Bulletin of the Polish Academy of Sciences Technical Sciences

This study presents cause-effect dependencies between inputs and outputs of business transitions that are software objects designed for processing information-decision state variables in integrated enterprise process control (EntPC) systems. Business transitions are elementary components of controlling units in enterprise processes that have been defined as self-controlling, generalized business processes, which may serve not only as business processes but also as business systems or their roles. Business events, which have zero durations by definition, are interpreted as executions of business actions that are main operations of business transitions. Any ordered set of business actions, performed in the controlling unit of a given enterprise process and attributed to the same discrete-time instant, is referred to as ‘the information-decision process’. The i-d processes may be substituted by managerial business processes, performed on the lower organizational level, where durations of activity executions are greater than zero, but discrete-time periods are considerably shorter. In such a case, procedures of business actions are performed by corresponding activities of managerial processes, but on the level of business transitions the durations of their executions are imperceptible, and many different business events may occur at the same discrete-time instant. It has been demonstrated in the paper how to control business actions to ensure that a given i-d state variable may not change more than once at a given instant. Furthermore, the rules of designing the i-d process structures, which prevent random changes of transitory states, have been presented.

The article refers to the idea of using the software defined network (SDN) as an effective hardware and software platform enabling the creation and dynamic management of distributed ICT infrastructure supporting the rapid prototyping process. The authors proposed a new layered reference model remote distributed rapid prototyping that allows the development of heterogeneous, open systems of rapid prototyping in a distributed environment. Next, the implementation of this model was presented in which the functioning of the bottom layers of the model is based on the SDN architecture. Laboratory tests were carried out for this implementation which allowed to verify the proposed model in the real environment, as well as determine its potential and possibilities for further development. Thus, the approach described in the paper may contribute to the development and improvement of the efficiency of rapid prototyping processes which individual components are located in remote industrial, research and development units. Thanks to this, it will be possible to better integrate production processes as well as optimize the costs associated with prototyping. The proposed solution is also a response in this regard to the needs of industry 4.0 in the area of creating scalable, controllable and reliable platforms.

The goal of this paper is to explore and to provide tools for the investigation of the problems of unit-length scheduling of incompatible jobs on uniform machines. We present two new algorithms that are a significant improvement over the known algorithms. The first one is Algorithm 2 which is 2-approximate for the problem Qm|pj  = 1, G = bisubquartic|Cmax. The second one is Algorithm 3 which is 4-approximate for the problem Qm|pj  = 1, G = bisubquartic|ΣCj, where m ∈ {2, 3, 4}. The theory behind the proposed algorithms is based on the properties of 2-coloring with maximal coloring width, and on the properties of ideal machine, an abstract machine that we introduce in this paper.

The optimal design of excitation signal is a procedure of generating an informative input signal to extract the model parameters with maximum pertinence during the identification process. The fractional calculus provides many new possibilities for system modeling based on the definition of a derivative of noninteger-order. A novel optimal input design methodology for fractional-order systems identification is presented in the paper. The Oustaloup recursive approximation (ORA) method is used to obtain the fractional-order differentiation in an integer order state-space representation. Then, the presented methodology is utilized to solve optimal input design problem for fractional-order system identification. The fundamental objective of this approach is to design an input signal that yields maximum information on the value of the fractional-order model parameters to be estimated. The method described in this paper was verified using a numerical example, and the computational results were discussed.

The global (absolute) stability of nonlinear systems with negative feedbacks and positive descriptor linear parts is addressed. Transfer matrices of positive descriptor linear systems are analyzed. The characteristics u = f(e) of the nonlinear parts satisfy the condition
k₁e  ≤ f(e) ≤ k₂e for some positive k₁, k₂. It is shown that the nonlinear feedback systems are globally asymptotically stable if the Nyquist plots of the positive descriptor linear parts are located in the right-hand side of the circles (–¹/k₁,  –¹/k₂).

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.

This paper adopts a fractional calculus perspective to describe a non-linear electrical inductor. First, the electrical impedance spectroscopy technique is used for measuring the impedance of the device. Second, the experimental data is approximated by means of fractional-order models. The results demonstrate that the proposed approach represents the inductor using a limited number of parameters, while highlighting its most relevant characteristics.

The paper presents a tool for accurate evaluation of high field concentrations near singular lines, such as contours of cracks, notches and grains intersections, in 3D problems solved the BEM. Two types of boundary elements, accounting for singularities, are considered: (i) edge elements, which adjoin a singular line, and (ii) intermediate elements, which while not adjoining the line, are still under strong influence of the singularity. An efficient method to evaluate the influence coefficients and the field intensity factors is suggested for the both types of the elements. The method avoids time expensive numerical evaluation of singular and hypersingular integrals over the element surface by reduction to 1D integrals. The method being general, its details are explained by considering a representative examples for elasticity problems for a piece-wise homogeneous medium with cracks, inclusions and pores. Numerical examples for plane elements illustrate the exposition. The method can be extended for curvilinear elements.

The paper proposes a study of molecular interactions using the planetary model of the atomic structure. The description refers to transfer of the interactions by electrons bonded with an atom in a planetary system. In molecules we refer to analysis of electrons that remain unpaired during the formation of chemical compounds. The planetary electronic state of molecular interactions is defined by considering the action arm for interatomic forces. Then the interaction torque is defined. The problem is studied in a collection of atoms forming a nanoparticle and then analysis is carried on in the entire volume of the nanocomposite, which is defined as a set of the nanoparticles in a field of matrix-nanofiller interactions. As a result, new mechanical, magnetic, and optical properties of the nanocomposite arise and are described herein. The atomic-scale phenomena are described by both classical and quantum mechanics and are then transferred to the nanoparticle scale by applying statistical mechanics. The quantum solutions for the optically active electrons form the basis for the optical properties of the nanocomposite using forced gyrobirefringence and Maxwell equations. The results of the theoretical analysis are confirmed by experiment using an electron paramagnetic resonance spectrometer.

Electro-dynamic passive magnetic bearings are now viewed as a feasible option when looking for support for high-speed rotors. Nevertheless, because of the skew-symmetrical visco-elastic properties of such bearings, they are prone to operational instability. In order to avoid this, the paper proposes the addition of external damping into the newly designed vibrating laboratory rotor-shaft system. This may be achieved by means of using simple passive dampers that would be found among the components of the electro-dynamic bearing housings along with magnetic dampers, which satisfy the operational principles of active magnetic bearings. Theoretical investigations are going to be conducted by means of a structural computer model of the rotor-shaft under construction, which will take into consideration its actual dimensions and material properties. The additional damping magnitudes required to stabilize the most sensitive lateral eigenmodes of the object under consideration have been determined by means of the Routh-Hurwitz stability criterion.

Applications of morphological filters for two-process profiles were analysed. Dilation, closing and alternating sequential (closing +  opening) filters were used with a circle (disk) as a structuring element. An original method of a disk radius selection was elaborated for two-process profiles. This procedure was applied for many simulated and measured profiles. Behaviors of morphological filters were compared with those of double Gaussian (Rk) filter. Robust filter was also taken into consideration. In calculation, TalyMap software was used. The proposed procedure was found to be very useful. It was developed for 2D profiles but it can be easily extended for an areal (3D) surface topography filtering. From among morphological filters, the alternate sequential filter is suggested.