• Title/Summary/Keyword: combined systems

Search Result 2,637, Processing Time 0.029 seconds

An Innovative Wellness Program Promoting Participation in Physical Activity of Community-Dwelling Frail Elderly

  • Choi, Bong-sam
    • Physical Therapy Korea
    • /
    • v.24 no.3
    • /
    • pp.47-56
    • /
    • 2017
  • Background: Given the potential benefits of wellness programs promoting physical activity of the community-dwelling frail elderly, it is recommended that comprehensive wellness programs combined with the component of physical activity. This may improve overall health and potentially lower the health care cost of the frail elderly. In general, the frail elderly residing in community or those after being discharged from hospitals are often committed to enhancing the status of participation in physical activity. Objects: The purposes of this study were to identify specific shortcomings of current wellness programs as part of continuum of community rehabilitation services and to propose alternatives for the care of the community-dwelling frail elderly. Through this study, geriatric health care professionals may be able to implement assessments and programs to successfully promote an effective continuum of care for the frail elderly. Methods: Article reviews were summarized and evaluated. Results: A model elaborating the relationship between components of successful wellness program and participation in physical activities for the community-dwelling frail elderly are recommended. First, periodic monitoring the levels of physical activity by the use of online measurement system should be considered. Second, individualized adaptive technologies for selecting optimal physical activities for the elderly may be better fit to individuals' current status of physical activity. Conclusion: The current status of physical activity in community-dwelling frail elderly can be monitored by online assessment systems. Through the innovative measurement system, elderly may assess his/her physical activity status overtime, select optimal physical activities matching the status, and create the elderly's own adaptive wellness programs that match to the status while residing in his/her community.

A multitype sensor placement method for the modal estimation of structure

  • Pei, Xue-Yang;Yi, Ting-Hua;Li, Hong-Nan
    • Smart Structures and Systems
    • /
    • v.21 no.4
    • /
    • pp.407-420
    • /
    • 2018
  • In structural health monitoring, it is meaningful to comprehensively utilize accelerometers and strain gauges to obtain the modal information of a structure. In this paper, a modal estimation theory is proposed, in which the displacement modes of the locations without accelerometers can be estimated by the strain modes of selected strain gauge measurements. A two-stage sensor placement method, in which strain gauges are placed together with triaxial accelerometers to obtain more structural displacement mode information, is proposed. In stage one, the initial accelerometer locations are determined through the combined use of the modal assurance criterion and the redundancy information. Due to various practical factors, however, accelerometers cannot be placed at some of the initial accelerometer locations; the displacement mode information of these locations are still in need and the locations without accelerometers are defined as estimated locations. In stage two, the displacement modes of the estimated locations are estimated based on the strain modes of the strain gauge locations, and the quality of the estimation is seen as a criterion to guide the selection of the strain gauge locations. Instead of simply placing a strain gauge at the midpoint of each beam element, the influence of different candidate strain gauge positions on the estimation of displacement modes is also studied. Finally, the modal assurance criterion is utilized to evaluate the performance of the obtained multitype sensor placement. A bridge benchmark structure is used for a numerical investigation to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed multitype sensor placement method.

Aeroelastic-aerodynamic analysis and bio-inspired flow sensor design for boundary layer velocity profiles of wind turbine blades with active external flaps

