Smart Lab Research Articles

Toward a telepresence robot empowered smart lab

In the context of distance education, lab and field work are a considerable challenge for students, professors, and institutions. This paper presents a Telepresence Robot Empowered Smart Lab (TRESL) system as a new and emerging technology with a potential to overcome this challenge. The main focus of this paper is to propose a conceptual model, to define the ultimate goals of the proposed solution, and to present its system architecture and the modules to support the functions and features. A pilot project was conducted and is also presented in this paper. The pilot project includes the experimental implementation of a telepresence robot in a mock-up smart lab and the collection and analysis of survey data from users of the robot. The main findings of the pilot study are, 1) online users can easily operate the telepresence robot; and 2) operating the robot manually will increase the engagement of online users with the remote lab environment. The pilot study provides firm evidence that the proposed TRESL system is a promising and innovative approach for online students to conduct their lab work in a remote laboratory. The results also suggest avenues for further research and development of the system.

Implementation of IoT based Smart Laboratory

Implementation of IoT based Smart Laboratory

EUROPEAN TEMPUS TATU PROJECT AND WIRESHARK SOFTWARE IN INDUSTRIAL NETWORKS DATA TRANSFER PROTOCOLS STUDYING AND ANALYZING

Industrial data transfer technologies are implementing in industry, transport, energetic together with Industry 4.0 and IIoT concepts. Compatible with previous generations TCP/IP based protocols ProfiNet, ModBus/TCP, Ethernet/IP, EtherCAT were created to perform complex technical systems remote control. 
 In 2013 – 2017 European TEMPUS TATU (Trainings in Automation Technologies for Ukraine) project was realized and TATU Smart Lab (TSL) equipment was obtained. 
 TSL is a set of devices for modern automation technologies studying. It matches to Industry 4.0 and IIoT concepts. It contains programmable logic controllers, I/O devices, switches, wireless access points and can be used for studying of Ethernet based data transfer technologies, wireless data transfer, TCP/IP technologies, hard real-time systems, EtherCAT, CAN, RS232/485, PROFINET, Modbus TCP interfaces.
 Wireshark software allows to analyze network traffic and supports capturing of long network protocols list. It helps to understand the reason of network problems, simplifies industrial and corporate networks exploitation.

ОРГАНИЗАЦИЯ УЧЕБНОГО ВЗАИМОДЕЙСТВИЯ ПРЕПОДАВАТЕЛЯ И СТУДЕНТОВ СРЕДСТВАМИ SMART BOARD

The article deals with the stages in the organization of teacher -student educational interaction by means of Smart Board. The possibilities of the updated SMART Learning Suite software have been described, including the Smart Lab interactive application for game technology learning, the new Smart Response 2 used as a student’s assessment tool for the organization of students’ cooperation within the single virtual Smart Amp workspace, student’s personal devices usage, online assignments accomplishment through Smart Learning Suite Online. It has been determined that the new forms of teacher-student educational interaction can be successfully implemented in the modern educational system. This will provide an opportunity for teachers to create interactive lessons, to find free time for assessing students’ achievements, master new forms of online classroom training, and provide the students’ training at their own pace. The set of interactive exercises and how to organize student’s learning process with the use of SmartLab tools have been introduced.

The Experience of Developing the UJAmI Smart Lab

In the context of ambient-assisted living and monitoring activities and behaviors, the concept of smart homes/environments has emerged as a research and development field with many examples appearing in a range of different contexts (universities, research centers, hospitals, and residences). Recently, a smart lab called UJAmI based on ambient intelligence was created at the University of Jaén in order to provide an environment where solutions in assistive technologies could be developed. This paper presents the experience of developing this smart lab within its first year. The initial space assigned to the smart lab is described through the creation of the smart lab in five perspectives: the layout of the smart lab, the selection of the devices, the deployment of the middleware, the technical infrastructures, and the furniture. Finally, following our experience of creating the lab we reflect upon our experience and provide a set of guidelines and recommendations. Ongoing projects within this Smart lab are also introduced.

