An exploratory study of radio frequency identification (RFID) adoption in the healthcare industry

This study examines the radio frequency identification (RFID) adoption decision process and proposes a model predicting the likelihood of adopting RFID within organizations in the healthcare industry. A considerable number of studies have been conducted regarding organizational information technology (IT) adoption, but the nature of the organizational IT adoption process is still not well understood. Especially, although there are a number of variables and categories that have been found empirically to be related to adoption behavior, there is little in the way of evidence to suggest the origin or motivation behind the adoption. Thus, this study investigates the underlying motivations and driving forces behind the adoption of RFID using the theory of technology-push and need-pull. In this study, an organizational RFID adoption model is proposed and empirically tested by a survey using a sample of 126 senior executives in U.S. hospitals. The model posits that three categories of factors, technology push, need pull, and presence of champions, determine the likelihood of adopting RFID within organizations. This study also found that the relationships between those three categories and the likelihood of adopting RFID are strengthened or weakened by organizational readiness.     

Multi-digit maximum voluntary torque production on a circular object

Individual digit-tip forces and moments during torque production on a mechanically fixed circular object were studied. During the experiments, subjects positioned each digit on a 6-dimensional force/moment sensor attached to a circular handle and produced a maximum voluntary torque on the handle. The torque direction and the orientation of the torque axis were varied. From this study, it is concluded that: (1) the maximum torque in the closing (clockwise) direction was larger than in the opening (counter clockwise) direction; (2) the thumb and little finger had the largest and the smallest share of both total normal force and total moment, respectively; (3) the sharing of total moment between individual digits was not affected by the orientation of the torque axis or by the torque direction, while the sharing of total normal force between the individual digit varied with torque direction; (4) the normal force safety margins were largest and smallest in the thumb and little finger, respectively.     

Secure multimedia distribution in cloud computing using re-encryption and fingerprinting

Recently, cloud computing becomes a main platform for the distribution of multimedia content. The paradigm of multimedia distribution has been shifted from the models in traditional ways to the one in cloud computing. Security and privacy are two most important issues in multimedia distribution. The new model in cloud computing concerns the following issues. Firstly, outsourced content should be confidential except a data owner (DO). Secondly, the CSP is semi-trusted in the public cloud computing environment. A malicious data user (DU) may collude with the CSP to harm the DO’s rights and interests. Thirdly, the rights and interests of DU, including anonymity and unlinkability, should be protected. Based on the above problems, we propose and analyze a Multimedia Distribution based Re-encryption and Fingerprinting (MDRF) scheme in cloud computing. The proposed scheme 1) allows efficient distribution of the content while preserving security and privacy of copyright holders and end users, 2) resolve the problems of piracy tracing, collusion resistance, and dispute resolution, and 3) protect the rights and interests of DU, including anonymity and unlinkability. The analysis part demonstrates that the security of DO and DU are well provided in the proposed scheme. The experimental results evaluate the performance of our framework in terms of collusion resistance of the fingerprint and imperceptibility of fingerprint embedding.

     

Lateral crushing in tightly packed arrays of thin-walled metal tubes

The plastic-collapse load and post-collapse behaviour of ductile, thin-walled tubes compressed between cylindrical indenters are analyzed for a complete range of indenter radii; experiments on steel, brass and aluminium alloy tubes show the usefulness of this analysis when deflections are large. The effect of shear force is considered; shear can develop when the sides of the tube are constrained against lateral expansion. While crushing by diametrically opposed indenters results in symmetrical modes of deformation, any shear in addition to the normally applied forces results in an asymmetrical mode of deformation which is more compliant than the symmetrical mode. The asymmetrical mode of deformation is initially unstable.     

Acicular ferrite microstructure in titanium bearing low carbon steels

Abstract

Different microstructures having acicular ferrite as the major phase but with various types and amounts of microphases were obtained by applying different cooling processes to C–Mn steels containing fine non-metallic inclusions. Optical and electron microscopy were carried out to identify the various microphases in the acicular ferrite microstructure, and their mechanical properties were measured and compared to study the effect of the microphases on the microstructure–properties relationship in C–Mn wrought steels. The existence and increase of the fraction of small isolated martensite between the acicular ferrite laths were found to play an important role in determining the tensile strength and low temperature impact toughness of the steels. However, the elongation and room temperature impact toughness were rather insensitive to the microphases. This may be attributed to the uniform distribution and isolation of relatively small martensite due to the fine interlocking character of the acicular ferrite microstructure.     

