Interface Components Research Articles

Schwa Deletion in Hindi Language Speech Synthesis

Schwa deletion is important factor for conversion of Grapheme to Phoneme. In Hindi language each consonant has weak vowel. This weak vowel is called as inherent schwa. These schwa is deleted some cases in pronunciation. Written form and speech forms are different in Indian language. Schwa plays important role in speech form. Deletion and retention of weak vowel decides how words are pronounced. Words morphology is main factors that affects pronunciation. In current paper, we describe schwa handling, deletion and retention rules. Based on different rule we developed schwa deletion algorithm. This algorithm has been tested over 6000 high frequency words. We received accuracy result up to 80%. Based on result an application has been developed to provide user interface for the text processing component of text to speech system.

Material Selection for Optimum Design of Planetary Gear Train used in Automobile Gear Box

Planetary Gear Trains are used in different applications like power transmitting systems of machine tools and so on. Planetary gear boxes are used frequently to match the inertias, lower the motor speed, boost the Torque, and at the same time provide a study mechanical interface for pulleys, cams, drums and other mechanical components. Gears in planetary gear boxes sometimes get short life due to wear and breakage by repetitive load during operation time. Even if failure of a single tooth of a gear will make the machine to stop. Hence our aim is to strengthen the gear which is a key element of gear box. In this project I needed to suggest appropriate gear material by considering its Young's modulus, Yield Strength, Hardness, coefficient of friction. The materials utilized for gears are nodular graphite cast iron. The material properties and costing of pinion and gear material were studied, and standard gear materials were identified from PSG Design Data Book. The selection of the gear materials is based on some multi criteria decision making methods (MCDM) like TOPSIS, VIKOR and Weighted properties. The material or gear has selected by using above mentioned criteria methods. After the material selection than a planetary gear set has designed by convectional method and MAT Lab coding is generated within allowable bending and compressive strength. Then comparison is done to predict the Weight and Volume of the both gear trains. Then a motion analysis on currently used material and the selected material of gear train. The modelling and motion analysis is done by using the solid works.

Automated Test System for Test and Evaluation of C-Band Transmitter Packages for Geosat Spacecrafts

The aim of this paper is to develop an Automated Test System (ATS) for the Test and Evaluation of C-Band Transmitter packages for GEOSAT Space crafts using Virtual Instrumentation. Efficiency, coverage, quality and accuracy for the test and evaluation of Device Under Test (DUT) can be increased by Automated Testing. Minimizing the errors anticipated with manual intervention. Automated Test System using Virtual instrumentation (VI) combines rapid development software and modular, flexible hardware to create user-defined test systems. Here Modular PXI (Peripheral component interface Extensions for Instrumentation) instruments from National Instruments are used with NI-LabVIEW software for realizing the ATS. For characterizing the C-Band Transmitter, Spectrum analyzer & Digital Multimeter (DMM) is configured in PXI form-factor and the Power supply is controlled through GPIB (General Purpose Interface Bus) bus. The complete software is developed using NI LabVIEW which takes care of configuring the test condition and analyzing the DUT performance. The user friendly GUI well takes care of user interaction to the ATS.

Magnetically Driven Undulatory Microswimmers Integrating Multiple Rigid Segments.

Mimicking biological locomotion strategies offers important possibilities and motivations for robot design and control methods. Among bioinspired microrobots, flexible microrobots exhibit remarkable efficiency and agility. These microrobots traditionally rely on soft material components to achieve undulatory propulsion, which may encounter challenges in design and manufacture including the complex fabrication processes and the interfacing of rigid and soft components. Herein, a bioinspired magnetically driven microswimmer that mimics the undulatory propulsive mechanism is proposed. The designed microswimmer consists of four rigid segments, and each segment is connected to the succeeding segment by joints. The microswimmer is fabricated integrally by 3D laser lithography without further assembly, thereby simplifying microrobot fabrication while enhancing structural integrity. Experimental results show that the microswimmer can successfully swim forward along guided directions via undulatory locomotion in the low Reynolds number (Re) regime. This work demonstrates for the first time that the flexible characteristic of microswimmers can be emulated by 3D structures with multiple rigid segments, which broadens possibilities in microrobot design. The proposed magnetically driven microswimmer can potentially be used in biomedical applications, such as medical diagnosis and treatment in precision medicine.

