Witold Nocoń

This study investigates personal exposure to fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) during walking commutes in Gliwice, Poland—a city characterized by elevated levels of air pollution. Data from a low-cost air quality sensor were compared with a municipal monitoring station and the Silesian University of Technology laboratory. PM_2.5 concentrations recorded by the low-cost sensor (7.3 µg/m³) were lower than those reported by the stationary monitoring sites. The findings suggest that low-cost sensors may offer valuable insights into short-term peaks in PM_2.5 exposure to serve as a practical tool for increasing public awareness of personal exposure risks to protect respiratory health.

This study examines variations in personal exposure to PM_2.5 and NO₂ while commuting by bicycle, vehicle, and walking during heating and non-heating seasons in Gliwice, an industrial city in Upper Silesia, Poland. Understanding these variations is crucial for assessing health risks and developing effective mitigation strategies. Personal exposure was measured using low-cost sensors, while stationary measurements provided comparative background concentrations. The results indicate statistically significant seasonal differences in pollutant concentrations. NO₂ levels were higher during the heating season (mean: 30.84 µg/m³, median: 25.60 µg/m³) than in the non-heating season (mean: 22.61 µg/m³, median: 20.37 µg/m³; p = 0.025). In contrast, PM_2.5 concentrations were higher in the non-heating season (mean: 12.1 µg/m³) compared to the heating season (mean: 9.5 µg/m³; p = 0.032). Inhaled doses instead of concentrations evaluated the exposure of participants. The inhaled doses of NO₂ and PM_2.5 per km were significantly higher for walking (mean: 141.3 and 30.7 µg/km for the male participant; 77.9 and 31.6 µg/km for the female participant) than for bicycle and walking (p < 0.05). These findings underscore the impact of transport mode and seasonality on air pollution exposure, highlighting the necessity for targeted mitigation strategies to reduce commuters’ exposure to traffic-related pollutants.

The paper presents a simulation investigation into the individual time of parcel transportation in a multi-agent robot operated warehouse for two different artificial intelligence planning strategies (independent and cooperative), two different warehouse setups and different number of robots...

This paper presents a set of rules for a development of multiagent systems (MAS) for continuous process control. The purpose of presented guidelines is to provide a set of good practices that can be used to simplify development of the MAS, mostly during the design of its architecture and communication between agents. Prepared agent-based system based on provided rules is then verified in dissolved oxygen control for bioreactor aeration control system simulation.

This paper presents a concept of architecture and ontology layouts for the development of multiagent model-based predictive control systems. The presented architecture provides guidelines to simplify the development of agent-based systems and improve their maintainability. The proposed multiagent system (MAS) layout is split into multiple subsystems that include agents dedicated to performing assigned tasks. MAS implementation was prepared which can use provided algorithms and actuators and can react to changes in its environment to reach the best available control quality. An example of MAS based on the proposed architecture is shown in the application of dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration control in a laboratory-activated sludge setup with a biological reactor. For that application, MAS incorporates agent-based controllers from the boundary-based predictive controllers (BBPC) family. Presented experiments prove the flexibility, resilience, and online reconfiguration ability of the proposed multiagent system.

This paper aims to study the workflow of the detection centre of stealthy attacks on industrial installations that generate an increase in energy consumption. Such long-lasting, undetected attacks on industrial facilities make production more expensive and less competitive or damage the installation in the long term. We present the concept of the remote detection system of cyberattacks directed at maliciously changing the controlled variable in an industrial process air conditioning system. The monitored signals are gathered at the PLC-controlled installation and sent to the remote detection system, where the discrepancies of signals are analysed based on the Control Performance Assessment indices. The results of performed tests prove the legitimacy of the adopted approach.

The paper aims to study the workflow of the detection center of stealthy attacks on industrial installations that generate increase in energy consumption while avoiding triggering fault detection and damaging the installation. Such long-lasting attacks on industrial facilities make production more expensive and less competitive. We present the concept of the remote detection system of cyberattacks directed at maliciously changing the controlled variable in an industrial process air conditioning system. The monitored signals are gathered at the PLC-controlled installation and sent to the remote detection system, where the discrepancies of signals are analyzed based on the Control Performance Assessment indices. The results of performed tests prove the legitimacy of the adopted approach.

This article presents the concept of boundary-based predictive controller (BBPC) as an effective tool to control industrial processes with on- - off actuator, for which the control goal is defined to keep the process output within the desired range. An example use of BBPC is shown in application to control of dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration in the laboratory activated sludge setup with biological reactor. It is suggested how to identify dynamical parameters of the proposed DO concentration model and how to provide adaptability required to ensure desired control performance in the presence of significant changes of process load disturbance. Practical implementation in programmable logic controller in the form of a general purpose library function block is also presented. Experimental comparison with conventional on – off controller shows robustness and superiority of the proposed BBPC.

This paper proposes a model quality assessment method based on Support Vector Machine, which can be used to develop a digital twin. This work is strongly connected with Industry 4.0, in which the main idea is to integrate machines, devices, systems, and IT. One of the goals of Industry 4.0 is to introduce flexible assortment changes. Virtual commissioning can be used to create a simulation model of a plant or conduct training for maintenance engineers. On a branch of virtual commissioning is a digital twin. The digital twin is a virtual representation of a plant or a device. Thanks to the digital twin, different scenarios can be analyzed to make the testing process less complicated and less time-consuming. The goal of this work is to propose a coefficient that will take into account expert knowledge and methods used for model quality assessment (such as Normalized Root Mean Square Error – NRMSE, Maximum Error – ME). NRMSE and ME methods are commonly used for this purpose, but they have not been used simultaneously so far. Each of them takes into consideration another aspect of a model. The coefficient allows deciding whether the model can be used for digital twin appliances. Such an attitude introduces the ability to test models automatically or in a semi-automatic way.