Search results for: motion measurement

Authors: Lenon M. Pereira, Helen J. Khoury, Marcos E. A. Andrade, Dean L. Cutajar, Vinicius S. M. Barros, Anatoly B. Rozenfeld

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With the increase of beam widths and the advent of multiple-slice and helical scanners, concerns related to the current dose measurement protocols and instrumentation in computed tomography (CT) have arisen. The current methodology of dose evaluation, which is based on the measurement of the integral of a single slice dose profile using a 100 mm long cylinder ionization chamber (Ca,100 and CPPMA, 100), has been shown to be inadequate for wide beams as it does not collect enough of the scatter-tails to make an accurate measurement. In addition, a long ionization chamber does not offer a good representation of the dose profile when tube current modulation is used. An alternative approach has been suggested by translating smaller detectors through the beam plane and assessing the accumulated dose trough the integral of the dose profile, which can be done for any arbitrary length in phantoms or in the air. For this purpose, a MOSFET dosimeter of small dosimetric volume was used. One of its recently designed versions is known as the MOSkin, which is developed by the Centre for Medical Radiation Physics at the University of Wollongong, and measures the radiation dose at a water equivalent depth of 0.07 mm, allowing the evaluation of skin dose when placed at the surface, or internal point doses when placed within a phantom. Thus, the aim of this research was to characterize the response of the MOSkin dosimeter for X-ray CT beams and to evaluate its application for the accumulated dose assessment. Initially, tests using an industrial x-ray unit were carried out at the Laboratory of Ionization Radiation Metrology (LMRI) of Federal University of Pernambuco, in order to investigate the sensitivity, energy dependence, angular dependence, and reproducibility of the dose response for the device for the standard radiation qualities RQT 8, RQT 9 and RQT 10. Finally, the MOSkin was used for the accumulated dose evaluation of scans using a Philips Brilliance 6 CT unit, with comparisons made between the CPPMA,100 value assessed with a pencil ionization chamber (PTW Freiburg TW 30009). Both dosimeters were placed in the center of a PMMA head phantom (diameter of 16 cm) and exposed in the axial mode with collimation of 9 mm, 250 mAs and 120 kV. The results have shown that the MOSkin response was linear with doses in the CT range and reproducible (98.52%). The sensitivity for a single MOSkin in mV/cGy was as follows: 9.208, 7.691 and 6.723 for the RQT 8, RQT 9 and RQT 10 beams qualities respectively. The energy dependence varied up to a factor of ±1.19 among those energies and angular dependence was not greater than 7.78% within the angle range from 0 to 90 degrees. The accumulated dose and the CPMMA, 100 value were 3,97 and 3,79 cGy respectively, which were statistically equivalent within the 95% confidence level. The MOSkin was shown to be a good alternative for CT dose profile measurements and more than adequate to provide accumulated dose assessments for CT procedures.

Keywords: computed tomography dosimetry, MOSFET, MOSkin, semiconductor dosimetry

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Authors: Lily Ranjbar, Haori Yang

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Online education has been around for several decades, but the importance of online education became evident after the COVID-19 pandemic. Eventhough the online delivery approach works well for knowledge building through delivering content and oversight processes, it has limitations in developing hands-on laboratory skills, especially in the STEM field. During the pandemic, many education institutions faced numerous challenges in delivering lab-based courses, especially in the STEM field. Also, many students worldwide were unable to practice working with lab equipment due to social distancing or the significant cost of highly specialized equipment. The laboratory plays a crucial role in nuclear science and engineering education. It can engage students and improve their learning outcomes. In addition, online education and virtual labs have gained substantial popularity in engineering and science education. Therefore, developing virtual labs is vital for institutions to deliver high-class education to their students, including their online students. The School of Nuclear Science and Engineering (NSE) at Oregon State University, in partnership with SpectralLabs company, has developed an Advanced Virtual Radiation Detection and Measurement Lab (AVR-DML) to offer a fully online Master of Health Physics program. It was essential for us to use a system that could simulate nuclear modules that accurately replicate the underlying physics, the nature of radiation and radiation transport, and the mechanics of the instrumentations used in the real radiation detection lab. It was all accomplished using a Realistic, Adaptive, Interactive Learning System (RAILS). RAILS is a comprehensive software simulation-based learning system for use in training. It is comprised of a web-based learning management system that is located on a central server, as well as a 3D-simulation package that is downloaded locally to user machines. Users will find that the graphics, animations, and sounds in RAILS create a realistic, immersive environment to practice detecting different radiation sources. These features allow students to coexist, interact and engage with a real STEM lab in all its dimensions. It enables them to feel like they are in a real lab environment and to see the same system they would in a lab. Unique interactive interfaces were designed and developed by integrating all the tools and equipment needed to run each lab. These interfaces provide students full functionality for data collection, changing the experimental setup, and live data collection with real-time updates for each experiment. Students can manually do all experimental setups and parameter changes in this lab. Experimental results can then be tracked and analyzed in an oscilloscope, a multi-channel analyzer, or a single-channel analyzer (SCA). The advanced virtual radiation detection and measurement laboratory developed in this study enabled the NSE school to offer a fully online MHP program. This flexibility of course modality helped us to attract more non-traditional students, including international students. It is a valuable educational tool as students can walk around the virtual lab, make mistakes, and learn from them. They have an unlimited amount of time to repeat and engage in experiments. This lab will also help us speed up training in nuclear science and engineering.

