Search results for: aggregated energy storage system

Authors: Gabriela Estrada, Joaquim Lloveras

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Design for error-proofing assembly is a new DFX approach to prevent assembly issues since early design stages. Assembly issues that can happen during the life phases of a system such as: production, installation, operation and replacement phases. This prevention is possible by designing the product with poka-yoke or error-proofing characteristics. This approach guide designers to make decisions based on poka-yoke assembly design requirements. As a result of applying these requirements designers are able to create solutions to prevent assembly issues for the product in development stage. This paper integrates the needs to design products in an error proofing way into the systematic approach of design process by Pahl and Beitz. A case study is presented applying this approach.

Keywords: poka-yoke, error-proofing, assembly issues, design process, life phases of a system

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Authors: Giacomo Barbieri

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In soilless culture, the management of the nutrient solution is the most important aspect for crop growing. Fertigation dose, frequency and nutrient concentration must be planned with the objective of reaching an optimal crop growth by limiting the utilized resources and the associated costs. The definition of efficient fertigation strategies is a complex problem since fertigation requirements vary on the basis of different factors, and crops are sensitive to small variations on fertigation parameters. To the best of author knowledge, a small-scale test bench that is flexible for both nutrient solution preparation and precise irrigation is currently missing, limiting the investigations in standard practices for soilless culture. Starting from the analysis of the state of the art, this paper proposes a small-scale system that is potentially able to concurrently test different fertigation strategies. The system will be designed and implemented throughout a three year project started on August 2018. However, due to the importance of the topic within current challenges as food security and climate change, this work is spread considering that may inspire other universities and organizations.

Keywords: soilless culture, fertigation, test bench, small-scale, automation

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Authors: Nadjat Zerf Boudjettou, Fahima Nader, Rachid Chalal

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Knowledge management is to acquire and represent knowledge relevant to a domain, a task or a specific organization in order to facilitate access, reuse and evolution. This usually means building, maintaining and evolving an explicit representation of knowledge. The next step is to provide access to that knowledge, that is to say, the spread in order to enable effective use. Knowledge management in the medical field aims to improve the performance of the medical organization by allowing individuals in the care facility (doctors, nurses, paramedics, etc.) to capture, share and apply collective knowledge in order to make optimal decisions in real time. In this paper, we propose a knowledge management approach based on integration technique of heterogeneous data in the medical field by creating a data warehouse, a technique of extracting knowledge from medical data by choosing a technique of data mining, and finally an exploitation technique of that knowledge in a case-based reasoning system.

Keywords: data warehouse, data mining, knowledge discovery in database, KDD, medical knowledge management, Bayesian networks

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Authors: Amany Haridy, Ahmed Elseragy, Fahd Omar

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The issue of temperature increase in the urban microclimate has been at the center of attention recently, especially in dense urban areas, such as the City of Alexandria in Egypt, where building surfaces have become the dominant element (more than green areas and streets). Temperatures have been rising during daytime as well as nighttime, however, the research focused on the rise of air temperature at night, a phenomenon known as the urban heat island. This phenomenon has many effects on ecological life, as well as human health. This study provided evidence of the possibility of reducing the urban heat island by using a green building envelope (green wall and green roof) in Alexandria, Egypt. This City has witnessed a boom in growth in its urban fabric and population. A simulation analysis using the Envi-met software to find the ratio of air temperature reduction was performed. The simulation depended on the orientation of the green areas and their density, which was defined through a process of climatic analysis made by the Diva plugin using the Grasshopper software. Results showed that the reduction in air temperature varies from 0.8–2.0 °C, increasing with the increasing density of green areas. Many systems of green wall and green roof can be found in the local market. However, treating an existing building requires a careful choice of system to fit the building construction load and the surrounding nature. Among the systems of choice, there was the ‘geometric system’ of vertical greening that can be fixed on a light aluminum structure for walls and the extensive green system for roofs. Finally, native plants were the best choice in the long term because they fare well in the local climate.

Keywords: envi-met, green building envelope, urban heat island, urban microclimate

Procedia PDF Downloads 188

Authors: Faiza Marrium, Masood Rabbani, Ali Ahmad Sheikh, Muhammad Yasin Tipu Javed Muhammad, Sohail Raza

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More than 75% diseases spreading in the past 10 years in human population globally are linked to veterinary sector. Veterinary diagnostic labs are the powerful ally for diagnosis, prevention and monitoring of animal diseases in any country. In order to avoid detrimental effects of errors in disease diagnostic and biorisk management, there is a dire need to establish quality control system. In current study, 3 private and 6 public sectors veterinary diagnostic labs were selected for survey. A questionnaire survey in biorisk management guidelines of CWA 15793 was designed to find quality control breaches in lab design, personal, equipment and consumable, quality control measures adopted in lab, waste management, environmental monitoring and customer care. The data was analyzed through frequency distribution statistically by using (SPSS) version 18.0. A non-significant difference was found in all parameters of lab design, personal, equipment and consumable, quality control measures adopted in lab, waste management, environmental monitoring and customer care with an average percentage of 46.6, 57.77, 52.7, 55.5, 54.44, 48.88 and 60, respectively. A non-significant difference among all nine labs were found, with highest average compliance percentage of all parameters are lab 2 (78.13), Lab 3 (70.56), Lab 5 (57.51), Lab 6 (56.37), Lab 4 (55.02), Lab 9 (49.58), Lab 7 (47.76), Lab 1 (41.01) and Lab 8 (36.09). This study shows that in Lahore district veterinary diagnostic labs are not giving proper attention to quality of their system and there is no significant difference between setups of private and public sector laboratories. These results show that most of parameters are between 50 and 80 percent, which needs some work and improvement as per WHO criteria.

