Training system for conceptual design and evaluation for wastewater treatment

Rising population, rapid urbanisation and growing industrialisation have severely stressed water quality and its availability in Malawi. In addition, financial and institutional problems and the expanding agro industry have aggravated this problem. The situation is worsened by depleting water resources and pollution from untreated sewage and industrial effluent. The increasing scarcity of clean water calls for the need for appropriate management of available water resources. There is also demand for a training system for conceptual design and evaluation for wastewater treatment in order to build the capacity for technical service providers and environmental practitioners in the country. It is predicted that Malawi will face a water stress situation by 2025. In the city of Blantyre, this situation is aggravated by the serious pollution threat from the grossly inadequate sewage treatment capacity. This capacity is only 23.5% of the wastewater being generated presently. In addition, limited or non-existent industrial effluent treatment has contributed to the severe water quality degradation. This situation poses a threat to the ecologically fragile and sensitive receiving water courses within the city. This water is used for domestic purposes further downstream. This manuscript outlines the legal and policy framework for wastewater treatment in Malawi. The manuscript also evaluates the existing wastewater treatment systems in Blantyre. This evaluation aims at determining if the effluent levels at the municipal plants conform to existing standards and guidelines and other associated policy and regulatory frameworks. The raw material at all the three municipal plants is sewage. The typical wastewater parameters are Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD5), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), and Total Suspended Solids (TSS). The treatment target is BOD5, COD, and TSS reduction. Typical wastewater parameters at the wastewater treatment plant at MDW&S textile and garments factory are BOD5 and COD. The treatment target is to reduce BOD5 and COD. The manuscript further evaluates a design approach of the three municipal wastewater treatment plants in the city and the wastewater treatment plant at Mapeto David Whitehead & Sons (MDW&S) textile and garments factory. This evaluation utilises case-based design and case-based reasoning principles in the ED-WAVE tool to determine if there is potential for the tool in Blantyre. The manuscript finally evaluates the technology selection process for appropriate wastewater treatment systems for the city of Blantyre. The criteria for selection of appropriate wastewater treatment systems are discussed. Decision support tools and the decision tree making process for technology selection are also discussed. Based on the treatment targets and design criteria at the eight cases evaluated in this manuscript in reference to similar cases in the ED-WAVE tool, this work confirms the practical use of case-based design and case-based reasoning principles in the ED-WAVE tool in the design and evaluation of wastewater treatment 6 systems in sub-Sahara Africa, using Blantyre, Malawi, as the case study area. After encountering a new situation, already collected decision scenarios (cases) are invoked and modified in order to arrive at a particular design alternative. What is necessary, however, is to appropriately modify the case arrived at through the Case Study Manager in order to come up with a design appropriate to the local situation taking into account technical, socio-economic and environmental aspects. This work provides a training system for conceptual design and evaluation for wastewater treatment.

The use of computer-based learning tools for teaching and clinical purposes: Interactive computing strategy for Iraq

Medical universities and teaching hospitals in Iraq are facing a lack of professional staff due to the ongoing violence that forces them to flee the country. The professionals are now distributed outside the country which reduces the chances for the staff and students to be physically in one place to continue the teaching and limits the efficiency of the consultations in hospitals. A survey was done among students and professional staff in Iraq to find the problems in the learning and clinical systems and how Information and Communication Technology could improve it. The survey has shown that 86% of the participants use the Internet as a learning resource and 25% for clinical purposes while less than 11% of them uses it for collaboration between different institutions. A web-based collaborative tool is proposed to improve the teaching and clinical system. The tool helps the users to collaborate remotely to increase the quality of the learning system as well as it can be used for remote medical consultation in hospitals.

Dental training system using haptic technology

In the U.K., dental students require to perform training and practice on real human tissues at the very early stage of their courses. Currently, the human tissues, such as decayed teeth, are mounted in a human head like physical model. The problems with these models in teaching are; (1) every student operates on tooth, which are always unique; (2) the process cannot be recorded for examination purposes and (3) same training are not repeatable. The aim of the PHATOM Project is to develop a dental training system using Haptic technology. This paper documents the project background, specification, research and development of the first prototype system. It also discusses the research in the visual display, haptic devices and haptic rendering. This includes stereo vision, motion parallax, volumetric modelling, surface remapping algorithms as well as analysis design of the system. A new volumetric to surface model transformation algorithm is also introduced. This paper includes the future work on the system development and research.

