Search results for: acoustic emission technique

Authors: Mohammad Hossain Mohammadi, Saif Al Ameri, Sana Ziaei, Jinane Mounsef

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Automated enumeration of the number of hand fingers is widely used in several motion gaming and distance control applications, and is discussed in several published papers as a starting block for hand recognition systems. The automated finger enumeration technique should not only be accurate, but also must have a fast response for a moving-picture input. The high performance of video in motion games or distance control will inhibit the program’s overall speed, for image processing software such as Matlab need to produce results at high computation speeds. Since an automated finger enumeration with minimum error and processing time is desired, a comparative study between two finger enumeration techniques is presented and analyzed in this paper. In the pre-processing stage, various image processing functions were applied on a real-time video input to obtain the final cleaned auto-cropped image of the hand to be used for the two techniques. The first technique uses the known morphological tool of skeletonization to count the number of skeleton’s endpoints for fingers. The second technique uses a radial distance method to enumerate the number of fingers in order to obtain a one dimensional hand representation. For both discussed methods, the different steps of the algorithms are explained. Then, a comparative study analyzes the accuracy and speed of both techniques. Through experimental testing in different background conditions, it was observed that the radial distance method was more accurate and responsive to a real-time video input compared to the skeletonization method. All test results were generated in Matlab and were based on displaying a human hand for three different orientations on top of a plain color background. Finally, the limitations surrounding the enumeration techniques are presented.

Keywords: comparative study, hand recognition, fingertip detection, skeletonization, radial distance, Matlab

Procedia PDF Downloads 382

Authors: B. O. Diyaolu

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The globalization of football especially among youth over the decade is uprising. Nigeria youth displaying football jerseys at every opportunity is an acceptance of football globalization. The Love for English Premier League (EPL) football jersey is very strong among Nigeria fans. Football club jerseys of the EPL are a common sports product among fans in Nigeria. This study investigates the contribution of football club jerseys towards EPL fans’ loyalty in Nigeria. Descriptive survey research design was used for the study. The population consists of EPL fans in Nigeria. Simple random sampling technique (fish bowl without replacement) was used to select two states from the six geo-political zones. Purposive sampling technique was used to pick eight viewing centres while accidental sampling technique was used to pick five vendor stands from each State. An average of 250 respondents was selected from each state. A total of 3,200 respondents participated in the research. Two research instruments were used. A self-developed structured questionnaire on Football Jersey Scale (FJS): The instrument consists of 10 items. Fans Loyalty Scale (FLS): The instrument was modified from the psychological commitment to team (PCT) scale, and consists of 20 items. The Cronbach’s Alpha reliability coefficient of 0.72 and 0.75 was obtained, respectively. The hypothesis was tested at 0.05 significant levels. Data were analysed using frequency, percentages count, pie chart and multiple regressions. The result showed that the b-value of football club jersey is 0.148 also the standard regression coefficient (Beta) is 0.089. The t = 4.759 is statistically significant at p = 0.000. This signified a relative contribution of football club jersey on EPL fans loyalty in Nigeria. Club jersey, which is the most outstanding identifier of every club, was found to significantly predict loyalty. The jersey on the body of the fan has become the site for a declaration of loyalty which becomes available for social interaction and negotiation. The Nigerian local league clubs in an attempt to keep Nigerian fans loyal must borrow a leaf from their European counterparts.

Keywords: club Jerseys, English Premier League, football fans, Nigeria youth

Procedia PDF Downloads 256

Authors: Ali A. Abdollahi

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During the last several decades, scientists have consistently applied Multiple Criteria Decision-Making methods in making decisions about multi-faceted, complicated subjects. While making such decisions and in order to achieve more accurate evaluations, they have regularly used a variety of criteria instead of applying just one Optimum Evaluation Criterion. The method presented here utilizes both ‘quantity’ and ‘quality’ to assess the function of the Multiple-Criteria method. Applying Data envelopment analysis (DEA), weighted aggregated sum product assessment (WASPAS), Weighted Sum Approach (WSA), Analytic Network Process (ANP), and Charnes, Cooper, Rhodes (CCR) methods, we have analyzed thirteen parks in Kerman city. It further indicates that the functions of WASPAS and WSA are compatible with each other, but also that their deviation from DEA is extensive. Finally, the results for the CCR technique do not match the results of the DEA technique. Our study indicates that the ANP method, with the average rate of 1/51, ranks closest to the DEA method, which has an average rate of 1/49.

Keywords: multiple criteria decision making, Data envelopment analysis (DEA), Charnes Cooper Rhodes (CCR), Weighted Sum Approach (WSA)

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Authors: X. L. Zhou, S. Tunmee, I. Toda, K. Komatsu, S. Ohshio, H. Saitoh

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Hydrogenated amorphous carbon (a-C:H) films have been synthesized by a radio frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (rf-PECVD) technique with different bias voltage from 0.0 to -0.5 kV. The Raman spectra displayed the polymer-like hydrogenated amorphous carbon (PLCH) film with 0.0 to -0.1 and a-C:H films with -0.2 to -0.5 kV of bias voltages. The surface chemical information of all films were studied by X-ray photo electron spectroscopy (XPS) technique, presented to C-C (sp2 and sp3) and C-O bonds, and relative carbon (C) and oxygen (O) atomics contents. The O contamination had affected on structure and optical properties. The true density of PLCH and a-C:H films were characterized by X-ray refractivity (XRR) method, showed the result as in the range of 1.16-1.73 g/cm3 that depending on an increasing of bias voltage. The hardness was proportional to the true density of films. In addition, the optical properties i.e. refractive index (n) and extinction coefficient (k) of these films were determined by a spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) method that give formation to in 1.62-2.10 (n) and 0.04-0.15 (k) respectively. These results indicated that the optical properties confirmed the Raman results as presenting the structure changed with applied bias voltage increased.

