Search results for: minor allele frequency

Authors: Sadat Sembatya

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Tantalum metal is used in addressing capacitance challenge in the 21st-century technology growth. Tantalum is rarely found in its elemental form. Hence it’s often found with niobium and the radioactive elements of thorium and uranium. Industrial processes are required to extract pure tantalum. Its deposits are mainly oxide associated and exist in Ta-Nb oxides such as tapiolite, wodginite, ixiolite, rutile and pyrochlore-supergroup minerals are of minor importance. The stability and chemical inertness of tantalum makes it a valuable substance for laboratory equipment and a substitute for platinum. Each period of Tantalum ore formation is characterized by specific mineralogical and geochemical features. Compositions of Columbite-Group Minerals (CGM) are variable: Fe-rich types predominate in the Man Shield (Sierra Leone), the Congo Craton (DR Congo), the Kamativi Belt (Zimbabwe) and the Jos Plateau (Nigeria). Mn-rich columbite-tantalite is typical of the Alto Ligonha Province (Mozambique), the Arabian-Nubian Shield (Egypt, Ethiopia) and the Tantalite Valley pegmatites (southern Namibia). There are large compositional variations through Fe-Mn fractionation, followed by Nb-Ta fractionation. These are typical for pegmatites usually associated with very coarse quartz-feldspar-mica granites. They are young granitic systems of the Kibara Belt of Central Africa and the Older Granites of Nigeria. Unlike ‘simple’ Be-pegmatites, most Ta-Nb rich pegmatites have the most complex zoning. Hence we need systematic exploration tools to find and rapidly assess the potential of different pegmatites. The pegmatites exist as known deposits (e.g., abandoned mines) and the exposed or buried pegmatites. We investigate rocks and minerals to trace for the possibility of the effect of hydrothermal alteration mainly for exposed pegmatites, do mineralogical study to prove evidence of gradual replacement and geochemistry to report the availability of trace elements which are good indicators of mineralisation. Pegmatites are not good geophysical responders resulting to the exclusion of the geophysics option. As for more advanced prospecting, we bulk samples from different zones first to establish their grades and characteristics, then make a pilot test plant because of big samples to aid in the quantitative characterization of zones, and then drill to reveal distribution and extent of different zones but not necessarily grade due to nugget effect. Rapid assessment tools are needed to assess grade and degree of fractionation in order to ‘rule in’ or ‘rule out’ a given pegmatite for future work. Pegmatite exploration is also unique, high risk and expensive hence right traceability system and certification for 3Ts are highly needed.

Keywords: exploration, mineralogy, pegmatites, tantalum

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Authors: Alaa Jawad Hassan, Saad Marza Al-Aaraji, Fadil Abbas Hamad

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The current study was designed to assess some immunological parameters and pedigree analysis for atopic dermatitis patients, as the study included 64 patients (37 males and 27 females) and 24 healthy individuals (12 males and 12 females) with no history of the AD. The cases of this study were divided into two age groups; the first is infant and children (1-10 years), while the second is adolescent and adults (11- 60 years). The number of cases was 51 and 13 in each age group respectively. Sera samples from confirmed AD patients and healthy control were analysed by mean of ELISA for assessment the concentrations of IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4 and IgE. The study showed that a significant increase (P < 0.05) in IL-1β, IL-4 and IgE levels in the patients compared with the control group in both age groups and gender, while there was no significant difference (P < 0.05) in the concentration of IL-2. The study of pedigree analysis shows the genetic tendency in the frequency of disease depending on the genetic history of family, where more patients returning to families in which both parents or one of them infected with AD, whereas the patients were no parents infected with AD they are suffering from asthma and the disease recurs in their uncles.

Keywords: atopic dermatitis, cytokines, IgE, molecular biology

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Authors: Sanghyeon Kim, Cheolung Cheong

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Savonius wind turbines are a drag-type of vertical-axis wind turbine that has been used most commonly as a small-scale wind generator. However, noise is a main hindrance to wide spreading of Savonius wind turbines, just like other wind turbines. Although noise levels radiating from Savonius wind turbines may be relatively low because of their small size, they induce relatively high annoyance due to their prolonged noise exposure to the near community. Therefore, aerodynamic noise of small vertical-axis wind turbines is one of most important design parameters. In this paper, aerodynamic noise characteristics of Savonius wind turbines are investigated using the hybrid CAA techniques, and their low noise designs are proposed based on understanding of noise generation mechanism. First, flow field around the turbine are analyzed by solving 3-D unsteady incompressible RANS equations. Then, noise radiation is predicted using the Ffowcs Williams and Hawkings equation. Two distinct harmonic noise components, the well-know BPF components and the harmonics whose fundamental frequency is much higher than the BPF are identified. On a basis of this finding, S-shaped blades are proposed as low noise designs and it can reduce the noise levels of Savonius wind turbines by up to 2.7 dB.