Turbo channel estimation and equalisation for a superposition-based cooperative system

This study investigates the superposition-based cooperative transmission system. In this system, a key point is for the relay node to detect data transmitted from the source node. This issued was less considered in the existing literature as the channel is usually assumed to be flat fading and a priori known. In practice, however, the channel is not only a priori unknown but subject to frequency selective fading. Channel estimation is thus necessary. Of particular interest is the channel estimation at the relay node which imposes extra requirement for the system resources. The authors propose a novel turbo least-square channel estimator by exploring the superposition structure of the transmission data. The proposed channel estimator not only requires no pilot symbols but also has significantly better performance than the classic approach. The soft-in-soft-out minimum mean square error (MMSE) equaliser is also re-derived to match the superimposed data structure. Finally computer simulation results are shown to verify the proposed algorithm.

Design and development of a haptic dental training system - hapTEL

This paper presents a novel design of a virtual dental training system (hapTEL) using haptic technology. The system allows dental students to learn and practice procedures such as dental drilling, caries removal and cavity preparation for tooth restoration. This paper focuses on the hardware design, development and evaluation aspects in relation to the dental training and educational requirements. Detailed discussions on how the system offers dental students a natural operational position are documented. An innovative design of measuring and connecting the dental tools to the haptic device is also shown. Evaluation of the impact on teaching and learning is discussed.

VSImG: A high frame rate bitmap based display system for neuroscience research

This paper describes a visual stimulus generator (VSImG) capable of displaying a gray-scale, 256 x 256 x 8 bitmap image with a frame rate of 500 Hz using a boustrophedonic scanning technique. It is designed for experiments with motion-sensitive neurons of the fly`s visual system, where the flicker fusion frequency of the photoreceptors can reach up to 500 Hz. Devices with such a high frame rate are not commercially available, but are required, if sensory systems with high flicker fusion frequency are to be studied. The implemented hardware approach gives us complete real-time control of the displacement sequence and provides all the signals needed to drive an electrostatic deflection display. With the use of analog signals, very small high-resolution displacements, not limited by the image`s pixel size can be obtained. Very slow image displacements with visually imperceptible steps can also be generated. This can be of interest for other vision research experiments. Two different stimulus files can be used simultaneously, allowing the system to generate X-Y displacements on one display or independent movements on two displays as long as they share the same bitmap image. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The development and evaluation of a computer-based program to test and to teach the recognition of facial affect

Autism is a chronic pervasive neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by the early onset of social and communicative impairments as well as restricted, ritualized, stereotypic behavior. The endophenotype of autism includes neuropsychological deficits, for instance a lack of "Theory of Mind" and problems recognizing facial affect. In this study, we report the development and evaluation of a computer-based program to teach and test the ability to identify basic facially expressed emotions. 10 adolescent or adult subjects with high-functioning autism or Asperger-syndrome were included in the investigation. A priori the facial affect recognition test had shown good psychometric properties in a normative sample (internal consistency: rtt=.91-.95; retest reliability: rtt=.89-.92). In a prepost design, one half of the sample was randomly assigned to receive computer treatment while the other half of the sample served as control group. The training was conducted for five weeks, consisting of two hours training a week. The trained individuals improved significantly on the affect recognition task, but not on any other measure. Results support the usefulness of the program to teach the detection of facial affect. However, the improvement found is limited to a circumscribed area of social-communicative function and generalization is not ensured.

Payone : incentive for epidemic protocol-based anonymity system

Anonymity systems maintain the anonymity of communicating nodes by camouflaging them, either with peer nodes generating dummy traffic or with peer nodes participating in the actual communication process. The probability of any adversary breaking down the anonymity of the communicating nodes is inversely proportional to the number of peer nodes participating in the network. Hence to maintain the anonymity of the communicating nodes, a large number of peer nodes are needed. Lack of peer availability weakens the anonymity of any large scale anonymity system. This work proposes PayOne, an incentive based scheme for promoting peer availability. PayOne aims to increase the peer availability by encouraging nodes to participate in the anonymity system by awarding them with incentives and thereby promoting the anonymity strength. Existing incentive schemes are designed for single path based approaches. There is no incentive scheme for multipath based or epidemic based anonymity systems. This work has been specifically designed for epidemic protocols and has been implemented over MuON, one of the latest entries to the area of multicasting based anonymity systems. MuON is a peer-to-peer based anonymity system which uses epidemic protocol for data dissemination. Existing incentive schemes involve paying every intermediate node that is involved in the communication between the initiator and the receiver. These schemes are not appropriate for epidemic based anonymity systems due to the incurred overhead. PayOne differs from the existing schemes because it involves paying a single intermediate node that participates in the network. The intermediate node can be any random node that participates in the communication and does not necessarily need to lie in the communication path between the initiator and the receiver. The light-weight characteristics of PayOne make it viable for large-scale epidemic based anonymity systems.

