Original Finger Image Extraction by Morphological Technique and Finger Image Comparisons for Persons' Identification

This research uses the object extracting technique to extract the index, middle and ring fingers from the hand images. The algorithm developed in this research can find the precise locations of the different fingers' fingertips and the finger-to-finger-valleys. After finding the positions of the fingertips and finger-valleys, the index, middle and ring fingers can be extracted from the hand images by using morphological technique. The extracted index, middle and ring fingers contain many useful geometry features. One can use these features to do the person's identification. The orientations of the index, middle and ring fingers are found in this research. Image rotating, image shifting, and image interpolating techniques are used to align different persons' index, middle and ring fingers. Image subtraction is used to exam the difference of two index, middle and ring finger images. In this research so far only use the index, middle and the ring fingers as the features to identify different persons. ^★This work was supported by National Science Council under grant NSC 93-2213-E-212-011.     

Direct adaptive control of nonminimum phase systems using integralaction

A direct adaptive control scheme is proposed for nonminimum-phase systems in which controller parameters are estimated from the recursive least-squares algorithm and additional auxiliary parameters are obtained from the proposed polynomial identity. A local convergence is guaranteed without any extra condition. Integral action is incorporated into the adaptive controller to eliminate the steady-state error and to satisfy a condition of the unique solution for the polynomial identity. The control law used in this scheme is based on the set-point-on-I-only proportional-integral-derivative (PID) structure     

Effects of contact shape on biological wet adhesion

Wet adhesion is widely adopted in biological adhesion systems in nature. Wet adhesion is studied in this paper with the focus on the effect of different contact shapes (flat, concave, convex, and ring-like) on the adhesion force. The evolution of the liquid bridge between a fiber tip and substrate during the detaching process shows two transition points. The first transition from the radius-controlled to the contact-angle controlled process is critical to influence the strength and robustness of adhesion. We show that a concave shape is more effective than a flat one, while a convex shape has no advantage. A ring-like contact shape has advantages in a hydrophobic environment and on a rough surface.     

Efficient and stable field emission from the oxidized porous polysilicon using Pt/Ti multilayer electrode

The field emission characteristics of an oxidized porous polysilicon (OPPS) were investigated with a Pt/Ti multilayer electrode, which showed highly efficient and stable electron emission characteristics compared with those of conventional Au/NiCr electrodes. The thin Ti layer played an important role in promoting the adhesion of Pt to SiO₂ surface and the distribution of the electric field on the OPPS surface. Additionally, the Ti layer efficiently blocked the diffusion of emitter metal, which resulted in more reliable emission characteristics.     

Effects of gallia additions on sintering behavior of gadolinia-doped ceria

The effects of gallia additions on the sintering behavior of gadolinia-doped ceria were systematically investigated from the following aspects: the variation in sintered density, the variation in grain size, and the existing forms of Ga₂O₃ in CeO₂.Sintered density increased with increasing Ga₂O₃ content up to 5 mol.% and then it decreased with further addition of Ga₂O₃. Grain size also increased with increasing Ga₂O₃ content up to 5 mol.% and then decreased with further addition of Ga₂O₃. Decrease in grain size was caused by a pinning effect of Ga₂O₃ precipitation at grain boundaries. Lattice constant decreased with increasing Ga₂O₃ content up to 5 mol.%. This decrease will be due to the substitution of smaller Ga³⁺ ions for Ce⁴⁺ ions in the CeO₂ structure. According to the results obtained from scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses, the solubility limit of Ga₂O₃ in Ce_0.8Gd_0.2O_1.9 ceramics can be estimated to be nearly 5 mol.%. The addition of Ga₂O₃ up to the solubility limit was found to promote the sintering properties of Gd₂O₃-doped CeO₂.     

Synthesis and characterization of a series of star-branched poly(ε-caprolactone)s with the variation in arm numbers and lengths

A series of star-branched poly(ε-caprolactone)s (SPCLs) was synthesized with structural variation of the arm numbers and lengths through ring-opening polymerization under bulk condition. Arm numbers were varied to be 3, 4, and 6 by using multifunctional initiating cores such as trimethylol propane, pentaerythritol, and dipentaerythritol, respectively. The lengths of the poly(ε-caprolactone) arms were varied by controlling the molar ratio of monomer-to-initiating hydroxyl group molar ratio ([CL]₀/[-OH]₀=5, 10, 15). Molecular weights were determined by both ¹H NMR end-group analysis and MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, which gave reasonably consistent values. On the contrary, the GPC method failed to give accurate values of molecular weight of SPCLs due to the discrepancy with the linear standard. The branching architecture of SPCLs was evaluated by the branching ratio, g, which is the ratio of the mean-square radius of SPCL to that of liner counterpart, linear poly(ε-caprolactone) (LPCL), which is of the same chemistry and having the same molecular weight. The radii of gyration of SPCLs and LPCLs were determined using small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) from the initial slopes of Zimm plots, represented as 1/I(q) vs q² with I(q) and q being the scattered intensity and scattering vector, respectively. The g values were observed to decrease with increasing arm numbers, indicating more compact molecular structure for SPCLs with higher arm numbers, while no such effect was observed for arm length variation. Thermal properties as well as the degree of crystallinity of SPCLs were found to be also dependent on structural variations. The melting points and the degradation temperatures were observed to increase with increasing arm lengths but with constant arm number. On the other hand, arm number variation with constant arm length gave no such changes to the thermal transitions of SPCLs. However, for the SPCLs with equivalent molecular weights, the degree of crystallinity was found to decrease with increasing arm numbers.     

Protein binding study of isoflavone, perillyl alcohol and S-ibuprofen by high-performance frontal analysis

High-performance frontal analysis (HPFA) was used for a protein binding study of isoflavones (daidzein, genistin, and genistein), enantiomers of perillyl alcohol and S-ibuprofen to human serum albumin (HSA). The analyses were performed on a Develosil and Inertsil 100-Diol-5 column (10 cm×4.6mm). Sodium phosphate solution (pH 7.4, ionic strength 0.17) was used as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 1 ml/min. To ensure the drug to be eluted as a trapezoidal peak with a plateau, injection volumes were each fixed up the zonal profile with an evident plateau appears. The unbound drug concentration was determined from a plateau height of the plateau region after that experimental data were fitted by Scatchard equation. The binding constants (K) and total binding affinities (nK) of drugs to HSA were calculated, respectively.     

W-band divide-by-3 frequency divider using 0.1 /spl mu/m InAlAs/InGaAs metamorphic HEMT technology

A W-band divide-by-3 frequency divider with wide bandwidth and low power dissipation is presented using harmonic injection-locking technique. A cascode FET is employed for a self-oscillating second-harmonic mixer which is injection-locked by third-harmonic input to obtain the division order of three. The fabricated frequency divider using 0.1 /spl mu/m GaAs metamorphic HEMT technology shows superior performance such as large bandwidth of 6.1 GHz around 83.1 GHz (7.3%) under small DC power consumption of 12 mW.