This PDF file contains the front matter associated with SPIE Proceedings Volume 11718 including the Title Page, Copyright information, and Table of Contents.

The paper is aiming to extend the concept of morphogenesis, explaining how the process of morphogenesis^1,2,4 could be used for both, very large scale and very small scale phenomena. This generalization of the process of morphogenesis is going to be made by addressing both, certain very large on one hand and certain very small scale phenomena, on the other. Based on the dependences and relationships between features of the both types of phenomena, the paper will explain why the concept and principles of morphogenesis can be applied in its generalized forms. The generalization presented in the paper will also identify the main issues to be dealt with, when trying to apply the respective generalizations. The present paper is dealing, for the case of large scale phenomenas’ generalization, only with discrete cases of the morphogenesis, since they are more intuitive and more easily to be understood by the reader and, at the same time, they are more appropriate for the understanding the process of the generalizations presented in this paper. In addition to that, the discrete models for the morphogenesis are representing the basis for the approach of the continuous models, according to some later founding, the matter itself is also exhibiting discrete structure, deep down at its quantum level. By carefully looking to the facts in the quantum world and to the world around us, one can ask himself whether the presented generalization of the process of the morphogenesis and its laws could be applied always to both, the quantum world phenomena and the normal/ large scale phenomena too. This is because often times, is rather difficult to always find the most appropriate morphogens to be taken into consideration and also their respective interactions. One other possible issue occurs when the coordinates/ quantities determining the shape are independent or the conditions for morphogenesis are not fulfilled and in such case the process of morphogenesis cannot be longer valid or applied. Both situations will be considered and analyzed in the second paper of the author, presented in the conference [11].

The paper is approaching the concept of fractal, as being the explanation for both, uncertainty and certainty. The certainty is expressed by the fact that one can create structures and concepts going out from simple instruments such as distances and rules that are generating the respective fractals. On the other side some other fractal forms are ruled by uncertainty, in the sense that the rules are completely unknown or their formula cannot be established exactly. One very special type of rule that is the base for many fractals encountered in the nature is given by the Fibonacci series. It is so special because the deterministic rule it is so simple, but the results and the shapes resulting from it are so complicated and it seems to be like the nature is telling us: “Look at all the complicated things I can create only based on just one simple rule” The paper deals with the shapes of fractals by analyzing them using specific tools of analysis in both, the time domain and the spectral domain.

The work is devoted to the study of the optical properties of carbon nanoparticles synthesized by the method developed during our experimental studies. The optimal conditions for the creation of carbon nanostructures with predetermined properties are defined. Nanoparticles of the size of about 80-1000 nm were obtained in our experimental approach, the maximum of absorption of which is localized at wavelengths in the violet-blue region of the spectrum (420 nm and the maximum of luminescence in the green region (530 nm). The absorption index at the wavelength of 633 nm, which is used for the diagnosis of optical speckle fields, is estimated. The assumption is made about the possibility of using the obtained particles for correlation diagnostics of optical speckle fields.

A new approach of carbon nanoparticle using for the optical diagnostics of а complex scalar optical field obtained by scattering and diffraction of radiation on a surface with roughness is suggested in this paper. Luminescence of carbon nanoparticles made it possible to register their coordinate position in time. The algorithm for the reconstruction of scalar optical field intensity distribution through the analysis of nanoparticle position was proposed in the paper. The phase map of the optical speckle field was analyzed by a Hilbert transform filter to restore the phase of the entire object. A special attention was paid to the restoration of the phase singularities of the speckle field of the scattering studied object.

Nanorefrigerants are a new class of refrigerants, resulted by adding nanoparticles in a conventional refrigerant. Vapor compression refrigeration systems play an important role in refrigeration applications, which are sein to be one of the most energy consuming technologies. Improving energy efficiency of these systems is a nowadays challenge, due to environmental benefits. On the other hand, the use of ecological refrigerants (ODP=0 and low GWP) is an actual trend, in accordance with international regulations. This paper focuses on the performance of a vapor compression system in two cases: when the working fluid is a pure refrigerant (R600a) and when the working fluid is a nanorefrigerant (R600a/Al2O3). The nanorefigerant has resulted by adding Al2O3 nanoparticles the environmental friendly refrigerant R600a. The results indicate that the system working with the nanorefrigerant has an enhanced performance; also, it is investigated its behavior when keeping the evaporation temperature constant and the condensation temperature varies.

Contaminants met during marine transportation erode air compressor blades of the gas turbine; the result of this process is sein in the decrement of the performance and the increment of fuel need. Also, there is an energy degradation during the operation of the gas turbines, being required an exergy analysis which is able to provide a plan for this power plant performance enhancement. This paper is discussing the benefits brought by nanotechnology when improving the energy efficiency in gas turbines, more specifically applying erosion resistant nanocoatings to compressor air foils is a way to optimize gas turbine performance. Ceramic matrix composites ensure durability of the components under high operating temperatures. Besides the technology dealing with better coats, the exergy analysis assesses the waste of potential energy – also known to be exergy destruction. Exergy destruction has an impact on the efficiency of the plant; moreover each component part of the thermal system has a contribution to the merit of the gas turbine. This is why are formulated exergy destructions for these components. According to the results of this analysis, it can be stated that the least inefficient component of the gas turbine system is the compressor, followed by the gas turbine itself. The object of this study is a 4,1 MW gas turbine with ceramic matrix composites nanocoating, operating at different loads (60%, 80%, 100%).

The idea of the proposed paper is to demonstrate the influence of the evanescent wave on nano-objects of inorganic and organic origin localized in a biological medium, in the direction perpendicular to the direction of the Pointing vector action. Experimental condition of evanescent wave exitation is considered in the given paper. A total internal reflection was realized at the interface between the prism and a biological medium when a linearly polarized wave with the azimuth of polarization of ±45° acts on the surface. The result of this action is a complex distribution of the optical flow density both in the longitudinal direction coinciding with the direction of the wave vector and in the transverse direction perpendicular to the wave vector. The paper presents some of the latest theoretically and experimentally obtained results illustrating the rectilinear and rotational motion of investigated objects in a biological environment.

This project is based on a 3D LED cube with dimensions of 5x5x5. Besides the physical realization of the cube, a code has been developed with which all the letters of the alphabet can be displayed, also all the numbers and various 3D animations. This 3D LED cube can be used for road signs, warning signs for trucks carrying dangerous products or as a simple commercial advertisement.

This project presents a concept of monitoring the most important parameters of a vehicle. The main purpose of the parameter monitoring system is to announce the driver when one of them exceeds the normal operating values. The system contains secondary devices and a development board. With this system the parameters are taken from the car's computer and displayed for the driver on a screen without disturbing his attention in traffic. The most important thing about this system is that it can display parameters that are not found on the car's dashboard.

The use of robots in the maritime industry is becoming more widespread in its different branches. Underwater autonomous vehicles (UUVs) have become an essential tool for various underwater activities. Compared to other autonomous systems, navigation and localization for UUVs are particularly difficult due to the unavailability of the Global Positioning System (GPS), where signals are attenuated under water and the complexity and instability of the environment are big. Alternative methods such as acoustic positioning systems, inertial navigation systems (INS) and geophysical navigation approach are used for navigation. In this paper is presented three methods for underwater navigation and the algorithm used to follow a trajectory. The flowmeter is used in this application to identify the underwater route and the results are compared with the inertial sensors (IMU) test especially the magnetometer results. The two prediction are used using PID and Kalman filter to identify the trajectory.

The negative consequences of polluting factors has created in the society a culturalization of the population in this direction. Real-time knowledge of indoor and outdoor air quality, water quality, noise pollution level, or electromagnetic radiation level, all these are requirements of today's society. The demand for devices to monitor these polluting factors has increased substantially in recent years. The devices for monitoring electromagnetic radiation are also part of the increasingly requested devices. The current market offers such devices, which have a high cost price, which can usually only indicate the presence of electromagnetic radiation but does not indicate the volume, or area of the radiation origin, nor does it integrate their amount ^{1, 2}. Thus the need arose to develop a universal device for the monitoring of electromagnetic radiation called Electro-Magnetic Radiation-Monitoring Universal Device (EMR-MUD). It complements the family of universal devices for monitoring Indoor Air Quality Universal Device (IAQ-MUD) ³ and Outdoor Air Quality Monitoring Universal Device (OAQ-MUD) ⁴ improving the image of polluting factors. Through this paper we present how we designed the electronic scheme of the device, then how we built this device and finally, how we purchased the data through the "Tdera Term" programm, which offers the possibility of accessing data both on a serial local communication and accessing it. data via the Internet. This device is able to monitor several areas of interest in the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation, being built for indoor and outdoor spaces 5.

This paper presents a practical implementation for low-cost, software-defined Ground Penetrating Radar. The proposed system uses solely a general purpose low-cost SDR platform, two antennas and a PC. The main advantage of this implementation compared to similar implementations in the literature is the absence of external components/circuits or custom-built RF boards. The SDR platform is USRP N200 equipped with WBX RF daughterboard. The only external additions are two Vivaldi antennas. The system implements chirp radar operation with a bandwidth of 40 MHz achieving a theoretical resolution of 375 cm in air. Because of the reduction of electromagnetic wave velocity in soil, the resolution improves significantly in practical situations where the wave travels through a high permittivity medium. The resulting system is capable to successfully discover large subterranean voids like caves or tunnels. The paper presents an experimental validation where the proposed system is employed to detect the presence of a tunnel.

This paper presents an experimental implementation of continuous-wave interferometric radar based on low cost USRP platform and computer. The purpose of the proposed system is to measure small displacements of the monitored target over a long time period. These measurements are extremely useful in the field of civil engineering. Common applications are landslide monitoring or bridge and building deformation analysis. The proposed solution transmits a monochromatic radio wave towards the monitored target and measures the phase shift suffered by the reflected wave. The measured phase shift is stored in a file on the hard drive of the computer. After a certain period of time, spanning from minutes to years, specific to the application, with the system placed in the same position, a second phase shift measurement needs to be performed, storing a new result. The system then computes the difference between the two stored phase shifts and determines the displacement. As expected for all interferometric measurements, due to the cyclic nature of the phase shift, the displacement must be smaller than a certain fraction of the wavelength of operation; otherwise the result will be ambiguous. In our case the displacement must be smaller (in module) than a quarter of the transmitted wavelength. Due to the fact that in a software-defined radio the frequency is user selectable in a very wide range, the system can be configured to adapt to the magnitude of the expected displacement. All of the above-mentioned assertions have been validated experimentally.

