Low Power Values Research Articles

The Influence of Futsal Players' Initial Physical Condition on the Occurrence of Injuries.

Although there are some studies that have linked fitness parameters and sports injuries, the literature remains controversial. The aim of the study was to prospectively analyze the influence of initial physical condition parameters on the development of injury in the first three months of the sports season in futsal players. A total of 68 players (24.26±4.63 years old) were assessed before the start of the sports season in relation to certain physical condition parameters, such as body composition (bioimpedance), lower limb power (countermovement jump, CMJ) and muscle strength (isokinetic dynamometer). The injured players showed significantly worse initial performance in the CMJ compared to the uninjured players (p<0.001). There were no significant differences between groups in body composition and muscle strength. Lower power values were associated with a higher risk of injury in the first few months of the sports season (OR=0.92; 95% CI=0.88-0.99). Muscle power was an independent predictor of injury in the first few months of the sports season in futsal players, indicating that improving players' physical condition could help reduce the number of injuries.

Alzheimer's disease as a causal risk factor for diabetic retinopathy: a Mendelian randomization study.

This study aims to investigate the causal relationship between Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and Diabetic Retinopathy (DR). Employing Mendelian Randomization (MR), Generalized Summary-data-based Mendelian Randomization (GSMR), and the MR-Steiger test, this study scrutinizes the genetic underpinnings of the hypothesized causal association between AD and DR, as well as its Proliferative DR (PDR) and Non-Proliferative DR (NPDR) subtypes. Comprehensive data from Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) were analyzed, specifically AD data from the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (71,880 cases/383,378 controls), and DR, PDR, and NPDR data from both the FinnGen consortium (FinnGen release R8, DR: 5,988 cases/314,042 controls; PDR: 8,383 cases/329,756 controls; NPDR: 3,446 cases/314,042 controls) and the IEU OpenGWAS (DR: 14,584 cases/176,010 controls; PDR: 8,681 cases/204,208 controls; NPDR: 2,026 cases/204,208 controls). The study also incorporated Functional Mapping and Annotation (FUMA) for an in-depth analysis of the GWAS results. The MR analyses revealed that genetic susceptibility to AD significantly increases the risk of DR, as evidenced by GWAS data from the FinnGen consortium (OR: 2.5090; 95% confidence interval (CI):1.2102-5.2018, false discovery rate P-value (PFDR)=0.0201; GSMR: bxy=0.8936, bxy_se=0.3759, P=0.0174), NPDR (OR: 2.7455; 95% CI: 1.3178-5.7197, PFDR=0.0166; GSMR: bxy=0.9682, bxy_se=0.3802, P=0.0126), and PDR (OR: 2.3098; 95% CI: 1.2411-4.2986, PFDR=0.0164; GSMR: bxy=0.7962, bxy_se=0.3205, P=0.0129) using DR GWAS from FinnGen consortium. These results were corroborated by DR GWAS datasets from IEU OpenGWAS. The MR-Steiger test confirmed a significant association of all identified instrumental variables (IVs) with AD. While a potential causal effect of DR and its subtypes on AD was identified, the robustness of these results was constrained by a low power value. FUMA analysis identified OARD1, NFYA, TREM1 as shared risk genes between DR and AD, suggesting a potential genetic overlap between these complex diseases. This study underscores the contribution of AD to an increased risk of DR, as well as NPDR and PDR subtypes, underscoring the necessity of a holistic approach in the management of patients affected by these conditions.

Optical Wireless Fronthaul-Enhanced High-Throughput FC-AE-1553 Space Networks

Existing space application networks in space stations are mainly fiber-optic cable-based networks due to their low size, weight, and power (SWaP) values. While fiber networks in space stations offer data transmission at high speeds with minimal signal loss, their major disadvantage is the lack of flexibility and mobility when new and unplanned space scientific equipment is added to the network. To enhance the flexibility of space networks while increasing their throughput, this paper introduces the hybrid space network (HSN), a new space network architecture that incorporates an optical wireless link, to meet the ever-increasing demands for larger bandwidth and higher mobile access capabilities in space scientific experiments. To best utilize the HSN’s system performance, we propose a multi-priority-based network scheduling scheme, which can dynamically adapt to the requirements of mass tasks and select the best transmission procedure. Through simulations, we find that by adding optical wireless communication (OWC) links to the state-of-the-art deterministic FC-AE-1553 space network, the HSN’s bandwidth can be increased by 20 times with an average latency reduction of 87.3%. We believe that the proposed HSN’s architecture may ultimately shape the future of space stations’ wireless connectivity, and in the meantime, innovate many advanced space applications with larger data rates and mobility requirements.

