Search results for: and normalization technique

Authors: Q. Ni, J. A. Serna, D. Holland, X. Wang

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The objective of this study is to develop Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) techniques to enhance bone related research applied on normal and disuse (Biglycan knockout) mice bone in vitro by using both low-field and high-field NMR simultaneously. It is known that the total amplitude of T₂ relaxation envelopes, measured by the Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill NMR spin echo train (CPMG), is a representation of the liquid phase inside the pores. Therefore, the NMR CPMG magnetization amplitude can be transferred to the volume of water after calibration with the NMR signal amplitude of the known volume of the selected water. In this study, the distribution of mobile water, porosity that can be determined by using low-field (20 MHz) CPMG relaxation technique, and the pore size distributions can be determined by a computational inversion relaxation method. It is also known that the total proton intensity of magnetization from the NMR free induction decay (FID) signal is due to the water present inside the pores (mobile water), the water that has undergone hydration with the bone (bound water), and the protons in the collagen and mineral matter (solid-like protons). Therefore, the components of total mobile and bound water within bone that can be determined by low-field NMR free induction decay technique. Furthermore, the bound water in solid phase (mineral and organic constituents), especially, the dominated component of calcium hydroxyapatite (Ca₁₀(OH)₂(PO₄)₆) can be determined by using high-field (400 MHz) magic angle spinning (MAS) NMR. With MAS technique reducing NMR spectral linewidth inhomogeneous broadening and susceptibility broadening of liquid-solid mix, in particular, we can conduct further research into the ¹H and ³¹P elements and environments of bone materials to identify the locations of bound water such as OH- group within minerals and bone architecture. We hypothesize that with low-field and high-field magic angle spinning NMR can provide a more complete interpretation of water distribution, particularly, in bound water, and these data are important to access bone quality and predict the mechanical behavior of bone.

Keywords: bone, mice bone, NMR, water in bone

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Authors: E. T. Carvalho Filho, J. T. N. Medeiros, L. G. Martinez

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Residual stresses are self equilibrating in a rigid body that acts on the microstructure of the material without application of an external load. They are elastic stresses and can be induced by mechanical, thermal and chemical processes causing a deformation gradient in the crystal lattice favoring premature failure in mechanicals components. The search for measurements with good reliability has been of great importance for the manufacturing industries. Several methods are able to quantify these stresses according to physical principles and the response of the mechanical behavior of the material. The diffraction X-ray technique is one of the most sensitive techniques for small variations of the crystalline lattice since the X-ray beam interacts with the interplanar distance. Being very sensitive technique is also susceptible to variations in measurements requiring a study of the factors that influence the final result of the measurement. Instrumental, operational factors, form deviations of the samples and geometry of analyzes are some variables that need to be considered and analyzed in order for the true measurement. The aim of this work is to analyze the sources of errors inherent to the residual stress measurement process by X-ray diffraction technique making an interlaboratory comparison to verify the reproducibility of the measurements. In this work, two specimens were machined, differing from each other by the surface finishing: grinding and polishing. Additionally, iron powder with particle size less than 45 µm was selected in order to be a reference (as recommended by ASTM E915 standard) for the tests. To verify the deviations caused by the equipment, those specimens were positioned and with the same analysis condition, seven measurements were carried out at 11Ψ tilts. To verify sample positioning errors, seven measurements were performed by positioning the sample at each measurement. To check geometry errors, measurements were repeated for the geometry and Bragg Brentano parallel beams. In order to verify the reproducibility of the method, the measurements were performed in two different laboratories and equipments. The results were statistically worked out and the quantification of the errors.

Keywords: residual stress, x-ray diffraction, repeatability, reproducibility, error analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 181

Authors: Chien-Lin Wang, Cha-Ling Ko, Tainsong Chen

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Pulse Blood pressure (BP) is one of the vital signs, and is an index that helps determining the stability of life. In this respect, some spinal cord injury patients need to take the tilt table test. While doing the test, the posture changes abruptly, and may cause a patient’s BP to change abnormally. This may cause patients to feel discomfort, and even feel as though their life is threatened. Therefore, if a continuous non-invasive BP assessment system were built, it could help to alert health care professionals in the process of rehabilitation when the BP value is out of range. In our research, BP assessed by the pulse transit time technique was developed. In the system, we use a self-made photoplethysmograph (PPG) sensor and filter circuit to detect two PPG signals and to calculate the time difference. The BP can immediately be assessed by the trend line. According to the results of this study, the relationship between the systolic BP and PTT has a highly negative linear correlation (R2=0.8). Further, we used the trend line to assess the value of the BP and compared it to a commercial sphygmomanometer (Omron MX3); the error rate of the system was found to be in the range of ±10%, which is within the permissible error range of a commercial sphygmomanometer. The continue blood pressure measurement from pulse transit time technique may have potential to become a convenience method for clinical rehabilitation.

Keywords: continous blood pressure measurement, PPG, time transit time, transit velocity

