Search results for: Heart rate measurement

Authors: Ying Shang, Chencheng Wang

Abstract:

The wind field is the main driving factor for the spread of forest fires. For the simulation results of forest fire spread to be more accurate, it is necessary to obtain more detailed wind field data. Therefore, this paper studied the mountainous fine wind field simulation method coupled with WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting Model) and CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) to realize the numerical simulation of the wind field in a mountainous area with a scale of 30 m and a small measurement error. Local topographical changes have an important impact on the wind field. Based on the Rothermel fire spread model, a forest fire in Idaho in the western United States was simulated. The historical data proved that the simulation results had a good accuracy. They showed that the fire spread rate will decrease rapidly with time and then reach a steady state. After reaching a steady state, the fire spread growth area will not only be affected by the slope, but will also show a significant quadratic linear positive correlation with the wind speed change.

Keywords: Wind field, numerical simulation, forest fire spread, fire behavior model, complex terrain.

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Authors: Amit Bhattacharyya

Abstract:

The economic scenario of any region does not show the real picture for the measurement of overall development. Therefore, economic development must be accompanied by social development to be able to make an assessment to measure the level of development. The spatial variation with respect to social development has been discussed taking into account the quality of functioning of a social system in a specific area. In this paper, an attempt has been made to study the spatial distribution of social infrastructural facilities and analyze the magnitude of regional disparities at inter- block level in Barddhman district. It starts with the detailed account of the selection process of social infrastructure indicators and describes the methodology employed in the empirical analysis. Analyzing the block level data, this paper tries to identify the disparity among the blocks in the levels of social development. The results have been subsequently explained using both statistical analysis and geo spatial technique. The paper reveals that the social development is not going on at the same rate in every part of the district. Health facilities and educational facilities are concentrated at some selected point. So overall development activities come to be concentrated in a few centres and the disparity is seen over the blocks.

Keywords: Disparity, inter-block, social development, spatial variation.

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Authors: T. Sakamoto, N. Hori

Abstract:

A multi-rate discrete-time model, whose response agrees exactly with that of a continuous-time original at all sampling instants for any sampling periods, is developed for a linear system, which is assumed to have multiple real eigenvalues. The sampling rates can be chosen arbitrarily and individually, so that their ratios can even be irrational. The state space model is obtained as a combination of a linear diagonal state equation and a nonlinear output equation. Unlike the usual lifted model, the order of the proposed model is the same as the number of sampling rates, which is less than or equal to the order of the original continuous-time system. The method is based on a nonlinear variable transformation, which can be considered as a generalization of linear similarity transformation, which cannot be applied to systems with multiple eigenvalues in general. An example and its simulation result show that the proposed multi-rate model gives exact responses at all sampling instants.

Keywords: Multi-rate discretization, linear systems, triangularization, similarity transformation, diagonalization, exponential transformation, multiple eigenvalues

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Authors: Shaban Pazi, Chris Chatwin, Rupert Young, Philip Birch

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Internet infrastructures in most places of the world have been supported by the advancement of optical fiber technology, most notably wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) system. Optical technology by means of WDM system has revolutionized long distance data transport and has resulted in high data capacity, cost reductions, extremely low bit error rate, and operational simplification of the overall Internet infrastructure. This paper analyses and compares the system impairments, which occur at data transmission rates of 2.5Gb/s and 10 Gb/s per wavelength channel in our proposed optical WDM system for Internet infrastructure in Tanzania. The results show that the data transmission rate of 2.5 Gb/s has minimum system impairments compared with a rate of 10 Gb/s per wavelength channel, and achieves a sufficient system performance to provide a good Internet access service.

Keywords: Internet infrastructure, WDM system, standard single mode fibers, system impairments.