Keywords: advanced radiation detection and measurement, virtual laboratory, realistic adaptive interactive learning system (rails), online education in stem fields, student engagement, stem online education, stem laboratory, online engineering education

Procedia PDF Downloads 89

Authors: Shang-Yu Chiang, Yu-Shan Tsai, Shih-Hsien Sung, Chung-Ming Lo

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Mitral regurgitation (MR) is a heart disorder which the mitral valve does not close properly when the heart pumps out blood. MR is the most common form of valvular heart disease in the adult population. The diagnostic echocardiographic finding of MR is straightforward due to the well-known clinical evidence. In the determination of MR severity, quantification of sonographic findings would be useful for clinical decision making. Clinically, the vena contracta is a standard for MR evaluation. Vena contracta is the point in a blood stream where the diameter of the stream is the least, and the velocity is the maximum. The quantification of vena contracta, i.e. the vena contracta width (VCW) at mitral valve, can be a numeric measurement for severity assessment. However, manually delineating the VCW may not accurate enough. The result highly depends on the operator experience. Therefore, this study proposed an automatic method to quantify VCW to evaluate MR severity. Based on color Doppler ultrasound, VCW can be observed from the blood flows to the probe as the appearance of red or yellow area. The corresponding brightness represents the value of the flow rate. In the experiment, colors were firstly transformed into HSV (hue, saturation and value) to be closely align with the way human vision perceives red and yellow. Using ellipse to fit the high flow rate area in left atrium, the angle between the mitral valve and the ultrasound probe was calculated to get the vertical shortest diameter as the VCW. Taking the manual measurement as the standard, the method achieved only 0.02 (0.38 vs. 0.36) to 0.03 (0.42 vs. 0.45) cm differences. The result showed that the proposed automatic VCW extraction can be efficient and accurate for clinical use. The process also has the potential to reduce intra- or inter-observer variability at measuring subtle distances.

Keywords: mitral regurgitation, vena contracta, color doppler, image processing

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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

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Authors: Colm Barcoe, Garvan Whelan

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Over the past five years, visitations of American holidaymakers to Ireland have grown exponentially owing to the online strategies of Tourism Ireland, a Destination Marketer (DMO) with a meagre budget which is extended by their understanding of best practices to maximise their monetary allowance. This suggested framework incorporates a range of Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) such as financial, marketing, and operational that offer a scale of measurement from which the Irish DMO can monitor the success of each promotional campaign when targeting the US and Canada. These are presented not as final solutions but rather as suggestions based on empirical evidence obtained from both primary and secondary sources. This research combines the wisdom extracted through qualitative methodologies with the objective of understanding the processes that drive both emergent and agile strategies. The Study extends the work relative to performance and examines the role of social media in the context of promoting Ireland to North America. There are two main themes that are identified and analysed in this investigation, these are the approach of the DMO when advocating Ireland as a brand and the benefits of digital platforms set against a proposed scale of KPIs, such as destination marketing, brand positioning, and identity development. The key narrative of this analysis is to focus on the power of social media when capitalising upon marketing opportunities, operating on a relatively small budget. This will always be a relevant theme of discussion due to the responsibility of an organisation like Tourism Ireland operating under the restraints imposed by government funding. The overall conclusions of this research may help inform those concerned with the implementing of social media strategies develop clearer models of measurement when promoting a destination to North America. The suggestions of this study will benefit small and medium enterprises particularly.

Keywords: destination marketing, framework, measure, performance

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Authors: S. M. Yasir Arafat

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Driving models are needed by many researchers to improve traffic safety and to advance autonomous vehicle design. To be most useful, a driving model must state specifically what information is needed and how it is processed. So we developed an “Obstacle Avoidance and Detection Autonomous Car” based on sensor application. The ever increasing technological demands of today call for very complex systems, which in turn require highly sophisticated controllers to ensure that high performance can be achieved and maintained under adverse conditions. Based on a developed model of brakes operation, the controller of braking system operation has been designed. It has a task to enable solution to the problem of the better controlling of braking system operation in a more accurate way then it was the case now a day.

Keywords: automobile, obstacle, safety, sensing

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Authors: K. Jankowski, M. Pawlikowski, A. Makuch, K. Skalski

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Depth-sensing indentation (DSI) or nanoindentation is becoming a more and more popular method of measuring mechanical properties of various materials and tissues at a micro-scale. This technique allows measurements without complicated sample preparation procedures which makes this method very useful. As a result of measurement force and displacement of the intender are obtained. It is also possible to determine three measures of hardness i.e. Martens hardness (HM), nanohardness (HIT), Vickers hardness (HV) and Young modulus EIT. In this work trabecular bone mechanical properties were investigated. The bone samples were harvested from human femoral heads during hip replacement surgery. Patients were of different age, sexes and stages of tissue degeneration caused by osteoarthritis. The specimens were divided into three groups. Each group contained samples harvested from patients of different range of age. All samples were investigated with the same measurement conditions. The maximum load was Pmax=500 mN and the loading rate was 500 mN/min. The tests were held without hold at the peak force. The tests were conducted with indenter Vickers tip and spherical tip of the diameter 0.2 mm. Each trabecular bone sample was tested 7 times in a close area of the same trabecula. The measured loading P as a function of indentation depth allowed to obtain hysteresis loop and HM, HIT, HV, EIT. Results for arbitrarily chosen sample are HM=289.95 ± 42.31 MPa, HIT=430.75 ± 45.37 MPa, HV=40.66 ± 4.28 Vickers, EIT=7.37 ± 1.84 GPa for Vickers tip and HM=115.19 ± 15.03 MPa, HIT=165.80 ± 19.30 MPa, HV=16.90 ± 1.97 Vickers, EIT=5.30 ± 1.31 GPa for spherical tip. Results of nanoindentation tests show that this method is very useful and is perfect for obtaining mechanical properties of trabecular bone. Estimated values of elastic modulus are similar. The differences between hardness are significant but it is a result of using two different types of tips. However, it has to be emphasised that the differences in the values of elastic modulus and hardness result from different testing protocols, anisotropy and asymmetry of the micro-samples and the hydration of bone.