Analytical investigation of GeO2-doped optical fibers to build Brillouin lasers at 1300 nm

The 1.5 µm spectral region concentrates the most substantial attention on building fiber laser sources for communications applications. However, data transmission in this spectral region is quite congested, requiring exploring new neighboring regions. In particular, 1.3 µm, usually defined as the zero-dispersion band, currently constitutes an active field of research, and the development of fiber laser sources in this wavelength band is of substantial interest to expand the capabilities of existing photonic operations. Previous experimental investigations have already shown that the peak stimulated Brillouin scattering efficiency is strongly affected by the concentration of GeO2 doping in single-mode fibers. In this context, this work presents an analytical investigation of the performance of a Brillouin fiber laser at 1.3 µm using optical fibers doped with different GeO2 concentrations as a Brillouin gain medium. The results obtained suggest that optical fibers doped with high GeO2 concentrations can be a simple and effective solution to build Brillouin lasers with better efficiency in the 1.3 µm band employing shorter fiber lengths with low pump power values.

Using identification method to modelling short term luminous flux depreciation of LED luminaire to reducing electricity consumption

Reducing electricity consumption is currently one of the most significant global issues. Luminaires and light sources are characterised by relatively low rated power values. However, due to their high number, they account for a noticeable share of the total volume of electricity consumption. When the LED lamp/luminaire is switched-on, it emits a higher luminous flux and receives more power from the mains supply than when the thermal conditions have stabilized. This phenomenon is called short-term luminous flux depreciation. The lighting design process on photometric data obtained for steady-state operating conditions is based, on once the luminous flux has stabilized. Therefore, it is possible to design the control algorithm of the LED luminaire in such a way as to reduce this phenomenon, which will result in measurable savings of electrical energy. The paper proposes the use of a method to identify the short-term luminous flux depreciation of LED luminaires. The model was then used to simulate the operation of a control algorithm limiting the phenomenon of short-term luminous flux depreciation.

The Effect of Ultrasound Treatment on Oil Agglomeration of Barite

ABSTRACT In this study, the effect of ultrasonic treatment on oil agglomeration of barite ore was investigated. The ultrasound process not only improved the agglomeration efficiency of barite when applied as a pretreatment in the process of oil agglomeration of barite, but also reduced the consumption of oleate and kerosene. On the other hand, the use of only the ultrasonic process, in other words, its use at the agglomeration stage, negatively affected the agglomeration recovery. The power of ultrasound and the time of treatment were also important parameters affecting the agglomeration process of barite, and more successful agglomeration was achieved with short-term ultrasound pretreatment at a low power value (60 W, 120 sec). In addition, depending on the oleate concentration, the ultrasound process further increased the zeta potential of the barite, and this increase showed that the oleate adsorption on the barite surface increased. Moreover, higher contact angle values were obtained with ultrasound than the experiments without ultrasound at the same conditions. However, increasing the power of ultrasound and the time of treatment not only reduced the agglomeration efficiency, but also reduced the contact angle values of the barite. As a result, while the agglomeration recovery was 88.63% without ultrasound, it increased to 99.45% with ultrasonic pretreatment at the same conditions of 40 L/ton kerosene and 2 kg/ton oleate.

Total Polyphenols Content, Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activities of Leaves of Solanum elaeagnifolium Cav. from Morocco.

