scholarly journals Proof-of-Concept Evaluation of a Low-Cost and Low-Weight Tractor for Small-Scale Farms

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. N. Murthy Arelekatti ◽  
Douglas H. Björkdal ◽  
Carmen W. Graves ◽  
Anthony Wong ◽  
Armen Mkrtchyan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Indian Market ◽  
Soil Failure ◽  
Design Changes ◽  
Low Weight ◽  
Concept Evaluation ◽  
Traction Test ◽  
Future Work

About 80% of farms in India are less than five acres in size and are cultivated by farmers who use bullocks for farming operations. Even the smallest tractors available in the Indian market are too expensive and large, and not designed to meet the unique requirements of these farmers. To address these needs, we have developed a proof-of-concept lightweight (350 kg) tractor in collaboration with Mahindra and Mahindra Limited, an Indian tractor manufacturer. Given the challenges of accurately predicting traction in Indian soils by applying existing terramechanics models, an alternative design approach based on Mohr-Coulomb soil-failure criterion is presented. Analysis of weight, power and drawbar of existing tractors on the market, a single wheel traction test, and a drawbar test of a proof-of-concept small tractor prototype suggest that ∼200kg is the maximum drawbar force that could be achieved by a 350kg tractor of conventional design. In order to attain higher drawbar performance of 70% of the tractor weight needed for specific agricultural operations, additional design changes are required. An approach for increasing traction by adding tires is investigated and discussed. Additional research on weight distribution, dynamic drawbar testing and tread design is suggested as future work.

Configuration Selection, Modeling, and Preliminary Testing in Support of Constant Force Electrical Connectors

2006 ◽  
Vol 129 (3) ◽  
pp. 236-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brent L. Weight ◽  
Christopher A. Mattson ◽  
Spencer P. Magleby ◽  
Larry L. Howell
Keyword(s):  
Contact Force ◽  
Normal Force ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Personal Digital Assistant ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Constant Force ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Preliminary Testing ◽  
Configuration Selection ◽  
Manufacturing Tolerances

The recent introduction and advancements in design of simple, constant-force mechanisms have created the potential for small-scale, low-cost, constant-force electronic connectors (CFECs). CFECs differ from traditional connectors by the separation or disassociation of contact normal force and contact deflection. By removing the traditional constraints imposed by forces and deflections that are dependent on each other, new types of electronic connectors can be explored. These new designs may lead to smaller and more reliable electronic connectors. In this paper, constant-force mechanisms are adapted to satisfy current industry practices for the design of electronic connectors. Different CFEC configurations are explored and one is selected, prototyped, and used as a proof-of-concept connector for a personal digital assistant (PDA) docking station. The modeling, optimization, and verification of the prototype CFEC is presented. Adaptation of constant-force technology to electronic connectors creates new possibilities in electronic connector designs, including allowing an optimal contact force to be utilized to decrease the effects of fretting and wear, lowering required manufacturing tolerances, reducing the system’s sensitivity to variations introduced by the user, and increasing the system’s robustness in applications where movement or vibrations exist.

Tools of Transformation: Appropriate Technology in U.S. Countercultural Literature

2012 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-93
Author(s):  
Peter Mortensen
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
Appropriate Technology ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Environmental Transformation ◽  
Buckminster Fuller ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Environmentally Sound ◽  
User Friendly ◽  
Second Wave

This essay takes its cue from second-wave ecocriticism and from recent scholarly interest in the “appropriate technology” movement that evolved during the 1960s and 1970s in California and elsewhere. “Appropriate technology” (or AT) refers to a loosely-knit group of writers, engineers and designers active in the years around 1970, and more generally to the counterculture’s promotion, development and application of technologies that were small-scale, low-cost, user-friendly, human-empowering and environmentally sound. Focusing on two roughly contemporary but now largely forgotten American texts Sidney Goldfarb’s lyric poem “Solar-Heated-Rhombic-Dodecahedron” (1969) and Gurney Norman’s novel Divine Right’s Trip (1971)—I consider how “hip” literary writers contributed to eco-technological discourse and argue for the 1960s counterculture’s relevance to present-day ecological concerns. Goldfarb’s and Norman’s texts interest me because they conceptualize iconic 1960s technologies—especially the Buckminster Fuller-inspired geodesic dome and the Volkswagen van—not as inherently alienating machines but as tools of profound individual, social and environmental transformation. Synthesizing antimodernist back-to-nature desires with modernist enthusiasm for (certain kinds of) machinery, these texts adumbrate a humanity- and modernity-centered post-wilderness model of environmentalism that resonates with the dilemmas that we face in our increasingly resource-impoverished, rapidly warming and densely populated world.