Procedia PDF Downloads 354

Authors: Amir Asadi, Karim Habib, Robert J. Moon, Kyriaki Kalaitzidou

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There has been considerable interest in cellulose nanomaterials (CN) as polymer and polymer composites reinforcement due to their high specific modulus and strength, low density and toxicity, and accessible hydroxyl side groups that can be readily chemically modified. The focus of this study is making lightweight composites for better fuel efficiency and lower CO2 emission in auto industries with no compromise on mechanical performance using a scalable technique that can be easily integrated in sheet molding compound (SMC) manufacturing lines. Light weighting will be achieved by replacing part of the heavier components, i.e. glass fibers (GF), with a small amount of cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) in short GF/epoxy composites made using SMC. CNC will be introduced as coating of the GF rovings prior to their use in the SMC line. The employed coating method is similar to the fiber sizing technique commonly used and thus it can be easily scaled and integrated to industrial SMC lines. This will be an alternative route to the most techniques that involve dispersing CN in polymer matrix, in which the nanomaterials agglomeration limits the capability for scaling up in an industrial production. We have demonstrated that incorporating CNC as a coating on GF surface by immersing the GF in CNC aqueous suspensions, a simple and scalable technique, increases the interfacial shear strength (IFSS) by ~69% compared to the composites produced by uncoated GF, suggesting an enhancement of stress transfer across the GF/matrix interface. As a result of IFSS enhancement, incorporation of 0.17 wt% CNC in the composite results in increases of ~10% in both elastic modulus and tensile strength, and 40 % and 43 % in flexural modulus and strength respectively. We have also determined that dispersing 1.4 and 2 wt% CNC in the epoxy matrix of short GF/epoxy SMC composites by sonication allows removing 10 wt% GF with no penalty on tensile and flexural properties leading to 7.5% lighter composites. Although sonication is a scalable technique, it is not quite as simple and inexpensive as coating the GF by passing through an aqueous suspension of CNC. In this study, the above findings are integrated to 1) investigate the effect of CNC content on mechanical properties by passing the GF rovings through CNC aqueous suspension with various concentrations (0-5%) and 2) determine the optimum ratio of the added CNC to the removed GF to achieve the maximum possible weight reduction with no cost on mechanical performance of the SMC composites. The results of this study are of industrial relevance, providing a path toward producing high volume lightweight and mechanically enhanced SMC composites using cellulose nanomaterials.

Keywords: cellulose nanocrystals, light weight polymer-matrix composites, mechanical properties, sheet molding compound (SMC)

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Authors: Singh Deepeshwar, N. K. Manjunath, M. Avinash

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Meditation is a self-regulated conscious process associated with improved awareness, perception, attention and overall performance. Different traditional origin of meditation technique may have different effects on autonomic activity and brain functions. Based on this quest, the present study evaluated the effect of Tai-Chi Chuan (TCC, a Chines movement based meditation technique) and Cyclic Meditation (CM, an Indian traditional based stimulation and relaxation meditation technique) on the hemodynamic responses of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and autonomic functions (such as R-R interval of heart rate variability and respiration). These two meditation practices were compared with simple walking. Employing 64 channel near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), we measured hemoglobin concentration change (i.e., Oxyhemoglobin [ΔHbO], Deoxyhemoglobin [ΔHbR] and Total hemoglobin change [ΔTHC]) in the bilateral PFC before and after TCC, CM and Walking in young college students (n=25; average mean age ± SD; 23.4 ± 3.1 years). We observed the left PFC activity predominantly modulates sympathetic activity effects during the Tai-Chi whereas CM showed changes on right PFC with vagal dominance. However, the changes in oxyhemoglobin and total blood volume change after Tai-Chi was significant higher (p < 0.05, spam t-maps) on the left hemisphere, whereas after CM, there was a significant increase in oxyhemoglobin (p < 0.01) with a decrease in deoxyhemoglobin (p < 0.05) on right PFC. The normal walking showed decrease in Oxyhemoglobin with an increase in deoxyhemoglobin on left PFC. The autonomic functions result showed a significant increase in RR- interval (p < 0.05) along with significant reductions in HR (p < 0.05) in CM, whereas Tai-chi session showed significant increase in HR (p < 0.05) when compared to walking session. Within a group analysis showed a significant reduction in RR-I and significant increase in HR both in Tai-chi and walking sessions. The CM showed there were a significant improvement in the RR - interval of HRV (p < 0.01) with the reduction of heart rate and breath rate (p < 0.05). The result suggested that Tai-Chi and CM both have a positive effect on left and right prefrontal cortex and increase sympathovagal balance (alertful rest) in autonomic nervous system activity.

Keywords: brain, hemodynamic responses, yoga, meditation, Tai-Chi Chuan (TCC), walking, heart rate variability (HRV)

Procedia PDF Downloads 306

Authors: R. H. Begaydarova, B. Zh. Kultanov, B. T. Esilbaeva, G. E. Nasakaeva, Y. Yukhnevich, G. K. Alshynbekova, A. E. Dyusembaeva

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Background: The level of middle molecules of peptides (MMP) allows to evaluate the severity and prognosis of the disease and is a criterion for the effectiveness of the treatment. The detection the products of lipidperoxidation cascade, such as conjugated dienes, malondialdehyde in biological material, has an important role in the development of pathogenesis, the diagnosis and prognosis in different parasitic diseases. Purpose of the study was to evaluate the state of endogenous intoxication and indicators of lipid peroxidation in patients with giardiasis before and after treatment. Materials and methods: Endogenous intoxication was evaluated in patients with giardiasis in the level of middle molecules of peptides (MMP) in the blood. The amount of MMP and products of lipid peroxidation were determined in the blood of 198 patients with giardiasis, 129 of them were women (65%), 69 were men (35%). The MMP level was detected for comparison in the blood of 84 healthy volunteers. The lipid peroxidation were determined in 40 healthy men and women without giardiasis and history of chronic diseases. Data were processed by conventional methods of variation statistics, we calculated the arithmetic mean (M) and standard dispersion (m). t-test (t) was used to assess differences. Results: The level of MMP in the blood was significantly higher in patients with giardiasis in comparison with group of healthy men and women. MMP concentration in the blood of women with Giardia was 2.5 times greater than that of the comparison groups of women. The level of MMP exceeds more than 6 times in men with giardiasis. The decrease in the intensity of endogenous intoxication was two weeks after antigiardia therapy, both men and women. According to the study, a statistically significant increase in the level of all the studied parameters lipid peroxidation cascade was observed in the blood of men with giardiasis, with the exception of the total primary production (NGN). The treatment of giardiasis helped to stabilize the level of almost all metabolites of lipid peroxidation cascade. The exception was level of malondialdehyde, it was significantly elevated to compare with the control group and after treatment. Conclusion: Thus, the MMP level was significantly higher in blood of patients with giardiasis than in comparison group. This is evidence of severe endogenous intoxication caused by giardia infection. The accumulation of primary and secondary products of lipid peroxidation was observed in the blood of men and women. These processes tend to be more active in men than in women. Antigiardiasis therapy contributed to the normalization of almost all the studied indicators of lipid peroxidation in the blood of participants, except the level malondialdehyde in the blood of men.