  • Sun, Xiao;Tao, Junliang;Li, Jiale;Dai, Qingli;Yu, Xiong
    • Smart Structures and Systems
    • /
    • v.20 no.3
    • /
    • pp.311-328
    • /
    • 2017
  • The characteristics of boundary layers have significant effects on the aerodynamic forces and vibration of the wind turbine blade. The incorporation of active trailing edge flaps (ATEF) into wind turbine blades has been proven as an effective control approach for alleviation of load and vibration. This paper is aimed at investigating the effects of external trailing edge flaps on the flow pattern and velocity distribution within a boundary layer of a NREL 5MW reference wind turbine, as well as designing a new type of velocity sensors for future validation measurements. An aeroelastic-aerodynamic simulation with FAST-AeroDyn code was conducted on the entire wind turbine structure and the modifications were made on turbine blade sections with ATEF. The results of aeroelastic-aerodynamic simulations were combined with the results of two-dimensional computational fluid dynamic simulations. From these, the velocity profile of the boundary layer as well as the thickness variation with time under the influence of a simplified load case was calculated for four different blade-flap combinations (without flap, with $-5^{\circ}$, $0^{\circ}$, and $+5^{\circ}$ flap). In conjunction with the computational modeling of the characteristics of boundary layers, a bio-inspired hair flow sensor was designed for sensing the boundary flow field surrounding the turbine blades, which ultimately aims to provide real time data to design the control scheme of the flap structure. The sensor element design and performance were analyzed using both theoretical model and finite element method. A prototype sensor element with desired bio-mimicry responses was fabricated and validated, which will be further refined for integration with the turbine blade structures.

A Fast Sorting Strategy Based on a Two-way Merge Sort for Balancing the Capacitor Voltages in Modular Multilevel Converters

  • Zhao, Fangzhou;Xiao, Guochun;Liu, Min;Yang, Daoshu
    • Journal of Power Electronics
    • /
    • v.17 no.2
    • /
    • pp.346-357
    • /
    • 2017
  • The Modular Multilevel Converter (MMC) is particularly attractive for medium and high power applications such as High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) systems. In order to reach a high voltage, the number of cascaded submodules (SMs) is generally very large. Thus, in the applications with hundreds or even thousands of SMs such as MMC-HVDCs, the sorting algorithm of the conventional voltage balancing strategy is extremely slow. This complicates the controller design and increases the hardware cost tremendously. This paper presents a Two-Way Merge Sort (TWMS) strategy based on the prediction of the capacitor voltages under ideal conditions. It also proposes an innovative Insertion Sort Correction for the TWMS (ISC-TWMS) to solve issues in practical engineering under non-ideal conditions. The proposed sorting methods are combined with the features of the MMC-HVDC control strategy, which significantly accelerates the sorting process and reduces the implementation efforts. In comparison with the commonly used quicksort algorithm, it saves at least two-thirds of the sorting execution time in one arm with 100 SMs, and saves more with a higher number of SMs. A 501-level MMC-HVDC simulation model in PSCAD/EMTDC has been built to verify the validity of the proposed strategies. The fast speed and high efficiency of the algorithms are demonstrated by experiments with a DSP controller (TMS320F28335).

Development of Two-color Radiation Thermometer for Harsh Environments

  • Mohammed, Mohammed Ali Alshaikh;Kim, Ki-Seong
    • Journal of ILASS-Korea
    • /
    • v.21 no.4
    • /
    • pp.184-194
    • /
    • 2016
  • Many industrial processes require reliable temperature measurements in harsh environments with high temperature, dust, humidity, and pressure. However, commercially-available conventional temperature measurement devices are not suitable for use in such conditions. This study thus proposes a reliable, durable two-color radiation thermometer (RT) for harsh environments that was developed by selecting the appropriate components, designing a suitable mechanical structure, and compensating environmental factors such as absorption by particles and gases. The two-color RT has a simple, compactly-designed probe with a well-structured data acquisition system combined with efficient LabVIEW-based code. As a result, the RT can measure the temperature in real time, ranging from 300 to $900^{\circ}C$ in extremely harsh environments, such as that above the burden zone of a blast furnace. The error in the temperature measurements taken with the proposed two-color RT compared to that obtained using K-type thermocouple readouts was within 6.1 to $1.4^{\circ}C$ at a temperature range from 200 to $700^{\circ}C$. The effects of absorption by gases including $CO_2$, CO and $H_2O$ and the scattering by fine particles were calculated to find the transmittance of the two wavelength bands of operation through the path between the measured burden surface and the two-color probe. This method is applied to determine the transmittance of the short and long wavelength bands to be 0.31 and 0.51, respectively. Accordingly, the signals that were measured were corrected, and the true burden surface temperature was calculated. The proposed two-color RT and the correction method can be applied to measure temperatures in harsh environments where light-absorbing gases and scattering particles exist and optical components can be contaminated.