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Authors: Rasheed A. Adebayo, Mehluli M. Moyo, Ignatius V. Nsahlai

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Ruminants are known to relish roughage for productivity but the effect of its quality on digesta load in rumen, omasum, abomasum and other distal organs of the digestive tract is yet unknown. Reticulorumen fill is a strong indicator for long-term control of intake in ruminants. As such, the measurement and prediction of digesta load in these compartments may be crucial to productivity in the ruminant industry. The current study aimed at determining the effect of (a) diet quality on digesta load in digestive organs of goats, and (b) period of meal termination on the reticulorumen fill and digesta load in other distal compartments of the digestive tract of goats. Goats were fed with urea-treated hay (UTH), urea-sprayed hay (USH) and non-treated hay (NTH). At the end of eight weeks of a feeding trial period, upon termination of a meal in the morning, afternoon or evening, all goats were slaughtered in random groups of three per day to measure reticulorumen fill and digesta loads in other distal compartments of the digestive tract. Both diet quality and period affected (P < 0.05) the measure of reticulorumen fill. However, reticulorumen fill in the evening was larger (P < 0.05) than afternoon, while afternoon was similar (P > 0.05) to morning. Also, diet quality affected (P < 0.05) the wet omasal digesta load, wet abomasum, dry abomasum and dry caecum digesta loads but did not affect (P > 0.05) both wet and dry digesta loads in other compartments of the digestive tract. Period of measurement did not affect (P > 0.05) the wet omasal digesta load, and both wet and dry digesta loads in other compartments of the digestive tract except wet abomasum digesta load (P < 0.05) and dry caecum digesta load (P < 0.05). Both wet and dry reticulorumen fill were correlated (P < 0.05) with omasum (r = 0.623) and (r = 0.723), respectively. In conclusion, reticulorumen fill of goats decreased by improving the roughage quality; and the period of meal termination and measurement of the fill is a key factor to the quantity of digesta load.

Keywords: Digesta, goats, meal termination, reticulorumen fill.

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Authors: M. J. Pourvaghar, M. E. Bahram, M. Sayyah, Sh. Khoshemehry

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Adiponectin is a cytokine secreted by the adipose tissue that functions as an anti-inflammatory, antiathrogenic and anti-diabetic substance. Its density is inversely correlated with body mass index. The purpose of this research was to examine the effect of 12 weeks of high intensity interval training (HIIT) with the level of serum adiponectin and some selected adiposity markers in overweight and fat college students. This was a clinical research in which 24 students with BMI between 25 kg/m² to 30 kg/m². The sample was purposefully selected and then randomly assigned into two groups of experimental (age =22.7±1.5 yr.; weight = 85.8±3.18 kg and height =178.7±3.29 cm) and control (age =23.1±1.1 yr.; weight = 79.1±2.4 kg and height =181.3±4.6 cm), respectively. The experimental group participated in an aerobic exercise program for 12 weeks, three sessions per weeks at a high intensity between 85% to 95% of maximum heart rate (considering the over load principle). Prior and after the termination of exercise protocol, the level of serum adiponectin, BMI, waist to hip ratio, and body fat percentages were calculated. The data were analyzed by using SPSS: PC 16.0 and statistical procedure such as ANCOVA, was used. The results indicated that 12 weeks of intensive interval training led to the increase of serum adiponectin level and decrease of body weight, body fat percent, body mass index and waist to hip ratio (P < 0.05). Based on the results of this research, it may be concluded that participation in intensive interval training for 12 weeks is a non-invasive treatment to increase the adiponectin level while decreasing some of the anthropometric indices associated with obesity or being overweight.

Keywords: Adiponectin, interval, intensive, overweight, training.

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Authors: Christos Spandonidis, Stefanos Tsantilas, Elias Sedikos, Nektarios Galiatsatos, Fotios Giannopoulos, Panagiotis Papadopoulos, Nikolaos Demagos, Dimitrios Reppas, Christos Giordamlis

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In the present paper, a low cost, compact and modular Internet of Things (IoT) platform for air quality monitoring in urban areas is presented. This platform comprises of dedicated low cost, low power hardware and the associated embedded software that enable measurement of particles (PM2.5 and PM10), NO, CO, CO₂ and O₃ concentration in the air, along with relative temperature and humidity. This integrated platform acts as part of a greater air pollution data collecting wireless network that is able to monitor the air quality in various regions and neighborhoods of an urban area, by providing sensor measurements at a high rate that reaches up to one sample per second. It is therefore suitable for Big Data analysis applications such as air quality forecasts, weather forecasts and traffic prediction. The first real world test for the developed platform took place in Thessaloniki, Greece, where 16 devices were installed in various buildings in the city. In the near future, many more of these devices are going to be installed in the greater Thessaloniki area, giving a detailed air quality map of the city.

