9,399 research outputs found

    Utilising semantic technologies for decision support in dementia care

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    The main objective of this work is to discuss our experience in utilising semantic technologies for building decision support in Dementia care systems that are based on the non-intrusive on the non-intrusive monitoring of the patient’s behaviour. Our approach adopts context-aware modelling of the patient’s condition to facilitate the analysis of the patient’s behaviour within the inhabited environment (movement and room occupancy patterns, use of equipment, etc.) with reference to the semantic knowledge about the patient’s condition (history of present of illness, dependable behaviour patterns, etc.). The reported work especially focuses on the critical role of the semantic reasoning engine in inferring medical advice, and by means of practical experimentation and critical analysis suggests important findings related to the methodology of deploying the appropriate semantic rules systems, and the dynamics of the efficient utilisation of complex event processing technology in order to the meet the requirements of decision support for remote healthcare systems

    Development of an Optical System for Measuring Fluorescence Lifetimes

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    This project presents the design of a cost-effective, portable, and simplified fluorescence detection system for measuring fluorescence lifetime decay as an alternative to the available methods currently in use. There are multiple systems available to detect fluorescence of a sample, but they contain multiple parts and require expensive equipment in order to function. Due to the number of parts needed, the cost of implementing those fluorescence lifetime decay measuring systems are high. The fluorescence measuring system will be simplified into four main components that are interchangeable based on the application needs.In this project, a simple fluorescence measuring system will be used to detect a sample of quantum dots and a sample of an organic based dye and examine the results for system feasibility. Future works may include testing of various time decaying quantum dots, and testing of various other light detection devices, such as other avalanche photodiodes (APD) or photomultiplier tubes (PMTs)

    VEGF (Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor) Induces NRP1 (Neuropilin-1) Cleavage via ADAMs (a Disintegrin and Metalloproteinase) 9 and 10 to Generate Novel Carboxy- Terminal NRP1 Fragments That Regulate Angiogenic Signaling

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    OBJECTIVE: NRP1(neuropilin-1) acts as a coreceptor for VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) with an essential role in angiogenesis. Recent findings suggest that posttranslational proteolytic cleavage of VEGF receptors may be an important mechanism for regulating angiogenesis, but the role of NRP1 proteolysis and the NRP1 species generated by cleavage in endothelial cells is not known. To characterize NRP1 proteolytic cleavage in endothelial cells, determine the mechanism, and investigate the role of NRP1 cleavage in regulation of endothelial cell function. APPROACH AND RESULTS: NRP1 species comprising the carboxy (C)-terminal and transmembrane NRP1 domains but lacking the ligand-binding A and B regions are constitutively expressed in endothelial cells. Generation of these C-terminal domain NRP1 proteins is upregulated by phorbol ester and Ca2+ ionophore, and reduced by pharmacological inhibition of metalloproteinases, by small interfering RNA-mediated knockdown of 2 members of ADAM (a disintegrin and metalloproteinase) family, ADAMs 9 and 10, and by a specific ADAM10 inhibitor. Furthermore, VEGF upregulates expression of these NRP1 species in an ADAM9/10-dependent manner. Transduction of endothelial cells with adenoviral constructs expressing NRP1 C-terminal domain fragments inhibited VEGF-induced phosphorylation of VEGFR2 (VEGF receptor tyrosine kinase)/KDR and decreased VEGF-stimulated endothelial cell motility and angiogenesis in coculture and aortic ring sprouting assays. CONCLUSIONS: These findings identify novel NRP1 species in endothelial cells and demonstrate that regulation of NRP1 proteolysis via ADAMs 9 and 10 is a new regulatory pathway able to modulate VEGF angiogenic signaling

    Linear Parameter Varying Power Regulation of Variable Speed Pitch Manipulated Wind Turbine in the Full Load Regime

