is processed on its private and shared processor in parallel. A polynomial-time optimization algorithm has been given for the problem with equal weights in the literature. This paper extends that result by showing an \(O(n \log n)\)-time optimization algorithm for a class of instances in which non-decreasing order of jobs with respect to processing times provides a non-increasing order with respect to weights—this instance generalizes the unweighted case of the problem. This algorithm also leads to a \(\frac{1}{2}\)-approximation algorithm for the general weighted problem. The complexity of the weighted problem remains open.     

An improved protein fold recognition with support vector machines

Predicting the three‐dimensional structure (fold) of a protein is a key problem in molecular biology. It is also interesting issue for statistical methods recognition. In this paper a multi‐class support vector machine (SVM) classifier is used on a real world data set. The SVM is a binary classifier, but protein fold recognition is a multi‐class problem. So several new approaches to deal with this issue are presented including a modification of the well‐known one‐versus‐one strategy. However, in this strategy the number of different binary classifiers that must be trained is quickly increasing with the number of classes. The methods proposed in this paper show how this problem can be overcome.