Keywords: human bone, mechanical properties, nano hardness nanoindentation, trabecular bone

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Authors: Shinji Kajiwara

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The basic ability of a vehicle is the ability to “run”, “turn” and “stop”. The safeness and comfort during a drive on various road surfaces and speed depends on the performance of these basic abilities of the vehicle. Stability and maneuverability of a vehicle is vital in automotive engineering. Stability of a vehicle is the ability of the vehicle to revert back to a stable state during a drive when faced with crosswind and irregular road conditions. Maneuverability of a vehicle is the ability of the vehicle to change direction during a drive swiftly based on the steering of the driver. The stability and maneuverability of a vehicle can also be defined as the driving stability of the vehicle. Since fossil fueled vehicle is the main type of transportation today, the environmental factor in automotive engineering is also vital. By improving the fuel efficiency of the vehicle, the overall carbon emission will be reduced thus reducing the effect of global warming and greenhouse gas on the Earth. Another main focus of the automotive engineering is the safety performance of the vehicle especially with the worrying increase of vehicle collision every day. With better safety performance on a vehicle, every driver will be more confidence driving every day. Next, let us focus on the “turn” ability of a vehicle. By improving this particular ability of the vehicle, the cornering limit of the vehicle can be improved thus increasing the stability and maneuverability factor. In order to improve the cornering limit of the vehicle, a study to find the balance between the steering systems, the stability of the vehicle, higher lateral acceleration and the cornering limit detection must be conducted. The aim of this research is to study and develop a new suspension system that that will boost the lateral acceleration of the vehicle and ultimately improving the cornering limit of the vehicle. This research will also study environmental factor and the stability factor of the new suspension system. The double wishbone suspension system is widely used in four-wheel vehicle especially for high cornering performance sports car and racing car. The double wishbone designs allow the engineer to carefully control the motion of the wheel by controlling such parameters as camber angle, caster angle, toe pattern, roll center height, scrub radius, scuff and more. The development of the new suspension system will focus on the ability of the new suspension system to optimize the camber control and to improve the camber limit during a cornering motion. The research will be carried out using the CAE analysis tool. Using this analysis tool we will develop a JSAE Formula Machine equipped with the double wishbone system and also the new suspension system and conduct simulation and conduct studies on performance of both suspension systems.

Keywords: automobile, camber thrust, cornering force, suspension

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Authors: S. Ebadzadsahraei, H. Kazemian

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The main objective of this research was to measure particulate matter (PM₂.₅) and Volatile Organic Compound (VOCs) as two classes of air pollutants, at Prince George (PG) neighborhood in warm and cold seasons. To fulfill this objective, analytical protocols were developed for accurate sampling and measurement of the targeted air pollutants. PM₂.₅ samples were analyzed for their chemical composition (i.e., toxic trace elements) in order to assess their potential source of emission. The City of Prince George, widely known as the capital of northern British Columbia (BC), Canada, has been dealing with air pollution challenges for a long time. The city has several local industries including pulp mills, a refinery, and a couple of asphalt plants that are the primary contributors of industrial VOCs. In this research project, which is the first study of this kind in this region it measures physical and chemical properties of particulate air pollutants (PM₂.₅) at the city neighborhood. Furthermore, this study quantifies the percentage of VOCs at the city air samples. One of the outcomes of this project is updated data about PM₂.₅ and VOCs inventory in the selected neighborhoods. For examining PM₂.₅ chemical composition, an elemental analysis methodology was developed to measure major trace elements including but not limited to mercury and lead. The toxicity of inhaled particulates depends on both their physical and chemical properties; thus, an understanding of aerosol properties is essential for the evaluation of such hazards, and the treatment of such respiratory and other related diseases. Mixed cellulose ester (MCE) filters were selected for this research as a suitable filter for PM₂.₅ air sampling. Chemical analyses were conducted using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) for elemental analysis. VOCs measurement of the air samples was performed using a Gas Chromatography-Flame Ionization Detector (GC-FID) and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) allowing for quantitative measurement of VOC molecules in sub-ppb levels. In this study, sorbent tube (Anasorb CSC, Coconut Charcoal), 6 x 70-mm size, 2 sections, 50/100 mg sorbent, 20/40 mesh was used for VOCs air sampling followed by using solvent extraction and solid-phase micro extraction (SPME) techniques to prepare samples for measuring by a GC-MS/FID instrument. Air sampling for both PM₂.₅ and VOC were conducted in summer and winter seasons for comparison. Average concentrations of PM₂.₅ are very different between wildfire and daily samples. At wildfire time average of concentration is 83.0 μg/m³ and daily samples are 23.7 μg/m³. Also, higher concentrations of iron, nickel and manganese found at all samples and mercury element is found in some samples. It is able to stay too high doses negative effects.

Keywords: air pollutants, chemical analysis, particulate matter (PM₂.₅), volatile organic compound, VOCs

Procedia PDF Downloads 142

Authors: Toshiyuki Satoh, Hiroki Hara, Naoki Saito, Jun-ya Nagase, Norihiko Saga

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This paper addresses a control system design for a table drive system based on the disturbance observer (DOB)-based predictive functional critical control (PFCC). To empower the previously developed DOB-based PFC to handle constraints on controlled outputs, we propose to take a critical control approach. To this end, we derive the transfer function representation of the PFC controller, and yield a detailed design procedure. The effectiveness of the proposed method is confirmed through an experimental evaluation.

Keywords: critical control, disturbance observer, mechatronics, motion control, predictive functional control, table drive systems

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Authors: Robyn White, Juan Bornman, Ensa Johnson

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People with disabilities are at a high risk of becoming victims of crime. Individuals with little or no functional speech (LNFS) face an even higher risk. One way of reducing the risk of remaining a victim of crime is to face the alleged perpetrator in court as a witness – therefore it is important for a person with LNFS who has been a victim of crime to have the required vocabulary to testify in court. The aim of this study was to identify and describe the core and fringe legal vocabulary required by illiterate victims of crime, who have little or no functional speech, to testify in court as witnesses. A mixed-method, the exploratory sequential design consisting of two distinct phases was used to address the aim of the research. The first phase was of a qualitative nature and included two different data sources, namely in-depth semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. The overall aim of this phase was to identify and describe core and fringe legal vocabulary and to develop a measurement instrument based on these results. Results from Phase 1 were used in Phase 2, the quantitative phase, during which the measurement instrument (a custom-designed questionnaire) was socially validated. The results produced six distinct vocabulary categories that represent the legal core vocabulary and 99 words that represent the legal fringe vocabulary. The findings suggested that communication boards should be individualised to the individual and the specific crime. It is believed that the vocabulary lists developed in this study act as a valid and reliable springboard from which communication boards can be developed. Recommendations were therefore made to develop an Alternative and Augmentative Communication Resource Tool Kit to assist the legal justice system.