Keywords: aerodynamic noise, Savonius wind turbine, vertical-axis wind turbine

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Authors: M. Taouzari, A. Sardi, J. El Aoufi, Ahmed Mouhsen

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The purpose of this work is to design a reader antenna fed by 90° hybrid coupler that would ensure a tag which is detected regardless of its orientation for the radio frequency identification system covering the UHF and ISM bands frequencies. Based on this idea, the proposed work is dividing in two parts, first part is about study and design hybrid coupler using the resonators planar called T-and Pi networks operating in commercial bands. In the second part, the proposed antenna fed by the hybrid coupler is designed on FR4 substrate with dielectric permittivity 4.4, thickness dielectric 1.6mm and loss tangent 0.025. The T-slot is inserted in patch of the proposed antenna fed by the hybrid coupler is first designed, optimized and simulated using electromagnetic simulator ADS and then simulated in a full wave simulation software CST Microwave Studio. The simulated antenna by the both softwares achieves the expected performances in terms of matching, pattern radiation, phase shifting, gain and size.

Keywords: dual band antenna, RFID, hybrid coupler, polarization, radiation pattern

Procedia PDF Downloads 126

Authors: Armaghan Moravej Aleali, Seyed Bahman Ghaderian, Homeira Rashidi, Mahmoud Mapar

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Background and Objective The metabolic syndrome (MetS) is considered the most important public health threat of the 21st century. This syndrome is characterized by a cluster of cardiovascular risk factors including increased central abdominal obesity, elevated triglycerides, reduced high-density lipoprotein, high blood pressure, increased fasting glucose, and hyperinsulinemia. MetS has been associated with hypogonadism and erectile dysfunction (ED), and MetS may be considered a risk factor for ED. The aim of this study was finding an association between metabolic syndrome and hypogonadism in Khouzestan, Iran. Subjects and Methods: In this study, 60 patients divided into two groups consisted of 30 cases (with metabolic syndrome) and 30 controls. Total and free Serum Testosterone and FBS in all of them were measured. Data was analyzed with SPSS20 program. Results: There was a significant difference between two groups about free Testosterone (P=0.01), FBS (P=0.002) and LH (P=0.03). Conclusion: According to this finding, it is thought the prevalence of hypogonadism in men with metabolic syndrome is more than the general population.

Keywords: metabolic syndrome, fasting blood sugar, hypogonadism, testosterone

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Authors: Hasan Farahneh, Xavier Fernando

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Leaky Feeder (LF) has been a proven technology for many decades and its promises broadband wireless access in short range but being overlooked until now. The LF is a natural MIMO transceiver ideal for micro and pico cells. In this work, the LF is considered as a linear antenna array MultiInput-Single-Output (MISO) and derive the average bit error rate (BER) in Rayleigh fading channel considering ideal and independent paths (iid) which consider there is no correlation and mutual coupling between transmit antennas (slots) or receiver antenna considering QPSK modulation with imperfect phase estimation. We consider maximal ratio transmission (MRT) at the transmit end and maximal ratio combining (MRC) at the receiving end. Analytical expressions are derived for the BER with radiating cable transmitters. The effects of slot spacing and carrier frequency on the BER are also studied. Numerical evaluations show the radiating cable transmitter offer much lower BER than a single antenna transmitter with same SNR.

Keywords: leaky feeder, BER, QPSK, rayleigh fading, channel gain, phase mismatch

Procedia PDF Downloads 379

Authors: J. Al-Dmour, A. Sagahyroon, A. Al-Ali, S. Abusnana

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Radio Frequency Based Identification Systems have emerged as one of the possible valuable solutions that can be utilized in healthcare systems. Nowadays, RFID tags are available with built-in human vital signs sensors such as Body Temperature, Blood Pressure, Heart Rate, Blood Sugar level and Oxygen Saturation in Blood. This work proposes the design, implementation, and testing of an integrated mobile RFID-based health care system. The system consists of a wireless mobile vital signs data acquisition unit (RFID-DAQ) integrated with a fuzzy-logic–based software algorithm to monitor and assess patients conditions. The system is implemented and tested in ‘Rashid Center for Diabetes and Research’, Ajman, UAE. System testing results are compared with the Modified Early Warning System (MEWS) that is currently used in practice. We demonstrate that the proposed and implemented system exhibits an accuracy level that is comparable and sometimes better than the widely adopted MEWS system.

Keywords: healthcare, fuzzy logic, MEWS, RFID

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Authors: Thirsa Sherry, Utkarsh Shrivastav, Kannan B. T., Iynthezhuton K.

