The energy efficiency of photovoltaic modules is one of the most important aspects in energetic and economic aspects of the project related to system installations. The efficiency of modules and the electricity produced by photovoltaic conversion in solar modules is affected by many factors, both internal, related to the module structure itself and its technical and external factors related to the energy infrastructure, which includes: cabling, inverters, climate conditions prevailing at the micro-installation location and the orientation and angle of inclination of the solar modules. The installation of photovoltaic modules should be preceded by an energy efficiency analysis, which will help to indicate the optimal solution adapted to the given conditions. The article presents a comparative analysis of the amount of energy produced under real and simulated conditions. Analyzes were made on the basis of research carried out in the Wind and Solar Energy Laboratory located at the AGH University of Science and Technology, data from solar irradiation data-bases and computer software for estimating energy resources. The study examined the correlation of the solar irradiation on the modules and the amount of electricity generated in the photovoltaic module. The electricity produced by the module was compared under real conditions and simulated based on two sources of data. The comparison and analysis of the amount of energy of the module were also made, taking simulated different angles of the module’s inclination into account.

The paper presents the results of the energy analysis of the conversion of solar radiation energy into electrical energy in Polish weather conditions. The effect of sunlight and working temperature on the photovoltaic module on its power curve P = f(U) is shown. STC and NOCT conditions are described for which the manufacturers specify the parameters of the photovoltaic modules. The manufacturers of photovoltaic panels should give the PPV = f(E) characteristic for the different values of the operating temperature of the modules. An analysis of the economic efficiency of a photovoltaic power plant investment of 1 MWp taking the current legal regulations for the three variants into account was presented. Variant I – the investor benefits from the support of public aid of operational only, Variant II – the investor benefits from the support of public aid for investment in the amount of PLN 1 million, Variant III – the investor benefits from the support of public aid for investment in the amount of PLN 2 million. For all variants, indicators for assessing the economic effectiveness of the investment and the value of the auction price from the maximum price to the price at which the project loses its profitability are determined.

Wykorzystanie wyników sejsmicznych badań offsetowych do interpretacji złożowej jest powszechnie stosowane w poszukiwaniach złóż węglowodorów. Podstawowa interpretacja ilościowa parametrów związanych z właściwościami złożowymi oparta jest na analizach zmian amplitudy z offsetem (AVO). W tym wypadku analizowana jest amplituda sygnału odbitego od stropu złoża. Efekty anomalne obserwowane w offsetowej analizie amplitud (zmiana amplitudy z offsetem) wywołane obecnością węglowodorów powodowane są anomalną wartością współczynnika Poissona w warstwie złożowej (obecność np. gazu istotnie zaniża wartość współczynnika Poissona). Dysponując zapisem offsetowym (tzw. składowymi) można z zapisu sejsmicznego pozyskać znacznie bogatszą informację niż tylko sam efekt anomalny widoczny na przekrojach sejsmicznych. Dodatkowymi atrybutami zapisu sejsmicznego korelowanymi z właściwościami warstwy złożowej a obliczanymi na podstawie zmienności amplitud z offsetem są impedancja fali P, impedancja fali S, wskaźnik fluid factor, parametry geomechaniczne λ⋅ρ, μ⋅ρ oraz współczynnik Poissona. W prezentowanym artykule autorzy przedstawiają wyniki pierwszej próby zastosowania szacowania parametrów geomechanicznych w aspekcie oceny właściwości złoża siarki. Do oceny tych parametrów niezbędne są informacje o parametrach petrofizycznych pozyskanych z badań geofizyki otworowej. W tym przypadku autorzy dysponowali danymi dotyczącymi porowatości, gęstości, zawartości siarki, oraz prędkości fali podłużnej P z dwóch otworów. Pomiar wartości prędkości fali poprzecznej S w warunkach produkcyjnych jest niezmiernie utrudniony i autorzy wykorzystali tu zależności opracowane na podstawie wcześniejszych badań opisanych w monografii autorstwa Jerzego Deca pt. Wysokorozdzielcze badania sejsmiczne w celu rozpoznania złoża siarki Osiek oraz określania zmian dynamicznych zachodzących w wyniku eksploatacji. Wieloletnie badania geofizyczne wskazują, że wraz ze spadkiem porowatości obserwuje się wzrost zawartości siarki. Jednocześnie w przypadku podwyższonych koncentracji siarki szkielet wapienny złoża jest bardziej sztywny, a złoże określane jest jako zbite. Dla takich warunków petrofizycznych złoże siarki wykazywać będzie wysokie wartości impedancji fali P i S, co skutkować będzie również wzrostem właściwości geomechanicznych λ⋅ρ i μ⋅ρ. Uzyskane wyniki zaprezentowane są na przykładzie profilu sejsmicznego wykonanego w kopalni siarki w Osieku. Profil ten przebiegał w linii otworów, w których określono podstawowe parametry złoża na podstawie geofizycznych badań otworowych.

