Search results for: resonance frequency
3629 Regionalization of IDF Curves, by Interpolating Intensity and Adjustment Parameters - Application to Boyacá, Colombia
Authors: Pedro Mauricio Acosta, Carlos Andrés Caro
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This research presents the regionalization of IDF curves for the department of Boyacá, Colombia, which comprises 16 towns, including the provincial capital, Tunja. For regionalization adjustment parameters (U and alpha) of the IDF curves stations referred to in the studied area were used. Similar regionalization is used by the interpolation of intensities. In the case of regionalization by parameters found by the construction of the curves intensity, duration and frequency estimation methods using ordinary moments and maximum likelihood. Regionalization and interpolation of data were performed with the assistance of Arcgis software. Within the development of the project the best choice to provide a level of reliability such as to determine which of the options and ways to regionalize is best sought. The resulting isolines maps were made in the case of regionalization intensities, each map is associated with a different return period and duration in order to build IDF curves in the studied area. In the case of the regionalization maps parameters associated with each parameter were performed last.Keywords: intensity duration, frequency curves, regionalization, hydrology
Procedia PDF Downloads 3203628 Does Pakistan Stock Exchange Offer Diversification Benefits to Regional and International Investors: A Time-Frequency (Wavelets) Analysis
Authors: Syed Jawad Hussain Shahzad, Muhammad Zakaria, Mobeen Ur Rehman, Saniya Khaild
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This study examines the co-movement between the Pakistan, Indian, S&P 500 and Nikkei 225 stock markets using weekly data from 1998 to 2013. The time-frequency relationship between the selected stock markets is conducted by using measures of continuous wavelet power spectrum, cross-wavelet transform and cross (squared) wavelet coherency. The empirical evidence suggests strong dependence between Pakistan and Indian stock markets. The co-movement of Pakistani index with U.S and Japanese, the developed markets, varies over time and frequency where the long-run relationship is dominant. The results of cross wavelet and wavelet coherence analysis indicate moderate covariance and correlation between stock indexes and the markets are in phase (i.e. cyclical in nature) over varying durations. Pakistan stock market was lagging during the entire period in relation to Indian stock market, corresponding to the 8~32 and then 64~256 weeks scale. Similar findings are evident for S&P 500 and Nikkei 225 indexes, however, the relationship occurs during the later period of study. All three wavelet indicators suggest strong evidence of higher co-movement during 2008-09 global financial crises. The empirical analysis reveals a strong evidence that the portfolio diversification benefits vary across frequencies and time. This analysis is unique and have several practical implications for regional and international investors while assigning the optimal weightage of different assets in portfolio formulation.Keywords: co-movement, Pakistan stock exchange, S&P 500, Nikkei 225, wavelet analysis
Procedia PDF Downloads 3513627 Experimental and Theoratical Methods to Increase Core Damping for Sandwitch Cantilever Beam
Authors: Iyd Eqqab Maree, Moouyad Ibrahim Abbood
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The purpose behind this study is to predict damping effect for steel cantilever beam by using two methods of passive viscoelastic constrained layer damping. First method is Matlab Program, this method depend on the Ross, Kerwin and Unger (RKU) model for passive viscoelastic damping. Second method is experimental lab (frequency domain method), in this method used the half-power bandwidth method and can be used to determine the system loss factors for damped steel cantilever beam. The RKU method has been applied to a cantilever beam because beam is a major part of a structure and this prediction may further leads to utilize for different kinds of structural application according to design requirements in many industries. In this method of damping a simple cantilever beam is treated by making sandwich structure to make the beam damp, and this is usually done by using viscoelastic material as a core to ensure the damping effect. The use of viscoelastic layers constrained between elastic layers is known to be effective for damping of flexural vibrations of structures over a wide range of frequencies. The energy dissipated in these arrangements is due to shear deformation in the viscoelastic layers, which occurs due to flexural vibration of the structures. The theory of dynamic stability of elastic systems deals with the study of vibrations induced by pulsating loads that are parametric with respect to certain forms of deformation. There is a very good agreement of the experimental results with the theoretical findings. The main ideas of this thesis are to find the transition region for damped steel cantilever beam (4mm and 8mm thickness) from experimental lab and theoretical prediction (Matlab R2011a). Experimentally and theoretically proved that the transition region for two specimens occurs at modal frequency between mode 1 and mode 2, which give the best damping, maximum loss factor and maximum damping ratio, thus this type of viscoelastic material core (3M468) is very appropriate to use in automotive industry and in any mechanical application has modal frequency eventuate between mode 1 and mode 2.Keywords: 3M-468 material core, loss factor and frequency, domain method, bioinformatics, biomedicine, MATLAB
Procedia PDF Downloads 2623626 Cognitive Decline in People Living with HIV in India and Correlation with Neurometabolites Using 3T Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS): A Cross-Sectional Study
Authors: Kartik Gupta, Virendra Kumar, Sanjeev Sinha, N. Jagannathan