Keywords: veterinary lab, quality management system, accreditation, regulatory body, disease identification

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Authors: Rajashekhar K. Patil, Martin J. Babu

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Weaver ants-Oecophylla smaragdina live in colonies that have polymorphic castes. The females which include the queen, major and minor workers are haploid. The individuals of castes are dependent on olfactory cues for carrying out caste-specific behaviour. In an effort to understand whether organizational differences exist to support these behavioural differences, we studied the olfactory system at the level of the sensilla on the antennae, olfactory glomeruli and the Kenyon cells in the mushroom bodies (MB). The MB differ in major and minor workers in terms of their size, with the major workers having relatively larger calyces and peduncle. The morphology of different types of Kenyon cells as revealed by Golgi-rapid staining was studied and the major workers had more dendritic arbors than minor workers. This suggests a greater degree of olfactory processing in major workers. Differences in caste-specific arrangement of sensilla, olfactory glomeruli and celluar architecture of MB indicate a developmental programme that forms basis of differential behaviour.

Keywords: ant, oecophylla, caste, mushroom body

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Authors: Dechrit Maneetham

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The aim of this paper was to design a void and head controlled electric power wheelchair (EPW). A novel activate the control system for quadriplegics with voice, head and neck mobility. Head movement has been used as a control interface for people with motor impairments in a range of applications. Acquiring measurements from the module is simplified through a synchronous a motor. Axis measures the two directions namely x and y. At the same time, patients can control the motorized wheelchair using voice signals (forward, backward, turn left, turn right, and stop) given by it self. The model of a dc motor is considered as a speed control by selection of a PID parameters using genetic algorithm. An experimental set-up constructed, which consists of micro controller as controller, a DC motor driven EPW and feedback elements. This paper is tuning methods of parameter for a pulse width modulation (PWM) control system. A speed controller has been designed successfully for closed loop of the dc motor so that the motor runs very closed to the reference speed and angle. Intelligent wheelchair can be used to ensure the person’s voice and head are attending the direction of travel asserted by a conventional, direction and speed control.

Keywords: wheelchair, quadriplegia, rehabilitation , medical devices, speed control

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Authors: Meseret Gebeyehu Yehuala

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Women represent the majority of urban farmers engaged in vegetable and fruit production in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia. We examine urban agriculture in Bahir Dar city in the context of disruptions caused by the civil war and COVID-19. The Sustainable Livelihoods Framework serves as a conceptual frame to explore the vulnerability context, the structural and institutional challenges faced by women, and how this impacts their livelihoods. A total of 25 urban women farmers and 6 key informants were involved in the study through explorative and structured interviews conducted in 2021. Observations and informal conversations during repeated visits provided deeper insights. In addition, key informants employed in civil service institutions and experts were interviewed. Data were analysed by applying qualitative content analysis by using Atlas tia software. Women report that they experience a lack of access to land, insecurity of tenure, irregular technical support and input provision by agricultural extension services, and lack of access to credit and formal marketplaces. The COVID-19 pandemic restrictions aggravated this situation by delaying agricultural extension offices’ provision of necessary inputs and disrupting food handling and storage leading to the loss of perishable products. Bombing in relation to the civil war has destroyed harvests and left women in fear of returning to their fields. Women stated that vegetable and fruit production could contribute to their incomes, household food supplies, and more diversified diets. However, the city municipal office has, so far, not committed to supporting urban agriculture as a livelihood strategy.

Keywords: urban agriculture, institutional challenges, Bahir Dar, sustainable livelihood framework

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Authors: Diwan Singh

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The ability of non-living Spirogyra sp. biomass for biosorption of copper(II) ions from aqueous solutions was explored. The effect of contact time, pH, initial copper ion concentration, biosorbent dosage and temperature were investigated in batch experiments. Both the Freundlich and Langmuir Isotherms were found applicable on the experimental data (R2>0.98). Qmax obtained from the Langmuir Isotherms was found to be 28.7 mg/g of biomass. The values of Gibbs free energy (ΔGº) and enthalpy change (ΔHº) suggest that the sorption is spontaneous and endothermic at 20ºC-40ºC.