Evaluation of Basic Laparoscopic Surgical Skills course programme for surgery residents- at a simulation lab in south India.

Introduction : Patient safety is the important priority in surgical education. The new training models and curriculum are needed for maintaining safety and quality of surgical performance. An established laparoscopic surgical skill(LSS) grade 1 level 1 programme running for surgical residents is being already taken up in various european countries under the support of European Association of Endoscopic Surgeons. Aim : The aim of the paper is to evaluate the perception of surgery residents on LSS Grade 1 Level 1 course in South India. Material and methods : A total of 5 accredited LSS Grade I Level 1 courses were held in GSL SMART LAB between April 2013 and December 2016. The demographic data and pre-course surgical experience in laparoscopic surgery of the participants were recorded. After completion of 12 hrs practice on endotrainer and lap mentor combined, the participants attended two days of basic laparoscopic surgical skill programme with different modes of assessment/examination related to basic laparoscopic skills. The participants filled the course evaluation form to evaluate course progress, course materials, assessment, staff, course location and overall impression of the course on a 1-10 scale to evaluate feedback information. Results : 34 surgery residents were enrolled in an LSS Grade I Level 1 programme. The mean age of the participants was 28.294 years (SD = 3.51), the male/female ratio was 31/3 and previous experience with laparoscopic surgery was limited. Overall impression of the course was rated with 8.8 points (SD = 0.78). The applicability of the course content in practice and the balance between theory and hands-on training were also rated very well – mean 8.8 (SD = 1.01) and 8.1 points (SD = 0.80) respectively. Conclusions : The result of this study shows that the course is a well balanced training programme, meeting the expectations of individual surgery residents. Hence, the overall interest in the programme suggests that it might become the future Indian standard of surgical education in laparoscopic surgery. Success of the course may be drawn after the completion of clinical assessment of enrolled participants.

Construction and Practice of a Smart Laboratory Based on “6+1”S Management Model

University laboratory plays a distinctive role in education and research, meanwhile, how to improve its management level is becoming more and more important. This paper focuses on construction and practice of a smart laboratory using advanced technologies. It puts forward a new method based on “6+1”S management model to manage laboratories and serve for the university and society. The result supports the usefulness and efficiency of this approach. It is concluded that the new model not only upgrades the practicability and effectiveness of management, but also promotes clutivation of talents.

Spectral mineral mapping for characterization of subtle geothermal prospects using ASTER data

In this study, the performance of ASTER data is evaluated for mapping subtle geothermal prospects in an unexplored tropical region having a number of thermal springs. The study employed a simple Decorrelation stretch with specific absorptions to highlight possible alteration zones of interest related to Geothermal (GT) systems. Hydrothermal alteration minerals are subsequently mapped using Spectral Angle Mapper (SAM) and Linear Spectral Unmixing (LSU) algorithms to target representative minerals such as clays, carbonates and AL-OH minerals as indicators of GT activity. The results were validated through field GPS survey, rock sampling and laboratory analysis using latest smart lab X-Ray Diffractometer technology. The study indicates that ASTER broadband satellite data could be used to map subtle GT prospects with the aid of an in-situ verification. However, it also shows that ASTER could not discriminate within specie minerals especially for clays using SWIR bands. Subsequent studies are aimed at looking at both ASTER and Hyperion hyperspectral data in the same area as this could have significant implications for GT resource detection in unmapped aseismic and inaccessible tropical regions using available spaceborne data.

The AAU Smart Production Laboratory for Teaching and Research in Emerging Digital Manufacturing Technologies

The AAU Smart Production project is a research initiative at Aalborg University, Denmark running 2015-2019. The objective of this program is to research and demonstrate emergent digital technologies and to adapt these to the needs and characteristics of Danish industries.A Smart Production Laboratory (Smart Lab) has been developed as part of the project. The Smart Lab is a small Industry 4.0 factory containing a number of digital technologies which are integrated into a physical Industry 4.0 demonstrator.Since its establishment in August 2016, a number of projects have been initiated involving more than 50 students and researchers from various departments at Aalborg University. Most of these projects have been made in collaboration with large end-user companies and a number system integrators and technology providers (most of which are SMEs). There has been a great industrial interest in the Smart Lab. Over the last six months, more than 150 companies have visited the lab, and the interest in engaging in projects by far exceeds our capacity. In the future, we are going to focus on setting up collaboration with SME end-users. Furthermore, we will investigate more systematic approaches for improving the knowledge sharing between the on-going projects and enabling better knowledge co-creation. The paper will present the Smart Lab, and demonstrate how we are teaching and researching using a collaborative approach engaging with end-user, vendors and system integrators.