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The field of aerodynamics and aeroacoustics remains one of the most poignant and well-researched fields of today. The current paper aims to investigate the predominant problem concerning the effects of noise of varying frequencies and waveforms on airflow surrounding an airfoil. Using a single speaker beneath the airfoil at different positions, we wish to simulate the effects of sound directly impinging on an airfoil and study its direct effects on airflow. We wish to study the same using smoke visualization methods with incense as our smoke-generating material in a variable-speed subsonic wind tunnel. Using frequencies and wavelengths similar to those of common engine noise, we wish to simulate real-world conditions of engine noise interfering with airflow and document the arising trends. These results will allow us to look into the real-world effects of noise on airflow and how to minimize them and expand on the possible relation between waveforms and noise. The parameters used in the study include frequency, Reynolds number, waveforms, angle of attack, and the effects on airflow when varying these parameters.

Keywords: engine noise, aeroacoustics, acoustic excitation, low speed

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Authors: El Korchi Ayoub, Cherif Raef

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Interior noise in vehicles is an essential factor affecting occupant comfort. Over recent decades, much work has been done to develop simulation tools for vehicle NVH. At the medium high-frequency range, the statistical energy analysis method (SEA) shows significant effectiveness in predicting noise and vibration responses of mechanical systems. In this paper, the evaluation of the sound pressure level (SPL) inside an automobile cabin has been performed numerically using the statistical energy analysis (SEA) method. A test car cabin was performed using a monopole source as a sound source. The decay rate method was employed to obtain the damping loss factor (DLF) of each subsystem of the developed SEA model. These parameters were then used to predict the sound pressure level in the interior cabin. The results show satisfactory agreement with the directly measured SPL. The developed SEA vehicle model can be used in early design phases and allows the engineer to identify sources contributing to the total noise and transmission paths.

Keywords: SEA, SPL, DLF, NVH

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Authors: Kamel Taıbı, Abdelmadjid Rais

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Nickel–Aluminium ferrites with the general formula Ni Alx Fe2-x O4 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) were studied using X-ray diffraction, Infra Red and Raman spectroscopy. XRD diffraction patterns and their Reitveld refinements show that all samples have a pure single-phase cubic spinel structure. From these patterns, the lattice parameters of these samples have been calculated and compared with those predicted theoretically. Most of the values were found to decrease with increasing Al content. Infra Red spectra showed two significant absorption bands. The high band corresponds to tetrahedral (A) sites and the lower band to octahedral [B] sites, thus confirming the single phase spinel structure. For all compositions, Raman spectra show the five active modes A1g + E1g + 3 T2g of the motion of O2- ions and both the A-site and B-site ions. The Raman frequencies trend with aluminium concentration show a blue shift for all modes consistent with the replacement of Fe3+ by lower mass Al3+. Composition dependence of the Raman frequency modes is discussed in relationship with the cations distribution among the A-sites and B-sites.

Keywords: Ni-Al ferrites, spinel structure, XRD, Raman spectroscopy

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Authors: A. Giniatoulline

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We consider the internal oscillations of the ocean which are caused by the gravity force and the Coriolis force, for different models with changeable density, heat transfer, and salinity. Traditionally, the mathematical description of the resonance effect is related to the growing amplitude as a result of input vibrations. We offer a different approach: the study of the relation between the spectrum of the internal oscillations and the properties of the limiting amplitude of the solution for the harmonic input vibrations of the external forces. Using the results of the spectral theory of self-adjoint operators in Hilbert functional spaces, we prove that there exists an explicit relation between the localization of the frequency of the external input vibrations with respect to the essential spectrum of proper inner oscillations and the non-uniqueness of the limiting amplitude. The results may find their application in various problems concerning mathematical modeling of turbulent flows in the ocean.

Keywords: computational fluid dynamics, essential spectrum, limiting amplitude, rotating fluid, spectral theory, stratified fluid, the uniqueness of solutions of PDE equations