This paper presents a practical implementation of a software-defined ground-based synthetic aperture radar. The proposed system uses a PC, a general purpose low-cost SDR platform and a minimum number of external components. The SDR platform is a USRP N200 equipped with a WBX RF daughterboard. The only external components are two offthe- shelf RF switches, an Arduino Uno microcontroller board, a fixed RF attenuator and two Vivaldi antennas. The system implements stepped-frequency radar operation with a bandwidth of 1500 MHz (500 – 2000 MHz) achieving a resolution of 10 cm in air. The proposed system mimics the behavior of Vector Network Analyzers. It works by sweeping its operating frequency over the 1500 MHz frequency band and storing the amplitudes and phases of the scattered waves. These are assembled in a matrix, the so-called raw data matrix, which is processed using an implementation of the backprojection (BP) SAR algorithm to generate the bidimensional focused image. All of the above-mentioned assertions have been validated experimentally, proving the proposed system’s ability to generate high resolution images of the analyzed scene.

An experimental implementation for a low-cost, software-defined Ground Penetrating Radar is presented in this paper. The proposed system uses a general purpose low-cost SDR platform with minimal external components. The SDR platform is USRP N200 equipped with WBX RF daughterboard. The only external additions are two off-the-shelf RF switches, an Arduino Uno microcontroller board, a fixed RF attenuator and two Vivaldi antennas. The system implements stepped-frequency radar operation with a bandwidth of 1500 MHz achieving a resolution of 10 cm in air. It works by sweeping this frequency band transmitting sine waves and storing the amplitudes and phases of the scattered waves. Then, this frequency-domain information is translated into time-domain by means of Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT). The time-domain responses are plotted in an A-scope image. Then, these images are combined to create the classic B-scope image used in ground penetrating radars. All of the above-mentioned assertions have been validated experimentally.

In this paper it was developed a Finite Element Method (FEM) model for the simulation of interfacial failure between two plies of an AS4/PEEK composite sample using Cohesive Zone Model (CZM), under the frame work of Comsol Multiphysics software. Mixed Mode Bending (MMB) method was considered here for the numerical implementation of progressive delamination propagating in composite specimens with pre-existing cracks. Volumetric strain and von Mises stress at the maximum load before fracture have been evaluated at here different ratios between mode II strain energy rate and total strain energy rate G_II/G_T = 20%, 50% and 80%.

An important part of microfluidic device technology is based on passive (static) micromixers, with a structure of microchannels organized in special configurations, in order to produce an efficient mixing of different types of solutions. In this study it was developed numerically using the Finite Element Method (FEM) based Comsol Multiphysics software a special type of Split and Recombine (SAR) micromixer model with two mixing units, based on a Grey topology. Three types of glycerol - water solutions have been considered for the performance investigation of this SAR mixing model. Degrees of mixing δ_m of 0.74 and 0.73 were computed for the water based solutions having 10% wt. glycerol and 20% wt. glycerol at an inlet flow rate of 1×10^-8 m³/s, obtained with the compromise of pressure drops of 161 Pa and 203 Pa, respectively. A much lower mixing degree, of only 0.43, was registered at the same flow rate for the solution with 35% wt. glycerol, at a higher pressure drop of 316 Pa.

Depending on the Si content, the magnetic and the electrical properties of steels for electrotechnical purpose are produced with oriented grains or contrarily with non-oriented grains. Usually, the Si content of such steels varies between 0.8 - 4.8%. Generally, steels with less than 3% Si are used for small and medium power electric machines, while steels with higher Si content, i.e. above 3%, are used for high power electric machines and electric transformers. Si in steel increases the strength and decreases the magnetic losses guaranteeing the development of large grains, which improves the magnetic properties of the laminated sheets. For the processing of the sheets, the magnetic core of the electric machine has to be considered in addition to the magnetic properties of the material and the energy losses, the evolution of the material’s microstructure in the cutting area, which may possibly need reconditioning operations. The aim of this study is oriented to the morphological, mechanical electrical and magnetic characterization of Si steel with non-oriented grains in order to be further employed as transformer cores.

Pollution caused by ships is a great threat to the environment nowadays. This article is about methods of reducing pollution caused by shipping industry. By reading the article the reader will discover an calculation of how much some green energy sources like modern Flettner rotor and Flettner balloon, which are using wind renewable energy, together with an electrical engine can reduce pollution for a route during ocean passage and how much are the costs of installation, of green energy resources system and the investment mitigation time. This article major points are: calculation of the fuel consumption for a container ship on a route during ocean passage, calculation of the pollution made by the ship if he uses fossil fuel and calculation of pollution if the ship is using green energy resources and an electrical motor, costs of the investment for transforming a fossil fuel eating container ship into a green one during ocean passage.

This study aims at providing an efficient method to solve the statistical file merging issue: merging two or more files containing distinct datasets, from different sources, where the items of the datasets do not overlap (the percentage of units that are common to all datasets is insignificant). The problem is modeled as a network transportation problem and is solved using an adaptive Genetic Algorithm based on fuzzy logic controller, which dynamically calibrates algorithm parameters. This evolutionary technique is convenient for large-scale optimization problems with a significant number of variables and logical constraints. It also provides researchers in the fields of statistics and optimization a valuable instrument for achieving a correct balance between the quality of solutions and the processing time. This is a critical demand in most of the practical optimization problems. Numerical experiments on selected test instances validate this generalized merging approach and proves that the results of this file merging simulation can be extrapolated for better integration of various datasets generated by numerous government, administrative and statistical agencies. Apart from better central financial reporting for example, this will help to expand cooperation between private sector and government institutions.

In this article we propose a feasibility study about the use of an optimization electrical energy program for a container ship in order to make the best choice of making a hybrid system. In order to design and choose the best components of a hybrid system formed from some conventional sources of energy and one unconventional source¹, we used an optimization software called HOMER². In this study, the average energy consumption of the ship per hour was taken by approximating the measurements recorded over a period of several days. As a potential source of green energy, we used the Flettner balloon. Flettner balloon is a generator of electric power, filled with helium that rotates around his own horizontal ax and sends the electricity using some cables. It rotates around his own horizontal ax in response to the wind, effectively generating clean, renewable electricity. The article shows how to select the best elements of the hybrid system, for a configuration which uses conventional sources of energy and one renewable energy source, taking into account the current prices of the necessary equipment. HOMER simulates thousands of different system configurations, or combinations of components, optimizes the cost during operation and generates analysis results on all input data, graphs with variations in time (day/month/year) of the various sizes involved in the system: generated power, load, accumulators.

Life form entities have perfected over time ways to survive either by improving collaborative methods between individuals or by specializing the individual so it can withstands the caprices of nature. Even at the cellular level we come into contact with methods which organisms have developed to organise and transmit information from different areas or organs towards the central nervous system, thus providing specialized algorithms for measuring, ordering and categorizing messages from cells using receptors, with the purpose of facilitating efficient and optimum decision making based on the received information. The scope of this paper is to explore methods in which we can identify and replicate an organism’s native decision making algorithms based on things such as weighted collaborative voting.

A new digital technique of objective differential diagnosis of the septic process severity was developed and tested experimentally by polarization-phase mapping of microscopic images of histological sections of the liver of laboratory rats based on statistical and information analysis of phase shift distributions.

The results of a statistical analysis of the distributions of characteristic values of the Stokes vector fourth parameter (crystallization parameter - CP) of the digital vector-parametric microscopic image of healthy spleen and with spleen with sepsis histological sections are presented. We determined the statistical significance of differentiation of vector-parametric maps of the microscopic image of histological sections of rat spleens from control group 1 and research groups 2-4 with different severity of septic pathology. The most diagnostic-sensitive statistical criteria for differentiating vector-parametric maps of microscopic images of histological sections of the spleen are established.

The properties of the two-dimensional (2D) magnetoexcitons in the GaAs-type quantum wells subjected to the action of a strong perpendicular magnetic field and of the 2D Wannier-Mott excitons in the transition metal dichalcogenides with the binding energy determined by the direct Coulomb electron-hole (e-h) interaction and with the summary e-h spin projections F = ± 1 are compared. In both cases the exchange e-h Coulomb interaction leads to the creation of the symmetric and asymmetric superposition states formed by two bare exciton states with F = ± 1. The superposition states are characterized in different variants by the Dirac cone dispersion laws and with quantum interference effects in the optical quantum transitions from the ground state of the crystal.

The biofouling prevention methods is a new research area. This paper presents a study of biofilm evolution (microbiota) on different surfaces, monitoring different parameters. For this research, the tests are achieved on samples as naval steel painted with different antifouling paints, and liquid wood samples introduced into the dynamic marine water system. The main parameters observed during the test are water temperature and flow. The microfouling samples are observed under the epifluorescence microscopy and quantification of biofilm using specific software. Using MATLAB software, we develop the prediction methods for biofouling prevention using the environmental parameter. The test system use the two boxes placed on the different higher, using an acquisition card the sensors data is sent to the computer for analysis.

Random numbers play a significant role in fields like scientific simulations and cryptography. Here we describe a physical random number generator based on the intrinsic randomness of quantum mechanics. We design a simple method to produce and analyze random sequences starting with a source of correlated/entangled photon pairs as an entropy source. We generate random bits from the coincidence rates of photon pairs in 3 steps: (i) generate correlated/entangled photon pairs, (ii) convert the coincidence rates from decimal to binary, (iii) apply a randomness extraction procedure (post-processing). In this approach, we have tested the influence of entanglement on the entire generation process. In order to obtain a good-quality random sequance, we have used and compared two different extractors in the post-processing step.

The networks created on the basis of the IP protocol have become more and more interesting for users and network operators / service providers, in terms of their possibilities to support the most diverse communications applications. This perspective is also reinforced by the experience gained over the long period of use of the most widespread public IP network, the Internet, which has proven that it can successfully support/implement/develop the most diverse applications through this technology. Thus, in addition to the traditional, native applications of IP-based networks, those supporting data transmission of any kind, this kind of networks have started to be used more and more often for voice communications (VoIP), IP-based telephony) and video (videophone, video conference, etc.). More than that, IP networks have started to implement remote control and control applications, and the development of communication security technologies has even allowed the realization of transactional applications that involve the transmission of secrets through the environment represented by public IP-based networks (electronic trade, online banking applications, electronic voting through public IP networks, etc.). It presents the key factors that influence the quality of the service, as perceived by the user (the delay introduced by the network when transporting IP packets, the delay variation, the loss of information), also stating the performance requirements of various telecommunication applications that can be supported by public IP-based networks (audio applications, video applications, data applications, non-interactive applications). Performance targets are also presented here which, once achieved, allow the support, under quality conditions, of various types of applications.