Keywords: enzymes of antioxidant protection, giardiasis, blood, treatment

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Authors: Belgherbi Aicha, Hadjidj Ismahen, Bessaid Abdelhafid

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Accurate Liver, spleen and kidneys segmentation in abdominal CT images is one of the most important steps for computer aided abdominal organs pathology diagnosis. In this paper, we have proposed a new semi-automatic algorithm for Liver, spleen and kidneys area extraction in abdominal CT images. Our proposed method is based on hierarchical segmentation and watershed algorithm. In our approach, a powerful technique has been designed to suppress over-segmentation based on mosaic image and on the computation of the watershed transform. The algorithm is currency in two parts. In the first, we seek to improve the quality of the gradient-mosaic image. In this step, we propose a method for improving the gradient-mosaic image by applying the anisotropic diffusion filter followed by the morphological filters. Thereafter we proceed to the hierarchical segmentation of the liver, spleen and kidney. To validate the segmentation technique proposed, we have tested it on several images. Our segmentation approach is evaluated by comparing our results with the manual segmentation performed by an expert. The experimental results are described in the last part of this work.

Keywords: anisotropic diffusion filter, CT images, morphological filter, mosaic image, multi-abdominal organ segmentation, mosaic image, the watershed algorithm

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Authors: Mohammad-Javad Eslami, Mahtab Zargham, Farshad Gholipour, Mohammadreza Hajian, Katayoun Bakhtiari, Sakineh Hajebrahimi, Melina Eghbal, Ziba Farajzadegan

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Introduction: To study the mid-term safety and functional outcomes of transvaginal anterior vaginal wall prolapse repair using polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) mesh (DynaMesh®-PR4) by the double trans-obturator technique (TOT). Methods: Between 2015 and 2020, we prospectively included women with symptomatic high-stage anterior vaginal wall prolapse with or without uterine prolapse or stress urinary incontinence (SUI) in the study. The patients underwent transvaginal repair of the prolapse using PVDF mesh in two medical centers. We followed all patients for at least 12 months. We recorded the characteristics of vaginal and sexual symptoms, urinary incontinence, and prolapse stage pre- and postoperatively using International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Vaginal Symptoms (ICIQ-VS), International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Urinary Incontinence-Short Form (ICIQ-UI-SF), and Pelvic Organ Prolapse Quantification (POP-Q) system, respectively. Results: One hundred eight women were included in the final analysis with a mean follow-up time of 34.5 ± 18.6 months. The anatomical success was achieved in 103 (95.4%) patients. There was a significant improvement in patients’ vaginal symptoms, urinary incontinence, and quality of life scores postoperatively (p < 0.0001). Only six patients (5.5%) had mesh extrusion, five of whom were managed successfully. The total rates of complications and de novo urinary symptoms were 21.3% and 7.4%, respectively. Significant pain was reported in 17 cases (15.7%). Conclusion: Our findings show that using PVDF mesh in the double TOT technique for anterior vaginal wall prolapse repair is a safe procedure with high anatomic and functional success rates and acceptable complication rates in mid-term follow-up.

Keywords: stress urinary incontinence (SU, incontinence questionnaire-vaginal symptoms (ICIQ-VS), polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) mes, double trans-obturator technique (TOT)

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Authors: Yadgar Tayfur, Antony Darby, Tim Ibell, Mark Evernden, John Orr

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Fabric form-work is a technique to cast concrete structures with a great advantage of saving concrete material of up to 40%. This technique is particularly associated with the optimized concrete structures that usually have smaller cross-section dimensions than equivalent prismatic members. However, this can make the structural system produced from these members prone to smaller serviceability safety margins. Therefore, it is very important to understand the serviceability issue of non-prismatic concrete structures. In this paper, an analytical computer-based model to optimize concrete beams and to predict load-deflection behaviour of both prismatic and non-prismatic concrete beams is presented. The model was developed based on the method of sectional analysis and integration of curvatures. Results from the analytical model were compared to load-deflection behaviour of a number of beams with different geometric and material properties from other researchers. The results of the comparison show that the analytical program can accurately predict the load-deflection response of concrete beams with medium reinforcement ratios. However, it over-estimates deflection values for lightly reinforced specimens. Finally, the analytical program acceptably predicted load-deflection behaviour of on-prismatic concrete beams.

Keywords: fabric-formed concrete, continuous beams, optimisation, serviceability

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Authors: Siddhant Sethi, Yasuharu Takashima, Shigetaka Nakamura, Kenzo Fujimoto

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Site-directed mutagenesis is a renowned technique to introduce specific mutations in the genome. To achieve site-directed mutagenesis, many chemical and enzymatic approaches have been reported in the past like disulphite induced genome editing, CRISPR-Cas9, TALEN etc. The chemical methods are invasive whereas the enzymatic approaches are time-consuming and expensive. Most of these techniques are unusable in the cellular application due to their toxicity and other limitations. Photo-chemical cytosine deamination, introduced in 2010, is one of the major technique for enzyme-free single-point mutation of cytosine to uracil in DNA and RNA, wherein, 3-cyanovinylcarbazole nucleoside (CNVK) containing oligodeoxyribonucleotide (ODN) having CNVK at -1 position to that of target cytosine is reversibly crosslinked to target DNA strand using 366 nm and then incubated at 90ºC to accommodate deamination. This technique is superior to enzymatic methods of site-directed mutagenesis but has a disadvantage that it requires the use of high temperature for the deamination step which restricts its applicability in the in vivo applications. This study has been focused on improving the technique by reducing the temperature required for deamination. Firstly, the photo-cross-linker, CNVK has been modified by replacing cyano group attached to vinyl group with methyl ester (OMeVK), amide (NH2VK), and carboxylic acid (OHVK) to observe the acceleration in the deamination of target cytosine cross-linked to vinylcarbazole derivative. Among the derivatives, OHVK has shown 2 times acceleration in deamination reaction as compared to CNVK, while the other two derivatives have shown deceleration towards deamination reaction. The trend of rate of deamination reaction follows the same order as that of hydrophilicity of the vinylcarbazole derivatives. OHVK being most hydrophilic has shown highest acceleration while OMeVK is least hydrophilic has proven to be least active for deamination. Secondly, in the related study, the counter-base of the target cytosine, guanine has been replaced by inosine, 2-aminopurine, nebularine, and 5-nitroindole having distinct hydrogen bonding patterns with target cytosine. Among the ODNs with these counter bases, ODN with inosine has shown 12 fold acceleration towards deamination of cytosine cross-linked to CNVK at physiological conditions as compared to guanosine. Whereas, when 2-aminopurine, nebularine, and 5-nitroindole were used, no deamination reaction took place. It can be concluded that inosine has potential to be used as the counter base of target cytosine for the CNVK mediated photo-cross-linking induced deamination of cytosine. The increase in rate of deamination reaction has been attributed to pattern and number of hydrogen bonding between the cytosine and counter base. One of the important factor is presence of hydrogen bond between exo-cyclic amino group of cytosine and the counter base. These results will be useful for development of more efficient technique for site-directed mutagenesis for C → U transformations in the DNA/RNA which might be used in the living system for treatment of various genetic disorders and genome engineering for making designer and non-native proteins.

