Search results for: radio frequency waves
2749 Effects of Magnetic Field on 4H-SiC P-N Junctions
Authors: Khimmatali Nomozovich Juraev
Abstract:
Silicon carbide is one of the promising materials with potential applications in electronic devices using high power, high frequency and high electric field. Currently, silicon carbide is used to manufacture high power and frequency diodes, transistors, radiation detectors, light emitting diodes (LEDs) and other functional devices. In this work, the effects of magnetic field on p-n junctions based on 4H-SiC were experimentally studied. As a research material, monocrystalline silicon carbide wafers (Cree Research, Inc., USA) with relatively few growth defects grown by physical vapor transport (PVT) method were used: Nd dislocations 104 cm², Nm micropipes ~ 10–10² cm-², thickness ~ 300-600 μm, surface ~ 0.25 cm², resistivity ~ 3.6–20 Ωcm, the concentration of background impurities Nd − Na ~ (0.5–1.0)×1017cm-³. The initial parameters of the samples were determined on a Hall Effect Measurement System HMS-7000 (Ecopia) measuring device. Diffusing Ni nickel atoms were covered to the silicon surface of silicon carbide in a Universal Vacuum Post device at a vacuum of 10-⁵ -10-⁶ Torr by thermal sputtering and kept at a temperature of 600-650°C for 30 minutes. Then Ni atoms were diffused into the silicon carbide 4H-SiC sample at a temperature of 1150-1300°C by low temperature diffusion method in an air atmosphere, and the effects of the magnetic field on the I-V characteristics of the samples were studied. I-V characteristics of silicon carbide 4H-SiCKeywords: 4H-SiC, diffusion Ni, effects of magnetic field, I-V characteristics
Procedia PDF Downloads 982748 Applying Swanson's Theory of Caring to Manage Multiple Trauma Patient
Authors: Hsin-Yi Lo, Chia-Yu Hsu
Abstract:
This article is the nursing experience of a multiple trauma case using Swanson's theory of caring, the nursing period is from May 31 to June 4, 2021, collect data through observation, written talks, interviews, listening, direct care and physical assessment, established cases with health problems such as acute pain, impaired tissue integrity, and anxiety. Nursing process including, evaluate the pain index with the pain assessment scale, assist in acupoint massage, use a corset to fix the wound, and give the patient listening to favorite radio programs to divert attention and relieve pain problems; promote wound healing and avoid infection by assessing wound condition and exudation, changing dressings with aseptic technique, and providing appropriate dressings; encourage patients to express their feelings, provide companionship, and assist in self-care and participation in treatment plans, to enable the case to overcome the anxiety caused by being admitted to the intensive care unit for the first time and not knowing about the disease, and assist the case to overcome the injury caused by the accident and return to normal life. There is no video equipment in the intensive care unit during the nursing period. In response to the problem that family visits cannot be opened during the epidemic, it is a limitation this time. It is recommended that the hospital take this into consideration in the future. In the post-epidemic era, it can reduce the risk of various infections for patients and family members. Traveling between home and hospital, improving the quality of high-quality and technological care.Keywords: swanson's theory of caring, multiple trauma, anxiety, nursing experience
Procedia PDF Downloads 862747 The Quasar 3C 47:Extreme Population B Jetted Source with Double-Peaked Profile
Authors: Shimeles Terefe Mengistue, Paola Marziani, Ascensióndel Olmo, Jaime Perea, Mirjana Pović
Abstract:
The theory that rotating accretion disks are responsible for the broad emission-line profiles in quasars is frequently put forth; however, the presence of accretion disk (AD) in active galactic nuclei (AGN) had limited and indirect observational support. In order to evaluate the extent to which the AD is a source of the broad Balmer lines and high ionization UV lines in radio-loud (RL) AGN, we focused on an extremely jetted RL quasar, 3C 47 that clearly shows a double peaked profile. This work presents its optical spectra and UV observations from the HST/FOS covering the rest-frame spectral range from 2000 to 7000 \AA. The fit of the low ionization lines, Hbeta, Halpha and MgII2800 show profiles that are in very good agreement with a relativistic Keplerian AD model. The profile of the prototypical high ionization lines can also be modeled by the contribution of the AD, with additional components due to outflows and emissions from the innermost part of the narrow line regions (NLRs). A prominent fit of the resulting double peaked profiles were found and very important disk parameters of the disk have been determined using the Hbeta, Halpha and MgII2800 lines: the inner and outer radii (both in units of G/mbh, where mbh is the supermassive black hole), an inclination to the line of sight, the emissivity index and the local broadening parameter. In addition, the accretion parameters, /mbh and /lledd are also determined. This work indicates that the line profile of 3C 47 shows the most convincing direct evidence for the presence of a rotating AD in AGN and the broad, double-peaked profiles originate from this AD that surrounds an /mbh.Keywords: active galactic nuclei, quasars, emission lines, Double-peaked, supermassive black hole
Procedia PDF Downloads 772746 The Minimum Patch Size Scale for Seagrass Canopy Restoration
Authors: Aina Barcelona, Carolyn Oldham, Jordi Colomer, Teresa Serra
Abstract:
The loss of seagrass meadows worldwide is being tackled by formulating coastal restoration strategies. Seagrass loss results in a network of vegetated patches which are barely interconnected, and consequently, the ecological services they provide may be highly compromised. Hence, there is a need to optimize coastal management efforts in order to implement successful restoration strategies, not only through modifying the architecture of the canopies but also by gathering together information on the hydrodynamic conditions of the seabeds. To obtain information on the hydrodynamics within the patches of vegetation, this study deals with the scale analysis of the minimum lengths of patch management strategies that can be effectively used on. To this aim, a set of laboratory experiments were conducted in a laboratory flume where the plant densities, patch lengths, and hydrodynamic conditions were varied to discern the vegetated patch lengths that can provide optimal ecosystem services for canopy development. Two possible patch behaviours based on the turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) production were determined: one where plants do not interact with the flow and the other where plants interact with waves and produce TKE. Furthermore, this study determines the minimum patch lengths that can provide successful management restoration. A canopy will produce TKE, depending on its density, the length of the vegetated patch, and the wave velocities. Therefore, a vegetated patch will produce plant-wave interaction under high wave velocities when it presents large lengths and high canopy densities.Keywords: seagrass, minimum patch size, turbulent kinetic energy, oscillatory flow