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Introduction: A significant number of patients having human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection show a neurocognitive decline (NCD) ranging from minor cognitive impairment to severe dementia. The possible causes of NCD in HIV-infected patients include brain injury by HIV before cART, neurotoxic viral proteins and metabolic abnormalities. In the present study, we compared the level of NCD in asymptomatic HIV-infected patients with changes in brain metabolites measured by using magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). Methods: 43 HIV-positive patients (30 males and 13 females) coming to ART center of the hospital and HIV-seronegative healthy subjects were recruited for the study. All the participants completed MRI and MRS examination, detailed clinical assessments and a battery of neuropsychological tests. All the MR investigations were carried out at 3.0T MRI scanner (Ingenia/Achieva, Philips, Netherlands). MRI examination protocol included the acquisition of T2-weighted imaging in axial, coronal and sagittal planes, T1-weighted, FLAIR, and DWI images in the axial plane. Patients who showed any apparent lesion on MRI were excluded from the study. T2-weighted images in three orthogonal planes were used to localize the voxel in left frontal lobe white matter (FWM) and left basal ganglia (BG) for single voxel MRS. Single voxel MRS spectra were acquired with a point resolved spectroscopy (PRESS) localization pulse sequence at an echo time (TE) of 35 ms and a repetition time (TR) of 2000 ms with 64 or 128 scans. Automated preprocessing and determination of absolute concentrations of metabolites were estimated using LCModel by water scaling method and the Cramer-Rao lower bounds for all metabolites analyzed in the study were below 15\%. Levels of total N-acetyl aspartate (tNAA), total choline (tCho), glutamate + glutamine (Glx), total creatine (tCr), were measured. Cognition was tested using a battery of tests validated for Indian population. The cognitive domains tested were the memory, attention-information processing, abstraction-executive, simple and complex perceptual motor skills. Z-scores normalized according to age, sex and education standard were used to calculate dysfunction in these individual domains. The NCD was defined as dysfunction with Z-score ≤ 2 in at least two domains. One-way ANOVA was used to compare the difference in brain metabolites between the patients and healthy subjects. Results: NCD was found in 23 (53%) patients. There was no significant difference in age, CD4 count and viral load between the two groups. Maximum impairment was found in the domains of memory and simple motor skills i.e., 19/43 (44%). The prevalence of deficit in attention-information processing, complex perceptual motor skills and abstraction-executive function was 37%, 35%, 33% respectively. Subjects with NCD had a higher level of Glutamate in the Frontal region (8.03 ± 2.30 v/s. 10.26 ± 5.24, p-value 0.001). Conclusion: Among newly diagnosed, ART-naïve retroviral disease patients from India, cognitive decline was found in 53\% patients using tests validated for this population. Those with neurocognitive decline had a significantly higher level of Glutamate in the left frontal region. There was no significant difference in age, CD4 count and viral load at initiation of ART between the two groups.Keywords: HIV, neurocognitive decline, neurometabolites, magnetic resonance spectroscopy
Procedia PDF Downloads 1933625 Quantification of Effects of Structure-Soil-Structure Interactions on Urban Environment under Rayleigh Wave Loading
Authors: Neeraj Kumar, J. P. Narayan
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The effects of multiple Structure-Soil-Structure Interactions (SSSI) on the seismic wave-field is generally disregarded by earthquake engineers, particularly the surface waves which cause more damage to buildings. Closely built high rise buildings exchange substantial seismic energy with each other and act as a full-coupled dynamic system. In this paper, SSI effects on the building responses and the free field motion due to a small city consisting 25- homogenous buildings blocks of 10-storey are quantified. The rocking and translational behavior of building under Rayleigh wave loading is studied for different dimensions of the building. The obtained dynamic parameters of buildings revealed a reduction in building roof drift with an increase in number of buildings ahead of the considered building. The strain developed by vertical component of Rayleigh may cause tension in structural components of building. A matching of fundamental frequency of building for the horizontal component of Rayleigh wave with that for vertically incident SV-wave is obtained. Further, the fundamental frequency of building for the vertical vibration is approximately twice to that for horizontal vibration. The city insulation has caused a reduction of amplitude of Rayleigh wave up to 19.3% and 21.6% in the horizontal and vertical components, respectively just outside the city. Further, the insulating effect of city was very large at fundamental frequency of buildings for both the horizontal and vertical components. Therefore, it is recommended to consider the insulating effects of city falling in the path of Rayleigh wave propagation in seismic hazard assessment for an area.Keywords: structure-soil-structure interactions, Rayleigh wave propagation, finite difference simulation, dynamic response of buildings
Procedia PDF Downloads 2103624 The Photon-Drag Effect in Cylindrical Quantum Wire with a Parabolic Potential
Authors: Hoang Van Ngoc, Nguyen Thu Huong, Nguyen Quang Bau
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Using the quantum kinetic equation for electrons interacting with acoustic phonon, the density of the constant current associated with the drag of charge carriers in cylindrical quantum wire by a linearly polarized electromagnetic wave, a DC electric field and a laser radiation field is calculated. The density of the constant current is studied as a function of the frequency of electromagnetic wave, as well as the frequency of laser field and the basic elements of quantum wire with a parabolic potential. The analytic expression of the constant current density is numerically evaluated and plotted for a specific quantum wires GaAs/AlGaAs to show the dependence of the constant current density on above parameters. All these results of quantum wire compared with bulk semiconductors and superlattices to show the difference.Keywords: The photon-drag effect, the constant current density, quantum wire, parabolic potential
Procedia PDF Downloads 4143623 Jitter Based Reconstruction of Transmission Line Pulse Using On-Chip Sensor
Authors: Bhuvnesh Narayanan, Bernhard Weiss, Tvrtko Mandic, Adrijan Baric
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This paper discusses a method to reconstruct internal high-frequency signals through subsampling techniques in an IC using an on-chip sensor. Though there are existing methods to internally probe and reconstruct high frequency signals through subsampling techniques; these methods have been applicable mainly for synchronized systems. This paper demonstrates a method for making such non-intrusive on-chip reconstructions possible also in non-synchronized systems. The TLP pulse is used to demonstrate the experimental validation of the concept. The on-chip sensor measures the voltage in an internal node. The jitter in the input pulse causes a varying pulse delay with respect to the on-chip sampling command. By measuring this pulse delay and by correlating it with the measured on-chip voltage, time domain waveforms can be reconstructed, and the influence of the pulse on the internal nodes can be better understood.Keywords: on-chip sensor, jitter, transmission line pulse, subsampling