scholarly journals Laparoscopic augmented reality registration for oncological resection site repair

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabian Joeres ◽  
Tonia Mielke ◽  
Christian Hansen
Keyword(s):  
Augmented Reality ◽  
Time Pressure ◽  
Tumour Resection ◽  
Anatomical Landmarks ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Registration Accuracy ◽  
Target Registration Error ◽  
Concept Evaluation ◽  
Navigation Support ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities

Abstract Purpose Resection site repair during laparoscopic oncological surgery (e.g. laparoscopic partial nephrectomy) poses some unique challenges and opportunities for augmented reality (AR) navigation support. This work introduces an AR registration workflow that addresses the time pressure that is present during resection site repair. Methods We propose a two-step registration process: the AR content is registered as accurately as possible prior to the tumour resection (the primary registration). This accurate registration is used to apply artificial fiducials to the physical organ and the virtual model. After the resection, these fiducials can be used for rapid re-registration (the secondary registration). We tested this pipeline in a simulated-use study with $$N=18$$ N = 18 participants. We compared the registration accuracy and speed for our method and for landmark-based registration as a reference. Results Acquisition of and, thereby, registration with the artificial fiducials were significantly faster than the initial use of anatomical landmarks. Our method also had a trend to be more accurate in cases in which the primary registration was successful. The accuracy loss between the elaborate primary registration and the rapid secondary registration could be quantified with a mean target registration error increase of 2.35 mm. Conclusion This work introduces a registration pipeline for AR navigation support during laparoscopic resection site repair and provides a successful proof-of-concept evaluation thereof. Our results indicate that the concept is better suited than landmark-based registration during this phase, but further work is required to demonstrate clinical suitability and applicability.

scholarly journals Development of a simplified gas ultracleaning process: experiments in biomass residue-based fixed-bed gasification syngas

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Frilund ◽  
Esa Kurkela ◽  
Ilkka Hiltunen
Keyword(s):  
Activated Carbons ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Fixed Bed ◽  
Carbonyl Sulfide ◽  
Gas Analysis ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Cleaning Process ◽  
Medium Temperature ◽  
Gas Cleaning ◽  
Adsorption Affinity

AbstractFor the realization of small-scale biomass-to-liquid (BTL) processes, low-cost syngas cleaning remains a major obstacle, and for this reason a simplified gas ultracleaning process is being developed. In this study, a low- to medium-temperature final gas cleaning process based on adsorption and organic solvent-free scrubbing methods was coupled to a pilot-scale staged fixed-bed gasification facility including hot filtration and catalytic reforming steps for extended duration gas cleaning tests for the generation of ultraclean syngas. The final gas cleaning process purified syngas from woody and agricultural biomass origin to a degree suitable for catalytic synthesis. The gas contained up to 3000 ppm of ammonia, 1300 ppm of benzene, 200 ppm of hydrogen sulfide, 10 ppm of carbonyl sulfide, and 5 ppm of hydrogen cyanide. Post-run characterization displayed that the accumulation of impurities on the Cu-based deoxygenation catalyst (TOS 105 h) did not occur, demonstrating that effective main impurity removal was achieved in the first two steps: acidic water scrubbing (AWC) and adsorption by activated carbons (AR). In the final test campaign, a comprehensive multipoint gas analysis confirmed that ammonia was fully removed by the scrubbing step, and benzene and H2S were fully removed by the subsequent activated carbon beds. The activated carbons achieved > 90% removal of up to 100 ppm of COS and 5 ppm of HCN in the syngas. These results provide insights into the adsorption affinity of activated carbons in a complex impurity matrix, which would be arduous to replicate in laboratory conditions.

scholarly journals Building Standardized and Secure Mobile Health Services Based on Social Media