Solanum elaeagnifolium is among the invasive plants of Morocco; studies on its chemical composition and biological activities are few in number in Morocco. S. elaeagnifolium has shown molluscicidal and nematicidal and cancer-inhibitory effects, anti-inflammatory, analgesic activity, and antibacterial activity. The objective of this research is to improve this plant and assess its antibacterial and antioxidant properties as well as its total polyphenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC). The Folin-Ciocalteu method and the aluminium-trichloride method were used to determine TPC and TFC in hydro-ethanolic (HEE) and hydro-acetonic (HAE) leaf extract. Three assays were performed to determine the antioxidant activity: the DPPH test (radical 2,2’-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl), the FRAP test (Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power), and the TAC test. Disk diffusion and microdilution were used to test antibacterial activity against four pathogenic bacteria and Candida albicans. The hydro-ethanolic extract 2.54 ± 0.4 mg EAG/g has a greater polyphenol concentration than the hydro-acetonic extract 1.58 ± 0.03 mg EAG/g. Although the flavonoid content of the hydro-acetonic extract (0.067 ± 0.001 mg EQ/g) is larger than that of the hydro-ethanolic extract (0.012 ± 0.001 mg EQ/g), the flavonoid content of the hydro-ethanolic extract (0.012 ± 0.001 mg EQ/g). The DPPH values were IC-50 = 0.081 ± 0.004 mg/mL for hydro-ethanoic extract and 0.198 ± 0.019 mg/mL for hydro-acetonic extract, both extracts superior to BHT (0.122 ± 0.021 g/mL). While the FRAP assay showed a low iron-reducing power values for both extracts compared to BHT), the overall antioxidant activity of the two extracts was found to be considerable. The overall antioxidant activity of the hydro-ethanolic extract was 8.95 ± 0.42 mg EAA/g, whereas the total antioxidant activity of the hydro-acetonic extract was 6.44 ± 0.61 mg EAA/g. In comparison with the antibiotic Erythromycin, HAE and HEE from S. elaeagnifolium leaves demonstrated significant antibacterial action. HAE had the best inhibitory efficacy against Bacillus subtilis DSM 6333, with an inhibition diameter of 10.5 ± 0.50 mm and a MIC of 7.5 ± 0.00 mg/mL, as well as against Proteus mirabilis ATCC 29906, with an inhibitory diameter of 8.25 ± 0.75 mm and a MIC of 15 ± 0.00 mg/mL.

Predictive models on the influence of laser texturing parameters on the Inconel 718 surface by using Nd: YVO4 laser

This work presents a detailed study on Inconel 718 alloy surface texturing by a Nd: YVO4 fibre laser aiming to create localized textured areas for further introduction of reinforcement materials for improvin relevant properties such as thermal conductivity (copper alloys), lightweight (aluminium alloys) or avoid chemical oxidizing reactions (stainless steel alloys).Various laser parameters – there are laser power (P), scan speed (S) and number of passes (N) – and different line spacing (D) were combined. The characterization of the textured surfaces was carried out by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and analyzed using image analysis software (Image J) to measure the depth and width of the grooves. The textured Inconel 718 specimens were etched to analyze the effect of the laser interaction with the grain morphology. The influence of laser parameters on the grain morphology was assessed by using statistical analysis. In order to find the significant main factors and their interactions an analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used.Results show high-quality textured surfaces are obtained by using low power values and medium scan speed values and remelting areas are produced when considering a low number of passes. Moreover, the grain size is larger when considering high power values when compared with non-textured areas. The mathematical models demonstrated that laser power, scan speed and number of passes affect the depth and width of the grooves. According to its significance, the power (P) is the variable that most affects width of the grooves and the number of passes (N) is the significant variable that most influences the depth variable.

Artisanal fortified beers: Brewing, enrichment, HPLC-DAD analysis and preliminary screening of antioxidant and enzymatic inhibitory activities

In this study an artisanal “Porter style” beer has been enriched with diverse natural bioactive substances, following all-grain brewing method. Common beer generally contains a poor content of phenolic acids which confers a low antioxidant power and nutritional value, also due to the presence of ethanol. However in this work we aimed to enrich beer with different flavonoids and other food supplements like taurine, resveratrol and caffeine, thus enhancing its nutritional value and energizing properties. A series of flavonoid/phenol-enriched artisanal beers have been prepared, then sample of each has been tested in vitro to evaluate antioxidant activity, chelating power and enzymatic inhibition capacity. Beer samples were also analysed with HPLC-DAD system to determinate flavonoid and phenol contents. Results show increased nutritional values and significant antioxidant properties in comparison with not-fortified beer as control.

