Search results for: European convention for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms
1912 Minimization of Switching Losses in Cascaded Multilevel Inverters Using Efficient Sequential Switching Hybrid-Modulation Techniques
Authors: P. Satish Kumar, K. Ramakrishna, Ch. Lokeshwar Reddy, G. Sridhar
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This paper presents two different sequential switching hybrid-modulation strategies and implemented for cascaded multilevel inverters. Hybrid modulation strategies represent the combinations of Fundamental-frequency pulse width modulation (FFPWM) and Multilevel sinusoidal-modulation (MSPWM) strategies, and are designed for performance of the well-known Alternative Phase opposition disposition (APOD), Phase shifted carrier (PSC). The main characteristics of these modulations are the reduction of switching losses with good harmonic performance, balanced power loss dissipation among the devices with in a cell, and among the series-connected cells. The feasibility of these modulations is verified through spectral analysis, power loss analysis and simulation.
Keywords: Cascaded multilevel inverters, hybrid modulation, power loss analysis, pulse width modulation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 29801911 Foreign Elements in the Methodologies of Usul Fiqh: Analyzing the Orientalist Thought
Authors: Ariyanti Mustapha
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The development of Islamic jurisprudence since the first century of the hijra has fascinated many orientalists to explore the historiography of Islamic legislation. The practice of usul fiqh began during the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad and was continued by the companions as the legal reasoning due to the absence of the legal injunction in the Qur’an and Sunnah. The orientalists propagated that the Roman and Jewish legislation were transplanted into Islamic jurisprudence and it was the primary reason for its progression. We used qualitative and comparative methods to analyze the orientalists’ views. Results showed that many erroneous facts were propagated by Goldziher and Schacht by claiming the parallels between the principles, methodologies, and fundamental concepts in Islamic jurisprudence and Roman Provincial law. The orientalists claimed that Islamic jurisprudence was derived from the corpus of Jewish Mishnah and Ha-kol. These judgments are used by the orientalists to prove the inferiority of Islamic jurisprudence. Nevertheless, many evidences have proven that Islamic legislation is capable of developing independently without any foreign transplant.
Keywords: Foreign transplant, ijtihad, orientalist, usul fiqh.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3891910 From Micro to Nanosystems: An Exploratory Study of Influences on Innovation Teams
Authors: Norbert Burger, Thorsten Staake
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What influences microsystems (MEMS) and nanosystems (NEMS) innovation teams apart from technology complexity? Based on in-depth interviews with innovators, this research explores the key influences on innovation teams in the early phases of MEMS/NEMS. Projects are rare and may last from 5 to 10 years or more from idea to concept. As fundamental technology development in MEMS/NEMS is highly complex and interdisciplinary by involving expertise from different basic and engineering disciplines, R&D is rather a 'testing of ideas' with many uncertainties than a clearly structured process. The purpose of this study is to explore the innovation teams- environment and give specific insights for future management practices. The findings are grouped into three major areas: people, know-how and experience, and market. The results highlight the importance and differences of innovation teams- composition, transdisciplinary knowledge, project evaluation and management compared to the counterparts from new product development teams.
Keywords: Innovation teams, early phases, Microsystems, Nanosystems, technology developments.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16401909 Effect of Adaptation Gain on system Performance for Model Reference Adaptive Control Scheme using MIT Rule
Authors: Pankaj Swarnkar, Shailendra Jain, R.K Nema
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Adaptive control involves modifying the control law used by the controller to cope with the fact that the parameters of the system being controlled change drastically due to change in environmental conditions or in system itself. This technique is based on the fundamental characteristic of adaptation of living organism. The adaptive control process is one that continuously and automatically measures the dynamic behavior of plant, compares it with the desired output and uses the difference to vary adjustable system parameters or to generate an actuating signal in such a way so that optimal performance can be maintained regardless of system changes. This paper deals with application of model reference adaptive control scheme in first order system. The rule which is used for this application is MIT rule. This paper also shows the effect of adaptation gain on the system performance. Simulation is done in MATLAB and results are discussed in detail.Keywords: Adaptive control system, Adaptation gain, MIT rule, Model reference adaptive control.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 22251908 The Anthropological Determination of Pedagogy
Authors: Sara Kakuk
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Pedagogy has always been open to other disciplines that reflect about the educational process (philosophy, sociology, psychology, anthropology, technology, etc.). Its interdisciplinary openness puts education, as the subject of pedagogy within a broader context of the community, enabling the knowledge of other disciplines to contribute to a better understanding of the fundamental pedagogical notion of education. The purpose of pedagogy as a science serves humans, strives towards humans, must be for humans, and this is its ultimate goal. Humans are essentially dependent on education, which is also considered as a category of humans’ being, because through education an entire world develops in humans. Anthropological assumptions of humans as "deficient beings" see the solution in education, but they also indicate a wealth of shortcomings, because they provide an opportunity for enrichment and formation of culture, living and the self. In that context, this paper illustrates the determination of pedagogy through an anthropological conception of humans and the phenomenon of education. It presents a review of anthropological ideas about education, by providing an analysis of relevant literature dealing with the anthropological notion of humans, which provides fruitful conditions for a pedagogical reconsideration of education.
