The evaporation temperature is regarded as one of the major parameters influencing the organic Rankine cycle (ORC) efficiency. Majority of contributions in literature for ORC cycle analyses treat the heat source as if it had an infinite heat capacity. Such analyses are not valuable as the resulting temperature drops of the heat source needs to be small. That leads to the fact that the heat source is not well explored and in the case of waste heat utilization it can prove the poor economics of the ORC. In the present study cooperation of the ORC cycle with the heat source available as a single phase or phase changing fluids is considered. The analytical heat balance models have been developed, which enable in a simple way calculation of heating fluid temperature variation as well as the ratio of flow rates of heating and working fluids in ORC cycle. The developed analytical expressions enable also calculation of the outlet temperature of the heating fluid.
The given article is an analysis of Władysław Wężyk’s Travels to the ancient world taking into consideration the most important problems and components of the 19th century Romantic worldview. Particular attention will be paid to the great Romantic themes such as folklore, art, music, spontaneous literary works and concepts of new humanity. Wężyk’s memoir reveals his openness towards the Other and the understanding of foreign cultures which is by far the most important feature of a Romantic intellectual.
The authors attempted to present the state of disputes regarding the delimitation of marine areas based on a discussion of the practices of countries in the East China Sea and the Sea of Japan region. The authors describe the disputes regarding the islands of Senaku (Diaoyu) between both China and Taiwan and Japan and those over the Dokdo (Takeshima) archipelago between the Republic of Korea and Japan. There are many similarities between these two marine territorial disputes. The core of the disputes is land that is devoid of significant economic importance. Due to this, these areas were not previously of interest to coastal countries. They came to the forefront when their location facilitated determining exclusive economic zones. This intensified when evidence of crude oil and natural gas resources was detected in these areas. Tensions eased when geological reports revealed that initial estimates were overly optimistic. The fundamental cause of disputes over archipelagos is that they can be used to determine exclusive economic zones. The problem is compounded when the politicians of Eastern Asia incite historical remembrance. This is especially evident in the cases of Japan, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, and China, whose governments are, to some extent, hostages of ultra-nationalistic factions.
Constantly increasing prevalence of allergic diseases determines the attempts to elaborate the therapeutic strategies activating immune tolerance to particular allergen. Our current research focuses on the antigen-specifi c action of CD8+ suppressor T (Ts) lymphocytes induced in mice by intravenous administration of a high dose of haptenated syngeneic erythrocytes. While the regulatory activity of Ts cells mediated by exosome-delivered miRNA-150 is well defi ned, the mechanism of their induction remained unclear. Th erefore, the current studies investigated the immune eff ects induced in mice by intravenous administration of contact allergens coupled to syngeneic erythrocytes. In mouse models of hapten-induced contact hypersensitivity (CHS) and delayed-type hypersensitivity to ovalbumin, we have shown that intravenous administration of hapten-coupled erythrocytes failed to induce CHS effector cells. Moreover, hapten-induced CHS reaction occurred to be suppressed in mice intravenously administered with syngeneic erythrocytes coupled with protein allergen. Finally, we have demonstrated that intravenously administered allergen induces immune tolerance only when bound to syngeneic erythrocytes, proving that intravenously delivered allergens are deprived of their immunizing properties when coupled with membrane of self cells. Altogether, our current studies suggest that alteration of self cell membrane by allergen binding is enough to induce Ts cell-mediated immune tolerance to nonpathogenic agents, which express a great translational potential in such conditions as allergies and hypersensitivity-related autoimmune disorders.
In the recent years structural health monitoring (SHM) has gathered spectacular attention in civil engineering applications. Application of such composites enable to improve the safety and performance of structures. Recent advances in nanotechnology have led to development of new family of sensors – self-sensing materials. These materials enable to create the so-called “smart concrete” exhibiting self-sensing ability. Application of selfsensing materials in cement-based materials enables to detect their own state of strain or stress reflected as a change in their electrical properties. The variation of strain or stress is associated with the variation in material’s electrical characteristics, such as resistance or impedance. Therefore, it is possible to efficiently detect and localize crack formation and propagation in selected concrete element. This review is devoted to present contemporary developments in application of nanomaterials in self-sensing cement-based composites and future directions in the field of smart structures.