A medical Chatbot using machine learning and natural language understanding

Multimedia Tools and Applications - For people with busy schedules, travelling to and from a hospital for treatment is considerably time consuming, which leads them to ignore their health problems....     

Software Optimization in Ultrasound Imaging Technique Using Improved Deep Belief Learning Network on the Internet of Medical Things Platform

Wireless Personal Communications - The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) is the array of medical instruments and related technologies that link Information Technology (IT) systems in...     

Automated prediction system of household energy consumption in cities using web crawler and optimized artificial intelligence

The supply of electrical energy is critical to convenient and comfortable living. However, people consume a large amount of energy, contributing to an energy crisis and global warming, and damaging some ecological cycles. Residential electricity consumption has greater elasticity than industrial and business consumption; it therefore has high energy-saving potential. This work establishes an automated platform, which provides information about residential electricity consumption in each city in Taiwan. Machine learning was used to forecast future residential electricity demand. A nature-inspired optimization method was applied to enhance the accuracy of the best machine learner, yielding an even better hybrid ensemble model. Performance measures indicate that the resulting model is accurate and provides effective information for reference. An automatic web-based system based on the model was combined with a web crawler and scheduled to run automatically to provide information on monthly residential electricity consumption in each county and city. By providing energy consumption information across the country, power providers and government can discuss policy and set different goals for energy use. The results of this study can facilitate the early implementation of energy-saving and carbon emission-reducing in cities and aid utility companies in establishing energy conservation guidelines.     

Labeling and Characterization of Phenol-Containing Glycopeptides Using Chemoselective Probes with Isotope Tags

Secondary metabolites are structurally diverse natural products (NPs) and have been widely used for medical applications. Developing new tools to enrich NPs can be a promising solution to isolate novel NPs from the native and complex samples. Here, we developed native and deuterated chemoselective labeling probes to target phenol-containing glycopeptides by the ene-type labeling used in proteomic research. The clickable azido-linker was included for further biotin functionalization to facilitate the enrichment of labeled substrates. Afterward, our chemoselective method, in conjunction with LC-MS and MSn analysis, was demonstrated in bacterial cultures. A vancomycin-related phenol-containing glycopeptide was labeled and characterized by our labeling strategy, showing its potential in glycopeptide discovery in complex environments.     

The Effect of Interface Cracks on the Electrical Performance of Solar Cells

Among a variety of solar cell types, thin-film solar cells have been rigorously investigated as cost-effective and efficient solar cells. In many cases, flexible solar cells are also fabricated as thin films and undergo frequent stress due to the rolling and bending modes of applications. These frequent motions result in crack initiation and propagation (including delamination) in the thin-film solar cells, which cause degradation in efficiency. Reliability evaluation of solar cells is essential for developing a new type of solar cell. In this paper, we investigated the effect of layer delamination and grain boundary crack on 3D thin-film solar cells. We used finite element method simulation for modeling of both electrical performance and cracked structure of 3D solar cells. Through simulations, we quantitatively calculated the effect of delamination length on 3D copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) solar cell performance. Moreover, it was confirmed that the grain boundary of CIGS could improve the solar cell performance and that grain boundary cracks could decrease cell performance by altering the open circuit voltage. In this paper, the investigated material is a CIGS solar cell, but our method can be applied to general polycrystalline solar cells.     

Variables Applicable to Benchmarking of Tap-Hole Life-Cycle Management Practices in Coke-Bed-Based Ferroalloy Production

Benchmarking is a tool available to furnace operators to evaluate their tap-hole life-cycle management practices against those of their peers. It allows furnace operators to challenge their own practices in order to increase furnace utilization. To facilitate the benchmarking process, it is necessary to define the variables to be considered and how they relate to one another. This article develops, from the literature and industry interviews, a holistic conceptualization of the variables that form part of tap-hole lifecycle management and performance. Specifically, the article focuses on the variables related to coke-bed-based processes (FeCr, SiMn, and HCFeMn) applying SAF technology of circular design.     

Removal of Antimony and Bismuth from Copper Electrorefining Electrolyte: Part II—An Investigation of Two Proprietary Solvent Extraction Extractants

Antimony and bismuth recovery from copper electrorefining electrolyte could reduce the impacts of these problem elements and produce a new primary source for them. Two proprietary phosphonic acid ester extractants were examined (REX-1 and REX-2) for the removal of antimony and bismuth from copper electrorefining electrolytes. Experimentation included shakeout and break tests to determine the basic parameters for the extractants in terms of maximum loading, break times, and extraction and stripping efficiency. Five permutations of extractant mixtures (100 wt.% REX-1 and 25 wt.%, 50 wt.%, 75 wt.% and 100 wt.% REX-2) were studied. It was determined that REX-2 was able to extract Sb and Bi from the electrolyte, but required some mixture with REX-1 to better facilitate stripping with 400 g/L sulfuric acid. The laboratory electrorefining electrolyte containing glue had faster disengagement times than a synthetic solution without glue.     

Measurement of Young’s Modulus and Poisson’s Ratio of Thermal Barrier Coating Based on Bending of Three-Layered Plate

Thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) are used to protect the hot sections of gas turbine engines and airplane engines. A TBC system comprises a substrate, bond coat, and TBC topcoat. The development of an accurate method for determining the Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio of TBC using a multilayered specimen is of importance. In this study, we applied the bending theory of a laminated plate to a three-layered material and proposed models to determine the Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio of the TBC layer using the bending strain of the TBC system specimen. Three methods were developed by utilizing (i) the coating biaxial strain, (ii) substrate biaxial strain, or (iii) coating and substrate biaxial strains. Subsequently, we determined appropriate dimensions of the specimen and span by using three-dimensional finite element analysis, and numerically verified the usefulness of the three proposed methods. However, the Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio determined using the multilayered specimen with a substrate are sensitive to experimental errors. Therefore, we evaluated the sensitivity of the three proposed methods to experimental error, and we determined the most insensitive method among them. Finally, we experimentally demonstrated the usefulness of this method.     

Thermodynamic Properties of Superionic Phase Ag<Subscript>4</Subscript>HgSe<Subscript>2</Subscript>I<Subscript>2</Subscript> Determined by the EMF Method

Triangulation of the Ag-Hg-Se-I system in the vicinity of quaternary phase Ag₄HgSe₂I₂ was performed by differential thermal analysis, X-ray diffraction and electromotive force (EMF) methods. The spatial position of the phase region Ag₄HgSe₂I₂-Se-HgI₂ regarding the figurative point of silver was used to write the chemical reaction of formation of Ag₄HgSe₂I₂. The EMF measurements were carried out by applying an electrochemical cell: (–) C|Ag|Ag₂GeS₃ glass|Ag₄HgSe₂I₂, HgI₂, Se|C (+), where C is graphite and Ag₂GeS₃ glass is the fast purely Ag⁺ ions conducting electrolyte. The linear dependence of the EMF of the electrochemical cell on temperature was used to determine the standard thermodynamic values of Ag₄HgSe₂I₂ for the first time.