Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
BIOMETRIC TEMPLATE SECURITY

: With the rapid increase in number of biometric recognition systems, an attacker‘s benefit in staging a system compromise is also increasing and thus is the need to ensure system security and reliability. This dissertation grants a thorough analysis of the vulnerabilities of a biometric recognition system with emphasis on the vulnerabilities related to the information stored in biometric systems in the form of biometric templates. To encourage the improvement of techniques to protect biometric templates, we show the use of biometric cryptography in the existing systems. The techniques to safeguard the biometric templates are categorized into two main groups: biometric cryptosystems and template transformation methods. While biometric cryptosystems permit binding a secure key to the biometric data to obtain a so called secure sketch from which no information regarding the biometric data or the key can be retrieved again, cancelable biometric template transformation techniques non-invertibly transform the biometric template with the user‘s password. To analyze and improve the biometric cryptosystems, we have studied its two main examples: fuzzy vault and the fuzzy commitment. Fuzzy vault is the technique used to secure templates characterized in the form of a finite set of points whereas fuzzy commitment is used for the security of templates represented as binary vectors. A superior security analysis is provided that makes biometric template more secure. A framework to effectively combine multiple biometric representations and efficiently verify an individual is also proposed. Various template transformation techniques
More than a capable mariner: Meeting the challenges of command at sea---Views from the bridge

Command at sea is the ultimate career goal for all naval officers. However, an alarming number of officers assigned to command various units of the United States Navy have failed to complete their command tours successfully. This qualitative study presents the views of a sixteen former ship commanding officers on meeting the challenges of Command in the first decade of the 21st century. Commanding officers identified challenges that reflected the pressures from shifting social, professional, and technological developments. Analysis of their reported experiences validated longstanding traditions and practices of those who have commanded at sea and generated deeper understanding for appreciating the path and preparation for command. Commanding officers make significant differences in their ships’ readiness and performance. The Surface Warfare Officers path to command works. Navy leaders develop future Navy leaders, and future successful commanding officers served under successful commanding officers. The study offers insights on future inquiries to understand the concept and nature of Command and to discover how to appreciate the qualities, experiences, practices, and commitment necessary to Command well. The study identified areas to continue to explore in taming the information explosion. Ignoring systemic consequences and mission requirements, budget pressured, Flag-level decisions caused much turmoil in the Surface Force by reducing manning, maintenance, and training. Many of the informants who were Junior Officers at the time tried to warn the bosses of the projected results of those choices. Failure to listen to deckplate advice set up a crisis in credibility. Current practices tending toward micromanaging ships and their commanding officers are further eroding it. Yet, hope remains. Recent decisions have put factors in place to reverse negative funding, training, and manning trends for ships. The study provides seasoned advice targeted for the three levels of those progressing toward future Command of ships at sea. A focus on taking care of people, helping them excel by challenging them to greater achievements, and exhibiting a detailed sense of purpose to meet standards, as well as timing and favor, combined to make these Commanding Officers “More than Capable Mariners. ”
A Systematic Selection Process of Machine Learning Cloud Services for Manufacturing SMEs

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in manufacturing are increasingly facing challenges of digital transformation and a shift towards cloud-based solutions to leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) or, more specifically, machine learning (ML) services. Although literature covers a variety of frameworks related to the adaptation of cloud solutions, cloud-based ML solutions in SMEs are not yet widespread, and an end-to-end process for ML cloud service selection is lacking. The purpose of this paper is to present a systematic selection process of ML cloud services for manufacturing SMEs. Following a design science research approach, including a literature review and qualitative expert interviews, as well as a case study of a German manufacturing SME, this paper presents a four-step process to select ML cloud services for SMEs based on an analytic hierarchy process. We identified 24 evaluation criteria for ML cloud services relevant for SMEs by merging knowledge from manufacturing, cloud computing, and ML with practical aspects. The paper provides an interdisciplinary, hands-on, and easy-to-understand decision support system that lowers the barriers to the adoption of ML cloud services and supports digital transformation in manufacturing SMEs. The application in other practical use cases to support SMEs and simultaneously further development is advocated.
The Isolation of Vibrio crassostreae and V. cyclitrophicus in Lesser-Spotted Dogfish (Scyliorhinus canicula) Juveniles Reared in a Public Aquarium

