QUASI2D: a program written to demonstrate quasiperiodicity and phason fluctuation

Effects of solute size on the local solvent density and solute solubility in infinitely dilute supercritical solutions

In the last decade, the availability of new minimally invasive subcutaneous sensors for monitoring glucose level continuously stimulated research on new online strategies for improving the treatment of diabetes, including hyper/hypoglycemic alert generators and artificial pancreas. An important aspect that has to be dealt with in these applications is the random measurement noise that affects continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) signals. One major difficulty is that for a given sensor technology, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) can vary from subject to subject (interindividual variability) and also within subject (intraindividual variability). Recently, a denoising approach implemented through a Kalman filter with parameters automatically tuned, once for all, in a burn-in interval was proposed to cope with the interindividual variability of SNR. In this paper, we propose a new denoising method able to cope also with the intraindividual variability of the SNR. The method resorts to a Bayesian smoothing procedure that uses a statistically-based criterion to determine, and continuously update, filter parameters in real time. The performance of the method is assessed on both Monte Carlo simulation and 24 real CGM time series obtained with the Glucoday system (Menarini, Florence, Italy). The method has a general applicability, also outside from the CGM context.

Simple SummaryThis study used GATE and GGEMS simulation toolkits, to estimate dose distribution on Brachytherapy procedures. Specific guidelines were followed as defined by the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) as well as by the European SocieTy for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO). Several types of brachytherapy seeds were modelled and simulated, namely Low-Dose-Rate (LDR), High-Dose-Rate (HDR), and Pulsed-Dose-Rate (PDR). The basic difference between GATE and GGEMS is that GGEMS incorporates GPU capabilities, which makes the use of Monte Carlo (MC) simulations more accessible in clinical routine, by minimizing the computational time to obtain a dose map. During the validation procedure of both codes with protocol data, differences as well as uncertainties were measured within the margins defined by the guidelines. The study concluded that MC simulations may be utilized in clinical practice, to optimize dose distribution in real time, as well as to evaluate therapeutic plans.This study aims to validate GATE and GGEMS simulation toolkits for brachytherapy applications and to provide accurate models for six commercial brachytherapy seeds, which will be freely available for research purposes. The AAPM TG-43 guidelines were used for the validation of two Low Dose Rate (LDR), three High Dose Rate (HDR), and one Pulsed Dose Rate (PDR) brachytherapy seeds. Each seed was represented as a 3D model and then simulated in GATE to produce one single Phase-Space (PHSP) per seed. To test the validity of the simulations’ outcome, referenced data (provided by the TG-43) was compared with GATE results. Next, validation of the GGEMS toolkit was achieved by comparing its outcome with the GATE MC simulations, incorporating clinical data. The simulation outcomes on the radial dose function (RDF), anisotropy function (AF), and dose rate constant (DRC) for the six commercial seeds were compared with TG-43 values. The statistical uncertainty was limited to 1% for RDF, to 6% (maximum) for AF, and to 2.7% (maximum) for the DRC. GGEMS provided a good agreement with GATE when compared in different situations: (a) Homogeneous water sphere, (b) heterogeneous CT phantom, and (c) a realistic clinical case. In addition, GGEMS has the advantage of very fast simulations. For the clinical case, where TG-186 guidelines were considered, GATE required 1 h for the simulation while GGEMS needed 162 s to reach the same statistical uncertainty. This study produced accurate models and simulations of their emitted spectrum of commonly used commercial brachytherapy seeds which are freely available to the scientific community. Furthermore, GGEMS was validated as an MC GPU based tool for brachytherapy. More research is deemed necessary for the expansion of brachytherapy seed modeling.

Thermal phason fluctuation in an Al–Cu–Co decagonal quasicrystal

The purpose of this article is to measure fluid pressure drops against the changing velocity on the critical points of the fluid system by using mechatronics equipments and techniques. Critical points of the fluid system to be measured pressure drops are gate valve, globe valve, flow control valve, sudden enlargement, 45 or 90 junctions etc. Pressure drops occurs mentioned areas much more than other parts of fluid system. Pressure drop is directly concerning with flow rate of fluid. It was used venture-meter and orifice-plate to measure flow rate and fluid velocity in pipe. Pressure transmitters were used to measure pressure drops on the critical points of fluid system in according to changing flow rate of fluid. Pressure transmitters produce analog signals between 4-20 mA in according to changing pressure of fluid in pipe and analog input signals are interpreted through an A/D device, and is originate from pressure sensors. All the received data from pressure transmitters are transferred to computer via A/D cards. Received data from pressure transmitters is evaluated by using developed program to measure fluid friction losses with changing pressure differences and flow rate, velocity of fluid, Reynolds number, fluid type and some values can be seen on the screen of computer in real time.

