Development Of Measurement System Research Articles

Upper Extremity Trauma in Costa Rica - Evaluating Epidemiology and Identifying Opportunities.

Traffic accidents and musculoskeletal injuries represent a major cause of morbidity and mortality in Costa Rica. To inform capacity building efforts, we conducted a survey study of hand and upper extremity (UE) fellowship-trained surgeons in Costa Rica to evaluate the epidemiology, complications, and challenges in care of UE trauma. Aiming to capture all hand and UE trained surgeons in Costa Rica, we compiled a list of nine surgeons and sent a survey in Spanish using Qualtrics. Assessment questions were developed to understand the burden, complications, practice patterns, challenges, and capacity associated with care of UE trauma. Questions were designed to focus on opportunities for future investigation. Questions were translated and adapted by two bilingual speakers. Data were reported descriptively and open-ended responses were analyzed using content analysis. Nine (100%) surgeons completed the survey. Distal radius fractures, hand and finger fractures, and tendon injuries are the most frequently noted conditions. Stiffness and infection are the most common complications. About 29% of patients are unable to get necessary therapy and 13% do not return for follow-up care with monetary, distance, and transportation limitations being the greatest challenges. The burden of UE trauma in Costa Rica is high. Identifying common conditions, complications, challenges, and capacity allows for a tailored approach to partnership and capacity building (e.g. directing capacity building and/or research infrastructure toward distal radius fractures). These insights represent opportunities to inform community-driven care improvement and research initiatives, such as Delphi consensus approaches to identify priorities or the development of outcome measurement systems.

Development of an Ultrasonic-based Digital Height Measurement System

This paper presents the design, sensor selection, circuitry, firmware development, and testing of an ultrasonicbased digital height meter. An Atmega328 microcontroller is used in the design to handle sensor measurements as it investigates the utilization of HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensor technology. Firmware was developed in the Arduino IDE environment, and the sketch was uploaded to the microcontroller. The designed circuit was constructed on a Veroboard, and the casing was designed for convenience of use. Ultrasonic digital height meters are more accurate, dependable, and quick when compared to hospital meter rules. The apparatus was mounted at a height of 2 meters to ease the measurement of humans. Results from the measurement of nine people were compared with those of the hospital scale, and a percentage error of 0.55% was obtained. A digital height meter can be a very useful instrument for many different applications, including medical, educational, engineering, and surveying, with careful planning and implementation.

Verification of high throughput simultaneous measurement for Seebeck coefficient, resistivity, and thermal diffusivity of thermoelectric materials

Development of thermoelectric conversion materials which have better figure-of-merit, Z, has been actively performed, and high throughput Z evaluation is necessary. Though Seebeck coefficient and electrical resistivity are relatively easily measured, the thermal diffusivity is not. To overcome this, novel simultaneous measurement method for the measurement of the three thermoelectric properties with a thermocouple probe and a ceramic heater has been proposed. Seebeck coefficient and electrical resistivity are measured using the steady-state method with 4 probes, and the thermal diffusivity is measured using the periodic heating method. In this research, the concept and development of the simultaneous measurement systems in a wide temperature range to make it easy, fast, and precise by adjusting the measurement parameters such as the frequency range of periodic heating, heating power, and by adopting new analysis method. Seebeck coefficient, electrical resistivity, and thermal diffusivity of Bi2Te3, Ni, and constantan and the thermal diffusivity of Al2O3 are evaluated from room temperature to high temperature of 800 K.