Keywords: biosorption, Spirogyra sp., contact time, pH, dose

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Authors: Kiran Baldavoo, Mishelle Doorasamy

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Universities have a role to play in the preservation of the environment, and the study attempted to evaluate the environmental management accounting (EMA) processes at UKZN. UKZN, a South African university, generates the same direct and indirect environmental impacts as the higher education sector worldwide. This is significant within the context of the South African environment which is constantly plagued by having to effectively manage the already scarce resources of water and energy, evident through the imposition of water and energy restrictions over the recent years. The study’s aim is to increase awareness of having a structured approach to environmental management in order to achieve the strategic environmental goals of the university. The research studied the experiences of key managers within UKZN, with the purpose of exploring the potential factors which influence the decision to adopt and apply EMA within the higher education sector. The study comprised two objectives, namely understanding the current state of accounting practices for managing major environmental costs and identifying factors influencing EMA adoption within the university. The study adopted a case study approach, comprising semi-structured interviews of key personnel involved in Management Accounting, Environmental Management, and Academic Schools within the university. Content analysis was performed on the transcribed interview data. A Theoretical Framework derived from literature was adopted to guide data collection and focus the study. Contingency and Institutional theory was the resultant basis of the derived framework. The findings of the first objective revealed that there was a distinct lack of EMA utilization within the university. There was no distinct policy on EMA, resulting in minimal environmental cost information being brought to the attention of senior management. The university embraced the principles of environmental sustainability; however, efforts to improve internal environmental accountability primarily from an accounting perspective was absent. The findings of the second objective revealed that five key barriers contributed to the lack of EMA utilization within the university. The barriers being attitudinal, informational, institutional, technological, and lack of incentives (financial). The results and findings of this study supported the use and application of EMA within the higher education sector. Participants concurred that EMA was underutilized and if implemented, would realize significant benefits for both the university and environment. Environmental management accounting is being widely acknowledged as a key management tool that can facilitate improved financial and environmental performance via the concept of enhanced environmental accountability. Historically research has been concentrated primarily on the manufacturing industry, due to it generating the greatest proportion of environmental impacts. Service industries are also an integral component of environmental management as they contribute significant environmental impacts, both direct and indirect. Educational institutions such as universities form part of the service sector and directly impact on the environment through the consumption of paper, energy, and water and solid waste generated, with the associated demands.

Keywords: environmental management accounting, environmental impacts, higher education, Southern Africa

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Authors: Khaled A. Madi, Rema A. Mousbahi, Mostafa B. Abuitbel, Abdualhakim O. Nagi

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Antenna perhaps is the most important part of any communication system, it determines the overall efficiency and the direction of radiation of the system. Antennas vary in shape and size on a very wide range. For fast moving vehicles, the antenna should offer as litter aerodynamic resistance as possible. Slot antenna is best suited for this purpose. It offers very little aerodynamic resistance, compact, easy to feed and fabricate. This work presented in this paper deals with the investigation of a half wave slot antenna. The antenna has been studied, analyzed, designed, simulated, fabrication, and tested at the X-band. The field of antenna study is an extremely vast one, and to grasp the fundamentals, two pronged approaches have been used, and the focus was on the fabrication and testing of a slot waveguide directional antenna. Focuses on the design and simulation of slot antennas with an emphasis on optimization of a 9.1 GHz a rectangular waveguide have been used to feed slot antenna. A microwave fed slot antenna used in the communication lab was also simulated. The results have been presented and compared with the expected values, where a good agreement was achieved between the simulation and experimental results.

Keywords: microwave, slot antenna, simulation, fabrication

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Authors: Jungho Moon, Myunggon Yoon

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This paper presents an implementation of a configurable UART-to-Ethernet converter using an ARM-based 32-bit microcontroller as well as a dedicated configuration program running on a PC for configuring the operating parameters of the converter. The program was written in Python. Various parameters pertaining to the operation of the converter can be modified by the configuration program through the Ethernet interface of the converter. The converter supports 3 representative asynchronous serial communication protocols, RS-232, RS-422, and RS-485 and supports 3 network modes, TCP/IP server, TCP/IP client, and UDP client. The TCP/IP and UDP protocols were implemented on the microcontroller using an open source TCP/IP protocol stack called lwIP (A lightweight TCP/IP) and FreeRTOS, a free real-time operating system for embedded systems. Due to the use of a real-time operating system, the firmware of the converter was implemented as a multi-thread application and as a result becomes more modular and easier to develop. The converter can provide a seamless bridge between a serial port and an Ethernet port, thereby allowing existing legacy apparatuses with no Ethernet connectivity to communicate using the Ethernet protocol.

Keywords: converter, embedded systems, ethernet, lwIP, UART

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Authors: He Zhang, Jianxin Yi

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As a clean energy, hydrogen shows many advantages such as renewability, high heat value, and extensive sources and may play an important role in the future society. However, hydrogen is a combustible gas because of its low ignition energy (0.02mJ) and wide explosive limit (4% ~ 74% in air). It is very likely to cause fire hazard or explosion once leakage is happened and not detected in time. Mixed-potential type sensor has attracted much attention in monitoring and detecting hydrogen due to its high response, simple support electronics and long-term stability. Typically, this kind of sensor is consisted of a sensing electrode (SE), a reference electrode (RE) and a solid electrolyte. The SE and RE materials usually display different electrocatalytic abilities to hydrogen. So hydrogen could be detected by measuring the EMF change between the two electrodes. Previous reports indicate that a high-performance sensing electrode is important for improving the sensing characteristics of the sensor. In this report, a planar type mixed-potential hydrogen sensor using La₀.₈Sr₀.₂Cr₀.₅Mn₀.₅O₃₋δ (LSCM) as SE, Pt as RE and yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) as solid electrolyte was developed. The reason for selecting LSCM as sensing electrode is that it shows the high electrocatalytic ability to hydrogen in solid oxide fuel cells. The sensing performance of the fabricated LSCM/YSZ/Pt sensor was tested systemically. The experimental results show that the sensor displays high response to hydrogen. The response values for 100ppm and 1000ppm hydrogen at 450 ºC are -70 mV and -118 mV, respectively. The response time is an important parameter to evaluate a sensor. In this report, the sensor response time decreases with increasing hydrogen concentration and get saturated above 500ppm. The steady response time at 450 ºC is as short as 4s, indicating the sensor shows great potential in practical application to monitor hydrogen. An excellent response repeatability to 100ppm hydrogen at 450 ˚C and a good sensor reproducibility among three sensors were also observed. Meanwhile, the sensor exhibits excellent selectivity to hydrogen compared with several interfering gases such as NO₂, CH₄, CO, C₃H₈ and NH₃. Polarization curves were tested to investigate the sensing mechanism and the results indicated the sensor abide by the mixed-potential mechanism.