Comparison of Total RNA Isolation Methods for Analysis of Immune-Related microRNAs in Market Milks

  • Oh, Sangnam;Park, Mi Ri;Son, Seok Jun;Kim, Younghoon
    • Food Science of Animal Resources
    • /
    • v.35 no.4
    • /
    • pp.459-465
    • /
    • 2015
  • Bovine milk provides essential nutrients, including immunologically important molecules, as the primary source of nutrition to newborns. Recent studies showed that RNAs from bovine milk contain immune-related microRNAs (miRNA) that regulate various immune systems. To evaluate the biological and immunological activity of miRNAs from milk products, isolation methods need to be established. Six methods for extracting total RNAs from bovine colostrums were adopted to evaluate the isolating efficiency and expression of miRNAs. Total RNA from milk was presented in formulation of small RNAs, rather than ribosomal RNAs. Column-combined phenol isolating methods showed high recovery of total RNAs, especially the commercial columns for biofluid samples, which demonstrated outstanding efficiency for recovering miRNAs. We also evaluated the quantity of five immune-related miRNAs (miR-93, miR-106a, miR-155, miR-181a, miR-451) in milk processed by temperature treatments including low temperature for long time (LTLT, 63℃ for 30 min)-, high temperature for short time (HTST, 75℃ for 15 s)-, and ultra heat treatment (UHT, 120-130℃ for 0.5-4 s). All targeted miRNAs had significantly reduced levels in processed milks compared to colostrum and raw mature milk. Interestingly, the amount of immune-related miRNAs from HTST milk was more resistant than those of LTLT and UHT milks. Our present study examined defined methods of RNA isolation and quantification of immune-specific miRNAs from small volumes of milk for use in further analysis.

(Efficient Methods for Combining User and Article Models for Collaborative Recommendation) (협력적 추천을 위한 사용자와 항목 모델의 효율적인 통합 방법)

  • 도영아;김종수;류정우;김명원
    • Journal of KIISE:Software and Applications
    • /
    • v.30 no.5_6
    • /
    • pp.540-549
    • /
    • 2003
  • In collaborative recommendation two models are generally used: the user model and the article model. A user model learns correlation between users preferences and recommends an article based on other users preferences for the article. Similarly, an article model learns correlation between preferences for articles and recommends an article based on the target user's preference for other articles. In this paper, we investigates various combination methods of the user model and the article model for better recommendation performance. They include simple sequential and parallel methods, perceptron, multi-layer perceptron, fuzzy rules, and BKS. We adopt the multi-layer perceptron for training each of the user and article models. The multi-layer perceptron has several advantages over other methods such as the nearest neighbor method and the association rule method. It can learn weights between correlated items and it can handle easily both of symbolic and numeric data. The combined models outperform any of the basic models and our experiments show that the multi-layer perceptron is the most efficient combination method among them.

Development of Neuromuscular Stimulus System using Wearable Ultra-miniature Lighting Modules and its Verification of Clinical Effectiveness (의복형 초소형 발광모듈을 이용한 신경근육 자극 시스템 개발 및 임상적 효과 검증)