The genus Vibrio currently contains 147 recognized species widely distributed, including pathogens for aquatic organisms. Vibrio infections in elasmobranchs are poorly reported, often with identifications as Vibrio sp. and without detailed diagnostic insights. The purpose of this paper is the description of the isolation and identification process of Vibrio spp. following a mortality event of Scyliorhinus canicula juvenile reared in an Italian public aquarium. Following investigations aimed at excluding the presence of different pathogens of marine fish species (parasites, bacteria, Betanodavirus), several colonies were isolated and subjected to species identification using the available diagnostic techniques (a biochemical test, MALDI-TOF MS, and biomolecular analysis). Discrepancies were observed among the methods; the limits of biochemistry as a unique tool for Vibrio species determination were detected through statistical analysis. The use of the rpoB gene, as a diagnostic tool, allowed the identification of the isolates as V. crassostreae and V. cyclotrophicus. Although the pathogenic role of these microorganisms in lesser-spotted dogfish juveniles has not been demonstrated, and the presence of further pathogens cannot be excluded, this study allowed the isolation of two Vibrio species in less-studied aquatic organisms, highlighting the weaknesses and strengths of the different diagnostic methods applied.
Indigenizing say in Australian Aboriginal English

ABSTRACT The quotative system – lexical and morphosyntactic strategies for the direct reporting of speech and thought – has undergone a major transformation in mainstream World Englishes. Diachronic studies of quotation in Australian, British, Canadian and New Zealand English have all documented the same trends: a relatively stable system, using a small number of quotative variants, becomes more varied and complex, with a decline in the frequency of canonical say correlating with an increasing tendency to quote thought. This study, modelled on two foregoing sociolinguistic analyses of mainstream West Australian and New Zealand Englishes, examines quotation in recordings of 26 speakers of Australian Aboriginal English born between 1907 and 1961, including 16 oral histories. The results indicate that, unlike their settler English-speaking counterparts, these speakers have not only preserved the dominance of say: they have come to use it in distinctive ways, with semantic and grammatical innovations not observed in other varieties, in a system which serves to enrich narrative in a speaker population unique for its millennia of oral tradition. The findings suggest processes of grammaticalization and, observed alongside similar expanding frequency and versatility of be like in mainstream Englishes, may signal a parallel evolutive effect in a different language ecology.
Dielectric Properties of Textile Materials: Analytical Approximations and Experimental Measurements—A Review

Deciphering how the dielectric properties of textile materials are orchestrated by their internal components has far-reaching implications. For the development of textile-based electronics, which have gained ever-increasing attention for their uniquely combined features of electronics and traditional fabrics, both performance and form factor are critically dependent on the dielectric properties. The knowledge of the dielectric properties of textile materials is thus crucial in successful design and operation of textile-based electronics. While the dielectric properties of textile materials could be estimated to some extent from the compositional profiles, recent studies have identified various additional factors that have also substantial influence. From the viewpoint of materials characterization, such dependence of the dielectric properties of textile materials have given rise to a new possibility—information on various internal components could be, upon successful correlation, extracted by measuring the dielectric properties. In view of these considerable implications, this invited review paper summarizes various fundamental theories and principles related to the dielectric properties of textile materials. In order to provide an imperative basis for uncovering various factors that intricately influence the dielectric properties of textile materials, the foundations of the dielectrics and polarization mechanisms are first recapitulated, followed by an overview on the concept of homogenization and the dielectric mixture theory. The principal advantages, challenges and opportunities in the analytical approximations of the dielectric properties of textile materials are then discussed based on the findings from the recent literature, and finally a variety of characterization methods suitable for measuring the dielectric properties of textile materials are described. It is among the objectives of this paper to build a practical signpost for scientists and engineers in this rapidly evolving, cross-disciplinary field.
Tracking Activities of Daily Living in the Home Office

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, home-office has turned to be a common practice in many companies to limit physical contact to reduce the rate of infections in the workplace. To quantify office workers' ADLs, this work demonstrates unobtrusive monitoring of activities of daily living (ADLs) of an office worker in a home-office environment with three low-cost sensors: an accelerometer and two light sensors. We extract four elementary events: distinct and fain chair movement, monitor, and fridge usage, from which we derived seven ADLs using predefined rules. This simple system can support the quantification of ADLs of home-office workers.
Compact Four-Component 2-D FDFD Method with Equivalent Surface Impedance Boundary Condition for Multilayer Metal-Coated Waveguide

A compact four-component two-dimensional (2-D) finite-difference frequency domain (FDFD) method with the equivalent surface impedance boundary condition is used to analyze the dispersion characteristics of multilayer metal-coated waveguides. According to the equivalent surface impedance boundary condition, the relationship between transverse field components on the boundary can be easily depicted. Once the eigen equation is solved, the propagation constant can be obtained as the eigen value for a given frequency. Results of the proposed method agaree well with those of high frequency structure simulator (HFSS).
Developing a Scale of Care Work-Related Quality of Life (CWRQoL) for Long-Term Care Workers in England