Keywords: fire hazard, H₂ sensor, mixed-potential, perovskite

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Authors: Daekook Kang, Wooseok Jang, Jeonghwan Jeon

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As Korea government has expanded the budget for the national research and development business, the need for the installation of institute taking a role of deliberation, coordination, and operation of research development business and its budget has been increased continuously. In response to the demands of the times, recently, the National Science & Technology Council (NSTC) was installed. However, to achieve a creative economy more efficiently, the fundamental introspection on the current state of the national administration system of science and technology in Korea should be needed. Accordingly, this study, firstly, analyzes the function and organizational structure of NSTC in Korea. Then, this study investigates the current state of the National Science and Technology Council in main world countries. Lastly, this study derives some implications based on the comparison analysis of the current state of the National Science and Technology Council between Korea and these countries. The present study will help in finding the way for the advancement of the NSTC in Korea.

Keywords: Comparison Analysis of Science & Technology Council (NSTC), CSTP, National Science & Technology Council in Korea, operating system of NSTC

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Authors: Alireza Nikbakht Shahbazi, Emadeddin Shirali

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Since optimization issues of water resources are complicated due to the variety of decision making criteria and objective functions, it is sometimes impossible to resolve them through regular optimization methods or, it is time or money consuming. Therefore, the use of modern tools and methods is inevitable in resolving such problems. An accurate and essential utilization policy has to be determined in order to use natural resources such as water reservoirs optimally. Water reservoir programming studies aim to determine the final cultivated land area based on predefined agricultural models and water requirements. Dam utilization rule curve is also provided in such studies. The basic information applied in water reservoir programming studies generally include meteorological, hydrological, agricultural and water reservoir related data, and the geometric characteristics of the reservoir. The system of Dez dam water resources was simulated applying the basic information in order to determine the capability of its reservoir to provide the objectives of the performed plan. As a meta-exploratory method, genetic algorithm was applied in order to provide utilization rule curves (intersecting the reservoir volume). MATLAB software was used in order to resolve the foresaid model. Rule curves were firstly obtained through genetic algorithm. Then the significance of using rule curves and the decrease in decision making variables in the system was determined through system simulation and comparing the results with optimization results (Standard Operating Procedure). One of the most essential issues in optimization of a complicated water resource system is the increasing number of variables. Therefore a lot of time is required to find an optimum answer and in some cases, no desirable result is obtained. In this research, intersecting the reservoir volume has been applied as a modern model in order to reduce the number of variables. Water reservoir programming studies has been performed based on basic information, general hypotheses and standards and applying monthly simulation technique for a statistical period of 30 years. Results indicated that application of rule curve prevents the extreme shortages and decrease the monthly shortages.

Keywords: optimization, rule curve, genetic algorithm method, Dez dam reservoir

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Authors: Thippharat Wongsilarat, Parichat tuntilanon, Chonlakan Prataksitorn

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Recurrent adverse drug reactions are harmful to patients with mild to fatal illnesses, and affect not only patients but also their relatives, and organizations. To compare safe use of medicine among patients before and after using the recurrent adverse drug reaction prevention program . Quasi-experimental research with the target population of 598 patients with drug allergy history. Data were collected through an observation form tested for its validity by three experts (IOC = 0.87), and analyzed with a descriptive statistic (percentage). The research was conducted jointly with a multidisciplinary team to analyze and determine the weak points and strong points in the recurrent adverse drug reaction prevention system during the past three years, and 546, 329, and 498 incidences, respectively, were found. Of these, 379, 279, and 302 incidences, or 69.4; 84.80; and 60.64 percent of the patients with drug allergy history, respectively, were found to have caused by incomplete warning system. In addition, differences in practice in caring for patients with drug allergy history were found that did not cover all the steps of the patient care process, especially a lack of repeated checking, and a lack of communication between the multidisciplinary team members. Therefore, the recurrent adverse drug reaction prevention program was developed with complete warning points in the information technology system, the repeated checking step, and communication among related multidisciplinary team members starting from the hospital identity card room, patient history recording officers, nurses, physicians who prescribe the drugs, and pharmacists. Including in the system were surveillance, nursing, recording, and linking the data to referring units. There were also training concerning adverse drug reactions by pharmacists, monthly meetings to explain the process to practice personnel, creating safety culture, random checking of practice, motivational encouragement, supervising, controlling, following up, and evaluating the practice. The rate of prescribing drugs to which patients were allergic per 1,000 prescriptions was 0.08, and the incidence rate of recurrent drug reaction per 1,000 prescriptions was 0. Surveillance of recurrent adverse drug reactions covering all service providing points can ensure safe use of medicine for patients.