Keywords: negative bias voltage, a-C:H film, oxygen contamination, optical properties

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Authors: Javier Carroquino, Nieves García-Casarejos, Pilar Gargallo, F. Javier García-Ramos

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The energy used in agriculture is a source of global emissions of greenhouse gases. The two main types of this energy are electricity for pumping and diesel for agricultural machinery. In order to reduce these emissions, the European project LIFE REWIND addresses the supply of this demand from renewable sources. First of all, comprehensive data on energy demand and available renewable resources have been obtained in several case studies. Secondly, a set of simulations and optimizations have been performed, in search of the best configuration and sizing, both from an economic and emission reduction point of view. For this purpose, it was used software based on genetic algorithms. Thirdly, a prototype has been designed and installed, that it is being used for the validation in a real case. Finally, throughout a year of operation, various technical and economic parameters are being measured for further analysis. The prototype is not connected to the utility grid, avoiding the cost and environmental impact of a grid extension. The system includes three kinds of photovoltaic fields. One is located on a fixed structure on the terrain. Another one is floating on an irrigation raft. The last one is mounted on a two axis solar tracker. Each has its own solar inverter. The total amount of nominal power is 44 kW. A lead acid battery with 120 kWh of capacity carries out the energy storage. Three isolated inverters support a three phase, 400 V 50 Hz micro-grid, the same characteristics of the utility grid. An advanced control subsystem has been constructed, using free hardware and software. The electricity produced feeds a set of seven pumps used for purification, elevation and pressurization of water in a drip irrigation system located in a vineyard. Since the irrigation season does not include the whole year, as well as a small oversize of the generator, there is an amount of surplus energy. With this surplus, a hydrolyser produces on site hydrogen by electrolysis of water. An off-road vehicle with fuel cell feeds on that hydrogen and carries people in the vineyard. The only emission of the process is high purity water. On the one hand, the results show the technical and economic feasibility of stand-alone renewable energy systems to feed seasonal pumping. In this way, the economic costs, the environmental impacts and the landscape impacts of grid extensions are avoided. The use of diesel gensets and their associated emissions are also avoided. On the other hand, it is shown that it is possible to replace diesel in agricultural machinery, substituting it for electricity or hydrogen of 100% renewable origin and produced on the farm itself, without any external energy input. In addition, it is expected to obtain positive effects on the rural economy and employment, which will be quantified through interviews.

Keywords: drip irrigation, greenhouse gases, hydrogen, renewable energy, vineyard

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Authors: Alex Ellery

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Solar power satellites (SPS), despite their promise as a clean energy source, have been relegated out of consideration due to their enormous cost and technological challenge. It has been suggested that for solar power satellites to become economically feasible, launch costs must decrease from their current $20,000/kg to < $200/kg. Even with the advent of single-stage-to-orbit launchers which propose launch costs dropping to $2,000/kg, this will not be realized. Yet, the advantages of solar power satellites are many. Here, I present a novel approach to reduce the specific cost of solar power satellites to ~$1/kg by leveraging two enabling technologies – in-situ resource utilization and 3D printing. The power of such technologies will open up enormous possibilities for providing additional options for combating climate change whilst meeting demands for global energy. From the constraints imposed by in-situ resource utilization, a novel approach to solar energy conversion in SPS may be realized.

Keywords: clean energy sources, in-situ resource utilisation, solar power satellites, thermionic emission

Procedia PDF Downloads 425

Authors: Shin Ku Kim, Yun Ah Oh, Eun Hee Seo, Chang Min Dae, Yun Jung Bae

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Objectives: The commonly used PRESS technique in magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) has a limitation of incomplete water suppression. The recently developed sLASER technique is known for its improved effectiveness in suppressing water signal. However, no prior study has compared both sequences in a normal human brain. In this study, we firstly aimed to compare the performances of both techniques in brain MRS. Materials and methods: From January 2023 to July 2023, thirty healthy participants (mean age 38 years, 17 male, 13 female) without underlying neurological diseases were enrolled in this study. All participants underwent single-voxel MRS using both PRESS and sLASER techniques on 3T MRI. Two regions-of-interest were allocated in the left medial thalamus and left parietal white matter (WM) by a single reader. The SpectroView Analysis (SW5, Philips, Netherlands) provided automatic measurements, including signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and peak_height of water, N-acetylaspartate (NAA)-water/Choline (Cho)-water/Creatine (Cr)-water ratios, and NAA-Cr/Cho-Cr ratios. The measurements from PRESS and sLASER techniques were compared using paired T-tests and Bland-Altman methods, and the variability was assessed using coefficients of variation (CV). Results: SNR and peak_heights of the water were significantly lower with sLASER compared to PRESS (left medial thalamus, sLASER SNR/peak_height 2092±475/328±85 vs. PRESS 2811±549/440±105); left parietal WM, 5422±1016/872±196 vs. 7152±1305/1150±278; all, P<0.001, respectively). Accordingly, NAA-water/Cho-water/Cr-water ratios and NAA-Cr/Cho-Cr ratios were significantly higher with sLASER than with PRESS (all, P< 0.001, respectively). The variabilities of NAA-water/Cho-water/Cr-water ratios and Cho-Cr ratio in the left medial thalamus were lower with sLASER than with PRESS (CV, sLASER vs. PRESS, 19.9 vs. 58.1/19.8 vs. 54.7/20.5 vs. 43.9 and 11.5 vs. 16.2) Conclusion: The sLASER technique demonstrated enhanced background water suppression, resulting in increased signals and reduced variability in brain metabolite measurements of MRS. Therefore, sLASER could offer a more precise and stable method for identifying brain metabolites.