This paper presents a modeling of heat transfer from the vaporization zone to the flat micro heat conductor when used as an additional reservoir of liquid with polysynthetic material. In the study of the intensification of heat transfer to the flat thermal microtubule, it was assumed that the blockage in operation may occur if the thermal transport capacity is exceeded by applying a higher thermal flux on the vaporization area. In this case the internal vapor flow is interrupted as the vaporization and condensation zones reach thermal equilibrium. Practically the vapors no longer condense in the evaporator and no longer perform heat transfer through biphasic thermal transformation. The internal pressure increase in case of accumulation of liquid vapor is not considered in this analysis, it will be the subject of a separate study. The variation of the thermal flow in the cross section on the evaporator and the variation of the liquid flow through the capillary layers in the evaporator shall be analyzed. Heating the vaporization area by thermal conduction causes the movement of the capillary composed of the vaporization area to create liquid vapor. Heat transfer from within the flat micro heat pipe (FMHP) will be performed conventionally by plotting the thermal variation graphs in Mathcad. The overtime temperature variation on the wall of the evaporator in the area of the source with variable thermic flux (external heat source), as well as the propagation of the temperature field, will be achieved by modeling in Matlab.

This paper presents the experimental results obtained by cooling the condensation zone of a flat micro heat pipe (FMHP) using the inverted Seebeck effect (Peltier mode). In all cases of heat pipes, the working liquid must flow when there is a temperature difference between the evaporation zone and the condensation zone. The condensing area is cooled by blowing air through a radiator, which uses a Peltier module with a power of 50W as a cooler. At low temperatures, the vapor pressure of the liquid in the evaporator is very low. As the condenser pressure cannot be less than zero, the difference in vapor pressure is insufficient to exceed the viscous and gravitational forces, thus preventing the operation of FMHP at the heat transfer limit. The condenser is cooled after it reaches a thermal equilibrium. It is desired to highlight the temperature variations on the condensation area at the time of cooling air, as well as the temperature variation on the radiator of the Peltier module. The analysis starts from the theoretical component of cooling the condensing zone and compares the results obtained from the experimental research with those obtained by calculations. The research shows the temperatures recorded in the cooled area of the condenser, using forced cooling with air blowing using a Peltier module, powered by a direct current source. It also highlights the experimental contribution to the capture of the phenomenon of forced convection, possibly used for cases where FMHP should work at temperatures close to the occurrence of thermal blockage. The temperature values were taken by means of thermocouples mounted in thermal contact on the FMHP surface and are recorded by a data-logger in order to draw the graphs of temperature variation. This highlights the possibility of transporting high heat fluxes through FMHP, other than if it is conventionally cooled. For the calculations, the Mathcad programming environment will be used to plot the graphs of temperature variation on the condensation zone at forced cooling.

Electroporation-based techniques are known for their potential to temporarily increase cells membrane permeability by controlled electric fields for transfer of non-permeant molecules; these techniques evolved in many useful biomedical applications. Current research in this domain addresses both experimental and computational analysis in a complementary manner. Numerical simulations, considering realistic cell shapes and field exposure conditions can complete the experimental investigations by opening insights and providing quantitative data. Our approach here provides cell models for EP simulations, based on experimental acquisition of images in a holographic microscopy setup and digital reconstruction of phase images of living attached B16F10 murine melanoma cells. A procedure to process and import phase images in dedicated finite element software COMSOL Multiphysics is described in detail. Based on such realistically shaped computational domains, the electric field problem is successively defined and solved under time-harmonic electric excitation, uniformly applied; the frequency dependent dielectric properties are set accordingly. Induced transmembrane voltage distribution is the representative numerical output of the analysis shown here for different exposure conditions (membrane regions under stress, dielectric properties, field frequency), aiming to evaluate their potential efficiency on electroporation.

Amorphous thin films of chalcogenide glasses are well known as high photosensitive materials with a wide application in photonics, optoelectronics and information storage systems. In the present paper the experimental results on optical absorption and steady-state photocurrent of amorphous single amorphous layer structures Al-Ge_0.30As_0.04S_0.66-Al (L₁) AlGe_0.09As_0.09Se_0.82-Al (L₂), Al-As_0.40S_0.30Se_0.30-Al (L₃) as well as for amorphous heterostructure AlAs_0.40S_0.30Se_0.30/Ge_0.09As_0.09Se_0.82/Ge_0.30As_0.04S_0.66-Al (HS) at different values of the applied voltage at positive and negative polarity of the illuminated top Al electrode are presented and discussed. The thickness of the component layers is also different with the ratio of the thickness about L₁/L₂/L₃ = 1000/500/200 nm. The investigated multilayer structures contain the first material with the trigonal (As_0.40S_0.30Se_0.30), and the other two layers contain trigonal as well as tetrahedral structural units (Ge_0.09As_0.09Se_0.82, Ge_0.30As_0.04S_0.66). The complex structure of the photocurrent spectra is governed to the different value of the optical band gap of the involved amorphous layer (about E_g~2.0 eV for the As_0.40S_0.30Se_0.30 and Ge_0.09As_0.09Se_0.82, and about E_g~3.0 eV for the Ge_0.30As_0.04S_0.66). The obtained experimental results are discussed taking into account the depth of the light absorption depending of the nature and the thickness of each amorphous material, wavelength and the contact phenomena between the interfaces of the different material as well as between the interfaces metal-amorphous semiconductor with different work functions, as was demonstrated for the other amorphous thin film structures.

Conservation of wooden artifacts represents a common goal for researchers involved in cultural heritage studies all over the world. Unlike some other types of artifacts, such as natural or man-made stone, the wooden ones are much more exposed to degradation. The present work establishes the potential application for the treatment of wooden artifacts of some commercially consolidants, as well as of a traditional method. By evaluating the effects of the treatment on wooden artifacts models (using optical microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermal analyses and dynamic mechanical analysis) as well as their resistance towards staining materials and the overall aesthetic alteration, the best method can be proposed for the treatment of historical wood. The wooden models used for the experiments consisted of wood spatulas with standard dimensions (150x18x1.6 mm), on which six potential treatments were applied by immersion. By corroborating the results obtained and the evaluation of the recorded aesthetic changes, a proper treatment can be proposed.

This paper offers some of the achievements of modern optical metrology. The basic approach of metrology from the nano to the pico level optical measurements is considered in this paper. Control of nano (micro) particle motion by an optical field and their using for testing complex optical fields is presented, as a general concepts of optical field metrology. Optical metrology, which is provided by three-dimensional polarization distributions of optical fields, where structured light plays a special role; by using femtosecond lasers, and much more, demonstrates the prospects of optical methods in modern measuring systems.

This study aimed to highlight the mass flow and boost pressure performance of an electrically operated axial compressor. This compressor proposed and developed by its authors^[1] was mounted on a diesel engine, which is fitted to a VW Golf 4. A mathematical model was developed in MathCad for the overall calculation of this compressor, determining the boost pressure and the theoretical air flow. The mathematical model also highlights the increase in the boost in each stage of the compressor, but also the mechanical work consumed. The compressor was made of the following parts: fan 1 which is designed to take the air and to direct it axially into the second stage, where is the second fan with a smaller diameter and a number of higher revolutions, the control unit which allows the speed of each fan to be adjusted and the part to be protected against electrical shock. To determine the air flow, a diaphragm has been created which has been fixed by 6 screws at the compressor outlet, fitted with holes for measuring the difference in pressure. In this study, the pressure at several characteristic points of the compressor will be measured using an integrated differential sensor assembly. LabVIEW program was used to determine characteristic values according to the speed of the axial compressor and pressure variation can be seen on a laptop interface during compressor operation. After determining the mass flow, the turbocharging pressure can also be determined from the calculation.

The „downsizing” phenomenon has grown and has led to the technological and efficient use of the supercharger systems. Despite this, conventional turbocharging systems have a transitional response due to the exchange of power with the engine and affect the elasticity of the engine. An electrically actuated turbocharging system can eliminate this shortfall, transient operation, without loss of interference, as the response is instant to the electric drive. A power recovery system can be added to increase overall efficiency. The study provides an overview of the influence of the compression ratio of a compression ignition engine to which an electric power-driven axial compressor has been attached. The results showed that the implementation of an electric compressor and a high compression ratio contribute to increasing yields and reducing losses in the operating cycle.

Evolution of fuel supply systems for internal combustion engines, aimed at reducing fuel consumption while increasing specific power. If they compared the engines fitted to vehicles manufactured in the 90s with those currently seen that with the same displacement, the production of the newly developed greater powers to lower fuel consumption. It is considered necessary to extend their knowledge of the atomization process of the fuel jet injection systems developed. By analyzing the experimental results for the case of nominal pressure is observed that yielded a maximum number of 817 drops injector with low wear, compared to only 727 drops to the injector with wear. The reduction of the number of drops in this case is 11%. Also there is a tendency of increasing the number of drops with increasing pulse width, regardless of injector wear. For the other two cases, reducing the number of drops is inferior.

Studying the heat transfer fuel droplet moving in a gaseous medium can be determined diffusive transfer coefficient, depending on temperature changes in the engine intake air. It will then be possible to determine by calculation of the variation in diameter of the droplets of fuel during their vaporization in a gaseous medium [1]. Will be developed mathematical models of the vaporization process three variants ie without considering the phenomenon of thermal diffusion, thermal diffusion then depending on the temperature and pressure of the gaseous medium in which droplets of fuel moving.

The study of the evolution of the mass of a liquid droplet and its average temperature in the case of collision between a solid surface and liquid droplet can be carried out using the Volume of fluid method VOF. The dynamics of the drops will be investigated at the moment of impact on a heated plane wall until a steady state is reached. During this transition period, the average temperature of the drop vaporization process is estimated. The lifetime of a drop of liquid is determined from a static point of view, upon contact with a hot surface. The equations applied are Navier-Stokes energy and vapor transport.

This article will study the impact of a liquid jet with a flat surface, from a dynamic point of view. The surface where the liquid jet impact will take place has been positioned both perpendiculars to the direction of the jet and at a certain angle. To determine how the impact of the liquid jet takes place in the immediate vicinity of the plane plate, a CFD simulation is performed. The obtained results allow us to study two situations, one that concerns the occurrence of the hydraulic jump during the impact and the second will allow us to analyze the evolution of the jet symmetry. It is known that the impact of a liquid jet with a surface is quite complex. To solve this, the VOF (volume of fluid) model was used. The obtained results allow us to visualize the evolution of the liquid jet in the form of a complex geometric shape that at the extremities is followed by a hydraulic jump and the fragmentation of a part. The behavior of the impact of the jet with a surface inclined at 45°, shows that there is an asymmetry of the contact fingerprint as the jet inclines towards the normal straight-line surface. The main objective of the present simulations is to experimentally investigate the effect of the angle of inclination of the jet and of the fluid flow on the initial imprint formed at the contact and on the post-fragmentation mode of the complex geometrical structure formed.

