Efficient data encoder for endoscopic imaging applications

The invention of medical imaging technology revolved the process of diagnosing diseases and opened a new world for better studying inside of the human body. In order to capture images from different human organs, different devices have been developed. Gastro-Endoscopy is an example of a medical imaging device which captures images from human gastrointestinal. With the advancement of technology, the issues regarding such devices started to get rectified. For example, with the invention of swallow-able pill photographer which is called Wireless Capsule Endoscopy (WCE); pain, time, and bleeding risk for patients are radically decreased. The development of such technologies and devices has been increased and the demands for instruments providing better performance are grown along the time. In case ofWCE, the special feature requirements such as a small size (as small as an ordinary pill) and wireless transmission of the captured images dictate restrictions in power consumption and area usage. In this research, the reduction of image encoder hardware cost for endoscopic imaging application has been focused. Several encoding algorithms have been studied and the comparative results are discussed. An efficient data encoder based on Lempel-Ziv-Welch (LZW) algorithm is presented. The encoder is a library-based one where the size of library can be modified by the user, and hence, the output data rate can be controlled according to the bandwidth requirement. The simulation is carried out with several endoscopic images and the results show that a minimum compression ratio of 92.5 % can be achieved with a minimum reconstruction quality of 30 dB. The hardware architecture and implementation result in Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) for the proposed window-based LZW are also presented. A new lossy LZW algorithm is proposed and implemented in FPGA which provides promising results for such an application

Copyright Charges: A Library's Approach to Reducing its Copyright Fees

Medical Sciences Library (MSL) at Texas A&M University offers ILL services to its affiliates free of charge. Like many other libraries, ILL staff first try to borrow from free libraries to keep the borrowing fees as low as possible. However, copyright fees are often higher than the charges of borrowing an article. To offset the copyright charges and maintain the free service, a new plan was devised by the librarian overseeing ILL. After consulting with the director, an acceptable range of copyright fees was chosen for each patron group (undergraduate, graduate, staff, faculty). This breakdown was forwarded to staff and they were asked to follow a series of steps when copyright needs to be paid for a request. This poster will explain the steps in detail and provide the outcome

ETHANOL DEHYDRATION IN A PRESSURE SWING ADSORPTION PROCESS USING CANOLA MEAL

Canola meal was used as an adsorbent in a pressure swing adsorption (PSA) apparatus for ethanol dehydration. The experiments were conducted at different pressures, temperatures, vapor superficial velocities, vapor concentrations and particle sizes. Adsorption experiments were performed at equilibrium and breakthrough points. The results demonstrated that canola meal can break the azeotropic point 95.6 wt% and produce over 99 wt% ethanol. At elevated temperature, feed water concentration, and vapor superficial velocity, it was found that the mass transfer rate increased. In addition, the mass transfer rate decreases when either the total pressure or the size of the adsorbent particles are increased. Breakthrough curves were simulated and the overall mass transfer resistance was evaluated at all experimental runs. The internal mass transfer resistance was identified as the relevant mass transfer mechanism. For canola meal, the equilibrium water/ethanol uptake was achieved at 100, 105, and 110˚C. The Frenkel-Halsey-Hill (FHH) and Guggenheim-Andrson-de-Boer (GAB) models perfectly simulated the water adsorption isotherms. By applying Dubinin-Polanyi model to the experimental data, canola meal was identified as a large pore (non-porous) material. The heat of adsorption on canola meal with particle size of 0.43-1.18 mm was determined to be -32.11 kJ/mol. The result confirms that the adsorption process is an exothermic phenomenon and is of physical type due to the fact that the value obtained as the heat of adsorption is negative and its magnitude is within the range 20–80 kJ/mol. The equilibrium water uptake on canola meal was similar to that reported for other starchy and cellulosic adsorbents, while the ethanol uptake was higher. Water saturated canola meal was successfully regenerated by passing nitrogen at 110˚C which is lower than that for molecular sieves commonly used in industry for bioethanol dehydration. The canola meal bio-adsorbent was re-used for more than 32 cycles and no significant change in adsorption capacity was observed

Kinetic model for an up-flow anaerobic packed bed bioreactor: Dairy wastewater treatment

Kinetic studies of anaerobic digestion process of cheese whey were conducted in a pilot-scale up-flow anaerobic packed bed bioreactor (UAPB). An influent COD concentration of 59419 mg/l was utilized at steady state condition. Logistic and Monod kinetic models were employed to describe microbial activities of cheese whey in an anaerobic digester. The hydraulic retention times (HRT) in the range of 6 to 24 h were investigated throughout the experiments. Lactose conversions were 58.5 and 99.4% for HRT of 6 and 16 h, respectively. The methane production rates were 6.57 and 3.25 l/h for HRT of 6 and 24 h, respectively. Monod biokinetic coefficients, Ks,  s, s, m m and methane yield (YM) were 8.59, 7.63 (h-1) and 0.11 (g methane/g lactose), respectivel

