A high sensitivity, low power and low cost sensor has been developed for photoplethysmography (PPG) measurement. The PPG principle was applied to follow the dilatation and contraction of skin blood vessels during the cardiac cycle. A standard light emitting diodes (LEDs) has been used as a light emitter and detector, and in order to reduce the space, cost and power, the classical analogue-to-digital converters (ADCs) replaced by the pulse-based signal conversion techniques. A general purpose microcontroller has been used for the implementation of measurement protocol. The proposed approach leads to better spectral sensitivity, increased resolution, reduction in cost, dimensions and power consumption. The basic sensing configuration prese

Abstract

This research presents a on-line cognitive tuning control algorithm for the nonlinear controller of path-tracking for dynamic wheeled mobile robot to stabilize and follow a continuous reference path with minimum tracking pose error. The goal of the proposed structure of a hybrid (Bees-PSO) algorithm is to find and tune the values of the control gains of the nonlinear (neural and back-stepping method) controllers as a simple on-line with fast tuning techniques in order to obtain the best torques actions of the wheels for the cart mobile robot from the proposed two controllers. Simulation results (Matlab Package 2012a) show that the nonlinear neural controller with hybrid Bees-PSO cognitive algorithm is m

     Equilibrium and rate of mixing of free flowing solid materials are found using gas fluidized bed. The solid materials were sand (size 0.7 mm), sugar (size0.7 mm) and 15% cast iron used as a tracer. The fluidizing gas was air with velocity ranged from 0.45-0.65 m/s while the mixing time was up to 10 minutes. The mixing index for each experiment was calculated by averaging the results of 10 samples taken from different radial and axial positions in fluidized QVF column 150 mm ID and 900 mm height.

     The experimental results were used in solving a mathematical model of mixing rate and mixing index at an equilibrium proposed by Rose. The results show that mixing index increases with inc

Aim: The present study aims to improve the poor water solubility of zaltoprofen which is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAIDs) with a potent analgesic effect using solid dispersion then formulate it as a hollow type suppository to be more convenient for geriatric patients. Materials and Method: Zaltoprofen solid dispersions were prepared by solvent evaporation technique in different zaltoprofen: Soluplus® ratios. Results: Among the formulations tested, zaltoprofen solid dispersion preparation using 1:5 (zaltoprofen: Soluplus®) ratio showed the highest solubility and selected for further investigation. Solid dispersion characterization was evaluated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction study (XRD) and Fou

One of the most important environmental issues is the responsible effective and economic treatment of drilling waste especially oily waste.
In this research two fungal isolates named Pleurotus ostreatus and Trichoderma harzianum were chosen for the first time to treat biologically the oily drilled cuttings contaminated with diesel which resulted from drilling oil wells use oil based muds (OBMs).
The results showed that the fungi under study utilized the hydrocarbon of contaminated soil as a source of nutrient and growth and that both fungi can be considered hydrocarbon degrading microorganisms. The used biotreatment is cost effective process since most of the materials used in the cultivation and growth of the present fungi were av

A simple, environmental friendly and selective sample preparation technique employing porous membrane protected micro-solid phase extraction (μ-SPE) loaded with molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) for the determination of ochratoxin A (OTA) is described. After the extraction, the analyte was desorbed using ultrasonication and was analyzed using high performance liquid chromatography. Under the optimized conditions, the detection limits of OTA for coffee, grape juice and urine were 0.06 ng g−1, 0.02 and 0.02 ng mL−1, respectively while the quantification limits were 0.19 ng g−1, 0.06 and 0.08 ng mL−1, respectively. The recoveries of OTA from coffee spiked at 1, 25 and 50 ng g−1, grape juice and urine samples at 1, 25 and 50 ng mL

The maximization of the net present value of the investment in oil field improvements is greatly aided by the optimization of well location, which plays a significant role in the production of oil. However, using of optimization methods in well placement developments is exceedingly difficult since the well placement optimization scenario involves a large number of choice variables, objective functions, and restrictions. In addition, a wide variety of computational approaches, both traditional and unconventional, have been applied in order to maximize the efficiency of well installation operations. This research demonstrates how optimization approaches used in well placement have progressed since the last time they were examined. Fol

In this study, plastic wastes named (PET and PVC) were used to prepare polymer matrix composite (PMC) which can be used in different applications. Composite materials were prepared by mixing unsaturated polyester resin (UP) with plastic wastes, two types of plastic waste were used in this work included polyethylene-terephthalate (PET) and Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) with various weight fractions (0, 5,10,15, 20 and 25%) added as a filler in flakes form. In this work, some of the tests that were carried out included (tensile, bending, and compressive strength) as mechanical tests, in addition to (thermal conductivity and water absorption) as physical tests. The values of tensile, compressive strength and Young's modulus of UP increased after