Effects of the acute exposure to the electromagnetic field of mobile phones on human auditory brainstem responses

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the short-term effects of the electromagnetic fields (EMF) of mobile phones on human auditory brainstem responses. This prospective study of healthy adults evaluated the influence of EMF. Eighteen healthy adult volunteers participated in this study. Mobile telephones emitting signals in the region of 900MHz and with the highest SAR value of 0.82W/kg were positioned in direct contact to the right ear, which was exposed to the phone signal for 15min before and after ABR testing with click stimuli of 60 and 80dB nHL intensities. The latencies of the waves and interwave latencies were measured on screen by an experienced audiologist. The differences of the mean latencies of waves I, III and IV were not significant in initial and post-exposure ABR measurements at both 60 and 80dB nHL stimulus levels ( P >0.05). Similarly, differences of the mean interwave intervals I-III, I-V and III-V remained insignificant at the initial and postexposure ABR measurements at stimulus levels of both 60 and 80dB nHL ( P >0.05). Acute exposure to the EMF of mobile phones does not cause perturbations in ABR latencies. However, these negative results should not encourage excessive mobile communication, because minor biological and neurophysiological influences may not be detectable by the current technolog

Laryngeal involvement in patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis

The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of laryngeal tuberculosis (LT) among patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis. A total of 319 patients under treatment for pulmonary tuberculosis were subjected to laryngoscopy. Five patients (1.5%) with LT were identified. Odynophagia was the most common complaint, followed by alteration in voice. The larynx returned to its normal appearance in 3-8months (average 18weeks) by antituberculous medication. Physicians dealing with pulmonary tuberculosis should keep in mind that symptoms of laryngeal involvement may be minor, and laryngoscopy should always be performed when laryngeal involvement is suspected in order to isolate highly infectious patients. Response to antituberculous medication is usually late in LT and diagnosis by "wait and watch” policy will cause a significant delay in the diagnosis of a possible larynx carcinom

Generating Mesh Representations of VecGeom Solids

The VecGeom project aims at developing a high-performance library for geometry modelling, describing geometry in terms of 3D solid primitives. In this report, the process to generate mesh representations for VecGeom solids is explained, further with a PIP-check, triangulation, and polygon intersection algorithms

Human-Building Interactions in Intelligent Built Environments

Buildings are responsible for about 40% of total energy use in the world, and this rate leads to serious environmental concerns that have triggered researchers to work on new ways of operating and utilizing built environments. On the other hand, technological advancements in sensing, control, actuation and information systems not only have opened up new possibilities and challenges for architectural, engineering and construction industry, but also enriched the forms of interaction between the built environments and people. With the drive towards reducing energy consumption of buildings and enhancing occupant comfort, there lies a significant potential in augmenting human-building interaction with digital capabilities. This research concentrates on exploring the extent of human-building interaction in intelligent built environments and potential research directions in this field

A bluetooth low energy based framework approach for real time occupancy detection

Buildings account for about 40% of total energy use in the world and it is estimated that building energy use will grow 45% over the next 20 years. However, a huge amount of this consumption is caused by the waste of operating unoccupied buildings’ services. With the drive towards improved occupant comfort as well as reduction in energy consumption, building automation systems are currently the leading technology for regulating building operations in a sustainable manner. However, since current building automation systems lack real time input of dynamic occupancy factor and they rely on predefined occupant comfort ranges, they cannot adjust themselves according to occupants’ comfort needs and do not operate with full efficiency. Although there are many studies on occupancy detection systems in the literature, a reliable and precise detection framework is still missing due to certain shortcomings of current approaches including uncertainties in detection, privacy and time-delay issues, inability for multiple detection, and high expense of deployment and maintenance. Considering the importance of occupancy detection and the drawbacks of currently available technologies, the aim of this study is to propose a wireless based framework for real-time occupancy detection that will be accurate, multi-occupant aware, punctual, and reasonable in expense