Today, there are many commercial CAM systems available capable of generating NC codes for milling free-form geometries up to 5-axis. However, the quality of these NC codes has not yet been well discussed so far. Apparently, on the computer screen and the geometrical simulation provided by CAM, tool paths calculated by different CAM systems seem to be the same. However, as observed in this work, NC codes differ expressively according to the CAM software applied, and it affects the productivity and quality of the machined surface. Thus, a study was carried out to investigate this issue. A representative workpiece with free-form geometries was designed; a data acquisition system from an open architecture CNC was developed and NC codes were generated by five worldwide commercial CAM systems. The finishing milling operation was evaluated. The results presented difference of up to 30% on the real machining time, differences in the feed rate oscillation and up to 2 times the surface roughness value. This work reveals an essential limitation on the CAM algorithm and arises a new point for benchmarking CAM systems, which brings an opportunity to improve the calculation of tool paths for milling free-form geometries.

Introducing an innovative electronic chessboard system set to transform the gaming landscape. This groundbreaking system employs magnet reed sensors to meticulously track chess piece movements, seamlessly translating them into digital signals processed by an Arduino microcontroller. The result is real-time visualization on a computer screen, providing players with immediate feedback and enabling detailed game analysis. Beyond traditional chess, the system offers versatility, with potential applications in large-scale events, remote viewing, and interactive learning platforms. By creating a dynamic learning environment, it not only engages chess enthusiasts but also fosters strategic thinking across diverse learning styles. With its blend of technology and strategy, this electronic chessboard system promises to revolutionize gaming and education alike, inspiring players of all ages and skill levels.

Oral and silent reading was studied for moving-window text displayed on a computer screen. Experiment 1 investigated whether local linguistic properties of text being read aloud affect speed in performing a dual task or the distance which a reader's voice lags behind the text seen. Regression analyses showed that choice reaction time during reading is not predicted by any linguistic properties of the immediate text considered, and that these properties instead predict a measure of eye-voice span. Experiment 2 investigated whether, in silent reading, reference is assigned to expressions in text while, or after, they are being viewed. In nearly all contexts, readers were observed to confirm that a given character in a story was being referred to only after the source expression in text had passed out of view. In general, the results tend to speak against an hypothesis about reading which holds that a reader completes processing of an expression in text while still looking at it.

These days lot of people spend long hours at a computer, so they face lot of health issues because of wrong sitting postures. Good posture is crucial for human well-being. A vision-based system is proposed to minimize the poor ergonomic practices among computer users. It can be installed in the corresponding user computer, and it runs with low computation burden. The proposed system is based on image comparison with a reference image. The reference image is an image, that the user utilizing their webcam or computer camera to capture themselves in the correct seated posture. Initially it has been a converted into grayscale and applied a Gaussian filter before store in the memory. After making the reference image, the proposed system is stared to capture user’s image at a free defined frequency. The captured user’s image is filtered and converted to a binary image using a predefined threshold. After that, two parallel processes are applied to same resultant image to identify the moment of left and right side and bending of forward and backward. The decision of both processes has been estimated by comparing the calculated black- to-white pixel ratio with a predefined threshold. The notification has been generated via a pop-up message on corresponding computer screen. To test the effectiveness, the proposed system has been implemented on a laptop computer in a Python environment with the support of OpenCV library. The test has been conducted of four different bad postures such as over leaning to the right angle, left angle, forward and backward postures with 150 attempts. The test results shows that it has high potential to identify the bad postures of computer uses. Keywords: Poor ergonomic practices; Image comparison; Gaussian filter; Binary image; Black-to- white pixel ratio

We propose a new multi-stage procedure for a real time brain machine/computer interface (BMI) based on the Steady State Visual Evoked Potentials (SSVEP) paradigm. The developed system allows a BMI user to navigate a small car (or any other object) on the computer screen in near real time, in any of the four directions. Extensive experiments with 4 young healthy subjects for two different electrode configurations (Occipital/Forehead), confirmed the high performance of the proposed on-line BMI system.

