Search results for: unique device identifier

Authors: Ketan N. Bajad, Manisha V. Waghmare

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Earthquakes are the biggest threat to the civil engineering structures as every year it cost billions of dollars and thousands of deaths, around the world. There are various experimental techniques such as pseudo-dynamic tests – nonlinear structural dynamic technique, real time pseudo dynamic test and shaking table test method that can be employed to verify the seismic performance of structures. Shake table is a device that is used for shaking structural models or building components which are mounted on it. It is a device that simulates a seismic event using existing seismic data and nearly truly reproducing earthquake inputs. This paper deals with the use of shaking table test method to check the response of structure subjected to earthquake. The various types of shake table are vertical shake table, horizontal shake table, servo hydraulic shake table and servo electric shake table. The goal of this experiment is to perform seismic analysis of a civil engineering structure with the help of 3 degree of freedom (i.e. in X Y Z direction) shake table. Three (3) DOF shaking table is a useful experimental apparatus as it imitates a real time desired acceleration vibration signal for evaluating and assessing the seismic performance of structure. This study proceeds with the proper designing and erection of 3 DOF shake table by trial and error method. The table is designed to have a capacity up to 981 Newton. Further, to study the seismic response of a steel industrial building, a proportionately scaled down model is fabricated and tested on the shake table. The accelerometer is mounted on the model, which is used for recording the data. The experimental results obtained are further validated with the results obtained from software. It is found that model can be used to determine how the structure behaves in response to an applied earthquake motion, but the model cannot be used for direct numerical conclusions (such as of stiffness, deflection, etc.) as many uncertainties involved while scaling a small-scale model. The model shows modal forms and gives the rough deflection values. The experimental results demonstrate shake table as the most effective and the best of all methods available for seismic assessment of structure.

Keywords: accelerometer, three degree of freedom shake table, seismic analysis, steel industrial shed

Procedia PDF Downloads 132

Authors: Abdulatif Abdulsalam, Mohamed Shaban

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This paper introduces interfacing and replication of electronic tools based on the MATLAB/ SIMULINK mock-up package. Mock-up components contain dc-dc converters, power issue rectifiers, motivation machines, dc gear, synchronous gear, and more entire systems. Power issue rectifier model includes solid state device models. The tools are the clear-cut structure and mock-up of complex energetic systems connecting with power electronic machines.

Keywords: power electronics, machine, MATLAB, simulink

Procedia PDF Downloads 346

Authors: Puja Mahesh

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Purpose: A good slogan captures the essence of your brand's promised consumer benefit in one short phrase. A good slogan conjures up positive imagery about your business or your product. A good slogan has the element of immediacy. Immediacy does not necessarily mean that the slogan will inspire consumers to run right out and buy your product. It does mean, however, that your slogan has an immediate cognitive impact. It forces your audience to "stop-and-think" after exposure as a necessary first step toward remembering your slogan promise. A good slogan is memorable and durability. When your slogan promise is occupying prime real estate in the consumer's subconscious, it aids in recall and activates preference for your brand when you want it -when consumers are ready to buy. The objective of current study is to understand the consumer perception of slogans/taglines of higher education sector in India. Design/Methodology/Approach: Survey of 500 consumers (largely comprising of youth) will be done using questionnaire. Universities and institutes will be chosen on the basis of various streams and Credible Rankings. The perception will be taken from the respondents on the basis of scale. Findings: Catchy phrases, rhymes, music, jingles, avatars (visual representations) and unique imagery are just a few of the mnemonic clutter-busting tactics commonly used in slogans to stand apart from the competition and to aid in memory recall. The study will reveal whether it is true that catchy phrases, rhymes, music, jingles, avatars (visual representations) and unique imagery across disciplines and universities help in building stronger brands. It will also be found whether consumers pay more attention to reputation of University/ College or brand identity. Originality/Value: Researcher has not come across any study of Consumer Perception of Slogans/Taglines of Higher Education Brands in India. Also, it would be interesting to understand Consumer Perception of various colleges/streams particularly Management colleges who invest a lot of time in branding exercise.

Keywords: consumer perception, higher education, slogans, taglines

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Authors: Joanna E. Owczarek, Izabela Zielinska

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The incidence of temporomandibular disorders is 50% up to 80%. Kinesio taping (KT) is treatment method for musculoskeletal disorders. The aim of our study was to assess the impact of KT on masseter muscles’ tone evaluated by electromyography. 30 adults (aged 22±2.1) were examined. The tone of masseters before and after 4 days KT application on sternocleidomastoideus muscle was measured during resting mandibular position and clenching. Noraxon DTS device was used. Masseter muscles’ tone during clenching after KT application was relevently lower in comparison to its tone before the KT.

Keywords: electromyography, kinesio taping, masseter muscle, TMD

Procedia PDF Downloads 198

Authors: Omojokun Gabriel Aju

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Communication network is a process of exchanging data between two or more devices via some forms of transmission medium using communication protocols. The data could be in form of text, images, audio, video or numbers which can be grouped into FTP, Email, HTTP, VOIP or Video applications. The effectiveness of such data exchange will be proved if they are accurately delivered within specified time. While some senders will not really mind when the data is actually received by the receiving device, inasmuch as it is acknowledged to have been received by the receiver. The time a data takes to get to a receiver could be very important to another sender, as any delay could cause serious problem or even in some cases rendered the data useless. The validity or invalidity of a data after delay will therefore definitely depend on the type of data (information). It is therefore imperative for the network device (such as router) to be able to differentiate among the packets which are time sensitive and those that are not, when they are passing through the same network. So, here is where the queuing disciplines comes to play, to handle network resources when such network is designed to service widely varying types of traffics and manage the available resources according to the configured policies. Therefore, as part of the resources allocation mechanisms, a router within the network must implement some queuing discipline that governs how packets (data) are buffered while waiting to be transmitted. The implementation of the queuing discipline will regulate how the packets are buffered while waiting to be transmitted. In achieving this, various queuing disciplines are being used to control the transmission of these packets, by determining which of the packets get the highest priority, less priority and which packets are dropped. The queuing discipline will therefore control the packets latency by determining how long a packet can wait to be transmitted or dropped. The common queuing disciplines are first-in-first-out queuing, Priority queuing and Weighted-fair queuing (FIFO, PQ and WFQ). This paper critically evaluates and analyse through the use of Optimized Network Evaluation Tool (OPNET) Modeller, Version 14.5 the effects of three queuing disciplines (FIFO, PQ and WFQ) on the performance of 5 different applications (FTP, HTTP, E-Mail, Voice and Video) within specified parameters using packets sent, packets received and transmission delay as performance metrics. The paper finally suggests some ways in which networks can be designed to provide better transmission performance while using these queuing disciplines.