Keywords: recurrent drug, adverse reaction, safety, use of medicine

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Authors: Ezzat Abd El Lateef

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Agroforestry means combining the management of trees with productive agricultural activities, especially in semiarid regions where crop yield increases are limited in agroforestry systems due to the fertility and microclimate improvements and the large competitive effect of trees with crops for water and nutrients, in order to assess the effect of agroforestry of some field crops with citrus trees as an approach to establish biodiversity in fruit tree plantations. Three field crops, i.e., maize, soybean and sunflower, were inter-planted with seedless orange trees (4*4 m) or were planted as solid plantings. The results for the trees indicated a larger fruit yield was obtained when soybean and sunflowers were interplant with citrus. Statistically significant effects (P<0.05) were found for maize grain and biological yields, with increased yields when grown as solid planting. There were no differences in the yields of soya bean and sunflower, where the yields were very similar between the two cropping systems. It is evident from the trials that agroforestry is an efficient concept to increase biodiversity through the interaction of trees with the interplant field crop species. Maize, unlike the other crops, was more sensitive to shade conditions under agroforestry practice and not preferred in the biodiversity system. The potential of agroforestry to improve or increase biodiversity is efficient as the understorey crops are usually C4 species, and the overstorey trees are invariably C3 species in agroforestry. Improvement in interplant species is most likely if the understorey crop is a C3 species, which are usually light saturated in the open, and partial shade may have little effect on assimilation or by a concurrent reduction in transpiration. It could be concluded that agroforestry is an efficient concept to increase biodiversity through the interaction of trees with the interplant field crop species. Some field crops could be employed successfully, like soybean or sunflowers, while others like maize are sensitive to incorporate in agroforestry system.

Keywords: agroforestry, field crops, C3 and C4 plants, yield

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Authors: Raghavi Janaswamy, Saraswathi K. Vasudev

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Music is ubiquitous in human lives. Ever since the fetus hears the sound inside the mother’s womb and later upon birth, the baby experiences alluring sounds, the curiosity of learning emanates and evokes exploration. Music is an education than mere entertainment. The intricate balance between music, education, and entertainment has well been recognized by the scientific community and is being explored as a viable tool to understand and improve human cognition. There are seven basic swaras (notes) Sa, Ri, Ga, Ma, Pa, Da, and Ni in the Carnatic music system that are analogous to C, D, E, F, G, A, and B of the western system. The Carnatic music builds on the conscious use of microtones, gamakams (oscillation), and rendering styles that evolved over centuries and established its stance. The complex but erudite raga system has been designed with elaborate experiments on srutis (musical sounds) and human perception abilities. In parallel, ‘rasa’- the emotions evoked by certain srutis and hence the ragas been solidified along with the power of language in combination with the musical sounds. The Carnatic music branches out as Kalpita sangeetam (pre-composed music) and Manodharma sangeetam (improvised music). This article explores the Manodharma sangeetam and its subdivisions such as raga alapana, swara kalpana, neraval, and ragam-tanam-pallavi (RTP). The intrinsic mathematical strategies in it’s practice methods toward improvising the music have been explored in detail with concert examples. The techniques on swara weaving for swara kalpana rendering and methods on the alapana development are also discussed at length with an emphasis on the impact on the human cognitive abilities. The articulation of the outlined conscious practice methods not only helps to leave a long-lasting melodic impression on the listeners but also onsets cognitive developments.

Keywords: Carnatic, Manodharmam, music cognition, Alapana

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Authors: Hachul Jung, Ahee Kim, Sanghoon Lee, Dahye Kwon, Songwoo Yoon, Jinhee Moon

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We fabricated a wearable patch device including novel patch type flexible dry electrode based on carbon nanofibers (CNFs) and silicone-based elastomer (MED 6215) for real-time ECG monitoring. There are many methods to make flexible conductive polymer by mixing metal or carbon-based nanoparticles. In this study, CNFs are selected for conductive nanoparticles because carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are difficult to disperse uniformly in elastomer compare with CNFs and silver nanowires are relatively high cost and easily oxidized in the air. Wearable patch is composed of 2 parts that dry electrode parts for recording bio signal and sticky patch parts for mounting on the skin. Dry electrode parts were made by vortexer and baking in prepared mold. To optimize electrical performance and diffusion degree of uniformity, we developed unique mixing and baking process. Secondly, sticky patch parts were made by patterning and detaching from smooth surface substrate after spin-coating soft skin adhesive. In this process, attachable and detachable strengths of sticky patch are measured and optimized for them, using a monitoring system. Assembled patch is flexible, stretchable, easily skin mountable and connectable directly with the system. To evaluate the performance of electrical characteristics and ECG (Electrocardiography) recording, wearable patch was tested by changing concentrations of CNFs and thickness of the dry electrode. In these results, the CNF concentration and thickness of dry electrodes were important variables to obtain high-quality ECG signals without incidental distractions. Cytotoxicity test is conducted to prove biocompatibility, and long-term wearing test showed no skin reactions such as itching or erythema. To minimize noises from motion artifacts and line noise, we make the customized wireless, light-weight data acquisition system. Measured ECG Signals from this system are stable and successfully monitored simultaneously. To sum up, we could fully utilize fabricated wearable patch devices for real-time ECG monitoring easily.