Keywords: augmentative and alternative communication, person with little or no functional speech, sexual crimes, testifying in court, victim of crime, witness competency

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Authors: M. Hilmi Ozdemir, Gokhan Ozkan

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Performance Based Logistics (PBL) is a strategic approach that enables creating long-term and win-win relations among stakeholders in the acquisition. Contrary to the traditional single transactions, the expected value is created by the performance of the service pertaining to the strategic relationships in this approach. PBL motivates all relevant stakeholders to focus on their core competencies to produce the desired outcome in a collective way. The desired outcome can only be assured with a cost effective way as long as it is periodically measured with the right performance parameters. Thus, defining these parameters is a crucial step for the PBL contracts. In performance parameter determination, Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), which is a multi-criteria decision making methodology for complex cases, was used within this study for a complex system. AHP has been extensively applied in various areas including supply chain, inventory management, outsourcing, and logistics. This methodology made it possible to convert end-user’s main operation and maintenance requirements to sub criteria contained by a single performance parameter. Those requirements were categorized and assigned weights by the relevant stakeholders. Single performance parameter capable of measuring the overall performance of a complex system is the major outcome of this study. The parameter deals with the integrated assessment of different functions spanning from training, operation, maintenance, reporting, and documentation that are implemented within a complex system. The aim of this study is to show the methodology and processes implemented to identify a single performance parameter for measuring the whole performance of a complex system within a PBL contract. AHP methodology is recommended as an option for the researches and the practitioners who seek for a lean and integrated approach for performance assessment within PBL contracts. The implementation of AHP methodology in this study may help PBL practitioners from methodological perception and add value to AHP in becoming prevalent.

Keywords: analytic hierarchy process, performance based logistics, performance measurement, performance parameters

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Authors: Nguyen Manh Hien

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Service quality is the highest requirement from users, especially for the service in electronic government. During the past decades, it has become a major area of academic investigation. Considering this issue, there are many researches that evaluated the dimensions and e-service contexts. This study also identified the dimensions of service quality but focused on a new conceptual and provides a new methodological in developing measurement scales of e-service quality such as information quality, service quality and organization quality. Finally, the study will suggest a key factor to evaluate e-government service quality better.

Keywords: dimensionality, e-government, e-service, e-service quality

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Authors: G. Traini, G. Battistoni, F. Collamati, E. De Lucia, R. Faccini, C. Mancini-Terracciano, M. Marafini, I. Mattei, S. Muraro, A. Sarti, A. Sciubba, E. Solfaroli Camillocci, M. Toppi, S. M. Valle, C. Voena, V. Patera

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In Particle Therapy (PT) treatments a large amount of secondary particles, whose emission point is correlated to the dose released in the crossed tissues, is produced. The measurement of the secondary charged fragments component could represent a valid technique to monitor the beam range during the PT treatments, that is a still missing item in the clinical practice. A sub-millimetrical precision on the beam range measurement is required to significantly optimise the technique and to improve the treatment quality. In this contribution, a detector, named Dose Profiler (DP), is presented. It is specifically planned to monitor on-line the beam range exploiting the secondary charged particles produced in PT Carbon ions treatment. In particular, the DP is designed to track the secondary fragments emitted at large angles with respect to the beam direction (mainly protons), with the aim to reconstruct the spatial coordinates of the fragment emission point extrapolating the measured track toward the beam axis. The DP is currently under development within of the INSIDE collaboration (Innovative Solutions for In-beam Dosimetry in hadrontherapy). The tracker is made by six layers (20 × 20 cm²) of BCF-12 square scintillating fibres (500 μm) coupled to Silicon Photo-Multipliers, followed by two plastic scintillator layers of 6 mm thickness. A system of front-end boards based on FPGAs arranged around the detector provides the data acquisition. The detector characterization with cosmic rays is currently undergoing, and a data taking campaign with protons will take place in May 2017. The DP design and the performances measured with using MIPs and protons beam will be reviewed.

Keywords: fragmentation, monitoring, particle therapy, tracking

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Authors: Guy Joseph Eyebe, Gambo Betchewe, Alidou Mohamadou, Timoleon Crepin Kofane

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In the present study, the dynamics of nanobeam resting on fractional order softening nonlinear viscoelastic pasternack foundations is studied. The Hamilton principle is used to derive the nonlinear equation of the motion. Approximate analytical solution is obtained by applying the standard averaging method. The Melnikov method is used to investigate the chaotic behaviors of device, the critical curve separating the chaotic and non-chaotic regions are found. It is shown that appearance of chaos in the system depends strongly on the fractional order parameter.