Procedia PDF Downloads 1393622 Passive Attenuation with Multiple Resonator Rings for Musical Instruments Equalization
Authors: Lorenzo Bonoldi, Gianluca Memoli, Abdelhalim Azbaid El Ouahabi
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In this paper, a series of ring-shaped attenuators utilizing Helmholtz and quarter wavelength resonators in variable, fixed, and combined configurations have been manufactured using a 3D printer. We illustrate possible uses by incorporating such devices into musical instruments (e.g. in acoustic guitar sound holes) and audio speakers with a view to controlling such devices tonal emissions without electronic equalization systems. Numerical investigations into the transmission loss values of these ring-shaped attenuators using finite element method simulations (COMSOL Multiphysics) have been presented in the frequency range of 100– 1000 Hz. We compare such results for each attenuator model with experimental measurements using different driving sources such as white noise, a maximum-length sequence (MLS), square and sine sweep pulses, and point scans in the frequency domain. Finally, we present a preliminary discussion on the comparison of numerical and experimental results.Keywords: equaliser, metamaterials, musical, instruments
Procedia PDF Downloads 1583621 Analysis and Performance of European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service System in North of Algeria for GPS Single Point Positioning
Authors: Tabti Lahouaria, Kahlouche Salem, Benadda Belkacem, Beldjilali Bilal
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The European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) provides an augmentation signal to GPS (Global Positioning System) single point positioning. Presently EGNOS provides data correction and integrity information using the GPS L1 (1575.42 MHz) frequency band. The main objective of this system is to provide a better real-time positioning precision than using GPS only. They are expected to be used with single-frequency code observations. EGNOS offers navigation performance for an open service (OS), in terms of precision and availability this performance gradually degrades as moving away from the service area. For accurate system performance, the service will become less and less available as the user moves away from the EGNOS service. The improvement in position solution is investigated using the two collocated dual frequency GPS, where no EGNOS Ranging and Integrity Monitoring Station (RIMS) exists. One of the pseudo-range was kept as GPS stand-alone and the other was corrected by EGNOS to estimate the planimetric and altimetric precision for different dates. It is found that precision in position improved significantly in the second due to EGNOS correction. The performance of EGNOS system in the north of Algeria is also investigated in terms of integrity. The results show that the horizontal protection level (HPL) value is below 18.25 meters (95%) and the vertical protection level (VPL) is below 42.22 meters (95 %). These results represent good integrity information transmitted by EGNOS for APV I service. This service is thus compliant with the aviation requirements for Approaches with Vertical Guidance (APV-I), which is characterised by 40 m HAL (horizontal alarm limit) and 50 m VAL (vertical alarm limit).Keywords: EGNOS, GPS, positioning, integrity, protection level
Procedia PDF Downloads 2163620 Healthy, Breast Fed Bangladeshi Children Can Regulate Their Food Consumption in Each Meal and Feeding Duration When Offered with Varied Energy Density and Feeding Frequency of Complementary Foods
Authors: M. Munirul Islam, Makhduma Khatun M., Janet M. Peerson, Tahmeed Ahmed, M. Abid Hossain Mollah, Kathryn G. Dewey, Kenneth H. Brown
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Information is required on the effects of dietary energy density (ED) and feeding frequency (FF) of complementary foods (CF) on food consumption during individual meals and time expended in child feeding. We evaluated the effects of varied ED and FF of CFs on food intake and time required for child feeding during individual meals. During 9 separate, randomly ordered dietary periods lasting 3-6 days each, we measured self-determined intakes of porridges by 18 healthy, breastfed children 8-11 mo old who were fed coded porridges with energy densities of 0.5, 1.0 or 1.5 kcal/g, during 3, 4, or 5 meals/d. CF intake was measured by weighing the feeding bowl before and after every meal. Children consumed greater amounts of CFs per meal when they received diets with lower ED (p = 0.044) and fewer meals per day (p < 0.001). Food intake was less during the first meal of the day than the other meals. Greater time was expended per meal when fewer meals were offered. Time expended per meal did not vary by ED, but the children ate the lower ED diets faster (p = 0.019). Food intake velocity was also greater when more meals were offered per day (p = 0.005). These results provide further evidence of young children’s ability to regulate their energy intakes, even during infancy; and they convey information on factors that affect the amount of time that caregivers must devote to child feeding.Keywords: complementary foods, energy density, feeding frequency, young children
Procedia PDF Downloads 4573619 Improvement and Miniaturization RFID Patch Antenna by Inclusion the Complementary Metamaterials
Authors: Seif Naoui, Lassaad Latrach, Ali Gharsallah
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This paper is specialized to highlight the method of miniaturization and improvement the patch antenna by using the complementary metamaterial. This method is presented by a simple technique is composed a structure of patch antenna integrated in its surface a cell of complementary split ring resonator. This resonator is placed at the middle of the radiating patch in parallel with the transmission line and with a variable angle of orientation. The objective is to find the ultimate angle where the best results are obtained on improving the characteristics of the considered antenna. This motif widespread at the traceability applications by wireless communication for RFID technology at the operation frequency 2.45 GHz. Our contribution is based on studies empirical often presented in this article. All simulation results were made by the CST Microwave Studio.Keywords: complimentary split ring resonators, computer simulation technology microwave studio, metamaterials patch antennas, microstrip patch antenna, radio frequency identification
Procedia PDF Downloads 4333618 Comprehensive Analysis of Electrohysterography Signal Features in Term and Preterm Labor
Authors: Zhihui Liu, Dongmei Hao, Qian Qiu, Yang An, Lin Yang, Song Zhang, Yimin Yang, Xuwen Li, Dingchang Zheng