Keywords: Distributed sensor system, environmental monitoring, Internet of Things, IoT, Smart Cities.

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Authors: Guangbin Wang, Ning Zhang, Fuping Tan

Abstract:

In this paper, we present a preconditioned AOR-type iterative method for solving the linear systems Ax = b, where A is a Z-matrix. And give some comparison theorems to show that the rate of convergence of the preconditioned AOR-type iterative method is faster than the rate of convergence of the AOR-type iterative method.

Keywords: Z-matrix, AOR-type iterative method, precondition, comparison.

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Authors: Sunitha S. L., V. Udayashankara

Abstract:

Hearing impairment is the number one chronic disability affecting many people in the world. Background noise is particularly damaging to speech intelligibility for people with hearing loss especially for sensorineural loss patients. Several investigations on speech intelligibility have demonstrated sensorineural loss patients need 5-15 dB higher SNR than the normal hearing subjects. This paper describes Discrete Hartley Transform Power Normalized Least Mean Square algorithm (DHT-LMS) to improve the SNR and to reduce the convergence rate of the Least Means Square (LMS) for sensorineural loss patients. The DHT transforms n real numbers to n real numbers, and has the convenient property of being its own inverse. It can be effectively used for noise cancellation with less convergence time. The simulated result shows the superior characteristics by improving the SNR at least 9 dB for input SNR with zero dB and faster convergence rate (eigenvalue ratio 12) compare to time domain method and DFT-LMS.

Keywords: Hearing Impairment, DHT-LMS, Convergence rate, SNR improvement.

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Authors: Binay K. Dutta, Tayseir M. Abd Ellateif, Saikat Maitra

Abstract:

In the present work homogeneous silica film on silicon was fabricated by colloidal silica sol. The silica sol precursor with uniformly granular particle was derived by the alkaline hydrolysis of tetraethoxyorthosilicate (TEOS) in presence of glycerol template. The film was prepared by dip coating process. The templated hetero-structured silica film was annealed at elevated temperatures to generate nano- and meso porosity in the film. The film was subsequently annealed at different temperatures to make it defect free and abrasion resistant. The sol and the film were characterized by the measurement of particle size distribution, scanning electron microscopy, XRD, FTIR spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, measurement of the refractive index, thermal conductivity and abrasion resistance. The porosity of the films decreased whereas refractive index and dielectric constant of it `increased with the increase in the annealing temperature. The thermal conductivity of the films increased with the increase in the film thickness. The developed porous silica film holds strong potential for use in different areas.

Keywords: Silica film, Nanoporous, Sol-gel, Templating, Dip coating.

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Authors: Vishal Awasthi, Krishna Raj

Abstract:

Any digital processing performed on a signal with larger nyquist interval requires more computation than signal processing performed on smaller nyquist interval. The sampling rate alteration generates the unwanted effects in the system such as spectral aliasing and spectral imaging during signal processing. Multirate-multistage implementation of digital filter can result a significant computational saving than single rate filter designed for sample rate conversion. In this paper, we presented an efficient cascaded integrator comb (CIC) decimation filter that perform fast down sampling using signed digit adder algorithm with compensated frequency droop that arises due to aliasing effect during the decimation process. This proposed compensated CIC decimation filter structure with a hybrid signed digit (HSD) fast adder provide an improved performance in terms of down sampling speed by 65.15% than ripple carry adder (RCA) and reduced area and power by 57.5% and 0.01 % than signed digit (SD) adder algorithms respectively.

Keywords: Sampling rate conversion, Multirate Filtering, Compensation Theory, Decimation filter, CIC filter, Redundant signed digit arithmetic, Fast adders.