Keywords: C to U transformation, DNA editing, genome engineering, ultra-fast photo-cross-linking

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Authors: Antonio Montes, Antonio Cozar, Clara Pereyra, Diego Valor, Enrique Martinez de la Ossa

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Tissues and organs can be damaged because of traumatism, congenital illnesses, or cancer and the traditional therapeutic alternatives, such as surgery, cannot usually completely repair the damaged tissues. Tissue engineering allows regeneration of the patient's tissues, reducing the problems caused by the traditional methods. Scaffolds, polymeric structures with interconnected porosity, can be promoted the proliferation and adhesion of the patient’s cells in the damaged area. Furthermore, by means of impregnation of the scaffold with beneficial active substances, tissue regeneration can be induced through a drug delivery process. The objective of the work is the fabrication of a PVA scaffold coated with Gallic Acid and polypyrrole through a one-step foaming and impregnation process using the SSI technique (Supercritical Solvent Impregnation). In this technique, supercritical CO₂ penetrates into the polymer chains producing the plasticization of the polymer. In the depressurization step a CO₂ cellular nucleation and growing to take place to an interconnected porous structure of the polymer. The foaming process using supercritical CO₂ as solvent and expansion agent presents advantages compared to the traditional scaffolds’ fabrication methods, such as the polymer’s high solubility in the solvent or the possibility of carrying out the process at a low temperature, avoiding the inactivation of the active substance. In this sense, the supercritical CO₂ avoids the use of organic solvents and reduces the solvent residues in the final product. Moreover, this process does not require long processing time that could cause the stratification of substance inside the scaffold reducing the therapeutic efficiency of the formulation. An experimental design has been carried out to optimize the SSI technique operating conditions, as well as a study of the morphological characteristics of the scaffold for its use in tissue engineerings, such as porosity, conductivity or the release profiles of the active substance. It has been proved that the obtained scaffolds are partially porous, conductors of electricity and are able to release Gallic Acid in the long term.

Keywords: scaffold, foaming, supercritical, PVA, polypyrrole, gallic acid

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Authors: Ahmed Gendia, Waseem Kamran

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Objective: Total Laparoscopic hysterectomy (TLH) remains a common approach among laparoscopic surgeons. However, this approach depends on the use of uterine manipulator to facilitate the surgery. Although many studies reported the effectiveness of TLH with uterine manipulator, only few reported TLH without the use of any uterine or vaginal manipulation. the aim of this report is to demonstrate our Technique (kamran's TLH) in performing TLH without the use of any uterine or vaginal manipulation in benign conditions and report our intra- and post-operative outcomes. Methodology : surgical technique will be demonstrated through a short video highlighting the easy and safe to learn surgical steps. Additionally, the data of 86 patients who underwent KTLH for benign condition were retrospectively analyzed. the data included intra- and postoperative finding and complications. Results : A total of 86 hysterectomies were performed utilizing the Kamran's TLH ( KTHL). Mean age was 52.2 (±11) years old and BMI was 28.2(±7). Mean operative time was 64.7(±27.9) minutes and estimated bloods loss was 46.2(±54.6) ml. No intraoperative complications were recorded and there was no conversion to open surgery. Only one patient required readmission and surgery for vaginal vault dehiscence. Conclusion & Significance: Uterine manipulator is a key component in performing laparoscopic hysterectomy. However, our approach demonstrated that TLH can be safely performed without the use of any uterine or vaginal manipulation.

Keywords: laparoscopic hystrectomy, TLH, uterine manipulator, surgery

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Authors: Oladapo Tolulope Ibitoye

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It has become imperative to harmonize energy poverty alleviation and carbon footprint reduction. This is geared towards embracing independent power generation at local levels to reduce the popular ambiguity in the transmission of generated power. Also, it will contribute towards the total adoption of electric vehicles and direct current (DC) appliances that are currently flooding the global market. Solar power system is gaining momentum as it is now an affordable and less complex alternative to fossil fuel-based power generation. Although, there are many issues associated with solar power system, which resulted in deprivation of optimum working capacity. One of the key problems is inadequate monitoring of the energy pool from solar irradiance, which can then serve as a foundation for informed energy usage decisions and appropriate solar system control for effective energy pooling. The proposed technique utilized Internet of Things (IoT) in developing a system to automate solar irradiance pooling by controlling solar photovoltaic panels autonomously for optimal usage. The technique is potent with better solar irradiance exposure which results into 30% voltage pooling capacity than a system with static solar panels. The evaluation of the system show that the developed system possesses higher voltage pooling capacity than a system of static positioning of solar panel.

