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electrodes</title> <meta name="description" content="Search results for: electrodes"> <meta name="keywords" content="electrodes"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, minimum-scale=1, maximum-scale=1, user-scalable=no"> <meta charset="utf-8"> <link href="https://cdn.waset.org/favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon" rel="shortcut icon"> <link href="https://cdn.waset.org/static/plugins/bootstrap-4.2.1/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet"> <link href="https://cdn.waset.org/static/plugins/fontawesome/css/all.min.css" rel="stylesheet"> <link href="https://cdn.waset.org/static/css/site.css?v=150220211555" rel="stylesheet"> </head> <body> <header> <div class="container"> <nav class="navbar navbar-expand-lg navbar-light"> <a class="navbar-brand" href="https://waset.org"> <img src="https://cdn.waset.org/static/images/wasetc.png" alt="Open Science Research Excellence" title="Open Science Research Excellence" /> </a> <button class="d-block d-lg-none navbar-toggler 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id="custom-search-input"> <div class="input-group"> <i class="fas fa-search"></i> <input type="text" class="search-query" name="q" placeholder="Author, Title, Abstract, Keywords" value="electrodes"> <input type="submit" class="btn_search" value="Search"> </div> </div> </form> </div> </div> <div class="row mt-3"> <div class="col-sm-3"> <div class="card"> <div class="card-body"><strong>Commenced</strong> in January 2007</div> </div> </div> <div class="col-sm-3"> <div class="card"> <div class="card-body"><strong>Frequency:</strong> Monthly</div> </div> </div> <div class="col-sm-3"> <div class="card"> <div class="card-body"><strong>Edition:</strong> International</div> </div> </div> <div class="col-sm-3"> <div class="card"> <div class="card-body"><strong>Paper Count:</strong> 462</div> </div> </div> </div> <h1 class="mt-3 mb-3 text-center" style="font-size:1.6rem;">Search results for: electrodes</h1> <div class="card paper-listing mb-3 mt-3"> <h5 class="card-header" style="font-size:.9rem"><span class="badge badge-info">42</span> Integration of a Protective Film to Enhance the Longevity and Performance of Miniaturized Ion Sensors</h5> <div class="card-body"> <p class="card-text"><strong>Authors:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Antonio%20Ruiz%20Gonzalez">Antonio Ruiz Gonzalez</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Kwang-Leong%20Choy"> Kwang-Leong Choy</a> </p> <p class="card-text"><strong>Abstract:</strong></p> The measurement of electrolytes has a high value in the clinical routine. Ions are present in all body fluids with variable concentrations and are involved in multiple pathologies such as heart failures and chronic kidney disease. In the case of dissolved potassium, although a high concentration in the blood (hyperkalemia) is relatively uncommon in the general population, it is one of the most frequent acute electrolyte abnormalities. In recent years, the integration of thin films technologies in this field has allowed the development of highly sensitive biosensors with ultra-low limits of detection for the assessment of metals in liquid samples. However, despite the current efforts in the miniaturization of sensitive devices and their integration into portable systems, only a limited number of successful examples used commercially can be found. This fact can be attributed to a high cost involved in their production and the sustained degradation of the electrodes over time, which causes a signal drift in the measurements. Thus, there is an unmet necessity for the development of low-cost and robust sensors for the real-time monitoring of analyte concentrations in patients to allow the early detection and diagnosis of diseases. This paper reports a thin film ion-selective sensor for the evaluation of potassium ions in aqueous samples. As an alternative for this fabrication method, aerosol assisted chemical vapor deposition (AACVD), was applied due to cost-effectivity and fine control over the film deposition. Such a technique does not require vacuum and is suitable for the coating of large surface areas and structures with complex geometries. This approach allowed the fabrication of highly homogeneous surfaces with well-defined microstructures onto 50 nm thin gold layers. The degradative processes of the ubiquitously employed poly (vinyl chloride) membranes in contact with an electrolyte solution were studied, including the polymer leaching process, mechanical desorption of nanoparticles and chemical degradation over time. Rational design of a protective coating based on an organosilicon material in combination with cellulose to improve the long-term stability of the sensors was then carried out, showing an improvement in the performance after 5 weeks. The antifouling properties of such coating were assessed using a cutting-edge quartz microbalance sensor, allowing the quantification of the adsorbed proteins in the nanogram range. A correlation between the microstructural properties of the films with the surface energy and biomolecules adhesion was then found and used to optimize the protective film. <p class="card-text"><strong>Keywords:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=hyperkalemia" title="hyperkalemia">hyperkalemia</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=drift" title=" drift"> drift</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=AACVD" title=" AACVD"> AACVD</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=organosilicon" title=" organosilicon"> organosilicon</a> </p> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/108016/integration-of-a-protective-film-to-enhance-the-longevity-and-performance-of-miniaturized-ion-sensors" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">Procedia</a> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/108016.pdf" target="_blank" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">PDF</a> <span class="bg-info text-light px-1 py-1 float-right rounded"> Downloads <span class="badge badge-light">123</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="card paper-listing mb-3 mt-3"> <h5 class="card-header" style="font-size:.9rem"><span class="badge badge-info">41</span> Studies of the Reaction Products Resulted from Glycerol Electrochemical Conversion under Galvanostatic Mode</h5> <div class="card-body"> <p class="card-text"><strong>Authors:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Ching%20Shya%20Lee">Ching Shya Lee</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Mohamed%20Kheireddine%20Aroua"> Mohamed Kheireddine Aroua</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Wan%20Mohd%20Ashri%20Wan%20Daud"> Wan Mohd Ashri Wan Daud</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Patrick%20Cognet"> Patrick Cognet</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Yolande%20Peres"> Yolande Peres</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Mohammed%20Ajeel"> Mohammed Ajeel</a> </p> <p class="card-text"><strong>Abstract:</strong></p> In recent years, with the decreasing supply of fossil fuel, renewable energy has received a significant demand. Biodiesel which is well known as vegetable oil based fatty acid methyl ester is an alternative fuel for diesel. It can be produced from transesterification of vegetable oils, such as palm oil, sunflower oil, rapeseed oil, etc., with methanol. During the transesterification process, crude glycerol is formed as a by-product, resulting in 10% wt of the total biodiesel production. To date, due to the fast growing of biodiesel production in worldwide, the crude glycerol supply has also increased rapidly and resulted in a significant price drop for glycerol. Therefore, extensive research has been developed to use glycerol as feedstock to produce various added-value chemicals, such as tartronic acid, mesoxalic acid, glycolic acid, glyceric acid, propanediol, acrolein etc. The industrial processes that usually involved are selective oxidation, biofermentation, esterification, and hydrolysis. However, the conversion of glycerol into added-value compounds by electrochemical approach is rarely discussed. Currently, the approach is mainly focused on the electro-oxidation study of glycerol under potentiostatic mode for cogenerating energy with other chemicals. The electro-organic synthesis study from glycerol under galvanostatic mode is seldom reviewed. In this study, the glycerol was converted into various added-value compounds by electrochemical method under galvanostatic mode. This work aimed to study the possible compounds produced from glycerol by electrochemical technique in a one-pot electrolysis cell. The electro-organic synthesis study from glycerol was carried out in a single compartment reactor for 8 hours, over the platinum cathode and anode electrodes under acidic condition. Various parameters such as electric current (1.0 A to 3.0 A) and reaction temperature (27 °C to 80 °C) were evaluated. The products obtained were characterized by using gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy equipped with an aqueous-stable polyethylene glycol stationary phase column. Under the optimized reaction condition, the glycerol conversion achieved as high as 95%. The glycerol was successfully converted into various added-value chemicals such as ethylene glycol, glycolic acid, glyceric acid, acetaldehyde, formic acid, and glyceraldehyde; given the yield of 1%, 45%, 27%, 4%, 0.7% and 5%, respectively. Based on the products obtained from this study, the reaction mechanism of this process is proposed. In conclusion, this study has successfully converted glycerol into a wide variety of added-value compounds. These chemicals are found to have high market value; they can be used in the pharmaceutical, food and cosmetic industries. This study effectively opens a new approach for the electrochemical conversion of glycerol. For further enhancement on the product selectivity, electrode material is an important parameter to be considered. <p class="card-text"><strong>Keywords:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=biodiesel" title="biodiesel">biodiesel</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=glycerol" title=" glycerol"> glycerol</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=electrochemical%20conversion" title=" electrochemical conversion"> electrochemical conversion</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=galvanostatic%20mode" title=" galvanostatic mode"> galvanostatic mode</a> </p> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/72462/studies-of-the-reaction-products-resulted-from-glycerol-electrochemical-conversion-under-galvanostatic-mode" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">Procedia</a> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/72462.pdf" target="_blank" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">PDF</a> <span class="bg-info text-light px-1 py-1 float-right rounded"> Downloads <span class="badge badge-light">193</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="card paper-listing mb-3 mt-3"> <h5 class="card-header" style="font-size:.9rem"><span class="badge badge-info">40</span> Electroactive Fluorene-Based Polymer Films Obtained by Electropolymerization</h5> <div class="card-body"> <p class="card-text"><strong>Authors:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Mariana-Dana%20Damaceanu">Mariana-Dana Damaceanu</a> </p> <p class="card-text"><strong>Abstract:</strong></p> Electrochemical oxidation is one of the most convenient ways to obtain conjugated polymer films as polypyrrole, polyaniline, polythiophene or polycarbazole. The research in the field has been mainly directed to the study of electrical conduction properties of the materials obtained by electropolymerization, often the main reason being their use as electroconducting electrodes, and very little attention has been paid to the morphological and optical quality of the films electrodeposited on flat surfaces. Electropolymerization of the monomer solution was scarcely used in the past to manufacture polymer-based light-emitting diodes (PLED), most probably due to the difficulty of obtaining defectless polymer films with good mechanical and optical properties, or conductive polymers with well controlled molecular weights. Here we report our attempts in using electrochemical deposition as appropriate method for preparing ultrathin films of fluorene-based polymers for PLED applications. The properties of these films were evaluated in terms of structural morphology, optical properties, and electrochemical conduction. Thus, electropolymerization of 4,4'-(9-fluorenylidene)-dianiline was performed in dichloromethane solution, at a concentration of 10-2 M, using 0.1 M tetrabutylammonium tetrafluoroborate as electrolyte salt. The potential was scanned between 0 and 1.3 V on the one hand, and 0 - 2 V on the other hand, when polymer films with different structures and properties were obtained. Indium tin oxide-coated glass substrate of different size was used as working electrode, platinum wire as counter electrode and calomel electrode as reference. For each potential range 100 cycles were recorded at a scan rate of 100 mV/s. The film obtained in the potential range from 0 to 1.3 V, namely poly(FDA-NH), is visible to the naked eye, being light brown, transparent and fluorescent, and displays an amorphous morphology. Instead, the electrogrowth poly(FDA) film in the potential range of 0 - 2 V is yellowish-brown and opaque, presenting a self-assembled structure in aggregates of irregular shape and size. The polymers structure was identified by FTIR spectroscopy, which shows the presence of broad bands specific to a polymer, the band centered at approx. 3443 cm-1 being ascribed to the secondary amine. The two polymer films display two absorption maxima, at 434-436 nm assigned to π-π* transitions of polymers, and another at 832 and 880 nm assigned to polaron transitions. The fluorescence spectra indicated the presence of emission bands in the blue domain, with two peaks at 422 and 488 nm for poly (FDA-NH), and four narrow peaks at 422, 447, 460 and 484 nm for poly(FDA), peaks originating from fluorene-containing segments of varying degrees of conjugation. Poly(FDA-NH) exhibited two oxidation peaks in the anodic region and the HOMO energy value of 5.41 eV, whereas poly(FDA) showed only one oxidation peak and the HOMO level localized at 5.29 eV. The electrochemical data are discussed in close correlation with the proposed chemical structure of the electrogrowth films. Further research will be carried out to study their use and performance in light-emitting devices. <p class="card-text"><strong>Keywords:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=electrogrowth%20polymer%20films" title="electrogrowth polymer films">electrogrowth polymer films</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=fluorene" title=" fluorene"> fluorene</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=morphology" title=" morphology"> morphology</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=optical%20properties" title=" optical properties"> optical properties</a> </p> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/28200/electroactive-fluorene-based-polymer-films-obtained-by-electropolymerization" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">Procedia</a> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/28200.pdf" target="_blank" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">PDF</a> <span class="bg-info text-light px-1 py-1 float-right rounded"> Downloads <span class="badge badge-light">345</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="card paper-listing mb-3 mt-3"> <h5 class="card-header" style="font-size:.9rem"><span class="badge badge-info">39</span> Arc Plasma Thermochemical Preparation of Coal to Effective Combustion in Thermal Power Plants</h5> <div class="card-body"> <p class="card-text"><strong>Authors:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Vladimir%20Messerle">Vladimir Messerle</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Alexandr%20Ustimenko"> Alexandr Ustimenko</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Oleg%20Lavrichshev"> Oleg Lavrichshev</a> </p> <p class="card-text"><strong>Abstract:</strong></p> This work presents plasma technology for solid fuel ignition and combustion. Plasma activation promotes more effective and environmentally friendly low-rank coal ignition and combustion. To realise this technology at coal fired power plants plasma-fuel systems (PFS) were developed. PFS improve efficiency of power coals combustion and decrease harmful emission. PFS is pulverized coal burner equipped with arc plasma torch. Plasma torch is the main element of the PFS. Plasma forming gas is air. It is blown through the electrodes forming plasma flame. Temperature of this flame is varied from 5000 to 6000 K. Plasma torch power is varied from 100 to 350 kW and geometrical sizes are the following: the height is 0.4-0.5 m and diameter is 0.2-0.25 m. The base of the PFS technology is plasma thermochemical preparation of coal for burning. It consists of heating of the pulverized coal and air mixture by arc plasma up to temperature of coal volatiles release and char carbon partial gasification. In the PFS coal-air mixture is deficient in oxygen and carbon is oxidised mainly to carbon monoxide. As a result, at the PFS exit a highly reactive mixture is formed of combustible gases and partially burned char particles, together with products of combustion, while the temperature of the gaseous mixture is around 1300 K. Further mixing with the air promotes intensive ignition and complete combustion of the prepared fuel. PFS have been tested for boilers start up and pulverized coal flame stabilization in different countries at power boilers of 75 to 950 t/h steam productivity. They were equipped with different types of pulverized coal burners (direct flow, muffle and swirl burners). At PFS testing power coals of all ranks (lignite, bituminous, anthracite and their mixtures) were incinerated. Volatile content of them was from 4 to 50%, ash varied from 15 to 48% and heat of combustion was from 1600 to 6000 kcal/kg. To show the advantages of the plasma technology before conventional technologies of coal combustion numerical investigation of plasma ignition, gasification and thermochemical preparation of a pulverized coal for incineration in an experimental furnace with heat capacity of 3 MW was fulfilled. Two computer-codes were used