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Authors: M. F. Wu, F. T. Cheng

Abstract:

Leather industry is the most important traditional industry to provide the leather products in the world for thousand years. The fierce global competitive environment and common awareness of global carbon reduction make livestock supply quantities falling, salt and wet blue leather material reduces and the price skyrockets significantly. Exchange rate fluctuation led sales revenue decreasing which due to the differences of export exchanges and compresses the overall profitability of leather industry. This paper applies activity-based benefit assessment approach to build up fitness fur input mixed model, fur is Wet Blue, which concerned with four key factors: the output rate of wet blue, unit cost of wet blue, yield rate and grade level of Wet Blue to achieve the low cost strategy under given unit price of leather product condition of the company. The research findings indicate that applying this model may improve the input cost structure, decrease numbers of leather product inventories and to raise the competitive advantages of the enterprise in the future.

Keywords: Activity-Based Benefit Assessment Approach, Input mixed, Output Rate, Wet Blue.

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Authors: Milan Rippel, Petr Teply

Abstract:

This paper focuses on operational risk measurement techniques and on economic capital estimation methods. A data sample of operational losses provided by an anonymous Central European bank is analyzed using several approaches. Loss Distribution Approach and scenario analysis method are considered. Custom plausible loss events defined in a particular scenario are merged with the original data sample and their impact on capital estimates and on the financial institution is evaluated. Two main questions are assessed – What is the most appropriate statistical method to measure and model operational loss data distribution? and What is the impact of hypothetical plausible events on the financial institution? The g&h distribution was evaluated to be the most suitable one for operational risk modeling. The method based on the combination of historical loss events modeling and scenario analysis provides reasonable capital estimates and allows for the measurement of the impact of extreme events on banking operations.

Keywords: operational risk, scenario analysis, economic capital, loss distribution approach, extreme value theory, stress testing

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Authors: Nikoo Soleimani

Abstract:

Background: Reducing torque during bone drilling is one of the effective factors in reaching to an optimal drilling process. Methods: 15 bovine femurs were drilled in vitro with a drill bit with a diameter of 4 mm using two methods of torsional ultrasonic assisted drilling (T-UAD) and convent conventional drilling (CD) and the effects of changing the feed rate and rotational speed on the torque were compared in both methods. Results: There was no significant difference in the thrust force measured in both methods due to the direction of vibrations. Results showed that using T-UAD method for bone drilling at feed rates of 0.16, 0.24 and 0.32 mm/rev led for all rotational speeds to a decrease of at least 16.3% in torque compared to the CD method. Further, using T-UAD at rotational speeds of 355~1000 rpm with various feed rates resulted in a torque reduction of 16.3~50.5% compared to CD method. Conclusions: Reducing the feed rate and increasing the rotational speed, except for the rotational speed of 500 rpm and a feed rate of 0.32 mm/rev, resulted generally in torque reduction in both methods. However, T-UAD is a more effective and desirable option for bone drilling considering its significant torque reduction.

Keywords: Torsional ultrasonic assisted drilling, torque, bone drilling, rotational speed, feed rate.

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Authors: Kristjan Kuhi, Kati K. Kaare, Ott Koppel

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Modern management in most fields is performance based; both planning and implementation of maintenance and operational activities are driven by appropriately defined performance indicators. Continuous real-time data collection for management is becoming feasible due to technological advancements. Outdated and insufficient input data may result in incorrect decisions. When using deterministic models the uncertainty of the object state is not visible thus applying the deterministic models are more likely to give false diagnosis. Constructing structured probabilistic models of the performance indicators taking into consideration the surrounding indicator environment enables to estimate the trustworthiness of the indicator values. It also assists to fill gaps in data to improve the quality of the performance analysis and management decisions. In this paper authors discuss the application of probabilistic graphical models in the road performance measurement and propose a high-level conceptual model that enables analyzing and predicting more precisely future pavement deterioration based on road utilization.

