The biofiltration process in the biologically activated carbon filters (BAC) is one of advanced methods of water treatment. It enables efficient elimination of dissolved organic matter and some inorganic pollutants. The production of high-quality drinking water requires an appropriate method of filter work control based on biofilm growth assessment. The first aim of the study was to assess the microbial development in beds of two BAC filters with the use of various methods. The second aim was to compare the obtained results and indicate the method which could support filter operators during routine control of biofiltration process. The study was carried out in a pilot scale on models of BAC filters during two filter runs. The analysis of Microorganisms was performed in water samples collected from different depths of the filter beds with the use of culture method (HPC), metabolica ctivity assay (with the FDA), epifluorescence microscopy – total cell count method (TCC) and biochemical method (system Vitek 2 Compact). No statistical correlation between HPC and metabolic activity assay was noted. Total bacteria number determined with the use of TCC was approx. 100–900 times higher than in the HPC method. The biochemical tests revealed the presence of several Gram-negative species. The comparison of the applied methods shows that microbial activity assay is the most useful, fast and low-cost method which may be applied additionally to the HPC method at standard water treatment plant laboratory.

Risks pertaining to construction work relate to situations in which various events may randomly change the duration and cost of the project or worsen its quality. Because of possible significant changes of random events, favorable, moderate, and difficult conditions of construction work are considered. It is the first stage of the construction risk analysis. The probabilistic parameters of construction are identified and described by using the design characteristics model of the structure and the construction technology model. The first describes the probabilistic properties of the structure execution's technology. The second describes the probabilistic properties of the works execution. Both models contain basic probabilistic data for scheduling, cost estimating, and risk assessment of the construction.

The main open-field producer regions of cucurbits (watermelon, squash, melon and cucumber) in Panama (Los Santos, Herrera and Coclé provinces) were surveyed for molecular identification, occurrence and distribution of Thrips palmi (the most important pest thrip species on cucurbits in Panama), Frankliniella intonsa and Frankliniella cephalica during the growing seasons of 2009 to 2013 and 2017 to 2018. Forty plots were surveyed and DNA extracts of 186 thrips (larvae and adults) were analyzed by multiplex PCR, using a set of T. palmi-specific primers in combination with a set of insect-universal primers. DNA extracts corresponding to 174 individual thrips (93.5%) rendered both PCR products of expected size with T. palmi-specific and insect-universal primers, whereas the remaining DNA extracts corresponding to 12 individual thrips (6.5%) only rendered the product of the expected size with insect-universal primers. Sequencing of those PCR products and BLAST analysis allowed for the identification of F. intonsa and F. cephalica. Thrips palmi was detected in all three provinces, while F. intonsa and F. cephalica were detected in Herrera and Los Santos provinces. To our knowledge, this is not only the first detection of F. intonsa in Panama, but also the first detection of F. cephalica in Panamanian cucurbit crops.

Chinese is a tonal language, which differentiates it from non-tonal languages in the Western countries. A Chinese character consists of an initial, a final, and a tone. In the present study, the effects of noise and reverberation on the Chinese syllable, initial, final, and tone identification in rooms were investigated by using simulated binaural impulse responses through auralization method. The results show that the syllable identification score is the lowest, the tone identification score is the highest, and the initial identification scores are lower than those of the final identification under the same reverberation time and signal-to-noise ratio condition. The Chinese syllable, initial, and final identification scores increase with the increase of signal-to-noise ratio and decrease of the reverberation time. The noise and reverberation have insignificant effects on the Chinese tone identification scores under most room acoustical environments. The statistical relationship between the Chinese syllable articulation and phoneme articulation had been experimentally proved under different noise and reverberation conditions in simulated rooms.

The use of fractional-order calculus for system modeling is a good alternative to well-known classic integer-order methods, primarily due to the precision with which the modeled object may be mapped. In this study, we created integer and fractional discrete models of a real object – a highspeed brushless micro-motor. The accuracy of the models was verified and compared.

In this paper, quanizted multisine inputs for a maneuver with simultaneous elevator, aileron and rudder deflections are presented. The inputs were designed for 9 quantization levels. A nonlinear aircraft model was exited with the designed inputs and its stability and control derivatives were identified. Time domain output error method with maximum likelihood principle and a linear aircraft model were used to perform parameter estimation. Visual match and relative standard deviations of the estimates were used to validate the results for each quantization level for clean signals and signals with measurement noise present in the data. The noise was included into both output and input signals. It was shown that it is possible to obtain accurate results when simultaneous flight controls deflections are quantized and noise is present in the data.