Multiple cerebellar infarction due to vertebral artery obstruction and bulbar symptoms associated with vertical subluxation and atlanto-occipital subluxation in ankylosing spondylitis

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) results in disease-specific inflammation at the site of ligamentous insertion into the bone. Atlantoaxial joint subluxation and vertical subluxation of the axis may occur as a consequence of instability resulting from the inflammatory process. Spontaneous anterior atlantoaxial subluxation is a well recognized complication in about 2% of patients with AS, and presents with or without signs of spinal cord compression. Vertical subluxation may follow anterior or posterior subluxation. It was noted in 3-8% of patients with rheumatoid arthritis, but is an exceedingly rare complication of AS. Moreover, it has never been reported that multiple cerebellar infarction and bulbar symptoms developed spontaneously due to atlanto-occipital subluxation and vertical subluxation in a patient with a long [corrected] history of AS. We describe a man with AS who developed multiple cerebellar infarction due to vertebral artery obstruction and bulbar symptoms associated with atlanto-occipital subluxation and vertical subluxation.     

Effective pedestrian detection using deformable part model based on human model

Recently, pedestrian detection systems have become an important technology in the development of the advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) for the autonomous car. The histogram of oriented gradients (HOG) is currently the most basic algorithm for detecting pedestrians, but it treats the entire body of the pedestrian as one single feature. In other words, if the entire body of the pedestrian is not visible, the detection rate under HOG decreases markedly. To solve this problem, we propose a detection system using a deformable part model (DPM) that divides the pedestrian data into two parts using a latent support vector machine (SVM)-based machine-learning technique. Experimental results show that our approach achieves better performance in a detection system than the existing method. In practice, there are many occlusions in the environment in front of the vehicle. For example, the surrounding transport facilities, such as a car or another obstacle, can occlude a pedestrian. These occlusions can increase the false detection rate and cause difficulties during the detection process. Our proposed method uses a different approach and can easily be applied in real-world scenarios, regardless of occlusions.

     

Thermal conductivity and mechanical properties of various cross-section types carbon fiber-reinforced composites

In this work, to study the characteristics of carbon fiber-reinforced composites with different fiber cross-section types, such as round, C, and hollow-shape, the thermal conductivity and mechanical properties were investigated and compared. The thermal conductivity was measured by means of steady-state method to the parallel and perpendicular direction of reinforcing fibers. The mechanical properties were evaluated by a variety of test methods i.e., flexural, interlaminar shear strength, and impact strength. As a result, it was found that the thermal conductivity was greatly depended on the cross-section type of the reinforcing fibers, as well as, the reinforcing orientation. Especially, the anisotropy factor (k _///k ) and the thermal diffusivity factor (_///) of C and hollow-type carbon fiber-reinforced composites showed about two times higher values than those of round-type one. Also, the mechanical results showed that C and hollow-type carbon fibers-reinforced composites had higher values than those of round-type one in all mechanical tested. These results were probably due to the basic properties of non-circular (C and hollow-type) carbon fiber which can improve interfacial binding forces and widen interfacial contact area between reinforcement and matrix, resulting in effectively transferring the applied stress.     

Piezoresistive effects of copper-filled polydimethylsiloxane composites near critical pressure

Piezoresistive properties of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) filled with copper particles in volume fraction above the electrical percolation threshold (25.3–50.7 vol%) were investigated. Piezoresistive behavior of the PDMS-copper composites under compressive pressure showed not only a change in resistance by approximately six orders of magnitude (∼1.5 MPa), but also a change in the critical pressure due to variations in the hardness of the composites. Resistivity relaxation was observed near the critical pressure and was explained through a stress relaxation and percolation mechanism. The mean tunneling distance was calculated by using a theoretical equation for percolation under compression. When the gauge factors of the composites were plotted versus strain, a universal curve was obtained regardless of the copper contents. Finally, the PDMS-copper composite demonstrated good repeatability, showing only small differences in the relative resistance after five successive tests.