Keywords: Magnetic resonance spectroscopy, Brain, sLASER, PRESS

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Authors: Patricia Crentsil, Alvina Oriekhova

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The aim of the study is to determine social responsibility in the theory of organisation management. The main objectives are to examine the link between accountability,transparency, and ethical onorganisation management. The study seeks to answer questions that have received inadequate attention in social responsibility literature. Specifically, how accountability, transparency of policy, and ethical aspect enhanced organisation management? The target population of the study comprises of Deans and Head of Departments of Public Universities and Technical Universities in Ghana. The study used purposive sampling technique to select the Public Universities and technical universities in Ghana and adopted simple random Technique to select 300 participants from all Technical Universities in Ghana and 500 participants from all Traditional Universities in Ghana. The sample size will be 260 using confidence level = 95%, Margin of Error = 5%. The study used both primary and secondary data. The study adopted exploratory design to address the research questions. Results indicated thataccountability, transparency, and ethical have a positive significant link with organisation management. The study suggested that management can motivate an organization to act in a socially responsible manner.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, organisation management, organisation management theory, social responsibility

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Authors: N. Tugrul, E. Moroydor Derun, E. Cinar, A. S. Kipcak, N. Baran Acarali, S. Piskin

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Fly ash is an important waste, produced in thermal power plants which causes very important environmental pollutions. For this reason the usage and evaluation the fly ash in various areas are very important. Nearly, 15 million tons/year of fly ash is produced in Turkey. In this study, usage of fly ash with diatomite and molasses for heavy metal (Cd) adsorption from wastewater is investigated. The samples of Seyitomer region fly ash were analyzed by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) then diatomite (0 and 1% in terms of fly ash, w/w) and molasses (0-0.75 mL) were pelletized under 30 MPa of pressure for the usage of cadmium (Cd) adsorption in wastewater. After the adsorption process, samples of Seyitomer were analyzed using Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES). As a result, it is seen that the usage of Seyitomer fly ash is proper for cadmium (Cd) adsorption and an optimum adsorption yield with 52% is found at a compound with Seyitomer fly ash (10 g), diatomite (0.5 g) and molasses (0.75 mL) at 2.5 h of reaction time, pH:4, 20ºC of reaction temperature and 300 rpm of stirring rate.

Keywords: heavy metal, fly ash, molasses, diatomite, adsorption, wastewater

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Authors: Said Abdul Ahad Ahadi, Elyas Baray, Nitin Rakesh, Sudeep Varshney

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Wi-Fi is a widely used internet source that is used to provide internet access in many areas such as Stores, Cafes, University campuses, Restaurants and so on. This technology brought more facilities in communication and networking. On the other hand, due to the transmission of data over the air, which makes the network vulnerable, so it becomes prone to various threats such as Evil Twin and etc. The Evil Twin is a kind of adversary which impersonates a legitimate access point (LAP) as it can happen by spoofing the name (SSID) and MAC address (BSSID) of a legitimate access point (LAP). And this attack can cause many threats such as MITM, Service Interruption, Access point service blocking. Various Evil Twin Attack Detection Techniques are proposed, but they require additional hardware, or they require protocol modification. In this paper, we proposed a new technique based on Access Point’s two fingerprints, Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) and Hop Count, that is hard to copy by an adversary. And we implemented the technique in a system called “ETDetector,” which can detect and prevent the attack.

Keywords: evil twin, LAP, SSID, Wi-Fi security, signal variation, ETAD, kali linux, scapy, python

Procedia PDF Downloads 143

Authors: M. Al-Farttoosi, M. Y. Rafiq, J. Summerscales, C. Williams

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Many buildings and bridges are damaged due to impact loading, explosions, terrorist attacks and wars. Most of the damaged structures members such as beams, columns and slabs are not totally failed and it can be repaired. Nowadays, carbon fibre reinforced polymer CFRP has been wildly used in strengthening and retrofitting the structures members. CFRP can rector the load carrying capacity of the damaged structures members to make them serviceable. An experimental investigation was conducted to investigate the impact behaviour of the damaged beams repaired with CFRP. The tested beams had different degrees of damage and near surface mounted technique NSM was used to install the CFRP. A heavy drop weight impact test machine was used to conduct the experimental work. The study investigated the impact strength, stiffness, cracks and deflection of the CFRP repaired beams. The results show that CFRP significantly increased the impact resistance of the damaged beams. CFRP increased the damaged beams stiffness and reduced the deflection. The results showed that the NSM technique is more effective in repairing beams and preventing the debonding of the CFRP.

