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AbstractThe acceptance and usability of personal protection against solar UV radiation was evaluated in a field study with a group of tinsmiths in Austria. The personal protective measures (PPM) tested involved four categories: shirts, headwear, sunglasses and topically applied sunscreens; at least six different products per category were tested. Recommendations for the “ideal” shirt, headwear, pair of sunglasses and topical sunscreen are given based on data from questionnaires, i.e., from the point of view of the workers, independently from the actual physical level of protection (such as low transmittance or area of coverage) provided. It is argued that in practice it is important to consider the acceptance and usability of protective measures as well as the level of physical protection when providing PPM.

Carbonaceous adsorbents based on sawdust pellets from coniferous tree species were obtained by carbonisation at different temperatures and different periods of time. The effect of NO(2) adsorption in dry and wet condition on the sorption ability of the chars obtained was tested. The results have shown that NO(2) sorption properties of chars depend on the conditions of pyrolysis and the conditions of adsorption. The best NO(2) sorption capacity of 18.3 and 43.1mg/g in dry and wet conditions, respectively, was noted for the char sample pyrolysed at 800 degrees C for 60 min. The FTIR spectra of the exhausted samples reveal a great increase in the intensity of the band at approximately 1380 cm(-1) assigned to the vibrations of -NO(2), -ONO(2) or NO(3)(-), while in the DTG curves a new peak appears in the range 200-400 degrees C assigned to the release of nitrogen compounds of low stability in high temperatures.

Abstract The Fuzzy PROMETHEE (Preference Ranking Organization METHod for Enrichment Evaluation) method allows one to capture uncertainty and imprecision of input data of a decision problem as well as the uncertainty of the decision-maker's preferences. However, a considerable number of implementations of the Fuzzy PROMETHEE method are burdened with some imperfections related to, among other things, a high level of complexity, an applied computational procedure or the incompatibility with the classical PROMETHEE method paradigms. The article presents a new fuzzy MCDM method called NEAT F-PROMETHEE (New Easy Approach To Fuzzy PROMETHEE) characterized by low complexity, conformity with the methodological assumptions of the classical PROMETHEE method and the improvement of the process of mapping fuzzy numbers from a space X on Y with the use of the correction mechanism while mapping. Furthermore, other improvements have been introduced which are to simplify the computational procedure and increase its clarity for the sake of the decision-maker. The prepared method and its results have been compared to other Fuzzy PROMETHEE implementations, the classical PROMETHEE method as well as the Fuzzy TOPSIS method. In the research, it has been found out that the correction mechanism and other improvements applied in NEAT F-PROMETHEE make it possible to obtain a higher computational accuracy what results in a higher credibility of the solution of a decision problem in comparison with many other Fuzzy PROMETHEE implementations. The advantage of the prepared method over more complex implementations is its simplicity, easiness of application and interpretation of results. It has also been indicated that uncertainty of input data and uncertainty of the decision-maker's preferences are related to each other and the relationship is expressed by grouped relations of preferences, that is, preference, J-preference and outranking.

Sensing strategies adopting minimal electronic systems help in realizing REASSURED diagnostic tests. However, the challenge in developing such strategies escalates with demand in power and electronics during pursuit of reliable and accurate sensing. Herein, we present an electronic design strategy using a smart strip, operating with power generated from 3.5 μL of serum sample, to reveal glucose concentration through a response preserved in a capacitor. Further, by integrating an NFC tag alongside the strip, we devised a self-powered glucose measuring card, mobile-glucocard (or mGlucocard) for retrieving this stored digital response using smartphone, enabling 'connected mobile-health diagnostics'. The response from our device relates linearly to glucose concentration offering a sensitivity of 11.3 mV/mM and good correlation (R = 0.974) with colorimetric reference method. Interestingly, the design strategy uses only four components - two resistors, diode, and capacitor - of simple architecture likely transferable to printed technologies to deliver advanced self-powered sustainable devices.

