Search Results (3)

Sensor technologies are increasingly used to monitor laboratory animal behaviour. The aim of this study was to investigate the added value of using accelerometers and video to monitor the activity and drinking behaviour of three rams from 5 days before to 22 days after inoculation with Toxoplasma gondii. We computed the activity from accelerometer data as the vectorial dynamic body acceleration (VDBA). In addition, we assessed individual drinking behaviour from video, using frame differencing above the drinker to identify drinking bouts, and Aruco markers for individual identification. Four days after inoculation, rams developed fever and activity decreased. The daytime VDBA from days 4 to 10 was 60–80% of that before inoculation. Animal caretakers scored rams as lethargic on days 5 and 6 and, for one ram, also on the morning of day 7. Video analysis showed that each ram decreased its number of visits to the drinker, as well as its time spent at the drinker, by up to 50%. The fever and corresponding sickness behaviours lasted until day 10. Overall, while we recognize the limited conclusiveness due to the small number of animals, the sensor technologies provided continuous, individual, detailed, and objective data and offered additional insights as compared to routine observations. We recommend the wider implementation of such technologies in animal disease trials to refine experiments and guarantee the quality of experimental results. Full article

In this paper, a first-of-a-kind mixed-mode universal filter employing three VDBAs and three passive components, is proposed. The filter operates in all four modes and provides all five filter responses, namely voltage-mode (VM), current-mode (CM), trans-impedance-mode (TIM), or trans-admittance-mode (TAM). Additionally, the same filter topology can also work as a CM single-input-multi-output (SIMO) filter. A state-of-the-art comparison of various ‘voltage differencing’ variants of the voltage differencing buffered amplifier (VDBA)-based SIMO/MISO (single-input-multi-output/multi-input-single-output)-type biquad filters further highlight the significance of the presented research. In the proposed no passive component matching is required for generating the filter responses. The filter circuit also provides inbuilt tunability of the quality factor independent of the pole frequency. The non-ideal frequency dependent gain and component sensitivity analyses of the filter were also performed. The Silterra Malaysia $0.18\mathsf{\mu }\mathrm{m}$ process design kit (PDK) is employed to design and validated the proposed VDBA-based filter using the Cadence design software. The simulation results closely follow the theoretical predictions. To further verify the practical feasibility of the proposed filter, an experimental evaluation is also completed. The VDBA-based filter is implemented using off-the-shelf operational transconductance amplifiers Intersil CA3080, Texas Instruments LF356 op-amp, and Analog Devices AD844s. The filter is designed for a characteristic frequency of 100 kHz. The time and frequency domain measurement results indicate the proper functioning of the filter. Full article

This paper proposes the design of a mixed-mode universal biquad configuration, which realizes generic filter functions in all four possible modes, namely voltage mode (VM), current mode (CM), transadmittance mode (TAM), and transimpedance mode (TIM). The filter architecture employs two voltage differencing buffered amplifiers (VDBAs), two resistors and two capacitors, and can provide lowpass (LP), bandpass (BP), highpass (HP), bandstop (BS), and allpass (AP) biquadratic filtering responses without any circuit alteration. All passive elements used are grounded, except VM. The circuit not only allows for the electronic tuning of the natural angular frequency (ω_o), but also achieves orthogonal tunability of the quality factor (Q). It also provides the feature of availability of output voltage at the low-output impedance terminal in VM and TIM, and does not require inverting-type or double-type input signals to realize all the responses. Moreover, in all modes of operation, the high-Q filter can be easily obtained by adjusting a single resistance value. Influences of the VDBA nonidealities and parasitic elements are also discussed in detail. PSPICE simulations with TSMC 0.18-µm CMOS process parameters and experimental testing results with commercially available IC LT1228s have been used to validate the theoretical predictions. Full article