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Authors: Hengameh Hosseini

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Design of large healthcare facilities – such as hospitals, multi-service line clinics, and nursing facilities - that can accommodate patients with wide-ranging disabilities is a challenging endeavor and one that is poorly understood among healthcare facility managers, administrators, and executives. An even less-understood extension of this problem is the implications of weakly or insufficiently accommodative design of facilities for healthcare workers in physically-intensive jobs who may also suffer from a range of disabilities and who are therefore at increased risk of workplace accident and injury. Combine this reality with the vast range of facility types, ages, and designs, and the problem of universal accommodation becomes even more daunting and complex. In this study, we focus on the implication of facility design for healthcare workers suffering with low vision who also have physically active jobs. The points of difficulty are myriad and could span health service infrastructure, the equipment used in health facilities, and transport to and from appointments and other services can all pose a barrier to health care if they are inaccessible, less accessible, or even simply less comfortable for people with various disabilities. We conduct a series of surveys and interviews with employees and administrators of 7 facilities of a range of sizes and ownership models in the Northeastern United States and combine that corpus with in-facility observations and data collection to identify five major points of failure common to all the facilities that we concluded could pose safety threats to employees with vision impairments, ranging from very minor to severe. We determine that lack of design empathy is a major commonality among facility management and ownership. We subsequently propose three methods for remedying this lack of empathy-informed design, to remedy the dangers posed to employees: the use of an existing open-sourced Augmented Reality application to simulate the low-vision experience for designers and managers; the use of a machine learning model we develop to automatically infer facility shortcomings from large datasets of recorded patient and employee reviews and feedback; and the use of a computer vision model fine tuned on images of each facility to infer and predict facility features, locations, and workflows, that could again pose meaningful dangers to visually impaired employees of each facility. After conducting a series of real-world comparative experiments with each of these approaches, we conclude that each of these are viable solutions under particular sets of conditions, and finally characterize the range of facility types, workforce composition profiles, and work conditions under which each of these methods would be most apt and successful.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, healthcare workers, facility design, disability, visually impaired, workplace safety

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Authors: Abdelhamid Louliej, Younes Jabrane

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Satellites are becoming indispensable assets to fifth-generation (5G) new radio architecture, complementing wireless and terrestrial communication links. The combination of satellites and 5G architecture allows consumers to access all next-generation services anytime, anywhere, including scenarios, like traveling to remote areas (without coverage). Nevertheless, this solution faces several challenges, such as a significant propagation delay, Doppler frequency shift, and high Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR), causing signal distortion due to the non-linear saturation of the High-Power Amplifier (HPA). To compensate for HPA non-linearity in 5G satellite transmission, an efficient pre-distorter scheme using Neural Networks (NN) is proposed. To assess the proposed NN pre-distorter, two types of HPA were investigated: Travelling Wave Tube Amplifier (TWTA) and Solid-State Power Amplifier (SSPA). The results show that the NN pre-distorter design presents EVM improvement by 95.26%. NMSE and ACPR were reduced by -43,66 dB and 24.56 dBm, respectively. Moreover, the system suffers no degradation of the Bit Error Rate (BER) for TWTA and SSPA amplifiers.

Keywords: satellites, 5G, neural networks, HPA, TWTA, SSPA, EVM, NMSE, ACPR

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Authors: Charawee Butbumrung

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The purpose of this research were to study the factors influencing savings of people between 30-40 years old in Dusit District, Bangkok Metropolis. The statistic used in data analysis were frequency, mean and standard deviation, t-test, one-way ANOVA and Pearson’s correlation coefficient based on social science statistic program. Result of hypothesis testing showed that married people earning different monthly salary generally saved by depositing into the bank at different level. People of different occupation saved in form of life insurance at different level at statistical significance 0.05. Result of influence testing between saving motivation was found that people saved for use upon sickness or getting older, saved for the children. Worthiness and certainty influenced saving in the same direction at high level while saving motivation in public relation, annual tax reduction, inducement by the others, bonus gift influenced saving in the same direction at moderate level at statistical significance 0.05.

Keywords: Dusit District, factors, saving, Bangkok Metropolis

Procedia PDF Downloads 241

Authors: R. Dakir, J. Zbitou, Ahmed Mouhsen, A. Errkik, A. Tajmouati, M. Latrach

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The design and analysis of a new compact and miniaturized monopole antenna structure for ultra wideband (UWB) wireless applications are presented and suggested in this paper. The proposed antenna structure is based on corner radiator patch with T-shaped slot and fed by mictostrip feed line with a partial ground plane combined a periodic rectangular slot and inverted T-stub tuning to increase the bandwidth. The design parameters and the performance of the suggested antenna are investigated by using 'CST Microwave Studio' and Advanced Design System. The final prototype of the proposed antenna operates from 3GHZ to 25GHz, corresponding to wide input impedance bandwidth around (157.14%) with a size of 16*24mm2 and can be easily integrated with radio-frequency or microwave circuits with low cost manufacturing. Details of the UWB antenna design and both simulated and measured results are described and discussed.

Keywords: UWB, T-shaped slots, improvement, bandwidth, stub tuning

Procedia PDF Downloads 291

Authors: Samrat Vikramaditya Tiwari, Atul Sewaiwar, Yeon-Ho Chung

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Device-to-device (D2D) communication is considered a promising technique to provide wireless peer-to-peer communication services. Due to increasing demand on mobile services, available spectrum for radio frequency (RF) based communications becomes scarce. Recently, visible light communications (VLC) has evolved as a high speed wireless data transmission technology for indoor environments with abundant available bandwidth. In this paper, a novel VLC based D2D communication that provides wireless peer-to-peer communication is proposed. Potential low operating power devices for an efficient D2D communication over increasing distance of separation between devices is analyzed. Optical repeaters (OR) are also proposed to enhance the performance in an environment where direct D2D communications yield degraded performance. Simulation results show that VLC plays an important role in providing efficient D2D communication up to a distance of 1 m between devices. It is also found that the OR significantly improves the coverage distance up to 3.5 m.

