Vibration Signature and the Application of Intelligent Pattern Recognition in Detection and Classification of Damage in Automatic Power Operated Lift Doors

The majority of faults in lift installations occur in the door (entrance) systems. Wear and tear of the door operator mechanism and the door system components/ subsystems will result in defects that lead to damage which in turn leads to faults, understood as a change in the door system that produces an unacceptable reduction in the quality of its performance. The research presented in this paper involved the development of an experimental lift door stand to collect vibration signature datasets corresponding to a range of typical damage classes that occur in lift door systems. The installation comprises single speed doors (single panel side opening and two panel centre opening) as well as two speed doors (two panel side opening and four panel centre opening). Once the data are collected the vibration features are extracted and used in supervised learning to train the artificial neural networks designed to recognize patterns and to classify damage. The results obtained demonstrate excellent performance of the network with very high percentage of correctly classified damage classes involved. The work completed so far forms the basis for the development of decision stage algorithms to analyze the results from the pattern recognition and to decide about appropriate maintenance actions required

Vibration Signature and the Application of Intelligent Pattern Recognition in Detection and Classification of Damage in Automatic Power Operated Lift Doors

The majority of faults in lift installations occur in the door (entrance) systems. Wear and tear of the door operator mechanism and the door system components/ subsystems will result in defects that lead to damage which in turn leads to faults, understood as a change in the door system that produces an unacceptable reduction in the quality of its performance. The research presented in this paper involved the development of an experimental lift door stand to collect vibration signature datasets corresponding to a range of typical damage classes that occur in lift door systems. The installation comprises single speed doors (single panel side opening and two panel centre opening) as well as two speed doors (two panel side opening and four panel centre opening). Once the data are collected the vibration features are extracted and used in supervised learning to train the artificial neural networks designed to recognize patterns and to classify damage. The results obtained demonstrate excellent performance of the network with very high percentage of correctly classified damage classes involved. The work completed so far forms the basis for the development of decision stage algorithms to analyze the results from the pattern recognition and to decide about appropriate maintenance actions required

The investigation of efficacy and fire resistance characteristics of fire barrier in the Lift Industry applications

Although it would be preferable for the lift well to be located in the fire-protected area of the building, it is not always possible. Therefore, most newly installed lifts are required to have adequate fire resistance for the length of time corresponding to the fire rating of the building in which they are fitted. The national and international regulations specify such fire rating requirements. However, the regulations fail to address the scenarios that involve lift service or installation periods. In most cases, the lift shaft is then fully or partially open with an exposed area of the entrance creating a significant hazard in time of a fire. In this paper, a novel solution is presented to this problem by considering the design standards, regulations and fire resistance testing procedures. The flow simulation and computational fluid dynamics software are used to simulate and validate the suitability of the proposed solution. It is shown that the development of a temporary fire barrier covering the lift well is feasible. However, further testing and full certification are needed to produce a final, commercially viable product

Cardiovascular response to different types of acute stress stimulations

Introduction: Stress is an ubiquitous phenomenon in the modern world and one of the major risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Th e aim of our study was to evaluate the eff ect of various acute stress stimuli on autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity, assessed on the basis of heart rate (HRV) and blood pressure (BPV) variability analysis. Materials and Methods: The study included 15 healthy volunteers: 9 women, 6 men aged 20- 30 years (23.3 ± 1.8). ANS activity was assessed by HRV and BPV measurement using Task Force Monitor 3040 (CNSystems, Austria). ECG registration and Blood Pressure (BP) measurement was done 10 minutes at rest, 10 minutes aft er the stress stimulus (sound signal, acoustic startle, frequency 1100 Hz, duration 0.5 sec, at the intensity 95 dB) and 10 minutes aft er the cold pressor test. The cold pressor test (CPT) was done by placing the person’s hand by wrist in ice water (0-4°C) for 120 s. Results: Every kind of stress stimulation (acoustic startle; the CPT) caused changes of HRV indicator values. The time domain HRV analysis parameters (pNN50, RMSSD) decreased aft er acoustic stress and the CPT, but were signifi cantly lower aft er the CPT. In frequency domain HRV analysis, signifi cant diff erences were observed only after the CPT: (LF-RRI 921.23 ms2 vs. 700.09 ms2; p = 0.009 and HF-RRI 820.75 ms2 vs. 659.52 ms2; p = 0.002). Th e decrease of LF-RRI and HF-RRI value aft er the CPT was signifi cantly higher than aft er the acoustic startle (LF-RRI 34% vs. 0.4%, p = 0.022; HF-RRI 19.7% vs. 7% ms2, p = 0.011). The decreased value of the LF and HF components of HRV analysis are indicative of sympathetic activation. Nonlinear analysis of HRV indicated a signifi cant decrease in the Poincare plot SD1 (p = 0.039) and an increase of DFAα2 (p = 0.001) in response to the CPT stress stimulation. The systolic BPV parameter LF/HF-sBP increased significantly after the CPT (2.84 vs. 3.31; p = 0.019) and was higher than aft er the acoustic startle (3.31 vs. 3.06; p = 0.035). Signifi cantly higher values of diastolic BP (67.17 ± 8.10 vs. 69.65 ± 9.94 mmHg, p = 0.038) and median BP (83.39 ± 8.65 vs. 85.30 ± 10.20 mmHg, p = 0.039) were observed in the CPT group than in the acoustic startle group. Conclusions: The Cold Pressor Test has a greater stimulatory effect on the sympathetic autonomic system in comparison to the unexpected acoustic startle stress. Regardless of whether the stimulation originates from the central nervous system (acoustic startle) or the peripheral nervous system (CPT), the final response is demonstrated by an increase in the low frequency components of blood pressure variability and a decrease in the low and high frequency components of heart rate variability