Touchless Selection Schemes for Intelligent Automotive User Interfaces With Predictive Mid-Air Touch

Predictive touch technology aims to improve the usability and performance of in-vehicle displays under the influence of perturbations due to the road and driving conditions. It fundamentally relies on predicting and early in the freehand pointing movement, the interface item the user intends to select, using a novel Bayesian inference framework. This article focusses on evaluating facilitation schemes for selecting the predicted interface component whilst driving, and without physically touching the display, thus touchless. Initially, several viable schemes were identified in a brainstorming session followed by an expert workshop with 12 participants. A simulator study with 24 participants using a prototype predictive touch system was then conducted. A number of collected quantitative and qualitative measures show that immediate mid-air selection, where the system autonomously auto-selects the predicted interface component, may be the most promising strategy for predictive touch.

Interface Design of Children’s Education APP Home Page Based on Emotion Measurement

Take the home page of children’s education APP as the research object, the experimental samples were morphologically deconstructed by the method of human-computer interface component deconstruction, and the interactive interface feature space was constructed. In addition, PrEmo experiment was conducted on children users to obtain the emotional image index of users and construct the emotional cognitive space. By using the method of multiple linear regression, the relationship model between the characteristic elements of interactive interface design and the index of user perceptual image is constructed, so as to guide the design of the home page of educational interactive products in line with children’s emotional image. This method can obtain the deeper emotional image of children users, guide the design of products more in line with children’s emotional needs, so as to improve children’s user experience.

Effect of coupling agent on the morphological characteristics of natural rubber/silica composites foams

AbstractThe effect of coupling agent on the morphological characteristics of natural rubber/silica composite foams with various silica contents was studied. Bis 3-triet-hoxysilylpropyl tetrasulfide (TESPT) was used as coupling agent in this system. It could make a chemical bond with the silica particles. By increasing the silica content, cell size of foams was reduced more that 50% and foam density was increased up to 40%. However, compatibilized composites demonstrated about 20% lower foam density and higher cell size. In this case, strong adhesion between the components prevented gas from escaping out. While, in the foams excluded coupling agent the weak adhesion between particles and rubber created an escape path for gas from the interface of components. So, lower cell size and higher density were achieved.

Architectural design of IoT-cloud computing integration platform

An integration between the Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud computing can potentially leverage the utilization of both sides. As the IoT based system is mostly composed by the interconnection of pervasive and constrained devices, it can take a benefit of virtually unlimited resources of cloud entity i.e storage and computation services to store and process its sensed data. On the other hand, the cloud computing system may get benefit from IoT by broadening its reach to real world environment applications. In order to incarnate this idea, a cloud software platform is needed to provide an integration layer between the IoT and cloud computing taking into account the heterogenity of network communication protocols as well as the security and data management issues. In this study, an architectural design of IoT-cloud platform for IoT and cloud computing integration is presented. The proposed software platform can be decomposed into five main components namely cloud-to-device interface, authentication, data management, and cloud-to-user interface component. In general, the cloud-to-device interface acts as a data transmission endpoint between the whole cloud platform system and its IoT devices counterpart. Before a session of data transmission established, the communication interface contact the authentication component to make sure that the corresponding IoT device is legitimate before it allowed for sending the sensor data to cloud environment. Notice that a valid IoT device can be registered to the cloud system through web console component. The received sensor data are then collected in data storage component. Any stored data can be further analyzed by data processing component. User or any developed applications can then retrieve collected data, either raw or processed data, through API data access and web console.

Plate with holes as shear connector in cold formed steel composite beams

Abstract In search of an improved compatibility between cold-formed steel profiles and precast floor systems, this study proposes an alternative shear connector for cold-formed steel-concrete composite beams. This connector consists of a steel plate with holes placed longitudinally in the middle of the upper flange of the steel profile, aiming to maximize the support area for precast slabs during the assembly. The proposed solution was experimentally tested on I-beams under bending, composed by two cold-formed steel channels, connected to a reinforced concrete slab by the shear connector. The relative slip between the steel profile and concrete, vertical deflection of the beam, and strains at several locations of the composite section were measured. The results show that the proposed connector assures shear transfer at the interface of the composite section components and shows strength of the same magnitude as other commonly used connectors.

Reliability Investigation of a Carbon Nanotube Array Thermal Interface Material

As feature density increases within microelectronics, so does the dissipated power density, which puts an increased demand on thermal management. Thermal interface materials (TIMs) are used at the interface between contacting surfaces to reduce the thermal resistance, and is a critical component within many electronics systems. Arrays of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have gained significant interest for application as TIMs, due to the high thermal conductivity, no internal thermal contact resistances and an excellent conformability. While studies show excellent thermal performance, there has to date been no investigation into the reliability of CNT array TIMs. In this study, CNT array TIMs bonded with polymer to close a Si-Cu interface were subjected to thermal cycling. Thermal interface resistance measurements showed a large degradation of the thermal performance of the interface within the first 100 cycles. More detailed thermal investigation of the interface components showed that the connection between CNTs and catalyst substrate degrades during thermal cycling even in the absence of thermal expansion mismatch, and the nature of this degradation was further analyzed using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. This study indicates that the reliability will be an important consideration for further development and commercialization of CNT array TIMs.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE OPTIMIZATION MODEL OF THE INTERFACE OF MULTIMEDIA EDITION