for the research. The computer simulation experiments were conducted for low-rank bituminous coal of 44% ash content. The boiler operation has been studied at the conventional mode of combustion and with arc plasma activation of coal combustion. The experiments and computer simulation showed ecological efficiency of the plasma technology. When a plasma torch operates in the regime of plasma stabilization of pulverized coal flame, NOX emission is reduced twice and amount of unburned carbon is reduced four times. Acknowledgement: This work was supported by Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan and Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation (Agreement on grant No. 14.613.21.0005, project RFMEFI61314X0005). <p class="card-text"><strong>Keywords:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=coal" title="coal">coal</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=ignition" title=" ignition"> ignition</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=plasma-fuel%20system" title=" plasma-fuel system"> plasma-fuel system</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=plasma%20torch" title=" plasma torch"> plasma torch</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=thermal%20power%20plant" title=" thermal power plant"> thermal power plant</a> </p> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/57021/arc-plasma-thermochemical-preparation-of-coal-to-effective-combustion-in-thermal-power-plants" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">Procedia</a> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/57021.pdf" target="_blank" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">PDF</a> <span class="bg-info text-light px-1 py-1 float-right rounded"> Downloads <span class="badge badge-light">278</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="card paper-listing mb-3 mt-3"> <h5 class="card-header" style="font-size:.9rem"><span class="badge badge-info">38</span> A Quality Index Optimization Method for Non-Invasive Fetal ECG Extraction</h5> <div class="card-body"> <p class="card-text"><strong>Authors:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Lucia%20Billeci">Lucia Billeci</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Gennaro%20Tartarisco"> Gennaro Tartarisco</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Maurizio%20Varanini"> Maurizio Varanini</a> </p> <p class="card-text"><strong>Abstract:</strong></p> Fetal cardiac monitoring by fetal electrocardiogram (fECG) can provide significant clinical information about the healthy condition of the fetus. Despite this potentiality till now the use of fECG in clinical practice has been quite limited due to the difficulties in its measuring. The recovery of fECG from the signals acquired non-invasively by using electrodes placed on the maternal abdomen is a challenging task because abdominal signals are a mixture of several components and the fetal one is very weak. This paper presents an approach for fECG extraction from abdominal maternal recordings, which exploits the characteristics of pseudo-periodicity of fetal ECG. It consists of devising a quality index (fQI) for fECG and of finding the linear combinations of preprocessed abdominal signals, which maximize these fQI (quality index optimization - QIO). It aims at improving the performances of the most commonly adopted methods for fECG extraction, usually based on maternal ECG (mECG) estimating and canceling. The procedure for the fECG extraction and fetal QRS (fQRS) detection is completely unsupervised and based on the following steps: signal pre-processing; maternal ECG (mECG) extraction and maternal QRS detection; mECG component approximation and canceling by weighted principal component analysis; fECG extraction by fQI maximization and fetal QRS detection. The proposed method was compared with our previously developed procedure, which obtained the highest at the Physionet/Computing in Cardiology Challenge 2013. That procedure was based on removing the mECG from abdominal signals estimated by a principal component analysis (PCA) and applying the Independent component Analysis (ICA) on the residual signals. Both methods were developed and tuned using 69, 1 min long, abdominal measurements with fetal QRS annotation of the dataset A provided by PhysioNet/Computing in Cardiology Challenge 2013. The QIO-based and the ICA-based methods were compared in analyzing two databases of abdominal maternal ECG available on the Physionet site. The first is the Abdominal and Direct Fetal Electrocardiogram Database (ADdb) which contains the fetal QRS annotations thus allowing a quantitative performance comparison, the second is the Non-Invasive Fetal Electrocardiogram Database (NIdb), which does not contain the fetal QRS annotations so that the comparison between the two methods can be only qualitative. In particular, the comparison on NIdb was performed defining an index of quality for the fetal RR series. On the annotated database ADdb the QIO method, provided the performance indexes Sens=0.9988, PPA=0.9991, F1=0.9989 overcoming the ICA-based one, which provided Sens=0.9966, PPA=0.9972, F1=0.9969. The comparison on NIdb was performed defining an index of quality for the fetal RR series. The index of quality resulted higher for the QIO-based method compared to the ICA-based one in 35 records out 55 cases of the NIdb. The QIO-based method gave very high performances with both the databases. The results of this study foresees the application of the algorithm in a fully unsupervised way for the implementation in wearable devices for self-monitoring of fetal health. <p class="card-text"><strong>Keywords:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=fetal%20electrocardiography" title="fetal electrocardiography">fetal electrocardiography</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=fetal%20QRS%20detection" title=" fetal QRS detection"> fetal QRS detection</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=independent%20component%20analysis%20%28ICA%29" title=" independent component analysis (ICA)"> independent component analysis (ICA)</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=optimization" title=" optimization"> optimization</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=wearable" title=" wearable"> wearable</a> </p> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/51208/a-quality-index-optimization-method-for-non-invasive-fetal-ecg-extraction" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">Procedia</a> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/51208.pdf" target="_blank" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">PDF</a> <span class="bg-info text-light px-1 py-1 float-right rounded"> Downloads <span class="badge badge-light">280</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="card paper-listing mb-3 mt-3"> <h5 class="card-header" style="font-size:.9rem"><span class="badge badge-info">37</span> Electro-Hydrodynamic Effects Due to Plasma Bullet Propagation</h5> <div class="card-body"> <p class="card-text"><strong>Authors:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Panagiotis%20Svarnas">Panagiotis Svarnas</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Polykarpos%20Papadopoulos"> Polykarpos Papadopoulos</a> </p> <p class="card-text"><strong>Abstract:</strong></p> Atmospheric-pressure cold plasmas continue to gain increasing interest for various applications due to their unique properties, like cost-efficient production, high chemical reactivity, low gas temperature, adaptability, etc. Numerous designs have been proposed for these plasmas production in terms of electrode configuration, driving voltage waveform and working gas(es). However, in order to exploit most of the advantages of these systems, the majority of the designs are based on dielectric-barrier discharges (DBDs) either in filamentary or glow regimes. A special category of the DBD-based atmospheric-pressure cold plasmas refers to the so-called plasma jets, where a carrier noble gas is guided by the dielectric barrier (usually a hollow cylinder) and left to flow up to the atmospheric air where a complicated hydrodynamic interplay takes place. Although it is now well established that these plasmas are generated due to ionizing waves reminding in many ways streamer propagation, they exhibit discrete characteristics which are better mirrored on the terms 'guided streamers' or 'plasma bullets'. These 'bullets' travel with supersonic velocities both inside the dielectric barrier and the channel formed by the noble gas during its penetration into the air. The present work is devoted to the interpretation of the electro-hydrodynamic effects that take place downstream of the dielectric barrier opening, i.e., in the noble gas-air mixing area where plasma bullet propagate under the influence of local electric fields in regions of variable noble gas concentration. Herein, we focus on the role of the local space charge and the residual ionic charge left behind after the bullet propagation in the gas flow field modification. The study communicates both experimental and numerical results, coupled in a comprehensive manner. The plasma bullets are here produced by a custom device having a quartz tube as a dielectric barrier and two external ring-type electrodes driven by sinusoidal high voltage at 10 kHz. Helium gas is fed to the tube and schlieren photography is employed for mapping the flow field downstream of the tube orifice. Mixture mass conservation equation, momentum conservation equation, energy conservation equation in terms of temperature and helium transfer equation are simultaneously solved, leading to the physical mechanisms that govern the experimental results. Namely, we deal with electro-hydrodynamic effects mainly due to momentum transfer from atomic ions to neutrals. The atomic ions are left behind as residual charge after the bullet propagation and gain energy from the locally created electric field. The electro-hydrodynamic force is eventually evaluated. <p class="card-text"><strong>Keywords:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=atmospheric-pressure%20plasmas" title="atmospheric-pressure plasmas">atmospheric-pressure plasmas</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=dielectric-barrier%20discharges" title=" dielectric-barrier discharges"> dielectric-barrier discharges</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=schlieren%20photography" title=" schlieren photography"> schlieren photography</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=electro-hydrodynamic%20force" title=" electro-hydrodynamic force"> electro-hydrodynamic force</a> </p> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/98556/electro-hydrodynamic-effects-due-to-plasma-bullet-propagation" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">Procedia</a> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/98556.pdf" target="_blank" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">PDF</a> <span class="bg-info text-light px-1 py-1 float-right rounded"> Downloads <span class="badge badge-light">139</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="card paper-listing mb-3 mt-3"> <h5 class="card-header" style="font-size:.9rem"><span class="badge badge-info">36</span> Contribution to the Study of Automatic Epileptiform Pattern Recognition in Long Term EEG Signals</h5> <div class="card-body"> <p class="card-text"><strong>Authors:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Christine%20F.%20Boos">Christine F. Boos</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Fernando%20M.%20Azevedo"> Fernando M. Azevedo</a> </p> <p class="card-text"><strong>Abstract:</strong></p> Electroencephalogram (EEG) is a record of the electrical activity of the brain that has many applications, such as monitoring alertness, coma and brain death; locating damaged areas of the brain after head injury, stroke and tumor; monitoring anesthesia depth; researching physiology and sleep disorders; researching epilepsy and localizing the seizure focus. Epilepsy is a chronic condition, or a group of diseases of high prevalence, still poorly explained by science and whose diagnosis is still predominantly clinical. The EEG recording is considered an important test for epilepsy investigation and its visual analysis is very often applied for clinical confirmation of epilepsy diagnosis. Moreover, this EEG analysis can also be used to help define the types of epileptic syndrome, determine epileptiform zone, assist in the planning of drug treatment and provide additional information about the feasibility of surgical intervention. In the context of diagnosis confirmation the analysis is made using long term EEG recordings with at least 24 hours long and acquired by a minimum of 24 electrodes in which the neurophysiologists perform a thorough visual evaluation of EEG screens in search of specific electrographic patterns called epileptiform discharges. Considering that the EEG screens usually display 10 seconds of the recording, the neurophysiologist has to evaluate 360 screens per hour of EEG or a minimum of 8,640 screens per long term EEG recording. Analyzing thousands of EEG screens in search patterns that have a maximum duration of 200 ms is a very time consuming, complex and exhaustive task. Because of this, over the years several studies have proposed automated methodologies that could facilitate the neurophysiologists’ task of identifying epileptiform discharges and a large number of methodologies used neural networks for the pattern classification. One of the differences between all of these methodologies is the type of input stimuli presented to the networks, i.e., how the EEG signal is introduced in the network. Five types of input stimuli have been commonly found in literature: raw EEG signal, morphological descriptors (i.e. parameters related to the signal’s morphology), Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) spectrum, Short-Time Fourier Transform (STFT) spectrograms and Wavelet Transform features. This study evaluates the application of these five types of input stimuli and compares the classification results of neural networks that were implemented using each of these inputs. The performance of using raw signal varied between 43 and 84% efficiency. The results of FFT spectrum and STFT spectrograms were quite similar with average efficiency being 73 and 77%, respectively. The efficiency of Wavelet Transform features varied between 57 and 81% while the descriptors presented efficiency values between 62 and 93%. After simulations we could observe that the best results were achieved when either morphological descriptors or Wavelet features were used as input stimuli. <p class="card-text"><strong>Keywords:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Artificial%20neural%20network" title="Artificial neural network">Artificial neural network</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=electroencephalogram%20signal" title=" electroencephalogram signal"> electroencephalogram signal</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=pattern%20recognition" title=" pattern recognition"> pattern recognition</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=signal%20processing" title=" signal processing"> signal processing</a> </p> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/33921/contribution-to-the-study-of-automatic-epileptiform-pattern-recognition-in-long-term-eeg-signals" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">Procedia</a> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/33921.pdf" target="_blank" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">PDF</a> <span class="bg-info text-light px-1 py-1 float-right rounded"> Downloads <span class="badge badge-light">528</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="card paper-listing mb-3 mt-3"> <h5 class="card-header" style="font-size:.9rem"><span class="badge badge-info">35</span> Monitoring the Responses to Nociceptive Stimuli During General Anesthesia Based on Electroencephalographic Signals in Surgical Patients Undergoing General Anesthesia with Laryngeal Mask Airway (LMA)</h5> <div class="card-body"> <p class="card-text"><strong>Authors:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Ofelia%20Loani%20Elvir%20Lazo">Ofelia Loani Elvir Lazo</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Roya%20Yumul"> Roya Yumul</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Sevan%20Komshian"> Sevan Komshian</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Ruby%20Wang"> Ruby Wang</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Jun%20Tang"> Jun Tang</a> </p> <p class="card-text"><strong>Abstract:</strong></p> Background: Monitoring the anti-nociceptive drug effect is useful because a sudden and strong nociceptive stimulus may result in untoward autonomic responses and muscular reflex movements. Monitoring the anti-nociceptive effects of perioperative medications has long been desiredas a way to provide anesthesiologists information regarding a patient’s level of antinociception and preclude any untoward autonomic responses and reflexive muscular movements from painful stimuli intraoperatively.To this end, electroencephalogram (EEG) based tools includingBIS and qCON were designed to provide information about the depth of sedation whileqNOXwas produced to informon the degree of antinociception.The goal of this study was to compare the reliability of qCON/qNOX to BIS asspecific indicators of response to nociceptive stimulation. Methods: Sixty-two patients undergoing general anesthesia with LMA were included in this study. Institutional Review Board(IRB) approval was obtained, and informed consent was acquired prior to patient enrollment. Inclusion criteria included American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) class I-III, 18 to 80 years of age, and either gender. Exclusion criteria included the inability to consent. Withdrawal criteria included conversion to endotracheal tube and EEG malfunction. BIS and qCON/qNOX electrodes were simultaneously placed o62n all patientsprior to induction of anesthesia and were monitored throughout the case, along with other perioperative data, including patient response to noxious stimuli. All intraoperative decisions were made by the primary anesthesiologist without influence from qCON/qNOX. Student’s t-distribution, prediction probability (PK), and ANOVA were used to statistically compare the relative ability to detect nociceptive stimuli for each index. Twenty patients were included for the preliminary analysis. Results: