Bamboo fiber reinforced thermoplastic molding made of steamed wood flour

To improve the mechanical property of moldings made of steamed wood flour, layered wood moldings reinforced with steam-exploded bamboo fiber was prepared. Setting the bamboo fiber weight fractions at 25, 50, and 75%, and number of layers at three-, five-, and seven-layered wood moldings were prepared by compression molding. The results of tensile test showed that the tensile strength as well as Young’s modulus increased along with the increase in the bamboo fiber fractions. Where the bamboo fiber content was 75%, the tensile strength became approximately 3.8 to 5.8 times greater, and the tensile Young’s modulus became approximately 2.5 times greater when compared to moldings of 100% wood flour. This fact shows that bamboo fiber is effective to improve the mechanical property of wood moldings. In addition, the tensile strength also increased as the number of layers increased. This result suggested that interfacial shear stress was produced between the layers of bamboo fiber and wood flour.     

Bu-Dash: a universal and dynamic graphical password scheme (extended version)

Passwordless authentication is a trending theme in cyber security, while biometrics gradually replace knowledge-based schemes. However, Personal Identification Numbers, passcodes, and graphical passwords are still considered as the primary means for authentication. Passwords must be memorable to be usable; therefore, users tend to choose easy to guess secrets, compromising security. The Android Pattern Unlock is a popular graphical password scheme that can be easily attacked by exploiting human behavioristic traits. Despite its vulnerabilities, the popularity of the scheme has led researchers to propose adjustments and variations that enhance security but maintain its familiar user interface. Nevertheless, prior work demonstrated that improving security while preserving usability remains frequently a hard task. In this paper we propose a novel graphical password scheme built on the foundations of the well-accepted Android Pattern Unlock method, which is usable, inclusive, universal, and robust against shoulder surfing and (basically) smudge attacks. Our scheme, named Bu-Dash, features a dynamic user interface that mutates every time a user swipes the screen. Our pilot studies illustrate that Bu-Dash attracts positive user acceptance rates, it is secure, and maintains high usability levels. We define complexity metrics that can be used to further diversify user input, and we conduct complexity and security assessments.