Keywords: damaged, concrete, impact, repaired

Procedia PDF Downloads 344

Authors: S. Nandal, R. Bhargava

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The paper contains a numerical study of the unsteady magneto-hydrodynamic natural convection flow of nanofluids within a symmetrical wavy walled trapezoidal enclosure. The length and height of enclosure are both considered equal to L. Two-phase nanofluid model is employed. The governing equations of nanofluid flow along with boundary conditions are non-dimensionalized and are solved using one of Meshfree technique (EFGM method). Meshfree numerical technique does not require a predefined mesh for discretization purpose. The bottom wavy wall of the enclosure is defined using a cosine function. Element free Galerkin method (EFGM) does not require the domain. The effects of various parameters namely time t, amplitude of bottom wavy wall a, Brownian motion parameter Nb and thermophoresis parameter Nt is examined on rate of heat and mass transfer to get a visualization of cooling and heating effects. Such problems have important applications in heat exchangers or solar collectors, as wavy walled enclosures enhance heat transfer in comparison to flat walled enclosures.

Keywords: heat transfer, meshfree methods, nanofluid, trapezoidal enclosure

Procedia PDF Downloads 158

Authors: Volodymyr Rombakh

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This article was written to substantiate the possibility of detecting the precursors of catastrophic destruction of a structure or device and stopping operation before it. Damage to solids results from breaking the bond between atoms, which requires energy. Modern theories of strength and fracture assume that such energy is due to stress. However, in a letter to W. Thomson (Lord Kelvin) dated December 18, 1856, J.C. Maxwell provided evidence that elastic energy cannot destroy solids. He proposed an equation for estimating a deformable body's energy, equal to the sum of two energies. Due to symmetrical compression, the first term does not change, but the second term is distortion without compression. Both types of energy are represented in the equation as a quadratic function of strain, but Maxwell repeatedly wrote that it is not stress but strain. Furthermore, he notes that the nature of the energy causing the distortion is unknown to him. An article devoted to theories of elasticity was published in 1850. Maxwell tried to express mechanical properties with the help of optics, which became possible only after the creation of quantum mechanics. However, Maxwell's work on elasticity is not cited in the theories of strength and fracture. The authors of these theories and their associates are still trying to describe the phenomena they observe based on classical mechanics. The study of Faraday's experiments, Maxwell's and Rutherford's ideas, made it possible to discover a previously unknown area of electromagnetic radiation. The properties of photons emitted in this reaction are fundamentally different from those of photons emitted in nuclear reactions and are caused by the transition of electrons in an atom. The photons released during all processes in the universe, including from plants and organs in natural conditions; their penetrating power in metal is millions of times greater than that of one of the gamma rays. However, they are not non-invasive. This apparent contradiction is because the chaotic motion of protons is accompanied by the chaotic radiation of photons in time and space. Such photons are not coherent. The energy of a solitary photon is insufficient to break the bond between atoms, one of the stages of which is ionization. The photographs registered the rail deformation by 113 cars, while the Gaiger Counter did not. The author's studies show that the cause of damage to a solid is the breakage of bonds between a finite number of atoms due to the stimulated emission of metastable atoms. The guarantee of the reliability of the structure is the ratio of the energy dissipation rate to the energy accumulation rate, but not the strength, which is not a physical parameter since it cannot be measured or calculated. The possibility of continuous control of this ratio is due to the spontaneous emission of photons by metastable atoms. The article presents calculation examples of the destruction of energy and photographs due to the action of photons emitted during the atomic-proton reaction.

Keywords: atomic-proton reaction, precursors of man-made disasters, strain, stress

Procedia PDF Downloads 92

Authors: Piotr Kacejko, Lukasz Grabowski, Zdzislaw Kaminski

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This paper discusses a model of fuel consumption and on-board electricity generation. Rapid changes in speed result in a constantly changing kinetic energy accumulated in a bus mass and an increased fuel consumption due to hardly recuperated kinetic energy. The model is based on the results achieved from chassis dynamometer, airport and city street researches. The verified model was applied to simulate the on-board electricity generation during the Japanese JE05 Emission Test Cycle. The simulations were performed for several values of vehicle mass and electrical load applied to on-board devices. The research results show that driving dynamics has an impact on a consumption of fuel to drive alternators.

Keywords: city bus, heavy duty vehicle, Japanese JE05 test cycle, power generation

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Authors: Phuong Nguyen, Trung Tran

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Along with the global ongoing energy transition, Vietnam has indicated a strong commitment in the last COP events on the zero-carbon emission target. However, it is a real challenge for the nation to replace fossil-fired power plants by a significant amount of renewable energy sources (RES) while maintaining security of supply. The unpredictability and variability of RES would cause technical issues for supply-demand balancing, network congestions, system balancing, among others. It is crucial to take these into account while planning the future grid infrastructure. This study will address both generation and transmission adequacy and reveal a comprehensive analysis about the impact of ongoing energy transition on the development of Vietnam power system in 2030. This will provide insight for creating an secure, stable, and affordable pathway for the country in upcoming years.