Keywords: solar system, internet of things, renewable energy, power monitoring

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Authors: Martin Klaumünzer, Jakob Hübner, Denis Spitzer

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Within this paper, latest results on processing of energetic nanomaterials by means of the Spray Flash Evaporation technique are presented. This technology constitutes a highly effective and continuous way to prepare fascinating materials on the nano- and micro-scale. Within the process, a solution is set under high pressure and sprayed into an evacuated atomization chamber. Subsequent ultrafast evaporation of the solvent leads to an aerosol stream, which is separated by cyclones or filters. No drying gas is required, so the present technique should not be confused with spray dying. Resulting nanothermites, insensitive explosives or propellants and compositions are foreseen to replace toxic (according to REACH) and very sensitive matter in military and civil applications. Diverse examples are given in detail: nano-RDX (n-Cyclotrimethylentrinitramin) and nano-aluminum based systems, mixtures (n-RDX/n-TNT - trinitrotoluene) or even cocrystalline matter like n-CL-20/HMX (Hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane/ Cyclotetra-methylentetranitramin). These nanomaterials show reduced sensitivity by trend without losing effectiveness and performance. An analytical study for material characterization was performed by using Atomic Force Microscopy, X-Ray Diffraction, and combined techniques as well as spectroscopic methods. As a matter of course, sensitivity tests regarding electrostatic discharge, impact, and friction are provided.

Keywords: continuous synthesis, energetic material, nanoscale, nanoexplosive, nanothermite

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Authors: Asma Ameur, Dhafer Malouche

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Nowadays, user comments on the Internet have an important impact on hotel bookings. This confirms that the e-reputation issue can influence the likelihood of customer loyalty to a hotel. In this way, e-reputation has become a real differentiator between hotels. For this reason, we have a unique opportunity in the opinion mining field to analyze the comments. In fact, this field provides the possibility of extracting information related to the polarity of user reviews. This sentimental study (Opinion Mining) represents a new line of research for analyzing the unstructured textual data. Knowing the score of e-reputation helps the hotelier to better manage his marketing strategy. The score we then obtain is translated into the image of hotels to differentiate between them. Therefore, this present research highlights the importance of hotel satisfaction ‘scoring. To calculate the satisfaction score, the sentimental analysis can be manipulated by several techniques of machine learning. In fact, this study treats the extracted textual data by using the Artificial Neural Networks Approach (ANNs). In this context, we adopt the aforementioned technique to extract information from the comments available in the ‘Trip Advisor’ website. This actual paper details the description and the modeling of the ANNs approach for the scoring of online hotel reviews. In summary, the validation of this used method provides a significant model for hotel sentiment analysis. So, it provides the possibility to determine precisely the polarity of the hotel users reviews. The empirical results show that the ANNs are an accurate approach for sentiment analysis. The obtained results show also that this proposed approach serves to the dimensionality reduction for textual data’ clustering. Thus, this study provides researchers with a useful exploration of this technique. Finally, we outline guidelines for future research in the hotel e-reputation field as comparing the ANNs with other technique.

Keywords: clustering, consumer behavior, data mining, e-reputation, machine learning, neural network, online hotel ‘reviews, opinion mining, scoring

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Authors: Merve Begum Terzi, Orhan Arikan, Adnan Abaci, Mustafa Candemir

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Acute myocardial infarction is a major cause of death in the world. Therefore, its fast and reliable diagnosis is a major clinical need. ECG is the most important diagnostic methodology which is used to make decisions about the management of the cardiovascular diseases. In patients with acute myocardial ischemia, temporary chest pains together with changes in ST segment and T wave of ECG occur shortly before the start of myocardial infarction. In this study, a technique which detects changes in ST/T sections of ECG is developed for the early diagnosis of acute myocardial ischemia. For this purpose, a database of real ECG recordings that contains a set of records from 75 patients presenting symptoms of chest pain who underwent elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is constituted. 12-lead ECG’s of the patients were recorded before and during the PCI procedure. Two ECG epochs, which are the pre-inflation ECG which is acquired before any catheter insertion and the occlusion ECG which is acquired during balloon inflation, are analyzed for each patient. By using pre-inflation and occlusion recordings, ECG features that are critical in the detection of acute myocardial ischemia are identified and the most discriminative features for the detection of acute myocardial ischemia are extracted. A classification technique based on support vector machine (SVM) approach operating with linear and radial basis function (RBF) kernels to detect ischemic events by using ST-T derived joint features from non-ischemic and ischemic states of the patients is developed. The dataset is randomly divided into training and testing sets and the training set is used to optimize SVM hyperparameters by using grid-search method and 10fold cross-validation. SVMs are designed specifically for each patient by tuning the kernel parameters in order to obtain the optimal classification performance results. As a result of implementing the developed classification technique to real ECG recordings, it is shown that the proposed technique provides highly reliable detections of the anomalies in ECG signals. Furthermore, to develop a detection technique that can be used in the absence of ECG recording obtained during healthy stage, the detection of acute myocardial ischemia based on ECG recordings of the patients obtained during ischemia is also investigated. For this purpose, a Gaussian mixture model (GMM) is used to represent the joint pdf of the most discriminating ECG features of myocardial ischemia. Then, a Neyman-Pearson type of approach is developed to provide detection of outliers that would correspond to acute myocardial ischemia. Neyman – Pearson decision strategy is used by computing the average log likelihood values of ECG segments and comparing them with a range of different threshold values. For different discrimination threshold values and number of ECG segments, probability of detection and probability of false alarm values are computed, and the corresponding ROC curves are obtained. The results indicate that increasing number of ECG segments provide higher performance for GMM based classification. Moreover, the comparison between the performances of SVM and GMM based classification showed that SVM provides higher classification performance results over ECG recordings of considerable number of patients.