A comparison of overall intraoperative BIS, qCON and qNOX indices demonstrated no significant difference between the three measures (N=62, p> 0.05). Meanwhile, index values for qNOX (62±18) were significantly higher than those for BIS (46±14) and qCON (54±19) immediately preceding patient responses to nociceptive stimulation in a preliminary analysis (N=20, * p= 0.0408). Notably, certain hemodynamic measurements demonstrated a significant increase in response to painful stimuli (MAP increased from74±13 mm Hg at baseline to 84± 18 mm Hg during noxious stimuli [p= 0.032] and HR from 76±12 BPM at baseline to 80±13BPM during noxious stimuli[p=0.078] respectively). Conclusion: In this observational study, BIS and qCON/qNOX provided comparable information on patients’ level of sedation throughout the course of an anesthetic. Meanwhile, increases in qNOX values demonstrated a superior correlation to an imminent response to stimulation relative to all other indices. <p class="card-text"><strong>Keywords:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=antinociception" title="antinociception">antinociception</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=bispectral%20index%20%28BIS%29" title=" bispectral index (BIS)"> bispectral index (BIS)</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=general%20anesthesia" title=" general anesthesia"> general anesthesia</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=laryngeal%20mask%20airway" title=" laryngeal mask airway"> laryngeal mask airway</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=qCON%2FqNOX" title=" qCON/qNOX"> qCON/qNOX</a> </p> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/149281/monitoring-the-responses-to-nociceptive-stimuli-during-general-anesthesia-based-on-electroencephalographic-signals-in-surgical-patients-undergoing-general-anesthesia-with-laryngeal-mask-airway-lma" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">Procedia</a> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/149281.pdf" target="_blank" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">PDF</a> <span class="bg-info text-light px-1 py-1 float-right rounded"> Downloads <span class="badge badge-light">92</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="card paper-listing mb-3 mt-3"> <h5 class="card-header" style="font-size:.9rem"><span class="badge badge-info">34</span> The Role of Emotional Intelligence in the Manager's Psychophysiological Activity during a Performance-Review Discussion</h5> <div class="card-body"> <p class="card-text"><strong>Authors:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Mikko%20Salminen">Mikko Salminen</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Niklas%20Ravaja"> Niklas Ravaja</a> </p> <p class="card-text"><strong>Abstract:</strong></p> Emotional intelligence (EI) consists of skills for monitoring own emotions and emotions of others, skills for discriminating different emotions, and skills for using this information in thinking and actions. EI enhances, for example, work outcomes and organizational climate. We suggest that the role and manifestations of EI should also be studied in real leadership situations, especially during the emotional, social interaction. Leadership is essentially a process to influence others for reaching a certain goal. This influencing happens by managerial processes and computer-mediated communication (e.g. e-mail) but also by face-to-face, where facial expressions have a significant role in conveying emotional information. Persons with high EI are typically perceived more positively, and they have better social skills. We hypothesize, that during social interaction high EI enhances the ability to detect other’s emotional state and controlling own emotional expressions. We suggest, that emotionally intelligent leader’s experience less stress during social leadership situations, since they have better skills in dealing with the related emotional work. Thus the high-EI leaders would be more able to enjoy these situations, but also be more efficient in choosing appropriate expressions for building constructive dialogue. We suggest, that emotionally intelligent leaders show more positive emotional expressions than low-EI leaders. To study these hypotheses we observed performance review discussions of 40 leaders (24 female) with 78 (45 female) of their followers. Each leader held a discussion with two followers. Psychophysiological methods were chosen because they provide objective and continuous data from the whole duration of the discussions. We recorded sweating of the hands (electrodermal activation) by electrodes placed to the fingers of the non-dominant hand to assess the stress-related physiological arousal of the leaders. In addition, facial electromyography was recorded from cheek (zygomaticus major, activated during e.g. smiling) and periocular (orbicularis oculi, activated during smiling) muscles using electrode pairs placed on the left side of the face. Leader’s trait EI was measured with a 360 questionnaire, filled by each leader’s followers, peers, managers and by themselves. High-EI leaders had less sweating of the hands (p = .007) than the low-EI leaders. It is thus suggested that the high-EI leaders experienced less physiological stress during the discussions. Also, high scores in the factor “Using of emotions” were related to more facial muscle activation indicating positive emotional expressions (cheek muscle: p = .048; periocular muscle: p = .076, almost statistically significant). The results imply that emotionally intelligent managers are positively relaxed during s social leadership situations such as a performance review discussion. The current study also highlights the importance of EI in face-to-face social interaction, given the central role facial expressions have in interaction situations. The study also offers new insight to the biological basis of trait EI. It is suggested that the identification, forming, and intelligently using of facial expressions are skills that could be trained during leadership development courses. <p class="card-text"><strong>Keywords:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=emotional%20intelligence" title="emotional intelligence">emotional intelligence</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=leadership" title=" leadership"> leadership</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=performance%20review%20discussion" title=" performance review discussion"> performance review discussion</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=psychophysiology" title=" psychophysiology"> psychophysiology</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=social%20interaction" title=" social interaction"> social interaction</a> </p> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/60156/the-role-of-emotional-intelligence-in-the-managers-psychophysiological-activity-during-a-performance-review-discussion" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">Procedia</a> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/60156.pdf" target="_blank" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">PDF</a> <span class="bg-info text-light px-1 py-1 float-right rounded"> Downloads <span class="badge badge-light">245</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="card paper-listing mb-3 mt-3"> <h5 class="card-header" style="font-size:.9rem"><span class="badge badge-info">33</span> Psychophysiological Synchronization between the Manager and the Subordinate during a Performance Review Discussion </h5> <div class="card-body"> <p class="card-text"><strong>Authors:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Mikko%20Salminen">Mikko Salminen</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Niklas%20Ravaja"> Niklas Ravaja</a> </p> <p class="card-text"><strong>Abstract:</strong></p> Previous studies have shown that emotional intelligence (EI) has an important role in leadership and social interaction. On the other hand, physiological synchronization between two interacting participants has been related to, for example, intensity of the interaction, and interestingly also to empathy. It is suggested that the amount of covariation in physiological signals between the two interacting persons would also be related to how the discussion is perceived subjectively. To study the interrelations between physiological synchronization, emotional intelligence, and subjective perception of the interaction, performance review discussions between real manager – subordinate dyads were studied using psychophysiological measurements and self-reports. The participants consisted of 40 managers, of which 24 were female, and 78 of their subordinates, of which 45 were female. The participants worked in various fields, for example banking, education, and engineering. The managers had a normal performance review discussion with two subordinates, except two managers who, due to scheduling issues, had discussion with only one subordinate. The managers were on average 44.5 years old, and the subordinates on average 45.5 years old. Written consent, in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, was obtained from all the participants. After the discussion, the participants filled a questionnaire assessing their emotions during the discussion. This included a self-assessment manikin (SAM) scale for the emotional valence during the discussion, with a 9-point graphical scale representing a manikin whose facial expressions ranged from smiling and happy to frowning and unhappy. In addition, the managers filled EI360, a 37-item self-report trait emotional intelligence questionnaire. The psychophysiological activity of the participants was recorded using two Varioport-B portable recording devices. Cardiac activity (ECG, electrocardiogram) was measured with two electrodes placed on the torso. Inter-beat interval (IBI, time between two successive heart beats) was calculated from the ECG signals. The facial muscle activation (EMG, electromyography) was recorded on three sites of the left side of the face: zygomaticus major (cheek muscle), orbicularis oculi (periocular muscle), and corrugator supercilii (frowning muscle). The facial-EMG signals were rectified and smoothed, and cross-coherences were calculated between members of each dyad, for all the three EMG signals, for the baseline and discussion periods. The values were natural-log transformed to normalize the distributions. Higher cross-coherence during the discussion between the manager’s and the subordinate’s zygomatic muscles was related to more positive valence self-reported emotions, F(1; 66,137) = 7,051; p=0,01. Thus, synchronized cheek muscle activation, either due to synchronous smiling or talking, was related to more positive perception of the discussion. In addition, higher IBI synchronization between the manager and the subordinate during the discussion was related to the manager’s higher self-reported emotional intelligence, F(1; 27,981)=4,58; p=0,041. That is, the EI was related to synchronous cardiac activity and possibly to similar physiological arousal levels. The results imply that the psychophysiological synchronization could be a potentially useful index in the study of social interaction and a valuable tool in the coaching of leadership skills in organizational contexts. <p class="card-text"><strong>Keywords:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=emotional%20intelligence" title="emotional intelligence">emotional intelligence</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=leadership" title=" leadership"> leadership</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=psychophysiology" title=" psychophysiology"> psychophysiology</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=social%20interaction" title=" social interaction"> social interaction</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=synchronization" title=" synchronization"> synchronization</a> </p> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/81178/psychophysiological-synchronization-between-the-manager-and-the-subordinate-during-a-performance-review-discussion" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">Procedia</a> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/81178.pdf" target="_blank" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">PDF</a> <span class="bg-info text-light px-1 py-1 float-right rounded"> Downloads <span class="badge badge-light">319</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="card paper-listing mb-3 mt-3"> <h5 class="card-header" style="font-size:.9rem"><span class="badge badge-info">32</span> Real-Time Neuroimaging for Rehabilitation of Stroke Patients</h5> <div class="card-body"> <p class="card-text"><strong>Authors:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Gerhard%20Gritsch">Gerhard Gritsch</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Ana%20Skupch"> Ana Skupch</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Manfred%20Hartmann"> Manfred Hartmann</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Wolfgang%20Fr%C3%BChwirt"> Wolfgang Frühwirt</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Hannes%20Perko"> Hannes Perko</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Dieter%20Grossegger"> Dieter Grossegger</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Tilmann%20Kluge"> Tilmann Kluge</a> </p> <p class="card-text"><strong>Abstract:</strong></p> Rehabilitation of stroke patients is dominated by classical physiotherapy. Nowadays, a field of research is the application of neurofeedback techniques in order to help stroke patients to get rid of their motor impairments. Especially, if a certain limb is completely paralyzed, neurofeedback is often the last option to cure the patient. Certain exercises, like the imagination of the impaired motor function, have to be performed to stimulate the neuroplasticity of the brain, such that in the neighboring parts of the injured cortex the corresponding activity takes place. During the exercises, it is very important to keep the motivation of the patient at a high level. For this reason, the missing natural feedback due to a movement of the effected limb may be replaced by a synthetic feedback based on the motor-related brain function. To generate such a synthetic feedback a system is needed which measures, detects, localizes and visualizes the motor related µ-rhythm. Fast therapeutic success can only be achieved if the feedback features high specificity, comes in real-time and without large delay. We describe such an approach that offers a 3D visualization of µ-rhythms in real time with a delay of 500ms. This is accomplished by combining smart EEG preprocessing in the frequency domain with source localization techniques. The algorithm first selects the EEG channel featuring the most prominent rhythm in the alpha frequency band from a so-called motor channel set (C4, CZ, C3; CP6, CP4, CP2, CP1, CP3, CP5). If the amplitude in the alpha frequency band of this certain electrode exceeds a threshold, a µ-rhythm is detected. To prevent detection of a mixture of posterior alpha activity and µ-activity, the amplitudes in the alpha band outside the motor channel set are not allowed to be in the same range as the main channel. The EEG signal of the main channel is used as template for calculating the spatial distribution of the µ - rhythm over all electrodes. This spatial distribution is the input for a inverse method which provides the 3D distribution of the µ - activity within the brain which is visualized in 3D as color coded activity map. This approach mitigates the influence of lid artifacts on the localization performance. The first results of several healthy subjects show that the system is capable of detecting and localizing the rarely appearing µ-rhythm. In most cases the results match with findings from visual EEG analysis. Frequent eye-lid artifacts have no influence on the system performance. Furthermore, the system will be able to run in real-time. Due to the design of the frequency transformation the processing delay is 500ms. First results are promising and we plan to extend the test data set to further evaluate the performance of the system. The relevance of the system with respect to the therapy of stroke patients has to be shown in studies with real patients after CE certification of the system. This work was performed within the project ‘LiveSolo’ funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) (project number: 853263). <p class="card-text"><strong>Keywords:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=real-time%20EEG%20neuroimaging" title="real-time EEG neuroimaging">real-time EEG neuroimaging</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=neurofeedback" title=" neurofeedback"> neurofeedback</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=stroke" title=" stroke"> stroke</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=EEG%E2%80%93signal%20processing" title=" EEG–signal processing"> EEG–signal processing</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=rehabilitation" title=" rehabilitation"> rehabilitation</a> </p> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/63360/real-time-neuroimaging-for-rehabilitation-of-stroke-patients" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">Procedia</a> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/63360.pdf" target="_blank" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">PDF</a> <span class="bg-info text-light px-1 py-1 float-right rounded"> Downloads <span class="badge badge-light">387</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="card paper-listing mb-3 mt-3"> <h5 class="card-header" style="font-size:.9rem"><span class="badge badge-info">31</span> Ternary Organic Blend for Semitransparent Solar Cells with Enhanced Short Circuit Current Density</h5> <div class="card-body"> <p class="card-text"><strong>Authors:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Mohammed%20Makha">Mohammed Makha</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Jakob%20Heier"> Jakob Heier</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Frank%20N%C3%BCesch"> Frank Nüesch</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Roland%20Hany"> Roland Hany</a> </p> <p class="card-text"><strong>Abstract:</strong></p> Organic solar cells (OSCs) have made rapid progress and currently achieve power conversion efficiencies (PCE) of over 10%. OSCs have several merits over other direct light-to-electricity generating cells and can be processed at low cost from solution on flexible substrates over large