Keywords: generation adequacy, transmission adequacy, security of supply, energy transition

Procedia PDF Downloads 86

Authors: S. M. C. Kelly, A. Hargreaves, S. Hargreaves

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Introduction: The Can’t intubate, Can’t ventilate emergency scenario is one which has been shown to be managed badly in the past. Reasons identified included gaps in knowledge of the procedure and the emergency equipment used. We aimed to show an increase in confidence amongst anesthetists and operating department practitioners in the technique following a short tea trolley style teaching intervention. Methods: We carried out the teaching on a one-to-one basis. Two Anaesthetists visited each operating theatre during normal working days. One carried out the teaching session and one took over the intra‐operative care of the patient, releasing the listed anaesthetist for a short teaching session. The teaching was delivered to mixture of students and healthcare professionals, both anaesthetists and anaesthetic practitioners. The equipment includes a trolley, an airway manikin, size 10 scalpel, bougie and size 6.0 tracheal tube. The educator discussed the equipment, performed a demonstration and observed the participants performing the procedure. We asked each person to fill out a pre and post teaching questionnaire, stating their confidence with the procedure. Results: The teaching was delivered to 63 participants in total, which included 21 consultant anaesthetists, 23 trainee doctors and 19 anaesthetic practitioners. The teaching sessions lasted on average 9 minutes (range 5– 15 minutes). All participants reported an increase in confidence in both the equipment and technique in front of neck access. Anaesthetic practitioners reported the greatest increase in confidence (53%), with trainee anaesthetists reporting 27% increase and consultant anaesthetists 22%. Overall, confidence in the performance of emergency front of neck access increased by 31% after the teaching session. Discussion: Short ‘Trolley style’ teaching improves confidence in the equipment and technique used for the emergency front of neck access. This is true for students and for consultant anaesthetists. This teaching style is quick with minimal running costs and is relevant for all anesthetic departments.

Keywords: airway teaching, can't intubate can't ventilate, cricothyroidotomy, front-of-neck

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Authors: Bahattin Duzgun, Adem Kocyigit, Demet Tatar, Ahmet Battal

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Tin oxide thin films are semiconductor materials highly transparent and with high mechanical and chemical stability, except for their interactions with oxygen atoms at high temperature. Many dopants, such as antimony (Sb), arsenic (As), fluorine (F), indium (In), molybdenum and (Mo) etc. have been used to improve the electrical properties of tin oxide films. Among these, Sb and F are found to be the most commonly used dopants for solar cell layers. Also Tin oxide tin films investigated and characterized by researchers different film deposition and analysis method. In this study, tin oxide thin films are deposited on glass substrate by spin coating technique and characterized by FTIR and AFM. FTIR spectroscopy revealed that all films have O-Sn-O and Sn-OH vibration bonds not changing with layer effect. AFM analysis indicates that all films are homogeneity and uniform. It can be seen that all films have needle shape structure in their surfaces. Uniformity and homogeneity of the films generally increased for increasing layers. The results found in present study showed that doubly doped SnO2 thin films is a good candidate for solar cells and other optoelectronic and technological applications.

Keywords: doubly doped, spin coating, FTIR analysis, AFM analysis

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Authors: X. Wang, J. S. Kuang

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The Fixed-angle Softened Truss Model with Tension-stiffening (FASTMT) has a superior performance in predicting the shear behaviour of reinforced concrete (RC) membrane elements, especially for the post-cracking behaviour. Nevertheless, massive computational work is inevitable due to the multiple transcendental equations involved in the stress-strain relationship. In this paper, an iterative root-finding technique is introduced to FASTMT for solving quickly the transcendental equations of the tension-stiffening effect of RC membrane elements. This fast FASTMT, which performs in MATLAB, uses the bisection method to calculate the tensile stress of the membranes. By adopting the simplification, the elapsed time of each loop is reduced significantly and the transcendental equations can be solved accurately. Owing to the high efficiency and good accuracy as compared with FASTMT, the fast FASTMT can be further applied in quick prediction of shear behaviour of complex large-scale RC structures.

Keywords: bisection method, FASTMT, iterative root-finding technique, reinforced concrete membrane

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Authors: Santhosh K. S. Annayappa, Nupur Pruthi

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The region of dentate nucleus is a common site for various pathologies like hematomas, tumours, etc. We aimed to study in detail the relationship of this region with the vermis, especially the pyramid using microscopic fibre dissection technique. To achieve this aim, 20 cerebellar hemispheres were studied from the 11 cerebellums. Dissection was performed using wooden spatulas and micro dissectors under a microscope following Klingler’s preservation technique. The relationship between the pyramid of vermis and the dentate nucleus was studied in detail. A similar relationship was studied on the MRI of randomly selected trigeminal neuralgia patients and correlated with anatomical findings. Results show the mean distance of the lateral margin of the dentate nucleus from the midline on anatomic specimens was 21.4 ± 1.8 mm (19-25 mm) and 23.4 ± 3.4 mm (15-29 mm) on right and left side, respectively. Similar measurements made on the MRI were 22.97 ± 2.0 mm (20.03-26.15 mm) on the right side and 23.98 ± 2.1 mm (21.47-27.67 mm) on the left side. The amount of white matter dissection required to reach the dentate nucleus at the pyramidal attachment area was 7.3 ± 1.0 mm (6-9 mm) on the right side and 6.8 ± 1.4 mm (5-10 mm) on the left side. It was concluded that the pyramid of vermis has a constant relationship with the dentate nucleus and can be used as an excellent landmark during surgery to localise the dentate nucleus on the suboccipital surface.