Keywords: applications, first-in-first-out queuing (FIFO), optimised network evaluation tool (OPNET), packets, priority queuing (PQ), queuing discipline, weighted-fair queuing (WFQ)

Procedia PDF Downloads 351

Authors: A. Monfared, S. Faghihi

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Metallic glasses (MGs) are newcomers in the field of metals that show great potential for soft and bone tissue engineering due to the amorphous structure that endows unique properties. Up to now, various MGs based on Ti, Zr, Mg, Zn, Fe, Ca, and Sr in the form of a ribbon, bulk, thin-film, and powder have been investigated for biomedical purposes. This article reviews the compositions and biomedical properties of MGs as well as analyzes results in order to guide new approaches and future development of MGs.

Keywords: metallic glasses, biomaterials, biocompatibility, biocorrosion

Procedia PDF Downloads 204

Authors: Zhaoyang Liu

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It has been highly desired to develop a high-performance membrane for separating oil/water emulsions with the combined features of high water flux, high oil separation efficiency, and high mechanical stability. Here, we demonstrated a design for high-performance membranes constructed with ultra-long titanate nanofibers (over 30 µm in length)/cellulose microfibers. An integrated network membrane was achieved with these ultra-long nano/microfibers, contrast to the non-integrated membrane constructed with carbon nanotubes (5 µm in length)/cellulose microfibers. The morphological properties of the prepared membranes were characterized by A FEI Quanta 400 (Hillsboro, OR, United States) environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM). The hydrophilicity, underwater oleophobicity and oil adhesion property of the membranes were examined using an advanced goniometer (Rame-hart model 500, Succasunna, NJ, USA). More specifically, the hydrophilicity of membranes was investigated by analyzing the spreading process of water into membranes. A filtration device (Nalgene 300-4050, Rochester, NY, USA) with an effective membrane area of 11.3 cm² was used for evaluating the separation properties of the fabricated membranes. The prepared oil-in-water emulsions were poured into the filtration device. The separation process was driven under vacuum with a constant pressure of 5 kPa. The filtrate was collected, and the oil content in water was detected by a Shimadzu total organic carbon (TOC) analyzer (Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan) to examine the separation efficiency. Water flux (J) of the membrane was calculated by measuring the time needed to collect some volume of permeate. This network membrane demonstrated good mechanical flexibility and robustness, which are critical for practical applications. This network membrane also showed high separation efficiency (99.9%) for oil/water emulsions with oil droplet size down to 3 µm, and meanwhile, has high water permeation flux (6.8 × 10³ L m⁻² h⁻¹ bar⁻¹) at low operation pressure. The high water flux is attributed to the interconnected scaffold-like structure throughout the whole membrane, while the high oil separation efficiency is attributed to the nanofiber-made nanoporous selective layer. Moreover, the economic materials and low-cost fabrication process of this membrane indicate its great potential for large-scale industrial applications.

Keywords: membrane, inorganic nanofibers, oil/water separation, emulsions

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Authors: Fateme Montazeri

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Literary approaches towards the text of the Quran predate the modern period. Suyuti (d.1505)’s encyclopedia of Quranic sciences, Al-Itqan, provides a notable example. In the modern era, the study of the Quranic rhetorics received particular attention in the second half of the twentieth century by Egyptian scholars. Amin Al-Khouli (d. 1966), who might be considered the first to argue for the necessity of applying a literary-rhetorical lens toward the tafseer, Islamic exegesis, and his students championed the literary analysis as the most effective approach to the comprehension of the holy text. Western scholars continued the literary criticism of the Islamic scripture by applying to the Quran similar methodologies used in biblical studies. In the history of the literary examination of the Quran, the scope of the critical methods applied to the Quranic text has been limited. For, the rhetorical approaches to the Quran, in the premodern as well as the modern period, concerned almost exclusively with the lexical layer of the text, leaving the narratological dimensions insufficiently examined. Recent contributions, by Leyla Ozgur Alhassen, for instance, attempt to fill this lacunae. This paper aims at advancing the studies of the Quranic narratives by investigating the application of a literary device whose role in the Quranic stories remains unstudied, that is, “foreshadowing.” This paper shall focus on Chapter 12, “Surah al-Yusuf,” as its case study. Chapter 12, the single chapter that includes the story of Joseph in one piece, contains several instances in which the events of the story are foreshadowed. As shall be discussed, foreshadowing occurs either through a monolog or dialogue whereby one or more of the characters allude to the future happenings or through the manner in which the setting is described. Through a close reading of the text, it will be demonstrated that the usage of the rhetorical tool of foreshadowing meets a dual purpose: on the one hand, foreshadowing prepares the reader/audience for the upcoming events in the plot, and on the other hand, it highlights the psychological dimensions of the characters, their thoughts, intentions, and disposition. In analyzing the story, this study shall draw on psychoanalytical criticism to explore the layers of meanings embedded in the Quranic narrative that are unfolded through foreshadowing.