The aim of the research work is development of a model for optimizing the interface of a multimedia publication. In this research, five levels of interaction are identified for the interface of a multimedia publication – flat surfaces, layouts, structures, feature sets, strategies. The relationship between the levels of user interaction and interface properties of a multimedia publication is analyzed. It is proposed to select interface components based on the properties of the multimedia editions they provide. In order to construct models of optimization of elements of the interface of a multimedia publication, estimates of the interconnection of elements of the interface with functional capabilities by the total matrix are used. To combine the standard models into a single interface optimization model, an analysis of the relationship between the elements of the interface of the multimedia publication and the characteristics of the multimedia publication has been conducted. According to the results of the analysis, an economical tree is constructed, which allows to build a hierarchy of the stages of optimization of the interface of the multimedia publication and to determine the input data for the implementation of the task. The definition of the input data allows to show the principle of the interface optimization model in the form of a "black" box. An algorithm for optimizing the interface element of a multimedia publication is proposed. As a result of the practical implementation of the optimization model for the multimedia edition interface, a software product, created on the basis of HTML markup using cascading CSS style stylesheets and JavaScript language, was obtained. Adobe Device Central CS5 tested the created software on devices with different characteristics.

Open Source Platform for Transperineal In-Bore MRI-Guided Targeted Prostate Biopsy.

Accurate biopsy sampling of the suspected lesions is critical for the diagnosis and clinical management of prostate cancer. Transperineal in-bore MRI-guided prostate biopsy (tpMRgBx) is a targeted biopsy technique that was shown to be safe, efficient, and accurate. Our goal was to develop an open source software platform to support evaluation, refinement, and translation of this biopsy approach. We developed SliceTracker, a 3D Slicer extension to support tpMRgBx. We followed modular design of the implementation to enable customization of the interface and interchange of image segmentation and registration components to assess their effect on the processing time, precision, and accuracy of the biopsy needle placement. The platform and supporting documentation were developed to enable the use of software by an operator with minimal technical training to facilitate translation. Retrospective evaluation studied registration accuracy, effect of the prostate segmentation approach, and re-identification time of biopsy targets. Prospective evaluation focused on the total procedure time and biopsy targeting error (BTE). Evaluation utilized data from 73 retrospective and ten prospective tpMRgBx cases. Mean landmark registration error for retrospective evaluation was 1.88 ± 2.63 mm, and was not sensitive to the approach used for prostate gland segmentation. Prospectively, we observed target re-identification time of 4.60 ± 2.40 min and BTE of 2.40 ± 0.98 mm. SliceTracker is modular and extensible open source platform for supporting image processing aspects of the tpMRgBx procedure. It has been successfully utilized to support clinical research procedures at our site.

Interaction of miscible solutions and superhydrophobic surfaces

ABSTRACTThe complex composition in industrial pollutants includes immiscible liquid and miscible solution that present a great challenge to deal with the effluent. In this research, the interaction between super hydrophobic surface and the miscible solution is studied based on surface tension (ST) and contact angle. A superhydrophobic surface is fabricated by simple anodisation and self-assemble method. Then two different types of miscible solution are adopted to evaluate the property of the superhydrophobic surfaces. The obtained result shows that the wettability is closely related to ST of mixtures, which is controlled by the interface component. When the ST is less than 31.55 mN m−1, the critical pressure reduced from maximum value (6442.8 Pa) to negative number. In turn, the superhydrophobic film loses its repellency and shows affinity to the mixtures. This can provide an important supplement for utilising superhydrophobic materials, especially for the oil–water separation.