Keywords: fiber dissection, micro neurosurgery, the dentate nucleus of cerebellum, the pyramid of vermis

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Authors: Peter Kus, Anna Ostroverkh, Yurii Yakovlev, Yevheniia Lobko, Roman Fiala, Ivan Khalakhan, Vladimir Matolin

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Hydrogen economy is a concept of low-emission society which harvests most of its energy from renewable sources (e.g., wind and solar) and in case of overproduction, electrochemically turns the excess amount into hydrogen, which serves as an energy carrier. Proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers (PEMWE) are the backbone of this concept. By fast-response electricity to hydrogen conversion, the PEMWEs will not only stabilize the electrical grid but also provide high-purity hydrogen for variety of fuel cell powered devices, ranging from consumer electronics to vehicles. Wider commercialization of PEMWE technology is however hindered by high prices of noble metals which are necessary for catalyzing the redox reactions within the cell. Namely, platinum for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), running on cathode, and iridium for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) on anode. Possible way of how to lower the loading of Pt and Ir is by using conductive high-surface nanostructures as catalyst supports in conjunction with thin-film catalyst deposition. The presented study discusses unconventional technique of membrane electron assembly (MEA) preparation. Noble metal catalysts (Pt and Ir) were magnetron sputtered in very low loadings onto the surface of porous sublayers (located on gas diffusion layer or directly on membrane), forming so to say localized three-phase boundary. Ultrasonically sprayed corrosion resistant TiC-based sublayer was used as a support material on anode, whereas magnetron sputtered nanostructured etched nitrogenated carbon (CNx) served the same role on cathode. By using this configuration, we were able to significantly decrease the amount of noble metals (to thickness of just tens of nanometers), while keeping the performance comparable to that of average state-of-the-art catalysts. Complex characterization of prepared supported catalysts includes in-cell performance and durability tests, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) as well as scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. Our research proves that magnetron sputtering is a suitable method for thin-film deposition of electrocatalysts. Tested set-up of thin-film supported anode and cathode catalysts with combined loading of just 120 ug.cm⁻² yields remarkable values of specific current. Described approach of thin-film low-loading catalyst deposition might be relevant when noble metal reduction is the topmost priority.

Keywords: hydrogen economy, low-loading catalyst, magnetron sputtering, proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer

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Authors: Baali Mohamed

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Campylobacter are among the most common human bacterial gastroenteritis cases in many countries, and poultry meat is considered as a major source of human campylobacteriosis. This study is conducted, on one hand, to determine the prevalence of infection with thermotolerant Campylobacter both in broiler flocks and men, and to study their sensitivity to antibiotics, and secondly for comparing the two methods of isolation of Campylobacter thermotolerant: technique of passive filtration and selective isolation technique using the Karmali medium. This study examined 310 samples, 260 of avian origin and 50 of human origin, during the period from June 2011 to March 2012. Detecting Campylobacter thermotolerant is conducted using the standard ISO 10272. The results show that 66% (95% CI : 60-72%) of avian samples are contaminated with C. TT (172/260). The study of antibiotic susceptibility revealed that all strains (100%) are resistant to ampicillin and amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, 90% to erythromycin, 66.3% to tetracycline, 53.3% to chloramphenicol and 46.7% to enrofloxacin. However, no resistance is noted to gentamycin. In human samples, three strains of C. thermotolerant are detected, with a contamination rate of 6%. The results of the statistical analysis using the chi-square test (χ2) showed that Campylobacter infection, on the one hand, had seasonal variation with a summer peak (p < 0.05) and, on the other hand, are not influenced by the size of the herd.

Keywords: thermotolerant campylobacter, broiler, man, Karmali

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Authors: ByungJun Woo

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In this study, high-aspect-ratio (HAR) oxide etching characteristics in inductively coupled plasma were investigated using low frequency (2 MHz) bias power with C4F6 gas. An experiment was conducted using CF4/C4F6/He as the mixed gas. A 100 nm (etch area)/500 nm (mask area) line patterns were used, and the etch cross-section and etch selectivity of the amorphous carbon layer thin film were derived using a scanning electron microscope. Ion density was extracted using a double Langmuir probe, and CFx and F neutral species were observed via optical emission spectroscopy. Based on these results, the possibility for HAR oxide etching using C4F6 gas chemistry was suggested in this work. These etching results also indicate that the use of C4F6 gas can significantly contribute to the development of next-generation HAR oxide etching.

Keywords: plasma, etching, C4F6, high aspect ratio, inductively coupled plasma

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Authors: Muhammad Farooq Baig, Saleem Qadeer

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Background: The frequency of hepatitis C virus infection along with tuberculosis has not been widely investigated and very low statistics on rates of hepatitis C virus co-infection in tuberculosis patients. Hepatotoxicity is the major side effect of anti-tuberculosis therapy hepatitis HCVliver disease elevates the chances of hepatotoxicity up-to five folds. Objectives & Aim: To see the frequency of Hepatitis Cvirus infection amongst people with diagnosed Tuberculosis using gene X-pert technique. To evaluate the factors associated with HCVinfection in patients with MTBtuberculosis and to determine sensitivity and specificity of the tests. Study design: Comparative analytical study. Methodology: Three hundred and thirteen patients of tuberculosis diagnosed by Genexpert included while testing hepatitis C virus using immunochromotography rapid test technique, enzyme linked immunosorbent assay method and polymerase chain reaction test for confirmation. Results:Higher frequency of tuberculosis infection in males 57.8%, 42.5% between 20-39 years and 22% of hepatitis C virus infection in tuberculosis patients.The sensitivity of rapid test and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was 79% and 96% respectively while the specificity of rapid test and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was 91% and 99% respectively.