Keywords: chaos, fractional-order, Melnikov method, nanobeam

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Authors: Tamale Vincent

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Groundwater investigation is the investigation of underground formations to understand the hydrologic cycle, known groundwater occurrences, and identify the nature and types of aquifers. There are different groundwater investigation methods and surface geophysical method is one of the groundwater investigation more especially the Geoelectrical resistivity Schlumberger configuration method which provides valuable information regarding the lateral and vertical successions of subsurface geomaterials in terms of their individual thickness and corresponding resistivity values besides using surface geophysical method, hydrogeological and geological investigation methods are also incorporated to aid in preliminary groundwater investigation. Investigation for groundwater in lwantonde district has been implemented. The area project is located cattle corridor and the dry seasonal troubles the communities in lwantonde district of which 99% of people living there are farmers, thus making agriculture difficult and local government to provide social services to its people. The investigation was done using the Geoelectrical resistivity Schlumberger configuration method. The measurement point is located in the three sub-counties, with a total of 17 measurement points. The study location is at 0025S, 3110E, and covers an area of 160 square kilometers. Based on the results of the Geoelectrical information data, it was found two types of aquifers, which are open aquifers in depth ranging from six meters to twenty-two meters and a confined aquifer in depth ranging from forty-five meters to eighty meters. In addition to the Geoelectrical information data, drilling was done at an accessible point by heavy equipment in the Lwakagura village, Kabura sub-county. At the drilling point, artesian wells were obtained at a depth of eighty meters and can rise to two meters above the soil surface. The discovery of artesian well is then used by residents to meet the needs of clean water and for irrigation considering that in this area most wells contain iron content.

Keywords: artesian well, geoelectrical, lwantonde, Schlumberger

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Authors: Jia-Chao Wang

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A model of the universe without invoking space expansion is proposed to explain the observed redshift-distance relation and the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB). The main hypothesized feature of the model is that photons traveling in space interact with the CMB photon gas. This interaction causes the photons to gradually lose energy through dissipation and, therefore, experience redshift. The interaction also causes some of the photons to be scattered off their track toward an observer and, therefore, results in beam intensity attenuation. As observed, the CMB exists everywhere in space and its photon density is relatively high (about 410 per cm³). The small average energy of the CMB photons (about 6.3×10⁻⁴ eV) can reduce the energies of traveling photons gradually and will not alter their momenta drastically as in, for example, Compton scattering, to totally blur the images of distant objects. An object moving through a thermalized photon gas, such as the CMB, experiences a drag. The cause is that the object sees a blue shifted photon gas along the direction of motion and a redshifted one in the opposite direction. An example of this effect can be the observed CMB dipole: The earth travels at about 368 km/s (600 km/s) relative to the CMB. In the all-sky map from the COBE satellite, radiation in the Earth's direction of motion appears 0.35 mK hotter than the average temperature, 2.725 K, while radiation on the opposite side of the sky is 0.35 mK colder. The pressure of a thermalized photon gas is given by Pγ = Eγ/3 = αT⁴/3, where Eγ is the energy density of the photon gas and α is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant. The observed CMB dipole, therefore, implies a pressure difference between the two sides of the earth and results in a CMB drag on the earth. By plugging in suitable estimates of quantities involved, such as the cross section of the earth and the temperatures on the two sides, this drag can be estimated to be tiny. But for a photon traveling at the speed of light, 300,000 km/s, the drag can be significant. In the present model, for the dissipation part, it is assumed that a photon traveling from a distant object toward an observer has an effective interaction cross section pushing against the pressure of the CMB photon gas. For the attenuation part, the coefficient of the typical attenuation equation is used as a parameter. The values of these two parameters are determined by fitting the 748 µ vs. z data points compiled from 643 supernova and 105 γ-ray burst observations with z values up to 8.1. The fit is as good as that obtained from the lambda cold dark matter (ΛCDM) model using online cosmological calculators and Planck 2015 results. The model can be used to interpret Hubble's constant, Olbers' paradox, the origin and blackbody nature of the CMB radiation, the broadening of supernova light curves, and the size of the observable universe.

Keywords: CMB as the lowest energy state, model of the universe, origin of CMB in a static universe, photon-CMB photon gas interaction

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Authors: Mubarak Suliman, Mohamed Hassan

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Detection of downed conductors occurring with high fault resistance (reaching kilo-ohms) has always been a challenge, especially in countries like Saudi Arabia, on which earth resistivity is very high in general (reaching more than 1000 Ω-meter). The new approaches for the detection of resistive and high impedance faults are based on the analysis of the fault current waveform. These methods are still under research and development, and they are currently lacking security and dependability. The other approach is communication-based solutions which depends on voltage measurement at the end of overhead line branches and communicate the measured signals to substation feeder relay or a central control center. However, such a detection method is costly and depends on the availability of communication medium and infrastructure. The main objective of this research is to utilize the available standard protection schemes to increase the probability of detection of downed conductors occurring with a low magnitude of fault currents and at the same time avoiding unwanted tripping in healthy conditions and feeders. By specifying the operating region of the faulty feeder, use of tripping curve for discrimination between faulty and healthy feeders, and with proper selection of core balance current transformer (CBCT) and voltage transformers with fewer measurement errors, it is possible to set the pick-up of sensitive earth fault current to minimum values of few amps (i.e., Pick-up Settings = 3 A or 4 A, …) for the detection of earth faults with fault resistance more than (1 - 2 kΩ) for 13.8kV overhead network and more than (3-4) kΩ fault resistance in 33kV overhead network. By implementation of the outcomes of this study, the probability of detection of downed conductors is increased by the utilization of existing schemes (i.e., Directional Sensitive Earth Fault Protection).

Keywords: sensitive earth fault, zero sequence current, grounded system, resistive fault detection, healthy feeder

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Authors: Aboli Gore, Aritra Das, Sunil Sonthalia, Tanmay Mahapatra, Sridhar Srikantiah, Hemant Shah

