Effects of After-School Volleyball Program on Body Composition in Overweight Adolescent Girls

The current study aimed to investigate the effects of an after-school volleyball program on body composition in overweight adolescent girls. Forty-two girls were randomly divided into a volleyball group (VG) (n = 22 age: 15.6 ± 0.5 years) and control group (CG) (n = 20; age: 15.5 ± 0.7years). Both groups continued with their usual physical education activities, while VG was included as small-sided games, two times a week, after school, on modified volleyball courts. Body mass, body mass index (BMI), body fat in kg, body fat percentage, and muscle mass were analyzed by a bioelectrical impedance method. There was a significant interaction of group (VG vs. CG) x time (pre-vs. post) for weight [F1, 40 = 7.933; p = 0.004] and BMI [F1, 40 = 5.764; p = 0.015]. Additionally, a significant main effect of time was found for body fat (kg) [F1, 40 = 17.650; p < 0.001] and body fat (%) [F1, 40 = 18.721; p < 0.001]. The results of the current study show that a twelve-week after-school volleyball program, including two sessions a week, can improve body composition in overweight adolescent girls.

Piezoelectric Sensing Element-Assisted Ceramic Art Process Optimization and Visual Quantitative Characterization

In this paper, piezoelectric sensing elements are used to assist in the study and analysis of ceramic art process optimization and visual quantization characteristics. A series piezoelectric element impedance sensor is designed based on the resonant frequency characteristics of the series piezoelectric element. Combining the resonant frequency characteristics of the series piezoelectric element and the basic principle of the impedance method, a multisensing impedance method based on the series piezoelectric element impedance sensor is proposed. The feasibility of the multisensing impedance method for monitoring the grout compactness was verified experimentally, and the basic principle of the method was further investigated by finite element simulation. The vase-type porcelain vessels were classified according to symmetry elements to find the characteristic points, the abdominal morphology was used as the basis for classification, and the screened samples were extracted from the contours to exclude the influence of other factors on the vessel shape. By the symmetrical elements of each type of ware, the classification principle of the ware type was designed and divided into six types, and each type was further subdivided into various types to establish a typological map of Qing dynasty bottle porcelain. The information entropy redundancy that describes the uniformity of the code appearance probability and the visual redundancy that describes the human eye’s sensitivity to image content or details are all entry points that can be considered for image coding. The experimental results show that the LBP-HOG fusion features can digitally express the information of ancient ceramic ornamentation and dig and verify the evolution of ceramic ornamentation with the times from the digital quantity. The GRNN model has an excellent performance in processing small samples of ancient ceramic data.

A Ru/RuO2-Doped TiO2 Nanotubes as pH Sensors for Biomedical Applications: The Effect of the Amount and Oxidation of Deposited Ru on the Electrochemical Response

In the field of orthopedic or dental implants, titanium and its alloys are most commonly used because of their excellent mechanical and corrosion properties and good biocompatibility. After implantation into the patient’s body, there is a high risk of developing bacterial inflammation, which negatively affects the surrounding tissues and the implant itself. Early detection of inflammation could be done with a pH sensor. In this work, pH-sensitive systems based on TiO2-Ru and TiO2-RuO2 combinations were fabricated and investigated. As a base material, Ti-6Al-4V alloy nanostructured by anodic oxidation was used. Ruthenium was successfully deposited on nanotubular TiO2 using cyclic polarization, galvanostatic and potentiostatic mode. Potentiostatic mode proved to be the most suitable. The selected samples were oxidized by cyclic polarization to form a TiO2-RuO2 system. The success of the oxidation was confirmed by XPS analysis. The electrochemical response of the systems to pH change was measured in saline solution using different techniques. The measurement of open circuit potential showed that unoxidized samples (TiO2-Ru) exhibited sub-Nernstian behavior (39.2 and 35.8 mV/pH). The oxidized sample (TiO2-RuO2) containing the highest amount of Ru exhibited super-Nernstian behavior (67.3 mV/pH). The Mott–Schottky analysis proved to be the best method. The use of the electrochemical impedance method can also be considered, provided that greater stability of the samples is achieved.