Keywords: ECG classification, Gaussian mixture model, Neyman–Pearson approach, support vector machine

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Authors: Lindani Mbatha, Suvendi Rimer, Mpho Gololo

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Image segmentation is the process of dividing an image into several sections, such as the object's background and the foreground. It is a critical technique in both image-processing tasks and computer vision. Most of the image segmentation algorithms have been developed for gray-scale images and little research and algorithms have been developed for the color images. Most image segmentation algorithms or techniques vary based on the input data and the application. Nearly all of the techniques are not suitable for noisy environments. Most of the work that has been done uses the Markov Random Field (MRF), which involves the computations and is said to be robust to noise. In the past recent years' image segmentation has been brought to tackle problems such as easy processing of an image, interpretation of the contents of an image, and easy analysing of an image. This article reviews and summarizes some of the image segmentation techniques and algorithms that have been developed in the past years. The techniques include neural networks (CNN), edge-based techniques, region growing, clustering, and thresholding techniques and so on. The advantages and disadvantages of medical ultrasound image segmentation techniques are also discussed. The article also addresses the applications and potential future developments that can be done around image segmentation. This review article concludes with the fact that no technique is perfectly suitable for the segmentation of all different types of images, but the use of hybrid techniques yields more accurate and efficient results.

Keywords: clustering-based, convolution-network, edge-based, region-growing

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Authors: Jaroslaw Mizera, Pawel Wisniewski, Ryszard Sitek

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Selective Laser Melting (SLM) is an advanced additive manufacturing technique used for producing parts made of wide range of materials such as: austenitic steel, titanium, nickel etc. In the our experiment we produced a Ti-AlN composite from a mixture of titanium and aluminum nitride respectively 70% at. and 30% at. using SLM technique. In order to define the size of powder particles, laser diffraction tests were performed on HORIBA LA-950 device. The microstructure and chemical composition of the composite was examined by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The chemical composition in micro areas of the obtained samples was determined by of EDS. The phase composition was analyzed by X-ray phase analysis (XRD). Microhardness Vickers tests were performed using Zwick/Roell microhardness machine under the load of 0.2kG (HV0.2). Hardness measurements were made along the building (xy) and along the plane of the lateral side of the cuboid (xz). The powder used for manufacturing of the samples had a mean particle size of 41μm. It was homogenous with a spherical shape. The specimens were built chiefly from Ti, TiN and AlN. The dendritic microstructure was porous and fine-grained. Some of the aluminum nitride remained unmelted but no porosity was observed in the interface. The formed material was characterized by high hardness exceeding 700 HV0.2 over the entire cross-section.

Keywords: Selective Laser Melting, Composite, SEM, microhardness

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Authors: Andrew R. Winters, Gregor J. Gassner

Abstract:

A high-order numerical magentohydrodynamics (MHD) solver built upon a non-linear entropy stable numerical flux function that supports eight traveling wave solutions will be described. The method is designed to treat the divergence-free constraint on the magnetic field in a similar fashion to a hyperbolic divergence cleaning technique. The solver is especially well-suited for flows involving strong discontinuities due to its strong stability without the need to enforce artificial low density or energy limits. Furthermore, a new formulation of the numerical algorithm to guarantee positivity of the pressure during the simulation is described and presented. By construction, the solver conserves mass, momentum, and energy and is entropy stable. High spatial order is obtained through the use of a third order limiting technique. High temporal order is achieved by utilizing the family of strong stability preserving (SSP) Runge-Kutta methods. Main attributes of the solver are presented as well as details on an implementation of the new solver into the multi-physics, multi-scale simulation code FLASH. The accuracy, robustness, and computational efficiency is demonstrated with a variety of numerical tests. Comparisons are also made between the new solver and existing methods already present in FLASH framework.

Keywords: entropy stability, finite volume scheme, magnetohydrodynamics, pressure positivity

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Authors: Munoz A. Tatiana, Solano R. Brandon, Montes C. Juan, Cierco G. Javier

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The hydrodynamic cavitation is a process in which the energy that the fluids have in the phase changes is used. From this energy, local temperatures greater than 5000 °C are obtained where thermal cracking of the fluid molecules takes place. The process applied to heavy oil affects variables such as viscosity, density, and composition, which constitutes an important improvement in the quality of crude oil. In this study, the need to design a software through mathematical integration models of mixing, cavitation, kinetics, and reactor, allows modeling changes in density, viscosity, and composition of a heavy oil crude, when the fluid passes through a hydrodynamic cavitation reactor. In order to evaluate the viability of this technique in the industry, a heavy oil of 18° API gravity, was simulated using naphtha as a hydrogen donor at concentrations of 1, 2 and 5% vol, where the simulation results showed an API gravity increase to 0.77, 1.21 and 1.93° respectively and a reduction viscosity by 9.9, 12.9 and 15.8%. The obtained results allow to have a favorable panorama on this technological development, an appropriate visualization on the generation of innovative knowledge of this technique and the technical-economic opportunity that benefits the development of the hydrocarbon sector related to heavy crude oil that includes the largest world oil production.

Keywords: hydrodynamic cavitation, thermal cracking, hydrogen donor, heavy oil upgrading, simulator

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Authors: E. Solfaroli Camillocci, C. Mancini-Terracciano, V. Bocci, A. Carollo, M. Colandrea, F. Collamati, M. Cremonesi, M. E. Ferrari, P. Ferroli, F. Ghielmetti, C. M. Grana, M. Marafini, S. Morganti, M. Patane, G. Pedroli, B. Pollo, L. Recchia, A. Russomando, M. Schiariti, M. Toppi, G. Traini, R. Faccini

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A Radio-Guided Surgery technique exploiting β− emitting radio-tracers has been suggested to overcome the impact of the large penetration of γ radiation. The detection of electrons in low radiation background provides a clearer delineation of the margins of lesioned tissues. As a start, the clinical cases were selected between the tumors known to express receptors to a β− emitting radio-tracer: 90Y-labelled DOTATOC. The results of tests on ex-vivo specimens of meningioma brain tumor and abdominal neuroendocrine tumors are presented. Voluntary patients were enrolled according to the standard uptake value (SUV > 2 g/ml) and the expected tumor-to-non-tumor ratios (TNR∼10) estimated from PET images after administration of 68Ga-DOTATOC. All these tests validated this technique yielding a significant signal on the bulk tumor and a negligible background from the nearby healthy tissue. Even injecting as low as 1.4 MBq/kg of radiotracer, tumor remnants of 0.1 ml would be detectable. The negligible medical staff exposure was confirmed and among the biological wastes only urine had a significant activity.

