Hybrid features of spatial domain and frequency domain for person identification through ear biometrics

Biometrics proved to be very efficient, more natural and easier for users than traditional methods of human identification. This paper presents an accurate biometric system based on human ear. Many features have been extracted in the spatial domain such as area of the ear, ear edge points, and widths of ear in different places. Those features have been extracted in the enrollment stages and stored as templates. Using a comparing technique such as Euclidean distance for each feature or for the whole features gives different correct recognition rates, which reaches 88.2%. Using spatial domain features as well as frequency domain features such as FFT and DCT coefficients raises our recognition rate to 92% of success. 100% of correct recognition can be achieved by using the average values of five samples instead of three samples for each person. The article is published in the original. Farid Saleh. Graduated from Telecommunications and Electronics Department, Faculty of Engineering of Helwan University, Egypt in 2001. He is presently a M.Sc. student at the same university. His current research interests include image processing and pattern recognition. Alaa Hamdy. Was born in Giza in Egypt, on August 17, 1966. He graduated from the Telecommunications and Electronics Department, Faculty of Engineering and Technology of Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt in 1989. He received the M.Sc. degree in computer engineering from the same university in 1996 and the Ph.D. degree from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Poznan University of Technology, Poland in 2004. Currently he is working as a lecturer in the Faculty of Engineering of Helwan University. His special fields of interest include image processing, pattern analysis, and machine vision. Fathy Zaki. Is an associate professor of Microelectronics, Electronics Department, Faculty of Engineering of Helwan University.     

Optical equalization to combat the effects of laser chirp and fiberdispersion

Optical equalizers capable of combating the effects of laser chirp and fiber chromatic dispersion on high-speed long-haul fiber-optic communication links at 1.5 μm are described. They consist of both reflective and transmissive cavity structures. The equalizers are adaptive in the sense that the position of their periodic frequency responses are optimally adjusted in real time. The equalizers are evaluated by using computer simulation routines based on the rate equations for intensity-modulated lasers. It is shown that, by using equalizers of the type proposed, the receiver data eyes remain open well beyond where they would close without equalization     

Optical equalization for high-bit-rate fiber-optic communications

An optical equalizer consisting of a reflective cavity structure, which gives an all-pass amplitude response and a frequency-selective delay response, is described. Equalizer performance is evaluated for links using external modulation with chirp absent. It is also shown that, by using equalizers of the type described, the receiver data eye can remain open for distances more than twice those where the unequalized system becomes inoperable     

On the Computational Cutoff Rate, R0for the Peak-Power-Limited Gaussian Channel

The "computational cutoff rate," R0, represents a practical measure of the maximum reliable data rate that can be achieved by coding over a given communication channel using a given modulation format, in contrast with the "channel capacity,"C, which represents an idealized theoretical limit on the achievable data rate. Moreover, designing signal sets with good error probabilities using the R0criterion results in a mathematical problem that is much more tractable than that obtained by using the probability of error itself as a criterion. Both of the above reasons establish the importance of R0in communications theory. This paper starts with a brief tutorial background, which reveals the origin and the significance of R0. Next, the problem of achieving R0over the additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) dispersive or nondispersive channel, using quadrature-amplitude modulation (QAM) with a peakpower constraint, is addressed. The major result is that, for both cases, the optimum transmission signal set is chosen from a discrete distribution. The solution is derived in detail for the peak-power-limited nondispersive channel, where it is shown that the optimum QAM symbols are selected independently from a probability distribution that is uniform in the phase and discrete in the radius. The solution for the corresponding peak-power-limited dispersive channel is obtained only asymptotically, for large signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), where it is shown that the QAM symbols are selected independently from a uniform distribution within a disk in the complex signal space.     