A rectangular radial microchannel model having the same geometric dimensions as one type of microchannel placed on a PC-controlled centrifugal Disk: length ℓ = 2.1 cm, height h = 65 μm and width Δy = 320 μm was considered here from an experimental work reported in literature. Fluid flow transport through this standard channel was numerically developed with the Finite Element Method (FEM) based Comsol Multiphysics software, simulation performed at rotating speeds ω between 25 and 300 rad/s. Other three rotating microchannel models with different aspect ratios AR have been simulated after by increasing the channel height from 65μm to 160 μm, 200 μm and 240 μm and by maintaining the same width of 320 μm. From the simulations of standard experimental type channel resulted that even at 300 rad/s, transverse Coriolis force was only close to half of centrifugal force, no secondary flow being induced in this case and a diffusion-based mixing is developed for this particular channel geometry. The radially rotating channel model was validated after comparing the FEM results with results from other two commercial finite volume codes (CFX and Fluent) reported in a numerical research study of a microchannel with ℓ = 10 mm and Δy = h = 200 μm.

A series of coordination organic compounds based on the trivalent Eu³⁺ ion were synthesized and optimized: Eu(o- MBA)₃phen, Eu(DBM)₃(Ph₃PO)₁·H₂O and Eu(TTA)₃(Ph₃PO)₂. The efficiency of the photoluminescence (PL) emission of these coordination compounds depend on preparation technology, specifically on the optimal choice of the ligands. The photoluminescence spectrum measured in the range 500 – 750 nm exhibits a number of narrow (atomic-like) emission bands with the FWHM less than 10 nm. These PL emission bands are attributed to optical transitions ⁵D₀ → ⁷F_j , j 0...4 in the 4f orbital of the, ion. PL experimental results were analyzed in the framework of Judd-Ofelt theory and the characteristic luminescence parameters were obtained: PL lifetime constant, quantum yield, Ω coefficient, the probability A_{i j} for electric dipole transitions, etc.

ZnMgO thin films were prepared on Si substrates by aerosol deposition method using zinc acetate and magnesium acetate as precursors. The obtained films were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive xray (EDX) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis. SEM and EDX investigations showed that the produced thin films are homogeneous from the point of view of morphology and composition. The investigation of photosensitivity demonstrated that the heterostructures of ZnMgO thin films deposited on Si substrates are sensitive in a wide spectral range from ultraviolet (UV) to infrared (IR) radiation, with a highest sensitivity in the UV region.

Volume of Fluid Method (VOF) is a good alternative to Finite Element Method for complex simulations1 which involves fluid flow because it offers a good solution for very cell of the domain. Air lift pump system uses the principle of two communicating vessels that are filled with two or more fluids. The fluids can be partially or totally immiscible one with another. The VOF method together with Multiphase (Eulerian) model provides a very good approach for determining the qualitative interaction of the two fluids. In our study we simulated how compressed air flows into a pipe that is submerged into water and due to diffusion they create a new fluid that is less dense than water, but heavier than air. The new fluid will rise higher against the water level, which creates an absorption. For industrial applications we can name ecological fishing, cleaning underwater relics etc.

In this paper we present an experimental set-up for measuring small frequency differences between two RF oscillators [1] by using a homodyne detection scheme [2]. To emulate the oscillators, we used two RF sources whose output signals were mixed and then the low frequency components at the mixer's output was measured with a network frequency analyzer. The purpose of these experiments was to evaluate a possible method to discriminate the resonance frequency change of a TF-BAR sensor as a response to its contamination with certain substances.

The results of algorithmic testing of digital histological studies of the duration of kidney tissue damage based on polarization reconstruction of linear birefringence maps of protein fibrillar networks are presented. The relationships between the temporary change in the magnitude of the statistical moments of the 1st - 4th orders of magnitude characterizing the distribution of the degree of crystallization of histological sections of the kidney and the duration of damage are determined.

The materials of the experimental determination of the set of maps and histograms of the distribution of the magnitude of the fluctuations of linear (DFLB) birefringence for differential diagnosis and the formation of hemorrhages of traumatic origin, cerebral infarction ischemic and hemorrhagic genesis by diffuse tomography of the polycrystalline structure of histological sections of the brain.

The results of a study of the effectiveness of forensic medical differential diagnosis of cases of alcohol and carbon monoxide poisoning by the methods of differential Mueller-matrix polarization-phase tomography by multichannel sensing of different-polarized laser beams of histological sections of the brain are presented.

The results of the study of the possibilities of the method of differential Mueller-matrix mapping of the completely polarized polycrystalline component of the optically thick layers of the myocardium dead due to coronary heart disease (CHD) and acute coronary insufficiency (ACI) are presented.

This report contains theoretical algorithm for the differential representation of a phaseinhomogeneous biological object as a set of consecutively located optically anisotropic layers; theoretical algorithms for the decomposition of the Mueller-matrix of the diffuse biological layer in the basis of differential matrices of the 1st and 2nd orders; analytical relations for determining the magnitude of the set of elements of differential matrices of the 1st and 2nd orders;information and characteristics of optical schemes of experimental devices.

The relationship between statistical structure parameters of rough surface and associated correlation parameters of scattered field is based on the model of random phase object. We propose two technique for measuring surface roughness of mirror, which use measurement of a the contrast of the interference pattern in a field, as well as the devices implementing those techniques. One of them is based on measurement of a phase variance of the boundary object field while another of them is based on measurement of a transverse coherence function of a field. The sensitivity limit of the method in measuring the standard deviation of surface profile from base line is about 2 nm.

The aim of this work is to improve the diagnosis of cervical cancer by introducing laser polarimetry and spectropolarization methods of investigation. We have proposed a novel approach for the differentiation of squamous cell carcinoma and cervical adenocarcinoma using laser optics. Obtained by the method of laser polarimetry by Stokes parameter S₄ of native smear with adenocarcinoma of the cervix and squamous cell carcinoma, as well as scraping of the mud canal with endometrial adenocarcinoma and flat cell cancer allows to reliably differentiate the norm from cancer in the native smear and adenocarcinoma from the flat cell cancer in the smear-imprint. The method of spectropolarimetry allows reliably accurately distinguishing the normal epithelium of the cervix from cancer of the cervix, and the parameters of linear dichroism during the spectropolarization study, reliably (р=0,001) differentiate between normal, adenocarcinoma and flat cell cancer of the cervix.

The purpose of the work was to demonstrate the possibility of optical diagnosis of cytological smears of the cervix for the presence of HPV using spectral and polarization methods. Comparison of cervical specimens with and without coilocytosis, irradiated with a range-shifted polarized radiation, showed significant differences in the values of linear dichroism and its spectral dependences. The difference between the coilocyte response characteristic in the range 395-415 nm was calculated using computer programs. As a result, the use of spectropolarization studies and the fluorescence method will improve the accuracy of patient selection for a costly procedure - high-carcinogenic DNA diagnostics of HPV by the standard method of polymerase chain reaction.

The results of applying algorithms for reconstructing parameters characterizing the linear dichroism of networks of biological crystals in differentiating changes in optical anisotropy associated with varying degrees of severity of pathology, pre-cancerous (atrophy and endometrial polyp) states of the cervix are presented.

The aim of this paper is to study BRCA1 - 185delAg and 5382insC gene mutations in breast cancer patients and their relatives to identify new directions for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. As diagnostic methods have been used ultraviolet spectrometry samples of blood plasma in the liquid state, infrared spectroscopy middle range (2,5 - 25 microns) dry residue of plasma polarization and laser diagnostic technique of thin histological sections of biological tissues. Obtained results showed that the use of spectrophotometry in the range of 1000-3000 cm-1 allowed to establish quantitative parameters of the plasma absorption rate of blood of patients in the third group in different ranges, which would allow in the future to conduct an express analysis of the patient's condition (procedure screening) for further molecular-genetic typing on BRCA I and II.

Two lavender oils, having the same genetic material, were extracted in identical conditions (water steaming from Lavandula angustifolia flos). Differences consisted in the age of the culture and in the region of cultivation. The lavender oils were assayed for their composition using GC-MS and HPTLC [1]. GC-MS analysis was performed on a TRACE TR- 5MS capillary column, 5% phenyl polysilphenylene-siloxane, within the range 30–650 m/z. Identification was based on the mass spectrums from NIST library collection. HPTLC analysis was performed on silicagel, using ethyl acetate: anhydrous acetic acid: formic acid: water (72:7:7:14) as a mobile phase, and a migration distance of 8 cm.

The method of vascular segmentation is considered as one of the main approaches to the creation of automated retinal analysis tools. Improved retinal image analysis that can be used for segmented vascular tree to calculate vessel diameter and tortuosity, differentiation of veins and arteries together with measurement of arteriovenous ratio. The algorithm of segmentation of the retinal vessels based on fuzzy clustering of c-means and the method of setting the level is proposed. Morphological processes, CLAHE, and appropriate image filtering techniques were used to enhance the picture before fuzzy clustering of vascular pixels. A method of segmentation on publicly available datasets that uses common validation metrics in retinal vessel segmentation is proposed.

Over the last decades, 3D printing has become more and more highly used in the production of various parts and prototypes. There are several technologies employed for 3D printing. Of these, the most widely spread and most affordable is probably the FDM (Fused Deposition Modelling) technology, which permits the use of various thermoplastic polymers to create 3D geometries by melting the material and deposing it in thin layers. Technical advances in latest years made 3D printers widely available and affordable. It is therefore of interest to investigate the properties of parts manufactured using the simplest of printers and the most usual materials. The present paper presents experimental investigations conducted regarding the influence of the printing regimes on the surface properties in 3D printed parts. Various printing parameters, such as extruder temperature, print speed and layer thickness were varied for the same part. Printing was done using a general purpose printer with a delta bot structure. The parts investigated in the present study were made using a generic PLA (poly-lactic acid) filament. Surface properties were then investigated optically by aid of a confocal microscope. Using the microscope’s dedicated analysis software, surface micro-topography was investigated and its parameters, obtained in accordance to ISO 4287 and ISO 25178, were analyzed.

In practice, different types of equipment are known for scanning soil properties using optoelectronic technologies. These include drone-based technology and surface or deep-soil scanning technology in dynamic or static mode. The surface scanning technology developed by Veris Technologies in the USA is based on soil scanning while moving using a mobile platform that penetrates the soil to a depth of 5-10 cm [1]. The most commonly used static technology is based on the collection of soil data using a mobile platform that moves from place to place. Once the predetermined location is reached, the platform penetrates the soil to various depths from which it takes samples to which the spectra are determined. The technical problem solved by the proposed solution is the creation of an intelligent electronic control and command device (IECCD) of mobile optoelectronic platforms for scanning soil properties [2]. It has a structure that allows the functions required for the platform to be realized, based on a series of inputs, outputs and communication ports.

The paper aims is to present aspects regarding the evolution of contact mean pressure obtained in four balls standardized test, in order to highlight a correlation between contact mean pressure and the moment when the scuffing occurs. Different types of greases were used in tests to evaluate the contact loading capacity and the wear scar dimensions correlated with loading force. Several tests were conducted following the testing procedure described in EN ISO 20623:2003 international standard. Using a laser profilometer, the dimensions of the wear scar were obtained for all loading levels. The contact mean pressure was determined from the ratio between the normal contact load and wear scar area. The experimental values were compared with those based on Hertz equations. The evolution of contact mean pressure and wear scar area was related to scuffing occurrence.