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Premature birth, defined as birth before 37 completed weeks of gestation is a leading cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality and has long-term adverse consequences for health. It has recently been reported that the worldwide preterm birth rate is around 10%. The existing measurement techniques for diagnosing preterm delivery include tocodynamometer, ultrasound and fetal fibronectin. However, they are subjective, or suffer from high measurement variability and inaccurate diagnosis and prediction of preterm labor. Electrohysterography (EHG) method based on recording of uterine electrical activity by electrodes attached to maternal abdomen, is a promising method to assess uterine activity and diagnose preterm labor. The purpose of this study is to analyze the difference of EHG signal features between term labor and preterm labor. Free access database was used with 300 signals acquired in two groups of pregnant women who delivered at term (262 cases) and preterm (38 cases). Among them, EHG signals from 38 term labor and 38 preterm labor were preprocessed with band-pass Butterworth filters of 0.08–4Hz. Then, EHG signal features were extracted, which comprised classical time domain description including root mean square and zero-crossing number, spectral parameters including peak frequency, mean frequency and median frequency, wavelet packet coefficients, autoregression (AR) model coefficients, and nonlinear measures including maximal Lyapunov exponent, sample entropy and correlation dimension. Their statistical significance for recognition of two groups of recordings was provided. The results showed that mean frequency of preterm labor was significantly smaller than term labor (p < 0.05). 5 coefficients of AR model showed significant difference between term labor and preterm labor. The maximal Lyapunov exponent of early preterm (time of recording < the 26th week of gestation) was significantly smaller than early term. The sample entropy of late preterm (time of recording > the 26th week of gestation) was significantly smaller than late term. There was no significant difference for other features between the term labor and preterm labor groups. Any future work regarding classification should therefore focus on using multiple techniques, with the mean frequency, AR coefficients, maximal Lyapunov exponent and the sample entropy being among the prime candidates. Even if these methods are not yet useful for clinical practice, they do bring the most promising indicators for the preterm labor.Keywords: electrohysterogram, feature, preterm labor, term labor
Procedia PDF Downloads 5563617 An Energy Detection-Based Algorithm for Cooperative Spectrum Sensing in Rayleigh Fading Channel
Authors: H. Bakhshi, E. Khayyamian
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Cognitive radios have been recognized as one of the most promising technologies dealing with the scarcity of the radio spectrum. In cognitive radio systems, secondary users are allowed to utilize the frequency bands of primary users when the bands are idle. Hence, how to accurately detect the idle frequency bands has attracted many researchers’ interest. Detection performance is sensitive toward noise power and gain fluctuation. Since signal to noise ratio (SNR) between primary user and secondary users are not the same and change over the time, SNR and noise power estimation is essential. In this paper, we present a cooperative spectrum sensing algorithm using SNR estimation to improve detection performance in the real situation.Keywords: cognitive radio, cooperative spectrum sensing, energy detection, SNR estimation, spectrum sensing, rayleigh fading channel
Procedia PDF Downloads 4413616 Neural Correlates of Diminished Humor Comprehension in Schizophrenia: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study
Authors: Przemysław Adamczyk, Mirosław Wyczesany, Aleksandra Domagalik, Artur Daren, Kamil Cepuch, Piotr Błądziński, Tadeusz Marek, Andrzej Cechnicki
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The present study aimed at evaluation of neural correlates of humor comprehension impairments observed in schizophrenia. To investigate the nature of this deficit in schizophrenia and to localize cortical areas involved in humor processing we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The study included chronic schizophrenia outpatients (SCH; n=20), and sex, age and education level matched healthy controls (n=20). The task consisted of 60 stories (setup) of which 20 had funny, 20 nonsensical and 20 neutral (not funny) punchlines. After the punchlines were presented, the participants were asked to indicate whether the story was comprehensible (yes/no) and how funny it was (1-9 Likert-type scale). fMRI was performed on a 3T scanner (Magnetom Skyra, Siemens) using 32-channel head coil. Three contrasts in accordance with the three stages of humor processing were analyzed in both groups: abstract vs neutral stories - incongruity detection; funny vs abstract - incongruity resolution; funny vs neutral - elaboration. Additionally, parametric modulation analysis was performed using both subjective ratings separately in order to further differentiate the areas involved in incongruity resolution processing. Statistical analysis for behavioral data used U Mann-Whitney test and Bonferroni’s correction, fMRI data analysis utilized whole-brain voxel-wise t-tests with 10-voxel extent threshold and with Family Wise Error (FWE) correction at alpha = 0.05, or uncorrected at alpha = 0.001. Between group comparisons revealed that the SCH subjects had attenuated activation in: the right superior temporal gyrus in case of irresolvable incongruity processing of nonsensical puns (nonsensical > neutral); the left medial frontal gyrus in case of incongruity resolution processing of funny puns (funny > nonsensical) and the interhemispheric ACC in case of elaboration of funny puns (funny > neutral). Additionally, the SCH group revealed weaker activation during funniness ratings in the left ventro-medial prefrontal cortex, the medial frontal gyrus, the angular and the supramarginal gyrus, and the right temporal pole. In comprehension ratings the SCH group showed suppressed activity in the left superior and medial frontal gyri. Interestingly, these differences were accompanied by protraction of time in both types of rating responses in the SCH group, a lower level of comprehension for funny punchlines and a higher funniness for absurd punchlines. Presented results indicate that, in comparison to healthy controls, schizophrenia is characterized by difficulties in humor processing revealed by longer reaction times, impairments of understanding jokes and finding nonsensical punchlines more funny. This is accompanied by attenuated brain activations, especially in the left fronto-parietal and the right temporal cortices. Disturbances of the humor processing seem to be impaired at the all three stages of the humor comprehension process, from incongruity detection, through its resolution to elaboration. The neural correlates revealed diminished neural activity of the schizophrenia brain, as compared with the control group. The study was supported by the National Science Centre, Poland (grant no 2014/13/B/HS6/03091).Keywords: communication skills, functional magnetic resonance imaging, humor, schizophrenia
