Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Biometric identification systems: the science of transaction facilitation

The future ofthe "secure transaction" and the success ofall undertakings that depend on absolute certainty that the individuals involved really are who and what they represent themselves to be is dependent upon the successful development of absolutely accurate, low-cost and easy-to-operate Biometric Identification Systems. Whether these transactions are political, military, financial or administrative (e.g. health cards, drivers licenses, welfare entitlement, national identification cards, credit card transactions, etc.), the need for such secure and positive identification has never been greater -and yet we are only at the beginning ofan era in which we will see the emergence and proliferation of Biometric Identification Systems in nearly every field ofhuman endeavor. Proper application ofthese systems will change the way the world operates, and that is precisely the goal ofComparator Systems Corporation. Just as with the photo-copier 40 years ago and the personal computer 20 years ago, the potential applications for positive personal identification are going to make the Biometric Identification System a commonplace component in the standard practice ofbusiness, and in interhuman relationships ofall kinds. The development of new and specific application hardware, as well as the necessary algorithms and related software required for integration into existing operating procedures and newly developed systems alike, has been a more-than-a-decade-long process at Comparator -and we are now on the verge of delivering these systems to the world markets so urgently in need of them. An individual could feel extremely confident and satisfied ifhe could present his credit, debit, or ATM card at any point of sale and, after inserting his card, could simply place his finger on a glass panel and in less than a second be positively accepted as being the person that the card purported him to be; not to mention the security and satisfaction of the vendor involved in knowing that his fraud risk had been reduced to virtually zero. In highly sensitive security applications, such a system would be imperative -and when combined, if necessary, with other biometric identifiers such as signature and/or voice recognition for simultaneous verification, one would have a nearly foolproof system. These are the tools of what we call Transaction Facilitation, and this is the realm of Comparator Systems Corp. Our technological developments over the last ten years have moved our Company forward into a position of potential leadership in what is fast becoming a worldwide market, and it is toward this end that we have applied all of our efforts.
Time Response Model of ER Fluids for Precision Control of Motors

The improvement of control performance or new control demands of mechatronics devices using particle type electrorheological (ER) fluids requires further investigation of the response time of the fluids. Although the response time of particle type ER fluids is commonly reported to be approximately 5 ms, the formula structure of the delay remains unclear. The present study is an attempt to develop a functional damper (attenuators) that can control its own viscous characteristics in real time using an ER fluid as the working fluid. ER dampers are useful for accomplishing both high-precision positioning and high-speed movement of the motor. In order to realize such a functional damper that can be manipulated according to a situation or task, the modeling and control of ER fluids are necessary. The present article investigates the time delay effects of ER fluids and constructs an in-depth dynamic model of the fluid through a simulation and an experiment. The mathematical model has a dead time and first-order delay of the fluid and a high-voltage amplifier for the fluid.
Automated Brick Counting for Façade Construction Progress Estimation

AbstractConstruction progress is predominantly measured with manual site surveys. These surveys are labor-intensive, on-site manual investigations. The generated survey reports are subjective and approximate because they are based on the surveyors’ individual experiences. This paper presents a novel method that can automatically count the number of bricks on a facade for reducing the cost and increasing the reliability of progress surveys. The method uses video data taken from a user’s mobile phone to detect bricks on a facade in each video frame by using color thresholding, edge detection, and filtering of rectangular shapes and sizes. Then, it compares the difference between consecutive frames to add counts when new bricks appear and to avoid double counting. The proposed method was implemented and tested on on-site videos of red brick facades, and resulted in 99.8% precision and 98.7% recall. The results demonstrate the suitability of this method for progress monitoring of brick facade construction.
A Study: On Impact of Leadership in Corporate Culture

This paper presents a study, in which the effects of decision making of leaders in an organization’s culture and performance are analyzed. The study has been focused on age, gender and experience of the leaders. This research is conducted over different firms, in order to investigate the impact of age, gender & experience on leaders within Pakistan. For this purpose, decision making questionnaire was administered to a sample of 100 participants (79 Men and 21 women) of ages between (25 -70) years, experience from (2-35) years. SPSS tool is used to signify percentages of age, gender & experience of different participants contributing to the decision making.
A Study on Revising Train Departure Time for Reducing Electric Power Consumption