Keywords: carbon nanofibers, ECG monitoring, flexible dry electrode, wearable patch

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Authors: Nikhil Kumar, Asish Bandyopadhyay

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Laser welding process is a capable technology for forming the automobile, microelectronics, marine and aerospace parts etc. In the present work, a mathematical and statistical approach is adopted to study the laser welding of AISI 304 stainless steel. A robotic control 500 W pulsed Nd:YAG laser source with 1064 nm wavelength has been used for welding purpose. Butt joints are made. The effects of welding parameters, namely; laser power, scanning speed and pulse width on the seam width and depth of penetration has been investigated using the empirical models developed by response surface methodology (RSM). Weld quality is directly correlated with the weld geometry. Twenty sets of experiments have been conducted as per central composite design (CCD) design matrix. The second order mathematical model has been developed for predicting the desired responses. The results of ANOVA indicate that the laser power has the most significant effect on responses. Microstructural analysis as well as hardness of the selected weld specimens has been carried out to understand the metallurgical and mechanical behaviour of the weld. Average micro-hardness of the weld is observed to be higher than the base metal. Higher hardness of the weld is the resultant of grain refinement and δ-ferrite formation in the weld structure. The result suggests that the lower line energy generally produce fine grain structure and improved mechanical properties than the high line energy. The combined effects of input parameters on responses have been analyzed with the help of developed 3-D response surface and contour plots. Finally, multi-objective optimization has been conducted for producing weld joint with complete penetration, minimum seam width and acceptable welding profile. Confirmatory tests have been conducted at optimum parametric conditions to validate the applied optimization technique.

Keywords: ANOVA, laser welding, modeling and optimization, response surface methodology

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Authors: Getaneh Berie Tarekegn

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Wireless communication via unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has drawn a great deal of attention due to its flexibility in establishing line-of-sight (LoS) communications. However, in complex urban and dynamic environments, the movement of UAVs can be blocked by trees and high-rise buildings that obstruct directional paths. With reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS), this problem can be effectively addressed. To achieve this goal, accurate channel estimation in RIS-assisted UAV-enabled wireless communications is crucial. This paper proposes an accurate channel estimation model using long short-term memory (LSTM) for a multi-user RIS-assisted UAV-enabled wireless communication system. According to simulation results, LSTM can improve the channel estimation performance of RIS-assisted UAV-enabled wireless communication.

Keywords: channel estimation, reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, long short-term memory, unmanned aerial vehicles

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Authors: Fawad Azeem

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This paper deals with the comparative analysis of Karachi Electric before and after privatization. Technical as well as financial analysis has been done based on the available KE’s stats for last decade. Karachi Electric has evolved as a better entity in terms of its financial and technical achievements. On the other hand, human resources have been seriously affected due to mass firing of employees from the organizations. Study and analysis show that transparent and unbiased privatization practices on institutions like KE that were in serious trouble can upsurge the standards of the institution. Further, for the betterment of the social circle privatization must not affect the employment opportunities.

Keywords: Karachi Electric, power, energy, privatization

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Authors: Ł. Morawiński, C. Jasiński, M. Jurkiewicz, S. Bou Habib, M. Bondyra

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With the development of optics, electronics, and computers, vision systems are increasingly used in various areas of life, science, and industry. Vision systems have a huge number of applications. They can be used in quality control, object detection, data reading, e.g., QR-code, etc. A large part of them is used for measurement purposes. Some of them make it possible to obtain a 3D reconstruction of the tested objects or measurement areas. 3D reconstruction algorithms are mostly based on creating depth maps from data that can be acquired from active or passive methods. Due to the specific appliance in airfield technology, only passive methods are applicable because of other existing systems working on the site, which can be blinded on most spectral levels. Furthermore, reconstruction is required to work long distances ranging from hundreds of meters to tens of kilometers with low loss of accuracy even with harsh conditions such as fog, rain, or snow. In response to those requirements, HRESS (Heliport REmote Safeguard System) was developed; which main part is a rotational head with a two-camera stereovision rig gathering images around the head in 360 degrees along with stereovision 3D reconstruction and point cloud combination. The sub-pixel analysis introduced in the HRESS system makes it possible to obtain an increased distance measurement resolution and accuracy of about 3% for distances over one kilometer. Ultimately, this leads to more accurate and reliable measurement data in the form of a point cloud. Moreover, the program algorithm introduces operations enabling the filtering of erroneously collected data in the point cloud. All activities from the programming, mechanical and optical side are aimed at obtaining the most accurate 3D reconstruction of the environment in the measurement area.

Keywords: airfield monitoring, artificial intelligence, stereovision, 3D reconstruction

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Authors: Sumbal Riaz, Sardar-un-Nisa, Mehreen Sirshar

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5G - The 5th generation of mobile phone and data communication standards is the next edge of innovation for whole mobile industry. 5G is Real Wireless World System and it will provide a totally wireless communication system all over the world without limitations. 5G uses many 4g technologies and it will hit the market in 2020. This research is the comprehensive survey on the quality parameters of 5G technology.5G provide High performance, Interoperability, easy roaming, fully converged services, friendly interface and scalability at low cost. To meet the traffic demands in future fifth generation wireless communications systems will include i) higher densification of heterogeneous networks with massive deployment of small base stations supporting various Radio Access Technologies (RATs), ii) use of massive Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) arrays, iii) use of millimetre Wave spectrum where larger wider frequency bands are available, iv) direct device to device (D2D) communication, v) simultaneous transmission and reception, vi) cognitive radio technology.