Water level control and pressure control are implemented in many at several industrial processing such as water dam, petrochemical processing plant, pharmacy and food processing plant, overhead tank, waste processing plant, electricity plant, etc. This study analyses a simulation and a needed components for automatically water level control system implementation using programmable logic controller (PLC). The water level control using PLC is designed to control the water level and prevent waste the water from a water tank. PLC is one of devices of automated controller which mostly used. Use of PLCs in industries are indispensable to control parameters which required high precision. In this research studies water level control system using PLC as primary controller and human machine interface (HMI) as remote controller that could visualize state of a system work (plant) in real time on computer screen and could gather field data as well. Main device for this research is Omron PLC CP2E type and touchscreen HMI Omron. At the prototype is used a water tank and a water container (to be one with the water resource), and in the HMI is showed the pages of home, control panel, and plant. From the result of the diagram ladder and the HMI design are got the system run well. The application from this research could be learning media in the system control laboratory for the subject of industrial control system and the others, related to it.

As illustrated in Chapter 2, photographic shearography utilizes photographic film to record shearograms and can only record the sum of two intensities before and after loading (IþI0) using the double-exposure method. However, the term (IþI0) is usually not directly visible to human eyes. A complicated Fourier filtering procedure and a fringe readout procedure are needed to make the fringes visible, as was illustrated in Chapter 2. This situation has been greatly improved due to introduction of the digital CCD camera to shearography metrology. The second generation of shearography, digital shearography, uses a CCD camera to record the intensity of shearograms. The recorded intensity is digitized and stored in a computer. It is easy to calculate the intensity subtraction before and after loading |I0 – I|. As opposed to the double-exposure method used in photographic shearography (it calculates the sum of intensity before and after loading), digital/electronic shearography calculates the intensity subtraction before and after loading |I0 – I|. By calculating the term |I0 – I|, a highly visible fringe pattern can be directly generated and can even be observed in real time from a computer screen. Thus, since the invention of digital shearography, the complicated Fourier filtering and fringe readout procedures have no longer been needed or used. The upgrading of digital shearography from photographic shearography brings a significant improvement in the measurement speed of shearographic testing.

IVR (interactive voice response) menu navigation has long been recognized as a frustrating interaction experience. We propose an IM-based system that sends a coordinated visual IVR menu to the caller's computer screen. The visual menu is updated in real time in response to the caller's actions. With this automatically opened supplementary channel, callers can take advantages of different modalities over different devices and interact with the IVR system with the ease of graphical menu selection. Our approach of utilizing existing network infrastructure to pinpoint the caller's virtual location and coordinating multiple devices and multiple channels based on users' ID registration can also be more generally applied to create integrated user experiences across a group of devices.

Augmented Reality (AR) allows the direct and intuitive access of digital objects visualized in real time on computer screens. AR applications are commonly used in many different areas, such as entertainment, sports and tourism, while their use in archaeology is still limited. When employed, current archaeological AR applications use expensive devices or flat targets, which are insufficient for visualizing complex artefacts. In this paper, we present a low‐cost, automated method called the ARCube System, which allows the expansion and enrichment of AR applications focused on archaeological objects. In this paper, the newly developed ARCube System is described by presenting several archaeological examples to show the system's ability to visualize and investigate archaeological finds. The reported tests demonstrate the method's reliability on a variety of objects characterized by different shapes and sizes. The ARCube System allows users to interact with digital 3D models, rotate them through 360° and explore details in high resolution (without any risk of damaging the find). The system renders 1:1 scale between digital and actual object and offers a low‐cost flexible system for the interactive visualization of archaeological finds that can be beneficial to public research (e.g., museum exhibits) and education (e.g., the classroom) and may possibly lead to new avenues of archaeological research.

An inexpensive Web camera connected to a personal computer with no additional hardware is used to measure position and light intensity. Three experiments: ink diffusion in water, pendulum damped oscillations and light diffraction are described. The measurements are done online and the results are observed on the computer screen in real time. The configuration is simple and cheap, suitable for demonstrations and laboratory exercises.