The vast majority of suspension systems widely used in road vehicles by all major manufacturers are passive. They have a unique force - displacement or speed - force characteristic, imposed by the characteristics of the constructive elements used. However, for the suspension system of the vehicles, to optimally perform on the widest possible areas of the road unevenness, adaptive suspension systems have been developed. These systems can be either semi-active or active. The main problem that these suspension systems have to answer is the maximization of traction. This involves maintaining permanent contact between tire and road, while also ensuring increased passenger comfort. Passenger comfort, on the other hand, requires smooth damping, with as little chassis acceleration as possible. Under these conditions, it is impossible for passive systems to meet these requirements, and a compromise between comfort and safety is always necessary. For these reasons, adaptive systems have been developed that allow the shortcomings of passive systems to be eliminated, being able to ensure optimal behavior for the entire frequency range offered by runway irregularities. Semi - active systems usually use dampers with variable parameters, dictated by various controllers such as proportional, derivative, integrative or various combinations thereof. This paper aims to simulate and analyze a passive suspension by referring to the characteristics of a semi-active. The study evaluates the vertical movements of a vehicle with known parameters over different shapes of the cross section of the road. The study involves the use of the Matlab-Simulink environment in which a physical study model for the quarter machine model is made, using the predefined blocks found in Simscape. According to the obtained results, there is a substantial change in the damping characteristic when using the semi-active suspension, in order to reduce the oscillations and shorten the time to reach equilibrium.

Here we investigated the field emission effect in nanoconstrictions made on the basis of the microwire in glass insulation. Glass-coated single-crystal microwires of Bi and Bi-Sb were fabricated by the Ulitovsky method; then, using the technique of local laser heating, nanoconstrictions were made. We investigated the field electron emission obtained in Bi and Bi_0.97Sb_0.03 nanoconstrictions at various temperatures and different potentials on the gate electrode. We observed a change in the field emitted electron current depending on the potential on the gate electrode. This difference ΔI/I=0.26 is a manifestation of the change in the microwire tip potential due to the electric field effect.

Colors transformations in the process of displays colors rendering require the compatibility between what the human eyes can see and what the display can render. A spectral image processing algorithm, D65 illumination standard, spectral part of the human eye and spectral part of the OLED display, are employed in display color correction and rendering. Display colors rendering consist of transforming hyperspectral images into RGB images using ITU.709 standard. These images are then enhanced to obtain high dynamic range images. Next, the images are: processed, color enhanced and rendered using YC_rC_b color space. The proposed algorithm depicts details that are not well revealed in the ITU.709 color space image. Demonstrative images which illustrate the comparison between the reconstructed spectral images into ITU.709 color space and the enhanced final images rendered in YC_rC_b color space are presented.

Most measurements in the microwave field using the variant estimation of the emergent progressive wave through very thin dielectric samples, do not take into account the existence of the reflected wave. Most of the times, in this variant, very absorbent elements are used in the final waveguide, so that the value of the reflected wave amplitude is very small so that the effect of the superposition on the progressive wave is negligible, in the position in detector probe is positioned. Measurements in this approximation are affected by errors, the larger the phase changer, between the progressive and the reflected wave, is bigger. The novelty of the method in this paper is the improvement of the accuracy of the measurements by absorption, using a phase shifter, so that the detected signal always represents the phase-free overlap of the emergent progressive wave with the reflected wave. The estimation of the real value of the detected signal is done by halving the value of the signal detected by the probe. Using this original concept of its own to ensure the compensation of the phase shift, I found that the accuracy of the measurements increased with a value between 2÷7%.

Technical innovation in agriculture is of extreme importance, in particular to address global challenges such as population growth, climate change and the limited availability of important plant nutrients such as phosphorus and potassium. Sensors applied to agricultural production could play a fundamental role for this purpose and research into agricultural applications has been ongoing for largely a decade [1]. Relevance of the paper is to develop a system for smart agriculture necessary for the development of agricultural production in our country in a similar manner to the European Union. Agriculture and allied activities play a vital role in a country's economic prosperity. The conventional methods in agricultural practices have become grossly inadequate to cater to the increasing needs. Thus it has become imperative to adopt novel technologies to raise agricultural standards. This paper proposes a system in a limited, enclosed area wherein different sensors are strategically positioned to measure parameters such as moisture content, temperature, pressure, light intensity and pH of the soil [5].

The seismic qualification for the structural strength it is an issue for the assessment of the seismic safety of the Nuclear Power Plants. As regard the seismic strength of the Cranes it has to be demonstrated via (mostly) a numeric analysis that in the case of the unlikely event of an earthquake the crane isn’t breaking apart affecting thus the safety related neighboring equipment. The crane is required to maintain its integrity when subject to the Design Basis Earthquake when it is supposed to hoist the rated load. The goal of this article is to underline the procedure to be followed for nuclear industry cranes in order to obtain sound and credible results for equipment seismic qualification by using the unique analysis features of ANSYS 19. This study is meant to show how a complex structure of an overhead crane may be treated in order to have meaningful results for a decision whether or not such a structure is able to withstand the loads generated by a seismic event. The seismic event is not overloading the crane structure an in comparison with the hoisted load, the seismic stresses stay quite modest. By comparing the overall calculated equivalent stresses with the tensile yield strength we may pull the conclusion that the structure will resist. Based on all the above the crane is considered to be seismically qualified.

Cavitation if often encountered in the functioning of centrifugal pumps and usually is manifesting itself via rattling or a knocking sound along with vibrations leading in the end to the pump rotor failure, internal damage, and leakage from the seal and casing, bearing failure, etc. The centrifugal pumps cavitation is implying a dynamic process of formation of the bubbles inside the liquid domain, their growth and collapse as the liquid flows through the considered pump. The purpose of this paperwork is to investigate the cavitation phenomenon inside a centrifugal pump with ANSYS 19 and to determine the influence of main process factors upon the pump cavitation using the Response Surface technology and optimization. This study is meant to underline a practical procedure to investigate the cavitation inside the centrifugal pumps and the way to have precise values of the process variables in order to get out the pump from the cavitation functioning zone. The results retrieved in this study are in line with all known theoretical and experimental ones therefore it is a credible procedure. The increasing of the outlet and NPSH pressures and the decrease of the rotor velocity is the solution to have any centrifugal pump out of the cavitation.

For high data-rates specific rules must be applied to properly model interconnects and their behavior in both time and frequency domains. Each domain allows different types of analysis that can easily highlight different aspects that appears when multilayer printed circuit boards (PCB) traces are represented through transmission lines in microstrip or stripline technologies. An implementation of wideband Debye model is proposed as a solution to rigorously design high-speed interconnections. The paper presents the model and, for easily understanding of the algorithm, the steps to be implemented in any electromagnetic simulation software that has default invariant electrical parameters as dielectric constant or loss tangent. This has a great impact on the overall signal integrity analyses and results are presented for various traces lengths through the insertion and return loss or associated group delay. Although roughness models should be considered at high data rates in this paper only the dielectric loss will be implemented, as influence of the dielectric loss is greater comparing to the conductive loss.

In this work is presented the visible light optical polarization effect on surface plasmon resonance (SPR) response of ON-OFF type in both ordered and in contact gold nanoparticles, created within a micro/nanostructured round pattern by direct laser writing and single micrometric size gold particle, respectively, in a dielectric matrix. The large difference between the refractive index of gold and dielectric material allowed to record the polarization induced SPR response of ON-OFF type in gold micro/nanoparticles by optical microscopy imaging in bright field, but only for the large size particles that provided images both in reflection and transmission modes. The plasmonic coupling effect could be clearer visualized by enhancing the quality of the recorded optical images using a dedicated imaging processing algorithm, which applied a package of proper filters to remove the noise and the blur, but also to enhance the contrast of the original images.

Solar energy conversion is today a very hot topic in order to reduce the global warming and pollution. The solar cells based on Silicon, either monocrystalline or amorphous are already on the market since many years. We will present in the paper some performance studies on a promising different type of solar cell called Dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC), or Grätzel cells ^{[1], [2]}. This cell presents different construction and operation principles from silicon based cells and represents a possible solution to replace them for large area or flexible panels. Being a relatively new photovoltaic solution, it is of interest to study the effect of working temperature on their voltage-current characteristic. We will present in current paper electrical measurements on DSSC prototype samples, compared with a commercial silicon cell, for different illumination levels and different temperatures. In order to summarize the results, voltage-current characteristics and the main parameters of the cells, as short circuit current, open circuit voltages, maximum power point (MPP) will be comparatively presented in the paper.

The rapid development of the telecommunication standards, which are getting close to the implementation of the 5th generation now (5G) leads to us to neglect the GSM standard, where there are still vulnerabilities that can be exploited by attackers. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate step by step the authentication in GSM, of mobile subscribers, technical parameters and vulnerabilities identified in this process, with practical measurements. In Romania, GSM is used by the Operators as a backup network, or to cover with signal long areas (in the mountains) where there is no specific (high data rate transfer) demands from the users. Based on the results obtained a number of interesting conclusions are drawn.

The purpose of this paper is to improve the security level of commercial computer systems by analyzing security risks related to compromising emissions and finding the optimal measures of protection. The security threat related to interceptor’s capabilities is a major issue in the process of evaluating the signal to noise ratio at the boundary of protected area. The objective consists in reduction of the probability of detecting compromising emissions which may be eavesdropped at some distance from the computer system using signal processing techniques.

The data in healthcare systems are increasingly being shared through every single medical equipment, which is incorporated in IoT systems. Thus, the number of shared data increases, and medical IoT systems start to impose new challenges of securing them. This paper aims to present the implementation of a prototype based on a Raspberry Pi, which will measure air quality parameters in hospital rooms. The prototype will be secured through a TLS/SSL MQTT connection; henceforth, the shared data will be secure and protected against third-party attacks. The main application for this prototype will be based on an H2020 project, SAFECARE, that has the purpose of making a cyber-physical platform intended for healthcare systems. All the data from the prototype will be sent in real-time to the platform, and any anomaly reported will be dealt with immediately by first responder organizations (in case of a fire or a flood, etc.).

This paper presents a new approach regarding the unintended radiation generated by the PS/2 commercial keyboards. It was possible to restore the keystrokes in a controlled environment by receiving the PS/2 bus clock as opposed to receiving the data bus transitions as it has been presented so far in the literature. Examples of keystrokes corresponding to several alphanumeric keys as well as functional keys that are confirmed by galvanic probing of the PS/2 line with an oscilloscope will be presented. The paper presents time domain measurements of the unintended radiation for different keystrokes and also examples of remote reception. We can conclude that the keystroke's compromising radiation can take multiple forms from which the key pressed can be identified with certainty, showing thus a new vulnerability.