Keywords: foreshadowing, quranic narrative, literary criticism, surah yusuf

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Authors: Munawar Malik, Muntaha Ahmad, Khalil Ullah Khan

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Linguistic abilities in students with hearing impairment yet remain a concern for educationists. The emerging technological support and provisions in recent era vows to have addressed the situation and claims significant contribution in terms of linguistic repertoire. Being a descriptive and quantitative paradigm of study, the purpose of this research set forth was to assess linguistic competencies of students with hearing impairment in English language. The goals were further broken down to identify level of reading abilities in the subject population. The population involved students with HI studying at higher secondary level in Lahore. Simple random sampling technique was used to choose a sample of fifty students. A purposive curriculum-based assessment was designed in line with accelerated learning program by Punjab Government, to assess Linguistic competence among the sample. Further to it, an Informal Reading Inventory (IRI) corresponding to reading levels was also developed by researchers duly validated and piloted before the final use. Descriptive and inferential statistics were utilized to reach to the findings. Spearman’s correlation was used to find out relationship between degree of hearing loss, grade level, gender and type of amplification device. Independent sample t-test was used to compare means among groups. Major findings of the study revealed that students with hearing impairment exhibit significant deviation from the mean scores when compared in terms of grades, severity and amplification device. The study divulged that respective students with HI have yet failed to qualify an independent level of reading according to their grades as majority falls at frustration level of word recognition and passage comprehension. The poorer performance can be attributed to lower linguistic competence as it shows in the frustration levels of reading, writing and comprehension. The correlation analysis did reflect an improved performance grade wise, however scores could only correspond to frustration level and independent levels was never achieved. Reported achievements at instructional level of subject population may further to linguistic skills if practiced purposively.

Keywords: linguistic competence, hearing impairment, reading levels, educationist

Procedia PDF Downloads 60

Authors: Gyorgy Deak, Marius C. Raischi, Lucian P. Georgescu, Tiberius M. Danalache, Elena Holban, Madalina G. Boboc, Monica Matei, Catalina Iticescu, Marius V. Olteanu, Stefan Zamfir, Gabriel Cornateanu

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At present, on the Lower Danube, different types of pressures have been identified that affect the anadromous sturgeons stocks with an impact that leads to their decline. This paper presents techniques and procedures used by Romanian experts in the tagging and monitoring of anadromous sturgeons, as well as unique results at international level obtained on the basis of an informational volume collected in over 7 years of monitoring on these species behavior (both for adults as well as for ultrasonically tagged juveniles) on the Lower Danube. The local impact of hydrotechnical constructions (bottom sill, maritime navigation channel), the global impact of the poaching phenomenon and the impact of the restocking programs with sturgeon juveniles were assessed. Thus, the bottom sill impact on the Bala branch, the Bastroe Channel (cross-border impact) and the poaching phenomenon at the level of the Lower Danube was analyzed on the basis of a unique informational volume obtained through the use of patented monitoring systems by the Romanian experts (DKTB respectively, DKMR-01T). At the same time, the results from the monitoring of ultrasonically tagged sturgeon juveniles from the 2015 repopulation program are presented. Conclusions resulting from research can ensure favorable premises for finding some conservation solutions for CITES-protected sturgeon species that have survived for millions of years, currently being 1 species on the brink of extinction - Russian sturgeon, 2 species in danger of extinction - Beluga sturgeon and Stellate sturgeon and 2 species already extinct from the Lower Danube, namely common sturgeon and ship sturgeon.

Keywords: Lower Danube, sturgeons monitoring (adults and juveniles), tagging, impact on conservation

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Authors: Marko Niinimaki

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Cryptocurrencies are getting increasingly popular, but very few of them can be conveniently used in daily mobile phone purchases. To solve this problem, we demonstrate how to build a functional prototype of a mobile cryptocurrency-based e-commerce application the communicates with Near-Field Communication (NFC) tags. Using the system, users are able to purchase physical items with an NFC tag that contains an e-commerce URL. The payment is done simply by touching the tag with a mobile device and accepting the payment. Our method is constructive: we describe the design and technologies used in the implementation and evaluate the security and performance of the solution. Our main finding is that the analysis and measurements show that our solution is feasible for e-commerce.

Keywords: cryptocurrency, e-commerce, NFC, mobile devices

Procedia PDF Downloads 175

Authors: Hossam E. Emam

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Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are new hybrid materials investigated from 15 years ago; they synthesized from metals as inorganic center joined with multidentate organic linkers to form a 1D, 2D or 3D network structure. MOFs have unique properties such as pore crystalline structure, large surface area, chemical tenability and luminescent characters. These significant properties enable MOFs to be applied in many fields such like gas storage, adsorption/separation, drug delivery/biomedicine, catalysis, polymerization, magnetism and luminescence applications. Recently, many of published reports interested in superiority of MOFs for functionalization of textiles to exploit the unique properties of MOFs. Incorporation of MOFs is found to acquire the textiles some additional formidable functions to be used in considerable fields such like water treatment and fuel purification. Modification of textiles with MOFs could be easily performed by two main techniques; Ex-situ (preparation of MOFs then applied onto textiles) and in-situ (ingrowth of MOFs within textiles networks). Uniqueness of MOFs could be assimilated in acquirement of decorative color, antimicrobial character, anti-mosquitos character, ultraviolet radiation protective, self-clean, photo-luminescent and sensor character. Additionally, textiles treatment with MOFs make it applicable as filter in the adsorption of toxic gases, hazardous materials (such as pesticides, dyes and aromatics molecules) and fuel purification (such as removal of oxygenated, nitrogenated and sulfur compounds). Also, the porous structure of MOFs make it mostly utilized in control release of insecticides from the surface of the textile. Moreover, MOF@textiles as recyclable materials lead it applicable as photo-catalyst composites for photo-degradation of different dyes in the day light. Therefore, MOFs is extensively considered for imparting textiles with formidable properties as ingeniousness way for textile functionalization.

Keywords: MOF, functional textiles, water treatment, fuel purification, environmental applications

Procedia PDF Downloads 140

Authors: Won Jung

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In automotive, propeller shaft is the device for transferring power from engine to axle via transmission, and the slip yoke is one of the main parts in the component. Since the propeller shafts are subject to torsion and shear stress, they need to be strong enough to bear the stress. The purpose of this research is to improve the productivity of slip yoke for automotive propeller shaft. We present how to redesign the component that currently manufactured as a forged single body type. The research was focused on not only reducing processing time but insuring durability of the component simultaneously.