The investigation of efficacy and fire resistance characteristics of fire barrier in the Lift Industry applications

Although it would be preferable for the lift well to be located in the fire-protected area of the building, it is not always possible. Therefore, most newly installed lifts are required to have adequate fire resistance for the length of time corresponding to the fire rating of the building in which they are fitted. The national and international regulations specify such fire rating requirements. However, the regulations fail to address the scenarios that involve lift service or installation periods. In most cases, the lift shaft is then fully or partially open with an exposed area of the entrance creating a significant hazard in time of a fire. In this paper, a novel solution is presented to this problem by considering the design standards, regulations and fire resistance testing procedures. The flow simulation and computational fluid dynamics software are used to simulate and validate the suitability of the proposed solution. It is shown that the development of a temporary fire barrier covering the lift well is feasible. However, further testing and full certification are needed to produce a final, commercially viable product

The name of the game is ‘The City’ – New master plan for Katowice city centre

The centenary of the Futurist Manifesto reminds us that it was probably the only grand manifesto that came true in the 20th century. It is a very bitter conclusion. War, domination of machines, speed, recklessness and lack of respect to women, life and humanist values – which has been postulated by Philippo Marinetti – led us throughout the century towards the largest social and environmental crisis. From an ecological perspective, this manifesto was definitely more of a course than a blessin

The role of the dietitian in the hospital team. The current situation in Poland in relation to the needs of society

Background: Nutrition that is adequate to the patient’s health status is a component of co-determining factors in improving the patient’s health. Moreover, appropriate activities of a dietician, such as assessing the nutritional status or educating patients, are counted among the determinants conditioning the effectiveness of the conducted treatment. The number of employed dietitians in hospitals is low, which results in 76-740 patients per one specialist, which in turn makes effective education impossible. The aim of this study was to compare the duties of dietitians working in Polish hospitals in relation to the needs of the society. Material and methods: The research tool consisted of two original, anonymous questionnaires, addressed to the Polish public and to active dietitians. The analysis of results was based on 595 questionnaire results, including 93 from nutritionists. Results: Of the respondents who were admitted to the hospital ward, 83.3% had no contact with a nutritionist (N=347). The surveyed dietitians most often declared that there were two dietitians working at the health care provider employing them, with the smallest number being 1 and the largest number being 55. Only one in three respondents received dietary recommendations upon discharge from the hospital (N=133; 32.1%). Nearly half of dietitians do not prepare menus (48.4%). According to the public, a dietitian should be involved in nutritional counseling, developing menus for the hospital kitchen or catering, and nutritional recommendations for patients discharged from the hospital. Conclusions: Dietitians with the right qualifications and specialties, integrated into the health care workforce, can have a huge impact on the proper dietary therapy of patients. As a result, there is a high probability of increasing the effectiveness of treatment, resulting in health service savings and support for the medical community

Prostate cancer with different ERG status may show different FOXP3-positive cell numbers

Prostatic carcinoma is the most frequent cancer in males in the Western world. A significant proportion of these cancers have a recurrent translocation involving ETS family genes, which leads to the overexpression of ERG transcription factor. Prostate cancers, which bear this mutation, differ in a number of features, including tumor microenvironment. One of the components of the tumor microenvironment is FOXP3 positive lymphocytes, which may participate in breaking immunosurveillance and promoting tumor growth. The aim of the study was to analyze the relationships between ERG expression, number of FOXP3 positive cells and other features of the tumor. The study group consisted of 65 cases. Tissue microarrays composed of 2 mm tissue cores were used for immunohistological evaluation. Immunohistochemistry for ERG and FOXP3 was performed according to the routinely applied protocol. The FOXP3 positive cells were counted and the results were expressed as the number of cells per mm2. The average number of FOXP3 positive cells was 33.30/mm2 for all cases, 21.43/mm2 for the ERG negative and 42.28/mm2 for the ERG positive group (p < 0.02). There were no significant relationships between FOXP3 positive cell count and any other parameters studied. Our results suggest that the immune response may differ between ERG negative and ERG positive prostatic carcinomas

Influence of endovascular treatment on the vascular endothelium in patients with peripheral arterial disease: a systematic review

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a major public health problem. Endothelial dysfunction represents an important mechanism in the development and progression of atherosclerosis, in part attributable to inflammation, platelet and smooth muscle activation, and arterial stiffening. The aim of this study was to explore the impact of lower limb revascularization on endothelial function in patients with PAD. We performed a comprehensive search of the academic literature using the PubMed and Embase databases to screen suitable records. Following the application of our search strategies, a total of eight studies were included in this review. Despite the limited available evidence, the dearth of academic literature suggests that revascularization has a positive effect on endothelial functioning. The effects of endovascular revascularization on endothelial functioning in patients with PAD are subject to further research