Development of a Microfluidic Ion Current Measurement System for Single-Microplastic Detection

Microplastics (MPs) can adsorb heavy metals and metalloids and may cause a potential health hazard. Precise measurements of their size, shape, composition, and concentration at a single-MP level are important to evaluate their potential toxicity and identify their original source. However, current single-MP analytical methods such as micro-Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy have low throughput. Therefore, in this study, we applied the ion current sensing method, which has been used for single cell analysis, to single-MP analysis and examined whether size measurement and composition analysis of MPs at the single particle level are possible. In single-MP measurements, plastic particles must be mono-dispersed in solution at least within the measurement time. The agglomeration behavior was carefully observed after adding sodium dodecyl sulfate to tris-borate-EDTA buffer at 2–16 mM. Under these conditions, the size of polystyrene beads could be measured using the ion current sensing under the mono-dispersed condition. Next, ion current sensing was performed on four pseudo MPs fabricated from different materials (polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polypropylene, and polyvinyl chloride) that were mechanically grazed and UV-irradiated to imitate real marine MPs. Although significant differences in the ion current signals from different material MPs were not observed, fast (100 MPs within 2 s) and precise measurements in the MPs’ sizes at a single-MP level were successfully achieved.

Development of Viscosity Real-Time Measurement System Based on Capillary Method

Development of Viscosity Real-Time Measurement System Based on Capillary Method

Wearable Devices for Gait Measurement - A Case for Textile-Based Devices

Wearable devices for gait measurement are devices worn on the body to measure the gait of the wearers. During gait measurement, several parameters are measured and the choice of parameters is influenced by the application and by extension the gait index. Two approaches have been adopted in this research. One is the provision of an overview of wearable devices for gait measurement with a bias towards textile-based “soft” smart wearable systems using information from varied academic sources and databases. The second approach is to map out key scientific research trends within the wearable device classes using the Web of Science database. The focus is to make a case for textile-based gait measurement devices and systems while exploring the key determinants of wearable gait sensor placements and application efficiency. These soft smart wearable systems describe flexible material sensor-based systems which have their sensing mechanisms based on material deformation after being subjected to stress or pressure. This study could therefore serve as an apt reference for the development of soft smart wearable gait measurement systems as it throws light on the various soft wearable gait measurement applications, the bottlenecks in soft wearable device design, opportunities for developing new devices and the merit that soft gait analysis systems possess over their hard gait measurement counterparts.

DEVELOPMENT OF SMART 1RM MEASUREMENT SYSTEM FOR IMPROVEMENT OF SKELETAL MUSCLE FUNCTION OF THE ELDERLY

In this study, we aimed to provide safe exercises with automatic service for easy access to active seniors, develop Smart One Repetition Maximum (1RM) measurement system applying electronic load that can reduce injuries, and optimize exercise effects by accurately evaluating physical functions and exercise effects. In this study, a smart, customized exercise and 1RM measurement system was developed to improve and maintain the daily living ability of healthy older adults. This system applies a power brake to provide a safe and detailed exercise load for older adults and consists of six types of exercises, including leg extension, leg press, long pull, in and out thigh, abdominal, and chest press exercises. The subjects of this study were 30 adults aged 65 years or older who had no history of musculoskeletal or nervous system disorders in the past 6 months and who attended an elderly fitness center in Gwangju city. Whole-body aerobic exercise was performed using a sedentary bicycle for 20[Formula: see text]min before exercise. Exercise load was performed by converting the weight of 30RM based on the 1RM measured before evaluation. The exercises were chest press, long pull, abdominal flexion, hip adduction, leg extension, and leg press. All the exercises were performed 30 times in a set, three sets a day, 3–5 times a week, with 5[Formula: see text]min of rest between workouts. As a result of the experiment, the maximum muscle strength for all exercise modes increased significantly ([Formula: see text]), and a safe muscle strength enhancement effect for the elderly was observed. These results suggest that the smart, customized exercise system developed in this study can positively result in a safe increase in the muscle strength of the elderly.