Keywords: Pedagogy, education, humans, anthropology, culture.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 26771907 Quantifying Mobility of Urban Inhabitant Based on Social Media Data
Authors: Yuyun, Fritz Akhmad Nuzir, Bart Julien Dewancker
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Check-in locations on social media provide information about an individual’s location. The millions of units of data generated from these sites provide knowledge for human activity. In this research, we used a geolocation service and users’ texts posted on Twitter social media to analyze human mobility. Our research will answer the questions; what are the movement patterns of a citizen? And, how far do people travel in the city? We explore the people trajectory of 201,118 check-ins and 22,318 users over a period of one month in Makassar city, Indonesia. To accommodate individual mobility, the authors only analyze the users with check-in activity greater than 30 times. We used sampling method with a systematic sampling approach to assign the research sample. The study found that the individual movement shows a high degree of regularity and intensity in certain places. The other finding found that the average distance an urban inhabitant can travel per day is as far as 9.6 km.
Keywords: Mobility, check-in, distance, Twitter.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 7991906 A Design of Beam-Steerable Antenna Array for Use in Future Mobile Handsets
Authors: Naser Ojaroudi Parchin, Atta Ullah, Haleh Jahanbakhsh Basherlou, Raed A. Abd-Alhameed, Peter S. Excell
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A design of beam-steerable antenna array for the future cellular communication (5G) is presented. The proposed design contains eight elements of compact end-fire antennas arranged on the top edge of smartphone printed circuit board (PCB). Configuration of the antenna element consists of the conductive patterns on the top and bottom copper foil layers and a substrate layer with a via-hole. The simulated results including input-impedance and also fundamental radiation properties have been presented and discussed. The impedance bandwidth (S11 ≤ -10 dB) of the antenna spans from 17.5 to 21 GHz (more than 3 GHz bandwidth) with a resonance at 19 GHz. The antenna exhibits end-fire (directional) radiation beams with wide-angle scanning property and could be used for the future 5G beam-forming. Furthermore, the characteristics of the array design in the vicinity of user-hand are studied.
Keywords: Beam-steering, end-fire radiation mode, mobile-phone antenna, phased array.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 8251905 The Stigma of Mental Illness and the Way of Destigmatization: The Effects of Interactivity and Self-Construal
Authors: Doori Song, Hyun-Ji Lim, Yoo Jin Chung
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Some believe that stigma is the worst side effect of the people who have mental illness. Mental illness researchers have focused on the influence of mass media on the stigmatization of the people with mental illness. However, no studies have investigated the effects of the interactive media, such as blogs, on the stigmatization of mentally ill people, even though the media have a significant influence on people in all areas of life. The purpose of this study is to investigate the use of interactivity in destigmatization of the mentally ill and the moderating effect of self-construal (independent versus interdependent self-construal) on the relation between interactivity and destigmatization. The findings suggested that people in the human-human interaction condition had less social distance toward people with mental illness. Additionally, participants with higher independence showed more favorable affection and less social distance toward mentally ill people. Finally, direct contact with mentally ill people increased a person-s positive affect toward people with mental illness. The current study should provide insights for mental health practitioners by suggesting how they can use interactive media to approach the public that stigmatizes the mentally ill.Keywords: Mental health, destigmatization, interactivity, selfconstrual
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 24111904 Integration of CMOS Biosensor into a Polymeric Lab-on-a-Chip System
Authors: T. Brettschneider, C. Dorrer, H. Suy, T. Braun, E. Jung, R. Hoofman, M. Bründel, R. Zengerle, F. Lärmer
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We present an integration approach of a CMOS biosensor into a polymer based microfluidic environment suitable for mass production. It consists of a wafer-level-package for the silicon die and laser bonding process promoted by an intermediate hot melt foil to attach the sensor package to the microfluidic chip, without the need for dispensing of glues or underfiller. A very good condition of the sensing area was obtained after introducing a protection layer during packaging. A microfluidic flow cell was fabricated and shown to withstand pressures up to Δp = 780 kPa without leakage. The employed biosensors were electrically characterized in a dry environment.