Keywords: visible light communication, light emitting diode, device-to-device, optical repeater

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Authors: S. B. Kerur, B. S. Murgayya

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The development of micro and nano particle is challenging task and the study of the behavior of material at the micro level is gaining importance as their behavior at micro/nano level is different. These micro particle are being used as a sensing element to measure and detects the hazardous chemical, gases, explosives and biological agents. In the present study, finite element method is used for static and dynamic analysis of simple and composite cantilever beams of different shapes. The present FE model is validated with available analytical results and various parameters like shape, materials properties, damped and undamped conditions are considered for the numerical study. The results show the effects of shape change on the natural frequency and as these are used with fluid for chemical applications, the effect of damping due to viscous nature of fluid are simulated by considering different damping coefficient effect on the dynamic behavior of cantilever beams. The obtained results show the effect of these parameters can be effectively utilized based on system requirements.

Keywords: micro, FEM, dynamic, cantilever beam

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Authors: Usman Tunde Saadu

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The study examined gender differences in emotional adjustment of fresh students in Kwara State University, Malete. The descriptive survey design was adopted for the study, and 300 fresh students were randomly selected across the six colleges in the University. An adapted Questionnaire from Nadia (2012) was used to collect data from respondents on emotional adjustment. One research question was answered with a descriptive statistic of frequency count and percentage, and one hypothesis was tested with t-test statistical analysis at 0.05 level of significance. Findings of the study revealed that fresh students have a low level of emotional adjustment, and male students were found to have more emotional adjustment than female. Based on these findings, the researcher, therefore, concluded that fresh students have a low level of emotional adjustment. Based on these findings, the researcher recommended among others that emotional adjustment skills should be introduced into the secondary school curriculum to give students the opportunity to learn about these skills before they are being admitted into University.

Keywords: emotional adjustment, fresh students, gender differences, students

Procedia PDF Downloads 178

Authors: A. Djahbar, M. Aillerie, E. Bounadja

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In this paper we treat a new structure of a high-power actuator which is used to either industry or electric traction. Indeed, the actuator is constituted by two induction motors, the first is a six-phase motor connected in series with another three-phase motor via the stators. The whole is supplied by a single static converter. Our contribution in this paper is the optimization of the system supply source. This is feeding the multimotor group by a direct converter frequency without using the DC-link capacitor. The modelling of the components of multimotor system is presented first. Only the first component of stator currents is used to produce the torque/flux of the first machine in the group. The second component of stator currents is considered as additional degrees of freedom and which can be used for power conversion for the other connected motors. The decoupling of each motor from the group is obtained using the direct vector control scheme. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed structure.

Keywords: induction machine, motor drives, scalar modulation technique, three-to-six phase matrix converter

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Authors: Vidya Yadav

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In every society, males and females are expected to behave in certain ways, and in every culture, those expectation, values and norms are different and vary accordingly. Many of the inequalities between men and women are rooted in institutional structure such as in educational field, labour market, wages, decision-making power, access to services as well as in accessing the health and well-being care also. The marriage and kinship pattern shape both men’s and women’s lives. Earlier many studies have highlighted the gender disparities which vary tremendously between regions, social classes, and communities. This study will try to explore the prominent indicators to show the status of women and well-being condition in Indian society. Primarily this paper concern with firstly identification of indicators related to gender in each area like education, work status, mobility, women participation in public and private decision making, autonomy and domestic violence etc. And once the indicators are identified next task is to define them. The indicators which are selected here are for a comparison of women’s status across Indian states. Recent Indian Human Development Survey, 2011-12 has been procured to show the current situation of women. Result shows that in spite of rising levels of education and images of growing westernization in India, love marriages remain in rarity even among urban elite. In India marriage is universal, and most of the men and women marry at relatively young age. Even though the legal age of marriage is 18, but more than 60 percent are married before the legal age. Not surprisingly, but Bihar and Rajasthan are the states with earliest age at marriage. Most of them reported that they have very limited contact with their husband before marriages. Around 69 percent of women met their husbands on the day of the wedding or shortly before. In spite of decline in fertility, still childbearing remains essential to women’s lives. Mostly women aged 25 and older had at least one child. Women’s control over household resources, physical space and mobility is also limited. Indian women’s, mostly rely on men to purchase day to day necessities, as well as medicines, as well as other necessary items. This ultimately reduces the likelihood that women have cash in hand for such purchases. The story is quite different when it comes to have control over decision over purchasing household assets such as TVs or refrigerator, names on the bank account, and home ownership papers. However, the likelihood of ownership rises among urbanite educated women’s. Women’s still have to the cultural norms and the practice of purdah or ghunghat, familial control over women’s physical movement. Wife beating and domestic violence still remain pervasive, and beaten for minor transgression like going out without permission. Development of India cannot be realized without the very significant component of gender. Therefore detailed examinations of different indicators are required to understand, strategize, plan and formulate programmes.