MIMO technology has become very popular in a wireless communication system because of the many advantages of multiple antennas at the transmitting end and receiving end. The main advantages of MIMO systems are higher data rate and higher reliability without the need of extra power and bandwidth. The MIMO system provides higher data rate by using spatial multiplexing technique and higher reliability by using diversity technique. The MIMO systems have not only advantages, but also have disadvantages. The main disadvantage of MIMO system is that the multiple antennas required extra high cost RF modules. The extra RF modules increase the cost of wireless communication systems. In this research, the antenna selection techniques are proposed to minimize the cost of MIMO systems. Furthermore, this research also presents techniques for antenna selection to enhance the capacity of channel in MIMO systems.

A cast iron is gradient material. This means that depending on the cooling rate it is possible, at the same chemical composition and the physicochemical state of molten metal, to obtain material with a different structure. The connection between the wall thickness of the casting and the speed of its cooling expresses the casting module. Along with the module escalation a cooling rate of the casting is reducing what can cause changes of the microstructure and the increased tendency to the crystallization of distorted graphite forms. Inspections of experimental castings from nodular cast iron with different modules were conducted to the graphite form.

Light-weight Self-Compacting Concrete (LWSCC) might be the answer to the increasing construction requirements of slenderer and more heavily reinforced structural elements. However there are limited studies to prove its ability in real construction projects. In conjunction with the traditional methods, artificial intelligent based modeling methods have been applied to simulate the non-linear and complex behavior of concrete in the recent years. Twenty one laboratory experimental investigations on the mechanical properties of LWSCC; published in recent 12 years have been analyzed in this study. The collected information is used to investigate the relationship between compressive strength, elasticity modulus and splitting tensile strength in LWSCC. Analytically proposed model in ANFIS is verified by multi factor linear regression analysis. Comparing the estimated results, ANFIS analysis gives more compatible results and is preferred to estimate the properties of LWSCC.

The performance of the multi-input multi-output (MIMO) systems can be improved by spatial modulation. By using spatial modulation, the transmitter can select the best transmit antenna based on the channel variations using channel state information (CSI). Also, the modulation helps the transmitter to select the best modulation level such that the system has the best performance in all situations. Hence, in this paper, two issues are considered including spatial modulation and information modulation selection. For the spatial modulation, an optimal solution for obtaining the probability of selecting antenna is calculated and then Huffman coding is used such that the transmitter can select the best transmit antenna to maximize the channel capacity. For the information modulation, a multi quadrature amplitude modulation (MQAM) strategy is used. In this modulation, the modulation size is changed based on the channel state variations; therefore, the best modu- lation index is used for transmitting data in all channel situations. In simulation results, the optimal method is compared with Huffman mapping. In addition, the effect of modulation on channel capacity and a bit error rate (BER) is shown.

In this paper we propose a new sliceable bandwidth variable transponder (SBVT) architecture with the separate analysis on the transmitter and receiver section. In transmission section we propose a distance module (DM) which is a programmable module. It divides a data stream/main stream (which employs a super-channel) into sub-stream and assigned modulation technique to each sub-stream based on their light path distance detailing the concept of sub-channel. In this paper, we have also proposed an algorithm for the distance module. Next we propose a modulation and transmission module (M&TM), where, planar light wave circuit (PLC) is used for enabling three modulation techniques (PM-16QAM, PM-QPSK and PM-BPSK). Finally, we propose the receiving section, which is designed to support three modulation techniques. It consists of two demodulator circuits, one for PM-16QAM/PM-QPSK and the other for PM-BPSK. In this proposed work, we focus on the multi-mode interference (MMI) devices (MMI coupler and MMI splitter) because of their photonic integration technology which is necessary for the implementation of SBVT. Lastly, we propose an elastic optical node architecture which removes the limitations of previously discussed node architecture for long distance communication.