Keywords: CMOS biosensor, laser bonding, silicon polymer integration, wafer level packaging.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 30291903 Establishment of Air Quality Zones in Italy
Authors: M. G. Dirodi, G. Gugliotta, C. Leonardi
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Member States shall establish zones and agglomerations throughout their territory to assess and manage air quality in order to comply with European directives. In Italy decree 155/2010, transposing Directive 2008/50/EC on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe, merged into a single act the previous provisions on ambient air quality assessment and management, including those resulting from the implementation of Directive 2004/107/EC relating to arsenic, cadmium, nickel, mercury and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in ambient air. Decree 155/2010 introduced stricter rules for identifying zones on the basis of the characteristics of the territory in spite of considering pollution levels, as it was in the past. The implementation of such new criteria has reduced the great variability of the previous zoning, leading to a significant reduction of the total number of zones and to a complete and uniform ambient air quality assessment and management throughout the Country. The present document is related to the new zones definition in Italy according to Decree 155/2010. In particular the paper contains the description and the analysis of the outcome of zoning and classification.
Keywords: Zones, agglomerations, air quality assessment, classification.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21291902 Heat Exchanger Design
Authors: Su Thet Mon Than, Khin Aung Lin, Mi Sandar Mon
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This paper is intended to assist anyone with some general technical experience, but perhaps limited specific knowledge of heat transfer equipment. A characteristic of heat exchanger design is the procedure of specifying a design, heat transfer area and pressure drops and checking whether the assumed design satisfies all requirements or not. The purpose of this paper is how to design the oil cooler (heat exchanger) especially for shell-and-tube heat exchanger which is the majority type of liquid-to-liquid heat exchanger. General design considerations and design procedure are also illustrated in this paper and a flow diagram is provided as an aid of design procedure. In design calculation, the MatLAB and AutoCAD software are used. Fundamental heat transfer concepts and complex relationships involved in such exchanger are also presented in this paper. The primary aim of this design is to obtain a high heat transfer rate without exceeding the allowable pressure drop. This computer program is highly useful to design the shell-and-tube type heat exchanger and to modify existing deign.