Keywords: automotive, propeller shaft, productivity, durability, slip yoke

Procedia PDF Downloads 372

Authors: S. Kershaw, P. J. Barry, K. Webb

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Background: Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is a chronic lung disease where patients have chronic lung infection punctuated by acute exacerbations that require intermittent intravenous (IV) antibiotics during their lives. With time, peripheral venous access can become difficult and limited. Accessing these veins can become arduous, traumatic, painful and unworkable. A permanent intravascular access device or Port is a small device that is inserted into the central venous system that allows the delivery of medicine eliminating the need for peripheral venous access. Ports represent a convenient and efficient method when venous access is required on a permanent basis however they are also associated with significant vascular complications. Superior Vena Cava Obstruction (SVCO) is a rare but significant vascular complication of ports in this setting. Objective: We aimed to look at a single CF centre’s experience of port-related SVCO over a thirty year period. Methods: Retrospective data was extracted using patient’s notes, electronic radiological reports and local databases over a period in excess of 30 years from 1982 to 2014. Results: 13 patients were identified with SVCO as a result of their port. 11 patients had CF (9 female, 2 male), one male patient had Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia and one female patient had severe Asthma. The mean port function was 1532 days (range 110 – 4049) and the mean age at SVCO was 24 years (range 11.1 to 36.5 years). The most common symptoms were facial oedema (n=8, 61.5%) and dilated veins (n=6, 46.2%). 7 patients had their Ports removed after SVCO. 6 patients underwent attempted stenting (46.2%) and 6 did not. 4 out of the 6 who underwent stenting required/had re-intervention. 3 of the 6 patients who underwent stenting had symptom resolution, however, 4 of the 6 patients who were not stented had symptom resolution also. Symptom resolution was not guaranteed with stenting and required re-intervention in two-thirds. Conclusion: This case series represents the experience of one of the longest established CF units in the UK and represents the largest cohort ever reported in the literature.

Keywords: ports, Superior Vena Cava Obstruction, cystic fibrosis, access devices

Procedia PDF Downloads 315

Authors: SeungHee Ryu, Junil Moon

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The magnetic resonance wireless power transfer system is widely researched due to its benefits such as spatial freedom. In this paper, power transmitting unit and power receiving unit of wireless battery charger for mobile devices is presented. Power transmitting unit efficiency is measured under different test conditions with power receiving units.

Keywords: magnetic resonance coupling, wireless power transfer, power transfer efficiency.

Procedia PDF Downloads 507

Authors: Manutchanok Jongprasithporn, Rawiphorn Srivilai, Paweena Pongsopha

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Fall is the most serious accident leading to increased unintentional injuries and mortality. Falls are not only the cause of suffering and functional impairments to the individuals, but also the cause of increasing medical cost and days away from work. The early detection of falls could be an advantage to reduce fall-related injuries and consequences of falls. Smartphones, embedded accelerometer, have become a common device in everyday life due to decreasing technology cost. This paper explores a physical activity monitoring and fall detection application in smartphones which is a non-invasive biomedical device to determine physical activities and fall event. The combination of application and sensors could perform as a biomedical sensor to monitor physical activities and recognize a fall. We have chosen Android-based smartphone in this study since android operating system is an open-source and no cost. Moreover, android phone users become a majority of Thai’s smartphone users. We developed Thai 3 Axis (TH3AX) as a physical activities and fall detection application which included command, manual, results in Thai language. The smartphone was attached to right hip of 10 young, healthy adult subjects (5 males, 5 females; aged< 35y) to collect accelerometer and gyroscope data during performing physical activities (e.g., walking, running, sitting, and lying down) and falling to determine threshold for each activity. Dependent variables are including accelerometer data (acceleration, peak acceleration, average resultant acceleration, and time between peak acceleration). A repeated measures ANOVA was performed to test whether there are any differences between DVs’ means. Statistical analyses were considered significant at p<0.05. After finding threshold, the results were used as training data for a predictive model of activity recognition. In the future, accuracies of activity recognition will be performed to assess the overall performance of the classifier. Moreover, to help improve the quality of life, our system will be implemented with patients and elderly people who need intensive care in hospitals and nursing homes in Thailand.

Keywords: activity recognition, accelerometer, fall, gyroscope, smartphone

Procedia PDF Downloads 685

Authors: Ádám Vass, István Bakos, Irina Borbáth, Zoltán Pászti, István Sajó, András Tompos

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Important requirements for the anode side electrocatalysts of polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells are CO-tolerance, stability and corrosion resistance. Carbon is still the most common material for electrocatalyst supports due to its low cost, high electrical conductivity and high surface area, which can ensure good dispersion of the Pt. However, carbon becomes degraded at higher potentials and it causes problem during application. Therefore it is important to explore alternative materials with improved stability. Molybdenum-oxide can improve the CO-tolerance of the Pt/C catalysts, but it is prone to leach in acidic electrolyte. The Mo was stabilized by isovalent substitution of molybdenum into the rutile phase titanium-dioxide lattice, achieved by a modified multistep sol-gel synthesis method optimized for preparation of Ti0.7Mo.3O2-C composite. High degree of Mo incorporation into the rutile lattice was developed. The conductivity and corrosion resistance across the anticipated potential/pH window was ensured by mixed oxide – activated carbon composite. Platinum loading was carried out using NaBH4 and ethylene glycol; platinum content was 40 wt%. The electrocatalyst was characterized by both material investigating methods (i.e. XRD, TEM, EDS, XPS techniques) and electrochemical methods (cyclic-voltammetry, COads stripping voltammetry, hydrogen oxidation reaction on rotating disc electrode). The electrochemical activity of the sample was compared to commercial 40 wt% Pt/C (Quintech) and PtRu/C (Quintech, Pt= 20 wt%, Ru= 10 wt%) references. Enhanced CO tolerance of the electrocatalyst prepared using the Ti0.7Mo.3O2-C composite material was evidenced by the appearance of a CO-oxidation related 'pre-peak' and by the pronounced shift of the maximum of the main CO oxidation peak towards less positive potential compared to Pt/C. Fuel cell polarization measurements were also carried out using Bio-Logic and Paxitech FCT-150S test device. All details on the design, preparation, characterization and testing by both electrochemical measurements and fuel cell test device of electrocatalyst supported on Ti0.7Mo.3O2-C composite material will be presented and discussed.