Procedia PDF Downloads 2002745 A Corpus-Based Study on the Lexical, Syntactic and Sequential Features across Interpreting Types
Authors: Qianxi Lv, Junying Liang
Abstract:
Among the various modes of interpreting, simultaneous interpreting (SI) is regarded as a ‘complex’ and ‘extreme condition’ of cognitive tasks while consecutive interpreters (CI) do not have to share processing capacity between tasks. Given that SI exerts great cognitive demand, it makes sense to posit that the output of SI may be more compromised than that of CI in the linguistic features. The bulk of the research has stressed the varying cognitive demand and processes involved in different modes of interpreting; however, related empirical research is sparse. In keeping with our interest in investigating the quantitative linguistic factors discriminating between SI and CI, the current study seeks to examine the potential lexical simplification, syntactic complexity and sequential organization mechanism with a self-made inter-model corpus of transcribed simultaneous and consecutive interpretation, translated speech and original speech texts with a total running word of 321960. The lexical features are extracted in terms of the lexical density, list head coverage, hapax legomena, and type-token ratio, as well as core vocabulary percentage. Dependency distance, an index for syntactic complexity and reflective of processing demand is employed. Frequency motif is a non-grammatically-bound sequential unit and is also used to visualize the local function distribution of interpreting the output. While SI is generally regarded as multitasking with high cognitive load, our findings evidently show that CI may impose heavier or taxing cognitive resource differently and hence yields more lexically and syntactically simplified output. In addition, the sequential features manifest that SI and CI organize the sequences from the source text in different ways into the output, to minimize the cognitive load respectively. We reasoned the results in the framework that cognitive demand is exerted both on maintaining and coordinating component of Working Memory. On the one hand, the information maintained in CI is inherently larger in volume compared to SI. On the other hand, time constraints directly influence the sentence reformulation process. The temporal pressure from the input in SI makes the interpreters only keep a small chunk of information in the focus of attention. Thus, SI interpreters usually produce the output by largely retaining the source structure so as to relieve the information from the working memory immediately after formulated in the target language. Conversely, CI interpreters receive at least a few sentences before reformulation, when they are more self-paced. CI interpreters may thus tend to retain and generate the information in a way to lessen the demand. In other words, interpreters cope with the high demand in the reformulation phase of CI by generating output with densely distributed function words, more content words of higher frequency values and fewer variations, simpler structures and more frequently used language sequences. We consequently propose a revised effort model based on the result for a better illustration of cognitive demand during both interpreting types.Keywords: cognitive demand, corpus-based, dependency distance, frequency motif, interpreting types, lexical simplification, sequential units distribution, syntactic complexity
Procedia PDF Downloads 1872744 Comparative Morphometric Analysis of Ambardi and Mangari Watersheds of Kadvi and Kasari River Sub-Basins in Kolhapur District, Maharashtra, India: Using Geographical Information System (GIS)
Authors: Chandrakant Gurav, Md. Babar
Abstract:
In the present study, an attempt is made to delineate the comparative morphometric analysis of Ambardi and Mangari watersheds of Kadvi and Kasari rivers sub-basins, Kolhapur District, Maharashtra India, using Geographical Information System (GIS) techniques. GIS is a computer assisted information method to store, analyze and display spatial data. Both the watersheds originate from Masai plateau of Jotiba- Panhala Hill range in Panhala Taluka of Kolhapur district. Ambardi watersheds cover 42.31 Sq. km. area and occur in northern hill slope, whereas Mangari watershed covers 54.63 Sq. km. area and occur on southern hill slope. Geologically, the entire study area is covered by Deccan Basaltic Province (DBP) of late Cretaceous to early Eocene age. Laterites belonging to late Pleistocene age also occur in the top of the hills. The objective of the present study is to carry out the morphometric parameters of watersheds, which occurs in differing slopes of the hill. Morphometric analysis of Ambardi watershed indicates it is of 4th order stream and Mangari watershed is of 5th order stream. Average bifurcation ratio of both watersheds is 5.4 and 4.0 showing that in both the watersheds streams flow from homogeneous nature of lithology and there is no structural controlled in development of the watersheds. Drainage density of Ambardi and Mangari watersheds is 3.45 km/km2 and 3.81 km/km2 respectively, and Stream Frequency is 4.51 streams/ km2 and 5.97 streams/ km2, it indicates that high drainage density and high stream frequency is governed by steep slope and low infiltration rate of the area for groundwater recharge. Textural ratio of both the watersheds is 6.6 km-1 and 9.6 km-1, which indicates that the drainage texture is fine to very fine. Form factor, circularity ratio and elongation ratios of the Ambardi and Mangari watersheds shows that both the watersheds are elongated in shape. The basin relief of Ambardi watershed is 447 m, while Mangari is 456 m. Relief ratio of Ambardi is 0.0428 and Mangari is 0.040. The ruggedness number of Ambardi is 1.542 and Mangari watershed is 1.737. The ruggedness number of both the watersheds is high which indicates the relief and drainage density is high.Keywords: Ambardi, Deccan basalt, GIS, morphometry, Mangari, watershed
Procedia PDF Downloads 3022743 Design and Development of Fleet Management System for Multi-Agent Autonomous Surface Vessel
Authors: Zulkifli Zainal Abidin, Ahmad Shahril Mohd Ghani
Abstract:
Agent-based systems technology has been addressed as a new paradigm for conceptualizing, designing, and implementing software systems. Agents are sophisticated systems that act autonomously across open and distributed environments in solving problems. Nevertheless, it is impractical to rely on a single agent to do all computing processes in solving complex problems. An increasing number of applications lately require multiple agents to work together. A multi-agent system (MAS) is a loosely coupled network of agents that interact to solve problems that are beyond the individual capacities or knowledge of each problem solver. However, the network of MAS still requires a main system to govern or oversees the operation of the agents in order to achieve a unified goal. We had developed a fleet management system (FMS) in order to manage the fleet of agents, plan route for the agents, perform real-time data processing and analysis, and issue sets of general and specific instructions to the agents. This FMS should be able to perform real-time data processing, communicate with the autonomous surface vehicle (ASV) agents and generate bathymetric map according to the data received from each ASV unit. The first algorithm is developed to communicate with the ASV via radio communication using standard National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) protocol sentences. Next, the second algorithm will take care of the path planning, formation and pattern generation is tested using various sample data. Lastly, the bathymetry map generation algorithm will make use of data collected by the agents to create bathymetry map in real-time. The outcome of this research is expected can be applied on various other multi-agent systems.Keywords: autonomous surface vehicle, fleet management system, multi agent system, bathymetry
Procedia PDF Downloads 2752742 A CMOS D-Band Power Amplifier in 22FDSOI Technology for 6G Applications
Authors: Karandeep Kaur
Abstract:
This paper presents the design of power amplifier (PA) for mmWave communication systems. The designed amplifier uses GlobalFoundries 22 FDX technology and works at an operational frequency of 140 GHz in the D-Band. With a supply voltage of 0.8V for the super low threshold voltage transistors, the amplifier is biased in class AB and has a total current consumption of 50 mA. The measured saturated output power from the power amplifier is 5.6 dBm with an output-referred 1dB-compression point of 1.6dBm. The measured gain of PA is 19 dB with 3 dB-bandwidth ranging from 120 GHz to 140 GHz. The chip occupies an area of 795µm × 410µm.Keywords: mmWave communication system, power amplifiers, 22FDX, D-Band, cross-coupled capacitive neutralization
Procedia PDF Downloads 1702741 Assessing the Effect of the Position of the Cavities on the Inner Plate of the Steel Shear Wall under Time History Dynamic Analysis
Authors: Masoud Mahdavi, Mojtaba Farzaneh Moghadam
Abstract:
The seismic forces caused by the waves created in the depths of the earth during the earthquake hit the structure and cause the building to vibrate. Creating large seismic forces will cause low-strength sections in the structure to suffer extensive surface damage. The use of new steel shear walls in steel structures has caused the strength of the building and its main members (columns) to increase due to the reduction and depreciation of seismic forces during earthquakes. In the present study, an attempt was made to evaluate a type of steel shear wall that has regular holes in the inner sheet by modeling the finite element model with Abacus software. The shear wall of the steel plate, measuring 6000 × 3000 mm (one floor) and 3 mm thickness, was modeled with four different pores with a cross-sectional area. The shear wall was dynamically subjected to a time history of 5 seconds by three accelerators, El Centro, Imperial Valley and Kobe. The results showed that increasing the distance between the geometric center of the hole and the geometric center of the inner plate in the steel shear wall (increasing the RCS index) caused the total maximum acceleration to be transferred from the perimeter of the hole to horizontal and vertical beams. The results also show that there is no direct relationship between RCS index and total acceleration in steel shear wall and RCS index is separate from the peak ground acceleration value of earthquake.Keywords: hollow steel plate shear wall, time history analysis, finite element method, abaqus software
Procedia PDF Downloads 1052740 Public Space, Environmental Violence and Female Vulnerability in Radwa Ashour’s Specters and Betool Khadiri’s Absent
Authors: Jihan Zakarriya
Abstract:
This paper aims at examining the concepts of gender vulnerability, militarized spaces and environmental degradation in Egyptian novelist Radwa Ashour’s Specters (1999) and Iraqi novelist Betool Khadiri’s Absent (2005). Although the socio-economic, environmental and political conditions in the 1990s- Egypt and Iraq are different, this paper argues that Ashour’s Specters and Khadiri’s Absent show the two societies as sharing a concern with the politics of public participation, individual freedom and political violence. For example, while Specters exposes the planned processes of economic-political and cultural violence towards Egyptian environment and people that undermine concepts of justice, equality and democracy, Absent shows the destructive effects of the systematic, successive waves of (international) militarized interferences and socio-economic sanctions imposed on Iraq following the Gulf War that hinder efforts of social development and kindle ethnic-religious violence and polarization in the country. This paper investigates and relates issues of gender, environmental and political violence and repression in Ashour’s Specters and Khadiri’s Absent in relation to the concepts of public space and security in the two countries. The paper argues that the selected novels articulate a particular awareness of the political-international conflicts and difficulties in the 1990s-Egypt and Iraq, with the aim both to emphasize the issue of gender as a tool of oppression and power hierarchy worldwide and to figure out new notions of public participation and change.Keywords: gender violence, public space, environment, change
Procedia PDF Downloads 1482739 The Study of ZigBee Protocol Application in Wireless Networks
Authors: Ardavan Zamanpour, Somaieh Yassari
Abstract:
ZigBee protocol network was developed in industries and MIT laboratory in 1997. ZigBee is a wireless networking technology by alliance ZigBee which is designed to low board and low data rate applications. It is a Protocol which connects between electrical devises with very low energy and cost. The first version of IEEE 802.15.4 which was formed ZigBee was based on 2.4GHZ MHZ 912MHZ 868 frequency band. The name of system is often reminded random directions that bees (BEES) traversing during pollination of products. Such as alloy of the ways in which information packets are traversed within the mesh network. This paper aims to study the performance and effectiveness of this protocol in wireless networks.Keywords: ZigBee, protocol, wireless, networks