Keywords: Probabilistic graphical models, performance indicators, road performance management, data collection

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Authors: Sreedevi P. Chakyar, Jolly Andrews, V. P. Joseph

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A compact method for measuring the relative permittivity of a dielectric material at different temperatures using a single circular Split Ring Resonator (SRR) metamaterial unit working as a test probe is presented in this paper. The dielectric constant of a material is dependent upon its temperature and the LC resonance of the SRR depends on its dielectric environment. Hence, the temperature of the dielectric material in contact with the resonator influences its resonant frequency. A single SRR placed between transmitting and receiving probes connected to a Vector Network Analyser (VNA) is used as a test probe. The dependence of temperature between 30 ^oC and 60 ^oC on resonant frequency of SRR is analysed. Relative permittivities ‘ε’ of test samples for different temperatures are extracted from a calibration graph drawn between the relative permittivity of samples of known dielectric constant and their corresponding resonant frequencies. This method is found to be an easy and efficient technique for analysing the temperature dependent permittivity of different materials.

Keywords: Metamaterials, negative permeability, permittivity measurement techniques, split ring resonators, temperature dependent dielectric constant.

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Authors: R. Karmouch

Abstract:

A thin gold metal layer was deposited on the top of silicon oxide films containing embedded Si nanocrystals (Si-nc). The sample was annealed in a gas containing nitrogen, and subsequently characterized by photoluminescence. We obtained 3-fold enhancement of photon emission from the Si-nc embedded in silicon dioxide covered with a Gold layer as compared with an uncovered sample. We attribute this enhancement to the increase of the spontaneous emission rate caused by the coupling of the Si-nc emitters with the surface plasmons (SP). The evolution of PL emission with laser irradiated time was also collected from covered samples, and compared to that from uncovered samples. In an uncovered sample, the PL intensity decreases with time, approximately with two decay constants. Although the decrease of the initial PL intensity associated with the increase of sample temperature under CW pumping is still observed in samples covered with a gold layer, this film significantly contributes to reduce the permanent deterioration of the PL intensity. The resistance to degradation of light-emitting silicon nanocrystals can be increased by SP coupling to suppress the permanent deterioration. Controlling the permanent photodeterioration can allow to perform a reliable optical gain measurement.

Keywords: Photodeterioration, Silicon Nanocrystals, Ion Implantation, Photoluminescence, Surface Plasmons.

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Authors: Samy M. El-Behery, W. A. El-Askary, K. A. Ibrahim, Mofreh H. Hamed

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A steady two-phase flow model has been developed to simulate the drying process of porous particle in a pneumatic conveying dryer. The model takes into account the momentum, heat and mass transfer between the continuous phase and the dispersed phase. A single particle model was employed to calculate the evaporation rate. In this model the pore structure is simplified to allow the dominant evaporation mechanism to be readily identified at all points within the duct. The predominant mechanism at any time depends upon the pressure, temperature and the diameter of pore from which evaporating is occurring. The model was validated against experimental studies of pneumatic transport at low and high speeds as well as pneumatic drying. The effects of operating conditions on the dryer parameters are studied numerically. The present results show that the drying rate is enhanced as the inlet gas temperature and the gas flow rate increase and as the solid mass flow rate deceases. The present results also demonstrate the necessity of measuring the inlet gas velocity or the solid concentration in any experimental analysis.

Keywords: Two-phase, gas-solid, pneumatic drying, pneumatic conveying, heat and mass transfer

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Authors: A. Maddi, A. Guessoum, D. Berkani

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The purpose of this paper is to provide a practical example to the Linear Quadratic Gaussian (LQG) controller. This method includes a description and some discussion of the discrete Kalman state estimator. One aspect of this optimality is that the estimator incorporates all information that can be provided to it. It processes all available measurements, regardless of their precision, to estimate the current value of the variables of interest, with use of knowledge of the system and measurement device dynamics, the statistical description of the system noises, measurement errors, and uncertainty in the dynamics models. Since the time of its introduction, the Kalman filter has been the subject of extensive research and application, particularly in the area of autonomous or assisted navigation. For example, to determine the velocity of an aircraft or sideslip angle, one could use a Doppler radar, the velocity indications of an inertial navigation system, or the relative wind information in the air data system. Rather than ignore any of these outputs, a Kalman filter could be built to combine all of this data and knowledge of the various systems- dynamics to generate an overall best estimate of velocity and sideslip angle.