Development of correlation ECE system for electron temperature fluctuation measurement in LHD

Correlation-ECE (C-ECE) is a standard method for investigating turbulence driven transport. This method allows electron temperature fluctuations that contain information on turbulent transport and independent thermal noise. The turbulence feature is extracted from a correlation analysis from two close locations. The A C-ECE system is utilized on the large helical device (LHD) to measure emission within the frequency range of 74–79.6 GHz. This system employs the spectral decorrelation method and serves as a collective Thomson scattering diagnostic receiver in the LHD. The C-ECE receiver system is comprised of a filter bank system with 32 band-pass filters and a fast digitizer system operating at a sampling rate of 12.5 GHz in the intermediate frequency (IF) stage. This study presents initial experimental results on temperature fluctuation spectra in the LHD, obtained through the C-ECE system using a coherency-based analysis method. An MHD mode at 5 kHz is excited from the onset of neutral beam injection in a magnetic probe, and coherence spectra are obtained from two C-ECE receiver systems. The temperature fluctuation results are derived from the coherence spectrum after bias removal and indicate a level of approximately 3% in the frequency range of 0 to 400 kHz. Further investigations will be conducted to explore drift wave turbulence activities and reconstruct the radial profile of temperature fluctuation in the LHD using the C-ECE receiver systems.

Development of a Microcontroller-Based Phase-Resolved Partial Discharge Measurement System With Application to the Monitoring of Flash Sintering Discharge Patterns

Development of a Microcontroller-Based Phase-Resolved Partial Discharge Measurement System With Application to the Monitoring of Flash Sintering Discharge Patterns

Development and evaluation of laser acoustic measurement system for supersonic jet noise

Acoustic measurements in the near field are significant to suppress the noise generated by a supersonic jet. The microphone measurement is commonly used to measure noise, but it is not appropriate for the jet noise measurement in the near field, because it may be broken or disturb the sound field. In this study, we propose an optical acoustic measurement method using a laser and a 2-D position sensitive detector. This system can measure the propagating direction and the spectra of acoustic waves by detecting the angle and direction of laser path deflection by acoustic wave passing. To evaluate this laser measurement method, it was applied to various supersonic jet noise phenomena, such as Mach waves and screech tones, and then the results were compared with those of microphone measurements. The spectra measured by the laser measurement show good agreement with those by microphone measurements, and the difference in OASPL was less than 0.7 dB. As for the propagating direction, it is calculated using the principal component analysis in the laser measurement, and its results also show good agreement with those of acoustic intensity vector measurement.

Experience in the use of microcontroller platforms and computer technologies in experimental researches of automotive and tractor machinery

BACKGROUND: The current level of research and development work involves the use of systems based on programmable electronics. At the current level of engineering, the development of these systems is expedient to carry out using specialized software. At the same time, a systemic approach to the methodology for using the mentioned tools has not been fully formed yet, which necessitates the consideration of the relevant issues of theory and practice.
 AIMS: The attempt to form the principles of the mentioned systemic approach, based on the idea of the integrated hardware and software use, where the complementarity of their capabilities ensures the appearance of a pronounced emergence.
 METHODS: The article contains an analytical review and categorization of modern tools that allow to support research in their preparation, carrying out and results processing. As a particular example of their successful combined application, a computerized educational laboratory installation designed by the authors for balancing and calibrating the torque measurement system at a driveshaft of a passenger car is considered.
 RESULTS: The article materials contain a description of design and an operation principle of the mentioned installation, a consistent consideration of those specific tools that were used in its development, а information regarding the basic capabilities, the most significant characteristics and features of these tools, as well as the trial tests results and their interpretation.
 CONCLUSIONS: The approach described by the authors makes it possible to rationally approach the solution of problems related to the development and use of data measurement systems for experimental studies of automotive and tractor machinery.