Influence of Panthenol, Chlorphenesin and Lignocaine on the Physical Characteristics of Solidified Sodium Stearate-Based Sticks(SSSS)

Cosmetic sticks provide many consumer advantages over the more readily used aerosol sprays, creams and lotions. In view of the many advantages offered by solidified sodium stearate-based sticks (SSSS), a program was set up to evaluate them as potential bases for the inclusion of topically active medicaments. The present publication elucidates the influence of Panthenol, Chlorphenesin and Lignocaine on the main physical characteristics of some SSSS bases, including their disintegration time, hardness, penetrability, softening point, yield by abrasion and rate of drying by evaporation. The investigated SSSS bases contained glycerol, propylene glycol (PG), polyethylene glycol 400 (PEG 400) or PEG 600 as humectant.

-The disintegration time of the studied bases was generally lowered by the three medicaments; however, glycerol or PG-formulated stick bases had their disintegration time slightly prolonged or unaffected by the addition of Chlorphenesin or Lignocaine;

-Panthenol generally lowered the hardness of SSSS bases but the least variation in this parameter was noticed with PG bases; hardness was generally increased with Chlorphenesin or Lignocaine, but to a lesser extent with the latter;

-generally speaking, Panthenol markedly increased the penetrability of the investigated stick bases; Chlorphenesin and Lignocaine did the same thing but to a lesser extent;

-the softening point of SSSS bases was generally lowered in presence of Panthenol or Lignocaine; Chlorphenesin did not generally affect the softening point of the stick bases; anyhow, the softening point of the investigated medicated sticks moved within the limits of safety, as far as the resistance to handling and storage in areas with occasional hot summers is concerned;

-Panthenol appreciably increased the yield by abrasion of all investigated bases; Lignocaine and Chlorphenesin did not appreciably influence this parameter except in the case of PEG 400 bases where the yield was markedly increased in presence of Lignocaine;

-the rate of drying of all the investigated stick bases was greatly lowered on addition of Panthenol; Chlorphenesin and Lignocaine affected this parameter to a much lesser extent.     

Fruit‐based functional foods I: production of food‐grade apple fibre ingredients

With the increased consumer interest in fibre‐enriched functional foods, industrial‐scale methods for functional fibre production are demanded. The development of a food‐grade fibre preparation method at lab scale that is feasible for industrial scale‐up is a pre‐requisite. This paper describes two lab‐scale fibre preparation methods that have potential to be scaled up to industrial setting for the production of fruit fibres containing desired bioactives and functionality. The two methods, one aqueous and the other ethanolic, were used to isolate fibres from Granny Smith apples (Malus domestica Borkh cv. ‘Granny Smith’). In the aqueous method, ground apple tissues were suspended in HEPES buffer (20 mM, pH 6.5), and then mechanically ruptured using an Ultra‐Turrax and ring grinder. Between steps, the cell‐wall materials were washed with the HEPES buffer. In the ethanolic method, ground apple tissues were stirred in 72% ethanol at 4 °C, filtered, re‐suspended in 72% ethanol and then washed. Microscopic examination and chemical analysis were performed on the resultant fibres. The aqueous method produced natural and uniform dietary fibres in the form of plant cell walls containing 0.282 g uronic acid per g dried fibre. By comparisons, the ethanolic method produced crude fibres containing only 0.182 g uronic acid per g dried fibre, the lower uronic acid content indicating the presence of impurities. Thus, the aqueous method appeared to be advantageous in terms of the retained pectic polysaccharide content and cost‐effectness for industrial scale‐up. Further characterisation using Folin‐Ciocalteu assay and high performance liquid chromatography indicates that the fibres obtained by the aqueous method contained significant amounts of phenolic compounds (2.6 mg catechin equivalent per g dried fibre). These results suggest that fibres obtained by the aqueous method may be more suitable for functional food applications where fibres with high pectic polysaccharide and beneficial phenolic antioxidants are preferred.     

