Search results for: Back Bone

Authors: Alireza Arab, Morteza Elsa, Amirhossein Moghanian

Abstract:

In this study, experiments were carried out to achieve a promising multifunctional and modified silicate based bioactive glass (BG). The main aim of the study was investigating the effect of lithium (Li) and magnesium (Mg) substitution, on in vitro bioactivity of substituted-58S BG. Moreover, it is noteworthy to state that modified BGs were synthesized in 60SiO₂–(36-x)CaO–4P₂O₅–(x)Li₂O and 60SiO₂–(36-x)CaO–4P₂O₅–(x)MgO (where x = 0, 5, 10 mol.%) quaternary systems, by sol-gel method. Their performance was investigated through different aspects such as biocompatibility, antibacterial activity as well as their effect on alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, and proliferation of MC3T3 cells. The antibacterial efficiency was evaluated against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. To do so, CaO was substituted with Li₂O and MgO up to 10 mol % in 58S-BGs and then samples were immersed in simulated body fluid up to 14 days and then, characterized by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry, and scanning electron microscopy. Results indicated that this modification led to a retarding effect on in vitro hydroxyapatite (HA) formation due to the lower supersaturation degree for nucleation of HA compared with 58s-BG. Meanwhile, magnesium revealed further pronounced effect. The 3-(4,5 dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5 diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) and ALP analysis illustrated that substitutions of both Li₂O and MgO, up to 5 mol %, had increasing effect on biocompatibility and stimulating proliferation of the pre-osteoblast MC3T3 cells in comparison to the control specimen. Regarding to bactericidal efficiency, the substitution of either Li or Mg for Ca in the 58s BG composition led to statistically significant difference in antibacterial behaviors of substituted-BGs. Meanwhile, the sample containing 5 mol % CaO/Li₂O substitution (BG-5L) was selected as a multifunctional biomaterial in bone repair/regeneration due to the improved biocompatibility, enhanced ALP activity and antibacterial efficiency among all of the synthesized L-BGs and M-BGs.

Keywords: Alkaline, alkaline earth, bioactivity, biomedical applications, sol-gel processes.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 575

Authors: S. Karabulut, A. Güllü, A. Güldas, R. Gürbüz

Abstract:

This study investigates the effects of the lead angle and chip thickness variation on surface roughness during the machining of compacted graphite iron using ceramic cutting tools under dry cutting conditions. Analytical models were developed for predicting the surface roughness values of the specimens after the face milling process. Experimental data was collected and imported to the artificial neural network model. A multilayer perceptron model was used with the back propagation algorithm employing the input parameters of lead angle, cutting speed and feed rate in connection with chip thickness. Furthermore, analysis of variance was employed to determine the effects of the cutting parameters on surface roughness. Artificial neural network and regression analysis were used to predict surface roughness. The values thus predicted were compared with the collected experimental data, and the corresponding percentage error was computed. Analysis results revealed that the lead angle is the dominant factor affecting surface roughness. Experimental results indicated an improvement in the surface roughness value with decreasing lead angle value from 88° to 45°.

Keywords: CGI, milling, surface roughness, ANN, regression, modeling, analysis.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1970

Authors: E. S. Gower, T. Tsalaile, E. Rakgati, M. O. J. Hawksford

Abstract:

A frequency grouping approach for multi-channel instantaneous blind source separation (I-BSS) of convolutive mixtures is proposed for a lower net residual inter-symbol interference (ISI) and inter-channel interference (ICI) than the conventional short-time Fourier transform (STFT) approach. Starting in the time domain, STFTs are taken with overlapping windows to convert the convolutive mixing problem into frequency domain instantaneous mixing. Mixture samples at the same frequency but from different STFT windows are grouped together forming unique frequency groups. The individual frequency group vectors are input to the I-BSS algorithm of choice, from which the output samples are dispersed back to their respective STFT windows. After applying the inverse STFT, the resulting time domain signals are used to construct the complete source estimates via the weighted overlap-add method (WOLA). The proposed algorithm is tested for source deconvolution given two mixtures, and simulated along with the STFT approach to illustrate its superiority for fairly motionless sources.