Comparative Analysis of Strain Fields in Step-graded Buffers of Different Design, based on InxAl1-xAs Ternary Solutions

Two hetero structures with the step-graded buffers of different design grown on (001) GaAs substrates by molecular beam epitaxy were employed to reveal applicability of an extension of phenomenological approach developed for the description of strain relief in single layer hetero structures to multilayer thin film systems. Difference in the design of buffers provided to the formation of dislocation free layers of different thickness. The determination of the residual strains in the epitaxial layers was done using reciprocal space mapping performed with a tripleaxes X-ray diffractometer Smart Lab 9 kW and the following processing of data obtained within the linear theory of elasticity. It was established that, despite the different design of buffers the character of strain spatial distributions in them was similar. It gives possibility to attract a phenomenological rule to describe the strain relief in the final constructive elements of both hetero structures. A correction for a work hardening in the phenomenological rule governing the strain relief in single layer hetero structures was performed.

Interpreting and implementing IEC 61850-90-5 Routed-Sampled Value and Routed-GOOSE protocols for IEEE C37.118.2 compliant wide-area synchrophasor data transfer

Flexibility and adaptability requirements of future electric power grids for integrating distributed energy resources (DERs) call for the development of wide-area monitoring, protection and control (WAMPAC) applications, utilizing synchrophasor measurements provided by the phasor measurement units (PMUs).IEEE C37.118 is the most utilized protocol for real-time exchange of synchronized phasor measurement data. In order to fulfill some gaps not addressed in IEEE C37.118, and also to harmonize with the IEC 61850 power utility automation standard, the IEC 61850-90-5 technical report has been developed. IEC TR 61850-90-5 introduces a mechanism for transfer of digital states and time synchronized phasor measurement data over wide-area networks between PMUs, phasor data concentrators (PDCs) and WAMPAC applications in the context of IEC 61850.This work interprets the IEEE C37.118.2 and IEC 61850-90-5 Routed-Sampled Value and Routed-GOOSE protocols and describes the design and implementation of a library named Khorjin with the functionality of (1) an IEEE C37.118.2 to IEC 61850-90-5 gateway and protocol converter and (2) an IEC 61850-90-5 subscriber and traffic parser.The main contribution of this work is the development of Khorjin library using only standard C libraries (i.e. independent from any operating system). This is allowing the use of the library in different platforms.The design requirements and functionality of the Khorjin library has been tested in the KTH SmarTS Lab real-time hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation environment to assess its conformance to the functional requirements of IEEE C37.118.2 and IEC 61850-90-5 standards.

Study on the crystal structure of Al2Cu3Gd compound with XRPD

The new ternary compound of Al2Cu3Gd was prepared by melting with stoichiometric composition in an electric arc furnace. The X-ray powder diffraction data of Al2Cu3Gd have been collected by the Rigaku Smart Lab X-ray powder diffractometer. The Rietveld refinement method had been used to study the crystal structure of Al2Cu3Gd. The results showed that the Al2Cu3Gd, new compound have the hexagonal structure, space group P6/mmm (No. 191) with a = 5.1822 (1) Å, c = 4.1566 (1) Å, V = 96.67 Å3, Z = 1, and the density is 6.62 g cm−3, and the intensity ratio reference intensity ratio is 1.29.