Keywords: Mycobactrium Tuberculosis, PC'R, Gene x pert, Hepatitis C virus

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Authors: M. V. Chidananda Murthy, M. Z. Kurian, H. S. Guruprasad

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Super-resolution is the technique of intelligently upscaling images, avoiding artifacts or blurring, and deals with the recovery of a high-resolution image from one or more low-resolution images. Single-image super-resolution is a process of obtaining a high-resolution image from a set of low-resolution observations by signal processing. While super-resolution has been demonstrated to improve image quality in scaled down images in the image domain, its effects on the Fourier-based technique remains unknown. Super-resolution substantially improved the spatial resolution of the patient LGE images by sharpening the edges of the heart and the scar. This paper aims at investigating the effects of single image super-resolution on Fourier-based and image based methods of scale-up. In this paper, first, generate a training phase of the low-resolution image and high-resolution image to obtain dictionary. In the test phase, first, generate a patch and then difference of high-resolution image and interpolation image from the low-resolution image. Next simulation of the image is obtained by applying convolution method to the dictionary creation image and patch extracted the image. Finally, super-resolution image is obtained by combining the fused image and difference of high-resolution and interpolated image. Super-resolution reduces image errors and improves the image quality.

Keywords: image dictionary creation, image super-resolution, LGE images, patch extraction

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Authors: S. M. Al-Salem, G.A. Leeke, H. J. Karam, R. Al-Enzi, A. T. Al-Dhafeeri, J. Wang

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Thermogravimetry has been popularized as a thermal characterization technique since the 1950s. It aims at investigating the weight loss against both reaction time and temperature, whilst being able to characterize the evolved gases from the volatile components of the organic material being tested using an appropriate hyphenated analytical technique. In an effort to characterize and identify the reclaimed waste from an unsanitary landfill site, this approach was initiated. Solid waste (SW) reclaimed from an active landfill site in the State of Kuwait was collected and prepared for characterization in accordance with international protocols. The SW was segregated and its major components were identified after washing and air drying. Shredding and cryomilling was conducted on the plastic solid waste (PSW) component to yield a material that is representative for further testing and characterization. The material was subjected to five heating rates (b) with minimal repeatable weight for high accuracy thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) following the recommendation of the International Confederation for Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry (ICTAC). The TGA yielded thermograms that showed an off-set from typical behavior of commercial grade resin which was attributed to contact of material with soil and thermal/photo-degradation.

Keywords: polymer, TGA, pollution, landfill, waste, plastic

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Authors: Bahriye Gülgün, Gökhan Balik, Şükrü Dursun, Kübra Yazici

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The main reasons such as economic growth of society increase of the world population and rapid changes of industrialization cause the amount and the types of pollutants to increase over time. Soil pollution is the typical side effect of industrial activities. As a result of industrial activities, there are large amounts of heavy metal emission every year. Heavy metals are one of the highest pollution sources according to the soil pollution aspect. The usage of hyperaccumulator plants to clean heavy metal polluted soils and the selection of plants for phytoremediation gain importance recently. There are limited numbers of researches on the ornamental plant types of phytoremediation thus; researches on this subject are important. This research is prepared based on the ornamental plant types with phytoremediation abilities.

Keywords: phytoremediation, ornamental plants, landscape reclamation, soil reclamation, environmental pollution

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Authors: Henry Pariaman, Iwa Garniwa, Isti Surjandari, Bambang Sugiarto

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Availability of a complex system of thermal power plant is strongly influenced by the reliability of spare parts and maintenance management policies. A reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) technique is an established method of analysis and is the main reference for maintenance planning. This method considers the consequences of failure in its implementation, but does not deal with further risk of down time that associated with failures, loss of production or high maintenance costs. Risk-based maintenance (RBM) technique provides support strategies to minimize the risks posed by the failure to obtain maintenance task considering cost effectiveness. Meanwhile, condition-based maintenance (CBM) focuses on monitoring the application of the conditions that allow the planning and scheduling of maintenance or other action should be taken to avoid the risk of failure prior to the time-based maintenance. Implementation of RCM, RBM, CBM alone or combined RCM and RBM or RCM and CBM is a maintenance technique used in thermal power plants. Implementation of these three techniques in an integrated maintenance will increase the availability of thermal power plants compared to the use of maintenance techniques individually or in combination of two techniques. This study uses the reliability, risks and conditions-based maintenance in an integrated manner to increase the availability of thermal power plants. The method generates MPI (Priority Maintenance Index) is RPN (Risk Priority Number) are multiplied by RI (Risk Index) and FDT (Failure Defense Task) which can generate the task of monitoring and assessment of conditions other than maintenance tasks. Both MPI and FDT obtained from development of functional tree, failure mode effects analysis, fault-tree analysis, and risk analysis (risk assessment and risk evaluation) were then used to develop and implement a plan and schedule maintenance, monitoring and assessment of the condition and ultimately perform availability analysis. The results of this study indicate that the reliability, risks and conditions-based maintenance methods, in an integrated manner can increase the availability of thermal power plants.