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AMANAT is an initiative, taken in collaboration with the Government of Bihar, aimed at improving the Quality of Maternal and Neonatal care services at Bihar’s public health facilities – those offering either the Basic Emergency Obstetric and Neonatal care (BEmONC) or Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and Neonatal care (CEmONC) services. The effectiveness of this program is evaluated by conducting cross-sectional assessments at the concerned facilities prior to (baseline) and following completion (endline) of intervention. Direct Observation of Delivery (DOD) methodology is employed for carrying out the baseline and endline assessments – through which key obstetric and neonatal care practices among the Health Care Providers (especially the nurses) are assessed quantitatively by specially trained nursing professionals. Assessment of vitals prior to delivery improved during all three phases of BEmONC and all four phases of CEmONC training with statistically significant improvement noted in: i) pulse measurement in BEmONC phase 2 (9% to 68%), 3 (4% to 57%) & 4 (14% to 59%) and CEmONC phase 2 (7% to 72%) and 3 (0% to 64%); ii) blood pressure measurement in BEmONC phase 2 (27% to 84%), 3 (21% to 76%) & 4 (36% to 71%) and CEmONC phase 2 (23% to 76%) and 3 (2% to 70%); iii) fetal heart rate measurement in BEmONC phase 2 (10% to 72%), 3 (11% to 77%) & 4 (13% to 64%) and CEmONC phase 1 (24% to 38%), 2 (14% to 82%) and 3 (1% to 73%); and iv) abdominal examination in BEmONC phase 2 (14% to 59%), 3 (3% to 59%) & 4 (6% to 56%) and CEmONC phase 1 (0% to 24%), 2 (7% to 62%) & 3 (0% to 62%). Regarding infection control, wearing of apron, mask and cap by the delivery conductors improved significantly in all BEmONC phases. Similarly, the practice of handwashing improved in all BEmONC and CEmONC phases. Even on disaggregation, the handwashing showed significant improvement in all phases but CEmONC phase-4. Not only the positive practices related to handwashing improved but also negative practices such as turning off the tap with bare hands declined significantly in the aforementioned phases. Significant decline was also noted in negative maternal care practices such as application of fundal pressure for hastening the delivery process and administration of oxytocin prior to delivery. One of the notable achievement of AMANAT is an improvement in active management of the third stage of labor (AMTSL). The overall AMTSL (including administration of oxytocin or other uterotonics uterotonic in proper dose, route and time along with controlled cord traction and uterine massage) improved in all phases of BEmONC and CEmONC mentoring. Another key area of improvement, across phases, was in proper cutting/clamping of the umbilical cord. AMANAT mentoring also led to improvement in important immediate newborn care practices such as initiation of skin-to-skin care and timely initiation of breastfeeding. The next phase of the mentoring program seeks to institutionalize mentoring across the state that could potentially perpetuate improvement with minimal external intervention.

Keywords: capacity building, nurse-mentoring, quality of care, pregnancy, newborn care

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Authors: Nada Jasim Habeeb, Rana Saad Mohammed, Muntaha Khudair Abbass

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For more efficient and fast video summarization, this paper presents a surveillance video summarization method. The presented method works to improve video summarization technique. This method depends on temporal differencing to extract most important data from large video stream. This method uses histogram differencing and Sum Conditional Variance which is robust against to illumination variations in order to extract motion objects. The experimental results showed that the presented method gives better output compared with temporal differencing based summarization techniques.

Keywords: temporal differencing, video summarization, histogram differencing, sum conditional variance

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Authors: Gonzalo García-Reyes

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Conformastat spherically symmetric exact solutions of Einstein's field equations representing matter distributions made of fluid both perfect and anisotropic from given solutions of Poisson's equation of Newtonian gravity are investigated. The approach is used in the construction of new relativistic models of thick spherical shells and three-component models of galaxies (bulge, disk, and dark matter halo), writing, in this case, the metric in cylindrical coordinates. In addition, the circular motion of test particles (rotation curves) along geodesics on the equatorial plane of matter configurations and the stability of the orbits against radial perturbations are studied. The models constructed satisfy all the energy conditions.

Keywords: general relativity, exact solutions, spherical symmetry, galaxy, kinematics and dynamics, dark matter

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Authors: C. Malça, N. Alves, A. Mateus

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This work was one of the tasks of the Manufacturing2Client project, whose objective was to develop a frontal deflector to be commercialized in the automotive industry, using new project and manufacturing methods. In this task, in particular, it was proposed to develop the ability to predict computationally the aerodynamic influence of flow in vehicles, in an effort to reduce fuel consumption in vehicles from class 3 to 8. With this aim, two deflector models were developed and their aerodynamic performance analyzed. The aerodynamic study was done using the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software Ansys CFX and allowed the calculation of the drag coefficient caused by the vehicle motion for the different configurations considered. Moreover, the reduction of diesel consumption and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions associated with the optimized deflector geometry could be assessed.

Keywords: erodynamic analysis, CFD, CO2 emissions, drag coefficient, frontal deflector, fuel consumption

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Authors: Rajesh Agarwal

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Carrier mobility at the organic/insulator interface is essential to the performance of organic thin film transistors (OTFT). The present work describes estimation of field dependent mobility (FDM) parameters and the threshold voltage of an OTFT using a simple, easy to fabricate two terminal asymmetric capacitive test structure using admittance measurements. Conventionally, transfer characteristics are used to estimate the threshold voltage in an OTFT with field independent mobility (FIDM). Yet, this technique breaks down to give accurate results for devices with high contact resistance and having field dependent mobility. In this work, a new technique is presented for characterization of long channel organic capacitor (LCOC). The proposed technique helps in the accurate estimation of mobility enhancement factor (γ), the threshold voltage (V_th) and band mobility (µ₀) using capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurement in OTFT. This technique also helps to get rid of making short channel OTFT or metal-insulator-metal (MIM) structures for making C-V measurements. To understand the behavior of devices and ease of analysis, transmission line compact model is developed. The 2-D numerical simulation was carried out to illustrate the correctness of the model. Results show that proposed technique estimates device parameters accurately even in the presence of contact resistance and field dependent mobility. Pentacene/Poly (4-vinyl phenol) based top contact bottom-gate OTFT’s are fabricated to illustrate the operation and advantages of the proposed technique. Small signal of frequency varying from 1 kHz to 5 kHz and gate potential ranging from +40 V to -40 V have been applied to the devices for measurement.

