Energy-Efficient Information-Driven Coverage for Physical Movement Monitoring in Body Sensor Networks

Advances in technology have led to the development of various light-weight sensor devices that can be woven into the physical environment of our daily lives. Such systems enable on-body and mobile health-care monitoring. Our interest particularly lies in the area of movement-monitoring platforms that operate with inertial sensors. In this paper, we introduce the notion of compatibility graphs and describe how they can be utilized for power optimization. We first formulate an action coverage problem that will consider the sensing coverage from a collaborative signal processing perspective. Our solution is capable of eliminating redundant sensor nodes while maintaining the quality of service. The problem we outline can be transformed into an NP-hard problem. Therefore, we propose an ILP formulation to attain a lower bound on the solution and a fast greedy technique. Moreover, we present a system for dynamically activating and deactivating sensor nodes in real time. We then use our graph representation to develop an efficient formulation for maximum lifetime. This formulation provides sufficient information for finding activation duties for each sensor node. Finally, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our techniques on data collected from several subjects.     

An Algorithm for Cost Comparison of Optimized Shell‐and‐Tube Heat Exchangers with Tube Inserts and Plain Tubes

Heat transfer enhancement is currently allocated the most part of investigations to improve the thermal performance of shell and tube heat exchangers. Here an algorithm for cost comparison of an optimized enhanced tube heat exchanger to an optimized plain tubes has been developed. The results are shown in plots which allow the engineers to compare directly the capital cost of heat exchangers and to select the better options among the various tube inserts for a given duty.     

Sequential modular simulation of circulating fluidized bed reactors

Bypassing the mathematical complexity of equation-oriented approaches in predicting the performance of chemical reactors has recently stimulated a significant amount of interest. Among chemical reactors, circulating fluidized bed reactors (CFBRs) have secured an important role in a broad range of applications in energy sectors due to their advantages, including high fluid-solid contact efficiency, uniform temperature, and enhanced heat and mass transfer rates. Accordingly, modelling and predicting the performance of these reactors is of great importance. In this study, a sequence-based model was developed to predict the behaviour of CFBRs. Complex phenomena in CFBRs were mimicked by two sub-models, namely the hydrodynamics module, which addressed the physical changes, and the reaction kinetics module, which described the chemical evolution of species. The performance of the proposed model was validated with a library of catalytic ozone decomposition experimental data in CFBRs. This work introduces a new infrastructure for modelling CFBRs, which may be combined with the current process simulation software, such as Aspen Plus©, for advanced process modelling applications.     

Development of an Advanced Ultrahigh Strength TRIP Steel and Evaluation of Its Unique Strain Hardening Behavior

Metals and Materials International - A novel ferrite-53% austenite medium-Mn transformation induced plasticity (TRIP) steel with extraordinary combination of 1420 MPa tensile strength and...     

Automated Polishing of Die Steel Surfaces

An experimental study is presented that investigates the effects of various controllable polishing parameters on the resulting surface, when using a flexible abrasive disk on die steel. The objective is to achieve a robust process that results in a consistent surface finish, the roughness of which can be specified and controlled. Experimental results indicate that the inclination angle of the disk with respect to the workpiece, and the feedrate have optimal values that minimise variability of the surface finish, while the normal force applied to the disk should be used to control nominal surface roughness.     

A novel ionic liquid/micro-volume back extraction procedure combined with flame atomic absorption spectrometry for determination of trace nickel in samples of nutritional interest

A simple, highly sensitive and environment-friendly method for the determination of trace amount of nickel ion in different matrices is proposed. In the preconcentration step, the nickel from 10 mL of an aqueous solution was extracted into 500 μL of ionic liquid, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate [C₄MIM][PF₆], containing PAN as complexing agent. Subsequently, the PAN complex was back-extracted into 250 μL of nitric acid solution, and 100 μL of it was analyzed by flow injection flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FI-FAAS). The main parameter influencing the extraction and determination of nickel, such as pH, concentration of PAN, extraction time and temperature, ionic strength, and concentration of stripping acid solution, were optimized. An enhancement factor of 40.2 was achieved with 25 mL sample. The limit of detection (LOD) and quantification obtained under the optimum conditions were 12.5 and 41.0 μg L^?1, respectively. To validate the proposed methods two certified reference materials 681-I and BCR No. 288 were analyzed and the results were in good agreement with the certified values. The proposed method was successfully applied to determination of nickel in water samples, rice flour and black tea.     