In this paper, the performance of Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) in a downlink Massive-MIMO system is investigated. In addition, precoding algorithms that have access to the channel state information (CSI) of all active users in the system are used to achieve the interference mitigation often carried out with the help of signal processing transformations. The numerical results will help us conclude which of the two, Zero Forcing (ZF) or Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE) precoders, are achieving the best performance when the modulated information is transmitted over a channel affected by Rayleigh fading.

Within this paper the authors intend to measure and evaluate the parameters of a WiMax BTS when different interference conditions are existing within its operating area. The measurements were performed in laboratory conditions, in the semianechoic chamber. The effect of variable intensity disturbance interference on the emission parameters of a WiMax base station were measured and analyzed. As a result of these measurements, several situations were analyzed and a number of interesting conclusions were drawn. These measurements have been developed in order to evaluate the effect of a of disruptive interference on the quality of the transmitted signal, as well as the importance of detecting, measuring and analyzing the interference effect on the transmitted signal in different use-case scenarios. The narrowband disturbance signal, with variable intensity, was generated on the 3.623 GHz frequency with the SME 03 Rohde and Schwarz signal generator. Parameter measurements and spectral evaluations were performed with the Anritsu Master Spectrum 2723C spectrum analyzer, tuned to the frequency 3.623 GHz, using transmission and reception antennas in the respective band. An Airspan MacroMAXe-4RX base station, 3600-3700 MHz frequency band, with 5 MHz bandwidth, was used to perform the tests.

Lead levels monitoring in humans is of great interest because of its high toxicity¹. In order to detect lead in whole blood, the authors developed a methode using GF-AAS, for quantifing blood lead level². Absorption spectrometry is the analytical method for determining the amount of metals or metalloids in a sample, based on the amount of light absorbed by atoms, from a characteristic light beam line given by the respective atoms brought into the excitation state. The aims of this study is to show the importance of reducing background noise with the use of a deuterium lamp in a determination method for lead in blood using graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS). Lead analysis was performed using a Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (GF- AAS), Varian SpectraAA-880 with a hollow cathode lamp and a deuterium lamp for background correction, coupled to GTA-100 atomizer and a programmable sample dispenser (Varian, Australia), with monochromator Czerny-Tuner, focal length 0.33 mm. The automatic sample dispenser PSD Varian had 54 positions for samples, standards, modifiers, quality control and buffer, maximum injected quantity 100 μl, injection accuracy 0.2 μl, automatic dilution and mixing, automatic re-injection of samples. Blood samples were collected from patients admitted to the Emergency Clinical Hospital of Bucharest, in ICU II Toxicology. The application of the optimized temperature program and the deuterium lamp background correction made possible to eliminate the whole matrix of the sample before the atomization step, as confirmed by the low background signals observed in the measurement of lead. The atomization temperature was established by varying the atomization temperature between 1600 and 2100°C. As expected, the lead signal increased with the increase in the atomization temperature up to 2000°C. For temperatures higher than 2100°C, the signals remained almost constant, indicating that maximum atomization efficiency can be achieved in this range. The application of the optimized temperature program made possible to eliminate the whole matrix of the sample before the atomization step, as confirmed by the low background signals observed in the measurement of lead. A linear relationship was found between the absorbance at 283,3 nm and the concentration of lead in the range of 10.0 to 100 μg/L. The representative linear equation was y = 0.0054 x + 0.0219 where: y is the absorbance, x is lead concentration (μg/L), calculated by the least squares method. The regression coefficient (r) standard curve was 0.9993 (fig. 1) indicating good linearity (r < 0.999). Determination of lead levels in blood gives very useful information to the therapist. The absorbance signals obtained for lead at 283.3 nm in the optimizing conditions presented a well-defined profile and a low background. The reported method shows a high precision and accuracy all so a wide aplicability in rutine lead determination and research assays. This method was applied for determination of lead levels in blood by GF-AAS technique, in order to establish the correct diagnosis and to monitoring EDTA chelation therapy for patients with lead poisoning.

Amphetamines are a class of substances with a stimulating effect on the central nervous system. These were first synthesided in 1887 by Lazãr Edeleanu, a romanian chemist, in Germany, originally named phenylisopropylamine, but the stimulant effect of these was unknown until 1927, than it was resynthesized by Gordon Allens, who reported the sympathomimetic properties of amphetamines [1]. Urine amphetamine measurements were performed on the Viva-ProE analyzer (SIEMENS, Germany). The light source is a 12V-20W iodine quartz lamp. The range of scannable wavelengths with its own selection of 8 filters is as follows (340, 415, 505, 546, 570, 600, 660, 700 nm). The bandwidth is 8 - 12 nm. Photometric domain - Absorbance - 0.1 to 3.0. The authors present the results obtained by analyzing the urine samples from patients admitted in ICU II Toxicology with abuse substances overdose and working parameters of the Viva Pro-E System. Some of the results are presented. This analysis uses a threshold level of 300 ng / mL to distinguish positive and negative samples. The analysis provides only a preliminary analytical test result. A sample giving a change in the absorbance value (ΔA) equal to or even higher than the ΔA value of the Level 1 calibrator is interpreted as positive and the sample contains amphetamines or similar structural compounds or both.

In this paper we aim to analyze the possibility of detecting nuclear radiation with a microdetector MEMS based. A part of our work is related to modeling the response of some materials like silicon to the interaction with nuclear radiation in particular with alpha radiation. Changing of mechanical, thermal, electrical properties of materials can be used for the development of small and little expensive detectors. As a second aspect we investigate the measurable effects of nuclear radiation on electronic devices in particular to a PIN diode.

Time-Domain Terahertz Spectroscopy (TDTS) is a rapidly developing measurement technique constantly finding new applications in various areas of materials science such as measurements of material constants of solids [1]. Terahertz frequencies i.e. frequencies from tens of GHz to few THz, lay between the operation ranges of classical microwave and infrared spectroscopy and thus cannot be effectively covered by any of these techniques. TDTS fills this gap enabling the study of materials properties in the part of the electromagnetic spectrum that is of a particular interest for the materials science [2, 4]. TDTS is the only applicable far-infrared spectroscopic technique. Far infrared imaging based on TDTS is currently an extremely promising way of non-destructive method for testing samples from substances. In the proposed article there are presented the results of measurements we have made upon some pharmaceuticals and pesticides, using our own experimental setup for TDTS.

In this paper, we propose a radar cross section analysis for frequency selective surfaces using a meander line antenna as a unit cell. The periodic structure consists of a passive copper antenna backed by a dielectric substrate. Two configurations of constant aperture composed of three and five elements are presented. The radar cross section is evaluated by using a plane wave excitation with linear polarization in order to assess the ratio of the backscattered power.

Both Visible Light Communication (VLC) and Optical Camera Communication (OCC), as technologies and applications of the Optical Wireless Communication (OWC), have been intensely investigated in recent years. Because of their advanced implementations prove to be reliable candidates as partners of the various wireless transmissions based on radio frequency waves, and in some special situations, principal actors for different wireless communication scenarios in particular situations such as the medical field, petrochemical industry or indoor spaces overcrowded where the radio frequency spectrum crunch becomes obvious. We analyze several indoor setups and unique situations that incur alleged security breaches and future challenges in secure VLC and OCC data communication. We also present here an investigation of topologies and transmission scenarios with influences on a secure, reliable wireless transmission system as well as vulnerabilities and threads in VLC and OCC networks. The optical properties of the visible light as a reliable communication medium are explored here, as well. Both VLC and OCC have their own benefits, as well as drawbacks, from the point of view of the overall security and performance, as well as the ability to keep the communication as a continuous operational, intact, and trusty service. An experiment conducted using low frame rate cameras in OCC shown the minimum distance between the centers of the LEDs that still allow an appropriate separation of the frames captured.

In Romania, in the last 10 years there have been 10 earthquakes with magnitude over 5, being classified as strong earthquakes. Nine of them had the epicenter in Vrancea and one in the Black Sea, Galati, Tulcea and Buzau where cracks were found in the walls of buildings and on the roads or even fragments of the walls of the buildings fell. The motivation of the theme is based on the use of electronic methods to evaluate the integrity of a building following a major earthquake.

In recent years, inertial navigation systems have become very popular in many industries, (most notably the auto industry [1]) for providing advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), and moreover, to contribute to the development of driverless vehicles. These systems, in addition to the inertial sensor, are equipped with GNSS receivers (GPS), laser scanners and video cameras to become very accurate sensors. This paper aims to present the MEMS type inertial sensors, especially the MPU6050 sensor and its practical application in monitoring the attitude of a two wheels vehicle along a race track.

Population exposure to a series of harmful factors, such as pollution or pesticides, as well as drug abuse, leads to an increase in the number of cases of human intoxication. Even small traces of harmful xenobiotics in the human body may lead to serious health affections, if not detected and treated in time.¹ Therefore, quick and effective tracing of small quantities of chemical compounds in the human body is essential for proper treatment. Rapid and precise optoelectronic methods for xenobiotic detection are presented in this review paper, with a focus on gas chromatograpy with mass spectroscopy, liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectroscopy, and graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry.

As time passes, the optical wireless communication systems (OWC) are seeing more and more technological advancement. The complete replacement of conventional lighting with LED based solutions seems to be in sight. Technology and its development always match the world's current needs, and as the whole economy is shifting towards ecology and sustainability, moving towards low consumption LEDs would seem to be a good approach. The LED's ability to switch on and off at a fast rate enables the possibility of developing new optical communication systems. In Visible Light Communication (VLC) systems, the LEDs represent the transmitter and the photodetectors represent the receiver. A similar technology to VLC, known as Optical Camera Communications (OCC) uses image sensors as the receiver. The paper investigates the performances of different OWC technologies and provides a detailed overview of the areas and applications in which they can be found.

Measuring the radiation characteristics of an antenna is an important step in the design process. In most cases, antennas are used in complex propagation environments, substantially different from the ideal model of the free space, where the presence of obstacles leads to multiple propagation pathways, and in some cases, when the obstacles are very close to the antennas, they become part of the radiating element. However, the characterization of an antenna is usually done in measuring sites with characteristics as close as possible to those of the free space. In most cases, such measurements are performed in an Open Area Test Site location (OATS), cleared enough of obstacles, or in an anechoic chamber. In this paper we investigate the application of the distance averaging method for antenna gain measurements in the side or back direction. The approach was successfully validation through measurements on a log-periodic dipole array (LPDA) in a regular office room.