Background: Long-term care (LTC) workers are subjected to structural and inherent difficult conditions that are likely to impact their quality of life at work; however, no agreed scale measures it. This study aims to develop a scale to measure the work-related quality of life among LTC workers in England (CWRQoL). The study establishes the domains/sub-domains of CWRQoL, investigates the tool’s utility and collates information on existing supporting strategies for CWRQoL. Methods: We adopt a mixed-methods approach employing inductive/deductive processes at three stages: (1) a scoping review of the literature; (2) interviews and focus groups with frontline LTC workers, managers and LTC stakeholders; and (3) a content validity consensus survey. Results: CWRQoL is composed of seven domains (and 23 sub-domains). Additional domains to those in the literature include financial wellbeing, sufficient time for building relations, managing grief and emotions associated with client death and end of life care. Stakeholders identified several benefits and challenges related to the CWRQoL tool’s utility. COVID-19 significantly impacted LTC workers’ mental wellbeing and spillover between work and home. Conclusions: The study highlighted the complex nature of CWRQoL and provided a solid ground for developing and validating a CWRQoL scale.
Barriers to consistent and reliable investigation of sudden unexpected infant death: Perspectives from law enforcement

Despite persistent efforts to advance infant death investigation, most sudden unexpected infant deaths (SUIDs) remain unexplained. Law enforcement officials contribute to SUID investigations throughout the United States, but their impacts on these investigations have not been adequately examined. In this exploratory study, 26 law enforcement officials were interviewed about their experiences and perspectives with SUID investigations. Thematic analysis of qualitative data revealed three specific difficulties law enforcement encounter during SUID investigations: (1) inadequate preparation; (2) overwhelming emotions; and (3) a victim–suspect dilemma. Findings indicate that these barriers may inhibit consistent and reliable investigation of infant death and, therefore, may impede the cause and manner of death determinations. Participants’ narratives also offered insights into potential solutions, including expanded SUID training for law enforcement and use of checklists, such as the Sudden Unexpected Infant Death Investigation Reporting Form. The impacts of overwhelming emotions confronted during SUID investigation warrant further study. The victim–suspect dilemma stems from the inability of law enforcement to conclusively eliminate the possibility of homicide. This dilemma may be resolved through a clear distinction between interactions with potential evidence and interactions with the family. Law enforcement must be trained to treat all SUID families in a compassionate and non‐accusatory manner, while investigating all SUID with careful attention to detail that is essential in any potential homicide investigation. A consistent, meticulous, and compassionate approach to SUID investigations will improve the reliability of information obtained and offer the best opportunity for providing answers to grieving parents.
Bacterial Survey in the Guts of Domestic Silkworms, Bombyx mori L.

Simple Summary To enhance the sustainability of commercial production of high-quality silk, factors that affect the economic characteristics of the silkworm and the silk it produces have been widely studied. Among these are the gut microbiota, which have been linked to absorption and utilization of nutrients, and immunity to diseases in silkworms. Because the Philippines has yet to improve the silkworm strains it currently uses for silk production, sufficient biological data, including that of microbiota, are warranted. Profiling the bacterial communities in local silkworm strains through the use of high-throughput 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing would be a source of useful information. Results of the 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing in this study showed that four of the silkworm strains reared in the Philippines are abundant in five bacterial genera, which have also been found in other silkworm strains. Results also showed that bacterial diversity and evenness increase as larvae mature, which can be correlated to larval development and to the shift in the amount and age of mulberry leaves the larvae consume. Abstract Silkworm, Bombyx mori L. , research involves studies on improving strains for enhanced sustainability of high-quality silk production. Several of these have investigated the factors affecting growth and development of silkworm larvae and cocoon characteristics that subsequently affect the yield and quality of silk. The gut microbiota has been reported to impact growth and development of silkworms and has been linked, in particular, with absorption and utilization of nutrients and immunity to diseases. The silkworm strains maintained in the Philippines lack sufficient biological data for use in strain improvement. This prompted efforts to augment the data by profiling bacterial communities through high-throughput 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing and analysis in four of the local silkworm strains that are bred and maintained in the country. Results of the study showed that the four silkworm strains are abundant in bacteria that belong to the genera Pseudomonas, Sphingomonas, Delftia, Methylobacterium and Acinetobacter. Results also showed that bacterial diversity and evenness increase as larvae mature, which can be correlated to larval development and shifts in the amount and age of mulberry leaves the larvae consume.
Toward the Optimization of a PMSG Wind Energy Conversion System On-Grid by a Robust Mixed Controller