Keywords: anode electrocatalyst, composite material, CO-tolerance, TiMoOx

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Authors: Rohit T. P., Sahil Athrij, Sasi Gopalan

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Currently, the content entertainment industry is dominated by mobile devices. As the trends slowly shift towards Augmented/Virtual Reality applications the computational demands on these devices are increasing exponentially and we are already reaching the limits of hardware optimizations. This paper proposes a software solution to this problem. By leveraging the capabilities of cloud computing we can offload the work from mobile devices to dedicated rendering servers that are way more powerful. But this introduces the problem of latency. This paper introduces a protocol that can achieve high-performance low latency Augmented/Virtual Reality experience. There are two parts to the protocol, 1) In-flight compression The main cause of latency in the system is the time required to transmit the camera frame from client to server. The round trip time is directly proportional to the amount of data transmitted. This can therefore be reduced by compressing the frames before sending. Using some standard compression algorithms like JPEG can result in minor size reduction only. Since the images to be compressed are consecutive camera frames there won't be a lot of changes between two consecutive images. So inter-frame compression is preferred. Inter-frame compression can be implemented efficiently using WebGL but the implementation of WebGL limits the precision of floating point numbers to 16bit in most devices. This can introduce noise to the image due to rounding errors, which will add up eventually. This can be solved using an improved interframe compression algorithm. The algorithm detects changes between frames and reuses unchanged pixels from the previous frame. This eliminates the need for floating point subtraction thereby cutting down on noise. The change detection is also improved drastically by taking the weighted average difference of pixels instead of the absolute difference. The kernel weights for this comparison can be fine-tuned to match the type of image to be compressed. 2) Dynamic Load distribution Conventional cloud computing architectures work by offloading as much work as possible to the servers, but this approach can cause a hit on bandwidth and server costs. The most optimal solution is obtained when the device utilizes 100% of its resources and the rest is done by the server. The protocol balances the load between the server and the client by doing a fraction of the computing on the device depending on the power of the device and network conditions. The protocol will be responsible for dynamically partitioning the tasks. Special flags will be used to communicate the workload fraction between the client and the server and will be updated in a constant interval of time ( or frames ). The whole of the protocol is designed so that it can be client agnostic. Flags are available to the client for resetting the frame, indicating latency, switching mode, etc. The server can react to client-side changes on the fly and adapt accordingly by switching to different pipelines. The server is designed to effectively spread the load and thereby scale horizontally. This is achieved by isolating client connections into different processes.

Keywords: 2D kernelling, augmented reality, cloud computing, dynamic load distribution, immersive experience, mobile computing, motion tracking, protocols, real-time systems, web-based augmented reality application

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Authors: C. Ramamoorthy, R. Ranga Raj

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In olden days the Ramayana epic depicts the usage of invisible and fuel less aircraft named pushpavimana. The change of color in the reptile family chameleon paves way for the concept of color change phenomenon available in nature. In present scenario the aircrafts are visible so it is easily identified. So there are too many problems from the threatening. Research is still going on about this problem by using Liquid Crystal Display (LCD). Objective of this paper is to find much better to use the concept of invisible aircraft using plasma display through Couple Charged Device camera (CCD), which has a high resolution and can be used for many purposes like spying, defense, etc. Moreover it is cost wise cheap then, escaping the foe viewing.

Keywords: CCD camera, chameleon, invisible, plasma display

Procedia PDF Downloads 398

Authors: C. Peeper McDonald

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Despite the multiracial population growing exponentially in the world and especially in the U.S., there continues to be a lack of culturally responsive research addressing the unique experiences and needs of this population, especially within counseling and counselor education settings. It is evident that their unique racial microaggressive experiences need to be better understood within the field of professional counseling to not only underscore competent training and practice but also culturally responsive training and practice. The participants of this study were 13 (n=13) individuals from the United States who identified as multiracial and said they had a microaggressive experience with either their counselor or counseling professor. Data were gathered through one-on-one, semi-structured interviews. The analysis employed phenomenological methods based on the transcendental approach, resulting in themes that encapsulated the core of the participants' experiences, including multiracial microaggressions that are derogatory and perpetuate privilege/oppression; counselors and their training programs should embody safety, support, attentiveness, inter-personal sensitivity, and awareness of the impact on others; microaggressions negatively affect the counseling relationship and outcomes; awareness surrounding the emotional impact of microaggressions; strength-based responses and future responses to microaggressions; and advocacy and suggestions for counselors and counselor educators. These themes are discussed in detail, and recommendations for researchers, counselor educators, and professional counselors to improve training and practice are provided. This U.S. study's insights into the Multiracial experience of microaggressions within the mental health profession can inform global mental health practices by highlighting the need for culturally responsive counseling that recognizes and addresses racial nuances. Such knowledge is transferable to international settings where multiracial populations may also encounter similar challenges, aiding in the development of global standards for culturally competent counseling practices.