Large eddy simulations for compressible turbulent jet flows

Large Eddy Simulation is generally perceived as a very effective and highly promising method that can considerably improve our modeling of turbulent flows. Application of LES has considerably increased in the past decade among thermofluid scholars as well as within different industries. The main obstacles in further implementation of this method for engineering applications are its relatively high computational cost and also unavailability of well tuned and tested numerical tools and therefore there is a great interest in modification of available low order numerical tools which are computationally reasonable in order to use them for LES. This dissertation is investigating the possibility of applying an available finite element/volume numerical code; used previously for RANS simulations of compressible flows, in order to carry out LES. In this work, a self-adaptive upwinding method, which is compatible with Roe's scheme and reduces the numerical dissipation of low order flux calculation on unstructured elements, is developed. At first, the proposed method is evaluated using channel flow stability test and decaying isotropic turbulence. The method is then used to numerically investigate a high Reynolds compressible turbulent free jet and compare the results with recently published set of experimental data. At the end, a hydrogen jet releasing from a high pressure reservoir is also numerically studied. During these simulations, the performance of the developed numerical tool for subsonic, sonic and supersonic flows at high Reynolds numbers will be extensively analyzed

Self-Adaptive Upwinding for Large Eddy Simulation of Turbulent Flows on Unstructured Elements

A self-adaptive upwinding method for large eddy simulation is proposed to reduce the numerical dissipation of a low-order numerical scheme on unstructured elements. This method is used to extend an existing Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes code to a large eddy simulation code by adjusting the contribution of the upwinding term to the convective flux. This adjustment is essentially controlled by the intensity of the local wiggle and reduces the upwind contribution in the Roe-MUSCL scheme. First, the stability characteristic of the new scheme is studied using a channel flow stability test. It is essential to ensure that the proposed scheme is able to adjust upwinding in the presence of very high gradients and that it prohibits the divergence of the simulation. Second, the decaying isotropic turbulence is simulated to study the capability of the new scheme to generate the suitable decaying rate for the total kinetic energy and its influence over the slope of the energy spectrum at different computational times. Finally, the flow separation phenomenon over a NACA0025 profile is numerically investigated and results are compared with experimental data

Development of Snow Removal Equipment

NIJJ AB, a new established company, started its work with a patented idea for snow removal from the roof. This project developed the idea to a virtual prototype and presented the process of product development in a real case scenario. A combination of methods was implemented in this project to develop the concept in a structured way. The work started with planning for the project and gathering information about the customer needs, competitive products and related technologies. House of Quality was built to define product target specifications and obtain a working plan for the rest of project. Due to the complexity of the product, it was divided to simpler sub-functions and based on the collected information new concepts were generated for each sub-problem. After evaluating the combined concepts, most promising ones were chosen to be compared in Pugh matrix. The winning concept was selected for further development and more detail design. The designed components and assembly were tested with FEM tools and required refinements were applied to the design. A virtual prototype of the product was achieved at the end of the project

Development of Snow Removal Equipment

NIJJ AB, a new established company, started its work with a patented idea for snow removal from the roof. This project developed the idea to a virtual prototype and presented the process of product development in a real case scenario. A combination of methods was implemented in this project to develop the concept in a structured way. The work started with planning for the project and gathering information about the customer needs, competitive products and related technologies. House of Quality was built to define product target specifications and obtain a working plan for the rest of project. Due to the complexity of the product, it was divided to simpler sub-functions and based on the collected information new concepts were generated for each sub-problem. After evaluating the combined concepts, most promising ones were chosen to be compared in Pugh matrix. The winning concept was selected for further development and more detail design. The designed components and assembly were tested with FEM tools and required refinements were applied to the design. A virtual prototype of the product was achieved at the end of the project

Bioconversion of Cheese Whey to Methane in an Upflow Anaerobic Packed Bed Bioreactor

Upflow anaerobic packed bed (UAPB) reactor is an upflow fixed film packed bed bioreactor that is used for rapid biotransformation of organic matter to methane. In this study, biofilm was established on seashell, packed in an UAPB bioreactor. The start-up duration for the bioreactor was 3 to 5 days while the major problem associated with normal UASB reactors is long start-up. The reactor was operated at room temperature (25 °C) with various HRT of τ = 6, 9, 10, 13, 16, 20 and 24 h. The organic loading was gradually increased from 1.6 to 9.9 g L-1 h-1 COD. The UAPB reactor was continuously operated for 65 d. The treatment of high organic load dairy wastewater at HRT of 6 h was conducted. Maximum biogas production of 12.4 L h-1 (6.57 mol h-1) was achieved. At HRT of 16 h, a 94.5 % of COD removal was obtained. Methane yield of 0.12 g CH4 per g lactose at the highest OLR was achieved