Kapalı Alanlarda Konum Tespiti Teknolojilerinin Değerlendirilmesi

Kapalı alanlarda konum tespiti inşaat sektörü için geniş bir kullanım alanına sahiptir. Bu kullanımlara binada kullanıcı varlığı tespiti, inşaat alanlarında otomatik mal takibi, tesis bakım ve sürdürülmesinin desteklenmesi ve bina acil durum müdahalelerinde insanların yönlendirmesi dâhildir. Kullanım alanları arasında, binaların dünyadaki toplam enerji tüketimindeki payı ve insan varlığına bağlı olarak çalışan, otomatize edilmiş, talebe dayalı bina operasyonlarının bina enerji verimliliğini artırmadaki büyük potansiyeli değerlendirildiğinde, kullanıcı varlığı tespiti en kritik olarak öne çıkmaktadır. Kullanıcı konum tespiti, belirli bir alan içerisinde, bir insanın koordinatlarının tespit edilmesi olayıdır ve bu amaçla geliştirilen çeşitli yaklaşımlar bulunmaktadır. Bu yaklaşımlar görüntü algılama sistemleri, pasif kızıl ötesi sensör tabanlı sistemler, karbondioksit sensörü tabanlı sistemler ve kablosuz (radyo frekansı tabanlı) sistemleri kapsamaktadır. Kablosuz sistemler dâhilinde, radyo frekansı ile tanımlama sensörleri, kablosuz yerel ağ modelleri ve ultra geniş bant sensörleri gibi teknolojiler kullanılmaktadır. Bu çalışmanın amacı, var olan kapalı alanlarda bina kullanıcılarının konumlarını tespit etme teknolojileri hakkında kapsamlı bir şekilde bilgi vermektir. Çalışma dâhilinde, konum bulma teknolojileri, literatürde verilen temel çalışma prensipleri, avantajları ve dezavantajlarıyla birlikte değerlendirilecektir

Yapılı Çevre İçin Kapalı Alanlarda Konum Belirleme Kullanım Potansiyellerinin İncelenmesi

Son yıllarda, bir insanın ya da bir objenin konum bilgisini elde etmek, lojistik, taşımacılık ve üretim endüstrileri kadar, inşaat sektörü için de dikkate değer bir konu haline gelmiştir. Açık alanlarda konum bilgisi, navigasyon, taşıma ve mal takibi ve rota görüntüleme gibi konum tabanlı çalışan servislere olanak sağlamaktadır. Yol, köprü gibi büyük açık alan şantiyelerinde ya da geniş bir alana yayılmış malzeme depolarında da, malzeme takibi için konum bilgisine ihtiyaç duyulmaktadır. Kapalı alanlarda konum bulmanın önemi ise, inşaat endüstrisindeki potansiyel kullanım alanlarından öte gelmektedir. Başlıca kullanım alanları, yapı kullanıcı varlığının ve kullanıcı varlık durumundaki değişimin tespiti, şantiye alanındaki yapı malzemeleri ve ekipmanların koordinatlarının belirlenmesi ve bunların saha üzerindeki yönetiminin kolaylaştırılması, tesis işletme ve bakımının desteklenmesi ve bina acil durum müdahalelerinde insanların olay mahalli içerisinde yönlendirilmesine olanak sağlanmasıdır. Bu araştırmanın amacı, yapılı çevre için kapalı alanlarda konum belirleme kullanım potansiyellerinin değerlendirilmesi ve incelenmesidir

A Review of Indoor Localization Use Cases in the Built Environment

Gaining information about the location of a person or an object has become an important issue in the field of built environment as well as industries such as logistics, transportation, manufacturing and healthcare. Location-based services such as on-road navigation, transportation tracking and route monitoring are the motives for a need towards outdoor location detection. In indoor built environments, the importance of localization arises from its value for construction industry in a various range of applications. Detection of building occupancy for automation systems, tracking personnel and equipment for effective management of facilities, providing assets location in construction sites and supporting building emergency response operations are all within the scope of indoor localization. This research aims to validate the need for indoor localization in buildings and to provide a review of indoor localization use cases in the built environment together with the currently available technologies