Metal film thickness measurement using phase linearity feature for immunity to lift-off effect

In eddy current (EC) thickness measurements, the presence of the lift-off effect will significantly impact the measurement signal, leading to inaccuracies. It has been reported that the phase signal demonstrates a certain level of immunity to the lift-off effect compared to the amplitude signal, as its variation in response to lift-off is relatively less prominent. However, it should be noted that the phase is not entirely unaffected by the lift-off effect. In this paper, a linear relationship between the tangent of the phase angle and the lift-off has been found, termed the phase linear feature. Firstly, the phase linear feature was validated through theoretical derivations and experimental investigations. Subsequently, a new method of thickness measurement based on the fixed lift-off deviation was proposed by using this feature, and a corresponding double-coil sensor was also designed. Finally, to validate the proposed method, measurements of aluminum and copper films were carried out using the developed measurement system under different lift-off distances. The experimental results demonstrate that the measurement relative error of the proposed method remains within 5% in the 0–3 mm lift-off range. This indicates that the proposed method can provide accurate thickness measurements and is independent of the lift effect. Furthermore, the proposed method also has the advantages of single-frequency excitation, simplicity of the sensor, and straightforward relationship between features and thickness. Therefore, this study presents an effective solution for practical online thickness measurement.

Radiophotonic methods and means for the resolution increase of a continuous-wave radar with an FBG discriminator

During the development of a radiophotonic systems for instantaneous microwave frequencies measurement, ever higher requirements are placed on their range, accuracy, and resolution, which can only be satisfied by the creation of a new devices and operating principles. Three types of analysis of frequency components after modulation are possible: analysis of each component separately (differential analysis), analysis of the envelope of each two-frequency pair (integral-derivative analysis), and analysis of all components (integral analysis). All these methods are realizable and correspond to one-, two-, and polyharmonic FBG probing using a limited number of optical band-pass filters. Based on the results of a comparative analysis, it was shown that the problem of the resolution increase of the instantaneous frequency measurement of microwave signals in symmetrical circuits on selective elements can be solved by transferring the frequency components of the measured signal to the middle of the linear section of the FBG; using radiophotonic multiplication and using polyharmonic transformation of the measured frequency on TAPM. Among the advantages of such solutions, the possibility of the resolution increase of the frequency measurement of microwave signals lies in low frequencies measurement in the linear section of the FBG when transferring the frequency components of the measured signal, a multiple decrease in the measurement error by a factor equal to the number of multiplication stages for radiophotonic multiplication and a multiple of the number of harmonics used for the method of polyharmonic transformation.

Development of a Real-Time Continuous Measurement System for Tree Radial Direction

Development of a Real-Time Continuous Measurement System for Tree Radial Direction

Development and application of creepage distance measurement system for zinc oxide arrester

Arrester is used to protect various electrical equipment in the power system from lightning overvoltage, working overvoltage, power frequency transient overvoltage impact and damage. Zinc oxide arrester is widely used in power system. Creepage distance is a necessary item of arrester performance test. It is a necessary project for lightning arrester factory testing and centralized network access testing. At present, the measurement of arrester creepage distance mainly adopts the artificial method of paper tape measurement or wire measurement. In this paper, a measurement system for arrester creepage distance is developed by using three-dimensional reconstruction and laser vision detection, which realizes one-click and fully automatic detection of creepage distance. The field application results show that the system not only solves the problems of heavy workload and low measurement accuracy of manual measurement methods, but also displays the measurement results in real time, which significantly improves the reliability and flexibility of measurement work, shortens the measurement time and improves the work efficiency.

Development of an Autonomous Measurement System for Estimation of Snow Profile on Road Surfaces

This paper presents the development of a novel prototype system to measure the profile of snow and detect ice on road surfaces. While researchers have previously developed methods to estimate the tire-road friction coefficient, methods to create a high resolution map of snow cover and ice on roads have not been developed. The prototype and data processing methods presented in this study provide a potential solution that would greatly benefit winter road maintenance teams. Having a device capable of creating a detailed map of snow and ice cover on roads would allow for more efficient plowing and salt deployment, better informing of the public about current road conditions, as well as better analysis of current plowing techniques to improve winter road maintenance operations. The measurement of the snow profile is based on the use of two types of inexpensive ranging sensors mounted on a rotationally controlled stepper motor platform. The technical challenges addressed in the development include analysis of the scan path over which the system scans the road, differentiation between asphalt, concrete, and snow surfaces using reflection amplitudes, accurate transformation of raw distance measurements to inertial coordinates, and identification of the Euler angles of the sensors using parameters associated with the scanned surface profile. Extensive experimental results and test data are presented, which show that the system is capable of measuring the snow profile on a road with an accuracy of ±1 cm when a reasonable portion of bare road is visible, and ±2 cm when only small portions of bare road are visible.