Abstract District heating dynamic models arise as an alternative approach to in-situ experimental investigations. The main advantage of dynamic modeling and simulation is the possibility to avoid technical and operational risks that might occur during in-situ experimental investigations (e.g. heat demand is not met, damages in the energy systems etc.). Within this study, the authors present two models for an existing district heating system in Cottbus, Germany. One model is developed using the tool EBSILON Professional, while the other one is developed using the Simscape toolbox for physical modeling in Matlab/Simulink. The models were experimentally validated against measured data from the considered district heating system. The results show that the Simscape model has a better fit and better response than the EBSILON model. Yet, some discrepancies were found between the measured and the simulated data and, therefore, the uncertainties of the models were addressed. A comparative study between both tools is presented. The EBSILON models permit only unidirectional flow, whereas the Simscape toolbox permits reverse flow. Nevertheless, the EBSILON model outperforms the Simscape model in computation time. In addition, this study presents an approach for dynamic thermo-hydraulic modeling of district heating networks. This approach is utilized to examine the role of district heating networks as heat storage as an optimization configuration. The numerical results show less start-ups for additional heat sources. Yet, higher heat losses from the network are observed due to the installation of unburied pipelines.

Optical system design has a significant impact on solar power plant efficiency. It can be advantageous to be able to very precisely adapt mirror shapes in order to improve energy yield. In this article it is investigated whether it is feasible to use non-uniform rational Beziers splines (NURBS) to describe mirrors. Algorithms and equations to evaluate optical performance by ray tracing are lined out. A parameterization scheme is given that reduces the degrees of freedom to a level suitable for automatic processing. To prove feasibility, a secondary reflector based on a NURBS surface and a compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) are designed for a specific test application and compared to each other. It is found that the suggested design method is feasible on contemporary personal computers and that the NURBS based surface performs well compared to the CPC.

Abstract The present work aimed to find the answer how does the isomerization of the Ru based dyes affect the overall photon-to-current efficiency of the DSSCs and to explain the charge transfer phenomenon occurring on the dye/nanosemiconductor interface. Therefore, electronic and optical properties of three bipyridine derivatives anchored on the TiO2 electrode were investigated by computational simulations based on quantum chemistry codes performed on a cluster model and the predictions compared with experimental responses. The quantum chemical calculations carried out for the para-, meta- and ortho-isomers has given the possibility to explain the role of an anchor group position in the DSSC devices design. An in-depth analysis of the obtained data shows that the nature of the bonding between the anchor groups and the semiconducting nanoparticles affects the charge transfer at the interfaces. The electronic properties obtained for the hybrid systems and their components indicate that solar cells with the para-derivatives of the Ru based dyes as sensitizers exhibit the highest photo conversion efficiency. The observed phenomenon was explained based on the photogenerated excitons in the organic groups and their dissociation at the dye/semiconductor interfaces to ensure the free charge carriers.

Rats were trained to discriminate between ethanol (1.0 g/kg; 10% v/v) and saline under a fixed ratio 10 schedule of sweetened milk reinforcement. Both diazepam [nonselective, full benzodiazepine (BZ) receptors agonist] and bretazenil (nonselective, partial BZ receptor agonist) produced dose-dependent ethanol-appropriate responding (>75%). Neither diazepam nor bretazenil affected the response rate at the doses producing maximal generalisation from ethanol. In contrast, zolpidem (full BZ1 receptor agonist) and abecarnil (full BZ1/full or partial BZ2 receptor agonist) produced only moderate (<50%) ethanol-appropriate responding when tested up to doses that markedly decreased the overall response rate. These results suggest that: 1) there are no major differences between full and partial, nonselective BZ receptor agonists in their ability to substitute for 1.0 g/kg dose of ethanol; 2) stimulation of BZ1 receptors alone is not sufficient to produce ethanol-like discriminative stimulus effects in the rat.