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    In a wind energy conversion system (WECS), changing the pitch angle of the wind turbine blades is a typical practice to regulate the electrical power generation in the full-load regime. Due to the turbulent nature of the wind and the large variations of the mean wind speed during the day, the rotary elements of the WECS are subjected to significant mechanical stresses and fatigue, resulting in conceivably mechanical failures and higher maintenance costs. Consequently, it is imperative to design a control system capable of handling continuous wind changes. In this work, Linear Parameter Varying (LPV) H_inf controller is used to cope with wind variations and turbulent winds with a turbulence intensity greater than 10%. The proposed controller is designed to regulate the rotational rotor speed and generator torque, thus, regulating the output power via pitch angle manipulations. In addition, a PI-Fuzzy control system is designed to be compared with the proposed control system. The closed-loop simulations of both controllers established the robustness and stability of the suggested LPV controller under large wind velocity variations, with minute power fluctuations compared to the PI-Fuzzy controller. The results show that in the presence of turbulent wind speed variations, the proposed LPV controller achieves improved transient and steady-state performance along with reduced mechanical loads in the above-rated wind speed region.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figure

    Long and short paths in uniform random recursive dags

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    In a uniform random recursive k-dag, there is a root, 0, and each node in turn, from 1 to n, chooses k uniform random parents from among the nodes of smaller index. If S_n is the shortest path distance from node n to the root, then we determine the constant \sigma such that S_n/log(n) tends to \sigma in probability as n tends to infinity. We also show that max_{1 \le i \le n} S_i/log(n) tends to \sigma in probability.Comment: 16 page

    Validity of Finite Element Method: Analysis of Laminated Composite Decks Plates Subjected to in Plane Loading

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    To verify the accuracy of the present technique, buckling loads are evaluated and validated with other works available in the literature. Further comparisons were carried out and compared with the results obtained by the ANSYS package and experimental results. The good agreement with available data demonstrates the reliability of the finite element method used

    Stability of Thin Laminated Decks Plates Under Plane Compressive Loading

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    It was found that symmetric laminates are stiffer than the anti – symmetric one due to coupling between bending and stretching which decreases the buckling loads of symmetric laminates. The buckling load increases with increasing aspect ratio, and decreases with increase in modulus ratio. The buckling load will remain the same even when the lamination order is reversed. The buckling load increases with the mode number but at different rates depending on the type of end support. It is also observed that as the mode number increases, the plate needs additional support

    Study on anisotropies and momentum densities in AlN, GaN and InN by positron annihilation

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    The independent particle model (IPM) coupled with empirical pseudopotential method (EPM) was used to compute the thermalized positron charge densities in specific family of binary tetrahedrally coordinated crystals of formula ANB8-N. Initial results show a clear asymmetrical positron charge distribution relative to the bond center. It is observed that the positron density is maximum in the open interstices and is excluded not only, from the ion cores but also to a considerable degree from the valence bonds. Electron-positron momentum densities are calculated for the (001,110) planes. The results are used to analyze the positron effects in AlN, GaN and InN compounds. Our computational technique provides the theoretical means of interpreting the k-space densities obtained experimentally using the twodimensional angular correlation of annihilation radiation (2D-ACAR)

    Search for the production of dark fermion candidates in association with heavy neutral gauge boson decaying to dimuon in proton-proton collisions at s=8\sqrt{s} = 8 TeV using the CMS open data

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    This analysis shows a search for dark fermion particles produced in association with a heavy neutral gauge boson (Z′^{\prime}). The studied events topology are dimuon and a large missing transverse momentum. %We considered the muonic decay of Z′^{\prime}. The analyzed data were the Open Data collected by the CMS detector in proton-proton collisions at the LHC in 2012 and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 11.6 fb−1^{-1} at s=\sqrt{s} = 8 TeV. One benchmark scenario the light vector was used for interpreting the data, based on a simplified model so called the mono-Z′^{\prime} model. No evidence of dark fermion candidates was found, 95%\% confidence level limits have been set on both Z′^{\prime} and dark fermion masses.Comment: 10 pages. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2103.04326, arXiv:2109.1127
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