areas. Moreover, combining organic semiconductors with transparent and conductive electrodes allows for the fabrication of semitransparent OSCs (SM-OSCs). For SM-OSCs the challenge is to achieve a high average visible transmission (AVT) while maintaining a high short circuit current (Jsc). Typically, Jsc of SM-OSCs is smaller than when using an opaque metal top electrode. This is because the non-absorbed light during the first transit through the active layer and the transparent electrode is forward-transmitted out of the device. Recently, OSCs using a ternary blend of organic materials have received attention. This strategy was pursued to extend the light harvesting over the visible range. However, it is a general challenge to manipulate the performance of ternary OSCs in a predictable way, because many key factors affect the charge generation and extraction in ternary solar cells. Consequently, the device performance is affected by the compatibility between the blend components and the resulting film morphology, the energy levels and bandgaps, the concentration of the guest material and its location in the active layer. In this work, we report on a solvent-free lamination process for the fabrication of efficient and semitransparent ternary blend OSCs. The ternary blend was composed of PC70BM and the electron donors PBDTTT-C and an NIR cyanine absorbing dye (Cy7T). Using an opaque metal top electrode, a PCE of 6% was achieved for the optimized binary polymer: fullerene blend (AVT = 56%). However, the PCE dropped to ~2% when decreasing (to 30 nm) the active film thickness to increase the AVT value (75%). Therefore we resorted to the ternary blend and measured for non-transparent cells a PCE of 5.5% when using an active polymer: dye: fullerene (0.7: 0.3: 1.5 wt:wt:wt) film of 95 nm thickness (AVT = 65% when omitting the top electrode). In a second step, the optimized ternary blend was used of the fabrication of SM-OSCs. We used a plastic/metal substrate with a light transmission of over 90% as a transparent electrode that was applied via a lamination process. The interfacial layer between the active layer and the top electrode was optimized in order to improve the charge collection and the contact with the laminated top electrode. We demonstrated a PCE of 3% with AVT of 51%. The parameter space for ternary OSCs is large and it is difficult to find the best concentration ratios by trial and error. A rational approach for device optimization is the construction of a ternary blend phase diagram. We discuss our attempts to construct such a phase diagram for the PBDTTT-C: Cy7T: PC70BM system via a combination of using selective Cy7T selective solvents and atomic force microscopy. From the ternary diagram suitable morphologies for efficient light-to-current conversion can be identified. We compare experimental OSC data with these predictions. <p class="card-text"><strong>Keywords:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=organic%20photovoltaics" title="organic photovoltaics">organic photovoltaics</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=ternary%20phase%20diagram" title=" ternary phase diagram"> ternary phase diagram</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=ternary%20organic%20solar%20cells" title=" ternary organic solar cells"> ternary organic solar cells</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=transparent%20solar%20cell" title=" transparent solar cell"> transparent solar cell</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=lamination" title=" lamination"> lamination</a> </p> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/67034/ternary-organic-blend-for-semitransparent-solar-cells-with-enhanced-short-circuit-current-density" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">Procedia</a> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/67034.pdf" target="_blank" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">PDF</a> <span class="bg-info text-light px-1 py-1 float-right rounded"> Downloads <span class="badge badge-light">263</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="card paper-listing mb-3 mt-3"> <h5 class="card-header" style="font-size:.9rem"><span class="badge badge-info">30</span> The Effects of Adding Vibrotactile Feedback to Upper Limb Performance during Dual-Tasking and Response to Misleading Visual Feedback</h5> <div class="card-body"> <p class="card-text"><strong>Authors:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Sigal%20Portnoy">Sigal Portnoy</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Jason%20Friedman"> Jason Friedman</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Eitan%20Raveh"> Eitan Raveh</a> </p> <p class="card-text"><strong>Abstract:</strong></p> Introduction: Sensory substitution is possible due to the capacity of our brain to adapt to information transmitted by a synthetic receptor via an alternative sensory system. Practical sensory substitution systems are being developed in order to increase the functionality of individuals with sensory loss, e.g. amputees. For upper limb prosthetic-users the loss of tactile feedback compels them to allocate visual attention to their prosthesis. The effect of adding vibrotactile feedback (VTF) to the applied force has been studied, however its effect on the allocation if visual attention during dual-tasking and the response during misleading visual feedback have not been studied. We hypothesized that VTF will improve the performance and reduce visual attention during dual-task assignments in healthy individuals using a robotic hand and improve the performance in a standardized functional test, despite the presence of misleading visual feedback. Methods: For the dual-task paradigm, twenty healthy subjects were instructed to toggle two keyboard arrow keys with the left hand to retain a moving virtual car on a road on a screen. During the game, instructions for various activities, e.g. mix the sugar in the glass with a spoon, appeared on the screen. The subject performed these tasks with a robotic hand, attached to the right hand. The robotic hand was controlled by the activity of the flexors and extensors of the right wrist, recorded using surface EMG electrodes. Pressure sensors were attached at the tips of the robotic hand and induced VTF using vibrotactile actuators attached to the right arm of the subject. An eye-tracking system tracked to visual attention of the subject during the trials. The trials were repeated twice, with and without the VTF. Additionally, the subjects performed the modified box and blocks, hidden from eyesight, in a motion laboratory. A virtual presentation of a misleading visual feedback was be presented on a screen so that twice during the trial, the virtual block fell while the physical block was still held by the subject. Results: This is an ongoing study, which current results are detailed below. We are continuing these trials with transradial myoelectric prosthesis-users. In the healthy group, the VTF did not reduce the visual attention or improve performance during dual-tasking for the tasks that were typed transfer-to-target, e.g. place the eraser on the shelf. An improvement was observed for other tasks. For example, the average±standard deviation of time to complete the sugar-mixing task was 13.7±17.2s and 19.3±9.1s with and without the VTF, respectively. Also, the number of gaze shifts from the screen to the hand during this task were 15.5±23.7 and 20.0±11.6, with and without the VTF, respectively. The response of the subjects to the misleading visual feedback did not differ between the two conditions, i.e. with and without VTF. Conclusions: Our interim results suggest that the performance of certain activities of daily living may be improved by VTF. The substitution of visual sensory input by tactile feedback might require a long training period so that brain plasticity can occur and allow adaptation to the new condition. <p class="card-text"><strong>Keywords:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=prosthetics" title="prosthetics">prosthetics</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=rehabilitation" title=" rehabilitation"> rehabilitation</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=sensory%20substitution" title=" sensory substitution"> sensory substitution</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=upper%20limb%20amputation" title=" upper limb amputation"> upper limb amputation</a> </p> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/47931/the-effects-of-adding-vibrotactile-feedback-to-upper-limb-performance-during-dual-tasking-and-response-to-misleading-visual-feedback" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">Procedia</a> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/47931.pdf" target="_blank" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">PDF</a> <span class="bg-info text-light px-1 py-1 float-right rounded"> Downloads <span class="badge badge-light">341</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="card paper-listing mb-3 mt-3"> <h5 class="card-header" style="font-size:.9rem"><span class="badge badge-info">29</span> Electrochemical Properties of Li-Ion Batteries Anode Material: Li₃.₈Cu₀.₁Ni₀.₁Ti₅O₁₂</h5> <div class="card-body"> <p class="card-text"><strong>Authors:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=D.%20Olszewska">D. Olszewska</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=J.%20Niewiedzial"> J. Niewiedzial</a> </p> <p class="card-text"><strong>Abstract:</strong></p> In some types of Li-ion batteries carbon in the form of graphite is used. Unfortunately, carbon materials, in particular graphite, have very good electrochemical properties, but increase their volume during charge/discharge cycles, which may even lead to an explosion of the cell. The cell element may be replaced by a composite material consisting of lithium-titanium oxide Li4Ti5O12 (LTO) modified with copper and nickel ions and carbon derived from sucrose. This way you can improve the conductivity of the material. LTO is appropriate only for applications which do not require high energy density because of its high operating voltage (ca. 1.5 V vs. Li/Li+). Specific capacity of Li4Ti5O12 is high enough for utilization in Li-ion batteries (theoretical capacity 175 mAh·g-1) but it is lower than capacity of graphite anodes. Materials based on Li4Ti5O12 do not change their volume during charging/discharging cycles, however, LTO has low conductivity. Another positive aspect of the use of sucrose in the carbon composite material is to eliminate the addition of carbon black from the anode of the battery. Therefore, the proposed materials contribute significantly to environmental protection and safety of selected lithium cells. New anode materials in order to obtain Li3.8Cu0.1Ni0.1Ti5O12 have been prepared by solid state synthesis using three-way: i) stoichiometric composition of Li2CO3, TiO2, CuO, NiO (A- Li3.8Cu0.1Ni0.1Ti5O12); ii) stoichiometric composition of Li2CO3, TiO2, Cu(NO3)2, Ni(NO3)2 (B-Li3.8Cu0.1Ni0.1Ti5O12); and iii) stoichiometric composition of Li2CO3, TiO2, CuO, NiO calcined with 10% of saccharose (Li3.8Cu0.1Ni0.1Ti5O12-C). Structure of materials was studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The electrochemical properties were performed using appropriately prepared cell Li|Li+|Li3.8Cu0.1Ni0.1Ti5O12 for cyclic voltammetry and discharge/charge measurements. The cells were periodically charged and discharged in the voltage range from 1.3 to 2.0 V applying constant charge/discharge current in order to determine the specific capacity of each electrode. Measurements at various values of the charge/discharge current (from C/10 to 5C) were carried out. Cyclic voltammetry investigation was carried out by applying to the cells a voltage linearly changing over time at a rate of 0.1 mV·s-1 (in the range from 2.0 to 1.3 V and from 1.3 to 2.0 V). The XRD method analyzes show that composite powders were obtained containing, in addition to the main phase, 4.78% and 4% TiO2 in A-Li3.8Cu0.1Ni0.1O12 and B-Li3.8Cu0.1Ni0.1O12, respectively. However, Li3.8Cu0.1Ni0.1O12-C material is three-phase: 63.84% of the main phase, 17.49 TiO2 and 18.67 Li2TiO3. Voltammograms of electrodes containing materials A-Li3.8Cu0.1Ni0.1O12 and B-Li3.8Cu0.1Ni0.1O12 are correct and repeatable. Peak cathode occurs for both samples at a potential approx. 1.52±0.01 V relative to a lithium electrode, while the anodic peak at potential approx. 1.65±0.05 V relative to a lithium electrode. Voltammogram of Li3.8Cu0.1Ni0.1Ti5O12-C (especially for the first measurement cycle) is not correct. There are large variations in values of specific current, which are not characteristic for materials LTO. From the point of view of safety and environmentally friendly production of Li-ion cells eliminating soot and applying Li3.8Cu0.1Ni0.1Ti5O12-C as an active material of an anode in lithium-ion batteries seems to be a good alternative to currently used materials. <p class="card-text"><strong>Keywords:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=anode" title="anode">anode</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Li-ion%20batteries" title=" Li-ion batteries"> Li-ion batteries</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Li%E2%82%84O%E2%82%85O%E2%82%81%E2%82%82" title=" Li₄O₅O₁₂"> Li₄O₅O₁₂</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=spinel" title=" spinel"> spinel</a> </p> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/88987/electrochemical-properties-of-li-ion-batteries-anode-material-li38cu01ni01ti5o12" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">Procedia</a> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/88987.pdf" target="_blank" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">PDF</a> <span class="bg-info text-light px-1 py-1 float-right rounded"> Downloads <span class="badge badge-light">150</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="card paper-listing mb-3 mt-3"> <h5 class="card-header" style="font-size:.9rem"><span class="badge badge-info">28</span> Enhancing the Structural and Electrochemical Performance of Li-Rich Layered Metal Oxides Cathodes for Li-Ion Battery by Coating with the Active Material</h5> <div class="card-body"> <p class="card-text"><strong>Authors:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Cyril%20O.%20Ehi-Eromosele">Cyril O. Ehi-Eromosele</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Ajayi%20Kayode"> Ajayi Kayode</a> </p> <p class="card-text"><strong>Abstract:</strong></p> The Li-rich layered metal oxides (LLO) are the most promising candidates for promising electrodes of high energy Li-ion battery (LIB). In literature, these electrode system has either been designed as a hetero-structure of the primary components (composite) or as a core-shell structure with improved electrochemistry reported for both configurations when compared with its primary components. With the on-going efforts to improve on the electrochemical performance of the LIB, it is important to investigate comparatively the structural and electrochemical characteristics of the core-shell like and ‘composite’ forms of these materials with the same compositions and synthesis conditions which could influence future engineering of these materials. Therefore, this study concerns the structural and electrochemical properties of the ‘composite’ and core-shell like LLO cathode materials with the same nominal composition of 0.5Li₂MnO₃-0.5LiNi₀.₅Mn₀.₃Co₀.₂O₂ (LiNi₀.₅Mn₀.₃Co₀.₂O₂ as core and Li₂MnO₃ as the shell). The results show that the core-shell sample (–CS) gave better electrochemical performance than the ‘composite’ sample (–C). Both samples gave the same initial charge capacity of ~300 mAh/g when cycled at 10 mA/g and comparable charge capacity (246 mAh/g for the –CS sample and 240 mAh/g for the –C sample) when cycled at 200 mA/g. However, the –CS sample gave a higher initial discharge capacity at both current densities. The discharge capacity of the –CS sample was 232 mAh/g and 164 mAh/g while the –C sample is 208 mAh/g and 143 mAh/g at the current densities of 10 mA/g and 200 mA/g, respectively. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) results show that the –CS sample generally exhibited a smaller resistance than the –C sample both for the uncycled and after 50th cycle. Detailed structural analysis is on-going, but preliminary results show that the –CS sample had bigger unit cell volume and a higher degree of cation mixing. The thermal stability of the –CS sample was higher than the –C sample. XPS investigation also showed that the pristine –C sample gave a more reactive surface (showing formation of carbonate species to a greater degree) which could result in the greater resistance seen in the EIS result. To reinforce the results obtained for the 0.5Li₂MnO₃-0.5LiNi₀.₅Mn₀.₃Co₀.₃O₂ composition, the same investigations were extended to another ‘composite’ and core-shell like LLO cathode materials also with the same nominal composition of 0.5Li₂MnO₃-0.5LiNi₀.₃Mn₀.₃Co₀.₃O₂. In this case, the aim was to determine the electrochemical performance of the material using a low Ni content (LiNi₀.₃Mn₀.₃Co₀.₃O₂) as the core to clarify the contributions of the core-shell configuration to the electrochemical performance of these materials. Ni-rich layered oxides show active catalytic surface leading to electrolyte oxidation resulting in poor thermal stability and cycle life. Here, the core-shell sample also gave better electrochemical performance than the ‘composite’ sample with 0.5Li₂MnO₃-0.5LiNi₀.₃Mn₀.₃Co₀.₃O₂ composition. Furthermore, superior electrochemical performance was also recorded for the core-shell like spinel modified LLO (0.5Li₂MnO₃-0.45LiNi₀.₅Mn₀.₃Co₀.₂O₂-0.05LiNi₀.₅Mn₁.