Keywords: Shell-and-Tube Heat Exchanger, MatLAB and AutoCAD
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 79311901 Mining Frequent Patterns with Functional Programming
Authors: Nittaya Kerdprasop, Kittisak Kerdprasop
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Frequent patterns are patterns such as sets of features or items that appear in data frequently. Finding such frequent patterns has become an important data mining task because it reveals associations, correlations, and many other interesting relationships hidden in a dataset. Most of the proposed frequent pattern mining algorithms have been implemented with imperative programming languages such as C, Cµ, Java. The imperative paradigm is significantly inefficient when itemset is large and the frequent pattern is long. We suggest a high-level declarative style of programming using a functional language. Our supposition is that the problem of frequent pattern discovery can be efficiently and concisely implemented via a functional paradigm since pattern matching is a fundamental feature supported by most functional languages. Our frequent pattern mining implementation using the Haskell language confirms our hypothesis about conciseness of the program. The performance studies on speed and memory usage support our intuition on efficiency of functional language.Keywords: Association, frequent pattern mining, functionalprogramming, pattern matching.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21351900 Modeling of Knowledge-Intensive Business Processes
Authors: Eckhard M. Ammann
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Knowledge development in companies relies on knowledge-intensive business processes, which are characterized by a high complexity in their execution, weak structuring, communication-oriented tasks and high decision autonomy, and often the need for creativity and innovation. A foundation of knowledge development is provided, which is based on a new conception of knowledge and knowledge dynamics. This conception consists of a three-dimensional model of knowledge with types, kinds and qualities. Built on this knowledge conception, knowledge dynamics is modeled with the help of general knowledge conversions between knowledge assets. Here knowledge dynamics is understood to cover all of acquisition, conversion, transfer, development and usage of knowledge. Through this conception we gain a sound basis for knowledge management and development in an enterprise. Especially the type dimension of knowledge, which categorizes it according to its internality and externality with respect to the human being, is crucial for enterprise knowledge management and development, because knowledge should be made available by converting it to more external types. Built on this conception, a modeling approach for knowledgeintensive business processes is introduced, be it human-driven,e-driven or task-driven processes. As an example for this approach, a model of the creative activity for the renewal planning of a product is given.Keywords: Conception of knowledge, knowledge dynamics, modeling notation, knowledge-intensive business processes.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18341899 Survey on Strategic Games and Decision Making
Authors: S. Madhavi, K. Baala Srinivas, G. Bharath, R. K. Indhuja, M. Kowser Chandini
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Game theory is the study of how people interact and make decisions to handle competitive situations. It has mainly been developed to study decision making in complex situations. Humans routinely alter their behaviour in response to changes in their social and physical environment. As a consequence, the outcomes of decisions that depend on the behaviour of multiple decision makers are difficult to predict and require highly adaptive decision-making strategies. In addition to the decision makers may have preferences regarding consequences to other individuals and choose their actions to improve or reduce the well-being of others. Nash equilibrium is a fundamental concept in the theory of games and the most widely used method of predicting the outcome of a strategic interaction in the social sciences. A Nash Equilibrium exists when there is no unilateral profitable deviation from any of the players involved. On the other hand, no player in the game would take a different action as long as every other player remains the same.
Keywords: Game Theory, Nash Equilibrium, Rules of Dominance.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 23721898 Model of Continuous Cheese Whey Fermentation by Candida Pseudotropicalis
Authors: Rudy Agustriyanto, Akbarningrum Fatmawati
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The utilization of cheese whey as a fermentation substrate to produce bio-ethanol is an effort to supply bio-ethanol demand as a renewable energy. Like other process systems, modeling is also required for fermentation process design, optimization and plant operation. This research aims to study the fermentation process of cheese whey by applying mathematics and fundamental concept in chemical engineering, and to investigate the characteristic of the cheese whey fermentation process. Steady state simulation results for inlet substrate concentration of 50, 100 and 150 g/l, and various values of hydraulic retention time, showed that the ethanol productivity maximum values were 0.1091, 0.3163 and 0.5639 g/l.h respectively. Those values were achieved at hydraulic retention time of 20 hours, which was the minimum value used in this modeling. This showed that operating reactor at low hydraulic retention time was favorable. Model of bio-ethanol production from cheese whey will enhance the understanding of what really happen in the fermentation process.Keywords: Cheese whey, ethanol, fermentation, modeling.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18181897 Electromyography Pattern Classification with Laplacian Eigenmaps in Human Running
Authors: Elnaz Lashgari, Emel Demircan
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Electromyography (EMG) is one of the most important interfaces between humans and robots for rehabilitation. Decoding this signal helps to recognize muscle activation and converts it into smooth motion for the robots. Detecting each muscle’s pattern during walking and running is vital for improving the quality of a patient’s life. In this study, EMG data from 10 muscles in 10 subjects at 4 different speeds were analyzed. EMG signals are nonlinear with high dimensionality. To deal with this challenge, we extracted some features in time-frequency domain and used manifold learning and Laplacian Eigenmaps algorithm to find the intrinsic features that represent data in low-dimensional space. We then used the Bayesian classifier to identify various patterns of EMG signals for different muscles across a range of running speeds. The best result for vastus medialis muscle corresponds to 97.87±0.69 for sensitivity and 88.37±0.79 for specificity with 97.07±0.29 accuracy using Bayesian classifier. The results of this study provide important insight into human movement and its application for robotics research.