Procedia PDF Downloads 2053615 Changing Arbitrary Data Transmission Period by Using Bluetooth Module on Gas Sensor Node of Arduino Board
Authors: Hiesik Kim, Yong-Beom Kim, Jaheon Gu
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Internet of Things (IoT) applications are widely serviced and spread worldwide. Local wireless data transmission technique must be developed to rate up with some technique. Bluetooth wireless data communication is wireless technique is technique made by Special Inter Group (SIG) using the frequency range 2.4 GHz, and it is exploiting Frequency Hopping to avoid collision with a different device. To implement experiment, equipment for experiment transmitting measured data is made by using Arduino as open source hardware, gas sensor, and Bluetooth module and algorithm controlling transmission rate is demonstrated. Experiment controlling transmission rate also is progressed by developing Android application receiving measured data, and controlling this rate is available at the experiment result. It is important that in the future, improvement for communication algorithm be needed because a few error occurs when data is transferred or received.Keywords: Arduino, Bluetooth, gas sensor, IoT, transmission
Procedia PDF Downloads 2723614 Statistical Analysis of Cables in Long-Span Cable-Stayed Bridges
Authors: Ceshi Sun, Yueyu Zhao, Yaobing Zhao, Zhiqiang Wang, Jian Peng, Pengxin Guo
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With the rapid development of transportation, there are more than 100 cable-stayed bridges with main span larger than 300 m in China. In order to ascertain the statistical relationships among the design parameters of stay cables and their distribution characteristics, 1500 cables were selected from 25 practical long-span cable-stayed bridges. A new relationship between the first order frequency and the length of cable was found by conducting the curve fitting. Then, based on this relationship other interesting relationships were deduced. Several probability density functions (PDFs) were used to investigate the distributions of the parameters of first order frequency, stress level and the Irvine parameter. It was found that these parameters obey the Lognormal distribution, the Weibull distribution and the generalized Pareto distribution, respectively. Scatter diagrams of the three parameters were plotted and their 95% confidence intervals were also investigated.Keywords: cable, cable-stayed bridge, long-span, statistical analysis
Procedia PDF Downloads 6253613 Detection of Nanotoxic Material Using DNA Based QCM
Authors: Juneseok You, Chanho Park, Kuehwan Jang, Sungsoo Na
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Sensing of nanotoxic materials is strongly important, as their engineering applications are growing recently and results in that nanotoxic material can harmfully influence human health and environment. In current study we report the quartz crystal microbalance (QCM)-based, in situ and real-time sensing of nanotoxic-material by frequency shift. We propose the in situ detection of nanotoxic material of zinc oxice by using QCM functionalized with a taget-specific DNA. Since the mass of a target material is comparable to that of an atom, the mass change caused by target binding to DNA on the quartz electrode is so small that it is practically difficult to detect the ions at low concentrations. In our study, we have demonstrated the in-situ and fast detection of zinc oxide using the quartz crystal microbalance (QCM). The detection was derived from the DNA hybridization between the DNA on the quartz electrode. The results suggest that QCM-based detection opens a new avenue for the development of a practical water-testing sensor.Keywords: nanotoxic material, qcm, frequency, in situ sensing
Procedia PDF Downloads 4153612 Shielding Effectiveness of Rice Husk and CNT Composites in X-Band Frequency
Authors: Y. S. Lee, F. Malek, E. M. Cheng, W. W. Liu, F. H. Wee, M. N. Iqbal, Z. Liyana, B. S. Yew, F. S. Abdullah
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This paper presents the electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding effectiveness of rice husk and carbon nanotubes (RHCNTs) composites in the X-band region (8.2-12.4 GHz). The difference weight ratio of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were mix with the rice husk. The rectangular wave guide technique was used to measure the complex permittivity of the RHCNTs composites materials. The complex permittivity is represented in terms of both the real and imaginary parts of permittivity in X-band frequency. The conductivity of RHCNTs shows increasing when the ratio of CNTs mixture increases. The composites materials were simulated using Computer Simulation Technology (CST) Microwave Studio simulation software. The shielding effectiveness of RHCNTs and pure rice husk was compared. The highest EMI SE of 30 dB is obtained for RHCNTs composites of 10 wt % CNTs with 10 mm thick.Keywords: EMI shielding effectiveness, carbon nanotube, composite materials wave guide, x-band
Procedia PDF Downloads 3973611 Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Validation of the Child Engagement in Daily Life in Greek
Authors: Rigas Dimakopoulos, Marianna Papadopoulou, Roser Pons
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Background: Participation in family, recreational activities and self-care is an integral part of health. It is also the main outcome of rehabilitation services for children and adolescents with motor disabilities. There are currently no tools in Greek to assess participation in young children. Purpose: To culturally adapt and validate the Greek version of the Child Engagement in Daily Living (CEDL). Method: The CEDL was cross-culturally translated into Greek using forward-backward translation, review by the expert committee, pretest application and final review. Internal consistency was evaluated using the Cronbach alpha and test-retest reliability using the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC). Parents of children aged 18 months to 5 years and with motor disabilities were recruited. Participants completed the CEDL and the children’s gross motor function was classified using the Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS). Results: Eighty-three children were included, GMFCS I-V. Mean ± standard deviation of the CEDL domains “frequency of participation” “enjoyment of participation” and “self-care” were 58.4±14.0, 3.8±1.0 and 49.9±24, respectively. Internal consistency of all domains was high; Cronbach alpha for “frequency of participation” was 0.83, for “enjoyment of participation” was 0.76 and for “self-care” was 0.92. Test-retest reliability (ICC) was excellent for the “self-care” (0.95) and good for “frequency of participation” and “enjoyment of participation” domains (0.90 and 0.88, respectively). Conclusion: The Greek CEDL has good reliability. It can be used to evaluate participation in Greek young children with motor disabilities GMFCS levels I-V.Keywords: participation, child, disabilities, child engagement in daily living