This paper considers the problem of revising train departure time to reduce electric power consumption of mass rapid transit (MRT) railways. The motion of a train running between stations is divided into three phases: traction, coasting, and deceleration phases. The traction phase requires high electric power to operate MRT railways. In the coasting phase, the train moves stably by consuming little or no power. The deceleration phase is a braking mode and produces some electric power called regenerated brake power owing to inertia force for the train generated In the traction and coasting phases. The regenerative energy can be used by other accelerating trains within a specific range from the train and thereby the power consumptions of train can be reduced. We developed a mixed integer programming model to solve the problem. To validate the suggested model, a computational experiment was conducted using real data from Korea Metropolitan Subway.
What is an Engineer? Implications of Elementary School Student Conceptions for Engineering Education

Research in engineering education tends to focus on students' factual knowledge about engineering, their interests and attitudes, and on students' conceptions of the engineer and the relation to curriculum development. Thus, it is essential to expand our understanding of students' conceptions about the engineer phenomenon as the foundation for informing STEM education standards and curriculum.
Stimulus-responsive Gels: Promising Materials for the Construction of Micro Actuators and Sensors

Polymer gels are very promising for the realization of devices which function autonomously in response to physical or chemical stimuli. Because they can also be used as basic building blocks in constructing very inexpensive devices, the authors have used polymer gels to construct microactuators for use in measuring glucose concentrations. In a micropump, an external solution is withdrawn by changing the temperature. The sampling time is also adjusted by using a pH change caused by an enzymatic reaction. The same mechanism can be applied to the construction of a spontaneously functioning biosensor, through which glucose concentrations can be measured from changes in length of the liquid column.
Performance, design and pulse width control of a CLL resonant DC/DC converter operating at constant frequency in the lagging power factor mode

One of the different available topologies of the CLL resonant power converter has been re-investigated in this paper in the lagging power factor mode. It has been shown that the converter has a load-independent feature and may be designed to operate (ideally) at constant frequency. However, because of the nonidealities of the power converter components and to compensate for the variation in input DC voltage, frequency and/or PWM control is required. Optimization issues of the transformer-coupled topologies have also been discussed. A design procedure has been chalked out considering a voltage regulator-type application. Experimental results from a prototype power converter confirm the analysis. Pulse width control of the inverter output voltage shows very smooth control in converter output voltage to operate at constant frequency, despite changes in input voltage and/or output load.
Changing Places of Work

The places and spaces of managerial and professional work are changing rapidly. Long-established routines and disciplines of the personal office are being superseded in a multiplicity of new locations, such as 'hot desks', 'touchdown areas', 'home offices', motorway service stations, airport lounges, cars, trains and planes. Drawing on original research, this book analyses the impact of these developments on the experience of time and space, privacy and surveillance, freedom and constraint in everyday working life.
Enhancement of adaptable product development by computerised comparison of requirement lists

This paper shows how the data mining method known as self-organising maps (SOM) can be applied to optimise the selection of a product variant designated as the starting point for adaptive product development. SOM is a clustering technique in which the similarity of specifications is measured and visualised to assist selection of the optimum product variant. An initial step involves preparing the requirements in the specifications so that they can be applied to SOM. Emphasis is placed on linguistic formalisation in order to detect identical requirements and on quantification of the requirements, which is mandatory. The final part of the paper describes the SOM approach.
A comprehensive model for inversion layer hole mobility for simulation of submicrometer MOSFET's

A comprehensive model of effective (average) mobility and local-field mobility for holes in MOSFET inversion layers is presented. The semiempirical equation for effective mobility, coupled with the new local-field mobility model, permits accurate two-dimensional simulation of source-to-drain current in MOSFETs. The model accounts for the dependence of mobility on transverse and longitudinal electric fields, channel doping concentration, fixed interface charge density, and temperature. It accounts not only for the scattering by fixed interface charges, and bulk and surface acoustic phonons, but it also correctly describes screened Coulomb scattering at low effective transverse fields (near threshold) and surface roughness scattering at high effective transverse fields. The model is therefore applicable over a much wider range of conditions compared to earlier reported inversion layer hole mobility models while maintaining a physically based character. >
Design of transmitter and receiver filters for decision feedback equalization

We present the constructive design of finite order equalizer filters for data transmission systems employing decision feedback equalization. Both transmitter design with power constraints and receiver design with ambient noise considerations are treated. Expressions for the filter tap settings which maximize a signal-to-noise ratio are found for both baseband pulse amplitude modulation and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) systems. Design examples are given in a passband equivalent (of QAM) formulation for an average toll telephone connection. Neglecting the possibility of error propagation, these examples demonstrate that decision feedback equalization requires fewer taps for acceptable system performance as compared to linear equalization. The problem of postcursor size in a decision feedback equalized response is treated and shown to diminish in importance when a hybrid equalization procedure is imposed on the linear tap adjustment. The price one pays for allowing the linear filter taps to reduce the postcursor sizes in this hybrid equalizer is a lower signal-to-noise ratio.
Redes de inovação e composto mercadológico: um estudo exploratório sobre o desenvolvimento de produtos