Cladoceran remains preserve selectively in lake sediments. Possibly all Cladocera species leave at least some identifiable remains in lake sediments. Exosceletal body parts of families Chydoridae and Bosminidae preserve best but other families are only variably represented in sediments by their outer body parts. Identification of all possible remains helps to achieve more precise palaeolimnological reconstruction of past ecosystems by Cladocera analysis. This article describes, together with photograph and line drawing the subfossil post-abdomen and post-abdominal claw of Ceriodaphnia, previously not widely identified.

In this paper the identification problem is considered for initial conditionsin a non-minimal state-space model that includes interpretable state variablesgenerated by non-stationary stochastic processes. In order to solve theidentification problem, structural restrictions are imposed on initial conditionsin a state-space model with redundant state variables. The correspondingrestricted maximum likelihood estimator of initial conditions is derived.The restricted estimator of initial conditions can be used in order tocompute uniquely identified realizations of interpretable latent variables. Theidentification problem is illustrated analytically using a simple structuraleconomic model.

In this paper we present the first identification of the Tomato clack ring virus isolated from zucchini with mosaic and deformation of leaves in Poland. Immunosorbent electron microscopy, ELISA test and IC-RT-PCR confirmed the identification of TBRV. RNA extracted from purified virus (size about 7.4 kb and 4.6 kb) was characteristic to this virus.

Globodera artemisiae (Eroshenko et Kazachenko, 1972) was found in Poland in autumn of 2004. The nematodes developed on Artemisia vulgaris L. Morphological and morphometric characteristics of the Polish population correspond to earlier known populations from Far East of Russia, Armenia, China, Germany and Sweden. The traditional identification was confirmed by molecular methods. On the basic of rDNA sequences of G. artemisiae, deposited in GenBank the product of expected size was obtained. Subsequently, the results were confirmed by sequencing analysis.

A new observer of induction motor state variables is proposed in the paper. A nonlinearity of the main magnetic path is expressed as a function of a properly chosen parameter versus the position vector length. The value of the mutual inductance received n the identification algorithm is calculated exploiting the estimated values of the state variables. The coefficients appearing in the differential equations of the observer system are modified in each step of the algorithm on the basis of the calculated mutual inductance. The analysis of convergence of the identification algorithm is shown in this paper.

To stabilise the periodic operation of a chemical reactor the oscillation period should be determined precisely in real time. The method discussed in the paper is based on adaptive sampling of the state variable with the use of chaotic mapping to itself. It enables precise determination of the oscillation period in real time and could be used for a proper control system, that can successfully control the process of chemical reaction and maintain the oscillation period at a set level. The method was applied to a tank reactor and tubular reactor with recycle.

A method of suppressing chaotic oscillations in a tubular reactor with mass recycle is discussed. The method involves intervention in the temperature of the input flow by the recirculation flow and the temperature set from the exterior. The most advantageous solution was proved to be heat coupling elimination and maintenance of the reactor input temperature on the set level. Moreover, the reactor modelwas identified on the basis of a chaotic solution, as it provides the biggest entropy of information.

The powerful tool for defect analysis is an expert system. It is a computer programme based on the knowledge of experts for solving the

quality of castings. We present the expert system developed in the VSB-Technical University of Ostrava called ‘ESWOD’. The ESWOD

programme consists of three separate modules: identification, diagnosis / causes and prevention / remedy. The identification of casting

defects in the actual form of the system is based on their visual aspect.

Diagnostics of composite castings, due to their complex structure, requires that their characteristics are tested by an appropriate description

method. Any deviation from the specific characteristic will be regarded as a material defect. The detection of defects in composite castings

sometimes is not sufficient and the defects have to be identified. This study classifies defects found in the structures of saturated metallic

composite castings and indicates those stages of the process where such defects are likely to be formed. Not only does the author

determine the causes of structural defects, describe methods of their detection and identification, but also proposes a schematic procedure

to be followed during detection and identification of structural defects of castings made from saturated reinforcement metallic composites.

Alloys examination was conducted after technological process, while using destructive (macroscopic tests, light and scanning electron

microscopy) and non-destructive (ultrasonic and X-ray defectoscopy, tomography, gravimetric method) methods. Research presented in

this article are part of author’s work on castings quality.