Keywords: autonomy, empowerment, gender, violence

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Authors: Nina Sankat, Gerd Wilsch, Cassian Gottlieb, Steven Millar, Tobias Guenther

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Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) is a combination of laser ablation and optical emission spectroscopy, which in principle can simultaneously analyze all elements on the periodic table. Materials can be analyzed in terms of chemical composition in a two-dimensional, time efficient and minor destructive manner. These advantages predestine LIBS as a monitoring technique in the field of civil engineering. The decreasing service life of concrete infrastructures is a continuously growing problematic. A variety of intruding, harmful substances can damage the reinforcement or the concrete itself. To insure a sufficient service life a regular monitoring of the structure is necessary. LIBS offers many applications to accomplish a successful examination of the conditions of concrete structures. A selection of those applications are the 2D-evaluation of chlorine-, sodium- and sulfur-concentration, the identification of carbonation depths and the representation of the heterogeneity of concrete. LIBS obtains this information by using a pulsed laser with a short pulse length (some mJ), which is focused on the surfaces of the analyzed specimen, for this only an optical access is needed. Because of the high power density (some GW/cm²) a minimal amount of material is vaporized and transformed into a plasma. This plasma emits light depending on the chemical composition of the vaporized material. By analyzing the emitted light, information for every measurement point is gained. The chemical composition of the scanned area is visualized in a 2D-map with spatial resolutions up to 0.1 mm x 0.1 mm. Those 2D-maps can be converted into classic depth profiles, as typically seen for the results of chloride concentration provided by chemical analysis like potentiometric titration. However, the 2D-visualization offers many advantages like illustrating chlorine carrying cracks, direct imaging of the carbonation depth and in general allowing the separation of the aggregates from the cement paste. By calibrating the LIBS-System, not only qualitative but quantitative results can be obtained. Those quantitative results can also be based on the cement paste, while excluding the aggregates. An additional advantage of LIBS is its mobility. By using the mobile system, located at BAM, onsite measurements are feasible. The mobile LIBS-system was already used to obtain chloride, sodium and sulfur concentrations onsite of parking decks, bridges and sewage treatment plants even under hard conditions like ongoing construction work or rough weather. All those prospects make LIBS a promising method to secure the integrity of infrastructures in a sustainable manner.

Keywords: concrete, damage assessment, harmful substances, LIBS

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Authors: A. Al Drees, A. Alahmari, R. Almuwayshir

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The advanced information technology is becoming an important factor in the development of financial services industry, especially the banking industry. It has introduced new ways of delivering banking to the customer, such as Internet Banking. Banks began to look at electronic banking (e-banking) as a means to replace some of their traditional branch functions using the Internet as a new distribution channel. Some consumers have at least more than one account, and across banks, and access these accounts using e-banking services. To look at the current net worth position, customers have to login to each of their accounts and get the details and work on consolidation. This not only takes ample time but it is a repetitive activity at a specified frequency. To address this point, an account aggregation concept is added as a solution. E-banking account aggregation, as one of the e-banking types, appeared to build a stronger relationship with customers. Account Aggregation Service generally refers to a service that allows customers to manage their bank accounts maintained in different institutions through a common Internet banking operating a platform, with a high concern to security and privacy. This paper presents an overview of an e-banking account aggregation approach as a new service in the e-banking field.

Keywords: e-banking, account aggregation, security, enterprise development

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Authors: Ahmadali Tahmasebimoradi, Chetra Mang, Xavier Lorang