Sn Negative Electrode Consists of Flexible 3D Structures for Sodium Ion Secondary Batteries

Tin(Sn) and its alloys have been attracting attentions as a negative electrode material for lithium-ion and sodium-ion secondary batteries with high theoretical capacity (Li22Sn5, ca. 990 mAh･g − 1) and high electromotiveforce. There still remains the issue as regards the discharge capacity decrease with increasing the number of cycles. In order to improve cycle performance, there are many studies such as using Sn-Ni alloy, macroporous patterns and enhancing adhesiveness of active materials. However, most of these studies are using Sn based alloy as negative electrode materials and it suffer from the disadvantage of lowering of discharge capacity. In this study, Sn film which has nano-sized or amorphous grain to alleviation volume expansion with using electrodeposition was developed. In addition, 3D-nano flexible structure was used with collector for creating space to alleviate volume expansion. The effect of additives on the surface morphology and microstructure of Sn film was investigated. Furthermore, we evaluated the effect of 3D-nano flexible structure into the Sn film on cycle performance of the Sn negative electrode. The Sn film was formed by electrodeposition using aqueous bath at low temperature. Cu foil with a thickness of 35 μm was used for the substrates We used 5 types of Sn deposition bath. Tin sulfate (SnSO4) and tin chloride (SnCl2) were used as metal resource reagents. Phosphinic acid (H2PO2), boric acid (H3BO3) and potassium sulfate (K2SO4) were used as additives. In addition, conventional Sn deposition bath, which consists of 30 g L− 1 (0.14 M) tin sulfate (SnSO4), 96 g L− 1 sulfuric acid (H2SO4) and 100 ppm polyethylene glycol (PEG, Mw: 4000), was used for comparison. The electrochemical properties of Sn electrodes were investigated using double pole cell (tomcell) consist of Sn circle film (φ16 mm) as working electrode and Na metal film as counter electrode. The electrolyte consist of a solution of 1M NaPF6 in a 1:2 (vol.%) mixture of ethylene carbonate (EC), dimethyl carbonate (DMC) (Kishida). The whole assemble was processed in an argon-filled glove box. The Charge-Discharge test was galvanostatically examined with a current density of 200 μm. Potential range of the Charge-Discharge test was set between 0.01 to 1.0 V (vs. Na/Na+). The cyclic voltammetry (CV) was performed in the potential range of 0.01-1.0 V (vs. Na/Na+) at a scan rate 0.2 mV/s. The surface morphologies of the electrodes were examined by scanning electron microscope (SEM, JEOL JSM-6700F), and phase identification was investigated by X-ray diffraction (Rigaku, Smart Lab). Both amorphous and crystalline structure was observed in the deposited Sn film. In contrast to conventional Sn electrodeposited film, this unique Sn film has a good cycle characteristic (over 50 cycles) and discharge capacity (over 400 mAh･g-1). Furthermore, in the case of using the bath which includes phosphinic acid (H2PO2) in composition discharge capacity after first cycle approached over 700 mAh g-1 and that of after twenties cycle was over 400 mAh g-1. Amorphous structure in the Sn film showed a microscopic effect on the volume change by lithiation and delithiation. Sn particles became smaller and formed amorphous structure by using pulse current. Sn electrode deposited on 3D-nano flexible structure showed good cycle characteristic (over 50 cycles) and discharge capacity (840 mAh/g (the C-rate of 2)). The Charge-Discharge curves indicated Na-Sn alloy process as follows: β-Sn, NaSn5, NaSn, Na9Sn4.

Crystal Structure of Al<sub>2</sub>Cu<sub>3</sub>Nd Ternary Compound

A new Al-Cu-Nd system alloy, the high-purity Al2Cu3Nd ternary compound, was developed and prepared with the stoichiometric amounts of elemental constituents by arc melting under argon atmosphere. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) data of Al2Cu3Nd was collected by using the Rigaku Smart Lab X-ray powder diffractometer, and all X-ray diffraction peaks of Al2Cu3Nd compound were indexed successfully with the hexagonal structure. The Rietveld refinement results of the XRD pattern for the Al2Cu3Nd compound showed that the Al2Cu3Nd compound is the hexagonal structure, space group P6/mmm (No.191) with a = 5.2397(1) Å, c = 4.1783(1) Å, V = 99.34 Å3, Z = 1. The density of the compound was 6.501 g/cm3, and its reference intensity ratio (RIR) w 1.26.