The paper presents a procedure for correction of the error of an ECG signal, introduced by the skin-electrode interface. This procedure involves three main measuring-calculating stages: parametrical identification of the mathematical model of the interface, realized directly before the diagnostic measurements, registration of the signal at the output of electrodes as well as reconstruction of the input signal of the interface.

The first two stages are realized in the on-line mode, whereas the operation of signal reconstruction presents a numerical task of digital signal processing and is realized in the off-line mode through deconvolution of the registered signal with the transfer function of the skin-electrode interface.

The aim of the paper is to discuss in detail the procedure of parametric identification of the skin-electrode interface with the use of a computer system equipped with a DAQ card and LabVIEW software. The algorithm for error correction introduced by this interface is also presented.

The paper presents application of a modified, symmetrical Bouc-Wen model to simulate the mechanical behaviour of high-frequency piezoelectric actuators (PAs). In order to identify parameters of the model, a two-step algorithm was developed. In its first stage, the mechanical parameters were identified by taking into account their bilinear variability and using a square input voltage waveform. In the second step, the hysteresis parameters were determined based on a periodic excitation. Additionally, in order to reduce the influence of measurement errors in determination of selected derivatives the continuum wavelet transform (CWT) and translation-rotation transformation (TRT) methods were applied. The results proved that the modified symmetrical Bouc-Wen model is able to describe the mechanical behaviour of PAs across a wide frequency range.

The bacterial species Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Rickettsia helvetica are pathogenic for humans and domestic animals and are transmitted by ticks, e.g., of the Ixodes genus. Most of the vertebrate species constituting reservoirs for anaplasmas are known, but the potential reservoirs of rickettsiae are still under discussion. This study presents an analysis of the DNA of tick-borne pathogens isolated from the whole blood of goats grazing on meadows in West Pomerania, Poland. No DNA of A. phagocytophilum was found in the blood of the goats, while the DNA of R. helvetica was detected in 5.5% of the animals. The potential role of ruminants in the circulation of R. helvetica remains unknown.

In the paper a new method, called the Noise Scattering Pattern (NSP) method, for RTS noise identification in a noise signal is presented. Examples of patterns of the NSP method are included.

A fractional-order control strategy for a pneumatic position servo-system is presented in this paper. The idea of the fractional calculus application to control theory was introduced in many works, and its advantages were proved. This paper deals with the design of fractional order PIλDµ controllers, in which the orders of the integral and derivative parts, λ and µ, respectively, are fractional. Experiments with fractional-order controller are performed under various conditions, which include position signal with different frequencies and amplitudes or a step position signal. The results show the effectiveness of the proposed schemes and verify their fine control performance for a pneumatic position servo-system.

In the paper, the authors present the approach to modelling of austenitic steel hardening basing on the Frederick-Armstrong’s rule and Chaboche elastic-plastic material model with mixed hardening. Non-linear uniaxial constitutive equations are derived from more general relations with the assumption of an appropriate evolution of back stress. The aim of the paper is to propose a robust and efficient identification method of a well known material model.

A typical LCF strain-controlled test was conducted for selected amplitudes of total strain. Continuous measurements of instant stress and total strain values were performed. Life time of a specimen, signals amplitudes and load frequency were also recorded.

Based on the measurement, identification of constitutive equation parameters was performed. The goal was to obtain a model that describes, including hardening phenomenon, a material behaviour during the experiment until the material failure. As a criterion of optimisation of the model least square projection accuracy of the material response was selected.

Several optimisation methods were examined. Finally, the differential evolution method was selected as the most efficient one. The method was compared to standard optimisation methods available in the MATLAB environment. Significant decrease of computation time was achieved as all the optimisation procedures were run parallel on a computer cluster.

Today, a cascaded system of position loop, velocity loop and current loop is standard in industrial motion controllers. The exact knowledge of significant parameters in the loops is the basis for the tuning of the servo controllers. A new method to support the commissioning has been developed. It enables the user to identify the moment of inertia as well as the time constant of the closed current loop simultaneously. The method is based on the auto relay feedback experiment by Aström and Hägglund. The model parameters are automatically adjusted according to the time behaviour of the controlled system. For this purpose, the auto relay feedback experiment is combined with the technique of gradual pole compensation. In comparison to other existing methods, this approach has the advantage that a parametric model for the open velocity loop is derived directly.