(Invited) Heat Generation in Batteries Under Extreme Fast Charge: A Multi-Scale Perspective

Lithium-ion batteries are entering the next generation of applications, ranging from wearable micro-watt scale electronics to mega-watt scale stationary installations. Target specifications for batteries have also been re-hashed over the recent years: the energy density (Wh/kg) at the material level, as well as the cell-level volumetric energy density (Wh/l of the cell) have almost tripled in the last 10 years; there are constraints on composition of the cathodes both from technical demands as well as availability of resources; there is an urgent need to drastically reduce charge times of batteries – which in turn has implications for choice of anode material and customizing cell architecture, among other changes. New materials, differences in cell architecture and operating conditions – all these factors contribute to the amount of heat generated within the battery, at various length and time scales. At the micro-scale, changes to grain-size and orientation have been tied to efficiency losses in transport across the active material.1 Recently, experimental results relating changes in valences of specific transition metal cations to heat signatures of various NMCs have been used to study stability of these cathodes.2,3 These results correlate well with DFT calculations reported previously. At the meso-scale, resolving the micro-structure using tomography and phase-contrast has enabled us to resolve electrode geometries. In turn, these measurements have been used to develop recipes4 for electrodes suitable for fast charging. The meso-scale models also aid development of fabrication techniques such as patterning of the electrodes or developing printed electrodes for niche applications. At our lab, we have used micro-calorimetry to monitor thermal impedances across the interface of cell components. These measurements help isolate material contributions to heat generation within the cell from engineering limitations. At the cell-level, several complimentary approaches5-8 have been presented in the recent years to computing heat and reaction distribution. NREL has also shown experimental results on cell-level calorimetry that corroborate several of the model results. This presentation will provide an overview of experimental measurement of performance limitations at different length scales and present a few case-studies that emphasize the use of mathematical models to interpret experimental results, as well as explore the implications for battery-design across multiple-length scales.

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Innovation and improvement of visual communication design of mobile app based on social network interaction interface design

In order to achieve information visualization, realize good interaction between users and information, and meet the needs of users, this study first studied the interaction behavior of the user when using the smartphone was studied, and analyzed the visual factors of the smartphone interface were analyzed from the user sensory interaction level, and the user operation mode level, from the expression of visual form to the commonly used interface mode and User Interface (UI) component space. On this basis, the situational visual expression of the scene in different interaction scenarios was analyzed. Secondly, the basic theory of visual design of smartphone application interface was explained from the perspectives of aesthetics, semiotics and Gestalt psychology, In other words, the visual design of the application interface should be metaphorical, highlighting the key points in the overall visual style, and conforming to the user’s psychological model. At the same time, in order to meet the user’s personalized needs for control, it must add customized options. Finally, the model of the interface visual design method of the interdisciplinary “Shared Communication” system for the interface design of the mobile APP was constructed, and the case of Didi Chuxing was analyzed, which preliminarily confirmed the feasibility of the construction of the interface visual design method model of the “Shared Communication” system.

The influence of weather and weather variability on mosquito abundance and infection with West Nile virus in Harris County, Texas, USA

Early warning systems for vector-borne diseases (VBDs) prediction are an ecological application where data from the interface of several environmental components can be used to predict future VBD transmission. In general, models for early warning systems only consider average environmental conditions ignoring variation in weather variables, despite the prediction from Schmalhausen's law about the importance of environmental variability for biological systems. We present results from a long-term mosquito surveillance program from Harris County, Texas, USA, where we use time series analysis techniques to study the abundance and West Nile virus (WNV) infection patterns in the local primary vector, Culex quinquefasciatus Say. We found that, as predicted by Schmalhausen's law, mosquito abundance was associated with the standard deviation and kurtosis of environmental variables. By contrast, WNV infection rates were associated with 8-month lagged temperature, suggesting environmental conditions during overwintering might be key for WNV amplification during summer outbreaks. Finally, model validation showed that seasonal autoregressive models successfully predicted mosquito WNV infection rates up to 2 months ahead, but did rather poorly at predicting mosquito abundance, a result that might reflect impacts of vector control for mosquito population reduction, geographic scale, and other artifacts generated by operational constraints of mosquito surveillance systems.

Failure of a Dissimilar Metal Braze in an Expansion Joint

The failure of a hot water expansion joint in the heating system of a high-rise office building resulted in a catastrophic water leak. Brittle cracking occurred at a dissimilar braze joint between copper and stainless steel components. Failure analysis and instrumental characterization revealed that an incompatible phosphorus-containing, copper-based braze alloy had been used. The brazing operation created a hard, brittle intermetallic phase at the stainless steel component interface in the complex dissimilar metal joint. Although brazing filler metal guidelines highlight this incompatibility, there is a dearth of information concerning the nature and metallographic appearance of this deleterious phase. The purpose of this case history presentation was to detail the failure investigation and to characterize the composition and microstructure of this brittle phase.

