BACKGROUND: A new design of a flow-through coaxial electromembrane extraction (EME) probe that can be on-line coupled with CE instrument is described and tested. The supporting base of the probe is a PDMS microchip with T-shaped channels into which two coaxially arranged capillaries for inlet and outlet solutions are inserted. The extraction part of the probe is a porous polypropylene hollow fiber, sealed at one end and modified with nitrophenyloctyl ether (NPOE) extraction fluid. The internal volume of the extraction probe is 1.1 μL. RESULTS: The EME probe was tested on laboratory samples and methadone was extracted into 3.0 M AcOH as acceptor. The concentration dependence was linear in the range of 0.1-1.0 μg mL-1 at EME 300 s/150 V and in the range of 0.5-10.0 μg mL-1 at EME 100 s/150 V. The enrichment factor was greater than 30 and the LOD was 0.21 μg mL-1. The EME of methadone in clinical samples showed a linear concentration dependence in human urine and a nonlinear concentration dependence in serum. The distribution of methadone in each phase of the extraction system and the effect of extraction membrane thickness on the enrichment factor were studied. The EME probe can be applied repeatedly. SIGNIFICANCE: The supporting base of EME probe and flow gating interface (FGI) are realized by a microfluidic PDMS microchips cast in the laboratory without the use of lithography. A supporting PDMS chip with coaxially arranged capillaries and extraction membrane forms a compact analytical instrument. The entire EME/CE analysis process is performed on a laboratory-made instrument and automated by LabView.
- Keywords
- Capillary electrophoresis, Electromembrane extraction, Flow gating interface, Methadone, On-line coupling,
- MeSH
- Electrophoresis, Capillary * methods MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Membranes, Artificial MeSH
- Methadone * MeSH
- Check Tag
- Humans MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Names of Substances
- Membranes, Artificial MeSH
- Methadone * MeSH
Continual technological advances associated with the recent automation revolution have tremendously increased the impact of computer technology in the industry. Software development and testing are time-consuming processes, and the current market faces a lack of specialized experts. Introducing automation to this field could, therefore, improve software engineers' common workflow and decrease the time to market. Even though many code-generating algorithms have been proposed in textual-based programming languages, to the best of the authors' knowledge, none of the studies deals with the implementation of such algorithms in graphical programming environments, especially LabVIEW. Due to this fact, the main goal of this study is to conduct a proof-of-concept for a requirement-based automated code-developing system within the graphical programming environment LabVIEW. The proposed framework was evaluated on four basic benchmark problems, encompassing a string model, a numeric model, a boolean model and a mixed-type problem model, which covers fundamental programming scenarios. In all tested cases, the algorithm demonstrated an ability to create satisfying functional and errorless solutions that met all user-defined requirements. Even though the generated programs were burdened with redundant objects and were much more complex compared to programmer-developed codes, this fact has no effect on the code's execution speed or accuracy. Based on the achieved results, we can conclude that this pilot study not only proved the feasibility and viability of the proposed concept, but also showed promising results in solving linear and binary programming tasks. Furthermore, the results revealed that with further research, this poorly explored field could become a powerful tool not only for application developers but also for non-programmers and low-skilled users.
- MeSH
- Algorithms MeSH
- Automation MeSH
- Pilot Projects MeSH
- Programming Languages * MeSH
- Software * MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
This article presents a comprehensive system for testing and verifying shunt active power filter control methods. The aim of this experimental platform is to provide tools to a user to objectively compare the individual control methods. The functionality of the system was verified on a hardware platform using least mean squares and recursive least squares algorithms. In the experiments, an average relative suppression of the total harmonic distortion of 22% was achieved. This article describes the principle of the shunt active power filter, the used experimental platform of the controlled current injection source, its control system based on virtual instrumentation and control software and ends with experimental verification. The discussion of the paper outlines the extension of the experimental platform with the cRIO RTOS control system to reduce the latency of reference current generation and further planned research including motivation.