Procedia PDF Downloads 3722738 Automatic Target Recognition in SAR Images Based on Sparse Representation Technique
Authors: Ahmet Karagoz, Irfan Karagoz
Abstract:
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is a radar mechanism that can be integrated into manned and unmanned aerial vehicles to create high-resolution images in all weather conditions, regardless of day and night. In this study, SAR images of military vehicles with different azimuth and descent angles are pre-processed at the first stage. The main purpose here is to reduce the high speckle noise found in SAR images. For this, the Wiener adaptive filter, the mean filter, and the median filters are used to reduce the amount of speckle noise in the images without causing loss of data. During the image segmentation phase, pixel values are ordered so that the target vehicle region is separated from other regions containing unnecessary information. The target image is parsed with the brightest 20% pixel value of 255 and the other pixel values of 0. In addition, by using appropriate parameters of statistical region merging algorithm, segmentation comparison is performed. In the step of feature extraction, the feature vectors belonging to the vehicles are obtained by using Gabor filters with different orientation, frequency and angle values. A number of Gabor filters are created by changing the orientation, frequency and angle parameters of the Gabor filters to extract important features of the images that form the distinctive parts. Finally, images are classified by sparse representation method. In the study, l₁ norm analysis of sparse representation is used. A joint database of the feature vectors generated by the target images of military vehicle types is obtained side by side and this database is transformed into the matrix form. In order to classify the vehicles in a similar way, the test images of each vehicle is converted to the vector form and l₁ norm analysis of the sparse representation method is applied through the existing database matrix form. As a result, correct recognition has been performed by matching the target images of military vehicles with the test images by means of the sparse representation method. 97% classification success of SAR images of different military vehicle types is obtained.Keywords: automatic target recognition, sparse representation, image classification, SAR images
Procedia PDF Downloads 3692737 Optimising Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation
Authors: Robert Lenzie
Abstract:
Transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) is significant in the research literature. However, the effects of tES on brain activity are still poorly understood at the surface level, the Brodmann Area level, and the impact on neural networks. Using a method like electroencephalography (EEG) in conjunction with tES might make it possible to comprehend the brain response and mechanisms behind published observed alterations in more depth. Using a method to directly see the effect of tES on EEG may offer high temporal resolution data on the brain activity changes/modulations brought on by tES that correlate to various processing stages within the brain. This paper provides unpublished information on a cutting-edge methodology that may reveal details about the dynamics of how the human brain works beyond what is now achievable with existing methods.Keywords: tACS, frequency, EEG, optimal
Procedia PDF Downloads 872736 Connected Objects with Optical Rectenna for Wireless Information Systems
Authors: Chayma Bahar, Chokri Baccouch, Hedi Sakli, Nizar Sakli
Abstract:
Harvesting and transport of optical and radiofrequency signals are a topical subject with multiple challenges. In this paper, we present a Optical RECTENNA system. We propose here a hybrid system solar cell antenna for 5G mobile communications networks. Thus, we propose rectifying circuit. A parametric study is done to follow the influence of load resistance and input power on Optical RECTENNA system performance. Thus, we propose a solar cell antenna structure in the frequency band of future 5G standard in 2.45 GHz bands.Keywords: antenna, IoT, optical rectenna, solar cell
Procedia PDF Downloads 1812735 Web-Content Analysis of the Major Spanish Tourist Destinations Evaluation by Russian Tourists
Authors: Natalia Polkanova, Sergey Kazakov
Abstract:
In the research, we proposed the set of factors of tourist destinations attractiveness in Spain and determined the factors that have the greatest impact on the positive perception of the tourist destination by Russian tourists; also, we examined what factors create the willingness for Russians to recommend this tourist destination to their friends and relatives. The tourists' comments on the Russian travel sites have been analyzed in order to determine the frequency of attractiveness characteristics references. Additionally, the study will reflect the relationship of variables.Keywords: tourism destination, destination attractiveness, destination competitiveness, content analysis, unstructured image
Procedia PDF Downloads 4722734 Communication in the Sciences: A Discourse Analysis of Biology Research Articles and Magazine Articles
Authors: Gayani Ranawake
Abstract:
Effective communication is widely regarded as an important aspect of any discipline. This particular study deals with written communication in science. Writing conventions and linguistic choices play a key role in conveying the message effectively to a target audience. Scientists are responsible for conveying their findings or research results not only to their discourse community but also to the general public. Recognizing appropriate linguistic choices is crucial since they vary depending on the target audience. The majority of scientists can communicate effectively with their discourse community, but public engagement seems more challenging to them. There is a lack of research into the language use of scientists, and in particular how it varies by discipline and audience (genre). A better understanding of the different linguistic conventions used in effective science writing by scientists for scientists and by scientists for the public will help to guide scientists who are familiar with their discourse community norms to write effectively for the public. This study investigates the differences and similarities of linguistic choices in biology articles written by scientists for their discourse community and biology magazine articles written by scientists and science communicators for the general public. This study is a part of a larger project investigating linguistic differences in different genres of science academic writing. The sample for this particular study is composed of 20 