Keywords: 5G, 5th generation, innovation, standard, wireless communication

Procedia PDF Downloads 431

Authors: Olokor O. Julius, Ngwu E. Onyebuchi, Ajani K. Emmanuel, Omitoyin O. Bamidele, Olokor O. Linda, Akomas Stella

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The study assessed the quality changes of Clarias gariepenus obtained from integrated culture systems (rice, poultry and fish) which were displayed at 31-33oC average daily temperature on the traditional market table used by local fish farmers to sell fish harvested from their ponds and those on an improved table designed for this study. Unlike the conventional table, the improved table was screened against flies and indiscriminate touch by customers. The fishes were displayed on both tables for 9 hours and quality attributes were monitored hourly by trained panelists. For C. gariepinus, the gills, and intestine recorded faster deterioration starting from the fourth and fifth hours while those on the improved table were prolonged by one hour. Scores for skin brightness and texture did not indicate quality deterioration throughout the display period. However, at the end of the storage time, samples on the improved table recorded 1.5 x 104 cfu/g while samples in unscreened table recorded 3.7 x 10 7 cfu/g. The study shows how simple modifications of a traditional practice can help extend keeping qualities of farmed fish, reduce health hazards in local communities where there is no electricity to preserve fish in whatever form despite a boom in aquaculture. Monai community has a fish farm estate of over 200 small holder farmers with annual output capacity of over $10 million dollars. The simple improvement made to farmers practice in this study is to ensure Community hygiene and boost income of peasant fish farmers by improving the market quality of their products.

Keywords: fish spoilage, improved handling, income generation, retail table

Procedia PDF Downloads 436

Authors: C. C. Lin, S. C. Kan, C. W. Yeh, C. I Chen, C. J. Shieh, Y. C. Liu

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In this study, lipid-deprived residuals of microalgae were hydrolyzed for the production of reducing sugars by using the recombinant Bacillus cellulosome, carrying eight genes from the Clostridium thermocellum ATCC27405. The obtained cellulosome was found to exist mostly in the broth supernatant with a cellulosome activity of 2.4 U/mL. Furthermore, the Michaelis-Menten constant (Km) and Vmax of cellulosome were found to be 14.832 g/L and 3.522 U/mL. The activation energy of the cellulosome to hydrolyze microalgae LDRs was calculated as 32.804 kJ/mol.

Keywords: lipid-deprived residuals of microalgae, cellulosome, cellulose, reducing sugars, kinetics

Procedia PDF Downloads 382

Authors: Monika Balach, Iwona Frydrych, Agnieszka Cichocka

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The objective of this research is to develop an algorithm, taking into account material type and body type that will describe the fabric properties and quality of fit of a garment to the body. One of the objectives of this research is to develop a new algorithm to simulate cloth draping within CAD/CAM software. Existing virtual fitting does not accurately simulate fabric draping behaviour. Part of the research into virtual fitting will focus on the mechanical properties of fabrics. Material behaviour depends on many factors including fibre, yarn, manufacturing process, fabric weight, textile finish, etc. For this study, several different fabric types with very different mechanical properties will be selected and evaluated for all of the above fabric characteristics. These fabrics include woven thick cotton fabric which is stiff and non-bending, woven with elastic content, which is elastic and bends on the body. Within the virtual simulation, the following mechanical properties can be specified: shear, bending, weight, thickness, and friction. To help calculate these properties, the KES system (Kawabata) can be used. This system was originally developed to calculate the mechanical properties of fabric. In this research, the author will focus on three properties: bending, shear, and roughness. This study will consider current research using the KES system to understand and simulate fabric folding on the virtual body. Testing will help to determine which material properties have the largest impact on the fit of the garment. By developing an algorithm which factors in body type, material type, and clothing function, it will be possible to determine how a specific type of clothing made from a particular type of material will fit on a specific body shape and size. A fit indicator will display areas of stress on the garment such as shoulders, chest waist, hips. From this data, CAD/CAM software can be used to develop garments that fit with a very high degree of accuracy. This research, therefore, aims to provide an innovative solution for garment fitting which will aid in the manufacture of clothing. This research will help the clothing industry by cutting the cost of the clothing manufacturing process and also reduce the cost spent on fitting. The manufacturing process can be made more efficient by virtual fitting of the garment before the real clothing sample is made. Fitting software could be integrated into clothing retailer websites allowing customers to enter their biometric data and determine how the particular garment and material type would fit their body.