Human neutrophils degrade methacrylate resin composites and tooth dentin

Cholesterol esterase-like (CE) activity from saliva and esterase from cariogenic bacteria hydrolyze ester linkages of dental methacrylate resins. Collagenolytic, matrix metalloproteinase-like (MMP) activities from dentin and bacteria degrade collagen in demineralized tooth dentin. Human neutrophils in the oral cavity contain factors that are hypothesized to have CE and MMP activities that could contribute to the degradation of methacrylate resins and dentinal collagen. ObjectivesTo measure the CE and MMP activities from human neutrophils and their ability to degrade dental methacrylate resin composite and dentinal collagen.Neutrophils’ CE and MMP activities were measured using nitrophenyl-esters or fluorimetric MMP substrates, respectively. Neutrophils’ degradation of resin composite and dentinal collagen was quantified by measuring release of a universal 2,2-Bis[4-(2-hydroxy-3-methacryloxypropoxy)phenyl]propane (bisGMA)-derived resin composite degradation byproduct, bishydroxy-propoxy-phenyl-propane (bisHPPP), or a collagen degradation by-product, hydroxyproline, respectively using ultra performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry.Neutrophils’ CE activity increased the release of bisHPPP from bisGMA monomer compared to control after 24 and 48 h (p < 0.05). Neutrophils degraded polymerized resin composite and produced higher amounts of bisHPPP than buffer after 48 h of incubation (p < 0.05). Neutrophils show generic MMP, gelatinase, MMP-2 and MMP-9, and collagenase, MMP-1 and MMP-8 activities that were stable or increased over the first 24 h (p < 0.05). Neutrophils degraded demineralized dentin more than buffer-only groups, indicated by higher amounts of hydroxyproline (p < 0.05).The ability of neutrophils to degrade both dental resin composite and tooth dentin, suggest neutrophil’s potential role in root caries, and in recurrent carries by accelerating the degradation of resin-dentin interfaces, and compromising the longevity of the restoration. Statement of significanceNeutrophils are part of the innate immune system and are constantly entering the oral cavity through the gingival sulcus, in direct contact with the tooth, restoration, restoration-tooth margins and pathogenic bacteria. The current study is the first to characterize and quantify degradative activities from neutrophils toward methacrylate resin and demineralized dentin, the two main components of the restoration-tooth interface, suggesting that this interface could be negatively influenced by neutrophils, potentially contributing to increase in caries formation and progression, and premature restoration failure. This study provides a significant finding to the biomaterials and oral health fields by identifying a potential weakness in current restorative procedures and materials used to manage gingival proximal and cervical gingival or sub-gingival carious lesions.

Current Research and Patents of Plant Fiber Composites

Background: With the improvement of environment protection awareness, human beings have gradually become aware of that the plastic products, waste are harmful to the human living environment. Therefore, research and application of biodegradable materials that do not rely on petroleum resources have become hot topics. Researchers have accelerated the development and promotion of plant fiber because they are good flexibility, relatively rough surface and biodegradable. Objective: The development of plant fiber composites is reviewed, including composition ratio, interfacial modification, processing technology, and the effects of these technologies on the properties of plant fiber composites. Methods: The paper reviews various patents and research developments about plant fiber composite materials. It also analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of various patents and technologies from the aspects of biodegradable ability, mechanical properties, dispersing performance, processing properties, cost, and so on. Results: The component proportion, interface modification, and processing technology of plant fiber composite materials are prospected to improve the quality and application of the plant fiber composite materials in the future development. Conclusion: The considerable attention has been paid on the technology of biodegradable plant fiber composite. The recent patents and technologies have shown us a wider application in biodegradable plant fiber composite. The problems how to improve the mechanical properties of plant fibers, the dispersion properties of plant fibers and resins, and the processing properties of composite materials, will need more and more methods and equipment to solve or simplify.

New numerical procedures for fully-grouted bolt in the rock mass with slip and non-slip cases at the rock-bolt interface

This paper aims to propose new numerical procedures for elasto-plastic analysis of the interactions between fully-grouted bolt and rock with slip and non-slip cases at a potential-failure interface. In the proposed procedure with the slip case, the iteration process accounts for the elongation of the bolt, and the calculation process is greatly simplified by considering only the initial and final states (i.e., no intermediate finite states as is the case for existing procedures) without compromising the accuracy of the predictions. In the proposed procedure with the non-slip case, the elasto-plastic solution of the plastic rock strain is rigorously derived; the two scenarios in which the length of the rock bolt is contained within the plastic zone or within the elastic zone are comprehensively considered. The obtained solutions of tensile force in the bolt, shear stress at the potential-failure interface, rock displacement and stress components in the rock from the proposed procedures are validated by analyses with purely analytical methods and a commercial finite-difference program. With influences of rock quality and plastic softening behaviour of rock mass, the differences of the solutions in the slip and non-slip cases at potential-failure surface are compared; the dependency of the relative movement on the shearing stiffness at the potential failure interface is also investigated.