Keywords: capacitance, mobility, organic, thin film transistor

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Authors: Yu-Hsuan Chang, Jian-Hao Su, Chen-Yu Chen, Wei-Mon Yan

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In this work, the experimental measurement was applied to examine the membrane type and flow field design on the performance of a planar membrane humidifier. The performance indexes were used to evaluate the planar membrane humidifier. The performance indexes of the membrane humidifier include the dew point approach temperature (DPAT), water recovery ratio (WRR), water flux (J) and pressure loss (P). The experiments contain mainly three parts. In the first part, a single membrane humidifier was tested using different flow field under different dry-inlet temperatures. The measured results show that the dew point approach temperature decreases with increasing the depth of flow channel at the same width of flow channel. However, the WRR and J reduce with an increase in the dry air-inlet temperature. The pressure loss tests indicate that pressure loss decreases with increasing the hydraulic diameter of flow channel, resulting from an increase in Darcy friction. Owing to the comparison of humidifier performances and pressure losses, the flow channel of width W=1 and height H=1.5 was selected as the channel design of the multi-membrane humidifier in the second part of experiment. In the second part, the multi-membrane humidifier was used to evaluate the humidification performance under different relative humidity and flow rates. The measurement results indicate that the humidifier at both lower temperature and relative humidity of inlet dry air have higher DPAT but lower J and WRR. In addition, the counter flow approach has better mass and heat transfer performance than the parallel flow approach. Moreover, the effects of dry air temperature, relative humidity and humidification approach are not significant to the pressure loss in the planar membrane humidifier. For the third part, different membranes were tested in this work in order to find out which kind membrane is appropriate for humidifier.

Keywords: water management, planar membrane humidifier, heat and mass transfer, pressure loss, PEM fuel cell

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Authors: Woon Lam Ng.

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This paper explores the basic structures of Chinese calligraphy brushwork, its textures, its characteristic forms, and how its strength can be incorporated into 3d animation. It investigates how these structures could create visual simplification and suggest movement. The conceptual difference between realistic rendering and the Chinese calligraphic concept of simplification is discussed. With the help of the Python programmable environment in Maya, the concept of Chinese calligraphy in 3d space and its idea of visual simplification and abstraction were explored. The work demonstrates how the Chinese calligraphic brushwork could suggest the dynamics of motion in 3d space. Some limitations of the Maya emitting process are also discussed. Possible further explorations through additional mathematical adjustments to the selected Maya shader are also suggested to enhance the presentation.

Keywords: calligraphy, brushwork, dynamics, movements

Procedia PDF Downloads 259

Authors: Parinyaporn Thanaboonpuang, Siridej Sujiva, Shotiga Pasiphul

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The higher education reform that integration of nursing programmes into the higher education system. Learning outcomes represent one of the essential building blocks for transparency within higher education systems and qualifications. The purpose of this study is to develop a toolkit of undergraduate nursing student’desirable characteristics assessment on Thai Qualifications Framework for Higher education and to test psychometric property for this instrument. This toolkit seeks to improve on the Computer Multimedia test. There are three skills to be examined: Cognitive skill, Responsibility and Interpersonal Skill, and Information Technology Skill. The study was conduct in 4 phases. In Phase 1. Based on developed a measurement model and Computer Multimedia test. Phase 2 two round focus group were conducted, to determine the content validity of measurement model and the toolkit. In Phase 3, data were collected using a multistage random sampling of 1,156 senior undergraduate nursing student were recruited to test psychometric property. In Phase 4 data analysis was conducted by descriptive statistics, item analysis, inter-rater reliability, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. The resulting TNDC consists of 74 items across the following four domains: Cognitive skill, Interpersonal Skill, Responsibility and Information Technology Skill. The value of Cronbach’ s alpha for the four domains were .781, 807, .831, and .865, respectively. The final model in confirmatory factor analysis fit quite well with empirical data. The TNDC was found to be appropriate, both theoretically and statistically. Due to these results, it is recommended that the toolkit could be used in future studies for Nursing Program in Thailand.

Keywords: toolkit, nursing student’ desirable characteristics, Thai qualifications framework

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Authors: H. K. Esfahani, B. Datta

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Groundwater is one of the most important natural resources in many parts of the world; however it is widely polluted due to human activities. Currently, effective and reliable groundwater management and remediation strategies are obtained using characterization of groundwater pollution sources, where the measured data in monitoring locations are utilized to estimate the unknown pollutant source location and magnitude. However, accurately identifying characteristics of contaminant sources is a challenging task due to uncertainties in terms of predicting source flux injection, hydro-geological and geo-chemical parameters, and the concentration field measurement. Reactive transport of chemical species in contaminated groundwater systems, especially with multiple species, is a complex and highly non-linear geochemical process. Although sufficient concentration measurement data is essential to accurately identify sources characteristics, available data are often sparse and limited in quantity. Therefore, this inverse problem-solving method for characterizing unknown groundwater pollution sources is often considered ill-posed, complex and non- unique. Different methods have been utilized to identify pollution sources; however, the linked simulation-optimization approach is one effective method to obtain acceptable results under uncertainties in complex real life scenarios. With this approach, the numerical flow and contaminant transport simulation models are externally linked to an optimization algorithm, with the objective of minimizing the difference between measured concentration and estimated pollutant concentration at observation locations. Concentration measurement data are very important to accurately estimate pollution source properties; therefore, optimal design of the monitoring network is essential to gather adequate measured data at desired times and locations. Due to budget and physical restrictions, an efficient and effective approach for groundwater pollutant source characterization is to design an optimal monitoring network, especially when only inadequate and arbitrary concentration measurement data are initially available. In this approach, preliminary concentration observation data are utilized for preliminary source location, magnitude and duration of source activity identification, and these results are utilized for monitoring network design. Further, feedback information from the monitoring network is used as inputs for sequential monitoring network design, to improve the identification of unknown source characteristics. To design an effective monitoring network of observation wells, optimization and interpolation techniques are used. A simulation model should be utilized to accurately describe the aquifer properties in terms of hydro-geochemical parameters and boundary conditions. However, the simulation of the transport processes becomes complex when the pollutants are chemically reactive. Three dimensional transient flow and reactive contaminant transport process is considered. The proposed methodology uses HYDROGEOCHEM 5.0 (HGCH) as the simulation model for flow and transport processes with chemically multiple reactive species. Adaptive Simulated Annealing (ASA) is used as optimization algorithm in linked simulation-optimization methodology to identify the unknown source characteristics. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to develop a methodology to optimally design an effective monitoring network for pollution source characterization with reactive species in polluted aquifers. The performance of the developed methodology will be evaluated for an illustrative polluted aquifer sites, for example an abandoned mine site in Queensland, Australia.