research articles from the journal Biological Reviews and 20 magazine articles from the magazine Australian Popular Science. Differences in the linguistic devices were analyzed using Hyland’s metadiscourse model for academic writing proposed in 2005. The frequency of the usage of interactive resources (transitions, frame markers, endophoric markers, evidentials and code glosses) and interactional resources (hedges, boosters, attitude markers, self-mentions and engagement markers) were compared and contrasted using the NVivo textual analysis tool. The results clearly show the differences in the frequency of usage of interactional and interactive resources in the two disciplines under investigation. The findings of this study provide a reference guide for scientists and science writers to understand the differences in the linguistic choices between the two genres. This will be particularly helpful for scientists who are proficient at writing for their discourse community, but not for the public.Keywords: discourse analysis, linguistic choices, metadiscourse, science writing
Procedia PDF Downloads 1512733 An Intelligent Text Independent Speaker Identification Using VQ-GMM Model Based Multiple Classifier System
Authors: Ben Soltane Cheima, Ittansa Yonas Kelbesa
Abstract:
Speaker Identification (SI) is the task of establishing identity of an individual based on his/her voice characteristics. The SI task is typically achieved by two-stage signal processing: training and testing. The training process calculates speaker specific feature parameters from the speech and generates speaker models accordingly. In the testing phase, speech samples from unknown speakers are compared with the models and classified. Even though performance of speaker identification systems has improved due to recent advances in speech processing techniques, there is still need of improvement. In this paper, a Closed-Set Tex-Independent Speaker Identification System (CISI) based on a Multiple Classifier System (MCS) is proposed, using Mel Frequency Cepstrum Coefficient (MFCC) as feature extraction and suitable combination of vector quantization (VQ) and Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) together with Expectation Maximization algorithm (EM) for speaker modeling. The use of Voice Activity Detector (VAD) with a hybrid approach based on Short Time Energy (STE) and Statistical Modeling of Background Noise in the pre-processing step of the feature extraction yields a better and more robust automatic speaker identification system. Also investigation of Linde-Buzo-Gray (LBG) clustering algorithm for initialization of GMM, for estimating the underlying parameters, in the EM step improved the convergence rate and systems performance. It also uses relative index as confidence measures in case of contradiction in identification process by GMM and VQ as well. Simulation results carried out on voxforge.org speech database using MATLAB highlight the efficacy of the proposed method compared to earlier work.Keywords: feature extraction, speaker modeling, feature matching, Mel frequency cepstrum coefficient (MFCC), Gaussian mixture model (GMM), vector quantization (VQ), Linde-Buzo-Gray (LBG), expectation maximization (EM), pre-processing, voice activity detection (VAD), short time energy (STE), background noise statistical modeling, closed-set tex-independent speaker identification system (CISI)
Procedia PDF Downloads 3132732 The Development of Congeneric Elicited Writing Tasks to Capture Language Decline in Alzheimer Patients
Authors: Lise Paesen, Marielle Leijten
Abstract:
People diagnosed with probable Alzheimer disease suffer from an impairment of their language capacities; a gradual impairment which affects both their spoken and written communication. Our study aims at characterising the language decline in DAT patients with the use of congeneric elicited writing tasks. Within these tasks, a descriptive text has to be written based upon images with which the participants are confronted. A randomised set of images allows us to present the participants with a different task on every encounter, thus allowing us to avoid a recognition effect in this iterative study. This method is a revision from previous studies, in which participants were presented with a larger picture depicting an entire scene. In order to create the randomised set of images, existing pictures were adapted following strict criteria (e.g. frequency, AoA, colour, ...). The resulting data set contained 50 images, belonging to several categories (vehicles, animals, humans, and objects). A pre-test was constructed to validate the created picture set; most images had been used before in spoken picture naming tasks. Hence the same reaction times ought to be triggered in the typed picture naming task. Once validated, the effectiveness of the descriptive tasks was assessed. First, the participants (n=60 students, n=40 healthy elderly) performed a typing task, which provided information about the typing speed of each individual. Secondly, two descriptive writing tasks were carried out, one simple and one complex. The simple task contains 4 images (1 animal, 2 objects, 1 vehicle) and only contains elements with high frequency, a young AoA (<6 years), and fast reaction times. Slow reaction times, a later AoA (≥ 6 years) and low frequency were criteria for the complex task. This task uses 6 images (2 animals, 1 human, 2 objects and 1 vehicle). The data were collected with the keystroke logging programme Inputlog. Keystroke logging tools log and time stamp keystroke activity to reconstruct and describe text production processes. The data were analysed using a selection of writing process and product variables, such as general writing process measures, detailed pause analysis, linguistic analysis, and text length. As a covariate, the intrapersonal interkey transition times from the typing task were taken into account. The pre-test indicated that the new images lead to similar or even faster reaction times compared to the original images. All the images were therefore used in the main study. The produced texts of the description tasks were significantly longer compared to previous studies, providing sufficient text and process data for analyses. Preliminary analysis shows that the amount of words produced differed significantly between the healthy elderly and the students, as did the mean length of production bursts, even though both groups needed the same time to produce their texts. However, the elderly took significantly more time to produce the complex task than the simple task. Nevertheless, the amount of words per minute remained comparable between simple and complex. The pauses within and before words varied, even when taking personal typing abilities (obtained by the typing task) into account.Keywords: Alzheimer's disease, experimental design, language decline, writing process