Effects of semiconductor-optical-amplifier nonlinearity on theperformance of high-speed intensity-modulation lightwave systems

It is shown that when the amplifier is driven near saturation, its inherent nonlinearity causes significant bit-pattern-dependent pulse distortion, particularly in the bit-rate range between about 2 and 32 GB/s. Without proper countermeasures, this distortion can degrade system performance appreciably due to two basic mechanisms. The first, which can result in a system power penalty of as much as 10 dB, occurs in a standard decision circuit that automatically sets the threshold voltage to the average signal level, rather than in the middle of the eye opening. The second mechanism, which occurs even with the threshold set properly, is due to the nonlinear enhancement of the simple linear intersymbol interference (ISI) within the receiver filter. For example, computations of system performance at 8 Gb/s using an RC filter that gives a quite acceptable 10% of eye closure under linear conditions show that when the amplifier is driven to its saturation output power level, this mechanism causes a system power penalty of about 1 dB, which increases to about 4.5 dB when the power is doubled. Interestingly, with the proper threshold setting, an ideal integrate-and-dump receiver, which introduces no ISI, is shown to suffer no power penalty due to amplifier nonlinearity     

Fundamental limit on number of channels in subcarrier-multiplexed lightwave CATV system

A fundamental limit on the number of channels in an SCM lightwave CATV system is derived by considering an idealised link consisting of a shot-noise-limited receiver and a laser transmitter with a linear light/current characteristic. For VSB-AM TV, the limit is only 50 channels per milliwatt of received optical power.<>     

Planning for a Large Dam Project: The Case of Traveston Crossing Dam

The approval for a large dam project proposal these days predominantly involves satisfying broadly the criteria of economic development, social equity, and environmental sustainability. It is justified that the criterion of economic development seeks full project cost recovery as well as significant contribution to economic growth of a region. Cost–benefit analysis is normally used as the yardstick for economic development but it has limitations and a better method is warranted. Social equity considerations should embody the need to address the concerns of all sections in communities to be impacted by a project and involve them in the decision-making process. The lapse of this aspect in project planning of the past has led, at least as being partly responsible, to disastrous consequences. Environmental sustainability should seek to ensure that the vital components of the environment are preserved such that the future generation can use the natural resources to their benefit at least as much as the current generation. Environmental sustainability is arguably the most contentious criteria among these. The vagueness in the concept of environmental sustainability and the tendency of the society to err on the safe side have caused many large dam project proposals not reach their fruition. An attempt is made in this paper to define environmental sustainability in a more meaningful way from an analytic viewpoint. The case of Traveston Crossing Dam project in southeast Queensland, Australia is presented as an illustrative example and to evaluate the performance and relevance of the three broad criteria in a real-world application. The case study is also an example of the fact that environmental awareness can lead to enormous level of socio-political forces which can create many hurdles to cross by a democratic government.     

An empirical model for predicting the length of a capillary tube

Any refrigerant device consists of several parts, and one of the most significant parts is the expansion device. This expansion device can be classified into several types according to the size of the refrigeration system. The capillary tube is used usually with a small refrigerant system size to reduce the higher pressure in the condenser into the low pressure in the evaporator. In this study, the effect of the capillary tube's diameter and that of the temperature of the condenser and evaporator on the length of such a device has been theoretically studied. Furthermore, a validation between the theoretical analysis and experimental findings from the literature review has been carried out. To achieve the theoretical aspect, MATLAB code has been developed. The results showed that the maximum difference between the theoretical and experimental results regarding temperature and pressure refrigeration is around 5% and 3.4%, respectively. Also, the results depict that the inner diameter and the condenser temperature have an effect on the length of the capillary tube. However, the effect of the inner diameter is higher compared with the condenser temperature. In addition, an equation to predict the length of the capillary tube has been developed with an accuracy of 98%. This equation is created as a function of the capillary tube's diameter and the temperature of the condenser and the evaporator. Moreover, this equation can be used to predict the length of the capillary tube for small refrigeration devices, especially those operating under 10 KW. The findings of this study can help make a mathematical approach used for the design of the capillary tube simpler and easier to apply.