Ventilation rate is a physical index that is strictly controlled during cigarette manufacturing because an abnormal ventilation rate can affect the release of mainstream smoke, tar, and other components harmful to human health. Therefore, the standard rod is used for measuring the ventilation rate, which necessitates accurate and effective periodic inspections. In this study, we designed and built a set of special tobacco ventilation rate standard rods to assess the standard device during its verification period and used a digital thermal flowmeter as the flow standard.We determined the micro-pressure adjustment interval through fluid simulation, and conducted an experimental verification based on the simulation results. At the adjustment point where the differential pressure value was 0 Pa, the period verification device was tested under the standard values of 27.38%, 58.83%, and 71.95%. The results show that the measurement errors of the device are –0.42%, 0.55%, and –0.13% respectively, which all meet the verification regulation requirements and indicate that the device is applicable in practical situations.

The paper presents a thermal-economic analysis of different variants of a hard coal-fired 900 MW ultra-supercritical power unit. The aim of the study was to determine the effect of the parameters of live and reheated steam on the basic thermodynamic and economic indices of the thermal cycle. The subject of the study was the cycle configuration proposed as the "initial thermal cycle structure" during the completion of the project "Advanced Technologies for Energy Generation" with the live and reheated steam parameters of 650/670 °C. At the same time, a new concept of a thermal cycle for ultra-supercritical parameters with live and reheated steam temperature of 700/720 °C was suggested. The analysis of the ultra-supercritical unit concerned a variant with a single and double steam reheat. All solutions presented in the paper were subject to a detailed thermodynamic analysis, as well as an economic one which also included CO2emissions charges. The conducted economic analysis made it possible to determine the maximum value of investment expenditures at which given solutions are profitable.

Disorders of the heart and blood vessels are the leading cause of health problems and death. Early detection of them is extremely valuable as it can prevent serious incidents (e.g. heart attack, stroke) and associated complications. This requires extending the typical mobile monitoring methods (e.g. Holter ECG, tele-ECG) by introduction of integrated, multiparametric solutions for continuous monitoring of the cardiovascular system.

In this paper we propose the wearable system that integrates measurements of cardiac data with actual estimation of the cardiovascular risk level. It consists of two wirelessly connected devices, one designed in the form of a necklace, the another one in the form of a bracelet (wrist watch). These devices enable continuous measurement of electrocardiographic, plethysmographic (impedance-based and optical-based) and accelerometric signals. Collected signals and calculated parameters indicate the electrical and mechanical state of the heart and are processed to estimate a risk level. Depending on the risk level an appropriate alert is triggered and transmitted to predefined users (e.g. emergency departments, the family doctor, etc.).

An interview with Professor Włodzimierz Lengauer, a widely acclaimed expert on ancient Greek history and religion, in which he talks about his studies and the development of his scholarly interests.

Numerical simulation is an economical and effective method in the field of marine engineering. The dynamics of mooring cables has been analysed by a numerical simulation code that was created on a basis of a new element frame. This paper aims at verifying the accuracy of the numerical simulation code through comparisons with both the real experiments and a commercial simulation code. The real experiments are carried out with a catenary chain mooring in a water tank. The experimental results match the simulation results by the numerical simulation code well. Additionally, a virtual simulation of a large size chain mooring in ocean is carried out by both the numerical simulation code and a commercial simulation code. The simulation results by the numerical simulation code match those by the commercial simulation code well. Thus, the accuracy of the numerical simulation code for underwater chain mooring is verified by both the real experiments and commercial simulation code.