Procedia PDF Downloads 2792731 Fuzzy Wavelet Model to Forecast the Exchange Rate of IDR/USD
Authors: Tri Wijayanti Septiarini, Agus Maman Abadi, Muhammad Rifki Taufik
Abstract:
The exchange rate of IDR/USD can be the indicator to analysis Indonesian economy. The exchange rate as a important factor because it has big effect in Indonesian economy overall. So, it needs the analysis data of exchange rate. There is decomposition data of exchange rate of IDR/USD to be frequency and time. It can help the government to monitor the Indonesian economy. This method is very effective to identify the case, have high accurate result and have simple structure. In this paper, data of exchange rate that used is weekly data from December 17, 2010 until November 11, 2014.Keywords: the exchange rate, fuzzy mamdani, discrete wavelet transforms, fuzzy wavelet
Procedia PDF Downloads 5782730 Design and Implementation of Grid-Connected Photovoltaic Inverter
Authors: B. H. Lee
Abstract:
Nowadays, a grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) inverter is adopted in various places like as home, factory, because grid-connected PV inverter can reduce total power consumption by supplying electricity from PV array. In this paper, design and implementation of a 300 W grid-connected PV inverter are described. It is implemented with TI Piccolo DSP core and operated at 100 kHz switching frequency in order to reduce harmonic contents. The maximum operating input voltage is up to 45 V. The characteristics of the designed system that include maximum power point tracking (MPPT), single operation and battery charging are verified by simulation and experimental results.Keywords: design, grid-connected, implementation, photovoltaic
Procedia PDF Downloads 4242729 Effects of Body Positioning on Videofluoroscopic Barium Esophagram in Healthy Cats
Authors: Hyeona Kim, Kichang Lee, Seunghee Lee, Jeongsu An, Kyungjun Min
Abstract:
Contrast videofluoroscopy is the diagnostic imaging technique for evaluating cat with dysphagia. Generally, videofluoroscopic studies have been done with the cat restrained in lateral recumbency. It is different from the neutral position such as standing or sternal recumbency which is actual swallowing posture. We hypothesized that measurement of esophageal transit and peristalsis would be affected by body position. This experimental study analyzed the imaging findings of barium esophagram in 5 cats. Each cat underwent videofluoroscopy during swallowing of liquid barium and barium-soaked kibble in standing position and lateral recumbency. Esophageal transit time and the number of esophageal peristaltic waves were compared among body positions. Transit time in the cervical esophagus (0.57s), cranial thoracic esophagus (2.5s), and caudal thoracic esophagus(1.10s) was delayed when cats were in lateral recumbency for liquid barium. For kibble, transit time was more delayed than that of liquid through the entire esophagus in lateral recumbency. Liquid and kibble frequently started to delay at thoracic inlet region, transit time in the thoracic esophagus was significantly delayed than the cervical esophagus. In standing position, 60.2% of liquid swallows stimulated primary esophageal peristalsis. In lateral recumbency, 50.5% of liquid swallows stimulated primary esophageal peristalsis. Other variables were not significantly different. Lateral body positioning increases entire esophageal transit time and thoracic esophageal transit time is most significantly delayed. Thus, lateral recumbency decreases the number of primary esophageal peristalsis.Keywords: barium esophagram, body positioning, cat, videofluoroscopy
Procedia PDF Downloads 2022728 Antibiotic Prescribing in the Acute Care in Iraq
Authors: Ola A. Nassr, Ali M. Abd Alridha, Rua A. Naser, Rasha S. Abbas
Abstract:
Background: Excessive and inappropriate use of antimicrobial agents among hospitalized patients remains an important patient safety and public health issue worldwide. Not only does this behavior incur unnecessary cost but it is also associated with increased morbidity and mortality. The objective of this study is to obtain an insight into the prescribing patterns of antibiotics in surgical and medical wards, to help identify a scope for improvement in service delivery. Method: A simple point prevalence survey included a convenience sample of 200 patients admitted to medical and surgical wards in a government teaching hospital in Baghdad between October 2017 and April 2018. Data were collected by a trained pharmacy intern using a standardized form. Patient’s demographics and details of the prescribed antibiotics, including dose, frequency of dosing and route of administration, were reported. Patients were included if they had been admitted at least 24 hours before the survey. Patients under 18 years of age, having a diagnosis of cancer or shock, or being admitted to the intensive care unit, were excluded. Data were checked and entered by the authors into Excel and were subjected to frequency analysis, which was carried out on anonymized data to protect patient confidentiality. Results: Overall, 88.5% of patients (n=177) received 293 antibiotics during their hospital admission, with a small variation between wards (80%-97%). The average number of antibiotics prescribed per patient was 1.65, ranging from 1.3 for medical patients to 1.95 for surgical patients. Parenteral third-generation cephalosporins were the most commonly prescribed at a rate of 54.3% (n=159) followed by nitroimidazole 29.4% (n=86), quinolones 7.5% (n=22) and macrolides 4.4% (n=13), while carbapenems and aminoglycosides were the least prescribed together accounting for only 4.4% (n=13). The intravenous route was the most common route of administration, used for 96.6% of patients (n=171). Indications were reported in only 63.8% of cases. Culture to identify pathogenic organisms was employed in only 0.5% of cases. Conclusion: Broad-spectrum antibiotics are prescribed at an alarming rate. This practice may provoke antibiotic resistance and adversely affect the patient outcome. Implementation of an antibiotic stewardship program is warranted to enhance the efficacy, safety and cost-effectiveness of antimicrobial agents.Keywords: Acute care, Antibiotic misuse, Iraq, Prescribing
Procedia PDF Downloads 1272727 Reduced Complexity of ML Detection Combined with DFE
Authors: Jae-Hyun Ro, Yong-Jun Kim, Chang-Bin Ha, Hyoung-Kyu Song
Abstract:
In multiple input multiple output-orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM) systems, many detection schemes have been developed to improve the error performance and to reduce the complexity. Maximum likelihood (ML) detection has optimal error performance but it has very high complexity. Thus, this paper proposes reduced complexity of ML detection combined with decision feedback equalizer (DFE). The error performance of the proposed detection scheme is higher than the conventional DFE. But the complexity of the proposed scheme is lower than the conventional ML detection.Keywords: detection, DFE, MIMO-OFDM, ML