Keywords: Blind source separation, short-time Fouriertransform, weighted overlap-add method

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1528

Authors: Carl D. Hays III

Abstract:

The purpose of this theory paper is to add a reliability indicator to Operating Equipment Effectiveness (OpEE) which is used to evaluate the productivity of machines and equipment with wheels and tracks. OpEE is a derivative of Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) which has been widely used for many decades in factories that manufacture products. OEE has three variables, Availability Rate, Work Rate, and Quality Rate. When OpEE was converted from OEE, the Quality Rate variable was replaced with Travel Rate. Travel Rate is essentially utilization which is a common performance indicator in machines and equipment. OpEE was designed for machines operated in remote locations such as forests, roads, fields, and farms. This theory paper intends to add the Quality Rate variable back to OpEE by including a reliability indicator in the dashboard view. This paper will suggest that the OEE quality variable can be used with a reliability metric and combined with the OpEE score. With this dashboard view of both performance metrics and reliability, fleet managers will have a more complete understanding of equipment productivity and reliability. This view will provide both leading and lagging indicators of performance in machines and equipment. The lagging indicators will indicate the trends and the leading indicators will provide an overall performance score to manage.

Keywords: Operating Equipment Effectiveness, Operating Equipment Effectiveness, IoT, Contamination Monitoring.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 510

Authors: Vishal Awasthi, Tanya Soni, Vigya Awasthi, Swati Singh, Shivali Verma

Abstract:

There is a growing demand for a network that grants a high level of data security and confidentiality. For this reason, the semantic web was introduced, which allows data to be shared and reused across applications while safeguarding users privacy and user’s will grab back control of their data. The earlier Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 versions were built on client-server architecture, in  which there was the risk of data theft and unconsented sale of user data. A decentralized version, Known as Web 3.0, that is mostly built on blockchain technology was interjected to resolve these issues. The recent research focuses on blockchain technology, deals with privacy, security, transparency, and innovation of decentralized applications (DApps), e.g. a Twitter Clone, Whatsapp clone. In this paper the Twitter Alike built on the Ethereum blockchain will replace traditional techniques with improved latency, throughput, and data ownership. The central principle of this DApp is smart contract implemented using Solidity which is an object- oriented and highlevel language. Consequently, this will provide a better Quality Services, high data security, and integrity for both present and future internet technologies.

Keywords: Blockchain, DApps, Ethereum, Semantic Web, Smart Contract, Solidity.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 341

Authors: Yisheng Rong, Jian Sun, Weiqiang Liu, Renjun Zhan

Abstract:

A CFD study on heat flux reduction in hypersonic flow with opposing jet has been conducted. Flowfield parameters, reattachment point position, surface pressure distributions and heat flux distributions are obtained and validated with experiments. The physical mechanism of heat reduction has been analyzed. When the opposing jet blows, the freestream is blocked off, flows to the edges and not interacts with the surface to form aerodynamic heating. At the same time, the jet flows back to form cool recirculation region, which reduces the difference in temperature between the surface and the nearby gas, and then reduces the heat flux. As the pressure ratio increases, the interface between jet and freestream is gradually pushed away from the surface. Larger the total pressure ratio is, lower the heat flux is. To study the effect of the intensity of opposing jet more reasonably, a new parameter RPA has been introduced by combining the flux and the total pressure ratio. The study shows that the same shock wave position and total heat load can be obtained with the same RPA with different fluxes and the total pressures, which means the new parameter could stand for the intensity of opposing jet and could be used to analyze the influence of opposing jet on flow field and aerodynamic heating.

Keywords: opposing jet, aerodynamic heating, total pressure ratio, thermal protection system

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2070

Authors: Dolapop Sribudda, Ura Pancharoen

Abstract:

The separation of Hg (II) from produced water by hollow fiber contactors (HFC) was investigation. This system included of two hollow fiber modules in the series connecting. The first module used for the extraction reaction and the second module for stripping reaction. Aliquat336 extractant was fed from the organic reservoirs into the shell side of the first hollow fiber module and continuous to the shell side of the second module. The organic liquid was continuously feed recirculate and back to the reservoirs. The feed solution was pumped into the lumen (tube side) of the first hollow fiber module. Simultaneously, the stripping solution was pumped in the same way in tube side of the second module. The feed and stripping solution was fed which had a countercurrent flow. Samples were kept in the outlet of feed and stripping solution at 1 hour and characterized concentration of Hg (II) by Inductively Couple Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES). Feed solution was produced water from natural gulf of Thailand. The extractant was Aliquat336 dissolved in kerosene diluent. Stripping solution used was nitric acid (HNO3) and thiourea (NH2CSNH2). The effect of carrier concentration and type of stripping solution were investigated. Results showed that the best condition were 10 % (v/v) Aliquat336 and 1.0 M NH2CSNH2. At the optimum condition, the extraction and stripping of Hg (II) were 98% and 44.2%, respectively.

