Review: Recent Directions in ECG-FPGA Researches

لقد شهدت السنوات القليلة الماضية اهتماماً متزايداً نحو استخدام مصفوفة البوابات المنطقية القابلة للبرمجة FPGA في التطبيقات المختلفة. لقد أدى التقدم الحاصل في مرونة التعامل مع الموارد بالاضافة الى الزيادة في سرعة الاداء وانخفاض الثمن للـ FPGA وكذلك الاستهلاك القليل للطاقة الى هذا الاهتمام المتزايد بالـ FPGA. ان استخدام الـ FPGA في مجالات الطب والصحة يهدف بشكل عام الى استبدال اجهزة المراقبة الطبية كبيرة الحجم وغالية الثمن باخرى أصغر حجماً مع امكانية تصميمها لكي تكون اجهزة محمولة اعتماداً على مرونة التصميم التي يوفرها الـ FPGA. إنصب الاهتمام في العديد من البحوث الحالية على استخدام نظام FPGA لمعالجة الجوانب المتعلقة بإشارة تخطيط القلب وذلك لتوفير التحسينات في الاداء وزيادة السرعة بالاضافة الى أيجاد وإقتراح افكار جديدة لمثل هذه التطبيقات. ان هذا البحث يوفر نظرة عامة عن الاتجاهات الحالية في انظمة ECG-FPGA.The last few years witnessed an increased interest in utilizing field programmable gate array (FPGA) for a variety of applications. This utilizing derived mostly by the advances in the FPGA flexible resource configuration, increased speed, relatively low cost and low energy consumption. The introduction of FPGA in medicine and health care field aim generally to replace costly and usually bigger medical monitoring and diagnostic equipment with much smaller and possibly portable systems based on FPGA that make use of the design flexibility of FPGA. Many recent researches focus on FPGA systems to deal with the well-known yet very important electrocardiogram (ECG) signal aspects to provide acceleration and improvement in the performance as well as finding and proposing new ideas for such implementations. The recent directions in ECG-FPGA are introduced in this paper

Coxiella burnetii, the causative agent of Q fever in Saudi Arabia: molecular detection from camel and other domestic livestock

AbstractObjectiveTo detect Coxiella burnetii (C. burnetii) DNA in clinical specimens from camel, goats, cattle and sheep in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.MethodsA total of 367 clinical samples including blood, milk, faeces and urine were collected from different livestock and subjected to PCR amplification using primers which amplify transposon-like region and transposase gene.ResultsPositive amplification from both regions was obtained from camel, goats and cattle but not from sheep. A percentage of 10.8% samples yielded positive PCR amplification from both blood and milk, where 15 of 139 blood and 16 of 148 milk samples were positive. Faeces and urine showed higher percentages of positive samples reaching 40.8% and 23.8% respectively.ConclusionsThe preferred route of shedding in camel appeared to be the faeces followed by urine, while that of goats appeared to be the faeces and that of the cattle appeared to be the milk

Residual Stress effect on Fatigue Behavior of 2024- Aluminum alloy

In the present work the effect of residual stress on the fatigue behavior of 2024 Aluminum alloy was studied experimentally and numerically using finite element method with aid of ANSYS-11 software. All the test specimens treated by annealing before any process to remove the internal stresses due to cold work. Residual stresses were imparted to the fatigue tests specimens by heat treatment, pre-strain and welding. X-Ray diffraction was used to measure the residual stress. The heat treatment; done on the test specimens with different temperature of (420, 450, 480, and 510) oC. After heat treatment; alloy mechanical properties were improved. For the heat treated specimens as the temperature increased the compressive residual stress increased to (27.06, 41.43, 72.8 and 85.6) MPa. That leads to increase the endurance fatigue limit by (32.93%, 40.48%, 50.68% and 61.03%) respectively than other alloy as received. While in pre strain groups; the test specimens loaded to (265, 290, 315 and 340) MPa by a tension test machine. As the applied load series were increased the compressive residual stress increased to (16.51, 25.62, 51.54 and 62.44) MPa which improve the endurance fatigue limit by (7.68%, 16.19%, 24.98%, and 46.45%), respectively. An electrical arc and metal inert gas were used in welding series to weld the test specimens, that present a tensile residual stress of (76.93 and 72.66) MPa, which reduces the endurance fatigue limit by (23.45% and 16.08%), respectively. The numerical results present fatigue behavior, deflection and stress at any load, and show a reasonable agreement results with an experimental one

Surgical Management of Lumbar Spine Fractures and Dislocations

Background: Lumbar spine fractures and dislocations, which are part of the thoracolumbar region, are critical injuries with significant morbidity. The epidemiological shift in the median age of injury and the high prevalence of these injuries, particularly in the T10-L2 region, highlight the necessity for effective therapeutic interventions. With advancements in spine biomechanics, imaging technologies, and surgical techniques, there has been a paradigm shift from conservative to surgical management, though high-quality comparative studies remain limited. Objective: To synthesize recent data on the epidemiology, evaluation, and management of lumbar spine fractures and dislocations, and to elucidate the comparative efficacy of surgical interventions and conservative approaches in optimizing patient outcomes. Method: This paper conducts a comprehensive review of epidemiological data on thoracolumbar traumatic injuries, diagnostic techniques, and management strategies, especially focusing on surgical interventions. The review also details specific surgical techniques utilized for lumbar spine fractures and their underlying rationale. Findings and Conclusion: Thoracolumbar injuries primarily affect the transitional zone (T11-L2) and show a higher incidence in males aged between 20 and 40. Imaging, especially CT scans, offers a definitive diagnostic approach, with MRI providing insights on soft tissue interactions. While historically, conservative methods dominated therapeutic interventions, surgical techniques, including Posterior Instrumentation, Anterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion (ALIF), Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion (TLIF), and Posterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion (PLIF), are increasingly being utilized. Some specific fractures even warrant a combined posterior-anterior surgical approach. Notably, certain case studies highlight the potential for superior outcomes with surgical intervention, even in the absence of neurological deficits. Selecting the appropriate management strategy should be tailored to individual patient factors, nature of the injury, and available expertise and resources