Development of continuous measurement system for hydrogen and impurity gases using detector tube.

A relatively accurate, inexpensive, simple, and continuous quantification system for hydrogen and impurity gas(es) using a detector tube was developed in this study. Additionally, different detector tubes can be applied to measure different types of gases in a wide range from ppm order to % level. We optimized this system and evaluated its accuracy as well as the behavior of released H2 and impurity (NH3) gases from a hydrolysis of ammonia borane using a Pt/Al2O3 catalyst. The accuracy of hydrogen quantitation achieved by this system was comparable to that of commercial mass flow meters, and the accuracy of ammonia quantitation was 10% or 5% relative standard deviation, which depends on the detector tube. The concentration of released NH3 was evaluated by image analysis with a time-lapse video of the detector tube and succeeded in analyzing from ppm to % order. The H2 and NH3 release behaviors agreed with pH, and the percentage of reaction was estimated by NMR measurement of the reacted solution. These results confirmed the accuracy of this system.

Himmelsbeobachtungen und deren Messung, von der Regierungszeit des Gudea von Lagash bis zum Almagest des Claudius Ptolemäus

The present article gives an overview on the development of the measurement and practical acquisition of circle section dimensions since the late 3rd millennium BC. In key points, the prerequisites and practical implementation for celestial observations over approx. 1500 years up to the 8th century BC are collected and analyzed, in terms of their logical requirements and connected archaeological findings. A comprehensible and unambiguous calculation is made for the celestial dimensions in cubits used from the 8th to the 2nd century BC, for which estimated values between 2.5 and 2.1 angular degrees have been determined since Kugler 1900 until to recently researchers. Therefore, for the first time, the exact transformation value is presented here. Not only the connections and the further development of this celestial measurement system are presented, but also its coherent adaptation up to the first definition and use of the angular unit measurement, which is still used today, around 200 BC. In addition, some data and their previous interpretation from various sources are put up for discussion, which even include the table of Chords, presented by Ptolemy in his Almagest and their use.

Environmental Monitoring in Bus Transportation Using a Developed Measurement System

Air pollution and travel comfort in public transport is a significant problem as it can cause health problems for passengers. There are no sufficiently developed and researched monitoring systems for measuring the quality of the environment in public transport, which makes it difficult to assess the extent of the problem and implement effective solutions. This study presents the results of measurements made with a developed system for assessing air pollution and environmental quality in urban transport. Two time periods were defined based on air pollution and traffic levels, and informational features were selected for bus stops and buses. Noise was found not to be an informative feature, but vehicle acceleration should be considered in environmental quality monitoring. A quadratic discriminant classifier combined with principal components was shown to accurately classify high and low pollution time periods. Further research is planned to investigate the relationship between air pollution and travel discomfort and to develop effective strategies to improve air quality in urban public transport.

Development of a real-time mobile gamma-ray measurement system for shipboard use

Large areas must be rapidly screened to monitor radiation in marine environments. For this purpose, this study developed a mobile real-time gamma-ray measurement system for shipboard use and evaluated its performance. The system was developed to measure engine or generator cooling water by installing a canister inside the ship. The minimum detectable activity of the system is about 0.8 Bq/L for a 60 s measurement period, and real-time data transmission and remote control are possible. The system was tested in the field and is currently being installed and operated on ships in service. Such a ship-based real-time gamma-radiation measurement system is suitable for a wide range of marine radiation surveillance applications and is expected to be rapidly deployed.