Perception takes into account the costs and benefits of possible interpretations of incoming sensory data. This should be especially pertinent for threat recognition, where minimising the costs associated with missing a real threat is of primary importance. We tested whether recognition of threats has special characteristics that adapt this process to the task it fulfils. Participants were presented with images of threats and visually matched neutral stimuli, distorted by varying levels of noise. We found threat superiority effect and liberal response bias. Moreover, increasing the level of noise degraded the recognition of the neutral images to higher extent than the threatening images. To summarise, recognising threats is special, in that it is more resistant to noise and decline in stimulus quality, suggesting that threat recognition is a fast ‘all or nothing’ process, in which threat presence is either confirmed or negated.

The paper presents the results of research work on the development of a rapidprototyping test stand for testing: servo control algorithms, trajectory generation, algorithms for increasing overall quality of the feed-drive modules within two axis (X-Y) table of the milling machine. Open architecture interface of the prepared control system lets the potential user test functionality of integration of diagnostic tools within the motion controller - directly, without taking into account communication with top-level CNC system.

In this study, the effect of electroless Pd-P plating on the bonding strength of the Bi-Te thermoelectric elements was investigated. The bonding strength was approximately doubled by electroless Pd-P plating. Brittle Sn-Te intermetallic compounds were formed on the bonding interface of the thermoelectric elements without electroless Pd-P plating, and the fracture of the bond originated from these intermetallic compounds. A Pd-Sn solder reaction layer with a thickness of approximately 20 µm was formed under the Pd-P plating layer in the case of the electroless Pd-P plating, and prevented the diffusion of Bi and Te. In addition, the fracture did not occur on the bonding interface but in the thermoelectric elements for the electroless Pd-P plating because the bonding strength of the Pd-Sn reaction layer was higher than the shear strength of the thermoelectric elements.

The research project “Railcab” designs a shuttle-based transportation system, which combines innovative mechatronic technologies with existing railway tracks. The traction and braking forces are generated by a linear electromagnetic drive while the tracking and guidance is performed using classical wheel/rail technology. By adopting different mechatronic modules, a modular structuring of the overall system, the driving safety, vehicle dynamics and the travelling comfort can be increased.

In the present paper, we concentrate on the development of the active tracking module which reduces the sensitivity of the system behaviour with respect to the friction in the wheel/rail contact. Basic ideas of the tracking module are self-optimizing active tracking, camber adjustment, and mechanical locking device. Based on a-priori identified risks, like e.g. strong cross-wind, frosted rails and crossing of switches, the safety concepts are described in detail together with the methodology that was used in the design process.

This study focuses to develop a new hybrid Engineered Cementitious Composite (ECC) and assesses the performance of a new hybrid ECC based on the steel short random fiber reinforcement. This hybrid ECC aims to improve the tensile strength of cementitious material and enhance better flexural performance in an RC beam. In this study, four different mixes have been investigated. ECC with Poly Vinyl Alcohol (PVA) fiber and PolyPropylene (PP) fiber of 2.0% volume fraction are the two Mono fiber mixes; ECC mix with PVA fiber of 0.65% volume fraction hybridized with steel fiber of 1.35% volume fraction, PP fiber of 0.65% volume fraction hybridized with steel of 1.35% volume fraction are the two additional different hybrid mixes. The material properties of mono fiber ECC with 2.0 % of PVA is kept as the reference mix in this study. The hybridization with fibers has a notable achievement on the uniaxial tensile strength, compressive strength, Young’s modulus, and flexural behavior in ECC layered RC beams. From the results, it has been observed that the mix with PVA fiber of 0.65% volume fraction hybrid with steel fiber of 1.35% volume fraction exhibitimprovements in tensile strength, flexural strength, andenergy absorption. ThePP fiber of 0.65% volume fraction hybridized with steel of 1.35% volume fraction mix has reasonable flexural performance and notable achievement in displacement ductility overthe reference mix.