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Thanks to the additive manufacturing process, lattice structures are replacing the traditional structures in aeronautical and automobile industries. In order to evaluate the mechanical response of the lattice structures, one has to resort to numerical techniques. Ansys is a globally well-known and trusted commercial software that allows us to model the lattice structures and analyze their mechanical responses using either solid or beam elements. In this software, a script may be used to systematically generate the lattice structures for any size. On the one hand, solid elements allow us to correctly model the contact between the substrates (the supports of the lattice structure) and the lattice structure, the local plasticity, and the junctions of the microbeams. However, their computational cost increases rapidly with the size of the lattice structure. On the other hand, although beam elements reduce the computational cost drastically, it doesn’t correctly model the contact between the lattice structures and the substrates nor the junctions of the microbeams. Also, the notion of local plasticity is not valid anymore. Moreover, the deformed shape of the lattice structure doesn’t correspond to the deformed shape of the lattice structure using 3D solid elements. In this work, motivated by the pros and cons of the 3D and beam models, a numerically hybrid model is presented for the lattice structures to reduce the computational cost of the simulations while avoiding the aforementioned drawbacks of the beam elements. This approach consists of the utilization of solid elements for the junctions and beam elements for the microbeams connecting the corresponding junctions to each other. When the global response of the structure is linear, the results from the hybrid models are in good agreement with the ones from the 3D models for body-centered cubic with z-struts (BCCZ) and body-centered cubic without z-struts (BCC) lattice structures. However, the hybrid models have difficulty to converge when the effect of large deformation and local plasticity are considerable in the BCCZ structures. Furthermore, the effect of the junction’s size of the hybrid models on the results is investigated. For BCCZ lattice structures, the results are not affected by the junction’s size. This is also valid for BCC lattice structures as long as the ratio of the junction’s size to the diameter of the microbeams is greater than 2. The hybrid model can take into account the geometric defects. As a demonstration, the point clouds of two lattice structures are parametrized in a platform called LATANA (LATtice ANAlysis) developed by IRT-SystemX. In this process, for each microbeam of the lattice structures, an ellipse is fitted to capture the effect of shape variation and roughness. Each ellipse is represented by three parameters; semi-major axis, semi-minor axis, and angle of rotation. Having the parameters of the ellipses, the lattice structures are constructed in Spaceclaim (ANSYS) using the geometrical hybrid approach. The results show a negligible discrepancy between the hybrid and 3D models, while the computational cost of the hybrid model is lower than the computational cost of the 3D model.

Keywords: additive manufacturing, Ansys, geometric defects, hybrid finite element model, lattice structure

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Authors: Zainab D. Abd Ali, Thamir H. Khalaf

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In this paper, the characteristics of electric discharge in gap between two (parallel-plate) dielectric plates are studies, the gap filled with Argon gas in atm pressure at ambient temperature, the thickness of gap typically less than 1 mm and dielectric may be up 10 cm in diameter. One of dielectric plates a sinusoidal voltage is applied with Rf frequency, the other plates is electrically grounded. The simulation in this work depending on Boltzmann equation solver in first few moments, fluid model and plasma chemistry, in one dimensional modeling. This modeling have insight into characteristics of Dielectric Barrier Discharge through studying properties of breakdown of gas, electric field, electric potential, and calculating electron density, mean electron energy, electron current density ,ion current density, total plasma current density. The investigation also include: 1. The influence of change in thickness of gap between two plates if we doubled or reduced gap to half. 2. The effect of thickness of dielectric plates. 3. The influence of change in type and properties of dielectric material (gass, silicon, Teflon).

Keywords: computational diagnostics, Boltzmann equation, electric discharge, electron density

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Authors: Hsiao-Lung Chan, Ching-Yi Wu, Yan-Zou Lin, Yo Chiao, Ya-Ju Chang

Abstract:

Robot-assisted bilateral arm training has demonstrated useful to improve motor control in stroke patients and save human resources. In clinics, the efficiency of this treatment is mostly performed by comparing functional scales before and after rehabilitation. However, most of these assessments are based on behavior evaluation. The underlying improvement of muscle activation and coordination is unknown. Moreover, stroke patients are easier to have muscle fatigue under robot-assisted rehabilitation due to the weakness of muscles. This safety issue is still less studied. In this study, EMG analysis was applied during training. Our preliminary results showed the co-contraction index and co-contraction area index can delineate the improved muscle coordination of biceps brachii vs. flexor carpiradialis. Moreover, the smoothed, normalized cycle-by-cycle median frequency of left and right extensor carpiradialis decreased as the training progress, implying the occurrence of muscle fatigue.

Keywords: robot-assisted rehabilitation, strokes, muscle coordination, muscle fatigue

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Authors: Tammam A. Benmusa, Mohamed A. Shlibek, Rawad M. Swesi

Abstract:

The investigation of Buildings Penetration Loss (BPL) of radio signal is getting more and more important. It plays an important role in calculating the indoor coverage for wireless communication networks. In this paper, the theory behind BPL and its mechanisms have been reviewed. The operating frequency, coverage area type, climate condition, time of measurement, and other factors affecting the values of BPL have been discussed. The practical part of this work was conducting 4000 measurements of BPL in different areas in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, to get empirical model for this loss. The measurements were taken for 2 different types of wireless communication networks; mobile telephone network (for Almadar company), which operates at 900 MHz and WiMAX network (LTT company) which operates at 2500 MHz. The results for each network were summarized and presented in several graphs. The graphs are showing how the BPL affected by: time of measurement, morphology (type of area), and climatic environment.