Keywords: Hg (II), hollow fiber contactor, produced water, wastewater treatment.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1827

Authors: M.Saleem Khan, Khaled Benkrid

Abstract:

This paper presents a time control liquids mixing system in the tanks as an application of fuzzy time control discrete model. The system is designed for a wide range of industrial applications. The simulation design of control system has three inputs: volume, viscosity, and selection of product, along with the three external control adjustments for the system calibration or to take over the control of the system autonomously in local or distributed environment. There are four controlling elements: rotatory motor, grinding motor, heating and cooling units, and valves selection, each with time frame limit. The system consists of three controlled variables measurement through its sensing mechanism for feed back control. This design also facilitates the liquids mixing system to grind certain materials in tanks and mix with fluids under required temperature controlled environment to achieve certain viscous level. Design of: fuzzifier, inference engine, rule base, deffuzifiers, and discrete event control system, is discussed. Time control fuzzy rules are formulated, applied and tested using MATLAB simulation for the system.

Keywords: Fuzzy time control, industrial application and timecontrol systems, adjustment of Fuzzy system, liquids mixing system, design of fuzzy time control DEV system.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2552

Authors: Chryssa Thermolia, Ekaterini S. Bei, Stelios Sotiriadis, Kostas Stravoskoufos, Euripides G.M. Petrakis

Abstract:

Moving into a new era of healthcare, new tools and devices are developed to extend and improve health services, such as remote patient monitoring and risk prevention. In this concept, Internet of Things (IoT) and Cloud Computing present great advantages by providing remote and efficient services, as well as cooperation between patients, clinicians, researchers and other health professionals. This paper focuses on patients suffering from bipolar disorder, a brain disorder that belongs to a group of conditions called affective disorders, which is characterized by great mood swings. We exploit the advantages of Semantic Web and Cloud Technologies to develop a patient monitoring system to support clinicians. Based on intelligently filtering of evidence-knowledge and individual-specific information we aim to provide treatment notifications and recommended function tests at appropriate times or concluding into alerts for serious mood changes and patient’s nonresponse to treatment. We propose an architecture as the back-end part of a cloud platform for IoT, intertwining intelligence devices with patients’ daily routine and clinicians’ support.

Keywords: Bipolar disorder, intelligent systems patient monitoring, semantic web technologies, IoT.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2443

Authors: Yi Chao Ma, Cheng Siong Chin, Wai Lok Woo

Abstract:

Since the last decade, there has been a rapid growth in digital multimedia, such as high-resolution media files and threedimentional movies. Hence, there is a need for large digital storage such as Hard Disk Drive (HDD). As such, users expect to have a quieter HDD in their laptop. In this paper, a jury test has been conducted on a group of 34 people where 17 of them are students who are the potential consumer, and the remaining are engineers who know the HDD. A total 13 HDD sound samples have been selected from over hundred HDD noise recordings. These samples are selected based on an agreed subjective feeling. The samples are played to the participants using head acoustic playback system, which enabled them to experience as similar as possible the same environment as have been recorded. Analysis has been conducted and the obtained results have indicated different group has different perception over the noises. Two neural network-based acoustic annoyance models are established based on back propagation neural network. Four psychoacoustic metrics, loudness, sharpness, roughness and fluctuation strength, are used as the input of the model, and the subjective evaluation results are taken as the output. The developed models are reasonably accurate in simulating both training and test samples.

Keywords: Hard disk drive noise, jury test, neural network model, psychoacoustic annoyance.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1533

Authors: Zheng Dian Xun, Cheng Bo, Lin Hetong

Abstract:

This paper focuses on the orbit avoidance strategy of the optical remote sensing satellite. The optical remote sensing satellite, moving along the Sun-synchronous orbit, is equipped with laser warning equipment to alert CCD camera from laser attacks. This paper explores the strategy of satellite avoidance to protect the CCD camera and also the satellite. The satellite could evasive to several target points in the orbital coordinates of virtual satellite. The so-called virtual satellite is a passive vehicle which superposes the satellite at the initial stage of avoidance. The target points share the consistent cycle time and the same semi-major axis with the virtual satellite, which ensures the properties of the satellite’s Sun-synchronous orbit remain unchanged. Moreover, to further strengthen the avoidance capability of satellite, it can perform multi-target-points avoid maneuvers. On occasions of fulfilling the satellite orbit tasks, the orbit can be restored back to virtual satellite through orbit maneuvers. There into, the avoid maneuvers adopts pulse guidance. In addition, the fuel consumption is optimized. The avoidance strategy discussed in this article is applicable to optical remote sensing satellite when it is encountered with hostile attack of space-based laser anti-satellite.