Keywords: Aircraft motion, Kalman filter, LQG control, Lateral stability, State estimator.

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Authors: N. Feroze, M. Aslam

Abstract:

The article is concerned with analysis of failure rate (shape parameter) under the Topp Leone distribution using a Bayesian framework. Different loss functions and a couple of noninformative priors have been assumed for posterior estimation. The posterior predictive distributions have also been derived. A simulation study has been carried to compare the performance of different estimators. A real life example has been used to illustrate the applicability of the results obtained. The findings of the study suggest  that the precautionary loss function based on Jeffreys prior and singly type II censored samples can effectively be employed to obtain the Bayes estimate of the failure rate under Topp Leone distribution.

Keywords: loss functions, type II censoring, posterior distribution, Bayes estimators.

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Authors: A. Umemuro, M. Sato, M. Narita, S. Hori, S. Sakurai, T. Nakayama, A. Nakazawa, T. Ogura

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Mammography requires the detection of very small calcifications, and physicians search for microcalcifications by magnifying the images as they read them. The mouse is necessary to zoom in on the images, but this can be tiring and distracting when many images are read in a single day. Therefore, an image magnification system combining an eye-detector and a simple electroencephalograph (EEG) scanner was devised, and its operability was evaluated. Two experiments were conducted in this study: the measurement of eye-detection error using an eye-detector and the measurement of the time required for image magnification using a simple EEG scanner. Eye-detector validation showed that the mean distance of eye-detection error ranged from 0.64 cm to 2.17 cm, with an overall mean of 1.24 ± 0.81 cm for the observers. The results showed that the eye detection error was small enough for the magnified area of the mammographic image. The average time required for point magnification in the verification of the simple EEG scanner ranged from 5.85 to 16.73 seconds, and individual differences were observed. The reason for this may be that the size of the simple EEG scanner used was not adjustable, so it did not fit well for some subjects. The use of a simple EEG scanner with size adjustment would solve this problem. Therefore, the image magnification system using the eye-detector and the simple EEG scanner is useful.

Keywords: EEG scanner, eye-detector, mammography, observers.

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Authors: Raluca-Ioana Horea-Şerban, Marinela Istrate

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The first part of the paper analyzes the dynamics of the total fertility rate both at the national and regional level, pointing out the regional disparities in the distribution of this indicator. At the same time, we also focus on the collapse of the number of live births, on the changes in the fertility rate by birth rank, as well as on the failure of acquiring the desired number of children. The second part of the study centres upon a survey applied to urban families with 3 and more than 3 offspring. The preliminary analysis highlights the fact that an increased fertility (more than 3rd rank) is triggered by the parents’ above the average material condition and superior education. The current situation of Romania, which is still passing through a period of relatively rapid demographic changes, marked by numerous convulsions, requires a new approach, in compliance with the recent interpretations appropriate to a new post-transitional demographic regime.

Keywords: Family size intention, fertility rate, regional disparities, third birth rank.

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Authors: Yeong-Hwa Chang, Chang-Hung Hsu, Huei-Lung Chu, Chia-Wen Chang, Wei-Shou Chan, Chun-Yao Lee; Chia-Shiang Yao, Yan-Lou He

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This study reports the preparation of soft magnetic ribbons of Fe-based amorphous alloys using the single-roller melt-spinning technique. Ribbon width varied from 142 mm to 213 mm and, with a thickness of approximately 22 μm 2 μm. The microstructure and magnetic properties of the ribbons were characterized by differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), and electrical resistivity measurements (ERM). The amorphous material properties dependence of the cooling rate and nozzle pressure have uneven surface in ribbon thicknesses are investigated. Magnetic measurement results indicate that some region of the ribbon exhibits good magnetic properties, higher saturation induction and lower coercivity. However, due to the uneven surface of 213 mm wide ribbon, the magnetic responses are not uniformly distributed. To understand the transformer magnetic performances, this study analyzes the measurements of a three-phase 2 MVA amorphous-cored transformer. Experimental results confirm that the transformer with a ribbon width of 142 mm has better magnetic properties in terms of lower core loss, exciting power, and audible noise. 