Procedia PDF Downloads 1723610 MIMO UWB Antenna for Exploring Body Centric Communication
Authors: Osama Aziz, Hamza Ahmad, Muhibur Rahman
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The performance of wireless communication systems has been suggested to be improved by UWB MIMO antenna systems. However, creating a successful UWB MIMO antenna is a difficult undertaking that calls for resolving a number of design issues, including radiation efficiency, size, and frequency range. This study's primary objective is to create a novel, highly effective, small-sized, ultra-wideband (UWB) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna and investigate its potential applications in body-centric communication. Two radiating elements, shared ground plane, circular stubs, and t-shaped isolation elements are used to achieve the MIMO antenna. Outstanding multiplexing efficiency, significant peak gain across the entire UWB frequency spectrum, extremely low mutual coupling (S21=-16 dB), high diversity gain (DG>9), and low envelop correlation are achieved. The proposed antenna will be one of the promising candidates for body centric communication.Keywords: UWB communication, UWB MIMO antennas, body-centric communication, diversity gain
Procedia PDF Downloads 653609 Gravitational Frequency Shifts for Photons and Particles
Authors: Jing-Gang Xie
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The research, in this case, considers the integration of the Quantum Field Theory and the General Relativity Theory. As two successful models in explaining behaviors of particles, they are incompatible since they work at different masses and scales of energy, with the evidence that regards the description of black holes and universe formation. It is so considering previous efforts in merging the two theories, including the likes of the String Theory, Quantum Gravity models, and others. In a bid to prove an actionable experiment, the paper’s approach starts with the derivations of the existing theories at present. It goes on to test the derivations by applying the same initial assumptions, coupled with several deviations. The resulting equations get similar results to those of classical Newton model, quantum mechanics, and general relativity as long as conditions are normal. However, outcomes are different when conditions are extreme, specifically with no breakdowns even for less than Schwarzschild radius, or at Planck length cases. Even so, it proves the possibilities of integrating the two theories.Keywords: general relativity theory, particles, photons, Quantum Gravity Model, gravitational frequency shift
Procedia PDF Downloads 3523608 Tracing the Developmental Repertoire of the Progressive: Evidence from L2 Construction Learning
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Research investigating language acquisition from a constructionist perspective has demonstrated that language is learned as constructions at various linguistic levels, which is related to factors of frequency, semantic prototypicality, and form-meaning contingency. However, previous research on construction learning tended to focus on clause-level constructions such as verb argument constructions but few attempts were made to study morpheme-level constructions such as the progressive construction, which is regarded as a source of acquisition problems for English learners from diverse L1 backgrounds, especially for those whose L1 do not have an equivalent construction such as German and Chinese. To trace the developmental trajectory of Chinese EFL learners’ use of the progressive with respect to verb frequency, verb-progressive contingency, and verbal prototypicality and generality, a learner corpus consisting of three sub-corpora representing three different English proficiency levels was extracted from the Chinese Learners of English Corpora (CLEC). As the reference point, a native speakers’ corpus extracted from the Louvain Corpus of Native English Essays was also established. All the texts were annotated with C7 tagset by part-of-speech tagging software. After annotation all valid progressive hits were retrieved with AntConc 3.4.3 followed by a manual check. Frequency-related data showed that from the lowest to the highest proficiency level, (1) the type token ratio increased steadily from 23.5% to 35.6%, getting closer to 36.4% in the native speakers’ corpus, indicating a wider use of verbs in the progressive; (2) the normalized entropy value rose from 0.776 to 0.876, working towards the target score of 0.886 in native speakers’ corpus, revealing that upper-intermediate learners exhibited a more even distribution and more productive use of verbs in the progressive; (3) activity verbs (i.e., verbs with prototypical progressive meanings like running and singing) dropped from 59% to 34% but non-prototypical verbs such as state verbs (e.g., being and living) and achievement verbs (e.g., dying and finishing) were increasingly used in the progressive. Apart from raw frequency analyses, collostructional analyses were conducted to quantify verb-progressive contingency and to determine what verbs were distinctively associated with the progressive construction. Results were in line with raw frequency findings, which showed that contingency between the progressive and non-prototypical verbs represented by light verbs (e.g., going, doing, making, and coming) increased as English proficiency proceeded. These findings altogether suggested that beginning Chinese EFL learners were less productive in using the progressive construction: they were constrained by a small set of verbs which had concrete and typical progressive meanings (e.g., the activity verbs). But with English proficiency increasing, their use of the progressive began to spread to marginal members such as the light verbs.Keywords: Construction learning, Corpus-based, Progressives, Prototype
Procedia PDF Downloads 1203607 Integration of Wireless Sensor Networks and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID): An Assesment
Authors: Arslan Murtaza