Keywords: culturally responsive training and practice, mental health, microaggressions, multiracial

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Authors: Sarayu Vanga, Jorge Galeano-Cabral, Kaya Wei

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Cerebral hypoxia refers to a condition in which there is a decrease in oxygen supply to the brain. Patients suffering from this condition experience a decrease in their body temperature. While there isn't any cure to treat cerebral hypoxia as of date, certain procedures are utilized to help aid in the treatment of the condition. Regulating the body temperature is an example of one of those procedures. Hypoxia is well known to reduce the body temperature of mammals, although the neural origins of this response remain uncertain. In order to speed recovery from this condition, it is necessary to maintain a stable body temperature. In this study, we present an approach to regulating body temperature for patients who suffer from cerebral hypoxia or other similar conditions. After a thorough literature study, we propose the use of thermoelectric blankets, which are temperature-controlled thermal blankets based on thermoelectric devices. These blankets are capable of heating up and cooling down the patient to stabilize body temperature. This feature is possible through the reversible effect that thermoelectric devices offer while behaving as a thermal sensor, and it is an effective way to stabilize temperature. Thermoelectricity is the direct conversion of thermal to electrical energy and vice versa. This effect is now known as the Seebeck effect, and it is characterized by the Seebeck coefficient. In such a configuration, the device has cooling and heating sides with temperatures that can be interchanged by simply switching the direction of the current input in the system. This design integrates various aspects, including a humidifier, ventilation machine, IV-administered medication, air conditioning, circulation device, and a body temperature regulation system. The proposed design includes thermocouples that will trigger the blanket to increase or decrease a set temperature through a medical temperature sensor. Additionally, the proposed design allows an efficient way to control fluctuations in body temperature while being cost-friendly, with an expected cost of 150 dollars. We are currently working on developing a prototype of the design to collect thermal and electrical data under different conditions and also intend to perform an optimization analysis to improve the design even further. While this proposal was developed for treating cerebral hypoxia, it can also aid in the treatment of other related conditions, as fluctuations in body temperature appear to be a common symptom that patients have for many illnesses.

Keywords: body temperature regulation, cerebral hypoxia, thermoelectric, blanket design

Procedia PDF Downloads 149

Authors: Jayanti De

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Users of any urban road infrastructure may be classified into various categories. The current paper intends to see whether the opinions on different environmental and transportation criteria vary significantly among different types of road users or not. The paper addresses this issue by using a unique survey data that has been collected from Kolkata, a highly populated city in India. Multiple criteria should be taken into account while planning on infrastructure development programs. Given limited resources, a welfare maximizing government typically resorts to public opinion by designing surveys for prioritization of one project over another. Designing such surveys can be challenging and costly. Deciding upon whom to include in a survey and how to represent each group of consumers/road-users depend crucially on how opinion for different criteria vary across consumer groups. A unique dataset has been collected from various parts of Kolkata to statistically test (using Kolmogorov-Smirnov test) whether assigning of weights to rank the transportation criteria like congestion, air pollution, noise pollution, and morning/evening delay vary significantly across the various groups of users of such infrastructure. The different consumer/user groups in the dataset include pedestrian, private car owner, para-transit (taxi /auto rickshaw) user, public transport (bus) user and freight transporter among others. Very little evidence has been found that ranking of different criteria among these groups vary significantly. This also supports the hypothesis that road- users/consumers form their opinion by using their long-run rather than immediate experience. As a policy prescription, this implies that under-representation or over-representation of a specific consumer group in a survey may not necessarily distort the overall opinion, since opinions across different consumer groups are highly correlated as evident from this particular case study.

Keywords: multi criteria analysis, project-prioritization, road- users, survey designing

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Authors: Divyani Redhu, Manisha Rathaur

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India has emerged as a very lucrative market for the smartphones in a very short span of time. The number of smartphone users here is growing massively with each passing day. Also, the expansion of internet services to far corners of the nation has also given a push to the smartphone revolution in India. Millennial, also known as Generation Y or the Net Generation is the generation born between the early 1980s and mid-1990s (some definitions extending further to early 2000s). Spanning roughly over 15 years, different social classes, cultures, and continents; it is irrational to imagine that millennial have a unified identity. But still, it cannot be denied that the growing millennial population is not only young but is highly tech-savvy too. It is not just the appearance of the device that today; we call it ‘smart’. Rather, it is the numerous tasks and functions that it can perform which has led its name to evolve as that of a ‘smartphone’. From usual tasks that were earlier performed by a simple mobile phone like making calls, sending messages, clicking photographs, recording videos etc.; today, the time has come where most of our day – to – day tasks are being taken care of by our all-time companion, i.e. smartphones. From being our alarm clock to being our note-maker, from our watch to our radio, our book-reader to our reminder, smartphones are present everywhere. Smartphone has now become an essential device for particularly the millennial to communicate not only with their friends but also with their family, colleagues, and teachers. The study by the researchers would be quantitative in nature. For the same, a survey would be conducted in particularly the capital of India, i.e. Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR), which is the metropolitan area covering the entire National Capital Territory of Delhi and urban areas covering states of Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. The tool of the survey would be a questionnaire and the number of respondents would be 200. The results derived from the study would primarily focus on the increasing reach of smartphones in India, smartphones as technological innovation and convergent tools, smartphone usage pattern of millennial in India, most used applications by the millennial, the average time spent by them, the impact of smartphones on the personal interactions of millennial etc. Thus, talking about the smartphone technology and the millennial in India, it would not be wrong to say that the growth, as well as the potential of the smartphones in India, is still immense. Also, very few technologies have made it possible to give a global exposure to the users and smartphone, if not the only one is certainly an immensely effective one that comes to the mind in this case.

Keywords: Delhi – NCR, India, millennial, smartphone

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Authors: Kossigan Bernard Dedey, David Grenier, Tiphaine Lucas

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Bread dough is often described as a dispersion of gas cells in a continuous gluten/starch matrix. The final bread crumb structure is strongly related to gas cell walls (GCWs) rupture during baking. At the end of proofing and during baking, part of the thinnest GCWs between expanding gas cells is reduced to a gluten film of about the size of a starch granule. When such size is reached gluten and starch granules must be considered as interacting phases in order to account for heterogeneities and appropriately describe GCW rupture. Among experimental investigations carried out to assess GCW rupture, no experimental work was performed to observe the GCW rupture in the baking conditions at GCW scale. In addition, attempts to numerically understand GCW rupture are usually not performed at the GCW scale and often considered GCWs as continuous. The most relevant paper that accounted for heterogeneities dealt with the gluten/starch interactions and their impact on the mechanical behavior of dough film. However, stress concentration in GCW was not discussed. In this study, both experimental and numerical approaches were used to better understand GCW rupture in bread dough during baking. Experimentally, a macro-scope placed in front of a two-chamber device was used to observe the rupture of a real GCW of 200 micrometers in thickness. Special attention was paid in order to mimic baking conditions as far as possible (temperature, gas pressure and moisture). Various differences in pressure between both sides of GCW were applied and different modes of fracture initiation and propagation in GCWs were observed. Numerically, the impact of gluten/starch interactions (cohesion or non-cohesion) and rheological moduli ratio on the mechanical behavior of GCW under unidirectional extension was assessed in 2D/3D. A non-linear viscoelastic and hyperelastic approach was performed to match the finite strain involved in GCW during baking. Stress concentration within GCW was identified. Simulated stresses concentration was discussed at the light of GCW failure observed in the device. The gluten/starch granule interactions and rheological modulus ratio were found to have a great effect on the amount of stress possibly reached in the GCW.