₅O₄) when compared to the composite system. These results show that the core-shell configuration can generally be used to improve the structural and electrochemical properties of the LLO and spinel modified LLO materials. <p class="card-text"><strong>Keywords:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=lithium-ion%20battery" title="lithium-ion battery">lithium-ion battery</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=lithium%20rich%20oxide%20cathode" title=" lithium rich oxide cathode"> lithium rich oxide cathode</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=core-shell%20structure" title=" core-shell structure"> core-shell structure</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=composite%20structure" title=" composite structure"> composite structure</a> </p> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/111608/enhancing-the-structural-and-electrochemical-performance-of-li-rich-layered-metal-oxides-cathodes-for-li-ion-battery-by-coating-with-the-active-material" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">Procedia</a> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/111608.pdf" target="_blank" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">PDF</a> <span class="bg-info text-light px-1 py-1 float-right rounded"> Downloads <span class="badge badge-light">122</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="card paper-listing mb-3 mt-3"> <h5 class="card-header" style="font-size:.9rem"><span class="badge badge-info">27</span> Interdigitated Flexible Li-Ion Battery by Aerosol Jet Printing</h5> <div class="card-body"> <p class="card-text"><strong>Authors:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Yohann%20R.%20J.%20Thomas">Yohann R. J. Thomas</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=S%C3%A9bastien%20Solan"> Sébastien Solan</a> </p> <p class="card-text"><strong>Abstract:</strong></p> Conventional battery technology includes the assembly of electrode/separator/electrode by standard techniques such as stacking or winding, depending on the format size. In that type of batteries, coating or pasting techniques are only used for the electrode process. The processes are suited for large scale production of batteries and perfectly adapted to plenty of application requirements. Nevertheless, as the demand for both easier and cost-efficient production modes, flexible, custom-shaped and efficient small sized batteries is rising. Thin-film, printable batteries are one of the key areas for printed electronics. In the frame of European BASMATI project, we are investigating the feasibility of a new design of lithium-ion battery: interdigitated planar core design. Polymer substrate is used to produce bendable and flexible rechargeable accumulators. Direct fully printed batteries lead to interconnect the accumulator with other electronic functions for example organic solar cells (harvesting function), printed sensors (autonomous sensors) or RFID (communication function) on a common substrate to produce fully integrated, thin and flexible new devices. To fulfill those specifications, a high resolution printing process have been selected: Aerosol jet printing. In order to fit with this process parameters, we worked on nanomaterials formulation for current collectors and electrodes. In addition, an advanced printed polymer-electrolyte is developed to be implemented directly in the printing process in order to avoid the liquid electrolyte filling step and to improve safety and flexibility. Results: Three different current collectors has been studied and printed successfully. An ink of commercial copper nanoparticles has been formulated and printed, then a flash sintering was applied to the interdigitated design. A gold ink was also printed, the resulting material was partially self-sintered and did not require any high temperature post treatment. Finally, carbon nanotubes were also printed with a high resolution and well defined patterns. Different electrode materials were formulated and printed according to the interdigitated design. For cathodes, NMC and LFP were efficaciously printed. For anodes, LTO and graphite have shown to be good candidates for the fully printed battery. The electrochemical performances of those materials have been evaluated in a standard coin cell with lithium-metal counter electrode and the results are similar with those of a traditional ink formulation and process. A jellified plastic crystal solid state electrolyte has been developed and showed comparable performances to classical liquid carbonate electrolytes with two different materials. In our future developments, focus will be put on several tasks. In a first place, we will synthesize and formulate new specific nano-materials based on metal-oxyde. Then a fully printed device will be produced and its electrochemical performance will be evaluated. <p class="card-text"><strong>Keywords:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=high%20resolution%20digital%20printing" title="high resolution digital printing">high resolution digital printing</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=lithium-ion%20battery" title=" lithium-ion battery"> lithium-ion battery</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=nanomaterials" title=" nanomaterials"> nanomaterials</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=solid-state%20electrolytes" title=" solid-state electrolytes"> solid-state electrolytes</a> </p> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/60919/interdigitated-flexible-li-ion-battery-by-aerosol-jet-printing" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">Procedia</a> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/60919.pdf" target="_blank" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">PDF</a> <span class="bg-info text-light px-1 py-1 float-right rounded"> Downloads <span class="badge badge-light">251</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="card paper-listing mb-3 mt-3"> <h5 class="card-header" style="font-size:.9rem"><span class="badge badge-info">26</span> Impedimetric Phage-Based Sensor for the Rapid Detection of Staphylococcus aureus from Nasal Swab</h5> <div class="card-body"> <p class="card-text"><strong>Authors:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Z.%20Yousefniayejahr">Z. Yousefniayejahr</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=S.%20Bolognini"> S. Bolognini</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=A.%20Bonini"> A. Bonini</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=C.%20Campobasso"> C. Campobasso</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=N.%20Poma"> N. Poma</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=F.%20Vivaldi"> F. Vivaldi</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=M.%20Di%20Luca"> M. Di Luca</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=A.%20Tavanti"> A. Tavanti</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=F.%20Di%20Francesco"> F. Di Francesco</a> </p> <p class="card-text"><strong>Abstract:</strong></p> Pathogenic bacteria represent a threat to healthcare systems and the food industry because their rapid detection remains challenging. Electrochemical biosensors are gaining prominence as a novel technology for the detection of pathogens due to intrinsic features such as low cost, rapid response time, and portability, which make them a valuable alternative to traditional methodologies. These sensors use biorecognition elements that are crucial for the identification of specific bacteria. In this context, bacteriophages are promising tools for their inherent high selectivity towards bacterial hosts, which is of fundamental importance when detecting bacterial pathogens in complex biological samples. In this study, we present the development of a low-cost and portable sensor based on the Zeno phage for the rapid detection of Staphylococcus aureus. Screen-printed gold electrodes functionalized with the Zeno phage were used, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy was applied to evaluate the change of the charge transfer resistance (Rct) as a result of the interaction with S. aureus MRSA ATCC 43300. The phage-based biosensor showed a linear range from 101 to 104 CFU/mL with a 20-minute response time and a limit of detection (LOD) of 1.2 CFU/mL under physiological conditions. The biosensor’s ability to recognize various strains of staphylococci was also successfully demonstrated in the presence of clinical isolates collected from different geographic areas. Assays using S. epidermidis were also carried out to verify the species-specificity of the phage sensor. We only observed a remarkable change of the Rct in the presence of the target S. aureus bacteria, while no substantial binding to S. epidermidis occurred. This confirmed that the Zeno phage sensor only targets S. aureus species within the genus Staphylococcus. In addition, the biosensor's specificity with respect to other bacterial species, including gram-positive bacteria like Enterococcus faecium and the gram-negative bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa, was evaluated, and a non-significant impedimetric signal was observed. Notably, the biosensor successfully identified S. aureus bacterial cells in a complex matrix such as a nasal swab, opening the possibility of its use in a real-case scenario. We diluted different concentrations of S. aureus from 108 to 100 CFU/mL with a ratio of 1:10 in the nasal swap matrices collected from healthy donors. Three different sensors were applied to measure various concentrations of bacteria. Our sensor indicated high selectivity to detect S. aureus in biological matrices compared to time-consuming traditional methods, such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and radioimmunoassay (RIA), etc. With the aim to study the possibility to use this biosensor to address the challenge associated to pathogen detection, ongoing research is focused on the assessment of the biosensor’s analytical performances in different biological samples and the discovery of new phage bioreceptors. <p class="card-text"><strong>Keywords:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=electrochemical%20impedance%20spectroscopy" title="electrochemical impedance spectroscopy">electrochemical impedance spectroscopy</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=bacteriophage" title=" bacteriophage"> bacteriophage</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=biosensor" title=" biosensor"> biosensor</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Staphylococcus%20aureus" title=" Staphylococcus aureus"> Staphylococcus aureus</a> </p> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/182771/impedimetric-phage-based-sensor-for-the-rapid-detection-of-staphylococcus-aureus-from-nasal-swab" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">Procedia</a> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/182771.pdf" target="_blank" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">PDF</a> <span class="bg-info text-light px-1 py-1 float-right rounded"> Downloads <span class="badge badge-light">66</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="card paper-listing mb-3 mt-3"> <h5 class="card-header" style="font-size:.9rem"><span class="badge badge-info">25</span> Low-Cost, Portable Optical Sensor with Regression Algorithm Models for Accurate Monitoring of Nitrites in Environments</h5> <div class="card-body"> <p class="card-text"><strong>Authors:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=David%20X.%20Dong">David X. Dong</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Qingming%20Zhang"> Qingming Zhang</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Meng%20Lu"> Meng Lu</a> </p> <p class="card-text"><strong>Abstract:</strong></p> Nitrites enter waterways as runoff from croplands and are discharged from many industrial sites. Excessive nitrite inputs to water bodies lead to eutrophication. On-site rapid detection of nitrite is of increasing interest for managing fertilizer application and monitoring water source quality. Existing methods for detecting nitrites use spectrophotometry, ion chromatography, electrochemical sensors, ion-selective electrodes, chemiluminescence, and colorimetric methods. However, these methods either suffer from high cost or provide low measurement accuracy due to their poor selectivity to nitrites. Therefore, it is desired to develop an accurate and economical method to monitor nitrites in environments. We report a low-cost optical sensor, in conjunction with a machine learning (ML) approach to enable high-accuracy detection of nitrites in water sources. The sensor works under the principle of measuring molecular absorptions of nitrites at three narrowband wavelengths (295 nm, 310 nm, and 357 nm) in the ultraviolet (UV) region. These wavelengths are chosen because they have relatively high sensitivity to nitrites; low-cost light-emitting devices (LEDs) and photodetectors are also available at these wavelengths. A regression model is built, trained, and utilized to minimize cross-sensitivities of these wavelengths to the same analyte, thus achieving precise and reliable measurements with various interference ions. The measured absorbance data is input to the trained model that can provide nitrite concentration prediction for the sample. The sensor is built with i) a miniature quartz cuvette as the test cell that contains a liquid sample under test, ii) three low-cost UV LEDs placed on one side of the cell as light sources, with each LED providing a narrowband light, and iii) a photodetector with a built-in amplifier and an analog-to-digital converter placed on the other side of the test cell to measure the power of transmitted light. This simple optical design allows measuring the absorbance data of the sample at the three wavelengths. To train the regression model, absorbances of nitrite ions and their combination with various interference ions are first obtained at the three UV wavelengths using a conventional spectrophotometer. Then, the spectrophotometric data are inputs to different regression algorithm models for training and evaluating high-accuracy nitrite concentration prediction. Our experimental results show that the proposed approach enables instantaneous nitrite detection within several seconds. The sensor hardware costs about one hundred dollars, which is much cheaper than a commercial spectrophotometer. The ML algorithm helps to reduce the average relative errors to below 3.5% over a concentration range from 0.1 ppm to 100 ppm of nitrites. The sensor has been validated to measure nitrites at three sites in Ames, Iowa, USA. This work demonstrates an economical and effective approach to the rapid, reagent-free determination of nitrites with high accuracy. The integration of the low-cost optical sensor and ML data processing can find a wide range of applications in environmental monitoring and management. <p class="card-text"><strong>Keywords:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=optical%20sensor" title="optical sensor">optical sensor</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=regression%20model" title=" regression model"> regression model</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=nitrites" title=" nitrites"> nitrites</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=water%20quality" title=" water quality"> water quality</a> </p> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/162692/low-cost-portable-optical-sensor-with-regression-algorithm-models-for-accurate-monitoring-of-nitrites-in-environments" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">Procedia</a> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/162692.pdf" target="_blank" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">PDF</a> <span class="bg-info text-light px-1 py-1 float-right rounded"> Downloads <span class="badge badge-light">72</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="card paper-listing mb-3 mt-3"> <h5 class="card-header" style="font-size:.9rem"><span class="badge badge-info">24</span> High-Resolution Facial Electromyography in Freely Behaving Humans</h5> <div class="card-body"> <p class="card-text"><strong>Authors:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Lilah%20Inzelberg">Lilah Inzelberg</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=David%20Rand"> David Rand</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Stanislav%20Steinberg"> Stanislav Steinberg</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Moshe%20David%20Pur"> Moshe David Pur</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Yael%20Hanein"> Yael Hanein</a> </p> <p class="card-text"><strong>Abstract:</strong></p> Human facial expressions carry important psychological and neurological information. Facial expressions involve the co-activation of diverse muscles. They depend strongly on personal affective interpretation and on social context and vary between spontaneous and voluntary activations. Smiling, as a special case, is among the most complex facial emotional expressions, involving no fewer than 7 different unilateral muscles. Despite their ubiquitous nature, smiles remain an elusive and debated topic. Smiles are associated with happiness and greeting on one hand and anger or disgust-masking on the other. Accordingly, while high-resolution recording of muscle activation patterns, in a non-interfering setting, offers exciting opportunities, it remains an unmet challenge, as contemporary surface facial electromyography (EMG) methodologies are cumbersome, restricted to the laboratory settings, and are limited in time and resolution. Here we present a wearable and non-invasive method for objective mapping of facial muscle activation and demonstrate its application in a natural setting. The technology is based on a recently developed dry and soft electrode array, specially designed for surface facial EMG technique. Eighteen healthy volunteers (31.58 ± 3.41 years, 13 females), participated in the study. Surface EMG arrays were adhered to participant left and right cheeks. Participants were instructed to imitate three facial expressions: closing the eyes, wrinkling the nose and smiling voluntary and to watch a funny video while their EMG signal is recorded. We focused on muscles associated with 'enjoyment', 'social' and 'masked' smiles; three categories with distinct social meanings. We developed a customized independent component analysis algorithm to construct the desired facial musculature mapping. First, identification of the Orbicularis oculi and the Levator labii superioris muscles was demonstrated from voluntary expressions. Second, recordings of voluntary and spontaneous smiles were used to locate the Zygomaticus major muscle activated in Duchenne and non-Duchenne smiles. Finally, recording with a wireless device in an unmodified natural work setting revealed expressions of neutral, positive and negative emotions in face-to-face interaction. The algorithm outlined here identifies the activation sources in a subject-specific manner, insensitive to electrode placement and anatomical diversity. Our high-resolution and cross-talk free mapping performances, along with excellent user convenience, open new opportunities for affective processing and objective evaluation of facial expressivity, objective psychological and neurological assessment as well as gaming, virtual reality, bio-feedback