Keywords: Optical remote sensing satellite, satellite avoidance, virtual satellite, avoid target-point, avoid maneuver.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1499

Authors: Hani Mekdash, Lina Jaber, Yehia Temsah

Abstract:

Underground space is becoming a necessity nowadays, especially in highly congested urban areas. Retaining underground excavations using shoring systems is essential in order to protect adjoining structures from potential damage or collapse. Reinforced Concrete Piles (RCP) supported by multiple rows of tie-back anchors are commonly used type of shoring systems in deep excavations. However, executing anchors can sometimes be challenging because they might illegally trespass neighboring properties or get obstructed by infrastructure and other underground facilities. A technique is proposed in this paper, and it involves the addition of eccentric high-strength steel strands to the RCP section through ducts without providing the pile with lateral supports. The strands are then vertically stressed externally on the pile cap using a hydraulic jack, creating a compressive strengthening force in the concrete section. An experimental study about the behavior of the shoring wall by pre-stressed piles is presented during the execution of an open excavation in an urban area (Beirut city) followed by numerical analysis using finite element software. Based on the experimental results, this technique is proven to be cost-effective and provides flexible and sustainable construction of shoring works.

Keywords: Excavation, inclinometer, prestressing, shoring system.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 519

Authors: Minsoo Lee, Yun-mi Kim, Yoon-kyung Lee

Abstract:

XML data consists of a very flexible tree-structure which makes it difficult to support the storing and retrieving of XML data. The node numbering scheme is one of the most popular approaches to store XML in relational databases. Together with the node numbering storage scheme, structural joins can be used to efficiently process the hierarchical relationships in XML. However, in order to process a tree-structured XPath query containing several hierarchical relationships and conditional sentences on XML data, many structural joins need to be carried out, which results in a high query execution cost. This paper introduces mechanisms to reduce the XPath queries including branch nodes into a much more efficient form with less numbers of structural joins. A two step approach is proposed. The first step merges duplicate nodes in the tree-structured query and the second step divides the query into sub-queries, shortens the paths and then merges the sub-queries back together. The proposed approach can highly contribute to the efficient execution of XML queries. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme can reduce the query execution cost by up to an order of magnitude of the original execution cost.

Keywords: XML, Xpath, tree-structured query, query reduction.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1550

Authors: S. Ishak, M. G. Nasuruddin

Abstract:

Traditional Malay performances are carried out for both entertainment and curing purposes. In curing rituals, the men and women serving as shamans, communicates with the spirits and beings from the nether world to facilitate the curing process. The dependency on engaging with these other-worldly beings however, have raised religious issues of being syirik, namely practicing in rituals which are religiously forbidden. This study aims to observe how ritual leaders attempt to negotiate the fine balance between what has been religiously forbidden and the psychological and sociological needs of the patient. Two curing rituals, the main peteri and the malibobou were chosen to exemplify the communication between the physical and spiritual realities. In both rituals, the healers engaged in procedures of curing as they attempted to diagnose sicknesses and proffer cures with the help of the spirits. The main peteri was conducted by a male shaman, the tuk teri whereas the malibobou was conducted by a female ritual specialist, the bobohizan. Main peteri and the malibobou both ended with ritually thanking and sending off the spirits back to their nether, invisible domains. These curing rituals heal not only the sick individual, but by extension, the village community. Therefore, there is a need to reconcile these rituals with religious tenets, beliefs and sociological-political-cultural dimensions.

Keywords: Traditional healing, trance, spirits, main peteri, bobohizan.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1175

Authors: Alejandro Villegas, Cihan Varol

Abstract:

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) products is an emerging technology that can contain forensically important information for a criminal activity. Without having the user name and passwords, this forensically important information can still be gathered by the investigators. Although there are a few VoIP forensic investigative applications available in the literature, most of them are particularly designed to collect evidence from the Skype product. Therefore, in order to assist law enforcement with collecting forensically important information from variety of Betamax VoIP tools, CVOIP-FRU framework is developed. CVOIP-FRU provides a data gathering solution that retrieves usernames, contact lists, as well as call and SMS logs from Betamax VoIP products. It is a scripting utility that searches for data within the registry, logs and the user roaming profiles in Windows and Mac OSX operating systems. Subsequently, it parses the output into readable text and html formats. One superior way of CVOIP-FRU compared to the other applications that due to intelligent data filtering capabilities and cross platform scripting back end of CVOIP-FRU, it is expandable to include other VoIP solutions as well. Overall, this paper reveals the exploratory analysis performed in order to find the key data paths and locations, the development stages of the framework, and the empirical testing and quality assurance of CVOIP-FRU.