Keywords: Electrocardiogram, manifold learning, Laplacian Eigenmaps, running pattern.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 11191896 Super-ellipsoidal Potential Function for Autonomous Collision Avoidance of a Teleoperated UAV
Authors: Mohammed Qasim, Kyoung-Dae Kim
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In this paper, we present the design of the super-ellipsoidal potential function (SEPF), that can be used for autonomous collision avoidance of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in a 3-dimensional space. In the design of SEPF, we have the full control over the shape and size of the potential function. In particular, we can adjust the length, width, height, and the amount of flattening at the tips of the potential function so that the collision avoidance motion vector generated from the potential function can be adjusted accordingly. Based on the idea of the SEPF, we also propose an approach for the local autonomy of a UAV for its collision avoidance when the UAV is teleoperated by a human operator. In our proposed approach, a teleoperated UAV can not only avoid collision autonomously with other surrounding objects but also track the operator’s control input as closely as possible. As a result, an operator can always be in control of the UAV for his/her high-level guidance and navigation task without worrying too much about the UAVs collision avoidance while it is being teleoperated. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated through a human-in-the-loop simulation of quadrotor UAV teleoperation using virtual robot experimentation platform (v-rep) and Matlab programs.Keywords: Artificial potential function, autonomy, collision avoidance, teleoperation, quadrotor, UAV.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19941895 A Cross-Cultural Approach for Communication with Biological and Non-Biological Intelligences
Authors: Thomas Schalow
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This paper posits the need to take a cross-cultural approach to communication with non-human cultures and intelligences in order to meet the following three imminent contingencies: communicating with sentient biological intelligences, communicating with extraterrestrial intelligences, and communicating with artificial super-intelligences. The paper begins with a discussion of how intelligence emerges. It disputes some common assumptions we maintain about consciousness, intention, and language. The paper next explores cross-cultural communication among humans, including non-sapiens species. The next argument made is that we need to become much more serious about communicating with the non-human, intelligent life forms that already exist around us here on Earth. There is an urgent need to broaden our definition of communication and reach out to the other sentient life forms that inhabit our world. The paper next examines the science and philosophy behind CETI (communication with extraterrestrial intelligences) and how it has proven useful, even in the absence of contact with alien life. However, CETI’s assumptions and methodology need to be revised and based on the cross-cultural approach to communication proposed in this paper if we are truly serious about finding and communicating with life beyond Earth. The final theme explored in this paper is communication with non-biological super-intelligences using a cross-cultural communication approach. This will present a serious challenge for humanity, as we have never been truly compelled to converse with other species, and our failure to seriously consider such intercourse has left us largely unprepared to deal with communication in a future that will be mediated and controlled by computer algorithms. Fortunately, our experience dealing with other human cultures can provide us with a framework for this communication. The basic assumptions behind intercultural communication can be applied to the many types of communication envisioned in this paper if we are willing to recognize that we are in fact dealing with other cultures when we interact with other species, alien life, and artificial super-intelligence. The ideas considered in this paper will require a new mindset for humanity, but a new disposition will prepare us to face the challenges posed by a future dominated by artificial intelligence.
Keywords: Artificial intelligence, CETI, communication, culture, language.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 9861894 Account Management Method with Blind Signature Scheme
Authors: Ryu Watanabe, Yutaka Miyake
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Reducing the risk of information leaks is one of the most important functions of identity management systems. To achieve this purpose, Dey et al. have already proposed an account management method for a federated login system using a blind signature scheme. In order to ensure account anonymity for the authentication provider, referred to as an IDP (identity provider), a blind signature scheme is utilized to generate an authentication token on an authentication service and the token is sent to an IDP. However, there is a problem with the proposed system. Malicious users can establish multiple accounts on an IDP by requesting such accounts. As a measure to solve this problem, in this paper, the authors propose an account checking method that is performed before account generation.Keywords: identity management, blind signature, privacy protection
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15441893 The Pressure Losses in the Model of Human Lungs
Authors: Michaela Chovancova, Pavel Niedoba
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For the treatment of acute and chronic lung diseases it is preferred to deliver medicaments by inhalation. The drug is delivered directly to tracheobronchial tree. This way allows the given medicament to get directly into the place of action and it makes rapid onset of action and maximum efficiency. The transport of aerosol particles in the particular part of the lung is influenced by their size, anatomy of the lungs, breathing pattern and airway resistance. This article deals with calculation of airway resistance in the lung model of Horsfield. It solves the problem of determination of the pressure losses in bifurcation and thus defines the pressure drop at a given location in the bronchial tree. The obtained data will be used as boundary conditions for transport of aerosol particles in a central part of bronchial tree realized by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) approach. The results obtained from CFD simulation will allow us to provide information on the required particle size and optimal inhalation technique for particle transport into particular part of the lung.