The grid interconnected Wind Energy Conversion System (WECS) remains a major challenge. To deal with the effect of the intermittent nature of wind speed. This paper presents the design of a combined nonlinear controller based on a sliding mode controller (MSMC) for a wind system. This control technique includes a smooth switching sliding mode observer (SS-SMO) and a non-singular terminal sliding mode controller (NT-SMC). The SS-SMO is used to observe the torque/speed disturbances, while the NT-SMC is used as a regulator. A voltage control technique is adopted to maintain the voltage at the common DC-link. To control the electrical power injected into the grid a Backstepping controller is proposed. The WECS is built around a wind turbine coupled to a Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator (PMSG). The proposed technique is robust against model uncertainties and external disturbances. In addition, the complexity of the system is reduced by replacing the mechanical speed and position sensors with the estimated parameter. The simulations results show the performances in terms of monitoring of set point, stability, and robustness with respect to the variation of wind speed.
A Scientometric Review of Mobility-on-Demand Car-Sharing Systems

This article gives a scientometric analysis of research advances in mobility-on-demand (MoD)systems. By reviewing 191 articles with diverse perspectives from the past 10 years, a scientometric study is conducted using CiteSpace, giving an integrated knowledge mind mapping of MoD systems. The results indicate that the major contributions in MoD systems field are mainly from the United States, Singapore, China, and Germany. Meanwhile, pivotal institutions, journals, and article keywords are discussed. MoD system knowledge domains are concentrated in the categories of demand and service, system optimization, impacts and factors, and response and choice. The development of MoD systems is evolving from taxis and minibuses to autonomous vehicles. In particular, research interest in autonomous MoD systems is rapidly growing. This analysis gives a comprehensive and integral knowledge mind mapping, which contributes to the MoD system information network and provides valuable insights into future research directions and developments for investigators and software developers in the field of vehicle-sharing and traffic scheduling.
ENERDGE: Distributed Energy-Aware Resource Allocation at the Edge

Mobile applications are progressively becoming more sophisticated and complex, increasing their computational requirements. Traditional offloading approaches that use exclusively the Cloud infrastructure are now deemed unsuitable due to the inherent associated delay. Edge Computing can address most of the Cloud limitations at the cost of limited available resources. This bottleneck necessitates an efficient allocation of offloaded tasks from the mobile devices to the Edge. In this paper, we consider a task offloading setting with applications of different characteristics and requirements, and propose an optimal resource allocation framework leveraging the amalgamation of the edge resources. To balance the trade-off between retaining low total energy consumption, respecting end-to-end delay requirements and load balancing at the Edge, we additionally introduce a Markov Random Field based mechanism for the distribution of the excess workload. The proposed approach investigates a realistic scenario, including different categories of mobile applications, edge devices with different computational capabilities, and dynamic wireless conditions modeled by the dynamic behavior and mobility of the users. The framework is complemented with a prediction mechanism that facilitates the orchestration of the physical resources. The efficiency of the proposed scheme is evaluated via modeling and simulation and is shown to outperform a well-known task offloading solution, as well as a more recent one.
A Simultaneous Denoise and Dereverberation by a Use of Two-Stage Joint Network

Our auditory experience is constantly disturbed by background noise and indoor reverberation in the actual speech environment, seriously damaging speech intelligibility and quality. In the past studies, people have proposed a two-stage deep neural network based on frequency domain to eliminate the above interference, and they suffer from some limitations, resulting in the upper limit of its performance. This paper proposes an end-to-end two-stage deep neural network in the time domain, eliminating noise in the first stage and reverberation in the second stage. First of all, we train the two-stage network separately and separate training parameters as the initial values for the two-stage network joint training. Compared with single-stage network and two-stage frequency domain network, the proposed two-stage time domain network presents better performance.
A new index representative of seismic cracks to assess post‐seismic landslide susceptibility

In a major earthquake, strong shaking reduces the natural soil strength. Therefore, evaluation of the susceptibility of post‐seismic landslides may help prevent further disasters in an affected area. This study developed an index representing the spatial density of seismic cracks—the dense crack index (DCI)—to express the degree of local ground effects. An area of 6 km2 with 196 slides identified after the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake (Mw 7.0) was analyzed using models that incorporated the weight of evidence (WoE), logistic regression, and random forest (RF) methods, with the DCI as a conditioning factor. The WoE and RF models confirmed the importance of the DCI, although the improvement in performance as indicated by area under the curve values was marginal or negligible. This was largely due to combinations of other factors that enabled inclusion of locations with strong seismic waves, which compensated for the absence of the index. The contribution of the DCI could be improved if more accurate LiDAR data were used in the analysis.