Keywords: integrated maintenance techniques, availability, thermal power plant, MPI, FDT

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Authors: Simiao Ren, En Wei

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Drowning is a significant safety issue worldwide, and a robust computer vision-based alert system can easily prevent such tragedies in swimming pools. However, due to domain shift caused by the visual gap (potentially due to lighting, indoor scene change, pool floor color etc.) between the training swimming pool and the test swimming pool, the robustness of such algorithms has been questionable. The annotation cost for labeling each new swimming pool is too expensive for mass adoption of such a technique. To address this issue, we propose a domain-aware data augmentation pipeline based on Gaussian Poisson Generative Adversarial Network (GP-GAN). Combined with YOLOv8, we demonstrate that such a domain adaptation technique can significantly improve the model performance (from 0.24 mAP to 0.82 mAP) on new test scenes. As the augmentation method only require background imagery from the new domain (no annotation needed), we believe this is a promising, practical route for preventing swimming pool drowning.

Keywords: computer vision, deep learning, YOLOv8, detection, swimming pool, drowning, domain adaptation, generative adversarial network, GAN, GP-GAN

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Authors: Saiyed M Ishtiaque, Priyal Dixit

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Objectives: An approach is being suggested to design the filter media to maximize the filtration efficiency with minimum possible pressure drop of composite nonwoven by incorporating the layers of different packing densities induced by fibre of different deniers and punching parameters by using the concept of sequential punching technique in specific order in layered composite nonwoven structure. X-ray computed tomography technique is used to measure the packing density along the thickness of layered nonwoven structure composed by placing the layer of differently oriented fibres influenced by fibres of different deniers and punching parameters in various combinations to minimize the pressure drop at maximum possible filtration efficiency. Methodology Used: This work involves preparation of needle punched layered structure with batts 100g/m2 basis weight having fibre denier, punch density and needle penetration depth as variables to produce 300 g/m2 basis weight nonwoven composite. X-ray computed tomography technique is used to measure the packing density along the thickness of layered nonwoven structure composed by placing the layers of differently oriented fibres influenced by considered variables in various combinations. to minimize the pressure drop at maximum possible filtration efficiencyFor developing layered nonwoven fabrics, batts made of fibre of different deniers having 100g/m2 each basis weight were placed in various combinations. For second set of experiment, the composite nonwoven fabrics were prepared by using 3 denier circular cross section polyester fibre having 64 mm length on needle punched nonwoven machine by using the sequential punching technique to prepare the composite nonwoven fabrics. In this technique, three semi punched fabrics of 100 g/m2 each having either different punch densities or needle penetration depths were prepared for first phase of fabric preparation. These fabrics were later punched altogether to obtain the overall basis weight of 300 g/m2. The total punch density of the composite nonwoven fabric was kept at 200 punches/ cm2 with a needle penetration depth of 10 mm. The layered structures so formed were subcategorised into two groups- homogeneous layered structure in which all the three batts comprising the nonwoven fabric were made from same denier of fibre, punch density and needle penetration depth and were placed in different positions in respective fabric and heterogeneous layered structure in which batts were made from fibres of different deniers, punch densities and needle penetration depths and were placed in different positions. Contributions: The results concluded that reduction in pressure drop is not derived by the overall packing density of the layered nonwoven fabric rather sequencing of layers of specific packing density in layered structure decides the pressure drop. Accordingly, creation of inverse gradient of packing density in layered structure provided maximum filtration efficiency with least pressure drop. This study paves the way for the possibility of customising the composite nonwoven fabrics by the incorporation of differently oriented fibres in constituent layers induced by considered variablres for desired filtration properties.

Keywords: filtration efficiency, layered nonwoven structure, packing density, pressure drop

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Authors: Indira Kothalanka

Abstract:

For individuals born with a cleft palate (CP), there is no separation between the nasal cavity and the oral cavity, due to which they cannot build up enough air pressure in the mouth for speech. Therefore, it is common for them to have speech problems. Common cleft type speech errors include abnormal articulation (compensatory or obligatory) and abnormal resonance (hyper, hypo and mixed nasality). These are generally resolved after palate repair. However, in some individuals, articulation problems do persist even after the palate repair. Such individuals develop variant articulations in an attempt to compensate for the inability to produce the target phonemes. A spectrographic analysis is used to investigate the compensatory articulatory behaviours of pressure consonants in the speech of 10 Telugu speaking individuals aged between 7-17 years with a history of cleft palate. Telugu is a Dravidian language which is spoken in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states in India. It is a language with the third largest number of native speakers in India and the most spoken Dravidian language. The speech of the informants is analysed using single word list, sentences, passage and conversation. Spectrographic analysis is carried out using PRAAT, speech analysis software. The place and manner of articulation of consonant sounds is studied through spectrograms with the help of various acoustic cues. The types of compensatory articulation identified are glottal stops, palatal stops, uvular, velar stops and nasal fricatives which are non-native in Telugu.

Keywords: cleft palate, compensatory articulation, spectrographic analysis, PRAAT

Procedia PDF Downloads 443