Keywords: Human lungs, bronchial tree, pressure losses, airways resistance, flow, breathing.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 25591892 The Optimization of an Intelligent Traffic Congestion Level Classification from Motorists- Judgments on Vehicle's Moving Patterns
Authors: Thammasak Thianniwet, Satidchoke Phosaard, Wasan Pattara-Atikom
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We proposed a technique to identify road traffic congestion levels from velocity of mobile sensors with high accuracy and consistent with motorists- judgments. The data collection utilized a GPS device, a webcam, and an opinion survey. Human perceptions were used to rate the traffic congestion levels into three levels: light, heavy, and jam. Then the ratings and velocity were fed into a decision tree learning model (J48). We successfully extracted vehicle movement patterns to feed into the learning model using a sliding windows technique. The parameters capturing the vehicle moving patterns and the windows size were heuristically optimized. The model achieved accuracy as high as 99.68%. By implementing the model on the existing traffic report systems, the reports will cover comprehensive areas. The proposed method can be applied to any parts of the world.Keywords: intelligent transportation system (ITS), traffic congestion level, human judgment, decision tree (J48), geographic positioning system (GPS).
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18211891 Urban Ecological Interaction: Air, Water, Light and New Transit at the Human Scale of Barcelona’s Superilles
Authors: Philip Speranza
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As everyday transit options are shifting from autocentric to pedestrian and bicycle oriented modes for healthy living, downtown streets are becoming more attractive places to live. However, tools and methods to measure the natural environment at the small scale of streets do not exist. Fortunately, a combination of mobile data collection technology and parametric urban design software now allows an interface to relate urban ecological conditions. This paper describes creation of an interactive tool to measure urban phenomena of air, water, and heat/light at the scale of new three-by-three block pedestrianized areas in Barcelona called Superilles. Each Superilla limits transit to the exterior of the blocks and to create more walkable and bikeable interior streets for healthy living. The research will describe the integration of data collection, analysis, and design output via a live interface using parametric software Rhino Grasshopper and the Human User Interface (UI) plugin.
Keywords: Transit, urban design, GIS, parametric design, Superilles, Barcelona, urban ecology.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15221890 Biodegradation Behavior of Cellulose Acetate with DS 2.5 in Simulated Soil
Authors: Roberta Ranielle M. de Freitas, Vagner R. Botaro
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The relationship between biodegradation and mechanical behavior is fundamental for studies of the application of cellulose acetate films as a possible material for biodegradable packaging. In this work, the biodegradation of cellulose acetate (CA) with DS 2.5 was analyzed in simulated soil. CA films were prepared by casting and buried in the simulated soil. Samples were taken monthly and analyzed, the total time of biodegradation was 6 months. To characterize the biodegradable CA, the DMA technique was employed. The main result showed that the time of exposure to the simulated soil affects the mechanical properties of the films and the values of crystallinity. By DMA analysis, it was possible to conclude that as the CA is biodegraded, its mechanical properties were altered, for example, storage modulus has increased with biodegradation and the modulus of loss has decreased. Analyzes of DSC, XRD, and FTIR were also carried out to characterize the biodegradation of CA, which corroborated with the results of DMA. The observation of the carbonyl band by FTIR and crystalline indices obtained by XRD were important to evaluate the degradation of CA during the exposure time.