Procedia PDF Downloads 6142726 Rheological Properties of PP/EVA Blends
Authors: Othman Y. Alothman
Abstract:
The study aims to investigate the effects of blend ratio, VA content and temperature on the rheological properties of PPEVA blends. The results show that all pure polymers and their blends show typical shear thinning behaviour. All neat polymers exhibit power-low type flow behaviour, with the viscosity order as EVA328 > EVA206 > PP in almost all frequency ranges. As temperature increases, the viscosity of all polymers decreases as expected, and the viscosity becomes more sensitive to the addition of EVA. Two different regions can be observed on the flow curve of some of the polymers and their blends, which is thought to be due to slip-stick transition or melt fracture.Keywords: polypropylene, ethylene vinyl acetate, blends, rheological properties
Procedia PDF Downloads 4782725 Speaker Identification by Atomic Decomposition of Learned Features Using Computational Auditory Scene Analysis Principals in Noisy Environments
Authors: Thomas Bryan, Veton Kepuska, Ivica Kostanic
Abstract:
Speaker recognition is performed in high Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) environments using principals of Computational Auditory Scene Analysis (CASA). CASA methods often classify sounds from images in the time-frequency (T-F) plane using spectrograms or cochleargrams as the image. In this paper atomic decomposition implemented by matching pursuit performs a transform from time series speech signals to the T-F plane. The atomic decomposition creates a sparsely populated T-F vector in “weight space” where each populated T-F position contains an amplitude weight. The weight space vector along with the atomic dictionary represents a denoised, compressed version of the original signal. The arraignment or of the atomic indices in the T-F vector are used for classification. Unsupervised feature learning implemented by a sparse autoencoder learns a single dictionary of basis features from a collection of envelope samples from all speakers. The approach is demonstrated using pairs of speakers from the TIMIT data set. Pairs of speakers are selected randomly from a single district. Each speak has 10 sentences. Two are used for training and 8 for testing. Atomic index probabilities are created for each training sentence and also for each test sentence. Classification is performed by finding the lowest Euclidean distance between then probabilities from the training sentences and the test sentences. Training is done at a 30dB Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR). Testing is performed at SNR’s of 0 dB, 5 dB, 10 dB and 30dB. The algorithm has a baseline classification accuracy of ~93% averaged over 10 pairs of speakers from the TIMIT data set. The baseline accuracy is attributable to short sequences of training and test data as well as the overall simplicity of the classification algorithm. The accuracy is not affected by AWGN and produces ~93% accuracy at 0dB SNR.Keywords: time-frequency plane, atomic decomposition, envelope sampling, Gabor atoms, matching pursuit, sparse dictionary learning, sparse autoencoder
Procedia PDF Downloads 2942724 Controlling Drone Flight Missions through Natural Language Processors Using Artificial Intelligence
Authors: Sylvester Akpah, Selasi Vondee
Abstract:
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) as they are also known, drones have attracted increasing attention in recent years due to their ubiquitous nature and boundless applications in the areas of communication, surveying, aerial photography, weather forecasting, medical delivery, surveillance amongst others. Operated remotely in real-time or pre-programmed, drones can fly autonomously or on pre-defined routes. The application of these aerial vehicles has successfully penetrated the world due to technological evolution, thus a lot more businesses are utilizing their capabilities. Unfortunately, while drones are replete with the benefits stated supra, they are riddled with some problems, mainly attributed to the complexities in learning how to master drone flights, collision avoidance and enterprise security. Additional challenges, such as the analysis of flight data recorded by sensors attached to the drone may take time and require expert help to analyse and understand. This paper presents an autonomous drone control system using a chatbot. The system allows for easy control of drones using conversations with the aid of Natural Language Processing, thus to reduce the workload needed to set up, deploy, control, and monitor drone flight missions. The results obtained at the end of the study revealed that the drone connected to the chatbot was able to initiate flight missions with just text and voice commands, enable conversation and give real-time feedback from data and requests made to the chatbot. The results further revealed that the system was able to process natural language and produced human-like conversational abilities using Artificial Intelligence (Natural Language Understanding). It is recommended that radio signal adapters be used instead of wireless connections thus to increase the range of communication with the aerial vehicle.Keywords: artificial ntelligence, chatbot, natural language processing, unmanned aerial vehicle
Procedia PDF Downloads 1462723 Atmospheric Plasma Treatment to Improve Water and Oil Repellent Finishing for PET and PET/Spandex Fabrics
Authors: Mehtap Çalışkan, Nilüfer Yıldız Varan, Volkan Kaplan
Abstract:
In this study, the effects of an atmospheric plasma treatment on the durability of water and oil repellent finishes of PET and PET/Spandex fabrics were tested. Fabrics were treated with a low-frequency atmospheric pressure glow discharge. After plasma treatments, the water and oil repellent finishes were applied using pad-dry-cure method. It was observed that plasma treatments improved the durability finish for all fabrics.Keywords: atmospheric plasma, durable coating, oil repellency, PET/spandex fabrics, water repellency
Procedia PDF Downloads 4172722 Assessment of Cattle Welfare Traveling Long Distance from Jessore (Indian Border) to Chittagong, Bangladesh
Authors: Mahabub Alam, Mohammad Mahmudul Hassan, M. Hasanuzzaman, M. Ahasanul Hoque
Abstract:
Animals are transported from one place to another for different purposes in Bangladesh. However, the potential effect of long-distance transport on cattle health has not frequently been studied. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess health conditions of cattle transported from a long distance to Chittagong in Bangladesh. A total of 100 adult cattle, regardless of breed and sex, were selected at Benapole live cattle market in Jessore between August and September 2015 for the study. Blood samples were taken from 50 randomly selected cattle at 0 hours before transportation, just after transportation, at 12-16 hours post-conclusion of transportation, and 24 hours after transportation. The external health conditions and injuries of the cattle were assessed by close inspection, and the trader was interviewed using the structured questionnaire. Images of cattle injuries were taken with a camera. The basic internal health of the cattle was evaluated using standard hemato-biochemical tests. Animals were fasted and remained standing within a small space allocation (8-10 sq feet/animal) in the vehicle during transportation. Animals were provided only with paddy straw and water prior to selling at the destination market. The overall frequency of cattle injuries varied significantly (26% before vs. 47% after transportation; p < 0.001). The frequency of different cattle injuries also significantly varied by types such as abrasion (11% vs. 21%; p < 0.05) and barbed wire injury (9% vs. 18%; p < 0.05). Single cattle injury differed significantly (21% vs. 36%; p < 0.001). Cattle health conditions varied significantly (nasal discharge: 15% vs. 28%; p < 0.05; diarrhea: 15% vs. 23%; p < 0.05 and severe dehydration: 8% vs. 20%; p < 0.001). The values of hemoglobin (Hb), total erythrocyte count (TEC), total leukocyte count (TLC), lymphocyte (L), neutrophil (N) and eosinophil (E) varied significantly (p ≤ 0.01) (Hb: 11.1mg/dl vs. 12.3mg/dl; TEC: 4.7 million/ml vs. 5.7million/ml; TLC: 6.2 thousand/ml vs. 7.3 thousand/ml; L: 61.7% vs. 58.1%; N: 29.7% vs. 32.8%; E: 3.8% vs. 4.7%). The values of serum total protein (TP), creatine kinase (CK), triglyceride (TG), calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) significantly differed (p ≤ 0.05) (TP: 6.8g/dl vs. 8.2g/dl; CK:574.9u/l vs. 1288u/l; TG: 104.7mg/dl vs. 127.7mg/dl; Ca: 11.3mg/dl vs. 13mg/dl; P: 7.3mg/dl vs. 7.6mg/dl; ALP: 303u/l vs. 363u/l). The identified status of external and internal health conditions of the cattle for trading purpose due to long-distance transportation in the present study indicates a high degree of transport stress and poor animal welfare.Keywords: animal welfare, cattle, external and internal health conditions, transportation
Procedia PDF Downloads 1852721 Assessment of Factors Influencing Adoption of Agroforestry Technologies in Halaba Special Woreda, Southern Ethiopia
Authors: Mihretu Erjabo
Abstract:
Halaba special district is characterized by drought, soil erosion, high population pressure, poor livestock production, lack of feed for livestock, very deep water table, very low productivity of crops and food insufficiency. In order to address these problems, the woreda agricultural development office along with other management practices such as soil physical conservation measures agroforestry was introduced decades ago as a means to alleviate the problem. However, the level of agroforestry adoption remains low. Objective of this study was to identify the factors that influence adoption of agroforestry technologies by farmers in the district. Random sampling was employed to select two kebele administrations and respondents. Data collection was conducted by rural household questionnaire survey, participatory rural appraisal, questionnaires for local and woreda extension staff, secondary data resources and field observation. A sample of 12 key informants, 6 extension staffs, and 182 households, were used in the data collection. Chi square test used to determine significant relationships between adoption of agroforestry and 15 selected variables. Out of which eleven were found to be significant to affect farmers’ adoptiveness. These were frequency of visits of farmers (13.39%), participation in training (11.49%), farmers’ attitude towards agroforestry practices (10.61%), frequency of visits of extensionists (10.38%), participation in extension meeting (10.34%), participation in field day (10.28%), land holding size (9.29%), level of literacy (8.78%), awareness about the importance of agroforestry technology packages (7.06%), time taken from their residence to nearest extension (5.04%) and gender of respondents (3.34%). This study also identified various factors that result in low adoption rates of agroforestry including fear of competition, seedling, rainfall and labour shortage, free grazing, financial problem, expecting trees as soil degrader and long span of trees and lack of need ranking. To improve farmers’ adoption, the factors identified should be well addressed by launching a series and recurrent outreach extension program appropriate and suitable to farmers need.Keywords: farmers attitude, farmers participation, soil degradation, technology packages
Procedia PDF Downloads 1622720 Detection of Fuel Theft and Vehicle Position Using Third Party Monitoring Software
Authors: P. Senthilraja, C. Rukumani Khandhan, M. Palaniappan, S. L. Rama, P. Sai Sushimitha, R. Madhan, J. Vinumathi, N. Vijayarangan
Abstract:
Nowadays, the logistics achieve a vast improvement in efficient delivery of goods. The technology improvement also helps to improve its development, but still the owners of transport vehicles face problems, i.e., fuel theft in vehicles by the drivers or by an unknown person. There is no proper solution to overcome the problems. This scheme is to determine the amount of fuel that has been stolen and also to determine the position of the vehicle at a particular time using the technologies like GPS, GSM, ultrasonic fuel level sensor and numeric lock system. The ultrasonic sensor uses the ultrasonic waves to calculate the height of the tank up to which the fuel is available. Based on height it is possible to calculate the amount of fuel. The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based navigation system. The scientific community uses GPS for its precision timing capability and position information. The GSM provides the periodic information about the fuel level. A numeric lock system has been provided for fuel tank opening lever. A password is provided to access the fuel tank lever and this is authenticated only by the driver and the owner. Once the fuel tank is opened an alert is sent to owner through a SMS including the timing details. Third party monitoring software is a user interface that updates the information automatically into the database which helps to retrieve the data as and when required. Third party monitoring software provides vehicle’s information to the owner and also shows the status of the vehicle. The techniques that are to be proposed will provide an efficient output. This project helps to overcome the theft and hence to put forth fuel economy.Keywords: fuel theft, third party monitoring software, bioinformatics, biomedicine
Procedia PDF Downloads 396