- Keywords
- LabVIEW, Notch–LMS, Notch–RLS, SAPF, virtual instrumentation,
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
We present a software solution developed in LabVIEW for a home-built High-Frequency Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (HF-EPR) spectrometer. A modular approach was applied to control the spectrometer subsystems and simplify the adaptation to hardware changes during the development. The solution implements measuring procedures for conventional Continuous Wave EPR (CW-EPR), Frequency-Swept EPR (FS-EPR), and Two-Dimensional EPR (2D-EPR) mapping, which are relevant in different cases. The software's automation capabilities were tested in several trial measurements to obtain CW-EPR spectra of Silicon Carbide doped by vanadium (SiC + V) at various temperatures and microwave frequencies, multi-frequency spectra via 2D-EPR mapping, and dense FS-EPR data of a lithium phthalocyanine crystal rotated in a magnetic field. Several prospective modifications of the software are discussed in the conclusion. A modular character allows the easy re-use of code portions in other experimental setups. The spectrometer and the software are currently deployed and utilized in a laboratory of EPR spectroscopy at Central European Institute of Technology (CEITEC) in Brno, and data obtained by it has been already used in a number of publications.
- Keywords
- Automation, Electron paramagnetic resonance, Instrumentation, LabVIEW, Software, Zeeman diagram,
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
A miniature probe for electromembrane extraction is developed and constructed. The tubular probe with an internal volume of 1.1 μL is made of polypropylene hollow fiber with a supported liquid membrane of 85% nitrophenyloctyl ether (NPOE) with 15% bis(2-ethylhexyl)phosphonic acid (DEHP). The probe is connected on-line to the electrophoresis with short separation capillary via an air assisted flow gating interface cast from poly (dimethylsiloxane). The compact instrument is computer controlled via LabView. The probe parameters are tested for extraction of creatinine and basic amino acids from artificial solution and human urine. The sensitivity of the electrophoretic determination after 300 s extraction at 150 V compared to the sensitivity without extraction is 4.9-fold and 2.6-fold higher for creatinine and arginine, respectively. The RSDs for peak area measured from 5 repeated extractions of 50 μM solutions are 7.5%, 7.2%, 8.6% and 9.2% for Crea, Lys, Arg and His, respectively. The probe can be used for all-day measurements. The preparation of the probe is simple and requires no special tool.
- Keywords
- Amino acids, Capillary electrophoresis, Electromembrane extraction, Human urine, Miniaturization,
- MeSH
- Electrophoresis, Capillary * methods MeSH
- Ethers * chemistry MeSH
- Creatinine MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Membranes, Artificial MeSH
- Check Tag
- Humans MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Names of Substances
- Ethers * MeSH
- Creatinine MeSH
- Membranes, Artificial MeSH
The presented research was aimed at finding a suitable tool and procedure for monitoring undercuts or other problems such as cutting without abrasive or inappropriate parameters of the jet during the abrasive water jet (AWJ) cutting of hard-machined materials. Plates of structural steel RSt 37-2 of different thickness were cut through by AWJ with such traverse speeds that cuts of various qualities were obtained. Vibrations of the workpiece were monitored by three accelerometers mounted on the workpiece by a special block that was designed for this purpose. After detecting and recording vibration signals through the National Instruments (NI) program Signal Express, we processed this data by means of the LabVIEW Sound and Vibration Toolkit. Statistical evaluation of data was performed, and RMS was identified as the parameter most suitable for online vibration monitoring. We focus on the analysis of the relationship between the RMS and traverse speed.
- Keywords
- AWJ machining, abrasive water jet, process control, vibration signals,
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
This publication describes an innovative approach to voice control of operational and technical functions in a real Smart Home (SH) environment, where, for voice control within SH, it is necessary to provide robust technological systems for building automation and for technology visualization, software for recognition of individual voice commands, and a robust system for additive noise canceling. The KNX technology for building automation is used and described in the article. The LabVIEW SW tool is used for visualization, data connectivity to the speech recognizer, connection to the sound card, and the actual mathematical calculations within additive noise canceling. For the actual recognition of commands, the SW tool for recognition within the Microsoft Windows OS is used. In the article, the least mean squares algorithm (LMS) and independent component analysis (ICA) are used for additive noise canceling from the speech signal measured in a real SH environment. Within the proposed experiments, the success rate of voice command recognition for different types of additive interference (television, vacuum cleaner, washing machine, dishwasher, and fan) in the real SH environment was compared. The recognition success rate was greater than 95% for the selected experiments.
