This paper presents the bases of a new method of monitoring technical condition of turbomachine blades during their operation. The method utilizes diagnostic models such as a quotient of amplitude amplification and a phase shift of diagnostic signal y(t) which is a result of blade operation as well as a signal x(t) of blade environment while a blade tip approaches a sensor, amplitude amplification and phase shift of these signals while the blade tip moves away from the sensor. The adopted diagnostic models indirectly take into account the existing environment of a blade, represented by the signal x(t), without the need to measure it. Thus, the model is sensitive to the changes in technical condition of blades and practically intensive to a change in environment. The suggested method may prove very important in diagnostics of rotor blades during turbomachines operation (compressors, turbines etc.).
The reliable and rapid diagnosis of infectious animal diseases presents an exceptionally im- portant aspect when considering their control and prevention. The paper describes the compara- tive evaluation of two rapid isothermal amplification methods for diagnosis of African swine fever (ASF). The robustness of loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) and the cross-priming amplification (CPA) were compared using samples obtained from ASF confirmed animals. Both assays were evaluated in order to define their diagnostic capabilities in terms of ASF diagnosis and reproducibility of the results. Investigations showed no cross-reactivity for other pig patho- gens and no significant differences in the specificity of both assays. The sensitivity of LAMP reached 90%, while that of CPA was 70%. In conclusion, both methods are suitable for imple- mentation in preliminary ASF diagnosis but further improvements are required to enhance their diagnostic sensitivity.
The impact of a moving load speed on the dynamic overload of beams, assuming that the track of the load has no unevenness, is examined. First the problem of a visco-elastic beam on a Winkler foundation subjected to a force moving at a constant speed will be solved. Using the Bubnov-Galerkin method, the deflections of the beam, and then the bending moments and shear forces will be determined. The solution of the problem will be obtained both for the case of a forced vibration and the case of a free vibration after the moving force has left the beam. Using these solutions, dynamic amplification factors will be determined for the deflections, bending moments, and shear forces, which are different for the two cases.
The magnitude of the amplification factors increases and decreases alternately as a function of the speed. In the case of a single force on a beam, the dynamic overloads are limited, and do not exceed 60%. There is no resonance phenomenon in the beam subjected to the single moving force. The dynamic amplification factors determined in this way can be used as correction coefficients when designing engineering structures subjected to moving loads by static methods.
Many researchers have contributed to creating Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) since the first protocol BB84 was proposed in 1984. One of the crucial problems in QKD is to guarantee its security with finite-key lengths by Privacy Amplification (PA). However, finite-key analyses show a trade-off between the security of BB84 and the secure key rates. This study analyses two examples to show concrete trade-offs. Furthermore, even though the QKD keys have been perceived to be arbitrarily secure, this study shows a fundamental limitation in the security of the keys by connecting Leftover Hash Lemma and Guessing Secrecy on the QKD keys.
Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is the causative agent of a wide range of diseases, which are the important cause of illness and mortality in piglets. ETEC strains expressing F4 fimbriae are frequently associated with post-weaning diarrhea (PWD) and lead to great economic losses in swine production industry worldwide. The aim of this study was to establish a rapid and effective isothermal amplification method for detection of F4 fimbriae. Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), Polymerase spiral reaction (PSR) and cross-priming ampli- fication (CPA) were used to develop and optimize the detection method first time. Subsequently, the specificity and sensitivity of these methods were evaluated, and the clinical samples were detected with these methods. All the F4-positive samples could produce ladder-like amplifica- tions products and lead the chromogenic substrate SYBR Green I produce green fluorescence, while in blank control and negative samples lack of this pattern or remained orange. The sensi- tivity of LAMP and CPA were 10 times higher than PSR method. Meanwhile, these three methods were validated with clinical samples, 7 were found positive, while 125 samples were negative, the testing results were consisted with the real-time PCR method. These findings suggested that the isothermal amplification based on the F4 fimbriae is a rapid, effective and sensitive method under resource constrains.
The main drawback of vibration-based energy harvesting is its poor efficiency due to small amplitudes of vibration and low sensitivity at frequencies far from resonant frequency. The performance of electromagnetic energy harvester can be improved by using mechanical enhancements such as mechanical amplifiers or spring bumpers. The mechanical amplifiers increase range of movement and velocity, improving also significantly harvester efficiency for the same level of excitation. As a result of this amplitude of motion is much larger comparing to the size of the electromagnetic coil. This in turn imposes the need for modelling of electromagnetic circuit parameters as the function of the moving magnet displacement. Moreover, high velocities achieved by the moving magnet reveal nonlinear dynamics in the electromagnetic circuit of the energy harvester. Another source of nonlinearity is the collision effect between magnet and spring bumpers. It has been shown that this effect should be carefully considered during design process of the energy harvesting device. The present paper investigates the influence of the above-mentioned nonlinearities on power level generated by the energy harvester. A rigorous model of the electromagnetic circuit, derived with aid of the Hamilton’s principle of the least action, has been proposed. It includes inductance of the electromagnetic coil as the function of the moving magnet position. Additionally, nonlinear behaviour of the overall electromagnetic device has been tested numerically for the case of energy harvester attached to the quarter car model moving on random road profiles. Such a source of excitation provides wide band of excitation frequencies, which occur in variety of real-life applications.
The Kirchhoff-law-Johnson-noise (KLJN) scheme is a statistical/physical secure key exchange system based on the laws of classical statistical physics to provide unconditional security. We used the LTSPICE industrial cable and circuit simulator to emulate one of the major active (invasive) attacks, the current injection attack, against the ideal and a practical KLJN system, respectively. We show that two security enhancement techniques, namely, the instantaneous voltage/current comparison method, and a simple privacy amplification scheme, independently and effectively eliminate the information leak and successfully preserve the system’s unconditional security.