Search

Background: Monitoring the vital signs of delirious patients in an intensive care unit (ICU) is challenging, as they might (un-)intentionally remove devices attached to their bodies. In mock-up scenarios, we systematically assessed whether a motion detector (MD) attached to the bed may help in identifying emergencies. Methods: We recruited 15 employees of the ICU and equipped an ICU bed with an MD (IRON Software GmbH, Grünwald, Germany). Participants were asked to replay 22 mock-up scenes of one-minute duration each: 12 scenes with movements and 10 without movements, of which 5 were emergency scenes ("lying dead-still, with no or very shallow breathing"). Blinded recordings were presented to an evaluation panel consisting of an experienced ICU nurse and a physician, who was asked to assess and rate the presence of motions. Results: Fifteen participants (nine women; 173 ± 7.0 cm; 78 ± 19 kg) joined the study. In total, 286 out of 330 scenes (86.7%) were rated correctly. Ratings were false negative (FN: "no movements detected, but recorded") in 7 out of 180 motion scenes (3.9%). Ratings were false positive (FP: "movements detected, but not recorded") in 37 out of 150 scenes (24.7%), more often in men than women (26 out of 60 vs. 11 out of 90, respectively; p < 0.001). Of note, in 16 of these 37 FP-rated scenes, a vibrating mobile phone was identified as a potential confounder. The emergency scenes were correctly rated in 64 of the 75 runs (85.3%); 10 of the 11 FP-rated scenes occurred in male subjects. Conclusions: The MD allowed for identifying motions of test subjects with high sensitivity (96%) and acceptable specificity (75%). Accuracy might increase further if activities are recorded continuously under real-world conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The optic lobe of the fly is one of the prominent model systems for the neural mechanism of the motion detection. How a fly who lives under various visual situations of the nature processes the information from at most a few thousands of ommatidia in their neural circuit for the detection of moving objects is not exactly clear though many computational models of the fly optic lobe as a moving objects detector were suggested. Here we attempted to elucidate the mechanisms of ON-edge motion detection by a simulation approach based on the TEM connectome of Drosophila. Our simulation model of the optic lobe with the NEURON simulator that covers the full scale of ommatidia, reproduced the characteristics of the receptor neurons, lamina monopolar neurons, and T4 cells in the lobula. The contribution of each neuron can be estimated by changing synaptic connection strengths in the simulation and measuring the response to the motion stimulus. Those show the paradelle pathway provide motion detection in the fly optic lobe has more robustness and is more sophisticated than a simple combination of HR and BL systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employing inexact arithmetic circuits in error-resilient applications results in reduction of hardware-level metrics such as power consumption, delay and occupied area. These criteria are very important in portable applications because they are battery limited. Full Adder cell is as a building block of many arithmetic circuits. Therefore, it can influence the performance of the entire digital system. This paper presents a novel low-power and high-speed design of one-bit inexact full adder cell based on 32-nm (CNFET) technology for error resilient applications. This design technique can be utilized in various applications particularly in image processing. The presented design employs capacitive threshold logic (CTL) approach which significantly reduces the number of transistors. The peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) is considered to evaluate accuracy of circuits at application level. Then extensive simulations regarding various power supplies, temperatures and loads at transistor level are performed to measure power consumption and propagation delay criteria. Moreover, some new metrics are introduced to trade-off between application and hardware level parameters. Comprehensive simulations demonstrate the supremacy of the proposed cell than others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the design and implementation of Raspberry Pi Secure Home Automation for mobile applications using mobile technology, which ensure that we are safe in our home, and related monitoring activities. Our new integration of the camera and motion detector is the key to our proposed Home Security solution. Raspberry Pi operates and controls remote sensing, live video sharing and recording, and handles tasks for potential replication on home hardware, such as turning on/off a TV or a microwave. Initially, when the activity is detected and Raspberry Pi alerts householders for possible interference, the cameras will automatically start recording. Raspberry Pi has two primary interaction parts: web applications running on the portable device browser, and server scripts running on the Raspberry Pi hardware element in the cloud. Due to its friendliness and ease of use, we have decided to include domestic security and home safety in a single program. For example, when an attacker enters a room, the PRI sensors detect the activity and trigger the monitor, and the camera captures photos of an individual interacting with a live video feed. Additional backup and email services are also provided for the customer, which provides better recovery facility for the user. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT: Wearable and antibacterial porous devices are promising new multifunctional materials with a wide range of applications in wound dressing and human motion monitoring systems. The deposition of carbon nanotubes and polypyrrole coating on conventional elastomers (polyurethane) is a single‐step procedure that results in a low‐cost, highly conductive, and flexible piezoresistive material with pressure sensitivity of 0.09 kPa−1, Gauge Factor of −10.3, high stability in response to different mechanical efforts and reversible netlike microcracks formation under moderate stretching deformation. The resulting porous material provides direct detection of simple movements from human joints (knee, finger, and elbow) and intrinsic antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Escherichia coli. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2018, 56, 1063–1072 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The radio signals range of selected wireless components of security systems is defined by the area within which components can communicate properly. In practice, the range of communication between components is often insufficiently taken into account, which results in the system malfunction. There are cases where the radio signal range of wireless components was inadequate due to use in an environment constructed from non-transmitting materials. The installation of wireless systems requires the implementation of a testing methodology of radio-communication range and its continuous improvement. Currently, the procedures within EN 50 131-5-3 and EN 300 220-1 standards can be used to test the wireless components, but they do not target the range between wireless components. Dependability and functionality are the main attributes of electrical security systems and need to be verified by testing the range of wireless components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, three novel low-power and high-speed 1-bit inexact Full Adder cell designs are presented based on current mode logic in 32 nm carbon nanotube field effect transistor technology for the first time. The circuit-level figures of merits, i.e. power, delay and power-delay product as well as application-level metric such as error distance, are considered to assess the efficiency of the proposed cells over their counterparts. The effect of voltage scaling and temperature variation on the proposed cells is studied using HSPICE tool. Moreover, using MATLAB tool, the peak signal to noise ratio of the proposed cells is evaluated in an image-processing application referred to as motion detector. Simulation results confirm the efficiency of the proposed cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel inexact full adder based on carbon nanotube field-effect transistors (CNTFET) for approximate computations, which has soared in popularity especially for image processing applications. The proposed design generates the output carry without error. Therefore, the propagation of incorrect value to higher bit positions is avoided. It has the least relative error distance (Relative ED) compared to other approximate full adders reported in the literature. Practical simulations by using MATLAB demonstrate higher peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) and image quality for motion detector image processing application. HSPICE simulations also confirm the efficiency of the proposed design. Moreover, area occupation is investigated by using electric tool. Power consumption, delay, area and ED are important evaluating factors in this subject. Comparisons are made by a comprehensive parameter (PDAEDP), based on which the new design has 23.8%, 41.5%, 70.5%, 78% and 83.6% higher performance than TGA1, TGA2, AXA1, AXA2 and AXA3, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automated behavioural observations are routinely used in many fields of biology, including ethology, behavioural ecology and physiology. When preferences for certain resources are investigated, the focus is often on simple response variables, such as duration and frequency of visits to choice chambers. Here we present an automated motion detector system that use passive infrared sensors to eliminate many drawbacks of currently existing methods. Signals from the sensors are processed by a custom-built interface, and after unnecessary data is filtered by a computer software, the total time and frequency of the subject's visits to each of the choice chambers are calculated. We validate the detector system by monitoring (using the system) and in the same time video recording mating preferences of zebra finches in a four-way choice apparatus. Manual scoring of the video recordings showed very high consistency with data from the detector system both for time and for frequency of visits. Furthermore, the validation revealed that if we used micro-switches or light barriers, the most commonly applied automatic detection techniques, this would have resulted in approximately 22% less information compared to our lossless system. The system provides a low-cost alternative for monitoring animal movements, and we discuss its further applicability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lightning is known as a discharge of atmospheric electricity that is triggered by a build-up of differing charges within a cloud. The result is a sudden release of energy that causes a distinctive bright flare, followed by a thunderclap. Lightning is a transient, high-current discharge whose path length is measured in kilometers. Each lightning bolt can contain from 3000 to 200000 amperes of electricity. A reliable protection against lightning has become very essential for buildings. Therefore buildings are constructed to include protective elements known as lightning conductor or lightning rod. Lightning conductor is a metal rod or metallic object mounted on top of a building, electrically bonded using a wire or electrical conductor to interface with ground through an electrode. Magnetic induction and magnetic field strength formed as a result of lightning cause motion detector errors and at the same time affect the wires of these motion detectors. This study presents an investigation and the results of electromagnetic coupling effects of the magnetic fields created by flowing high currents in through lightning conductors on indoor motion detectors and their cables using finite element method (FEM). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to examine motion detector with pir sensor,a commonly used sensor which detects objects or living creatures by the heat they emit. This kind of sensors are important when we aim to save energy and in fact, they are good to use almost in both everyday life and high technology. This sensor is bought together with a circuit we’ve designed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a CMOS motion detector which consumes extremely low power. CMOS Image sensor pixels in this motion detector senses image and image data are converted into just one-bit by using clocked comparators. Because using one-bit data makes additional processing units simple, total power consumption of this CMOS motion detector can be reduced. That is, internal memory which is composed of the clocked gating schemes based on the flip -flop and XOR function which compares a current image with a previous one in order to detect a difference are main features for the simple structure. However one-bit data process has a critical problem that it is hard to detect a motion when image inclines to white or block. For solving this problem, Reference Voltage Controller which makes about the same proportion of white and block is implemented. We have made a test module of the proposed CMOS motion detector and tested it by using FPGA. According to the measurement result, total power consumption is about 32 μW at 3.3 V. Therefore, this motion detector can be useful for portable battery-operated devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The visual response properties are described of a group of retinal slip neurons in the wallaby pretectum, referred to as slow cells. Their responses to motion are direction-selective: tempero-nasal and naso-temporal motion over the contralateral eye increase and decrease, respectively, the firing rate relative to the spontaneous level. Slow cells are maximally sensitive to image velocities from 0.08 to 10°/s. The present study focuses on slow cells that are maximally sensitive to image velocities below 1°/s. An interesting characteristic of 82% of slow cells is that once motion stops, the firing rate exhibits a same-sign after-response. This is characterized by a slow exponential return from the firing rate during motion to the spontaneous rate. The time constants of the after-responses are independent of the temporal frequency, velocity, duration and direction of the motion stimulus. It is proposed that the neurons may assist the stabilization of eye position during fixation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sensing visual motion gives a creature valuable information about its interactions with the environment. Flies in particular use visual motion information to navigate through turbulent air, avoid obstacles, and land safely. Mobile robots are ideal candidates for using this sensory modality to enhance their performance, but so far have been limited by the computational expense of processing video. Also, the complex structure of natural visual scenes poses an algorithmic challenge for extracting useful information in a robust manner. We address both issues by creating a small, low-power visual sensor with integrated analog parallel processing to extract motion in real-time. Because our architecture is based on biological motion detectors, we gain the advantages of this highly evolved system: A design that robustly and continuously extracts relevant information from its visual environment. We show that this sensor is suitable for use in the real world, and demonstrate its ability to compensate for an imperfect motor system in the control of an autonomous robot. The sensor attenuates open-loop rotation by a factor of 31 with less than 1 mW power dissipation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a water intake monitoring system for animal agriculture that tracks individual animal watering behavior, water quality, and water consumption. The system is deployed in an outdoor environment to reach remote areas. The proposed system integrates motion detectors, cameras, water level sensors, flow meters, Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) systems, and water temperature sensors. The data collection and control are performed using Arduino microcontrollers with custom-designed circuit boards. The data associated with each drinking event are water consumption, water temperature, drinking duration, animal identification, and pictures. The data and pictures are automatically stored on Secure Digital (SD) cards. The prototypes are deployed in a remote grazing site located in Tucumcari, New Mexico, USA. The system can be used to perform water consumption and watering behavior studies of both domestic animals and wild animals. The current system automatically records the drinking behavior of 29 cows in a two-week duration in the remote ranch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A pulse Doppler radar with one-dimensional direction sensitivity is described. The system uses quadrature mixing to retain the direction information in an echo signal, and performs signal sampling over a predetermined time slot to ignore reflected signals from objects outside the range of interest. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 17: 227–229, 1998. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]