Photoacoustic inspection of thermal properties of layered structure with pulse excitations

This paper presents possibilities of analysis of thermal properties of layered structures basing on the results of photoacoustic investigations in pulse excitations mode. The influence of linear distortions on results of measurements is discussed and the method of its elimination is proposed. This method uses the concept of thermal contrasts for harmonic excitations.     

Stiffness alterations of single cells induced by UV in the presence of nanoTiO2

Nanocrystalline titanium dioxide (nanoTiO2) has been reported to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) under UV illumination. In our studies, changes in mechanical properties of human skin fibroblasts, exposed to the oxidative stress induced in the presence of nanoTiO2 and UV light, were studied using atomic force microscopy (AFM). The exposure of cells to the action of ROS was performed at low TiO2 concentration (4 microg/mL) and under illumination with low-intensity UVA (8 and 20 mW/cm2) or UVC (0.1 mW/ cm2). AFM measurements of the cell stiffness were carried out immediately after exposure of cells to the oxidative stress. The data suggest that under illumination with low-intensity UVA nanoTiO2 generates ROS, which, in turn, damage cellular and subcellular structures. This process was detected by AFM as a marked drop in the cellular stiffness of ca. 30-75%, which occurred rapidly, in the time frame of 1 min. The photo-oxidative stress inducing the decrease of cell stiffness was cancelled in the presence of a well-established antioxidant, beta-carotene. The results highlight the sensitivity of AFM to detect early changes in mechanical properties of cells exposed to oxidative stress.     

Characterizing temporal development of biofilm porosity using artificial neural networks

We used artificial neural networks (ANN) to compute parameters characterising biofilm structure from biofilm images and to interpolate a limited number of experimental data characterising the effects of nutrient concentration and flow velocity on the areal porosity of biofilms. ANN were trained using a set of experimental data characterising structural parameters of biofilms of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC #700829), Pseudomonas fluorescens (ATCC #700830) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (ATCC #700831) for various flow velocities and glucose concentrations. We used 80% of the data to train ANN and 10% of the data to validate the results, which is routinely carried out as a countermeasure against overtraining. Trained ANN were used to interpolate into the data set and evaluate the missing 10% of the data. To compare ANN accuracy in evaluating the missing data with the accuracies achieved using other interpolation algorithms, we used spline, cubic, linear and nearest-neighbour interpolation algorithms to evaluate the missing data. ANN estimates were consistently closer to the experimental data than the estimates made using the other methods.     

EXISTENCE OF A GENERALIZED SOLUTION IN THERMOELASTICITY WITH TWO RELAXATION TIMES,PART II

The existence of a generalized solution to a natural stress-temperature initial-boundary value problem of linear thermoelasticity with two relaxation times is established in a functional space of the Sobolev type.     

Thermal stability of poly(2-ethylhexyl acrylates) used as plasticizers for medical application

This article discusses thermal analysis of different molecular weight poly(2-ethylhexyl acrylates) synthesized by radical polymerization of 2-ethylhexyl acrylate. The main aim of this work was to investigate the thermal properties and degradation process of synthesized acrylic homopolymers and forming of thermal degradation products during their pyrolysis. As investigated method pyrolysis combined with gas chromatography was used. Poly(2-ethylhexyl acrylates) are used as plasticizers for pressure-sensitive adhesives applied in medical area.     

Investigations on printed elastic resistors containing carbon nanotubes

This paper presents the results of authors investigations on elaboration of a new thick film composition filled with carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The polymer composition consists of polymer vehicle, which is the solution of organic resin in certain combination of solvents, and functional phase—carbon nanotubes well dispersed in the vehicle. The pastes were applied with screen-printing on several substrates and temperature cured. The properties of obtained layers were characterized. Series of samples were prepared with different amount of CNTs to evaluate electrical properties. Changes in resistance were investigated during periodic mechanical and temperature stresses, realized through cyclical bending and rapid temperature change. Tensometric effect was also investigated. Investigations have proved that polymer composites based on carbon nanotubes exhibit high resilience to stress factors. Resistance change in function of temperature was also investigated to evaluate temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR). All this aspects are important for elastic resistors fabrication in printed electronics microcircuits. Resistance and noise measurements in cryostats have also been involved. 1/f type noise has been observed. Noise intensity, calculated in decade frequency bands, rises significantly with increasing temperature. Activation energies of thermally activated noise sources (TANS) have been revealed using low-frequency noise spectroscopy. Relatively large value of negative TCR has been obtained from resistance versus temperature curve. Calculated dimensionless sensitivity is similar to that observed in cryogenic temperature sensors. However, bulk noise intensity of resistive layer is larger than obtained for lead containing RuO₂ based resistive layers.     

Processing and recognition of the thermal images using wavelet transforms

This paper presents methods for improving the quality of IR images that significantly facilitate the detection of physical and structural non-uniformities in layered objects. The methods are based on wavelets transformations. Both, discrete and continuous wavelet transforms were used. The space-scale representation of thermal image are used for the detection thermal non-uniformities in the objects examined. Examples of recorded and improved images are presented in this paper.     

Evaluating the Impact of Mine Groundwater on the Environment

Efficient monitoring of mine groundwater conducted with a standard methodology makes the evaluation of the influence of mine water on the environment easier. The paper examines problems of monitoring and proposes a groundwater monitoring system for existing and flooded abandoned mines. The final effect of mine waters monitoring enables ecochemical and economical evaluation. It also makes it possible to select and use the appropriate proecological technologies for mine waters.