Synthesis,characterisation and potential biomedical applications of magnetic core–shell structures: carbon‐, dextran‐, SiO2 ‐ and ZnO‐coated Fe3 O4 nanoparticles

Due to the strong effect of nanoparticles'' size and surface properties on cellular uptake and bio‐distribution, the selection of coating material for magnetic core–shell nanoparticles (CSNPs) is very important. In this study, the effects of four different biocompatible coating materials on the physical properties of Fe₃ O₄ (magnetite) nanoparticles (NPs) for different biomedical applications are investigated and compared. In this regard, magnetite NPs are prepared by a simple co‐precipitation method. Then, CSNPs including Fe₃ O₄ as a core and carbon, dextran, ZnO (zincite) and SiO₂ (silica) as different shells are synthesised using simple one‐ or two‐step methods. A comprehensive study is carried out on the prepared samples using X‐ray diffraction, vibrating sample magnetometry, transmission electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analyses. According to the authors'' findings, it is suggested that carbon‐ and dextran‐coated magnetite NPs with high M _s have great potential in the application of magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents. Moreover, silica‐coated magnetite NPs with high coercivity are potentially suitable candidates for hyperthermia and ZnO‐coated Fe₃ O₄ is potentially suitable for photothermal therapy.Inspec keywords: iron compounds, carbon, silicon compounds, zinc compounds, nanomedicine, biomedical materials, nanofabrication, nanoparticles, magnetic particles, coatings, X‐ray diffraction, magnetometry, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform spectra, infrared spectra, biomedical MRI, hyperthermia, radiation therapyOther keywords: biomedical applications, magnetic core‐shell nanoparticles, CSNP, cellular uptake, biodistribution, coating material, biocompatible coating materials, co‐precipitation, dextran, zincite, silica, X‐ray diffraction, vibrating sample magnetometry, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents, hyperthermia, photothermal therapy, SiO₂ ‐Fe₃ O₄ , ZnO‐Fe₃ O₄      

Three-dimensional fundamental solution of wave propagation and transient heat transfer in non-homogenous media

The main purpose of this paper is developing fundamental solutions of three-dimensional wave and transient heat conduction in non-homogenous media. A variable transformation method is used to change the basic equations into a simple standard Helmholtz form. First, two different ways, i.e. harmonic excitation method and Laplace transform are used to eliminate time expression, and final solutions are expressed in the time-space domain. In addition, FE approach is applied to solve transient heat conduction in functionally graded material (FGM) domain. Different numerical examples are used to validate the proposed methodology by comparing the results with others and FE method. Fundamental solutions are found for both homogenous and non-homogenous media separately. For each example, appropriate graphs are provided to show the differences between the results of homogenous and non-homogenous media.     

Thermophysical Properties of Nitrogen from a New Potential Energy Surface Using the Mason–Monchick Approximation

A recent N₂–N₂ potential has been used to calculate the second virial, viscosity, and diffusion coefficients. Calculations have been done up to the first quantum correction for virial coefficients and the second-order kinetic theory approximation for transport coefficients. The Mason–Monchick approximation (MMA) has been used for the calculation of collision integrals and, via a numerical analysis, a common intersection point has been found for reduced cross sections and collision integrals of different orientations. This regularity has been interpreted with the aim of the orientation dependence of the potential energy and different types of collisions between molecules. The overall agreement of the calculated second virial coefficient with experiment is reasonable but suggests that a slight re-scaling of the potential would be beneficial. In the case of transport properties, calculated and experimental results show an average deviation of about 1.6% and 0.7% for viscosity and relative diffusion coefficients, respectively.     

Designing robust threshold gates against soft errors

In applications where issues like power efficiency, high performance, and more noise tolerance are important, asynchronous design methodology can play a significant role. However, as a result of technology shrinkage, combinational asynchronous circuits have become vulnerable in presence of particle strikes. In this paper, we design robust quasi-delay insensitive (QDI) asynchronous circuits against soft errors. Null Convention Logic (NCL) gates used as one of the basic techniques in asynchronous circuits, are redesigned to increase their robustness against Single Event Upset (SEU). We analyze our design for various NCL structures and compare them with another design in Kuang et al. (2007) [4], and show that our proposed approach is more robust against SEU. The effect of some parameters such as power consumption, delay, and the influence of transistor sizing on soft error tolerance are discussed.