Numerical investigation of combustion and flame characteristics for a model solid oxide fuel cell performance improvement

This paper applies computational fluid dynamics techniques to investigate the flame characteristics in the afterburner of a model solid oxide fuel cell system. The main objective of this research is to analyze the flame characteristics to serve as a reference for performance improvement of the model solid oxide fuel cell. The generated swirl burner was modelled under conventional and colorless distributed combustion conditions. It is because recommended for obtaining a more uniform temperature distributions over the entire of the combustor, resulting in far enough temperature levels for the best performance of the fuel cell. In order to achieve distributed regime during methane combustion, oxygen concentration in the oxidizer was reduced through entrainment of the diluent mixture (90% N2 and 10% CO2). The parameters affecting the performance of a model solid oxide fuel cell were also numerically investigated. The temperature zones obtained from combustion were used to initiate and sustain the solid oxide fuel cell. Cell performance values for different temperatures were analyzed and interpreted. The maximum power value was obtained under distributed regime. While the maximum power points of the cells were gathered in the high performance region at 15% O2, lower power values were obtained at 21% O2 content.

Demonstration of a unified approach to beamforming

In this paper, we discuss a unification of several well-known frequency domain beamforming methods into one working principle. The methods under consideration include Functional Beamforming, Asymptotic Beamforming, Adaptive Beamforming and - as a natural limiting case - Standard Beamforming. Common to most of these methods is the underlying eigenvalue decomposition of the cross-spectral matrix. Introducing a weighted power mean (also called weighted Hölder mean) in terms of these eigenvalues for every map point, each of the above methods is represented by a certain power p. Because of the latter, this unified approach will be called Power Beamforming throughout this paper. Going from the limiting case p=1 of Standard Beamforming to lower power values results in the attenuation of side lobes and sharpening of the main lobes in the corresponding beamforming map. We demonstrate this effect using simulations and several real-world measurements.

Predicting the success rate of healthy participants in beta neurofeedback: Determining the factors affecting the success rate of individuals

Despite the considerable success of neurofeedback techniques in the treatment of various neurological disorders and the improvement of cognitive performance of healthy individuals, some people fail to learn how to control their brain activities using neurofeedback. Given the time-consuming and costly nature of neurofeedback, the prediction of people’s success rate in training by neurofeedback is of paramount importance. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the factors affecting the success rate of 7 healthy women over 10 sessions (30 trials) in terms of enhancement of low beta band activities (βL). The relative power of different frequency bands (delta, theta, alpha and beta) of EEG signals obtained in the first training session was considered as the predictor variable along with the participants’ IQ test score. Afterwards, we assessed the predictor variables’ impact on the mean low beta power (15–18 Hz) values of the participants’ EEG signals in the last session (βL(last sess)). According to the results, the mean low beta power in the first session (βL(sess1)) had the most effect on βL(last sess) (R2 = 73.9 %). In the next stage, we designed three systems using the RBF network, which predicted the βL(last sess), mean score of each participant in the last training session and the slope of βL changes of each subject during the training sessions using βL(sess1) (prediction error < 10−11). The designed prediction system may be able to increase training efficiency with neurofeedback and save time and financial resources.

Design and Characterization of (140–220) GHz Frequency Compensated Power Detector

This article presents the design and characterization of a real-time frequency-compensated power detector (PD), based on NMOS transistor, integrated in SiGe 55-nm BiCMOS technology from STMicroelectronics, and dedicated to on-chip power detection in the G-band frequencies. An innovative simple circuit (named attenuator) is designed in order to compensate the variation of the voltage sensitivity value with frequency, which is established by exhibiting lower attenuation (smaller real part impedance) at higher frequencies. As a result, the measured sensitivity value is compensated with a small variation (1800 V/W±10%) over the frequency band (140-220) GHz. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this detector is the first design which proposes a real-time frequency compensation at such high- and large-frequency bands. The attenuator was also designed to exhibit an inductive impedance (in the G-band) in order to compensate the capacitive effect of the NMOS, which helps to use smaller NMOS size and, therefore, obtain a higher sensitivity value. Compared to recent works, our detector exhibits a performance belong the current state-of-the-art with a very low noise equivalent power (NEP) value 4.56 pW/ √Hz and a relatively high voltage sensitivity value.