Electronics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 2208
Author(s):  
Jesús D. Trigo ◽  
Óscar J. Rubio ◽  
Miguel Martínez-Espronceda ◽  
Álvaro Alesanco ◽  
José García ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Mobile Devices ◽  
Mobile Health ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Privacy And Security ◽  
Health Level 7 ◽  
Information Embedding ◽  
Android Applications

Mobile devices and social media have been used to create empowering healthcare services. However, privacy and security concerns remain. Furthermore, the integration of interoperability biomedical standards is a strategic feature. Thus, the objective of this paper is to build enhanced healthcare services by merging all these components. Methodologically, the current mobile health telemonitoring architectures and their limitations are described, leading to the identification of new potentialities for a novel architecture. As a result, a standardized, secure/private, social-media-based mobile health architecture has been proposed and discussed. Additionally, a technical proof-of-concept (two Android applications) has been developed by selecting a social media (Twitter), a security envelope (open Pretty Good Privacy (openPGP)), a standard (Health Level 7 (HL7)) and an information-embedding algorithm (modifying the transparency channel, with two versions). The tests performed included a small-scale and a boundary scenario. For the former, two sizes of images were tested; for the latter, the two versions of the embedding algorithm were tested. The results show that the system is fast enough (less than 1 s) for most mHealth telemonitoring services. The architecture provides users with friendly (images shared via social media), straightforward (fast and inexpensive), secure/private and interoperable mHealth services.

scholarly journals From a classic Renault Twizy towards a low cost autonomous car prototype: a proof of concept

2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 15161-15166
Author(s):  
Rodolfo Orjuela ◽  
Jean-Philippe Lauffenburger ◽  
Jonathan Ledy ◽  
Michel Basset ◽  
Joel Lambert ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
Proof Of Concept

scholarly journals Understanding Spatial Variability of NO2 in Urban Areas Using Spatial Modelling and Data Fusion Approaches

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 179
Author(s):  
Said Munir ◽  
Martin Mayfield ◽  
Daniel Coca
Keyword(s):  
Data Fusion ◽  
Spatial Variability ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Road Traffic ◽  
Dispersion Model ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Spatial Modelling ◽  
City Centre ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
The City

Small-scale spatial variability in NO2 concentrations is analysed with the help of pollution maps. Maps of NO2 estimated by the Airviro dispersion model and land use regression (LUR) model are fused with measured NO2 concentrations from low-cost sensors (LCS), reference sensors and diffusion tubes. In this study, geostatistical universal kriging was employed for fusing (integrating) model estimations with measured NO2 concentrations. The results showed that the data fusion approach was capable of estimating realistic NO2 concentration maps that inherited spatial patterns of the pollutant from the model estimations and adjusted the modelled values using the measured concentrations. Maps produced by the fusion of NO2-LCS with NO2-LUR produced better results, with r-value 0.96 and RMSE 9.09. Data fusion adds value to both measured and estimated concentrations: the measured data are improved by predicting spatiotemporal gaps, whereas the modelled data are improved by constraining them with observed data. Hotspots of NO2 were shown in the city centre, eastern parts of the city towards the motorway (M1) and on some major roads. Air quality standards were exceeded at several locations in Sheffield, where annual mean NO2 levels were higher than 40 µg/m3. Road traffic was considered to be the dominant emission source of NO2 in Sheffield.

scholarly journals A Low-Cost Assistive Robot for Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders to Aid in Daily Living Activities

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (8) ◽  
pp. 3974
Author(s):  
Roberto J. López-Sastre ◽  
Marcos Baptista-Ríos ◽  
Francisco Javier Acevedo-Rodríguez ◽  
Soraya Pacheco-da-Costa ◽  
Saturnino Maldonado-Bascón ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neurodevelopmental Disorders ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Children And Youth ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Robotic Platform ◽  
Assistive Robot ◽  
Technical Details ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Near Future ◽  
Everyday Living

In this paper, we present a new low-cost robotic platform that has been explicitly developed to increase children with neurodevelopmental disorders’ involvement in the environment during everyday living activities. In order to support the children and youth with both the sequencing and learning of everyday living tasks, our robotic platform incorporates a sophisticated online action detection module that is capable of monitoring the acts performed by users. We explain all the technical details that allow many applications to be introduced to support individuals with functional diversity. We present this work as a proof of concept, which will enable an assessment of the impact that the developed technology may have on the collective of children and youth with neurodevelopmental disorders in the near future.

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