The fifth generation (5G) and future wireless networks meet the necessities of a world increasingly more dependent on mobile Internet and mobile phones. Thus, there are a series of technologies that make this possible, part of which are present in this paper. One such technology is where multiple antennas can be used for the receiver/transmitter terminals known as MIMO and evolved to Massive MIMO, where the number of antennas is much higher. Another one is represented by orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) used to mitigate or eliminate the inter-symbol and intra-symbol interferences. Low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes have relatively low and scalable decoding complexity. Therefore, in this paper is proposed a Massive multiuser MIMO system with Manchester source coding, LPDC channel coding and OFDM used by multiple users, when the number of antennas at the receiver varies between 8 and 12. Therefore, taking into account the afore-mentioned technologies and parameters, we analyze the quality of the information that reaches the base station (BS) using extensive Monte Carlo Matlab simulations in terms of bit error rate (BER) versus signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for pseudorandom (PN) spreading codes, which spreads the OFDM modulated signal with or without Manchester encoding.

In the electronics world embedded systems are everywhere, many of which are based on microcontrollers. Throughout the design cycle of such systems, the microcontroller’s performance is always critical for the project’s success. But what does performance represent for a microcontroller and how can we measure it? This paper presents an analysis of different test algorithms executed on a series of 8-bit microcontrollers. The test algorithms are represented by test sequences that are carefully designed in order to reflect real life scenarios. This study takes into consideration two performance aspects: the execution time, also known as time performance and the power consumption, also known as power performance. At the end of this paper there is a performance comparison between multiple 8-bit microcontrollers.

The novelty of this work is the statistical perspective of the cryptanalyst being able to perform a chosen plaintext attack on a private communication scheme involving chaos-based algorithms. The attacker finds himself in the position of analyzing the pseudo-random matrix that was used for encryption. The contribution is done in the context of the well-known fields of secret-key cryptology and that of wavelet packet decomposition of images. The analysis is exemplified on the thoroughly investigated, in the existing literature, simplest chaotic system, the logistic map. Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests, histogram testing, autocorrelation functions and nonlinear singular value decomposition are used. In addition, a new enciphering wavelet-based algorithm is proposed and analyzed.

Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene/permethylated γ-cyclodextrin) polyrotaxane (PEDOT∙TMγCD) having bulky triphenylmethyl as stoppers was synthesized by the chemical oxidation of 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) as an inclusion complex with 2,3,6-tri-O-methyl γ-cyclodextrin (TMγCD) (EDOT∙TMγCD) with a five-fold excess of iron (III) chloride oxidant over the stoichiometric amount in water. For a comparison, the reference PEDOT was synthesized under the same experimental conditions. The chemical structures of the synthesized compounds were proved by FT-IR and NMR spectroscopies. The coverage ratio of the EDOT and PEDOT backbones was found to be of 80.0 % and 43.7 %, respectively. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) studies of both PEDOT and PEDOT∙TMγCD samples showed no crystallization or melting peaks in the range 20-200 °C. The PEDOT∙TMγCD as dark-green powders was enough soluble in acetone, dichloromethane, CHCl₃ and THF compared with those of the reference PEDOT. The optical properties of the PEDOT and PEDOT∙TMγCD compounds were investigated by UV-Vis. The UV-Vis absorption spectrum of PEDOT∙TMγCD in THF is consistent with the spectrum of the PEDOT in DMSO. Atomic force microscopy, AFM, indicated that the PEDOT∙TMγCD film is more uniformly distributed over the substrate area compared with those of the reference PEDOT. The electrochemical data provided that the investigated PEDOT∙TMγCD exhibited n- and p-doping processes. The HOMO/LUMO energy level indicates that the investigated PEDOT∙TMγCD polyrotaxane is electrochemically accessible as electron-transporting material in electronic devices.

Valves are elements of the pipe through which fluid flow is controlled, directed and regulated permanently. A single type of valve cannot fulfill all these functions (control, steering and adjustment), which is why there is one type of valve for each function. Four types of actuators can be attached to valve’s body rod: 1) Spinning wheel (manual device); 2) Pneumatic actuation (device driven by air pressure); 3) Electric actuation (device powered by electric current); 4) Hydraulic actuation (device driven by hydraulic oil pressure). Valve actuators improve control, accuracy and efficiency. Despite higher capital and operating costs, the actuators are frequently cost-effective in oil and gas industry where automation is a necessity due to remote, dangerous areas, unmanned installations. Electric actuator can be controlled remotely from a control center. More than 1 million actuators are in use around the world, some being in operation for more than 50 years. Reliability is primary reason for selection of those type of actuators. Searches related to data published by European Industrial Forecasting Ltd. (EIF) in 2015, shows that nearly 75% of all valves in the oil and gas sector are automated, compared to just 30% across all industries combined.

Pneumatic actuators are mechanical devices used to convert pressure of compressed air or gas in mechanical action. They exercise required air pressure from the compressor to create displacement by moving a piston. Main advantage of pneumatic actuator over electric actuator is that it will always reach predefined safe position even after losing air pressure (most used type of pneumatic actuator is linear or pneumatic cylinder type). There are three types of pneumatic actuators: 1) Linear Actuator or Pneumatic cylinders; 2) Rotary Actuator or Air motors; 3) Limited angle Actuators. The air cylinder is a simple and efficient device for providing linear trust or straight-line motion with a fast response speed, particularly suitable for single purpose applications and /or where rapid movement is required.

In this paper we investigate writing and using of a functional parallel-machine simulator, in a functional programming language as opposed to an imperative programming language, in terms of code-size, versatility and performance. As a use-case we chose a SIMD-type machine, and the Racket/Scheme programming language,. The main advantages over the use of imperative programming languages for creating architectural simulators are (i): the loose coupling to the architecture and (ii) the lack of an explicit compiler. By attempting two common software implementations and some changes to the base architecture we argue that the simulator is better in terms of algorithm-code size and system versatility (number of required changes for extending functionality) but not in execution speed (as it is running on a von Neumann machine, where C++ code is compiled into native machine code, not interpreted)

In current world situation (March-April 2020), COVID-19 isolation has pushed tele-working and tele-teaching to limits unseen before globally. Laboratory equipment has to be either time-shared (risking contamination) or simulated. In addition, hardware prototypes are usually made in small numbers (as they imply manual labor) and do not usually match the number of team-members working on the project.

In the first part, this paper aims to analyze the optical and electronic performance of advanced drivers for LED lighting applications, taking into account the financial aspects. Consequently, for two price classes (low- and high-cost), we investigate the power conversion efficiency, their grid impact, lighting characteristics, and finally the cost-benefit ratio. Experimental measurements on physical prototypes validate the simulations performed with real supplying conditions. The final part of the paper explains some optimization steps for price-performance ratio according to a multicriteria matrix or to the main criteria established by the beneficiary. The study should be a useful decision making tool for both the scientific community and the contracting authorities.

In this paper, a Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) solar charge controller is designed and implemented to achieve the maximum power extraction from a photovoltaic (PV) panel during the charging of four Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFEPO4) cells connected in series (4S1P configuration), which can replace the classical 12 V Lead-Acid battery of a vehicle. To maximize the power extracted from the PV panel, the MPPT controller uses a digitally-controlled synchronous DC-DC Buck converter through the Perturb-and-Observe (PO) algorithm, which sets the duty cycle accordingly. The main parameters of PV system (voltages, currents, powers for panel and battery) are measured and printed on the built-in Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) and are also transmitted over the Controller Area Network (CAN) interface to other Electronic Control Units (ECU) of the vehicle. Practical measurements are performed on a 100 W flexible PV panel installed on the roof of a vehicle and on Lead-Acid battery and a LiFePO4 battery pack installed in the luggage compartment.

Polymer Dispersed Liquid Crystal (PDLC) films are composite materials consisting of LC droplets embedded in polymers. In order to decrease the switching voltage of these devices, we prepared PDLC films doped with single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). The mesomorphic properties of the films were investigated by polarizing optical microscopy (POM). The electrical characteristics have been investigated using a Broadband Dielectric Spectrometer in a frequency domain (0.01-10⁷) Hz and a temperature range (280-350) K. Some key aspects of an optical model for the analysis of the coherent transmittance of PDLC - NP films are presented.

Working in difficult environments involves several restrictions concerning the design and the operation of a device. A possible set of requirements that must be considered when such a device is in the concept stage: the absence of nonproperly insulated physical buttons, the absence of sockets and metal contacts, the existence of a case that completely isolates the inside of the device from the external environment. The theme of this paper was chosen to contribute to the development of equipment that must comply with certain safety requirements. This paper details the concept of a portable lighting device for environments with potentially flammable atmosphere.

Single Shot MultiBox Detector is a single shot detector (uses a single shot) for multiple categories, which is faster than the latest generation such as YOLO (You only look once) and significantly more accurate, in fact just as accurate. As well as the slower techniques, which make explicit region proposals and collection (including faster R-CNN). SSD predicts category scores and box offsets for a fixed set of default bounding boxes, using small convolutional filters applied on feature maps. Recent researches in object detection are driven by the success of convolutional neural networks (CNN). They are able to learn rich features outperforming hand-crafted features. To obtain high detection accuracy, we produce predictions of different scales from feature maps of different scales, and explicit predictions based on the aspect ratio. These design features lead to simple end-to-end training and high accuracy, even on low resolution input images, further improving speed and accuracy with precision [2]. The SSD only needs an input image and truth boxes for each object during training. Convolutely, we evaluate a small set of boxes implicit by different aspect ratios at each location, in several feature maps with different [3]. For each implicit box, we preach both shape offsets and confidences for all object categories. During training, for the first time these default boxes match the truth boxes. The SSD approach is based on a convolutional feed-forward network that produces a fixed size collection of bounding boxes and scores for the presence of object class instances in those boxes, followed by a non-maximal suppression step to produce the final detections.

Novel lanthanidomesogens based on lanthanide nitrates carrying three 4-pyridone ligands having two alkoxy chains at the periphery were synthesized and their structure was assigned based on IR spectroscopy and elemental analysis. Their thermal stability was evaluated by TG analysis confirming that the decomposition starts at very high temperatures around 300°C. The liquid crystalline properties were investigated by using a combination of techniques: polarized optical microscopy (POM) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and, for selected compounds, by variable-temperature powder X-ray diffraction. The new liquid crystal display a hexagonal columnar phase (Colh) between 63°C and 242°C, depending on the length of the alkyl chain. Dielectric spectroscopy on a wide frequency range was used to evaluate the dipolar relaxation processes. The emission properties of a mixture of E7 doped with a selected europium complex filled in a planar cell were investigated on changing the applied voltage, ranging from 0V up to 15V.

Improving corrosion resistance represents a highly interesting topic in the maritime field, having important economic consequences by reducing the maintenance costs or increasing the life expectancy of the final products and by imposing significant environmental impact. In accordance with new IMO (International Maritime Organization) regulations, different new clean technologies have been proposed for solving this particular issue, among them being also considered the technology based on plasma discharges, generally produced at reduced pressure. The proposed study concerns the opportunity of atmospheric plasma treatment for naval steel preparation or conditioning. Five different treatments, with three types of plasma working under different gases, have been used. Their effects were evaluated based on surface modification analysis. These analyses concern the roughness of the samples and the surface hydrophobicity at two different moments of time. There were used three types of reactors producing non-thermal plasma: GlidArc, Gliding Spark and Minitorch.