Dynamic and static tensile mechanical properties of myocardial tissue.

Event Abstract Back to Event Dynamic and static tensile mechanical properties of myocardial tissue. Sherif Ramadan1, 2, 3, Hani Naguib1, 2, 3 and Narinder Paul3, 4 1 University of Toronto, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Canada 2 University of Toronto, Smart and Adaptive Polymers Lab, Canada 3 University of Toronto, Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, Canada 4 Toronto General Hospital, Joint Department of Medical Imaging, Canada Introduction: Heart disease is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality that affects 1.3 million Canadians annually[1]. Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a leading cause of heart disease and is due to progressive accumulation of arterial plaque resulting in occlusion of the arterial lumen and abnormal myocardial contractility[2]. Computed Tomography Coronary Angiography (CTCA) is used to exclude significant CAD in patients with low-intermediate pre-test probability[3],[4]. However, dynamic anthropomorphic CT phantom devices that realistically mimic normal and diseased cardiac tissues are required to test new imaging techniques and algorithms that target ultralow radiation dose and high resolution CTCA. This study aims to quantify the mechanical properties of myocardial tissue to allow for the fabrication of phantoms that mimic the behaviour of heart tissue under varying hemodynamic conditions. Materials and Methods: The elasticity of myocardial tissue was tested under static and dynamic conditions. Tensile testing was performed to obtain the Young’s modulus and a dynamic mechanical analyzer (DMA) induced a frequency sweep to determine the complex (dynamic) modulus. A frequency range of 0.5Hz to 3.5Hz was analyzed as these frequencies correspond to human heart rates of 30 to 210bpm. Multiple tissue samples were taken from each pig and lamb heart, these animal models were chosen as they are close human analogues and are commonly used as replacements for human tissue[5],[6].The heart tissue was tested while freshly sacrificed without any intervening freeze-thaw cycles to ensure the integrity of the muscle tissue. The tissue was placed in a balanced salt solution and tested at 37°C to simulate in vitro conditions[7]. Results and Discussion: Preliminary data (mean ± SD): The tensile and complex moduli were tested on 6 pig and lamb hearts; tensile modulus of lamb = 0.06 ±0.03 (n=15 samples) and for pig =0.04 ± 0.03 (n=11 samples); the complex modulus for lamb = 0.03Mpa at 0.5Hz to 0.06 Mpa at 3.5Hz ± 0.02 (n=15 samples) and for pig = 0.03Mpa at 0.5Hz to 0.06 Mpa at 3.5Hz ± .01 (n=15 samples) and both exhibited a linear trend. These values indicate that myocardial tissue behaves similarly to soft rubbers and stiffens under higher frequency loads. Moreover, for tensile testing there was no statistical difference between individual hearts or animals (P values of 0.235, 0.483, and 0.73 between the animals, pig hearts, and lamb hearts respectively). Conclusions: The static and dynamic moduli of myocardial tissue in pig and lamb hearts is between 0.02 and 0.1Mpa which is similar to soft, rubber-like materials. This quantitative data will inform selection and fabrication of customized biomaterials for construction of the myocardium in a dynamic anthropomorphic tissue realistic heart phantom.

Challenges of Self-Management Techniques in Providing Better Classroom Settings

One of the key elements in having an effective teaching and learning atmosphere goes through classroom management that has gone through series of innovations, from animal leathers used to store data, cave walls used for talents and other purposes; to the alleged digital age, with digital tablets, touchpads, smart boards, special schools with utmost utilities serving both teachers and students spreading all over the world. Moreover, internet oriented education is widening the concept of school to anywhere, anytime. Nevertheless, different needs brought different approaches and strategies to solve the problems of classroom management. The 21st century self-management techniques require quite complex approaches. In today's world technological devices are part of everyday life as our needs brought us to overcome difficulties as well as making life easier. We started education on clay tablets, and had blackboards, then white boards, and now we are getting back to tablets, but this time multitasking digital ones. Smart boards, labs, and multimedia rooms are now serving educational purposes. Thus, in this article, together with aforementioned innovations, it is aimed to present some better ways that may help overcome today's challenges of classroom management in terms of self-management techniques. The set of 10 principles suggested by Thomas J. Zirpoli is dredged up to shed light on the issue or help instructors to develop their own techniques within the process of classroom management. The vitality of students' study skills and secure attachment are perceived in regard with redemption of overwhelming challenges of self-management techniques.