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RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) and WSN (Wireless sensor network) are two significant wireless technologies that have extensive diversity of applications and provide limitless forthcoming potentials. RFID is used to identify existence and location of objects whereas WSN is used to intellect and monitor the environment. Incorporating RFID with WSN not only provides identity and location of an object but also provides information regarding the condition of the object carrying the sensors enabled RFID tag. It can be widely used in stock management, asset tracking, asset counting, security, military, environmental monitoring and forecasting, healthcare, intelligent home, intelligent transport vehicles, warehouse management, and precision agriculture. This assessment presents a brief introduction of RFID, WSN, and integration of WSN and RFID, and then applications related to both RFID and WSN. This assessment also deliberates status of the projects on RFID technology carried out in different computing group projects to be taken on WSN and RFID technology.Keywords: wireless sensor network, RFID, embedded sensor, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, integration, time saving, cost efficient
Procedia PDF Downloads 3223606 Bubbling in Gas Solids Fluidization at a Strouhal Number Tuned for Low Energy Dissipation
Authors: Chenxi Zhang, Weizhong Qian, Fei Wei
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Gas solids multiphase flow is common in many engineering and environmental applications. Turbulence and multiphase flows are two of the most challenging topics in fluid mechanics, and when combined they pose a formidable challenge, even in the dilute dispersed regime. Dimensionless numbers are important in mechanics because their constancy can imply dynamic similarity between systems, despite possible differences in medium or scale. In the fluid mechanics literature, the Strouhal number is usually associated with the dimensionless shedding frequency of a von Karman wake; here we introduce this dimensionless number to investigate bubbling in gas solids fluidization. St=fA/U, which divides stroke frequency (f) and amplitude (A) by forward speed (U). The bubble behavior in a large two-dimensional bubbling fluidized bed (500mm×30mm×6000mm) is investigated. Our result indicates that propulsive efficiency is high and energy dissipation is low over a narrow range of St and usually within the interval 0.23605 Comparing Phonological Processes in Persian-Arabic Bilingual Children and Monolingual Children
Authors: Vafa Delphi, Maryam Delphi, Talieh Zarifian, Enayatolah Bakhshi
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Background and Aim: Bilingualism is a common phenomenon in many countries of the world and May be consistent consonant errors in the speech of bilingual children. The aim of this study was to evaluate Phonological skills include occurrence proportion, frequency and type of phonological processes in Persian-Arabic speaking children in Ahvaz city, the center of Khuzestan. Method: This study is descriptive-analytical and cross-sectional. Twenty-eight children aged 36-48 months were divided into two groups Persian monolingual and Persian-Arabic bilingual: (14 participants in each group). Sampling was recruited randomly based on inclusion criteria from kindergartens of the Ahvaz city in Iran. The tool of this study was the Persian Phonological Test (PPT), a subtest of Persian Diagnostic Evaluation Articulation and Phonological test. In this test, Phonological processes were investigated in two groups: structure and substitution processes. Data was investigated using SPSS software and the U Mann-Whitney test. Results: The results showed that the proportion occurrence of substitution process was significantly different between two groups of monolingual and bilingual (P=0/001), But the type of phonological processes didn’t show a significant difference in both monolingual and bilingual children of the Persian-Arabic.The frequency of phonological processes is greater in bilingual children than monolingual children. Conclusion: The study showed that bilingualism has no effect on type of phonological processes, but this can be effective on the frequency of processes. Since the type of phonological processes in bilingual children is similar to monolingual children So we can conclude the Persian_arabic bilingual children's phonological system is similar to monolingual children.Keywords: Persian-Arabic bilingual child, phonological processes, the proportion occurrence of syllable structure, the proportion occurrence of substitution
Procedia PDF Downloads 2993604 Significant Factor of Magnetic Resonance for Survival Outcome in Rectal Cancer Patients Following Neoadjuvant Combined Chemotherapy and Radiation Therapy: Stratification of Lateral Pelvic Lymph Node
Authors: Min Ju Kim, Beom Jin Park, Deuk Jae Sung, Na Yeon Han, Kichoon Sim
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Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine the significant magnetic resonance (MR) imaging factors of lateral pelvic lymph node (LPLN) on the assessment of survival outcomes of neoadjuvant combined chemotherapy and radiation therapy (CRT) in patients with mid/low rectal cancer. Materials and Methods: The institutional review board approved this retrospective study of 63 patients with mid/low rectal cancer who underwent MR before and after CRT and patient consent was not required. Surgery performed within 4 weeks after CRT. The location of LPLNs was divided into following four groups; 1) common iliac, 2) external iliac, 3) obturator, and 4) internal iliac lymph nodes. The short and long axis diameters, numbers, shape (ovoid vs round), signal intensity (homogenous vs heterogenous), margin (smooth vs irregular), and diffusion-weighted restriction of LPLN were analyzed on pre- and post-CRT images. For treatment response using size, lymph node groups were defined as group 1) short axis diameter ≤ 5mm on both MR, group 2) > 5mm change into ≤ 5mm after CRT, and group 3) persistent size > 5mm before and after CRT. Clinical findings were also evaluated. The disease-free survival and overall survival rate were evaluated and the risk factors for survival outcomes were analyzed using cox regression analysis. Results: Patients in the group 3 (persistent size >5mm) showed significantly lower survival rates than the group 1 and 2 (Disease-free survival rates of 36.1% and 78.8, 88.8%, p < 0.001). The size response (group 1-3), multiplicity of LPLN, the level of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), patient’s age, T and N stage, vessel invasion, perineural invasion were significant factors affecting disease-free survival rate or overall survival rate using univariate analysis (p < 0.05). The persistent size (group 3) and multiplicity of LPLN were independent risk factors among MR imaging features influencing disease-free survival rate (HR = 10.087, p < 0.05; HR = 4.808, p < 0.05). Perineural invasion and T stage were shown as independent histologic risk factors (HR = 16.594, p < 0.05; HR = 15.891, p < 0.05). Conclusion: The persistent size greater than 5mm and multiplicity of LPLN on both pre- and post-MR after CRT were significant MR factors affecting survival outcomes in the patients with mid/low rectal cancer.Keywords: rectal cancer, MRI, lymph node, combined chemoradiotherapy
Procedia PDF Downloads 1363603 Biosignal Recognition for Personal Identification