Keywords: ex-vivo test, meningioma, neuroendocrine tumor, radio-guided surgery

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Authors: Hani Mekdash, Lina Jaber, Yehia Temsah

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Underground space is becoming a necessity nowadays, especially in highly congested urban areas. Retaining underground excavations using shoring systems is essential in order to protect adjoining structures from potential damage or collapse. Reinforced Concrete Piles (RCP) supported by multiple rows of tie-back anchors are commonly used type of shoring systems in deep excavations. However, executing anchors can sometimes be challenging because they might illegally trespass neighboring properties or get obstructed by infrastructure and other underground facilities. A technique is proposed in this paper, and it involves the addition of eccentric high-strength steel strands to the RCP section through ducts without providing the pile with lateral supports. The strands are then vertically stressed externally on the pile cap using a hydraulic jack, creating a compressive strengthening force in the concrete section. An experimental study about the behavior of the shoring wall by pre-stressed piles is presented during the execution of an open excavation in an urban area (Beirut city) followed by numerical analysis using finite element software. Based on the experimental results, this technique is proven to be cost-effective and provides flexible and sustainable construction of shoring works.

Keywords: deep excavation, prestressing, pre-stressed piles, shoring system

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Authors: A. Shabib-Asl, M. Abdalla Ayoub Mohammed, A. F. Alta’ee, I. Bin Mohd Saaid, P. Paulo Jose Valentim

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In the last few decades, much focus has been placed on enhancing oil recovery from existing fields. This is accomplished by the study and application of various methods. As for recent cases, the study of fluid mobility control and sweep efficiency in gas injection process as well as water alternating gas (WAG) method have demonstrated positive results on oil recovery and thus gained wide interest in petroleum industry. WAG injection application results in an increased oil recovery. Its mechanism consists in reduction of gas oil ratio (GOR). However, there are some problems associated with this which includes poor volumetric sweep efficiency due to its low density and high mobility when compared with oil. This has led to the introduction of foam assisted water alternating gas (FAWAG) technique, which in contrast with WAG injection, acts in improving the sweep efficiency and reducing the gas oil ration therefore maximizing the production rate from the producer wells. This paper presents a comprehensive review of FAWAG process from perspective of Snorre field experience. In addition, some comparative results between FAWAG and the other EOR methods are presented including their setbacks. The main aim is to provide a solid background for future laboratory research and successful field application-extend.

Keywords: GOR, mobility ratio, sweep efficiency, WAG

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Authors: Olaiya Folorunsho, Comfort Y. Daramola, Joel N. Ugwu, Lawrence B. Adewole, Olufisayo S. Ekundayo

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In today world, there is a tremendous rise in the usage of internet due to the fact that almost all the communication and information sharing is done over the web. Conversely, there is a continuous growth of unauthorized access to confidential data. This has posed a challenge to information security expertise whose major goal is to curtail the menace. One of the approaches to secure the safety delivery of data/information to the rightful destination without any modification is steganography. Steganography is the art of hiding information inside an embedded information. This research paper aimed at designing a secured algorithm with the use of image steganographic technique that makes use of Least Significant Bit (LSB) algorithm for embedding the data into the bit map image (bmp) in order to enhance security and reliability. In the LSB approach, the basic idea is to replace the LSB of the pixels of the cover image with the Bits of the messages to be hidden without destroying the property of the cover image significantly. The system was implemented using C# programming language of Microsoft.NET framework. The performance evaluation of the proposed system was experimented by conducting a benchmarking test for analyzing the parameters like Mean Squared Error (MSE) and Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR). The result showed that image steganography performed considerably in securing data hiding and information transmission over the networks.

Keywords: steganography, image steganography, least significant bits, bit map image

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Authors: Setareh Shayanfar

Abstract:

Given the increasing importance of peer relationships during adolescence, the present study aimed to examine peer interactions that facilitate or hinder adolescents’ regulation of negative emotions. Using the Enhanced Critical Incident Technique, 1-hour semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 junior high school adolescents. Participants were asked to recall situations when they experienced strong negative emotions during the past school year, indicate the peer interactions that helped or hindered their emotion regulation, and identify prospective interactions with the potential to help regulate their emotions. Data analysis extracted 182 critical incidents, including 109 helping incidents, 45 hindering incidents, and 28 wish list items, which generated 10 categories nested within four overarching themes: Positive Personal Support included (a) supportive presence, (b) expressing concern, (c) empathizing, and (d) encouraging and cheering up; while Strategy Transmission included (e) sharing perspective, and (f) giving advice; Activated Support included (g) taking action, and (h) distracting; while Negative Personal Interactions included (i) withdrawing and (j) punishing. Implications for mental health and service providers, as well as recommendations for future research, are presented.

Keywords: adolescence, emotion regulation, enhanced critical incident technique, peers

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Authors: Morteza Hamidpour, Kambeez Shahroudi

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The aim of this research was to identify the factors affecting the measurement and management of marketing performance in Iran's airports and air navigation companies (Economics in Air and Airport Transport). This study was exploratory and used a qualitative content analysis technique. The study population consisted of university professors in the field of air transportation and senior airport managers, with 15 individuals selected as samples using snowball technique. Based on the results, 15 main indicators were identified for measuring the marketing performance of Iran's airports and air navigation companies. These indicators include airport staff, general and operational expenses, annual passenger reception capacity, number of counter receptions and passenger dispatches, airport runway length, airline companies' loyalty to using airport space and facilities, regional market share of transit and departure flights, claims and net profit (aviation and non-aviation). By keeping the input indicators constant, the output indicators can be improved, enhancing performance efficiency and consequently increasing the economic situation in air transportation.