Keywords: Betamax, digital forensics, report utility, VoIP, VoIP Buster, VoIPWise.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3124

Authors: Mohamed K. Metwally, Sherif H. El-Gohary, Kyung Min Byun, Seung Moo Han, Soo Yeol Lee, Min Hyoung Cho, Gon Khang, Jinsung Cho, Tae-Seong Kim

Abstract:

Photoacoustic imaging (PAI) is a non-invasive and non-ionizing imaging modality that combines the absorption contrast of light with ultrasound resolution. Laser is used to deposit optical energy into a target (i.e., optical fluence). Consequently, the target temperature rises, and then thermal expansion occurs that leads to generating a PA signal. In general, most image reconstruction algorithms for PAI assume uniform fluence within an imaging object. However, it is known that optical fluence distribution within the object is non-uniform. This could affect the reconstruction of PA images. In this study, we have investigated the influence of optical fluence distribution on PA back-propagation imaging using finite element method. The uniform fluence was simulated as a triangular waveform within the object of interest. The non-uniform fluence distribution was estimated by solving light propagation within a tissue model via Monte Carlo method. The results show that the PA signal in the case of non-uniform fluence is wider than the uniform case by 23%. The frequency spectrum of the PA signal due to the non-uniform fluence has missed some high frequency components in comparison to the uniform case. Consequently, the reconstructed image with the non-uniform fluence exhibits a strong smoothing effect.

Keywords: Finite Element Method, Fluence Distribution, Monte Carlo Method, Photoacoustic Imaging.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2680

Authors: A. F. Ali, D. M. Shawky

Abstract:

Discovering new biological knowledge from the highthroughput biological data is a major challenge to bioinformatics today. To address this challenge, we developed a new approach for protein classification. Proteins that are evolutionarily- and thereby functionally- related are said to belong to the same classification. Identifying protein classification is of fundamental importance to document the diversity of the known protein universe. It also provides a means to determine the functional roles of newly discovered protein sequences. Our goal is to predict the functional classification of novel protein sequences based on a set of features extracted from each protein sequence. The proposed technique used datasets extracted from the Structural Classification of Proteins (SCOP) database. A set of spectral domain features based on Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) is used. The proposed classifier uses multilayer back propagation (MLBP) neural network for protein classification. The maximum classification accuracy is about 91% when applying the classifier to the full four levels of the SCOP database. However, it reaches a maximum of 96% when limiting the classification to the family level. The classification results reveal that spectral domain contains information that can be used for classification with high accuracy. In addition, the results emphasize that sequence similarity measures are of great importance especially at the family level.

Keywords: Bioinformatics, Artificial Neural Networks, Protein Sequence Analysis, Feature Extraction.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2365

Authors: Morteza Elsa, Amirhossein Moghanian

Abstract:

The major aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of CaO content on in vitro hydroxyapatite formation, MC3T3 cells cytotoxicity and proliferation as well as antibacterial efficiency of sol-gel derived SiO₂–CaO–P₂O₅ ternary system. For this purpose, first two grades of bioactive glass (BG); BG-58s (mol%: 60%SiO₂–36%CaO–4%P₂O₅) and BG-68s (mol%: 70%SiO₂–26%CaO–4%P₂O₅)) were synthesized by sol-gel method. Second, the effect of CaO content in their composition on in vitro bioactivity was investigated by soaking the BG-58s and BG-68s powders in simulated body fluid (SBF) for time periods up to 14 days and followed by characterization inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. Additionally, live/dead staining, 3-(4,5dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity assays were conducted respectively, as qualitatively and quantitatively assess for cell viability, proliferation and differentiations of MC3T3 cells in presence of 58s and 68s BGs. Results showed that BG-58s with higher CaO content showed higher in vitro bioactivity with respect to BG-68s. Moreover, the dissolution rate was inversely proportional to oxygen density of the BG. Live/dead assay revealed that both 58s and 68s increased the mean number live cells which were in good accordance with MTT assay. Furthermore, BG-58s showed more potential antibacterial activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria. Taken together, BG-58s with enhanced MC3T3 cells proliferation and ALP activity, acceptable bioactivity and significant high antibacterial effect against MRSA bacteria is suggested as a suitable candidate in order to further functionalizing for delivery of therapeutic ions and growth factors in bone tissue engineering.

Keywords: Antibacterial, bioactive glass, hydroxyapatite, proliferation, sol-gel processes.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 837

Authors: Chiang-Ho Cheng, An-Shik Yang, Hong-Yih Cheng, Ming-Yu Lai

Abstract:

This paper presents the design and fabrication of a novel piezoelectric actuator for a gas micro pump with check valve having the advantages of miniature size, light weight and low power consumption. The micro pump is designed to have eight major components, namely a stainless steel upper cover layer, a piezoelectric actuator, a stainless steel diaphragm, a PDMS chamber layer, two stainless steel channel layers with two valve seats, a PDMS check valve layer with two cantilever-type check valves and an acrylic substrate. A prototype of the gas micro pump, with a size of 52 mm × 50 mm × 5.0 mm, is fabricated by precise manufacturing. This device is designed to pump gases with the capability of performing the self-priming and bubble-tolerant work mode by maximizing the stroke volume of the membrane as well as the compression ratio via minimization of the dead volume of the micro pump chamber and channel. By experiment apparatus setup, we can get the real-time values of the flow rate of micro pump and the displacement of the piezoelectric actuator, simultaneously. The gas micro pump obtained higher output performance under the sinusoidal waveform of 250 Vpp. The micro pump achieved the maximum pumping rates of 1185 ml/min and back pressure of 7.14 kPa at the corresponding frequency of 120 and 50 Hz.