and brain-machine interface applications. <p class="card-text"><strong>Keywords:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=affective%20expressions" title="affective expressions">affective expressions</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=affective%20processing" title=" affective processing"> affective processing</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=facial%20EMG" title=" facial EMG"> facial EMG</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=high-resolution%20electromyography" title=" high-resolution electromyography"> high-resolution electromyography</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=independent%20component%20analysis" title=" independent component analysis"> independent component analysis</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=wireless%20electrodes" title=" wireless electrodes"> wireless electrodes</a> </p> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/79674/high-resolution-facial-electromyography-in-freely-behaving-humans" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">Procedia</a> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/79674.pdf" target="_blank" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">PDF</a> <span class="bg-info text-light px-1 py-1 float-right rounded"> Downloads <span class="badge badge-light">246</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="card paper-listing mb-3 mt-3"> <h5 class="card-header" style="font-size:.9rem"><span class="badge badge-info">23</span> Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopic Analysis of Gamma Ray Exposed Perovskite Solar Cells</h5> <div class="card-body"> <p class="card-text"><strong>Authors:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Aleksandra%20Boldyreva">Aleksandra Boldyreva</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Alexander%20Golubnichiy"> Alexander Golubnichiy</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Artem%20Abakumov"> Artem Abakumov</a> </p> <p class="card-text"><strong>Abstract:</strong></p> Various perovskite materials have surprisingly high resistance towards high-energy electrons, protons, and hard ionization, such as X-rays and gamma-rays. Superior radiation hardness makes a family of perovskite semiconductors an attractive candidate for single- and multijunction solar cells for the space environment and as X-ray and gamma-ray detectors. One of the methods to study the radiation hardness of different materials is by exposing them to gamma photons with high energies (above 500 keV) Herein, we have explored the recombination dynamics and defect concentration of a mixed cation mixed halide perovskite Cs0.17FA0.83PbI1.8Br1.2 with 1.74 eV bandgap after exposure to a gamma-ray source (2.5 Gy/min). We performed an advanced STEM EDX analysis to reveal different types of defects formed during gamma exposure. It was found that 10 kGy dose results in significant improvement of perovskite crystallinity and homogeneous distribution of I ions. While the absorber layer withstood gamma exposure, the hole transport layer (PTAA) as well as indium tin oxide (ITO) were significantly damaged, which increased the interface recombination rate and reduction of fill factor in solar cells. Thus, STEM analysis is a powerful technique that can reveal defects formed by gamma exposure in perovskite solar cells. Methods: Data will be collected from perovskite solar cells (PSCs) and thin films exposed to gamma ionisator. For thin films 50 μL of the Cs0.17FA0.83PbI1.8Br1.2 solution in DMF was deposited (dynamically) at 3000 rpm followed by quenching with 100 μL of ethyl acetate (dropped 10 sec after perovskite precursor) applied at the same spin-coating frequency. The deposited Cs0.17FA0.83PbI1.8Br1.2 films were annealed for 10 min at 100 °C, which led to the development of a dark brown color. For the solar cells, 10% suspension of SnO2 nanoparticles (Alfa Aesar) was deposited at 4000 rpm, followed by annealing on air at 170 ˚C for 20 min. Next, samples were introduced into a nitrogen glovebox for the deposition of all remaining layers. Perovskite film was applied in the same way as in thin films described earlier. Solution of poly-triaryl amine PTAA (Sigma Aldrich) (4 mg in chlorobenzene) was applied at 1000 rpm atop of perovskite layer. Next, 30 nm of VOx was deposited atop the PTAA layer on the whole sample surface using the physical vapor deposition (PVD) technique. Silver electrodes (100 nm) were evaporated in a high vacuum (10-6 mbar) through a shadow mask, defining the active area of each device as ~0.16 cm2. The prepared samples (thin films and solar cells) were packed in Al lamination foil inside the argon glove box. The set of samples consisted of 6 thin films and 6 solar cells, which were exposed to 6, 10, and 21 kGy (2 samples per dose) with 137Cs gamma-ray source (E = 662 keV) with a dose rate of 2.5 Gy/min. The exposed samples will be studied on a focused ion beam (FIB) on a dual-beam scanning electron microscope from ThermoFisher, the Helios G4 Plasma FIB Uxe, operating with a xenon plasma. <p class="card-text"><strong>Keywords:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=perovskite%20solar%20cells" title="perovskite solar cells">perovskite solar cells</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=transmission%20electron%20microscopy" title=" transmission electron microscopy"> transmission electron microscopy</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=radiation%20hardness" title=" radiation hardness"> radiation hardness</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=gamma%20irradiation" title=" gamma irradiation"> gamma irradiation</a> </p> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/188447/scanning-transmission-electron-microscopic-analysis-of-gamma-ray-exposed-perovskite-solar-cells" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">Procedia</a> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/188447.pdf" target="_blank" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">PDF</a> <span class="bg-info text-light px-1 py-1 float-right rounded"> Downloads <span class="badge badge-light">24</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="card paper-listing mb-3 mt-3"> <h5 class="card-header" style="font-size:.9rem"><span class="badge badge-info">22</span> Amine Sulphonic Acid Additives for Improving Energy Storage Capacity in Alkaline Gallocyanine Flow Batteries</h5> <div class="card-body"> <p class="card-text"><strong>Authors:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Eduardo%20Mart%C3%ADnez%20Gonz%C3%A1lez">Eduardo Martínez González</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Mousumi%20Dey"> Mousumi Dey</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Pekka%20Peljo"> Pekka Peljo</a> </p> <p class="card-text"><strong>Abstract:</strong></p> Transitioning to a renewable energy model is inevitable owing to the effects of climate change. These energies are aimed at sustainability and a positive impact on the environment, but they are intermittent energies; their connection to the electrical grid depends on creating long-term, efficient, and low-cost energy storage devices. Redox flow batteries are attractive technologies to address this problem, as they store energy in solution through external tanks known as posolyte (solution to storage positive charge) and negolyte (solution to storage negative charge). During the charging process of the device, the posolyte and negolyte solutions are pumped into an electrochemical cell (which has the anode and cathode separated by an ionic membrane), where they undergo oxidation and reduction reactions at electrodes, respectively. The electrogenerated species should be stable and diffuse into the bulk solution. It has been possible to connect gigantic redox flow batteries to the electrical grid. However, the devices created do not fit with the sustainability criteria since their electroactive material consists of vanadium (material scarce and expensive) solutions dissolved in an acidic medium (e.g., 9 mol L-1 of H₂SO₄) that is highly corrosive; so, work is being done on the design of organic-electroactive electrolytes (posolytes and nogolytes) for their operation at different pH values, including neutral medium. As a main characteristic, negolyte species should have low reduction potential values, while the reverse is true for the oxidation process of posolytes. A wide variety of negolytes that store 1 and up to 2 electrons per molecule (in aqueous medium) have been publised. Gallocyanine compound was recently introduced as an electroactive material for developing alkaline flow battery negolytes. The system can storage two electrons per molecule, but its unexpectedly low water solubility was improved with an amino sulphonic acid additive. The cycling stability of and improved gallocyanine electrolyte was demonstrated by operating a flow battery cell (pairing the system to a posolyte composed of ferri/ferrocyanide solution) outside a glovebox. We also discovered that the additive improves the solubility of gallocyanine, but there is a kinetic price to pay for this advantage. Therefore, in this work, the effect of different amino sulphonic acid derivatives on the kinetics and solubility of gallocyanine compound was studied at alkaline solutions. The additive providing a faster electron transfer rate and high solubility was tested in a flow battery cell. An aqueous organic flow battery electrolyte working outside a glovebox with 15 mAhL-1 will be discussed. Acknowledgments: To Bi3BoostFlowBat Project (2021-2025), funded by the European Research Concil. For support with infrastructure, reagents, and a postdoctoral fellowship to Dr. Martínez-González. <p class="card-text"><strong>Keywords:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=alkaline%20flow%20battery" title="alkaline flow battery">alkaline flow battery</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=gallocyanine%20electroactive%20material" title=" gallocyanine electroactive material"> gallocyanine electroactive material</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=amine-sulphonic%20acid%20additives" title=" amine-sulphonic acid additives"> amine-sulphonic acid additives</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=improved%20solubility" title=" improved solubility"> improved solubility</a> </p> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/191905/amine-sulphonic-acid-additives-for-improving-energy-storage-capacity-in-alkaline-gallocyanine-flow-batteries" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">Procedia</a> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/191905.pdf" target="_blank" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">PDF</a> <span class="bg-info text-light px-1 py-1 float-right rounded"> Downloads <span class="badge badge-light">27</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="card paper-listing mb-3 mt-3"> <h5 class="card-header" style="font-size:.9rem"><span class="badge badge-info">21</span> Monitoring the Production of Large Composite Structures Using Dielectric Tool Embedded Capacitors</h5> <div class="card-body"> <p class="card-text"><strong>Authors:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Galatee%20Levadoux">Galatee Levadoux</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Trevor%20Benson"> Trevor Benson</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Chris%20Worrall"> Chris Worrall</a> </p> <p class="card-text"><strong>Abstract:</strong></p> With the rise of public awareness on climate change comes an increasing demand for renewable sources of energy. As a result, the wind power sector is striving to manufacture longer, more efficient and reliable wind turbine blades. Currently, one of the leading causes of blade failure in service is improper cure of the resin during manufacture. The infusion process creating the main part of the composite blade structure remains a critical step that is yet to be monitored in real time. This stage consists of a viscous resin being drawn into a mould under vacuum, then undergoing a curing reaction until solidification. Successful infusion assumes the resin fills all the voids and cures completely. Given that the electrical properties of the resin change significantly during its solidification, both the filling of the mould and the curing reaction are susceptible to be followed using dieletrometry. However, industrially available dielectrics sensors are currently too small to monitor the entire surface of a wind turbine blade. The aim of the present research project is to scale up the dielectric sensor technology and develop a device able to monitor the manufacturing process of large composite structures, assessing the conformity of the blade before it even comes out of the mould. An array of flat copper wires acting as electrodes are embedded in a polymer matrix fixed in an infusion mould. A multi-frequency analysis from 1 Hz to 10 kHz is performed during the filling of the mould with an epoxy resin and the hardening of the said resin. By following the variations of the complex admittance Y*, the filling of the mould and curing process are monitored. Results are compared to numerical simulations of the sensor in order to validate a virtual cure-monitoring system. The results obtained by drawing glycerol on top of the copper sensor displayed a linear relation between the wetted length of the sensor and the complex admittance measured. Drawing epoxy resin on top of the sensor and letting it cure at room temperature for 24 hours has provided characteristic curves obtained when conventional interdigitated sensor are used to follow the same reaction. The response from the developed sensor has shown the different stages of the polymerization of the resin, validating the geometry of the prototype. The model created and analysed using COMSOL has shown that the dielectric cure process can be simulated, so long as a sufficient time and temperature dependent material properties can be determined. The model can be used to help design larger sensors suitable for use with full-sized blades. The preliminary results obtained with the sensor prototype indicate that the infusion and curing process of an epoxy resin can be followed with the chosen configuration on a scale of several decimeters. Further work is to be devoted to studying the influence of the sensor geometry and the infusion parameters on the results obtained. Ultimately, the aim is to develop a larger scale sensor able to monitor the flow and cure of large composite panels industrially. <p class="card-text"><strong>Keywords:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=composite%20manufacture" title="composite manufacture">composite manufacture</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=dieletrometry" title=" dieletrometry"> dieletrometry</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=epoxy" title=" epoxy"> epoxy</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=resin%20infusion" title=" resin infusion"> resin infusion</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=wind%20turbine%20blades" title=" wind turbine blades"> wind turbine blades</a> </p> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/82959/monitoring-the-production-of-large-composite-structures-using-dielectric-tool-embedded-capacitors" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">Procedia</a> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/82959.pdf" target="_blank" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">PDF</a> <span class="bg-info text-light px-1 py-1 float-right rounded"> Downloads <span class="badge badge-light">166</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="card paper-listing mb-3 mt-3"> <h5 class="card-header" style="font-size:.9rem"><span class="badge badge-info">20</span> Characteristics of Plasma Synthetic Jet Actuator in Repetitive Working Mode</h5> <div class="card-body"> <p class="card-text"><strong>Authors:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Haohua%20Zong">Haohua Zong</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Marios%20Kotsonis"> Marios Kotsonis</a> </p> <p class="card-text"><strong>Abstract:</strong></p> Plasma synthetic jet actuator (PSJA) is a new concept of zero net mass flow actuator which utilizes pulsed arc/spark discharge to rapidly pressurize gas in a small cavity under constant-volume conditions. The unique combination of high exit jet velocity (>400 m/s) and high actuation frequency (>5 kHz) provides a promising solution for high-speed high-Reynolds-number flow control. This paper focuses on the performance of PSJA in repetitive working mode which is more relevant to future flow control applications. A two-electrodes PSJA (cavity volume: 424 mm3, orifice diameter: 2 mm) together with a capacitive discharge circuit (discharge energy: 50 mJ-110 mJ) is designed to enable repetitive operation. Time-Resolved Particle Imaging Velocimetry (TR-PIV) system working at 10 kHz is exploited to investigate the influence of discharge frequency on performance of PSJA. In total, seven cases are tested, covering a wide range of discharge frequencies (20 Hz-560 Hz). The pertinent flow features (shock wave, vortex ring and jet) remain the same for single shot mode and repetitive working mode. Shock wave is issued prior to jet eruption. Two distinct vortex rings are formed in one cycle. The first one is produced by the starting jet whereas the second one is related with the shock wave reflection in cavity. A sudden pressure rise is induced at the throat inlet by the reflection of primary shock wave, promoting the shedding of second vortex ring. In one cycle, jet exit velocity first increases sharply, then decreases almost linearly. Afterwards, an alternate occurrence of multiple jet stages and refresh stages is observed. By monitoring the dynamic evolution of exit velocity in one cycle, some integral performance parameters of PSJA can be deduced. As frequency increases, the jet intensity in steady phase decreases monotonically. In the investigated frequency range, jet duration time drops from 250 µs to 210 µs and peak jet velocity decreases from 53 m/s to approximately 39 m/s. The jet impulse and the expelled gas mass (0.69 µN∙s and 0.027 mg at 20 Hz) decline by 48% and 40%, respectively. However, the electro-mechanical efficiency of PSJA defined by the ratio of jet mechanical energy to capacitor energy doesn’t show significant difference (o(0.01%)). Fourier transformation of the temporal exit velocity signal indicates two dominant frequencies. One corresponds to the discharge frequency, while the other accounts for the alternation frequency of jet stage and refresh stage in one cycle. The alternation period (300 µs approximately) is independent of discharge frequency, and possibly determined intrinsically by the actuator geometry. A simple analytical model is established to interpret the alternation of jet stage and refresh stage. Results show that the dynamic response of exit velocity to a small-scale disturbance (jump in cavity pressure) can be treated as a second-order under-damping system. Oscillation frequency of the exit velocity, namely alternation frequency, is positively proportional to exit area, but inversely proportional to cavity volume and throat length. Theoretical value of alternation period (305 µs) agrees well with the experimental value. <p class="card-text"><strong>Keywords:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=plasma" title="plasma">plasma</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=synthetic%20jet" title=" synthetic jet"> synthetic jet</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=actuator" title=" actuator"> actuator</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=frequency%20effect" title=" frequency effect"> frequency effect</a> </p> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/58442/characteristics-of-plasma-synthetic-jet-actuator-in-repetitive-working-mode" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">Procedia</a> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/58442.pdf" target="_blank" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">PDF</a> <span class="bg-info text-light px-1 py-1 float-right rounded"> Downloads <span class="badge badge-light">252</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="card paper-listing mb-3 mt-3"> <h5 class="card-header" style="font-size:.9rem"><span class="badge badge-info">19</span> Estimated Heat Production, Blood Parameters and Mitochondrial DNA Copy Number of Nellore Bulls with High and Low Residual Feed Intake</h5> <div class="card-body"> <p class="card-text"><strong>Authors:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Welder%20A.