Authors: Hadri Hussain, M.Nasir Ibrahim, Chee-Ming Ting, Mariani Idroas, Fuad Numan, Alias Mohd Noor
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A biometric security system has become an important application in client identification and verification system. A conventional biometric system is normally based on unimodal biometric that depends on either behavioural or physiological information for authentication purposes. The behavioural biometric depends on human body biometric signal (such as speech) and biosignal biometric (such as electrocardiogram (ECG) and phonocardiogram or heart sound (HS)). The speech signal is commonly used in a recognition system in biometric, while the ECG and the HS have been used to identify a person’s diseases uniquely related to its cluster. However, the conventional biometric system is liable to spoof attack that will affect the performance of the system. Therefore, a multimodal biometric security system is developed, which is based on biometric signal of ECG, HS, and speech. The biosignal data involved in the biometric system is initially segmented, with each segment Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC) method is exploited for extracting the feature. The Hidden Markov Model (HMM) is used to model the client and to classify the unknown input with respect to the modal. The recognition system involved training and testing session that is known as client identification (CID). In this project, twenty clients are tested with the developed system. The best overall performance at 44 kHz was 93.92% for ECG and the worst overall performance was ECG at 88.47%. The results were compared to the best overall performance at 44 kHz for (20clients) to increment of clients, which was 90.00% for HS and the worst overall performance falls at ECG at 79.91%. It can be concluded that the difference multimodal biometric has a substantial effect on performance of the biometric system and with the increment of data, even with higher frequency sampling, the performance still decreased slightly as predicted.Keywords: electrocardiogram, phonocardiogram, hidden markov model, mel frequency cepstral coeffiecients, client identification
Procedia PDF Downloads 2723602 Design of Microwave Building Block by Using Numerical Search Algorithm
Authors: Haifeng Zhou, Tsungyang Liow, Xiaoguang Tu, Eujin Lim, Chao Li, Junfeng Song, Xianshu Luo, Ying Huang, Lianxi Jia, Lianwee Luo, Qing Fang, Mingbin Yu, Guoqiang Lo
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With the development of technology, countries gradually allocated more and more frequency spectrums for civilization and commercial usage, especially those high radio frequency bands indicating high information capacity. The field effect becomes more and more prominent in microwave components as frequency increases, which invalidates the transmission line theory and complicate the design of microwave components. Here a modeling approach based on numerical search algorithm is proposed to design various building blocks for microwave circuits to avoid complicated impedance matching and equivalent electrical circuit approximation. Concretely, a microwave component is discretized to a set of segments along the microwave propagation path. Each of the segment is initialized with random dimensions, which constructs a multiple-dimension parameter space. Then numerical searching algorithms (e.g. Pattern search algorithm) are used to find out the ideal geometrical parameters. The optimal parameter set is achieved by evaluating the fitness of S parameters after a number of iterations. We had adopted this approach in our current projects and designed many microwave components including sharp bends, T-branches, Y-branches, microstrip-to-stripline converters and etc. For example, a stripline 90° bend was designed in 2.54 mm x 2.54 mm space for dual-band operation (Ka band and Ku band) with < 0.18 dB insertion loss and < -55 dB reflection. We expect that this approach can enrich the tool kits for microwave designers.Keywords: microwave component, microstrip and stripline, bend, power division, the numerical search algorithm.
Procedia PDF Downloads 3703601 The Prevalence of X-Chromosome Aneuploidy in Recurrent Pregnancy Loss
Authors: Rim Frikha, Nouha Bouayed, Afifa Sellami, Nozha Chakroun, Salima Douad, Leila Keskes, Tarek Rebai
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Recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL), classically defined as the occurrence of two or more failed pregnancies, is a serious reproductive problem, in which, chromosomal rearrangements in either carrier are a major cause; mainly the chromosome aneuploidy. This study was conducted to determine the frequency and contribution of X-chromosome aneuploidy in recurrent pregnancy loss. A retrospective study was carried out among 100 couples with more than 2 miscarriages, referred to our genetic counseling. In all the cases the detailed reproductive histories were taken. Chromosomal analysis was performed using RHG banding in peripheral blood. Of a total of 100 couples; 3 patients with a detected X-chromosome aneuploidy were identified with an overall frequency of 3%. Chromosome abnormalities are as below: a Turner syndrome with 45, X/46, XX mosaicism, a 47, XXX, and a Klinefelter syndrome with 46, XY/47, XXY. These data show a high incidence of X-chromosome aneuploidy; mainly with mosaicism; in RPL. Thus, couples with such chromosomal abnormality should be referred to a clinical geneticist with whom the option of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis in subsequent pregnancy should be discussed.Keywords: aneuploidy, genetic testing, recurrent pregnancy loss, X-chromosome
Procedia PDF Downloads 3513600 A Design of Active Elastic Metamaterial with Extreme Anisotropic Stiffness
Authors: Conner Side, Hunter Pearce
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Traditional elastic metamaterials have difficulties in achieving independent tunable working frequency in two orthogonal directions. In this work, we proposed a pragmatic active elastic metamaterial to obtain extreme anisotropic stiffness with a tunable working frequency range. Piezoelectric patches shunted with variable conductance are properly proposed in the microstructure unit cell to manipulate the effective elastic stiffness along two principal directions at the subwavelength scale. Simulation of manipulation of wave propagation in such metamaterials is performed. An experimental study is also conducted to validate the design, and the results are in good agreement with mathematic analysis and numerical predictions. The proposed active elastic metamaterial will bring forth significant guidelines for ultrasonic imaging technique, and the results are expected to offer novel and general design methodology for elastic metamaterials.Keywords: microstructure, active elastic metamaterials, piezoelectric patches, experimental study
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