  • Park, Se-Hyeong;Lee, Jong-Shill;Kim, In-Young;Kim, Sun-I.
    • Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
    • /
    • v.30 no.1
    • /
    • pp.23-33
    • /
    • 2009
  • It can be used easily to reduce rehabilitation and treatment time if diagnostic and therapeutic devices are attached to cloth or body. Therefore we developed neuromuscular wearable ultra-miniature lighting modules which can improve the neuromuscular function and verified its clinical effectiveness. The system is based on the ultra-miniature lighting treatment module and there are two types of systems. One of them is designed as an attached type and the other type is combined with clothing. The wearable ultra-miniature lighting module is composed of controller (battery, MCU, bidirectional transmitter and receiver), cable, treatment medium generating device and other peripheral devices. To verify the clinical effectiveness of this device, we observed the difference of the strength of a muscle before and after 650nm and 25mW laser irradiation on the reflex point for 1 to 4 seconds. Among 48 patients having the degenerative osteoarthritis, the muscle strength before and after irradiation of laser was $21.8{\pm}7.99$ and $27.3{\pm}8.43$. According to the result, the muscle strength after treatment was significantly increased (p<0.01). To whom having difficulty in visiting to OPD(Out-Patient Department), doctors medically examine the patients and find the therapeutic point, attachment of this wearable ultra-miniature lighting module can function as self treatment (treating instrument) and treatment assist at home. If doctor can remotely control the patient and take part in treatment, the therapeutic device could contribute to prevention and care device.

Optimal Design of Fuzzy-Neural Networkd Structure Using HCM and Hybrid Identification Algorithm (HCM과 하이브리드 동정 알고리즘을 이용한 퍼지-뉴럴 네트워크 구조의 최적 설계)

  • Oh, Sung-Kwun;Park, Ho-Sung;Kim, Hyun-Ki
    • The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers D
    • /
    • v.50 no.7
    • /
    • pp.339-349
    • /
    • 2001
  • This paper suggests an optimal identification method for complex and nonlinear system modeling that is based on Fuzzy-Neural Networks(FNN). The proposed Hybrid Identification Algorithm is based on Yamakawa's FNN and uses the simplified inference as fuzzy inference method and Error Back Propagation Algorithm as learning rule. In this paper, the FNN modeling implements parameter identification using HCM algorithm and hybrid structure combined with two types of optimization theories for nonlinear systems. We use a HCM(Hard C-Means) clustering algorithm to find initial apexes of membership function. The parameters such as apexes of membership functions, learning rates, and momentum coefficients are adjusted using hybrid algorithm. The proposed hybrid identification algorithm is carried out using both a genetic algorithm and the improved complex method. Also, an aggregated objective function(performance index) with weighting factor is introduced to achieve a sound balance between approximation and generalization abilities of the model. According to the selection and adjustment of a weighting factor of an aggregate objective function which depends on the number of data and a certain degree of nonlinearity(distribution of I/O data), we show that it is available and effective to design an optimal FNN model structure with mutual balance and dependency between approximation and generalization abilities. To evaluate the performance of the proposed model, we use the time series data for gas furnace, the data of sewage treatment process and traffic route choice process.

  • PDF

Design of a Format Converter from MPEG-4 Over MPEG-2 TS to MP4 (MPEG-4 Over MPEG-2 TS로부터 MP4 파일로의 포맷 변환기 설계)

  • 최재영;정제창
    • Journal of Broadcast Engineering
    • /
    • v.5 no.2
    • /
    • pp.176-187
    • /
    • 2000
  • MPEG-4 is a digital bit stream format and associated protocols for representing multimedia content consisting of natural and synthetic audio, video and object data. This paper describes an application where multiple audio/visual data stream are combined in MPEG-4 and transported via MPTG-2 transport streams(TS). Also, this paper describes how to convert MPEG-4 Over MPEG-2 TS bit streams into MP4 file which Is designed to contain the media information of an MPEG-4 presentation in a flexible, extensible format. MPEG-4 is presented in the form of audio-visual objects that are arranged into an audio-visual scene by means of a scene descriptor and is composed of the audio-visual objects by means of an object descriptor. These descriptor streams are not defined MPEG-2 TS. So. this paper focuses on handling of these descriptors and parsing TS streams to get MPEG-4 data. The MPEG-4 Over MPEG-2 TS to MP4 format converter is implemented in the demonstrated systems.

  • PDF