Keywords: Biodegradation, cellulose acetate, DMA, simulated soil.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 7741889 Issues in Deploying Smart Antennas in Mobile Radio Networks
Authors: Rameshwar Kawitkar
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With the exponentially increasing demand for wireless communications the capacity of current cellular systems will soon become incapable of handling the growing traffic. Since radio frequencies are diminishing natural resources, there seems to be a fundamental barrier to further capacity increase. The solution can be found in smart antenna systems. Smart or adaptive antenna arrays consist of an array of antenna elements with signal processing capability, that optimize the radiation and reception of a desired signal, dynamically. Smart antennas can place nulls in the direction of interferers via adaptive updating of weights linked to each antenna element. They thus cancel out most of the co-channel interference resulting in better quality of reception and lower dropped calls. Smart antennas can also track the user within a cell via direction of arrival algorithms. This implies that they are more advantageous than other antenna systems. This paper focuses on few issues about the smart antennas in mobile radio networks.Keywords: Smart/Adaptive Antenna, Multipath fading, Beamforming, Radio propagation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 26681888 Identification of Complex Sense-antisense Gene's Module on 17q11.2 Associated with Breast Cancer Aggressiveness and Patient's Survival
Authors: O. Grinchuk, E. Motakis, V. Kuznetsov
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Sense-antisense gene pair (SAGP) is a pair of two oppositely transcribed genes sharing a common region on a chromosome. In the mammalian genomes, SAGPs can be organized in more complex sense-antisense gene architectures (CSAGA) in which at least one gene could share loci with two or more antisense partners. Many dozens of CSAGAs can be found in the human genome. However, CSAGAs have not been systematically identified and characterized in context of their role in human diseases including cancers. In this work we characterize the structural-functional properties of a cluster of 5 genes –TMEM97, IFT20, TNFAIP1, POLDIP2 and TMEM199, termed TNFAIP1 / POLDIP2 module. This cluster is organized as CSAGA in cytoband 17q11.2. Affymetrix U133A&B expression data of two large cohorts (410 atients, in total) of breast cancer patients and patient survival data were used. For the both studied cohorts, we demonstrate (i) strong and reproducible transcriptional co-regulatory patterns of genes of TNFAIP1/POLDIP2 module in breast cancer cell subtypes and (ii) significant associations of TNFAIP1/POLDIP2 CSAGA with amplification of the CSAGA region in breast cancer, (ii) cancer aggressiveness (e.g. genetic grades) and (iv) disease free patient-s survival. Moreover, gene pairs of this module demonstrate strong synergetic effect in the prognosis of time of breast cancer relapse. We suggest that TNFAIP1/ POLDIP2 cluster can be considered as a novel type of structural-functional gene modules in the human genome.
Keywords: Sense-antisense gene pair, complex genome architecture, TMEM97, IFT20, TNFAIP1, POLDIP2, TMEM199, 17q11.2, breast cancer, transcription regulation, survival analysis, prognosis.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16701887 Combustion and Emission Characteristics in a Can-type Combustion Chamber
Authors: Selvakuma Kumaresh, Man Young Kim
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Combustion phenomenon will be accomplished effectively by the development of low emission combustor. One of the significant factors influencing the entire Combustion process is the mixing between a swirling angular jet (Primary Air) and the non-swirling inner jet (fuel). To study this fundamental flow, the chamber had to be designed in such a manner that the combustion process to sustain itself in a continuous manner and the temperature of the products is sufficiently below the maximum working temperature in the turbine. This study is used to develop the effective combustion with low unburned combustion products by adopting the concept of high swirl flow and motility of holes in the secondary chamber. The proper selection of a swirler is needed to reduce emission which can be concluded from the emission of Nox and CO2. The capture of CO2 is necessary to mitigate CO2 emissions from natural gas. Thus the suppression of unburned gases is a meaningful objective for the development of high performance combustor without affecting turbine blade temperature.