TDOA-Based Localization System with Narrow-band Signals

This paper gives a general overview of the challenges that arise in using narrow-band signals, such as GSM, for localisation based on the time properties of the signal. Specifically, synchronisation and retrieving of time information are addressed. We pursue two contributions, namely, analysis of achievable synchronisation precision and processing of narrowband signals that can enable localization down to a meter. Keywords-localization, narrow band signals, TOA, TDOA I.

Real-time computer-based visual feedback improves visual acuity in downbeat nystagmus - a pilot study.

BACKGROUND Patients with downbeat nystagmus syndrome suffer from oscillopsia, which leads to an unstable visual perception and therefore impaired visual acuity. The aim of this study was to use real-time computer-based visual feedback to compensate for the destabilizing slow phase eye movements. METHODS The patients were sitting in front of a computer screen with the head fixed on a chin rest. The eye movements were recorded by an eye tracking system (EyeSeeCam®). We tested the visual acuity with a fixed Landolt C (static) and during real-time feedback driven condition (dynamic) in gaze straight ahead and (20°) sideward gaze. In the dynamic condition, the Landolt C moved according to the slow phase eye velocity of the downbeat nystagmus. The Shapiro-Wilk test was used to test for normal distribution and one-way ANOVA for comparison. RESULTS Ten patients with downbeat nystagmus were included in the study. Median age was 76 years and the median duration of symptoms was 6.3 years (SD +/- 3.1y). The mean slow phase velocity was moderate during gaze straight ahead (1.44°/s, SD +/- 1.18°/s) and increased significantly in sideward gaze (mean left 3.36°/s; right 3.58°/s). In gaze straight ahead, we found no difference between the static and feedback driven condition. In sideward gaze, visual acuity improved in five out of ten subjects during the feedback-driven condition (p = 0.043). CONCLUSIONS This study provides proof of concept that non-invasive real-time computer-based visual feedback compensates for the SPV in DBN. Therefore, real-time visual feedback may be a promising aid for patients suffering from oscillopsia and impaired text reading on screen. Recent technological advances in the area of virtual reality displays might soon render this approach feasible in fully mobile settings.

A Web-based Support System for Providing Effective Monitoring, Feedback and Evaluation in Project Management Education

This work introduces a web-based learning environment to facilitate learning in Project Management. The proposed web-based support system integrates methodological procedures and information systems, allowing to promote learning among geographically-dispersed students. Thus, students who are enrolled in different universities at different locations and attend their own project management courses, share a virtual experience in executing and managing projects. Specific support systems were used or developed to automatically collect information about student activities, making it possible to monitor the progress made on learning and assess learning performance as established in the defined rubric.

Peptide design by artificial neural networks and computer-based evolutionary search

A technique for systematic peptide variation by a combination of rational and evolutionary approaches is presented. The design scheme consists of five consecutive steps: (i) identification of a “seed peptide” with a desired activity, (ii) generation of variants selected from a physicochemical space around the seed peptide, (iii) synthesis and testing of this biased library, (iv) modeling of a quantitative sequence-activity relationship by an artificial neural network, and (v) de novo design by a computer-based evolutionary search in sequence space using the trained neural network as the fitness function. This strategy was successfully applied to the identification of novel peptides that fully prevent the positive chronotropic effect of anti-β1-adrenoreceptor autoantibodies from the serum of patients with dilated cardiomyopathy. The seed peptide, comprising 10 residues, was derived by epitope mapping from an extracellular loop of human β1-adrenoreceptor. A set of 90 peptides was synthesized and tested to provide training data for neural network development. De novo design revealed peptides with desired activities that do not match the seed peptide sequence. These results demonstrate that computer-based evolutionary searches can generate novel peptides with substantial biological activity.

Computer-based analysis of the binding steps in protein complex formation

Computer models were used to examine whether and under what conditions the multimeric protein complex is inhibited by high concentrations of one of its components—an effect analogous to the prozone phenomenon in precipitin tests. A series of idealized simple “ball-and-stick” structures representing small oligomeric complexes of protein molecules formed by reversible binding reactions were analyzed to determine the binding steps leading to each structure. The equilibrium state of each system was then determined over a range of starting concentrations and Kds and the steady-state concentration of structurally complete oligomer calculated for each situation. A strong inhibitory effect at high concentrations was shown by any protein molecule forming a bridge between two or more separable parts of the complex. By contrast, proteins linked to the outside of the complex by a single bond showed no inhibition whatsoever at any concentration. Nonbridging, multivalent proteins in the body of the complex could show an inhibitory effect or not depending on the structure of the complex and the strength of its bonds. On the basis of this study, we suggest that the prozone phenomenon will occur widely in living cells and that it could be a crucial factor in the regulation of protein complex formation.

Implementation of an information-retrieval based CAI system /

Thesis (M. S.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Analyzing smooth flowcharts : teaching structured programming in a computer-based education environment /

Vita.