Fully Integrated THz Schottky Detectors Using Metallic Nanowires as Bridge Contacts

This paper investigates fully integrated Terahertz (THz) Schottky detectors using silver (Ag) metallic nanowires (NWs) with 120 nm diameter as bridge contacts for zero-bias operating THz detectors based on highly doped Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) and Indium Gallium Arsenide (InGaAs) layers. The combination of InGaAs and metallic NWs shows improved performance at zero-bias than a GaAs based detector with a simulated capacitance of 0.5 fF and a series resistance of 29.7 $\Omega $ . Thus, the calculated maximum cut-off frequency of 2.6 THz was obtained for a NW contacted vertical InGaAs THz detector. Initial THz measurements were carried out using a common THz setup for frequencies up to 1.2 THz. A responsivity of 0.81 A/W and a low noise-equivalent power (NEP) value of 7 pW/ $ {~\sqrt {Hz}}$ at 1 THz were estimated using the measured IV-characteristics of the zero-bias NW-InGaAs based THz Schottky detector.

PTS-PAPR Reduction Technique for 5G Advanced Waveforms Using BFO Algorithm

Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) will play an imperative part in an advanced 5G radio arrangement, owing to its numerous benefits such as improved spectrum adeptness, fast data rate, truncated spectrum leakage, and, so on. So far, NOMA undergoes from peak to average power ratio (PAPR) problem, which shrinks the throughput of the scheme. In this article, we propose a hybrid method, centered on the combination of advanced Partial transmission sequence (PTS), Selective mapping (SLM), and bacteria foraging optimization (BFO), known as PTS-BFO and SLM-PTS. PTS and SLM are utilized at the sender side and divide the NOMA into several sub-blocks. An optimal phase factor is achieved by the BFA and combined with the NOMA sub-block, where a low peak power value is obtained. Further, we estimate the bit error rate (BER) and PAPR of BFA in the SLM and PTS technique. The simulation outputs reveal that the PTS-BFO outperforms the traditional peak power minimization approaches and moderates the complexity of the system. It is concluded that the proposed algorithm is not explored for the NOMA waveform.

Non-treated low temperature indium tin oxide fabricated in oxygen-free environment to low-cost silicon-based solar technology

80 nm nominal thick ITO thin films were deposited at room temperature and at low plasma irradiation conditions in an oxygen-free environment by magnetron sputtering. The assessment of the dependence of their structural and optoelectronic properties with the deposition parameters were determined to evaluate their potential in silicon-based solar technology. The results revealed high quality ITO thin films deposited at room temperature and at low direct-current power values up to 75 W. These films showed amorphous and polycrystalline nature, depending on the range of power used. The thin films performance was determined by the figure of merit, reaching the best material developed at room temperature and at 75 W. The successful use of ITO as an effective n-type doped film in a N–P heterojunction silicon-based protocell revealed its feasibility to make up the heterojunction showing its double role as antireflection coating and as substitute of conventional emitters in silicon solar technology. This would open new opportunities of technologically interesting materials fabricated at low manufacturing cost.

A simple model suggesting economically rational sample-size choice drives irreproducibility.

Several systematic studies have suggested that a large fraction of published research is not reproducible. One probable reason for low reproducibility is insufficient sample size, resulting in low power and low positive predictive value. It has been suggested that insufficient sample-size choice is driven by a combination of scientific competition and 'positive publication bias'. Here we formalize this intuition in a simple model, in which scientists choose economically rational sample sizes, balancing the cost of experimentation with income from publication. Specifically, assuming that a scientist's income derives only from 'positive' findings (positive publication bias) and that individual samples cost a fixed amount, allows to leverage basic statistical formulas into an economic optimality prediction. We find that if effects have i) low base probability, ii) small effect size or iii) low grant income per publication, then the rational (economically optimal) sample size is small. Furthermore, for plausible distributions of these parameters we find a robust emergence of a bimodal distribution of obtained statistical power and low overall reproducibility rates, both matching empirical findings. Finally, we explore conditional equivalence testing as a means to align economic incentives with adequate sample sizes. Overall, the model describes a simple mechanism explaining both the prevalence and the persistence of small sample sizes, and is well suited for empirical validation. It proposes economic rationality, or economic pressures, as a principal driver of irreproducibility and suggests strategies to change this.