Investigation of flow characteristics in gabion stepped weirs

Weirs are used to control and regulate the flow in open channels. In gabion structures, the flow conditions are more complex due to the complexity of flow through the porous body of a gabion. The present study aims to investigate the water surface profile, the overflow velocity profile, and both the through-flow and overflow ratios. Six physical models of the three downstream slopes (V:H 1:1, 1:2, and 1:3) and two types of rockfill (crushed stone and rounded gravel) were investigated. Results show that for the same discharge, the milder slope model (1:3) shows higher water surface and higher velocity than the steeper slope (1:1) with about 9 and 8% on average respectively. The water surface was 60% higher on the lower steps than on the upper steps at the nappe flow regime. Moreover, the low porosity models show a slightly higher velocity and flow depth than higher porosity models for all sections. Furthermore, increasing the porosity from 0.38 to 0.42 led to about a 27% increment in the through-flow ratio. Finally, four relationships were developed to estimate the through-flow and overflow ratios at the upstream and inner sections of the gabion weir. The suggested relationships can be considered novel relationships. HIGHLIGHTS The water surface profile for different flow regimes was investigated.; The overflow velocity profile for different downstream slopes was investigated.; The through-flow and overflow to total flow ratios were investigated.; A relationship for the ratio of through-flow to total flow and overflow to total flow was developed.

Experimental investigation of various solid particle materials on the steady state gassolid fluidized bed system

The present study provides a comprehensive experimental work about fluidized bed gas-solid system characteristics by using different solid particles. Naphthalene, silica gel and sand (197 µm diameter) are utilized as a solid particles while air is used for fluidization. An experimental rig is build to test the various solid particles and to establish a good description of flow and heat transfer patterns for the fluidized bed gas-solid system. Based on the experimental tests, it is found that the solid particle type has a significant influence on the gas-solid flow dynamics. The experimental tests are performed for various fluidized bed velocities ( 0.8 , 1.2 and 1.6 m/sec ) and when the heat fluxes are varied as 80 , 120 and 160 W respectively. Experimental measurements are carried out under steady state situation. Depending on the experimental results , it can be concluded that sand solid particles are better than silica gel and naphthalene solid particles for heat transfer enhancement. Also, it can found for naphthalene , silica gel and sand solid particles that as the fluidized bed velocity and heat flux increase the temperature distribution along the fluidization column increases. Moreover, an empirical equation based on the experimental measurements which linking between Nusselt number (Nu) , Froude number (Fr) and Reynolds number (Re) is suggested. Comparisons with previously published works on gas-solid fluidized bed system are performed and good agreements between the results are observed

Implementation of the new milk recording scheme in dairy camels

As a result of market demand for commercial milk production, intensive dairy camel's farms using modern machine milking have been recently implemented in different places, especially in Gulf countries. However, the genetic improvement for milk productivity in dairy camels is slow due to their long life-span, low fertility, and unknown heritability of specific dairy traits in addition to the lack of selection policy at national levels. In that sense, the lack of milk recording systems is considered to be major constrain that faces any attempt to develop camel agribusiness. Indeed, recording of individual animals' performances is an essential step for selection and is usually associated to genetic improvement. Little is known about milk recording systems in dairy camels. Therefore, dairy camels recording system must satisfy a certain number of criteria such as: (i) the procedure should be simple, (ii) the dairy traits should be economically important, (iii) the data recorded should be useful for management, (iv) the records should be time and cost efficient, able to unequivocally identify the best individuals in each farm, (v) records able to identify genetic differences between populations at a national level. Recently and to facilitate standardized comparison of milk yield between individuals, a fat corrected milk equation at 3% fat level was proposed. Udder morphology traits had positive correlations with milk yield and should be explored for genetic improvement. Recently, a 5-point linear scoring template for evaluating the udder of dairy camels was designed based on 5 main traits. Most dairy camels are raised in nomadic system where small farmers of low education level (i.e., low writing skills) own the majority of the herds. Different factors should be taken into account when implementing a new milk recording scheme in dairy camels, such as: farming systems (nomadic, settled or intensive), breed, milking routine, operator training and cooperation between camel farmers, recording organizations and health care institutions (i.e., veterinary services and practitioners). Therefore, the main steps for camel dairy improvement include (1) establishing performance recording organizations (effective dairy production, growth performance, udder morphology, and reproduction performances), (2) subsidising and rewarding the responding farmers and, (3) standardize the recording procedures. Those steps are the key of the success of the new milk recording system in dairy camels

Microcontroller-Based Function Generator

This paper describes a microcontroller-based function generator system. By the function generator sine wave, square wave, quasi-square wave, saw-tooth and triangular waveforms are generated over a wide frequency range according to user requirements. By utilizing processing capabilities of the microcontroller the hardware is minimized exceedingly. The output waveform shapes are digitally-controlled to achieve the required wave shape. The single chip microcomputer of waveform generation equipment offers the possibility of improvements in manufacture reliability, maintenance and servicing and increased control flexibility. The system is built and tested. The results of test were satisfactory and appreciated by test engineers at different centers of ministry of communications