Keywords: monitoring network design, source characterization, chemical reactive transport process, contaminated mine site

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Authors: K. Vigneshwaran, Manoj Pandey

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In this paper, breathing crack is considered for the non linear dynamic analysis. The stiffness of the cracked beam is found out by using influence coefficients. The influence coefficients are calculated by using Castigliano’s theorem and strain energy release rate (SERR). The equation of motion of the beam was derived by using Hamilton’s principle. The stiffness and natural frequencies for the cracked beam has been calculated using XFEM and Eigen approach. It is seen that due to presence of cracks, the stiffness and natural frequency changes. The mode shapes and the FRF for the uncracked and breathing cracked cantilever beam also obtained and compared.

Keywords: breathing crack, XFEM, mode shape, FRF, non linear analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 343

Authors: Osk Dagsdottir

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Background—Gait classifying allows clinicians to differentiate gait patterns into clinically important categories that help in clinical decision making. Reliable comparison of gait data between normal and patients requires knowledge of the gait parameters of normal children's specific age group. However, there is still a lack of the gait database for normal children of different ages. Objectives—This study aims to investigate the kinematics of the lower limb joints during gait for normal children in different age groups. Methods—Fifty-three normal children (34 boys, 19 girls) were recruited in this study. All the children were aged between 5 to 16 years old. Age groups were defined as three types: young child aged (5-7), child (8-11), and adolescent (12-16). When a participant agreed to take part in the project, their parents signed a consent form. Vicon® motion capture system was used to collect gait data. Participants were asked to walk at their comfortable speed along a 10-meter walkway. Each participant walked up to 20 trials. Three good trials were analyzed using the Vicon Plug-in-Gait model to obtain parameters of the gait, e.g., walking speed, cadence, stride length, and joint parameters, e.g., joint angle, force, moments, etc. Moreover, each gait cycle was divided into 8 phases. The range of motion (ROM) angle of pelvis, hip, knee, and ankle joints in three planes of both limbs were calculated using an in-house program. Results—The temporal-spatial variables of three age groups of normal children were compared between each other; it was found that there was a significant difference (p < 0.05) between the groups. The step length and walking speed were gradually increasing from young child to adolescent, while cadence was gradually decreasing from young child to adolescent group. The mean and standard deviation (SD) of the step length of young child, child and adolescent groups were 0.502 ± 0.067 m, 0.566 ± 0.061 m and 0.672 ± 0.053 m, respectively. The mean and SD of the cadence of the young child, child and adolescent groups were 140.11±15.79 step/min, 129±11.84 step/min, and a 115.96±6.47 step/min, respectively. Moreover, it was observed that there were significant differences in kinematic parameters, either whole gait cycle or each phase. For example, RoM of knee angle in the sagittal plane in the whole cycle of young child group is (65.03±0.52 deg) larger than child group (63.47±0.47 deg). Conclusion—Our result showed that there are significant differences between each age group in the gait phases and thus children walking performance changes with ages. Therefore, it is important for the clinician to consider the age group when analyzing the patients with lower limb disorders before any clinical treatment.

Keywords: action research, creative learning, mathematics education, professional development

Procedia PDF Downloads 108

Authors: Daria Pashneva, Julija Pauraite, Agne Minderyte, Vadimas Dudoitis, Lina Davuliene, Kristina Plauskaite, Inga Garbariene, Steigvile Bycenkiene

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Black carbon (BC) has received particular attention around the world, not only for its impact on regional and global climate change but also for its impact on air quality and public health. In order to study the relationship between indoor and outdoor BC concentrations, studies were carried out in Vilnius, Lithuania. The studies are aimed at determining the relationship of concentrations, identifying dependencies during the day and week with a further opportunity to analyze the key factors affecting the indoor concentration of BC. In this context, indoor and outdoor continuous real-time measurements of optical BC-related light absorption by aerosol particles were carried out during the cold season (from October to December 2020). The measurement venue was an office located in an urban background environment. Equivalent black carbon (eBC) mass concentration was measured by an Aethalometer (Magee Scientific, model AE-31). The optical transmission of carbonaceous aerosol particles was measured sequentially at seven wavelengths (λ= 370, 470, 520, 590, 660, 880, and 950 nm), where the eBC mass concentration was derived from the light absorption coefficient (σab) at 880 nm wavelength. The diurnal indoor eBC mass concentration was found to vary in the range from 0.02 to 0.08 µgm⁻³, while the outdoor eBC mass concentration - from 0.34 to 0.99 µgm⁻³. Diurnal variations of eBC mass concentration outdoor vs. indoor showed an increased contribution during 10:00 and 12:00 AM (GMT+2), with the highest indoor eBC mass concentration of 0.14µgm⁻³. An indoor/outdoor eBC ratio (I/O) was below one throughout the entire measurement period. The weekend levels of eBC mass concentration were lower than in weekdays for indoor and outdoor for 33% and 28% respectively. Hourly mean mass concentrations of eBC for weekdays and weekends show diurnal cycles, which could be explained by the periodicity of traffic intensity and heating activities. The results show a moderate influence of outdoor eBC emissions on the indoor eBC level.

Keywords: black carbon, climate change, indoor air quality, I/O ratio

Procedia PDF Downloads 199