%20Baldassini">Welder A. Baldassini</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Jon%20J.%20Ramsey"> Jon J. Ramsey</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Marcos%20R.%20Chiaratti"> Marcos R. Chiaratti</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Am%C3%A1lia%20S.%20Chaves"> Amália S. Chaves</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Renata%20H.%20Branco"> Renata H. Branco</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Sarah%20F.%20M.%20Bonilha"> Sarah F. M. Bonilha</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Dante%20P.%20D.%20Lanna"> Dante P. D. Lanna</a> </p> <p class="card-text"><strong>Abstract:</strong></p> With increased production costs there is a need for animals that are more efficient in terms of meat production. In this context, the role of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) on physiological processes in liver, muscle and adipose tissues may account for inter-animal variation in energy expenditures and heat production. The purpose this study was to investigate if the amounts of mtDNA in liver, muscle and adipose tissue (subcutaneous and visceral depots) of Nellore bulls are associated with residual feed intake (RFI) and estimated heat production (EHP). Eighteen animals were individually fed in a feedlot for 90 days. RFI values were obtained by regression of dry matter intake (DMI) in relation to average daily gain (ADG) and mid-test metabolic body weight (BW). The animals were classified into low (more efficient) and high (less efficient) RFI groups. The bulls were then randomly distributed in individual pens where they were given excess feed twice daily to result in 5 to 10% orts for 90 d with diet containing 15% crude protein and 2.7 Mcal ME/kg DM. The heart rate (HR) of bulls was monitored for 4 consecutive days and used for calculation of EHP. Electrodes were fitted to bulls with stretch belts (POLAR RS400; Kempele, Finland). To calculate oxygen pulse (O2P), oxygen consumption was obtained using a facemask connected to the gas analyzer (EXHALYZER, ECOMedics, Zurich, Switzerland) and HR were simultaneously measured for 15 minutes period. Daily oxygen (O2) consumption was calculated by multiplying the volume of O2 per beat by total daily beats. EHP was calculated multiplying O2P by the average HR obtained during the 4 days, assuming 4.89 kcal/L of O2 to measure daily EHP that was expressed in kilocalories/day/kilogram metabolic BW (kcal/day/kg BW0.75). Blood samples were collected between days 45 and 90th after the beginning of the trial period in order to measure the concentration of hemoglobin and hematocrit. The bulls were slaughtered in an experimental slaughter house in accordance with current guidelines. Immediately after slaughter, a section of liver, a portion of longissimus thoracis (LT) muscle, plus a portion of subcutaneous fat (surrounding LT muscle) and portions of visceral fat (kidney, pelvis and inguinal fat) were collected. Samples of liver, muscle and adipose tissues were used to quantify mtDNA copy number per cell. The number of mtDNA copies was determined by normalization of mtDNA amount against a single copy nuclear gene (B2M). Mean of EHP, hemoglobin and hematocrit of high and low RFI bulls were compared using two-sample t-tests. Additionally, the one-way ANOVA was used to compare mtDNA quantification considering the mains effects of RFI groups. We found lower EHP (83.047 vs. 97.590 kcal/day/kgBW0.75; P < 0.10), hemoglobin concentration (13.533 vs. 15.108 g/dL; P < 0.10) and hematocrit percentage (39.3 vs. 43.6 %; P < 0.05) in low compared to high RFI bulls, respectively, which may be useful traits to identify efficient animals. However, no differences were observed between the mtDNA content in liver, muscle and adipose tissue of Nellore bulls with high and low RFI. <p class="card-text"><strong>Keywords:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=bioenergetics" title="bioenergetics">bioenergetics</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Bos%20indicus" title=" Bos indicus"> Bos indicus</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=feed%20efficiency" title=" feed efficiency"> feed efficiency</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=mitochondria" title=" mitochondria"> mitochondria</a> </p> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/58953/estimated-heat-production-blood-parameters-and-mitochondrial-dna-copy-number-of-nellore-bulls-with-high-and-low-residual-feed-intake" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">Procedia</a> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/58953.pdf" target="_blank" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">PDF</a> <span class="bg-info text-light px-1 py-1 float-right rounded"> Downloads <span class="badge badge-light">246</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="card paper-listing mb-3 mt-3"> <h5 class="card-header" style="font-size:.9rem"><span class="badge badge-info">18</span> Electrical Transport through a Large-Area Self-Assembled Monolayer of Molecules Coupled with Graphene for Scalable Electronic Applications</h5> <div class="card-body"> <p class="card-text"><strong>Authors:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Chunyang%20Miao">Chunyang Miao</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Bingxin%20Li"> Bingxin Li</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Shanglong%20Ning"> Shanglong Ning</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Christopher%20J.%20B.%20Ford"> Christopher J. B. Ford</a> </p> <p class="card-text"><strong>Abstract:</strong></p> While it is challenging to fabricate electronic devices close to atomic dimensions in conventional top-down lithography, molecular electronics is promising to help maintain the exponential increase in component densities via using molecular building blocks to fabricate electronic components from the bottom up. It offers smaller, faster, and more energy-efficient electronic and photonic systems. A self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of molecules is a layer of molecules that self-assembles on a substrate. They are mechanically flexible, optically transparent, low-cost, and easy to fabricate. A large-area multi-layer structure has been designed and investigated by the team, where a SAM of designed molecules is sandwiched between graphene and gold electrodes. Each molecule can act as a quantum dot, with all molecules conducting in parallel. When a source-drain bias is applied, significant current flows only if a molecular orbital (HOMO or LUMO) lies within the source-drain energy window. If electrons tunnel sequentially on and off the molecule, the charge on the molecule is well-defined and the finite charging energy causes Coulomb blockade of transport until the molecular orbital comes within the energy window. This produces ‘Coulomb diamonds’ in the conductance vs source-drain and gate voltages. For different tunnel barriers at either end of the molecule, it is harder for electrons to tunnel out of the dot than in (or vice versa), resulting in the accumulation of two or more charges and a ‘Coulomb staircase’ in the current vs voltage. This nanostructure exhibits highly reproducible Coulomb-staircase patterns, together with additional oscillations, which are believed to be attributed to molecular vibrations. Molecules are more isolated than semiconductor dots, and so have a discrete phonon spectrum. When tunnelling into or out of a molecule, one or more vibronic states can be excited in the molecule, providing additional transport channels and resulting in additional peaks in the conductance. For useful molecular electronic devices, achieving the optimum orbital alignment of molecules to the Fermi energy in the leads is essential. To explore it, a drop of ionic liquid is employed on top of the graphene to establish an electric field at the graphene, which screens poorly, gating the molecules underneath. Results for various molecules with different alignments of Fermi energy to HOMO have shown highly reproducible Coulomb-diamond patterns, which agree reasonably with DFT calculations. In summary, this large-area SAM molecular junction is a promising candidate for future electronic circuits. (1) The small size (1-10nm) of the molecules and good flexibility of the SAM lead to the scalable assembly of ultra-high densities of functional molecules, with advantages in cost, efficiency, and power dissipation. (2) The contacting technique using graphene enables mass fabrication. (3) Its well-observed Coulomb blockade behaviour, narrow molecular resonances, and well-resolved vibronic states offer good tuneability for various functionalities, such as switches, thermoelectric generators, and memristors, etc. <p class="card-text"><strong>Keywords:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=molecular%20electronics" title="molecular electronics">molecular electronics</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Coulomb%20blokade" title=" Coulomb blokade"> Coulomb blokade</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=electron-phonon%20coupling" title=" electron-phonon coupling"> electron-phonon coupling</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=self-assembled%20monolayer" title=" self-assembled monolayer"> self-assembled monolayer</a> </p> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/179340/electrical-transport-through-a-large-area-self-assembled-monolayer-of-molecules-coupled-with-graphene-for-scalable-electronic-applications" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">Procedia</a> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/179340.pdf" target="_blank" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">PDF</a> <span class="bg-info text-light px-1 py-1 float-right rounded"> Downloads <span class="badge badge-light">63</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="card paper-listing mb-3 mt-3"> <h5 class="card-header" style="font-size:.9rem"><span class="badge badge-info">17</span> Zinc Oxide Varistor Performance: A 3D Network Model</h5> <div class="card-body"> <p class="card-text"><strong>Authors:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Benjamin%20Kaufmann">Benjamin Kaufmann</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Michael%20Hofst%C3%A4tter"> Michael Hofstätter</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Nadine%20Raidl"> Nadine Raidl</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Peter%20Supancic"> Peter Supancic</a> </p> <p class="card-text"><strong>Abstract:</strong></p> ZnO varistors are the leading overvoltage protection elements in today’s electronic industry. Their highly non-linear current-voltage characteristics, very fast response times, good reliability and attractive cost of production are unique in this field. There are challenges and questions unsolved. Especially, the urge to create even smaller, versatile and reliable parts, that fit industry’s demands, brings manufacturers to the limits of their abilities. Although, the varistor effect of sintered ZnO is known since the 1960’s, and a lot of work was done on this field to explain the sudden exponential increase of conductivity, the strict dependency on sinter parameters, as well as the influence of the complex microstructure, is not sufficiently understood. For further enhancement and down-scaling of varistors, a better understanding of the microscopic processes is needed. This work attempts a microscopic approach to investigate ZnO varistor performance. In order to cope with the polycrystalline varistor ceramic and in order to account for all possible current paths through the material, a preferably realistic model of the microstructure was set up in the form of three-dimensional networks where every grain has a constant electric potential, and voltage drop occurs only at the grain boundaries. The electro-thermal workload, depending on different grain size distributions, was investigated as well as the influence of the metal-semiconductor contact between the electrodes and the ZnO grains. A number of experimental methods are used, firstly, to feed the simulations with realistic parameters and, secondly, to verify the obtained results. These methods are: a micro 4-point probes method system (M4PPS) to investigate the current-voltage characteristics between single ZnO grains and between ZnO grains and the metal electrode inside the varistor, micro lock-in infrared thermography (MLIRT) to detect current paths, electron back scattering diffraction and piezoresponse force microscopy to determine grain orientations, atom probe to determine atomic substituents, Kelvin probe force microscopy for investigating grain surface potentials. The simulations showed that, within a critical voltage range, the current flow is localized along paths which represent only a tiny part of the available volume. This effect could be observed via MLIRT. Furthermore, the simulations exhibit that the electric power density, which is inversely proportional to the number of active current paths, since this number determines the electrical active volume, is dependent on the grain size distribution. M4PPS measurements showed that the electrode-grain contacts behave like Schottky diodes and are crucial for asymmetric current path development. Furthermore, evaluation of actual data suggests that current flow is influenced by grain orientations. The present results deepen the knowledge of influencing microscopic factors on ZnO varistor performance and can give some recommendations on fabrication for obtaining more reliable ZnO varistors. <p class="card-text"><strong>Keywords:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=metal-semiconductor%20contact" title="metal-semiconductor contact">metal-semiconductor contact</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Schottky%20diode" title=" Schottky diode"> Schottky diode</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=varistor" title=" varistor"> varistor</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=zinc%20oxide" title=" zinc oxide"> zinc oxide</a> </p> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/69050/zinc-oxide-varistor-performance-a-3d-network-model" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">Procedia</a> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/69050.pdf" target="_blank" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">PDF</a> <span class="bg-info text-light px-1 py-1 float-right rounded"> Downloads <span class="badge badge-light">281</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="card paper-listing mb-3 mt-3"> <h5 class="card-header" style="font-size:.9rem"><span class="badge badge-info">16</span> A Bioinspired Anti-Fouling Coating for Implantable Medical Devices</h5> <div class="card-body"> <p class="card-text"><strong>Authors:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Natalie%20Riley">Natalie Riley</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Anita%20Quigley"> Anita Quigley</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Robert%20M.%20I.%20Kapsa"> Robert M. I. Kapsa</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=George%20W.%20Greene"> George W. Greene</a> </p> <p class="card-text"><strong>Abstract:</strong></p> As the fields of medicine and bionics grow rapidly in technological advancement, the future and success of it depends on the ability to effectively interface between the artificial and the biological worlds. The biggest obstacle when it comes to implantable, electronic medical devices, is maintaining a ‘clean’, low noise electrical connection that allows for efficient sharing of electrical information between the artificial and biological systems. Implant fouling occurs with the adhesion and accumulation of proteins and various cell types as a result of the immune response to protect itself from the foreign object, essentially forming an electrical insulation barrier that often leads to implant failure over time. Lubricin (LUB) functions as a major boundary lubricant in articular joints, a unique glycoprotein with impressive anti-adhesive properties that self-assembles to virtually any substrate to form a highly ordered, ‘telechelic’ polymer brush. LUB does not passivate electroactive surfaces which makes it ideal, along with its innate biocompatibility, as a coating for implantable bionic electrodes. It is the aim of the study to investigate LUB’s anti-fouling properties and its potential as a safe, bioinspired material for coating applications to enhance the performance and longevity of implantable medical devices as well as reducing the frequency of implant replacement surgeries. Native, bovine-derived LUB (N-LUB) and recombinant LUB (R-LUB) were applied to gold-coated mylar surfaces. Fibroblast, chondrocyte and neural cell types were cultured and grown on the coatings under both passive and electrically stimulated conditions to test the stability and anti-adhesive property of the LUB coating in the presence of an electric field. Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assays were conducted as a directly proportional cell population count on each surface along with immunofluorescent microscopy to visualize cells. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with post-hoc Tukey’s test was used to test for statistical significance. Under both passive and electrically stimulated conditions, LUB significantly reduced cell attachment compared to bare gold. Comparing the two coating types, R-LUB reduced cell attachment significantly compared to its native counterpart. Immunofluorescent micrographs visually confirmed LUB’s antiadhesive property, R-LUB consistently demonstrating significantly less attached cells for both fibroblasts and chondrocytes. Preliminary results investigating neural cells have so far demonstrated that R-LUB has little effect on reducing neural cell attachment; the study is ongoing. Recombinant LUB coatings demonstrated impressive anti-adhesive properties, reducing cell attachment in fibroblasts and chondrocytes. These findings and the availability of recombinant LUB brings into question the results of previous experiments conducted using native-derived LUB, its potential not adequately represented nor realized due to unknown factors and impurities that warrant further study. R-LUB is stable and maintains its anti-fouling property under electrical stimulation, making it suitable for electroactive surfaces. <p class="card-text"><strong>Keywords:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=anti-fouling" title="anti-fouling">anti-fouling</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=bioinspired" title=" bioinspired"> bioinspired</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=cell%20attachment" title=" cell attachment"> cell attachment</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=lubricin" title=" lubricin"> lubricin</a> </p> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/111652/a-bioinspired-anti-fouling-coating-for-implantable-medical-devices" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">Procedia</a> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/111652.pdf" target="_blank" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">PDF</a> <span class="bg-info text-light px-1 py-1 float-right rounded"> Downloads <span class="badge badge-light">124</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="card paper-listing mb-3 mt-3"> <h5 class="card-header" style="font-size:.9rem"><span class="badge badge-info">15</span> Partial Discharge Characteristics of Free- Moving Particles in HVDC-GIS</h5> <div class="card-body"> <p class="card-text"><strong>Authors:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Philipp%20Wenger">Philipp Wenger</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Michael%20Beltle"> Michael Beltle</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Stefan%20Tenbohlen"> Stefan Tenbohlen</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Uwe%20Riechert"> Uwe Riechert</a> </p> <p class="card-text"><strong>Abstract:</strong></p> The integration of renewable energy introduces new challenges to the transmission grid, as the power generation is located far from load centers. The associated necessary long-range power transmission increases the demand for high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission lines and DC distribution grids. HVDC gas-insulated switchgears (GIS) are considered being a key technology, due to the combination of the DC technology and the long operation experiences of AC-GIS. To ensure long-term reliability of such systems, insulation defects must be detected in an early stage. Operational experience with AC systems has proven evidence, that most failures, which can be attributed to breakdowns of the insulation system, can be detected and identified via partial discharge (PD) measurements beforehand. In AC systems the identification of defects relies on the phase resolved partial discharge pattern (PRPD). Since there is no phase information within DC systems this method cannot be transferred to DC PD diagnostic. Furthermore, the behaviour of e.g. free-moving particles differs significantly at DC: Under the influence of a constant direct electric field, charge carriers can accumulate on particles’ surfaces. As a result, a particle can lift-off, oscillate between the inner conductor and the enclosure or rapidly bounces at just one electrode, which is known as firefly motion. Depending on the motion and the relative position of the particle to the electrodes, broadband electromagnetic PD pulses are emitted, which can be recorded by ultra-high frequency (UHF) measuring methods. PDs are often accompanied by light emissions at the particle’s tip which enables optical detection. This contribution investigates PD characteristics of free moving metallic particles in a commercially available 300 kV SF6-insulated HVDC-GIS. The influences of various defect parameters on the particle motion and the PD characteristic are evaluated experimentally. Several particle geometries, such as cylinder, lamella, spiral and sphere with different length, diameter and weight are determined. The applied DC voltage is increased stepwise from inception voltage up to UDC = ± 400 kV. Different physical detection methods are used simultaneously in a time-synchronized setup. Firstly, the electromagnetic waves emitted by the particle are recorded by an UHF measuring system. Secondly, a photomultiplier tube (PMT) detects light emission with a wavelength in the range of λ = 185…870 nm. Thirdly, a high-speed camera (HSC) tracks the particle’s motion trajectory with high accuracy. Furthermore, an electrically insulated electrode is attached to the grounded enclosure and connected to a current shunt in order to detect low frequency ion currents: The shunt measuring system’s sensitivity is in the range of 10 nA at a measuring bandwidth of bw = DC…1 MHz. Currents of charge carriers, which are generated at the particle’s tip migrate through the gas gap to the electrode and can be recorded by the current shunt. All recorded PD signals are analyzed in order to identify characteristic properties of different particles. This includes e.g. repetition rates and amplitudes of successive pulses, characteristic frequency ranges and detected signal energy of single PD pulses. Concluding, an advanced understanding of underlying physical phenomena particle motion in direct electric field can be derived. <p class="card-text"><strong>Keywords:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=current%20shunt" title="current shunt">current shunt</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=free%20moving%20particles" title=" free moving particles"> free moving particles</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=high-speed%20imaging" title=" high-speed imaging"> high-speed imaging</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=HVDC-GIS" title=" HVDC-GIS"> HVDC-GIS</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=UHF" title=" UHF"> UHF</a> </p> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/135119/partial-discharge-characteristics-of-free-moving-particles-in-hvdc-gis" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">Procedia</a> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/135119.pdf" target="_blank" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">PDF</a> <span class="bg-info text-light px-1 py-1 float-right rounded"> Downloads <span class="badge badge-light">160</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="card paper-listing mb-3 mt-3"> <h5 class="card-header" style="font-size:.9rem"><span class="badge badge-info">14</span> Emotional State and Cognitive Workload during a Flight Simulation: Heart Rate Study</h5> <div class="card-body"> <p class="card-text"><strong>Authors:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Damien%20Mouratille">Damien Mouratille</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Antonio%20R.%20Hidalgo-Mu%C3%B1oz"> Antonio R. Hidalgo-Muñoz</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Nadine%20Matton"> Nadine Matton</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Yves%20Rouillard"> Yves Rouillard</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Mickael%20Causse"> Mickael Causse</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Radouane%20El%20Yagoubi"> Radouane El Yagoubi</a> </p> <p class="card-text"><strong>Abstract:</strong></p> Background: The monitoring of the physiological activity related to mental workload (MW) on pilots will be useful to improve aviation safety by anticipating human performance degradation. The electrocardiogram (ECG) can reveal MW fluctuations due to either cognitive workload or/and emotional state since this measure exhibits autonomic nervous system modulations. Arguably, heart rate (HR) is one of its most intuitive and reliable parameters. It would be particularly interesting to analyze the interaction between cognitive requirements and emotion in ecologic sets such as a flight simulator. This study aims to explore by means of HR the relation between cognitive demands and emotional activation. Presumably, the effects of cognition and emotion overloads are not necessarily cumulative. Methodology: Eight healthy volunteers in possession of the Private Pilot License were recruited (male; 20.8±3.2 years). ECG signal was recorded along the whole experiment by placing two electrodes on the clavicle and left pectoral of the participants. The HR was computed within 4 minutes segments. NASA-TLX and Big Five inventories were used to assess subjective workload and to consider the influence of individual personality differences. The experiment consisted in completing two dual-tasks of approximately 30 minutes of duration into a flight simulator AL50. Each dual-task required the simultaneous accomplishment of both a pre-established flight plan and an additional task based on target stimulus discrimination inserted between Air Traffic Control instructions. This secondary task allowed us to vary the cognitive workload from low (LC) to high (HC) levels, by combining auditory and visual numerical stimuli to respond to meeting specific criteria. Regarding emotional condition, the two dual-tasks were designed to assure analogous difficulty in terms of solicited cognitive demands. The former was realized by the pilot alone, i.e. Low Arousal (LA) condition. In contrast, the latter generates a high arousal (HA), since the pilot was supervised by two evaluators, filmed and involved into a mock competition with the rest of the participants. Results: Performance for the secondary task showed significant faster reaction times (RT) for HA compared to LA condition (p=.003). Moreover, faster RT was found for LC compared to HC (p < .001) condition. No interaction was found. Concerning HR measure, despite the lack of main effects an interaction between emotion and cognition is evidenced (p=.028). Post hoc analysis showed smaller HR for HA compared to LA condition only for LC (p=.049). Conclusion. The control of an aircraft is a very complex task including strong cognitive demands and depends on the emotional state of pilots. According to the behavioral data, the experimental set has permitted to generate satisfactorily different emotional and cognitive levels. As suggested by the interaction found in HR measure, these two factors do not seem to have a cumulative impact on the sympathetic nervous system. Apparently, low cognitive workload makes pilots more sensitive to emotional variations. These results hint the independency between data processing and emotional regulation. Further physiological data are necessary to confirm and disentangle this relation. This procedure may be useful for monitoring objectively pilot’s mental workload. <p class="card-text"><strong>Keywords:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=cognitive%20demands" title="cognitive demands">cognitive demands</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=emotion" title=" emotion"> emotion</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=flight%20simulator" title=" flight simulator"> flight simulator</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=heart%20rate" title=" heart rate"> heart rate</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=mental%20workload" title=" mental workload"> mental workload</a> </p> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/69236/emotional-state-and-cognitive-workload-during-a-flight-simulation-heart-rate-study" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">Procedia</a> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/69236.pdf" target="_blank" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">PDF</a> <span class="bg-info text-light px-1 py-1 float-right rounded"> Downloads <span class="badge badge-light">275</span> </span> </div> </div> <div class="card paper-listing mb-3 mt-3"> <h5 class="card-header" style="font-size:.9rem"><span class="badge badge-info">13</span> Anesthesia for Spinal Stabilization Using Neuromuscular Blocking Agents in Dog: Case Report</h5> <div class="card-body"> <p class="card-text"><strong>Authors:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Agata%20Migdalska">Agata Migdalska</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Joanna%20Berczynska"> Joanna Berczynska</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Ewa%20Bieniek"> Ewa Bieniek</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=Jacek%20Sterna"> Jacek Sterna</a> </p> <p class="card-text"><strong>Abstract:</strong></p> Muscle relaxation is considered important during general anesthesia for spine stabilization. In a presented case peripherally acting muscle relaxant was applied during general anesthesia for spine stabilization surgery. The patient was a dog, 11-years old, 26 kg, male, mix breed. Spine fracture was situated between Th13-L1-L2, probably due to the car accident. Preanesthetic physical examination revealed no sign underlying health issues. The dog was premedicated with midazolam 0.2 mg IM and butorphanol 2.4 mg IM. General anesthesia was induced with propofol IV. After the induction, the dog was intubated with an endotracheal tube and connected to an open-ended rebreathing system and maintained with the use of inhalation anesthesia with isoflurane in oxygen. 0,5 mg/ kg of rocuronium was given IV. Use of muscle relaxant was accompanied by an assessment of the degree of neuromuscular blockade by peripheral nerve stimulator. Electrodes were attached to the skin overlying at the peroneal nerve at the lateral cranial tibia. Four electrical pulses were applied to the nerve over a 2 second period. When satisfying nerve block was detected dog was prepared for the surgery. No further monitoring of the effectiveness of blockade was performed during surgery. Mechanical ventilation was kept during anesthesia. During surgery dog maintain stable, and no anesthesiological complication occur. Intraoperatively surgeon claimed that neuromuscular blockade results in a better approach to the spine and easier muscle manipulation which was helpful in order to see the fracture and replace bone fragments. Finally, euthanasia was performed intraoperatively as a result of vast myelomalacia process of the spinal cord. This prevented examination of the recovering process. Neuromuscular blocking agents act at the neuromuscular junction to provide profound muscle relaxation throughout the body. Muscle blocking agents are neither anesthetic nor analgesic; therefore inappropriately used may cause paralysis in fully conscious and feeling pain patient. They cause paralysis of all skeletal muscles, also diaphragm and intercostal muscles when given in higher doses. Intraoperative management includes maintaining stable physiological conditions, which involves adjusting hemodynamic parameters, ensuring proper ventilation, avoiding variations in temperature, maintain normal blood flow to promote proper oxygen exchange. Neuromuscular blocking agent can cause many side effects like residual paralysis, anaphylactic or anaphylactoid reactions, delayed recovery from anesthesia, histamine release, recurarization. Therefore reverse drug like neostigmine (with glikopyrolat) or edrofonium (with atropine) should be used in case of a life-threatening situation. Another useful drug is sugammadex, although the cost of this drug strongly limits its use. Muscle relaxant improves surgical conditions during spinal surgery, especially in heavily muscled individuals. They are also used to facilitate the replacement of dislocated joints as they improve conditions during fracture reduction. It is important to emphasize that in a patient with muscle weakness neuromuscular blocking agents may result in intraoperative and early postoperative cardiovascular and respiratory complications, as well as prolonged recovery from anesthesia. This should not appear in patients with recent spine fracture or luxation. Therefore it is believed that neuromuscular blockers could be useful during spine stabilization procedures. <p class="card-text"><strong>Keywords:</strong> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=anesthesia" title="anesthesia">anesthesia</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=dog" title=" dog"> dog</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=neuromuscular%20block" title=" neuromuscular block"> neuromuscular block</a>, <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/search?q=spine%20surgery" title=" spine surgery"> spine surgery</a> </p> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/106785/anesthesia-for-spinal-stabilization-using-neuromuscular-blocking-agents-in-dog-case-report" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">Procedia</a> <a href="https://publications.waset.org/abstracts/106785.pdf" target="_blank" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">PDF</a> <span class="bg-info text-light px-1 py-1 float-right rounded"> Downloads <span 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