Keywords: Combustion, Emission, Can-type Combustion Chamber, CFD, Motility of Holes, Swirl Flow.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 35061886 Application of Quality Index Method, Texture Measurements and Electronic Nose to Assess the Freshness of Atlantic Herring (Clupea harengus) Stored in Ice
Authors: Nga T.T. Mai, Emilía Martinsdóttir, Kolbrún Sveinsdóttir, Gudrun Olafsdóttir, Sigurjón Arason
Abstract:
Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) is an important commercial fish and shows to be more and more demanded for human consumption. Therefore, it is very important to find good methods for monitoring the freshness of the fish in order to keep it in the best quality for human consumption. In this study, the fish was stored in ice up to 2 weeks. Quality changes during storage were assessed by the Quality Index Method (QIM), quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA) and Torry scheme, by texture measurements: puncture tests and Texture Profile Analysis (TPA) tests on texture analyzer TA.XT2i, and by electronic nose (e-nose) measurements using FreshSense instrument. Storage time of herring in ice could be estimated by QIM with ± 2 days using 5 herring per lot. No correlation between instrumental texture parameters and storage time or between sensory and instrumental texture variables was found. E-nose measurements could be use to detect the onset of spoilage.Keywords: Herring, Quality Index Method (QIM), freshness, storage time.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16501885 Novel Nanomagnetic Beads Based - Latex Agglutination Assay for Rapid Diagnosis of Human Schistosomiasis Haematobium
Authors: Ibrahim Aly , Rabab Zalat, Bahaa EL Deen W. El Aswad, Ismail M. Moharm , Basam M. Masoud, Tarek Diab
Abstract:
The objective of the present study was to evaluate the novel nanomagnetic beads based–latex agglutination assay (NMB-LAT) as a simple test for diagnosis of S. haematobium as well as standardize the novel nanomagnetic beads based –ELISA (NMB-ELISA). According to urine examination this study included 85 S. haematobium infected patients, 30 other parasites infected patients and 25 negative control samples. The sensitivity of novel NMB-LAT was 82.4% versus 96.5% and 88.2% for NMB-ELISA and currently used sandwich ELISA respectively. The specificity of NMB-LAT was 83.6% versus 96.3% and 87.3% for NMB-ELISA and currently used sandwich ELISA respectively. In conclusion, the novel NMB-ELISA is a valuable applicable diagnostic technique for diagnosis of human schistosomiasis haematobium. The novel NMB-ELISA assay is a suitable applicable diagnostic method in field survey especially when followed by ELISA as a confirmatory test in query false negative results. Trials are required to increase the sensitivity and specificity of NMB-ELISA assay.
Keywords: Diagnosis, Latex agglutination, Nanomagnetic beads, Sandwich ELISA.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 30991884 Negative Temperature Dependence of a Gravity - A Reality
Authors: Alexander L. Dmitriev, Sophia A. Bulgakova
Abstract:
Temperature dependence of force of gravitation is one of the fundamental problems of physics. This problem has got special value in connection with that the general theory of relativity, supposing the weakest positive influence of a body temperature on its weight, actually rejects an opportunity of measurement of negative influence of temperature on gravity in laboratory conditions. Really, the recognition of negative temperature dependence of gravitation, for example, means basic impossibility of achievement of a singularity («a black hole») at a gravitational collapse. Laboratory experiments with exact weighing the heated up metal samples, indicating negative influence temperatures of bodies on their physical weight are described. Influence of mistakes of measurements is analyzed. Calculations of distribution of temperature in volume of the bar, agreed with experimental data of time dependence of weight of samples are executed. The physical substantiation of negative temperature dependence of weight of the bodies, based on correlation of acceleration at thermal movement of micro-particles of a body and its absolute temperature, are given.
Keywords: Gravitation, temperature, weight.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18171883 The Anti-Noise and Anti-Wear Systems for Railways
Authors: Brigita Altenbaher
Abstract:
In recent years there has been a continuous increase of axle loads, tonnage, train speed and train length which has increased both the productivity in the rail sector and the risk of rail breaks and derailments. On the other hand, the environmental requirements (e.g. noise reduction) for railway operations will become tighter in the future. In our research we developed a new composite material which does not change braking properties, is capable of taking extremely high pressure loads, reduces noise and is environmentally friendly. Part of our research was also the development of technology which will be able to apply this material to the rail. The result of our research was the system which reduces the wear out significantly and almost completely eliminates the squealing noise at the same time, and by using only one special material.Keywords: Active protection, composite material, lubrication, noise reduction, reduction at source, railway.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2252