Keywords: Amorphous ribbon, uneven surface, magnetic properties, and rapid solidification

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Authors: Tomi Roinila, Aki Taskinen, Matti Vilkko

Abstract:

Switched-mode converters play now a significant role in modern society. Their operation are often crucial in various electrical applications affecting the every day life. Therefore, the quality of the converters needs to be reliably verified. Recent studies have shown that the converters can be fully characterized by a set of frequency responses which can be efficiently used to validate the proper operation of the converters. Consequently, several methods have been proposed to measure the frequency responses fast and accurately. Most often correlation-based techniques have been applied. The presented measurement methods are highly sensitive to external errors and system nonlinearities. This fact has been often forgotten and the necessary uncertainty analysis of the measured responses has been neglected. This paper presents a simple approach to analyze the noise and nonlinearities in the frequency-response measurements of switched-mode converters. Coherence analysis is applied to form a confidence interval characterizing the noise and nonlinearities involved in the measurements. The presented method is verified by practical measurements from a high-frequency switchedmode converter.

Keywords: Switched-mode converters, Frequency analysis, CoherenceAnalysis.

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Authors: J. S. Nah, A. Y. Jeon, J. H. Ro, G. R. Jeon

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ECG analysis method was developed using ROC analysis of PVC detecting algorithm. ECG signal of MIT-BIH arrhythmia database was analyzed by MATLAB. First of all, the baseline was removed by median filter to preprocess the ECG signal. R peaks were detected for ECG analysis method, and normal VCG was extracted for VCG analysis method. Four PVC detecting algorithm was analyzed by ROC curve, which parameters are maximum amplitude of QRS complex, width of QRS complex, r-r interval and geometric mean of VCG. To set cut-off value of parameters, ROC curve was estimated by true-positive rate (sensitivity) and false-positive rate. sensitivity and false negative rate (specificity) of ROC curve calculated, and ECG was analyzed using cut-off value which was estimated from ROC curve. As a result, PVC detecting algorithm of VCG geometric mean have high availability, and PVC could be detected more accurately with amplitude and width of QRS complex.

Keywords: Vectorcardiogram (VCG), Premature Ventricular contraction (PVC), ROC (receiver operating characteristic) curve, ECG

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Authors: Chang-Hung Hsu, Yeong-Hwa Chang, Chun-Yao Lee, Chia-Shiang Yao, Yan-Lou He, Huei-Lung Chu, Chia-Wen Chang, Wei-Shou Chan

Abstract:

This study reports the preparation of soft magnetic ribbons of Fe-based amorphous alloys using the single-roller melt-spinning technique. Ribbon width varied from 142 mm to 213 mm and, with a thickness of approximately 22 μm ± 2 μm. The microstructure and magnetic properties of the ribbons were characterized by differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), and electrical resistivity measurements (ERM). The amorphous material properties dependence of the cooling rate and nozzle pressure have uneven surface in ribbon thicknesses are investigated. Magnetic measurement results indicate that some region of the ribbon exhibits good magnetic properties, higher saturation induction and lower coercivity. However, due to the uneven surface of 213 mm wide ribbon, the magnetic responses are not uniformly distributed. To understand the transformer magnetic performances, this study analyzes the measurements of a three-phase 2 MVA amorphous-cored transformer. Experimental results confirm that the transformer with a ribbon width of 142 mm has better magnetic properties in terms of lower core loss, exciting power, and audible noise.

Keywords: Amorphous ribbon, uneven surface, magnetic properties, and rapid solidification

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Authors: Yan Ma, ShunBao Li

Abstract:

A new approach is adopted in this paper based on Turk and Pentland-s eigenface method. It was found that the probability density function of the distance between the projection vector of the input face image and the average projection vector of the subject in the face database, follows Rayleigh distribution. In order to decrease the false acceptance rate and increase the recognition rate, the input face image has been recognized using two thresholds including the acceptance threshold and the rejection threshold. We also find out that the value of two thresholds will be close to each other as number of trials increases. During the training, in order to reduce the number of trials, the projection vectors for each subject has been averaged. The recognition experiments using the proposed algorithm show that the recognition rate achieves to 92.875% whilst the average number of judgment is only 2.56 times.