Interface Resistance of an SOFC Cathode with a Pr1-xTbxO2-d Active Layer

We investigated the use of Pr1-xTbxO2-d (x=0.0-1.0) material for active layer in SOFC cathode. Pr1-xTbxO2-d (x=0.0-1.0) in single-phase fluorite structure were successfully synthesized. They are solid solution of Pr6O11 and Tb4O7. When the x is between 0.3 and 0.6, the phase transition between room temperature and 800oC were eliminated Coin cells with GDC electrolyte and Pr1-xTbxO2-d (x=0.0-1.0) active layer and LaNi0.6Fe0.4O3 (LNF) current collecting layer were made to clarify the effect of this active layer. The interface resistance of these cathodes was measured with an AC impedance method at 800oC. The cathodes withPr1-xTbxO2-d (for all composition) active layer performed better than that of reference cathode, which has no active layer (consisting only LNF layer).

A Multi-Frequency Focused Impedance Measurement System Based on Analogue Synchronous Peak Detection

Monitoring of anatomical structures and physiological processes by electrical impedance has attracted scientists as it is noninvasive, nonionizing and the instrumentation is relatively simple. Focused Impedance Method (FIM) is attractive in this context, as it has enhanced sensitivity at the central region directly beneath the electrode configuration minimizing contribution from neighboring regions. FIM essentially adds or averages two concentric and orthogonal combinations of conventional Tetrapolar Impedance Measurements (TPIM) and has three versions with 4, 6, and 8 electrodes. This paper describes the design and testing of a multi-frequency FIM (MFFIM) system capable of measuring all three versions of FIM at 8 frequencies in the range 10 kHz—1 MHz. A microcontroller based multi-frequency signal generator and a balanced Howland current source with high output impedance (476 kΩ at 10 kHz and 58.3 kΩ at 1 MHz) were implemented for driving currents into biological tissues with an error &lt;1%. The measurements were carried out at each frequency sequentially. The peak values of the amplified voltage signals were measured using a novel analogue synchronous peak detection technique from which the transfer impedances were obtained. The developed system was tested using TPIM measurements on a passive RC Cole network placed between two RC networks, the latter representing skin-electrode contact impedances. Overall accuracy of the measurement was very good (error &lt;4% at all frequencies except 1 MHz, with error 6%) and the resolution was 0.1 Ω. The designed MFFIM system had a sampling rate of &gt;45 frames per second which was deemed adequate for noninvasive real-time impedance measurements on biological tissues.

Setting and Testing of the Out-of-Step Protection at Mongolian Transmission System

Modern distance relays have integrated numerous protection functions, including power-swing blocking and out-of-step or pole-slip tripping functions. The main purpose of the power-swing blocking function is to differentiate faults from power swings and block distance or other relay elements from operating during stable or unstable power swings. Most power-swing blocking elements are based on traditional methods that monitor the positive sequence impedance rate. The required settings for the power-swing blocking elements could be difficult to calculate in many applications, particularly those where fast swings can be expected. For these cases, extensive stability studies are necessary to determine the fastest rate of possible power swings. This paper presents a detailed step-by-step method for settings calculation of out-of-step (OOS) protection, both blocking and tripping functions considering a generic two-source system. Then the method is applied to define the protection relay settings installed at the interconnection between the Russian and Mongolian power systems, as it is crucial to feed the demand-rich Mongolian power system. In this paper, a specific impedance method is used for defining the OOS protection settings. This paper innovates by testing the settings using the recordings of the major events of 15 September 2018 in two approaches: hybrid co-simulation and cyber-physical. Both tests have demonstrated the appropriate performance of the proposed settings and proving the proposed methodology works appropriately.