Behavior of some wool fabrics as such or functionalized with semiconductor nanoparticles against the photodegradation of Rhodamine B was investigated. The wool samples were commercially purchased, they were chosen to differ by the chemical nature of the yarns, by the size of the 2D texture elements and by the applied pretreatment. The samples were routinely characterized both in the original form and in the form coated with the oxide particles as well to consider the structure, the surface morphology and their changes due to dye deposition. Several techniques were routinely applied: optical microscopy, XRD, SEM, TGA, UV-Vis spectroscopy and FTIR-ATR. Data have shown that TiO₂ layer has either an amorphous structure or is highly dispersed. Drops of Rhodamine B solution were deposited by sessile drop method. We have obtained optical images of the wet/colored spot during the radial wicking, collected with a usual camera. Image comparison was made by direct visualisation. The optical images of the spot on fabrics were taken immediately after the dye was applied, after the fabric was dried and afterwards, after the system illumination by UV-vis light as function of the time. The obtained final spots speak about the dye photodegradation in the studied cases.

Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) processing techniques have gradually become a powerful tool for earth observation. The ubiquitous problem of noise filtering represents also a challenge in the SAR signal processing field. In case of the analysis of land regions, the identification of a general algorithm, suitable for the large-scale processing, represents an additional challenge, due to the diversity of the areas’ characteristics. More specifically, two main classes of scattering mechanisms can be defined: Persistent Scatterers (PS), coherent, point-wise targets, and Distributed Scatterers (DS), mechanisms with moderate coherence, whose contribution spreads across multiple pixels of the images. Due to their different characteristics, the joint processing of PS and DS was difficult to address, until the development of the SqueeSAR algorithm. This method, based on the joint processing of statistical homogeneous pixels, was successfully implemented in the field of SAR Interferometry, which exploits solely the phase of the focused acquisitions. The objective of this work is to evaluate the applicability of the SqueeSAR principle in the frame of SAR Tomography, a multitemporal SAR processing technique which also has the ability to separate interfering scattering mechanisms.

This paper proposes a solution for classification of electronics laboratory equipment with emphasis on the electronic laboratory tools / equipment. It uses transfer-learning applied to the pretrained Inception-V3 network model. A study regarding the impact of small retrain dataset is conducted to see its impact in transfer-learning over Inceptio V3 network.

This paper proposes a study of underwater noise in Siutghiol lake from Constanta. This study is useful for the signal to noise ratio maximization for better underwater targets detection. Studying the properties of the underwater noise we want to conclude about noise stationery, in large or even in the restraint sense. It is very useful to study the aspect of the stochastic parameters – mean value, standard deviation and correlation coefficients. The relative invariance of those parameters denotes a kind of noise stationary in wide sense. If the density probability function of the underwater noise is time invariant this one can be considered a restraint (strict) sense stationary one. The noise characterization is useful to optimize the underwater targets detection by SONAR systems, using classic matched filters or time-frequency matched filters.

For the naval field there are two major problems related to the existence of microorganisms: the deposition of Biofouling and the treatment of ballast water. The first problem is strictly related to corrosion with an important economic impact on maintenance costs. In accordance with new IMO (International Maritime Organization) regulations, different green technologies have been proposed for solving this particular issue, among them being also considered the technology based on plasma discharge produced at low pressure. The proposed study concerns the opportunity of atmospheric plasma treatment for naval steel preparation or conditioning. Five different treatments, with three types of plasma working under different gases, have been used. Their effects were evaluated based on microbiological analysis. These analyses concern the biological contamination of each sample by bacteria control at 2 different moments of time. For this purpose, the Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli has been used, because it is one of the most important microbial indicators according to Ballast Water Performance Standard D2 (http://www.imo.org). Three different types of electric discharges were used as non-thermal plasmas for the surface treatment.

Testing of multiple programs running on the same core architecture is of use when a new microcontroller architecture is developed. However, this is performed sequentially even if the microcontroller to be developed is of very small compute power, making the testbench setup time dominate test runtime. This paper proposes a solution for testing multiple programs (hex-files) based on the PIC10F family[1] of MCUs from Microchip. A performance comparison will be made against the Microchip’s MPLAB Simulator taking multiple precautions to enable a fair comparison.

This paper aims to analyze the functionality of different types of power supplies producing laboratory controlled electrical discharges using pulsed power supplies for DBD discharge. The analysis includes measured electrical parameters and simulated electrical parameters using PROTEUS ISIS software. Also in this paper DBD types of plasma discharges will be simulated with two different power supplies in order to approximate functionality. Laboratory electrical discharges that produce non-thermal plasma are used more and more for microbiological decontamination, surface treatment and depollution by the means of decomposing some complex molecules or in the field of modern medicine. Each application requires a power supply particularly adapted to each type of the plasma reactor. If the first applications of these discharges were designed mostly for reactor types with high volume discharge capabilities, and the power supplies were simple and robust generating high power using industrial frequencies, in time the reactors decreased significantly in size and the power supplies used were working on higher frequencies. This trend was adopted on one hand out of the need for energy optimization of the power supplies used, and on the other hand to get a better homogeneity of the treatment. This paper aims to provide a comparison for pulsed power supplies working at different frequencies, with respect to the electrical parameters, from the point of view of power supplies themselves for DBD discharges. In order to optimize the non-thermal plasma treatment for different applications, the parameters of the electric discharges producing the plasma must be considered. Consequently, it is necessary to carry out a simulation starting from an equivalent electric schematic with parameters as close as possible to those of the discharge. This discharge is produced in non-thermal plasma DBD reactors. The analysis is done on simulated electrical parameters using PROTEUS ISIS software in order to assess the parameters in functionality of the power supplies.

The internal combustion engine is an energy converter which uses the chemical energy of the fuel to create thermal energy, that is, further on, converted into mechanical energy. The physical phenomena inside an engine are extremely complex, therefore a thorough study must follow the path from simple to complex, using an 'open system' knowledge acquiring philosophy. The paper presents an original software which is a necessary stage in the strength calculus of a crankshaft, one of the most important mechanical parts of an internal combustion engine. The analytical approach which is implemented defines the geometric model, the model of the loads and the model of the supports. The algorithm is based on the vector-based method of computation of the moment vector. The software was developed in C++, it consists of more than 800 computer code lines and it is a cross-platform application being compiled and run in both Windows 10 and Ubuntu operating systems. The input and output data are stored in CSV text files, in this way being available a user friendly interface which offers several facilities. The software is able to handle parameters which are symbolized as units of force and length. The application was extensively tested and it may be easily linked to other software in the meta-level of a hybrid model.

This paper aims to investigate graph-related telecommunication problems from a conceptual modelling point of view, based on the argument that a wide range of efficient algorithms for these computational problems can be framed within three design paradigms, namely Backtracking, Divide and Conquer and Greedy approach. First of all, such an abstract design technique represents a general problem-solving template that can be used for a broad range of problems in a large variety of applications domains, whose resolution will thus materialize in specific instances of that procedure; the procedure shall be further implemented in any programming language. Secondly, it is important because it guides the researchers in the field and facilitates the development of new and useful algorithms for other graph-structured computational problems.

The paper focuses on modelling and simulation of energy consumption of an of an autonomous embedded system with a solar cell as energy source and NiMH battery as energy storage during night. Key aspects in the design and implementation of the proposed system are presented. Simple models for energy consumption/generation for solar cell, NiMH battery charging and discharging, microcontroller and its peripherals are elaborated, tested and coupled together for complete system simulations that allow system configuration and optimization.

Nowadays, wireless communications are the main core of IT infrastructure. Due to its security issues and absence of security mechanisms, users are delaying the fast expansion of technology. The confidentiality of data is frequently limited by access policies for resources provided by Internet vendors, but no one can certify that only authorized entities have access to them. This paper provides a pattern for important security issues encountered in wireless communications: privacy, confidentiality and availability. In order to prevent unauthorized access to the network, the data must be secured using solid encryption protocols. The novelty is given by the created pattern that presents a foray into the security of information passed through the network, an optimization of the implementation of security policies to ensure the protection of confidential data using security protocols. The evolution of wireless communications technologies in recent years must make us recognize the importance of securing the systems used, as well as the need to constantly invest in equipment that can withstand attacks on network infrastructures.

The automation of processes, respectively the digitization of objects have become more and more dominating in our lives, both inside and outside of our homes. All these represent attempts to simplify, monitor and easily use the devices connected to a main automation system in each house. The concept of "smart home" is highly known and advertised, but it is very rarely used in my country, Romania. Most of the people, from there, are unfamiliar with "smart objects", due to the extremely rare attempt to use them, including also the costs of acquisition and maintenance and why not, probably the lack of interest in seeing how important and beneficial they could become to their household. At the same time, today, the technological progress has speed of continuous development, especially in the area of wireless communications – including mobile devices, Internet and sensors. Using this type of technology and devices at a day-by-day increasing speed of the Internet, it is almost difficult to avoid the future that is invading today's lives. This article, among other aspects, has the purpose to show how ordinary objects "gain voice“, so they are acquiring the characteristic of being "intelligent". Therefore, through interaction, maintenance and monitoring of these objects it can give a quality of experience for the user safer, more reliable and it will be improved also their interaction with humans.

In this paper we propose a distance averaging method in order to reduce the effect of the common mode currents on the coaxial feed line when measuring the radiation of a log-periodic dipole array (LPDA). A small square loop was used as a probe.

There are various solutions for powering communications nodes. The cheapest, with extremely low consumption, use primary cells (non-rechargeable batteries). For a longer life, applications are being developed that will use batteries based on various technologies (Pb-acid, NiMH, NiCd, Lithium cells, etc.). But all batteries have a limited number of charging-discharging cycles: a few thousand, at comfortable temperatures (between 15°C and 25°C) and incomplete discharge. The storage capacity decreases with each cycle, and is greatly accentuated in the case of over-discharge. In addition, the performance of standard batteries at low temperatures is low (limited capacity, low charging and discharging rate, increased internal resistance). In addition, the price limits the use of cells designed to operate at extreme temperatures (-40°C to + 80°C), in isolated locations that remain in hard-to-reach areas. New power systems are moving towards the use of supercapacitors (EDLC) which are becoming cheaper and cheaper with increasing energy density. They are very reliable passive devices, which exceed the battery life, the number of cycles and the robustness of any battery on the market today, without feeling the effects of low temperatures. The number of cycles reaches hundreds of thousands, and at the end of them to a doubled internal resistance (which remains in the range of millions) and to a slight reduction in capacity (10% -20%). Since a good capacitor has a lifespan of about 20 years, a carefully designed communications node outperforms any network with nodes powered by standard batteries. Under these conditions, hybrid power solutions are required, which, in addition to a small capacity battery, power supply, includes supercapacitors to improve the performance of the power system.