Keywords: dough, experimental, numerical, rupture

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Authors: Lewis J. Woollin, Robert I. Davidson, Paul Watson, Philip J. Hyde

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Introduction: In-vitro testing of arthroplasty materials is of paramount importance when ensuring that they can withstand the performance requirements encountered in-vivo. One common machine used for in-vitro testing is a pin-on-plate tribometer, an early stage screening device that generates data on the wear characteristics of arthroplasty bearing materials. These devices test vertically loaded rotating cylindrical pins acting against reciprocating plates, representing the bearing surfaces. In this study, a pin-on-plate machine has been developed that provides several improvements over current technology, thereby progressing arthroplasty bearing research. Historically, pin-on-plate tribometers have been used to investigate the performance of arthroplasty bearing materials under conditions commonly encountered during a standard gait cycle; nominal operating pressures of 2-6 MPa and an operating frequency of 1 Hz are typical. There has been increased interest in using pin-on-plate machines to test more representative in-vivo conditions, due to the drive to test 'beyond compliance', as well as their testing speed and economic advantages over hip simulators. Current pin-on-plate machines do not accommodate the increased performance requirements associated with more extreme kinematic conditions, therefore a next-generation pin-on-plate tribometer has been developed to bridge the gap between current technology and future research requirements. Methodology: The design was driven by several physiologically relevant requirements. Firstly, an increased loading capacity was essential to replicate the peak pressures that occur in the natural hip joint during running and chair-rising, as well as increasing the understanding of wear rates in obese patients. Secondly, the introduction of mid-cycle load variation was of paramount importance, as this allows for an approximation of the loads present in a gait cycle to be applied and to test the fatigue properties of materials. Finally, the rig must be validated against previous-generation pin-on-plate and arthroplasty wear data. Results: The resulting machine is a twelve station device that is split into three sets of four stations, providing an increased testing capacity compared to most current pin-on-plate tribometers. The loading of the pins is generated using a pneumatic system, which can produce contact pressures of up to 201 MPa on a 3.2 mm² round pin face. This greatly exceeds currently achievable contact pressures in literature and opens new research avenues such as testing rim wear of mal-positioned hip implants. Additionally, the contact pressure of each set can be changed independently of the others, allowing multiple loading conditions to be tested simultaneously. Using pneumatics also allows the applied pressure to be switched ON/OFF mid-cycle, another feature not currently reported elsewhere, which allows for investigation into intermittent loading and material fatigue. The device is currently undergoing a series of validation tests using Ultra-High-Molecular-Weight-Polyethylene pins and 316L Stainless Steel Plates (polished to a Ra < 0.05 µm). The operating pressures will be between 2-6 MPa, operating at 1 Hz, allowing for validation of the machine against results reported previously in the literature. The successful production of this next-generation pin-on-plate tribometer will, following its validation, unlock multiple previously unavailable research avenues.

Keywords: arthroplasty, mechanical design, pin-on-plate, total joint replacement, wear testing

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Authors: Gizem Kayar, Ramazan Bakir, M. Ilkay Koşar, Ceren U. Gencer, Alperen Ayyildiz

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Anatomy classes are crucial for general education of medical students, whereas learning anatomy is quite challenging and requires memorization of thousands of structures. In traditional teaching methods, learning materials are still based on books, anatomy mannequins, or videos. This results in forgetting many important structures after several years. However, more interactive teaching methods like virtual reality, augmented reality, gamification, and motion sensors are becoming more popular since such methods ease the way we learn and keep the data in mind for longer terms. During our study, we designed a virtual reality based digital head anatomy platform to investigate whether a fully interactive anatomy platform is effective to learn anatomy and to understand the level of teaching and learning optimization. The Head is one of the most complicated human anatomy structures, with thousands of tiny, unique structures. This makes the head anatomy one of the most difficult parts to understand during class sessions. Therefore, we developed a fully interactive digital tool with 3D model marking, quiz structures, 2D/3D puzzle structures, and VR support so as to integrate the power of VR and gamification. The project has been developed in Unity game engine with HTC Vive Cosmos VR headset. The head anatomy 3D model has been selected with full skeletal, muscular, integumentary, head, teeth, lymph, and vein system. The biggest issue during the development was the complexity of our model and the marking of it in the 3D world system. 3D model marking requires to access to each unique structure in the counted subsystems which means hundreds of marking needs to be done. Some parts of our 3D head model were monolithic. This is why we worked on dividing such parts to subparts which is very time-consuming. In order to subdivide monolithic parts, one must use an external modeling tool. However, such tools generally come with high learning curves, and seamless division is not ensured. Second option was to integrate tiny colliders to all unique items for mouse interaction. However, outside colliders which cover inner trigger colliders cause overlapping, and these colliders repel each other. Third option is using raycasting. However, due to its own view-based nature, raycasting has some inherent problems. As the model rotate, view direction changes very frequently, and directional computations become even harder. This is why, finally, we studied on the local coordinate system. By taking the pivot point of the model into consideration (back of the nose), each sub-structure is marked with its own local coordinate with respect to the pivot. After converting the mouse position to the world position and checking its relation with the corresponding structure’s local coordinate, we were able to mark all points correctly. The advantage of this method is its applicability and accuracy for all types of monolithic anatomical structures.