Keywords: air transport economics, marketing performance management, marketing performance input factors, marketing performance intermediary factors, marketing performance output factors, content analysis

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Authors: Asadullah I. Qazi, Mansoor Ahsan, Zahir Ashraf, Uzair Ahmad

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System identification of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), to acquire its mathematical model, is a significant step in the process of aircraft flight automation. The need for reliable mathematical model is an established requirement for autopilot design, flight simulator development, aircraft performance appraisal, analysis of aircraft modifications, preflight testing of prototype aircraft and investigation of fatigue life and stress distribution etc.  This research is aimed at system identification of a fixed wing UAV by means of specifically designed flight experiment. The purposely designed flight maneuvers were performed on the UAV and aircraft states were recorded during these flights. Acquired data were preprocessed for noise filtering and bias removal followed by parameter estimation of longitudinal dynamics transfer functions using MATLAB system identification toolbox. Black box identification based transfer function models, in response to elevator and throttle inputs, were estimated using least square error   technique. The identification results show a high confidence level and goodness of fit between the estimated model and actual aircraft response.

Keywords: fixed wing UAV, system identification, black box modeling, longitudinal dynamics, least square error

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Authors: Sara Mahesar, Saleem M. Chandio, Hira Soomro

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Nonlinear system of equations in two variables is a system which contains variables of degree greater or equal to two or that comprises of the transcendental functions. Mathematical modeling of numerous physical problems occurs as a system of nonlinear equations. In applied and pure mathematics it is the main dispute to solve a system of nonlinear equations. Numerical techniques mainly used for finding the solution to problems where analytical methods are failed, which leads to the inexact solutions. To find the exact roots or solutions in case of the system of non-linear equations there does not exist any analytical technique. Various methods have been proposed to solve such systems with an improved rate of convergence and accuracy. In this paper, a new scheme is developed for solving system of non-linear equation in two variables. The iterative scheme proposed here is modified form of the conventional Newton’s Method (CN) whose order of convergence is two whereas the order of convergence of the devised technique is three. Furthermore, the detailed error and convergence analysis of the proposed method is also examined. Additionally, various numerical test problems are compared with the results of its counterpart conventional Newton’s Method (CN) which confirms the theoretic consequences of the proposed method.

Keywords: conventional Newton’s method, modified Newton’s method, order of convergence, system of nonlinear equations

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Authors: P. Kamphikul, P. Krachodnok, R. Wongsan

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This paper presents the gain improvement of a sector antenna for mobile phone base station by using the new technique to enhance its gain for microstrip antenna (MSA) array without construction enlargement. The curved woodpile Electromagnetic Band Gap (EBG) has been utilized to improve the gain instead. The advantages of this proposed antenna are reducing the length of MSAs array but providing the higher gain and easy fabrication and installation. Moreover, it provides a fan-shaped radiation pattern, wide in the horizontal direction and relatively narrow in the vertical direction, which appropriate for mobile phone base station. The paper also presents the design procedures of a 1x8 MSAs array associated with U-shaped reflector for decreasing their back and side lobes. The fabricated curved woodpile EBG exhibits bandgap characteristics at 2.1 GHz and is utilized for realizing a resonant cavity of MSAs array. This idea has been verified by both the Computer Simulation Technology (CST) software and experimental results. As the results, the fabricated proposed antenna achieves a high gain of 20.3 dB and the half-power beam widths in the E- and H-plane of 36.8 and 8.7 degrees, respectively. Good qualitative agreement between measured and simulated results of the proposed antenna was obtained.

Keywords: gain improvement, microstrip antenna array, electromagnetic band gap, base station

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Authors: Davide Gotti, Milan Prodanovic, Sergio Pinilla, David Muñoz-Torrero

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Since its proposal, the Doyle-Fuller-Newman (DFN) lithium-ion battery model has gained popularity in the electrochemical field. In fact, this model provides the user with theoretical support for designing the lithium-ion battery parameters, such as the material particle or the diffusion coefficient adjustment direction. However, the model is mathematically complex as it is composed of several partial differential equations (PDEs) such as Fick’s law of diffusion, the MacInnes and Ohm’s equations, among other phenomena. Thus, to efficiently use the model in a time-domain simulation environment, the selection of the discretization technique is of a pivotal importance. There are several numerical methods available in the literature that can be used to carry out this task. In this study, a comparison between the explicit Euler, Crank-Nicolson, and Chebyshev discretization methods is proposed. These three methods are compared in terms of accuracy, stability, and computational times. Firstly, the explicit Euler discretization technique is analyzed. This method is straightforward to implement and is computationally fast. In this work, the accuracy of the method and its stability properties are shown for the electrolyte diffusion partial differential equation. Subsequently, the Crank-Nicolson method is considered. It represents a combination of the implicit and explicit Euler methods that has the advantage of being of the second order in time and is intrinsically stable, thus overcoming the disadvantages of the simpler Euler explicit method. As shown in the full paper, the Crank-Nicolson method provides accurate results when applied to the DFN model. Its stability does not depend on the integration time step, thus it is feasible for both short- and long-term tests. This last remark is particularly important as this discretization technique would allow the user to implement parameter estimation and optimization techniques such as system or genetic parameter identification methods using this model. Finally, the Chebyshev discretization technique is implemented in the DFN model. This discretization method features swift convergence properties and, as other spectral methods used to solve differential equations, achieves the same accuracy with a smaller number of discretization nodes. However, as shown in the literature, these methods are not suitable for handling sharp gradients, which are common during the first instants of the charge and discharge phases of the battery. The numerical results obtained and presented in this study aim to provide the guidelines on how to select the adequate discretization technique for the DFN model according to the type of application to be performed, highlighting the pros and cons of the three methods. Specifically, the non-eligibility of the simple Euler method for longterm tests will be presented. Afterwards, the Crank-Nicolson and the Chebyshev discretization methods will be compared in terms of accuracy and computational times under a wide range of battery operating scenarios. These include both long-term simulations for aging tests, and short- and mid-term battery charge/discharge cycles, typically relevant in battery applications like grid primary frequency and inertia control and electrical vehicle breaking and acceleration.

Keywords: Doyle-Fuller-Newman battery model, partial differential equations, discretization, numerical methods

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