The purpose of this paper is to present how innovation networks can be used to develop a new product or service, using the marketing compound. The study methodology consists of an exploratory research from literature review on this subject. After an initial discussion of the characteristics of innovation networks and marketing functions, the study presents proposals that allow adequately addressing the main difficulties in the management of marketing in innovation networks. Through this study it can be stated that these networks have been identified as an attractive alternative for the development of new products, when using the marketing mix, given the dynamics of the contemporary market. Innovation networks bring a lot of benefits to companies that embrace the relationship between these networks and marketing. The discussion reveals that the structure in the form of innovation networks can bring effective results in the organization which adopt it, providing competitiveness and adaptability in the face of its target market.
Capacity-constrained production scheduling of multiple vehicle programs in an automotive pilot plant

This paper describes a simulation-based approach for scheduling a simultaneously-run mix of multiple vehicle programs in an automotive pilot plant with multiple operational constraints. Pilot plants often operate with relatively long and highly variable cycle times, equipment failures and labour absenteeism, dedication schemes of assembly resources, frequent engineering changes and sign-offs, low inventory levels, and long sequence-dependent setups (programs ramp-up and changeover). Such characteristics often lead a stochastic process response and result in significant capacity limitations and scheduling inefficiencies. Hence, an approach is presented in this paper to resolve capacity complications in the pilot plant and to increase the efficiency of the production schedule. Because of the organic capacity–schedule relationship, the proposed approach is referred to as capacity-constrained production scheduling (CPS). Discrete event simulation (DES) is utilised to determine the plant's effective production capacity under the plant operational constraints and stochastic running conditions. A set of model-generated CPS measures with critical capacity and scheduling indications are defined to quantify potential imbalances between the plant's effective capacity and the demand-based schedule capacity. The plant capacity is improved systematically by elevating plant constraints through the application of a simulation-based theory of constraints (TOC) method. A resource reallocation algorithm (RRA) is applied to enhance the efficiency of the production schedule in terms of delivery shortages, idle time, makespan, and tardiness. An automotive pilot plant case study is presented to clarify the application and the benefits of the proposed approach with a focus on the details of the practical application of TOC and RRA.
Estimating Downtime from Data on Residential Buildings after the Northridge and Loma Prieta Earthquakes

The performance-based earthquake engineering (PBEE) methodology developed by the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research (PEER) center uses data from recent earthquakes to calibrate its loss models. This paper describes a detailed review of building department permit data from the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Although the data is limited to wood-framed residential structures, it provides some insight into the length of time between an event and re-occupancy. Based on a review of approximately 4,900 records, the typical repair of damaged multifamily residential buildings required two years and building replacement required almost four years. When this data is supplemented with additional case studies from other events, the capacity to better calibrate downtime models will improve, particularly if construction-repair times are separated from estimates of the time gap between closure and start-of-repair.
Basic Mechanisms of Radiation Effects in Electronic Materials and Devices

Abstract : This report reviews the primary physical processes underlying the response of electronic materials and devices to radiation as well as the relationship of these processes to the modes of circuit degradation and failure. An overview presents brief discussions of the major radiation environments of practical interest, the interaction of radiation with solid targets, common terminology of radiation exposure, and the primary radiation effects in electronic materials, including ionization effects (radiation-induced photocurrents and space charge buildup) and atomic displacement damage effects. An emphasis is given to the problem of total-dose ionization response, primarily in metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) systems. In particular, a description of the basic physical phenomena underlying the complex time history of the MOS radiation response is given, and some implications of the time-dependent response for issues of radiation testing, hardness assurance and radiation response prediction are pointed out. There is also discussion on the implications of scaling down the gate oxide thickness and on the increasingly important problem of radiation-induced leakage currents. Keywords: Radiation effects, Ionizing radiation, Nuclear weapons effects, Microelectronics, Metal oxide semiconductor devices, Bipolar devices, Total dose ionization, Transient radiation, Single event upset.
Modal Analysis of Gallium Nitride Membrane for Pressure Sensing Device

