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An Experimental Determination of Coupled Thermal and Moisture Expansion of Plasters
Full text linkThe objective of this paper is to evaluate, together with adsorption and desorption processes, moisture and temperature induced deformations of two plasters. The measurements are performed for moisture content from the dry state to the saturation water content and temperature range of 5 – 60°C. The coupled temperature and moisture induced length differences are measured using LVDT MACRO SENSOR SBP 375040
Energy Efficiency Critical Targets
Full text linkDespite the fossil fuel fired power generatingplants being the major producers of greenhouse gases, it isclearly evident that renewable sources of energy are not going toreplace them any time soon. There is a general consensusamongst scientists and governments that our climate is changingat an unprecedented rate, and it is argued that it is largely causedby greenhouse gas emissions from economic activity that isunlikely to be significantly scaled down through forums andprotocols. Many studies indicate that a higher concentration ofgreenhouse gases in the atmosphere, particularly carbon dioxide,is the primary cause of global warming that is driving climatechange. While awaiting for renewable energy to make furthertechnological advances, improve its efficiency, and place itself asa cost effective contender to conventional power generation,energy efficiency and conservation are currently the leastexpensive alternative for power and process industry to meet agrowing demand for cleaner energy. For all the renewable energyresources put together, renewable energy accounts for 19.1% oftotal electricity production, of which 85% is hydro-electricity.Energy efficiency and renewable energy should remain the twinpillars of sustainable energy policy [1]. In many countries, energyefficiency is also seen to have a national security benefit becauseit can be used to reduce the level of energy imports from foreigncountries and may slow down the rate at which domestic energyresources are depleted.In this paper, we focus on the current state of the electricalsystem efficiency from generation to utilisation, and identify thecritical areas where efficiency can be enhanced through currenttechnology, design and operational practice
Design, Fabrication and Testing of a Piezoresistive-Based Tactile Sensor for Minimally Invasive Surgery
Full text linkMinimally invasive robotic surgery (MIRS) has become a preferred method for patients for the last two decades, thanks to its crucial advantages over classical open surgeries. Although MIRS has some advantages, it has a few drawbacks. Since MIRS technology includes performing surgery through small incisions using long slender tools, one of the main drawbacks of MIRS becomes the loss of direct contact with the patient’s body in the site of operation. Therefore, the surgeon loses the sense of touch during the operation which is one of the important tools to investigate the health condition of the treated tissue. This paper presents a novel piezoresistive-based multifunctional tactile sensor that is able to measure the contact force, relative hardness of the contact object, and the position of a hidden lump at the same time. A prototype of the designed sensor has been fabricated, simulated, analyzed, and tested numerically and experimentally. The experiments have been performed on hyperelastic materials, which are silicone rubber samples with different hardness values that resemble different biological tissues. The ability of the sensor to measure the contact force and relative hardness of the contact objects is tested with several experiments. A finite element (FE) model has been built in COMSOL Multiphysics (v3.4) environment to simulate both the mechanical behavior of the silicone rubber samples, and the interaction between the sensor and the silicone rubbers. Both numerical and experimental analysis proved the capability of the sensor to distinguish between different silicone rubber samples
Sleep EEG Classification Using Fuzzy Logic
Full text linkthe computerized detection of multi stage system of EEG signals using fuzzy logic has been developed and tested on prerecorded data of the EEG of rats.The multistage detection system consists of three major stages: Awake, SWS (Slow wave sleep), REM (Rapid eye movement) which has been recorded and can be detected by the fuzzy classification and fuzzy rule base. The proposed work approaches to identify thestage of 3- channel signal on the basis of frequency distribution of EEG, standard deviation of EOG and EMG, variance of EOG and EMG. Based on feature extracted data, fuzzy logic rule base modelwas evaluated accurately in terms of 3 stages (Awake, SWS, and REM) and the result confirmed that the proposed model has potential in classifying the EEG signal