Keywords: anatomy, e-learning, virtual reality, 3D model marking

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Authors: Fatima Homor

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The new era in business has started, according to my research paper findings, corporate social responsibility leads organizations to an incomparable advantage phase, where competition is secondary and financial growth is a result. Those who join later, lose their active advantage and cause passive disadvantage for their organizations. The main purpose of this presentation is to state the obvious and shed the light of the advantages of doing good, while doing well for multinational enterprises, extremely low fluctuation (preventing one of the highest costs), significantly lower marketing budget, enhanced reputation causing customer and supplier loyalty, employee commitment results in higher motivation level leading to better quality at each stages, Corporate Social Responsibility brings Unique Selling Proposition incomparable to others. The paper is based on a large research work conducted for the University of Liverpool Masters in Business Administration program, with the title of Corporate Social Responsibility for Multinational Enterprises to gain incomparable advantage. The research is based on both recent secondary data, but most importantly on 25 interviews with Chief Executive Officers at Multinational Enterprises and / or the Human Resources / corporate communications directors. The direct gains on Corporate Social Responsibility are analyzed when it is embedded into the core of the business. It is evident that project based Corporate Social Responsibility is not effective neither from the supported topic, Non-governmental Organizations point of view nor from the organization’s long-term sustainability point of view. Surveys have been conducted, data compared and consequences drawn. Corporate Social Responsibility must be started inside of the business to strengthen it. First, commit employees. It must come from the Chief Executive Officer. It must be related to the business profile. It has to be long term. They will commit customers. B-corps are coming (e.g. Unilever); the phenomenon of social enterprises has become a leading one.

Keywords: B-corps, embedded into core business, first inside, unique advantage

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Authors: L. Parisi

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A blood pressure monitor or sphygmomanometer can be either manual or automatic, employing respectively either the auscultatory method or the oscillometric method. The manual version of the sphygmomanometer involves an inflatable cuff with a stethoscope adopted to detect the sounds generated by the arterial walls to measure blood pressure in an artery. An automatic sphygmomanometer can be effectively used to monitor blood pressure through a pressure sensor, which detects vibrations provoked by oscillations of the arterial walls. The pressure sensor implemented in this device improves the accuracy of the measurements taken.

Keywords: blood pressure, blood saturation, sensors, actuators, design improvement

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Authors: Mohammed E. A. Brixi Nigassa, Nassima Labdelli, Ahmed Slami, Arnaud Pothier, Sofiane Soulimane

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According to the world health organization (WHO), there are almost 285 million people with visual disability, 39 million of these people are blind. Nevertheless, there is a code for these people that make their life easier and allow them to access information more easily; this code is the Braille code. There are several commercial devices allowing braille reading, unfortunately, most of these devices are not ergonomic and too expensive. Moreover, we know that 90 % of blind people in the world live in low-incomes countries. Our contribution aim is to concept an original microactuator for Braille reading, as well as being ergonomic, inexpensive and lowest possible energy consumption. Nowadays, the piezoelectric device gives the better actuation for low actuation voltage. In this study, we focus on piezoelectric (PZT) material which can bring together all these conditions. Here, we propose to use one matrix composed by six actuators to form the 63 basic combinations of the Braille code that contain letters, numbers, and special characters in compliance with the standards of the braille code. In this work, we use a finite element model with Comsol Multiphysics software for designing and modeling this type of miniature actuator in order to integrate it into a test device. To define the geometry and the design of our actuator, we used physiological limits of perception of human being. Our results demonstrate in our study that piezoelectric actuator could bring a large deflection out-of-plain. Also, we show that microactuators can exhibit non uniform compression. This deformation depends on thin film thickness and the design of membrane arm. The actuator composed of four arms gives the higher deflexion and it always gives a domed deformation at the center of the deviceas in case of the Braille system. The maximal deflection can be estimated around ten micron per Volt (~ 10µm/V). We noticed that the deflection according to the voltage is a linear function, and this deflection not depends only on the voltage the voltage, but also depends on the thickness of the film used and the design of the anchoring arm. Then, we were able to simulate the behavior of the entire matrix and thus display different characters in Braille code. We used these simulations results to achieve our demonstrator. This demonstrator is composed of a layer of PDMS on which we put our piezoelectric material, and then added another layer of PDMS to isolate our actuator. In this contribution, we compare our results to optimize the final demonstrator.

Keywords: Braille code, comsol software, microactuators, piezoelectric

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Authors: Cristy Stagnar, Nina Hubig, Diana Ivankovic

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The epigenome is a compelling candidate for mediating long-term responses to environmental effects modifying disease risk. The main goal of this research is to develop a machine learning-based DNA methylation score, which will be valuable in delineating the unique contribution of paternal epigenetic modifications to the germline impacting childhood health outcomes. It will also be a useful tool in validating self-reports of nonsmoking and in adjusting epigenome-wide DNA methylation association studies for this early-life exposure. Using secondary data from two population-based methylation profiling studies, our DNA methylation score is based on CpG DNA methylation measurements from cord blood gathered from children whose fathers smoked pre- and peri-conceptually. Each child’s mother and father fell into one of three class labels in the accompanying questionnaires -never smoker, former smoker, or current smoker. By applying different machine learning algorithms to the accessible resource for integrated epigenomic studies (ARIES) sub-study of the Avon longitudinal study of parents and children (ALSPAC) data set, which we used for training and testing of our model, the best-performing algorithm for classifying the father smoker and mother never smoker was selected based on Cohen’s κ. Error in the model was identified and optimized. The final DNA methylation score was further tested and validated in an independent data set. This resulted in a linear combination of methylation values of selected probes via a logistic link function that accurately classified each group and contributed the most towards classification. The result is a unique, robust DNA methylation score which combines information on DNA methylation and early life exposure of offspring to paternal smoking during pregnancy and which may be used to examine the paternal contribution to offspring health outcomes.

Keywords: epigenome, health outcomes, paternal preconception environmental exposures, supervised machine learning

Procedia PDF Downloads 181