Keywords: PDMS, Check valve, Micro pump, Piezoelectric.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2028

Authors: Nasrin Bakhshizadeh, Ashkan Forootan

Abstract:

A major problem that affects the quality control of polymer in the industrial polymerization is the lack of suitable on-line measurement tools to evaluate the properties of the polymer such as melt and density indices. Controlling the polymerization in ordinary method is performed manually by taking samples, measuring the quality of polymer in the lab and registry of results. This method is highly time consuming and leads to producing large number of incompatible products. An online application for estimating melt index and density proposed in this study is a neural network based on the input-output data of the polyethylene production plant. Temperature, the level of reactors' bed, the intensity of ethylene mass flow, hydrogen and butene-1, the molar concentration of ethylene, hydrogen and butene-1 are used for the process to establish the neural model. The neural network is taught based on the actual operational data and back-propagation and Levenberg-Marquart techniques. The simulated results indicate that the neural network process model established with three layers (one hidden layer) for forecasting the density and the four layers for the melt index is able to successfully predict those quality properties.

Keywords: Polyethylene, polymerization, density, melt index, neural network.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 687

Authors: Muhibul H. Bhuyan, Mafujul Hasan

Abstract:

If a person can monitor his/her heart rate regularly then he/she can detect heart disease early and thus he/she can enjoy longer life span. Therefore, this disease should be taken seriously. Hence, many health care devices and monitoring systems are being designed to keep track of the heart disease. This work reports a design and simulation processes of an Arduino microcontroller based heart rate measurement and monitoring system in Proteus environment. Clipping sensors were utilized to sense the heart rate of an individual from the finger tips. It is a digital device and uses mainly infrared (IR) transmitter (mainly IR LED) and receiver (mainly IR photo-transistor or IR photo-detector). When the heart pumps the blood and circulates it among the blood vessels of the body, the changed blood pressure is detected by the transmitter and then reflected back to the receiver accordingly. The reflected signals are then processed inside the microcontroller through a software written assembly language and appropriate heart rate (HR) is determined by it in beats per minute (bpm) from the detected signal for a duration of 10 seconds and display the same in bpm on the LCD screen in digital format. The designed system was simulated on several persons with varying ages, for example, infants, adult persons and active athletes. Simulation results were found very satisfactory.

Keywords: Heart rate measurement, design, simulation, Proteus, Arduino Uno microcontroller.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1807

Authors: C. Ardil

Abstract:

In this paper, we introduce an e-collaborative learning circles methodology which utilizes the information and communication technologies (ICTs) in e-educational processes. In e-collaborative learning circles methodology, the teachers and students announce their research projects on various mailing lists and discussion boards using available ICTs. The teachers & moderators and students who are already members of the e-forums, discuss the project proposals in their classrooms sent out by the potential global partner schools and return the requested feed back to the proposing school(s) about their level of the participation and contribution in the research. In general, an e-collaborative learning circle project is implemented with a small and diverse group (usually 8-10 participants) from around the world. The students meet regularly over a period of weeks/months through the ICTs during the ecollaborative learning process. When the project is completed, a project product (e-book / DVD) is prepared and sent to the circle members. In this research, when taking into account the interests and motivation of the participating students with the facilitating role of the teacher(s), the students in each circle do research to obtain new data and information, thus enabling them to have the opportunity to meet both different cultures and international understandings across the globe. However, while the participants communicate along with the members in the circle they also practice and develop their communication language skills. Finally, teachers and students find the possibility to develop their skills in using the ICTs as well.