Keywords: building penetration loss, wireless network, mobile network, link budget, indoor network performance

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Authors: Alireza Moghtaderi, Negin Khakpour

Abstract:

Disc Herniation is a common complication in the society and it is one of the main reasons for referring to physical medicine and rehabilitation clinics. Despite of various methods proposed for treatingthis disease, still there is disagreement on success of these methods especially in non-surgical methods, and thus current study aims at determining effect of laser beam and magnet on treatment of Intervertebral Disc Herniation. During a clinical trial study, 80 patients with Intervertebral Disc Herniation underwent a combined package of treatment including magnet, laser beam, PRP and Prolotherapy during 6 months. Average age of patients was 51.25 ± 10.7 with range of 25 – 71 years. 30 men (37.5%) and 50 women (62.5%) took part in the study. average weight of patients was 64.3 ± 7.2 with range of 49 – 79 kg. highest level of Disc Herniation was L5 – S1 with frequency of 17 cases (21.3%). Disc Herniation was severe in 30 cases before treatment, but it reduced to 3 casesafter treatment. This study indicates effect of combined treatment using non-invasive laser beam and magnet therapy on disco genic diseases and mechanical pains of spine is highly effective.

Keywords: hallux, valgus, botulinum toxin a, pain

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Authors: Ravinesh C. Deo

Abstract:

This article investigates through experiments the flow characteristics of plane jets from sharp-edged orifice-plate, beveled-edge and radially contoured nozzle. The first two configurations exhibit saddle-backed velocity profiles while the third shows a top-hat. A vena contracta is found for the jet emanating from orifice at x/h = 3 while the contoured case displays a potential core extending to the range x/h = 5. A spurt in jet pressure on the centerline supports vena contracta for the orifice-jet. Momentum thicknesses and integral length scales elongate linearly with x although the growth of the shear-layer and large-scale eddies for the orifice are greater than the contoured case. The near-field spectrum exhibits higher frequency of the primary eddies that concur with enhanced turbulence intensity. Importantly, highly “turbulent” state of the orifice-jet prevails in the far-field where the spectra confirm more energetic secondary eddies associated with greater flapping amplitude of the orifice-jet.

Keywords: orifice, beveled-edge-orifice, radially contoured nozzle, plane jets

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Authors: Fatima Muhammad Shitu

Abstract:

This paper focuses on the variation of sentence types in English academic writing. The major focus is on whether variation in sentence types can be attributable to the linguistic and most of all the gender of the writers. The objective of this paper is to analyze the sentence types produced by Male and Female ESL writers and to determine whether writers vary the frequency and use of sentence types across the text depending on the rhetorical choices of the writers to construct identity. This study is hinged on the functionalist approach to analyzing academic writing in use. For the purpose of this study, a corpus of 20 academic papers was created and the use of sentences types was analyzed. The data for the study was collated using percentages. In this case, the number of occurrences of the different sentence types were analyzed, calculated and then converted to percentages for each group i.e., male and female ESL writers. The results from these analyses were compared and contrasted in order to determine whether Male and Female ESL writer vary their sentence types, and, or employed the same or different sentence types in their texts. The conclusion is that Male and Female ESL writers not only vary in their use of sentence types in academic writings but also differ.

Keywords: sentence variation, ESL, gender, academic writing

Procedia PDF Downloads 325

Authors: Ahmad Al-Omari, Osama Khreis, Ahmad M. K. Dagamseh, Abdullah Ababneh, Kevin Lear

Abstract:

High-speed infrared vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser diodes (VCSELs) with Cu-plated heat sinks were fabricated and tested. VCSELs with 10 mm aperture diameter and 4 mm of electroplated copper demonstrated a -3dB modulation bandwidth (f_-3dB) of 14 GHz and a resonance frequency (f_R) of 9.5 GHz at a bias current density (J_bias) of only 4.3 kA/cm², which corresponds to an improved f_-3dB²/J_bias ratio of 44 GHz²/kA/cm². At higher and lower bias current densities, the f_-3dB²/ J_bias ratio decreased to about 30 GHz²/kA/cm² and 18 GHz²/kA/cm², respectively. Examination of the analogue modulation response demonstrated that the presented VCSELs displayed a steady f_-3dB/ f_R ratio of 1.41±10% over the whole range of the bias current (1.3I_th to 6.2I_th). The devices also demonstrated a maximum modulation bandwidth (f_{-3dB max}) of more than 16 GHz at a bias current less than the industrial bias current standard for reliability by 25%.

Keywords: current density, high-speed VCSELs, modulation bandwidth, small-signal characteristics, thermal impedance, vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

Procedia PDF Downloads 565