Blind Algorithm Development for Peak to Average Power Ratio Reduction in OFDM Systems under Frequency Selective Channels

One major drawback of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system is peak to average power ratio (PAPR). This effect causes high power amplifier (HPA) to introduce intermodulation and out of band radiation as the signal goes through, thus degrades the performance of OFDM systems. This paper proposes blind algorithms which takes advantage of signal transformation technique and signal distortion technique. Simulation results show that at complementary cumulative distribution function (CCDF) level of 10-3 , the proposed algorithm achieved 3.2 dB PAPR improvement compared to discrete Fourier transform with interleaved frequency division multiple access (DFT-IFDMA) based algorithm. The bit error rate (BER) performance has degraded by 2 dB compared to the original OFDM signal with no distortion under frequency selective channel (FCS) at BER of 10-4 . These presented results, mark this algorithm as a better candidate for PAPR reduction algorithm in long term evolution (LTE) network. Under AWGN channels, the proposed algorithm performs better both in low and high signal power values. Under frequency selective channels, the existing and proposed algorithm converges after 10 dB of signal to noise power values. The low BER transmissions at low signal power values signify energy efficiency, ideal for portable wireless devices with limited battery power.

A Two Hop Relay Battery Aware Mote Scheme for Energy Redeemable and Network Lifespan Improvement in WSN

The nodes available in the market are now of miniaturized nature, also have the characteristics of low cost and power values. Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) will be a sparse network with independent points acting as energy sources. The application in WSN includes temperature sensing, sound sensing, and pressure session. The data is sent from one point to other using multi intermediate nodes. The selection of intermediate nodes will be done based on computation of trust. As the number of hops increases energy consumption will become high and this can be improved with the help of relay node which can store the data and deliver the data once destination is in its range. The selection of relay node can be done in multiple ways like random, based on meeting probability and in the proposed two hop relay battery energy aware algorithm makes use of multiple factors namely residual energy, virtual currency based data, meeting probability, security computation so that the communication can be optimized. The proposed method is also compared with several existing methods with respect to delay, energy consumption, alive nodes, dead nodes, lifetime ratio and residual energy.

Bipolar ablation of refractory atrial and ventricular arrhythmias: Importance of temperature values of intracardiac return electrodes.

Bipolar radiofrequency catheter ablation (Bi-RFCA) emerged as an option for treatment of arrhythmias resistant to the conventional approach. Data on safety issues of Bi-RFCA, including temperature values of intracardiac return electrode (IRE) are lacking. To determine the safety profile of Bi-RFCA regarding temperature measurements obtained from nonirrigated IRE of different sizes. The study group consisted of consecutive patients after failed conventional RFCA who underwent Bi-RFCA. Out of 1510 RFCA performed in our center, 19 patients underwent Bi-RFCA due to refractory to previous RFCA ventricular arrhythmias (15 patients) or typical atrial flutter (four patients). Nonirrigated small (4 mm) and large (8 mm) tip catheters were used as IRE in 14 (including three cross-overs to 8 mm IRE) and five patients, respectively. A total number of 164 bipolar applications were performed (128 for 4 mm and 36 for 8 mm IRE). Maximal temperatures of 4 mm IRE were significantly higher than those of 8 mm IRE (63°C ± 16°C vs 43°C ± 4°C; P = .027). A significant rise of temperature and steam-pops, preventing further Bi-RFCA, occurred in seven patients treated with 4 mm IRE. Bi-RFCA using 4 mm IRE operated at significantly higher impedance values (211 ± 83 vs 143 ± 38; P = .04) and lower power values (mean 20 W ± 6 W vs 32 W ± 7 W, P = .0005; max 29 W ± 9 W vs 39 W ± 10 W, P = .027). The use of 8 mm IRE for Bi-RFCA is associated with lower temperatures of the catheter used as ground and lower incidence of steam-pops which may suggest a better safety profile than 4 mm IRE. Determination of safety/efficacy balance requires further studies.