Keywords: Distance Education, Online Learning, Web BasedLearning, Learning Circles, e-Collaborative Learning Circles

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1694

Authors: John Kabuba, Antoine Mulaba-Bafubiandi, Kim Battle

Abstract:

This paper presents a critical study about the application of Neural Networks to ion-exchange process. Ionexchange is a complex non-linear process involving many factors influencing the ions uptake mechanisms from the pregnant solution. The following step includes the elution. Published data presents empirical isotherm equations with definite shortcomings resulting in unreliable predictions. Although Neural Network simulation technique encounters a number of disadvantages including its “black box", and a limited ability to explicitly identify possible causal relationships, it has the advantage to implicitly handle complex nonlinear relationships between dependent and independent variables. In the present paper, the Neural Network model based on the back-propagation algorithm Levenberg-Marquardt was developed using a three layer approach with a tangent sigmoid transfer function (tansig) at hidden layer with 11 neurons and linear transfer function (purelin) at out layer. The above mentioned approach has been used to test the effectiveness in simulating ion exchange processes. The modeling results showed that there is an excellent agreement between the experimental data and the predicted values of copper ions removed from aqueous solutions.

Keywords: Copper, ion-exchange process, neural networks, simulation

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1634

Authors: R. Bhargava, Sonam Singh

Abstract:

In the present study, a numerical analysis is carried out to investigate unsteady MHD (magneto-hydrodynamic) flow and heat transfer of a non-Newtonian second grade viscoelastic fluid over an oscillatory stretching sheet. The flow is induced due to an infinite elastic sheet which is stretched oscillatory (back and forth) in its own plane. Effect of viscous dissipation and joule heating are taken into account. The non-linear differential equations governing the problem are transformed into system of non-dimensional differential equations using similarity transformations. A newly developed meshfree numerical technique Element free Galerkin method (EFGM) is employed to solve the coupled non linear differential equations. The results illustrating the effect of various parameters like viscoelastic parameter, Hartman number, relative frequency amplitude of the oscillatory sheet to the stretching rate and Eckert number on velocity and temperature field are reported in terms of graphs and tables. The present model finds its application in polymer extrusion, drawing of plastic films and wires, glass, fiber and paper production etc.

Keywords: EFGM, MHD, Oscillatory stretching sheet, Unsteady, Viscoelastic

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1901

Authors: Ali Keshavarzi, Fereydoon Sarmadian

Abstract:

Investigation of soil properties like Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) plays important roles in study of environmental reaserches as the spatial and temporal variability of this property have been led to development of indirect methods in estimation of this soil characteristic. Pedotransfer functions (PTFs) provide an alternative by estimating soil parameters from more readily available soil data. 70 soil samples were collected from different horizons of 15 soil profiles located in the Ziaran region, Qazvin province, Iran. Then, multivariate regression and neural network model (feedforward back propagation network) were employed to develop a pedotransfer function for predicting soil parameter using easily measurable characteristics of clay and organic carbon. The performance of the multivariate regression and neural network model was evaluated using a test data set. In order to evaluate the models, root mean square error (RMSE) was used. The value of RMSE and R2 derived by ANN model for CEC were 0.47 and 0.94 respectively, while these parameters for multivariate regression model were 0.65 and 0.88 respectively. Results showed that artificial neural network with seven neurons in hidden layer had better performance in predicting soil cation exchange capacity than multivariate regression.

Keywords: Easily measurable characteristics, Feed-forwardback propagation, Pedotransfer functions, CEC.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2213

Authors: P. Kamphikul, P. Krachodnok, R. Wongsan

Abstract:

This paper presents the gain improvement of a sector antenna for mobile phone base station by using the new technique to enhance its gain for microstrip antenna (MSA) array without construction enlargement. The curved woodpile Electromagnetic Band Gap (EBG) has been utilized to improve the gain instead. The advantages of this proposed antenna are reducing the length of MSAs array but providing the higher gain and easy fabrication and installation. Moreover, it provides a fan-shaped radiation pattern, wide in the horizontal direction and relatively narrow in the vertical direction, which appropriate for mobile phone base station. The paper also presents the design procedures of a 1x8 MSAs array associated with U-shaped reflector for decreasing their back and side lobes. The fabricated curved woodpile EBG exhibits bandgap characteristics at 2.1 GHz and is utilized for realizing a resonant cavity of MSAs array. This idea has been verified by both the Computer Simulation Technology (CST) software and experimental results. As the results, the fabricated proposed antenna achieves a high gain of 20.3 dB and the half-power beam widths in the E- and H-plane of 36.8 and 8.7 degrees, respectively. Good qualitative agreement between measured and simulated results of the proposed antenna was obtained.