An Arabic Natural Language Interface System for a Database of the Holy Quran

In the time being, the need for searching in the words, objects, subjects, and statistics of words and parts of the Holy Quran has grown rapidly concurrently with the grow of number of Moslems and the huge usage of smart mobiles, tablets and lab tops. Because, databases are used almost in all activities of our life, some DBs have been built to store information about words and surah of Quran. The need for accessing Quran DBs became very important and wide uses, which could be done through database applications or using SQL commands, directly from database site or indirectly by a special format through LAN or even through the WEB. Most of peoples are not experienced in SQL language, but they need to build SQL commands for their retrievals. The proposed system will translate their natural Arabic requests such as questions or imperative sentences into SQL commands to retrieve answers from a Quran DB. It will perform parsing and little morphological processes according to a sub set of Arabic context-free grammar rules to work as an interface layer between users and Database.

An Adaptive Architecture for Ambient Intelligence Based on Meta-modeling, Smart Agents, and Wireless Sensor Networks

In this paper, an Ambient Intelligence (AmI) architecture for devising and implementing a smart laboratory in a university is presented. The architecture relies on a novel meta-model that abstracts the laboratory ambient using a context model, an adaptation model, an end-user model, and a domain model. Thus, the architecture offers, to the end-users, a set of adaptive AmI services that are supplied by smart agents and wireless sensor networks. The architecture was coded using SQLite, Jade, Protege, and CLIPs and simulated under Oracle's Solarium environment. The latency and scalability of the proposed architecture, as well as its ability to supply effectively the AmI services, were tested using both qualitative and quantitative standard performance metrics.

Utility-oriented placement of actuator nodes with a collaborative serving scheme for facilitated business and working environments.

Places to be served by cyber-physical systems (CPS) are usually distributed unevenly over the area. Thus, different areas usually have different importance and values of serving. In other words, serving power can be excessive or insufficient in practice. Therefore, actuator nodes (ANs) in CPS should be focused on serving around points of interest (POIs) with considerations of “service utility.” In this paper, a utility-oriented AN placement framework with a collaborative serving scheme is proposed. Through spreading serving duties among correctly located ANs, deployment cost can be reduced, utility of ANs can be fully utilized, and the system longevity can be improved. The problem has been converted into a binary integer linear programming optimization problem. Service fading, 3D placements, multiscenario placements, and fault-tolerant placements have been modeled in the framework. An imitated example of a CPS deployment in a smart laboratory has been used for evaluations.

Component sizing of a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle powertrain, Part B: coupling bee-inspired metaheuristics to ensemble of local neuro-fuzzy radial basis identifiers

In this paper, the authors investigate the potentials of an aggregated cooperative intelligent approach to optimise the size of components of a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) powertrain. The intelligent model consists of a set of modular local neuro-fuzzy radial basis identifiers. These intelligent tools are finally incorporated to develop a global identifier called ensemble neuro-fuzzy radial basis network (ENFRBN). The resulted global identifier synchronously uses the local maps to predict the fuel consumption (FC) rate of a PHEV for a specific drive cycle. To do so, an experimental/simulative sampling process was performed in smart hybrid and electric vehicle system laboratory at the University of Waterloo to create a database including a set of input/output pairs. After extracting knowledge from prepared database, the authors use two well-known bee-inspired heuristic algorithms, i.e., bee algorithm (BA) and artificial bee colony (ABC) to reach a compromise on optimal size of PHEV components.