Keywords: 3D scanning, fabric mechanical properties, quality of fit, virtual fitting

Procedia PDF Downloads 162

Authors: Adnan I. O. Zaid, Raghad S. Hemeimat

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Magnesium - aluminum alloys are versatile materials which are used in manufacturing a number of engineering and industrial parts in the automobile and aircraft industries due to their strength – to –weight -ratio. Against these preferable characteristics, magnesium is difficult to deform at room temperature therefore it is alloyed with other elements mainly Aluminum and Zinc to add some required properties particularly for their high strength - to -weight ratio. Mg and its alloys oxidize rapidly therefore care should be taken during melting or machining them; but they are not fire hazardous. Grain refinement is an important technology to improve the mechanical properties and the micro structure uniformity of the alloys. Grain refinement has been introduced in early fifties; when Cibula showed that the presence of Ti, and Ti+ B, produced a great refining effect in Al. since then it became an industrial practice to grain refine Al. Most of the published work on grain refinement was directed toward grain refining Al and Zinc alloys; however, the effect of the addition of rare earth material on the grain size or the mechanical behavior of Mg alloys has not been previously investigated. This forms the main objective of the research work; where, the effect of Ti addition on the grain size, mechanical behavior, ductility, and the extrusion force & energy consumed in forward extrusion of Mg-AZ31 alloy is investigated and discussed in two conditions, first in the as cast condition and the second after extrusion. It was found that addition of Ti to Mg- AZ31 alloy has resulted in reduction of its grain size by 14%; the reduction in grain size after extrusion was much higher. However the increase in Vicker’s hardness was 3% after the addition of Ti in the as cast condition, and higher values for Vicker’s hardness were achieved after extrusion. Furthermore, an increase in the strength coefficient by 36% was achieved with the addition of Ti to Mg-AZ31 alloy in the as cast condition. Similarly, the work hardening index was also increased indicating an enhancement of the ductility and formability. As for the extrusion process, it was found that the force and energy required for the extrusion were both reduced by 57% and 59% with the addition of Ti.

Keywords: cast condition, direct extrusion, ductility, MgAZ31 alloy, super - plasticity

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Authors: Indranil Chakraborty, Kalyan Mandal

Abstract:

Three new α-hydroxy carboxylate group functionalized MnFe₂O₄ nanoparticles (NPs) have been developed to explore the microscopic origin of ligand modified fluorescence and magnetic properties of nearly monodispersed MnFe₂O₄ NPs. The surface functionalization has been carried out with three small organic ligands (tartrate, malate, and citrate) having different number of α-hydroxy carboxylate functional group along with steric effect. Detailed study unveils that α-hydroxy carboxylate moiety of the ligands plays key role to generate intrinsic fluorescence in functionalized MnFe₂O₄ NPs through the activation of ligand to metal charge transfer transitions, associated with ligand-Mn²⁺/Fe³⁺ interactions along with d-d transition corresponding to d-orbital energy level splitting of Fe³⁺ ions on NP surface. Further, MnFe₂O₄ NPs show a maximum 140.88% increase in coercivity and 97.95% decrease in magnetization compared to its bare one upon functionalization. The ligands that induce smallest crystal field splitting of d-orbital energy level of transition metal ions are found to result in strongest ferromagnetic activation of the NPs. Finally, our developed tartrate functionalized MnFe₂O₄ (T-MnFe₂O₄) NPs have been utilized for studying DNA binding interaction and nuclease activity for stimulating their beneficial activities toward diverse biomedical applications. The spectroscopic measurements indicate that T-MnFe₂O₄ NPs bind calf thymus DNA by intercalative mode. The ability of T-MnFe₂O₄ NPs to induce DNA cleavage was studied by gel electrophoresis technique where the complex is found to promote the cleavage of pBR322 plasmid DNA from the super coiled form I to linear coiled form II and nicked coiled form III with good efficiency. This may be taken into account for designing new biomolecular detection agents and anti-cancer drug which can open up a new door toward diverse non-invasive biomedical applications.

Keywords: MnFe₂O₄ nanoparticle, α-hydroxy carboxylic acid, comparative fluorescence, magnetism study, DNA interaction, nuclease activity

Procedia PDF Downloads 127

Authors: Othman Maklouf, Abdunnaser Tresh

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Land vehicle navigation is subject of great interest today. Global Positioning System (GPS) is the main navigation system for positioning in such systems. GPS alone is incapable of providing continuous and reliable positioning, because of its inherent dependency on external electromagnetic signals. Inertial Navigation (INS) is the implementation of inertial sensors to determine the position and orientation of a vehicle. The availability of low-cost Micro-Electro-Mechanical-System (MEMS) inertial sensors is now making it feasible to develop INS using an inertial measurement unit (IMU). INS has unbounded error growth since the error accumulates at each step. Usually, GPS and INS are integrated with a loosely coupled scheme. With the development of low-cost, MEMS inertial sensors and GPS technology, integrated INS/GPS systems are beginning to meet the growing demands of lower cost, smaller size, and seamless navigation solutions for land vehicles. Although MEMS inertial sensors are very inexpensive compared to conventional sensors, their cost (especially MEMS gyros) is still not acceptable for many low-end civilian applications (for example, commercial car navigation or personal location systems). An efficient way to reduce the expense of these systems is to reduce the number of gyros and accelerometers, therefore, to use a partial IMU (ParIMU) configuration. For land vehicular use, the most important gyroscope is the vertical gyro that senses the heading of the vehicle and two horizontal accelerometers for determining the velocity of the vehicle. This paper presents a field experiment for a low-cost strap down (ParIMU)\GPS combination, with data post processing for the determination of 2-D components of position (trajectory), velocity and heading. In the present approach, we have neglected earth rotation and gravity variations, because of the poor gyroscope sensitivities of our low-cost IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) and because of the relatively small area of the trajectory.

Keywords: GPS, IMU, Kalman filter, materials engineering

Procedia PDF Downloads 405