Air plasma spraying (APS) is a common method of producing hydroxyapatite (HA) coatings for alloprosthetic implants. Modification of HA spraying potentially may diminish the risk of inflammation and local infection during bone implantation. Titanium implants were HA coated with different deposition process parameters. HA powder was deposited using APS with axial powder injection at three different distances (100, 120, and 140 mm). The surface morphology of each implant was examined and the direct contact cytotoxicity of each HA coating was evaluated according to norm ISO 10993 5:2009. The response of monocytes to HA was assessed via the activation of transcription nuclear factor. All coatings had a lamellar structure. HA sprayed at a distance of 120 mm showed the highest roughness and little phase change. The analysis of the results of the conducted research showed that plasma-spraying distance during the HA coating process had a negligible impact on biocompatibility. The results obtained for a distance of 120 mm showed a slight increase in the biological properties tested. Moreover, HA coatings sprayed at different distances were not cytotoxic and did not stimulate the NF-kB. Bare titanium was less susceptible to colonization by Staphylococcus aureus than HA-coated surfaces. HA constitutes a potentially good, low-cost, non-cytotoxic material for joint prostheses.

In this paper, an overlapping-resistant Internet of Things (IoT) solution for a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)-based indoor tracking system (BLE-ITS) is presented. The BLE-ITS is a promising, inexpensive alternative to the well-known GPS. It can be used in human traffic analysis, such as indoor tourist facilities. Tourists or other customers are tagged by a unique MAC address assigned to a simple and energy-saving BLE beacon emitter. Their location is determined by a distributed and scalable network of popular Raspberry Pi microcomputers equipped with BLE and WiFi/Ethernet modules. Only simple triggered messages in the form of login records (LRs) are sent to a server, where the so-called path vectors (PVs) and interest profile (IPr) are set. The authors implemented the prototype and demonstrated its usefulness in a controlled environment. As it is shown in the paper, the solution is highly overlap-resistant and mitigates the so-called multilocation problem.

The paper aims to present the concepts of an innovative, integrated visitor support system for distributed entertainment parks, based on Internet of Things (IoT) technology and Big Data analysis. The proposed system will include logistical functions to streamline the customer service process in the centers, offering a profiled tourist product based on unique natural or thematic value. Basing on the modular structure, implementation and integration of the modern IT network, tracking and monitoring technologies, Fog Computing, decision support system and Big Data concepts, it is planned to create a flexible, scalable, reliable, fault tolerant and high security product, corresponding to the expectations of the potential recipients.

The results of studying palladium-carbon (Pd-C) nanocomposites using Raman spectroscopy are presented. This method has been used for studying samples having various palladium content, prepared by a one-step Physical Vapour Deposition (PVD) process and a Chemical Vapour Deposition (two-step PVD/CVD) process using different process parameters. For samples obtained by PVD, the vibration bands characteristic of C60 fullerene molecules were observed in the spectra, whereas for layers obtained by PVD/CVD, the Raman spectra displayed mainly D and G bands characteristic solely of the prescence of graphite-like layers’ vibrations. The analysis of the obtained Raman spectra reveals that its shape is affected by many parameters including type of substrate, temperature, and the percentage content of Pd in the studied layer. The quantitative analysis of spectra for layers obtained using the PVD/CVD process shows a difference in the relative intensity of bands D and G, reflecting the different degrees of amorphisation in the investigated nanocomposites.

Major modern theme parks, consisting of tens or even close to one hundred of tourist attractions, are growing continually more complex. The operation of such parks is becoming increasingly more difficult which makes developing their management systems a very challenging endeavor. More so when many different smart objects like cameras, mobile terminals and various sensors (e.g. RFIDs) are deployed throughout the environment which must be integrated into the system. Moreover, in order for the system to be conformable with the concept of Internet of Things and with the idea of Smart City, it should make an intelligent use of a distributed sensor network and provide smart capabilities, i.e. improving the process of tourists management within a smart territory, e.g. automatic congestion avoidance. Implementing such algorithms which involve Big Data analytics can be a very demanding task, especially when the system is required to be scalable to support a huge number of smart devices. Therefore the ability to accurately simulate theme park and test many different scenarios (e.g. distinct hardware configurations, varying positions of attractions, contrasting tourists’ actions) becomes imperative. In this paper we describe a method for simulating IoT-based theme parks. Presented methodology integrates several models: tourists behavior model, tourist attractions model, theme park model and simulation model. Our goal is to create a computer simulation which is able to efficiently model smart theme park.