Keywords: Eigenface, Face Recognition, Threshold, Rayleigh Distribution, Feature Extraction

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Authors: Arvind Srivastav, Tarun Kanti Bhattacharyya

Abstract:

The north-eastern, Himalayan, and Eastern Ghats Belt of India comprise of earthquake-prone, remote, and hilly terrains. Earthquakes have caused enormous damages in these regions in the past. A wireless sensor network based earthquake early warning system (EEWS) is being developed to mitigate the damages caused by earthquakes. It consists of sensor nodes, distributed over the region, that perform majority voting of the output of the seismic sensors in the vicinity, and relay a message to a base station to alert the residents when an earthquake is detected. At the heart of the EEWS is a low-power two-stage seismic sensor that continuously tracks seismic events from incoming three-axis accelerometer signal at the first-stage, and, in the presence of a seismic event, triggers the second-stage P-wave detector that detects the onset of P-wave in an earthquake event. The parameters of the P-wave detector have been optimized for minimizing detection time and maximizing the accuracy of detection.Working of the sensor scheme has been verified with seven earthquakes data retrieved from IRIS. In all test cases, the scheme detected the onset of P-wave accurately. Also, it has been established that the P-wave onset detection time reduces linearly with the sampling rate. It has been verified with test data; the detection time for data sampled at 10Hz was around 2 seconds which reduced to 0.3 second for the data sampled at 100Hz.

Keywords: Earthquake early warning system, EEWS, STA/LTA, polarization, wavelet, event detector, P-wave detector.

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Authors: A. J. Mahmood, L. B. Y. Aldabbagh

Abstract:

The counter flow solar air heaters, with four transverse fins and wire mesh layers are constructed and investigated experimentally for thermal efficiency at a geographic location of Cyprus in the city of Famagusta. The absorber plate is replaced by sixteen steel wire mesh layers, 0.18 x 0.18cm in cross section opening and a 0.02cm in diameter. The wire mesh layers arranged in three groups, first and second include 6 layers, while the third include 4 layers. All layers fixed in the duct parallel to the glazing and each group separated from the others by wood frame thickness of 0.5cm to reduce the pressure drop. The transverse fins arranged in a way to force the air to flow through the bed like eight letter path with flow depth 3cm. The proposed design has increased the heat transfer rate, but on other hand causes a high pressure drop. The obtained results show that, for air mass flow rate range between 0.011-0.036kg/s, the thermal efficiency increases with increasing the air mass flow. The maximum efficiency obtained is 65.6% for the mass flow rate of 0.036kg/s. Moreover, the temperature difference between the outlet flow and the ambient temperature, ΔT, reduces as the air mass flow rate increase. The maximum difference between the outlet and ambient temperature obtained was 43°C for double pass for minimum mass flow rate of 0.011kg/s. Comparison with a conventional solar air heater collector shows a significantly development in the thermal efficiency.

Keywords: Counter flow, solar air heater (SAH), Wire mesh, Fins, Thermal efficiency.

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Authors: Jiantao Weng, Yujie Zhao

Abstract:

With the improvement of living quality and demand for nighttime activities in China, the current situation of outdoor lighting environment at night needs to be assessed. Lighting environment at night plays an important role to guarantee night safety. Two typical residential communities in Hangzhou were selected. A comprehensive test method of outdoor lighting environment at night was established. The road, fitness area, landscape, playground and entrance were included. Field measurements and questionnaires were conducted in these two residential communities. The characteristics of residents’ habits and the subjective evaluation on different aspects of outdoor lighting environment at night were collected via questionnaire. A safety evaluation system on the outdoor lighting environment at night in the residential community was established. The results show that there is a big difference in illumination in different areas. The lighting uniformities of roads cannot meet the requirement of lighting standard in China. Residents pay more attention to the lighting environment of the fitness area and road than others. This study can provide guidance for the design and management of outdoor lighting environment at night.

Keywords: Residential community, lighting environment, night, field measurement.

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