A circular high electron mobility transistor (C-HEMT) prepared on the AlGaN/GaN membrane surface has been investigated and its potential for pressure sensing has been already demonstrated. The key issue in the design process of such heterostructure based MEMS sensors is the stress engineering. This way we can scale the sensor performance, measured pressure range and sensitivity. Especially, the knowledge of the exact value of the residual stress in membranes (caused by deposition process) helps us to optimize the sensing devices. In this work, the residual stress determination method in gallium nitride circular shaped membrane is reported. It is shown that resonant frequency method using Laser Doppler Vibrometry (LDV) for membrane vibration measurement seems to be an appropriate technique to determine the residual stress in micro-scale membranes. Circularly shaped AlGaN/GaN micro-membranes are excited by acoustic short time pulse. The decay oscillating motion of the membrane is recorded by oscilloscope. By FFT spectral analysis of the signals the resonance frequencies are obtained. For the sample studied, the natural frequency mode resonance peak is used to define the residual stress level. To verify the observed stress in investigated membranes, prestressed modal analysis in finite element method (FEM) code ANSYS is performed. The stress extracted from the measured frequency is taken as an initial stress state of the modelled membrane. Experimentally obtained shock spectra are compared with that computed by FEM simulation.
Assessment of the Effectiveness of Advanced Collision Avoidance Technologies

16. Abstract This report describes the current state of knowledge regarding the effectiveness of several advanced collision-avoidance technologies (ACATs) and presents an assessment of the effect of each technology on traffic safety. The report covers only ACATs for light-duty vehicles. The literature reviewed is primarily restricted to English language publications from the last ten years (2003 to 2013). The technologies included in the assessment address vehicle instability (electronic stability control); forward impact collisions (forward collision warning, autonomous emergency braking); and crashes related to lane/road departure (lane departure warning and prevention, blind spot detection). The methodologies and data used to evaluate ACAT effectiveness are also discussed. Data on the penetration of the technologies into the light-duty fleet are also presented. Overall, the systems reviewed here were estimated to be substantially effective in reducing their target crash types. The studies reviewed had a range of estimated reductions, and in some cases the differences were fairly substantial. However, even the lower-bound estimates are significant in most cases. Most studies relied on simulation or limited field operational tests to evaluate effectiveness. Other than electronic stability control, available crash data cannot yet support evaluation of the actual crash experience of the technologies, because penetration rates are low and vehicles with the technologies are not directly identified in the data. 17.
Fuzzy control of an underactuated pendulum-driven cart system

This paper proposes a fuzzy control (FC) algorithm for a pendulum-driven cart (PDC) system. The PDC is a mechanism that represents a novel driving concept of ground mobile robot which only employs internal thrust and static friction. The control objective of the system is to drive the cart towards a desired direction by swinging the pendulum only. The proposed FC algorithm is designed based on the closed-loop control algorithm proposed in Yu et al. (2008a). Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. A prototype of the PDC system developed by using the LEGO Mindstorms kit and the ROBOLAB Software is also presented in the paper. The experimental results demonstrate that the PDC system is realisable, and the proposed FC algorithm is simple and effective.
Electrically small printed antenna for applications on cubesat and nano‐satellite platforms

A very compact circularly polarized antenna to be utilized readily on nanosatellite and CubeSat platforms is presented. Nanosatellite and CubeSats have very limited volume and surfaces bringing a physical size constraint on the components and antennas which should also be as functional as their counterparts used in similar terrestrial systems. The proposed structure is a cavity‐backed antenna with tapered crossed‐slot aperture. The antenna is a low‐profile compared to wavelength, circularly polarized and wide‐band with respect to conventional high‐Q printed antennas. Two different designs to operate at 2.44 GHz are implemented on two different substrates, occupying a footprint of 38 mm × 38 mm and 30 mm × 30 mm. Their measured percentage impedance bandwidths are 2% and 1.68%, respectively. The obtained maximum gain is about 5 dBic around the target frequency. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 57:891–896, 2015
Study on Customer Personality Characteristics and Relationship Outcomes Using SEM Analysis

The purpose of this article is to empirically examine the influence of customer personality characteristics (need for social affiliation, customer relationship proneness) on relationship outcomes (customer trust, satisfaction, and loyalty). Online responses from service companies were gathered to assess the influence using Structural Equation Models (SEM). Results indicate that need for social affiliation is a strong determinant of customer relationship proneness and trust. Consumer relationship proneness has directly positive impact on trust and satisfaction. The results confirm the trust-satisfaction-loyalty paradigm in service context.