- Keywords
- LabVIEW, Smart Home (SH), automatic speech recognition, independent component analysis (ICA), least mean squares algorithm (LMS),
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
This is a data set from long time testing of 18650 Lithium polymer batteries. It includes the following batteries: Samsung ICR18650-30B (2950 mAh), Joy NCR18650A300A (3000 mAh), GP 03624RC 3.6 V (3000 mAh) and EVC 200L06C (2000 mAh). For measurement, four batteries are connected in parallel and are charged and discharged with a controlled current of 1 A per battery. The current is controlled with a NI cRIO control system programmed in LabView. Battery current is measured with LEM LA 55-P current transducers; voltage is measured directly with the cRIO's analog inputs. The data set contains measurement for between 1200 and 1940 full charging/discharging cycles. The data set can be reused to get information about the dependence of battery capacity vs. number of cycles. Temperature of the battery is measured, therefore the dependence of capacity on temperature can be found out as well.
- Keywords
- 18650 batteries, Battery ageing, Battery capacity vs temperature, Battery charging/discharging, Battery testing,
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
This paper focuses on a channel feed-forward software defined equalization (FSDE) of visible light communication (VLC) multistate quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM) based system, implemented in the LabVIEW programming environment. A highly modular platform is introduced; the whole experiment is simulated in software and then thoroughly explored and analyzed during practical measurements in the laboratory, simulating real-world situations. The whole platform is based on modified National Instruments software defined radios (NI SDR) and a commercially available Philips light source, often used in Czech government institutions. Three FSDE algorithms were tested: least mean squares (LMS), normalized least mean squares (NLMS), and QR decomposition based RLS (QR-RLS). Based on measurements, QR-RLS provides the best results, improving measured values by up to 10%. The experiments also show that the simulated results are very similar to real measurements, thus proving the validity of the chosen approach. The whole platform manages to improve measured data simply by making changes to the software side of the testing prototype.
BACKGROUND: The new second-generation computer system BS-II (Bio-Spine-II) based on the National Instruments' development environment has been designed and constructed for evaluating the stability of various surgical fixative methods of the cadaverous lumbar spine (L1-L5). BS-II holds the measured sample using aluminum fixtures and using four computer-controlled stepper motors; it performs a circular movement (warm up of the specimen), programmatically driven extension (back bend), right and left lateral flexion (lateral bend), left and right axial torsion (rotation), and axial compression (pressure). Four strain gauges are used to measure the stiffness of the sample. The movement of individual components (vertebrae) is contactlessly monitored by two CCD (charge couple device) cameras. The obtained data are in digital form continuously stored in the computer memory for further processing. METHODS: The functionality of the equipment was verified on the cadaverous specimen of the human spine. The stiffness of the sample was measured by strain gauges, and the results were processed using linear regression analysis. Movements of vertebrae were determined by circular discs covered with appropriate patterns. The discs have been linked with the respective vertebrae and were contactlessly monitored by two CCD (charge couple device) cameras and evaluated using digital image processing methods and 2D digital FFT (fast Fourier transformation). Direction and displacement of the individual components were determined by the band of the calculated spectrum. The new device BS-II is controlled by a modifiable computer program designed in the National Instruments' development environment which allows statistical processing of the sample, including its warming up. RESULTS: The computer system BS-II for measurement of biomechanical properties of the spine sample was designed. Functionality of the device was verified by implementation of LUMIR XLIF CAGE implant into a cadaver sample of the human spine. Comparison of the rigidity of the intact and stabilized sample is shown in the graphs of article. The achieved results contributed to certification of the implant into the surgical practice. CONCLUSION: The designed computer BS-II system is designed for biomechanical measurements of the lumbar part of the human spine, especially for verification of surgical fixation methods. The system is based on the knowledge and experience with a manually operated measuring device designed by Palacky University Olomouc. The computer programmatic control allows the user to change the conditions and parameters of the measurement procedure in a planned way, which allows the results to be processed in, among other things, a statistical way. If suitable models are used (3D printing), the BS-II system can be used to verify procedures for surgical stabilization of the spine in the training of future doctors. The obtained data of stiffness and image information are stored in digital form and can be used for next offline sophisticated study of biomechanical properties of specimens (accurate vertebral geometry, statistical processing, 3D printing, etc.). The usefulness of the BS-II system is demonstrated in the case of biomechanical analysis of the implantation of LUMIR XLIF CAGE implant to a human cadaver specimen of the spine.
- Keywords
- BS-II, DIP, LabVIEW, Lumbar spine, Lumir XLIF CAGE, Strain gauge,
- MeSH
- Lumbar Vertebrae diagnostic imaging physiology surgery MeSH
- Biomechanical Phenomena MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Cadaver MeSH
- Image Processing, Computer-Assisted * MeSH
- Prostheses and Implants MeSH
- Check Tag
- Humans MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
