The paper analyses the indoor environment in two modern intelligent buildings located in Poland. Measurements of air and globe temperatures, relative humidity and carbon dioxide concentration in 117 rooms carried out in the space of 1.5 years were presented. Thermal comfort of the occupants has been investigated using a questionnaire survey. Based on 1369 questionnaires, thermal sensation, acceptability and preference votes were analysed in view of their interdependency as well as their dependency on operative temperature, which proved to be very strong. It has been found that the respondents did not completely rate thermal comfort and indoor environment quality as very high, although the overwhelming sensations were positive. Apart from the operation of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, this might have also been the cause of individual human factors, such as body mass index, as tested in the study, or the finding that people were generally in favour of a warmer environment. Moreover, thermal environment proved to be the most important element for ensuring the well-being of the occupants.

Titania (TiO 2 ) based coatings are ceramic products with unique properties that make them widely applicable (e.g. in automotive industry, optoelectronics, chemical processing or medicine). Atmospheric plasma spray process enables to deposit TiO 2 with addition of NiAl feedstock material which has an influence on coating cohesion and adhesion to substrate. However, the literature and technical notes give little information about parameters of spraying of TiO 2 -10 wt.% NiAl feedstock powders enables producing coating without nonuniformities including cracks and delamination form substrate. The aim of the work was to verify the parameters of plasma spraying by evaluation of the morphology and properties of manufactured the TiO 2 -10 wt.% NiAl coatings. Titania based coatings were deposited by means of atmospheric plasma sprayed on steel substrate using TiO 2 -10 wt.% NiAl feedstock powders. Morphology and microstructure were examined using light optical microscope (LOM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Coating chemical composition were analysed by means of SEM-EDS method. Coating surface topography and Knoop microhardness were determined. Porosity and thickness were evaluated by using quantities image analysis programme. Plasma spraying parameters used in our research allow to obtain uniform coating without cracks and delamination at coating-substrate interface. It acknowledges that uniformity of coating technological properties as well manufactured coatings can be put to wear tests, such as high temperature oxidation, corrosion, erosion or cavitation erosion resistance evaluation.

Ceramic materials included in the group of advanced materials are increasingly used in different fields of science and technology as well as in everyday life. Hydroxyapatite ceramics (HAp, HA), based on calcium phosphates, i.e. chemical compounds being a constituent of natural bone, is found to be one of the best implantation materials for bone surgeries and dentistry. Due to poor mechanical properties of hydroxyapatite ceramics, the attempts are made to modify HA materials in order to extend the scope of current applications. It is also necessary to maintain high biocompatibility and bioactivity. Reported investigations encompassed comparison of functional properties of HA and HA+ZrO2 coatings (modified with 8%wt. Y2O3) as well as coatings remelted with laser beam. Microstructural and phase analyses of the coatings before and after remelting were carried out. In order to determine biocompatibility of the coatings after plasma spraying and remelting, corrosion resistance testing was also performed in Ringer’s solution.

Atmospheric plasma spray (APS) wear-resistant coatings are popular in mechanical designing for increasing the operation time of machine elements. APS enables the deposition of ceramic, metallic, and cermet coatings to ameliorate the effects of wear that cause most of the failures of machine elements. The aim of the paper was to investigate the influence of the coating thickness of TiO2-10 wt% NiAl on abrasive, sliding, and cavitation erosion resistance. Titania based coatings were deposited by means of APS onto a mild steel substrate using TiO2-10 wt% NiAl feedstock material. The coatings had thicknesses of approximately 50, 100, and 200 µm. The morphology and microstructure of the coatings were examined using a light optical microscope (LOM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The as-deposited surface topography and hardness of the coatings were determined. The porosity and thickness were evaluated by using quantities image analysis software. Cavitation erosion tests were performed according to ASTM G32 (vibratory apparatus) and ASTM G134 (cavitating liquid jet). Abrasive and sliding wear tests were conducted using a three body abrasive tester and ball-on-disc apparatus, respectively. Generally the thickest coating presents an increase in resistance to sliding wear and cavitation erosion over the thinnest cermet coating.

ABSTRACT:The study was carried out on nine sexually mature male rats of the Wistar breed weighing approximately 250 g each. Animals were anaesthetized with thiopental sodium injected intraperitoneally (30 mg/kg of body weight). The animals were then injected with Fast Blue tracer into the right trapezius muscle. After a survival period of five weeks the rats were transcardially perfused with buffered paraformaldehyde. The following tissue blocks were collected: spinal cord (cervical and thoracic part) with spinal ganglia and whole brain with medulla oblongata. The tissues collected were cut into 12 μm-thick cryostat sections, which were viewed under a fluorescent microscope equipped with a filter block for FB. FB-positive (FB + ) neurons were counted in every fourth section to avoid double analysis. After injections of the tracer to the right trapezius muscle FB + neurons were found in many nuclei and ganglia. The labelled cells of the medulla oblongata nuclei were found in the bilateral vestibular nuclei including superior (SuVe), lateral (LVe), medial (MVe) and spinal (SpVe) vestibular nuclei and also in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DR) which is a single nucleus, but only in the ipsilateral ambiguous nucleus (Amb). FB + perikarya were also found in the spinal cord, extending between the first cervical segment (C 1 ) and the cranial half of the seventh spinal cervical segment (C 7 ), in an ipsilateral area ventrolateraly with respect to the central canal, within the spinal nucleus of the accessory nerve (SAN). Retrograde labelled sensory neurons were found in the bilateral spinal ganglia (SPG-s), from the second cervical ganglion (C 2 ) to the third thoracic ganglion (Th 3 ).