Keywords: Gain Improvement, Microstrip Antenna Array, Electromagnetic Band Gap, Base Station.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2981

Authors: Chang-Bin Huang, Fu-Kuang Ko

Abstract:

Taiwan was the first country in Asia to announce “Nuclear-Free Homeland" in 2002. In 2008, the new government released the Sustainable Energy Policy Guidelines to lower the nationwide CO2 emissions some time between 2016 and 2020 back to the level of year 2008, further abatement of CO2 emissions is planed in year 2025 when CO2 emissions will decrease to the level of year 2000. Besides, under consideration of the issues of energy, environment and economics (3E), the new government declared that the nuclear power is a carbon-less energy option. This study analyses the effects of nuclear power generation for CO2 abatement scenarios in Taiwan. The MARKAL-MACRO energy model was adopted to evaluate economic impacts and energy deployment due to life extension of existing nuclear power plants and build new nuclear power units in CO2 abatement scenarios. The results show that CO2 abatement effort is expensive. On the other hand, nuclear power is a cost-effective choice. The GDP loss rate in the case of building new nuclear power plants is around two thirds of the Nuclear-Free Homeland case. Nuclear power generation has the capacity to provide large-scale CO2 free electricity. Therefore, the results show that nuclear power is not only an option for Taiwan, but also a requisite for Taiwan-s CO2 reduction strategy.

Keywords: Energy model, CO2 abatement, nuclear power, economic impacts.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1879

Authors: Mughal Yar M, Israr Ul Haq, Bushra Noman

Abstract:

The stem cells have ability to differentiated themselves through mitotic cell division and various range of specialized cell types. Cellular differentiation is a way by which few specialized cell develops into more specialized.This paper studies the fundamental problem of computational schema for an artificial neural network based on chemical, physical and biological variables of state. By doing this type of study system could be model for a viable propagation of various economically important stem cells differentiation. This paper proposes various differentiation outcomes of artificial neural network into variety of potential specialized cells on implementing MATLAB version 2009. A feed-forward back propagation kind of network was created to input vector (five input elements) with single hidden layer and one output unit in output layer. The efficiency of neural network was done by the assessment of results achieved from this study with that of experimental data input and chosen target data. The propose solution for the efficiency of artificial neural network assessed by the comparatative analysis of “Mean Square Error" at zero epochs. There are different variables of data in order to test the targeted results.

Keywords: Computational shcmin, meiosis, mitosis, neuralnetwork, Stem cell SOM;

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1509

Authors: T. Shyam Ramanath, A. Sudharsan, A. Kavitha

Abstract:

As is needless to say; a majority of accidents, which occur, are due to drunk driving. As such, there is no effective mechanism to prevent this. Here we have designed an integrated system for the same purpose. Alcohol content in the driver-s body is detected by means of an infrared breath analyzer placed at the steering wheel. An infrared cell directs infrared energy through the sample and any unabsorbed energy at the other side is detected. The higher the concentration of ethanol, the more infrared absorption occurs (in much the same way that a sunglass lens absorbs visible light, alcohol absorbs infrared light). Thus the alcohol level of the driver is continuously monitored and calibrated on a scale. When it exceeds a particular limit the fuel supply is cutoff. If the device is removed also, the fuel supply will be automatically cut off or an alarm is sounded depending upon the requirement. This does not happen abruptly and special indicators are fixed at the back to avoid inconvenience to other drivers using the highway signals. Frame work for integration of sensors and control module in a scalable multi-agent system is provided .A SMS which contains the current GPS location of the vehicle is sent via a GSM module to the police control room to alert the police. The system is foolproof and the driver cannot tamper with it easily. Thus it provides an effective and cost effective solution for the problem of drunk driving in vehicles.

Keywords: Global system monitoring, global positioning system.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4219

Authors: Huan Chen, Bo-Chao Cheng, Chih-Chuan Cheng, Yi-Geng Chen, Yu Ling Chou

Abstract:

Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) comprises of sensor nodes which are designed to sense the environment, transmit sensed data back to the base station via multi-hop routing to reconstruct physical phenomena. Since physical phenomena exists significant overlaps between temporal redundancy and spatial redundancy, it is necessary to use Redundancy Suppression Algorithms (RSA) for sensor node to lower energy consumption by reducing the transmission of redundancy. A conventional algorithm of RSAs is threshold-based RSA, which sets threshold to suppress redundant data. Although many temporal and spatial RSAs are proposed, temporal-spatial RSA are seldom to be proposed because it is difficult to determine when to utilize temporal or spatial RSAs. In this paper, we proposed a novel temporal-spatial redundancy suppression algorithm, Codebookbase Redundancy Suppression Mechanism (CRSM). CRSM adopts vector quantization to generate a codebook, which is easily used to implement temporal-spatial RSA. CRSM not only achieves power saving and reliability for WSN, but also provides the predictability of network lifetime. Simulation result shows that the network lifetime of CRSM outperforms at least 23% of that of other RSAs.

Keywords: Redundancy Suppression Algorithm (RSA), Threshold-based RSA, Temporal RSA, Spatial RSA and Codebookbase Redundancy Suppression Mechanism (CRSM)

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1441