On-Body Channel Measurement Using Wireless Sensors

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Agenator: An open source computer-controlled dry aging system for beef

Dry aging of beef is a process where beef is exposed to a controlled environment with the ultimate goal of drying the beef to improve its quality and value. Comprehensive investigations into the effects of various environmental conditions on dry aging are crucial for understanding and optimizing the process, but the lack of affordable equipment focused on data collection makes it difficult to do so. The Agenator was thus developed as an open source system with a suite of features for investigating dry aging such as: measuring and recording relative humidity, temperature, mass, air velocity, and fan rotational speed; precise control within 1% for relative humidity and 50 rpm for fan rotational speed; robust signal integrity preservation and data recovery features; modular design for easy addition and removal of individual chamber units; and non-permanent fixtures to allow easy adaptation of the system for other applications such as investigating dehydration of food products. The open source system comes with user-friendly computer software for interfacing with the system and creating sophisticated environmental control programs. The Agenator is available to the public at https://osf.io/87nck/

Pembangunan dan penganalisisan aplikasi permohonan peruntukkan penyelenggaraan bangunan sekolah berasaskan proses pengurusan dalam kejuruteraan awam

Penyelenggaraan adalah aktiviti yang dilakukan secara berterusan bagi memastikan fungsi bangunan dapat dilaksanakan sebagaimana fungsinya secara normal. Penyelenggaraan bangunan sekolah adalah aktiviti rutin yang harus dijalankan memandangkan sekolah adalah lokasi pertama dalam pengembangan minda kanak�kanak. Namun begitu, kajian literatur menunjukkan terdapat beberapa masalah dalam pengurusan penyelenggaraan yang lazimnya diselia oleh ahli jawatankuasa penyelenggaraan sekolah. Antaranya ialah kegagalan mereka mematuhi Pekeliling Am Bil.2 Tahun 1995 dalam proses permohonan penyelenggaraan. Disebabkan permasalahan tersebut, tesis ini diwujudkan bagi membantu mereka dalam menyelesaikan sebahagian masalah yang dihadapi dengan cara membangunkan satu aplikasi permohonan penyelenggaraan sekolah berkomputer. Pembangunan aplikasi adalah menggunakan Microsoft Access. Aplikasi pertama yang dibangunkan adalah CoRTMaS di mana ia hanya tertumpu kepada penyelenggaraan bumbung dan tandas berdasarkan kepada kajian literatur yang mengatakan 2 komponen ini paling kerap mengalami kerosakan. Hasil soal selidik diuji menggunakan SPSS dan mendapati kadar ketepatan hasil kajian adalah α = 0.893. Walaupun hasil kajian CoRTMaS amat memuaskan, aplikasi SiPBaS dibangunkan bagi menambah baik fungsi aplikasi dalam CoRTMaS. Kesimpulannya, pembangunan aplikasi dapat menyumbang kepada kelancaran proses permohonan penyelenggaraan sekolah namun terdapat beberapa cadangan lanjutan yang dicadangkan bagi memantapkan aplikasi SiPBaS iaitu menjadikan aplikasi ini berfungsi secara atas talian, mewujudkan ruangan bagi memuat turun gambar kerosakan serta mewujudkan kod keselamatan untuk kontraktor terlibat

Hubungan di antara status Sosio Ekonomi (SSE) keluarga dengan pencapaian akademk : satu kajian ke at as pelajar aliran teknikal di Sekolah Menengah Teknik Negeri Sembilan

Kajian ini bertujuan untuk melihat hubungan di antara status sosio ekonomi (SSE) keluarga dengan pencapaian akademik di kalangan pelajar aliran teknikal. Kajian ini dijalankan ke atas pelajar tingkatan empat aliran teknikal di lima buah Sekolah Menengah Teknik di Negeri Sembilan iaitu Sekolah Menengah Teknik Tuanku Jaafar, Sekolah Menengah Teknik Juasseh, Sekolah Menengah Teknik Pertanian Rembau, Sekolah Menengah Teknik Ampangan dan Sekolah Menengah Teknik Port Dicksoa Seramai 350 orang pelajar terlibat dalam kajian ini dan dipilih secara rawak mudah. Analisis regresi mudah dan regresi berbilang digunakan untuk melihat hubungan di antara pembolehubah yang dikaji. Keseluruhan data kajian telah dianahsis menggunakan perisian Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences (SPSS) versi 11.5 dengan membuat pengiraan peratusan dan regresi. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan secara majoritinya, SSE mempunyai hubungan yang signifikan dengan tahap pencapaian akademik pelajar. Dengan itu dapat dirumuskan bahawa SSE mempengaruhi tahap pencapaian akademik pelajar aliran teknikal. Beberapa cadangan dikemukakan untuk panduan kajian selanjutnya

Trick or Heat? Manipulating Critical Temperature-Based Control Systems Using Rectification Attacks

Temperature sensing and control systems are widely used in the closed-loop control of critical processes such as maintaining the thermal stability of patients, or in alarm systems for detecting temperature-related hazards. However, the security of these systems has yet to be completely explored, leaving potential attack surfaces that can be exploited to take control over critical systems. In this paper we investigate the reliability of temperature-based control systems from a security and safety perspective. We show how unexpected consequences and safety risks can be induced by physical-level attacks on analog temperature sensing components. For instance, we demonstrate that an adversary could remotely manipulate the temperature sensor measurements of an infant incubator to cause potential safety issues, without tampering with the victim system or triggering automatic temperature alarms. This attack exploits the unintended rectification effect that can be induced in operational and instrumentation amplifiers to control the sensor output, tricking the internal control loop of the victim system to heat up or cool down. Furthermore, we show how the exploit of this hardware-level vulnerability could affect different classes of analog sensors that share similar signal conditioning processes. Our experimental results indicate that conventional defenses commonly deployed in these systems are not sufficient to mitigate the threat, so we propose a prototype design of a low-cost anomaly detector for critical applications to ensure the integrity of temperature sensor signals.Comment: Accepted at the ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS), 201

TBM pressure models: observations, theory and practice

Mechanized tunnelling in soft ground has evolved significantly over the last 20 years. However, the interaction between the tunnel boring machine (TBM) and the ground is often understood through idealized concepts, focused mostly on the machine actions in detriment of the reactions from the ground. These concepts cannot be used to explain several mechanisms that have been observed during the construction of mechanized tunnels. Therefore, this paper presents the path from field observations to the theoretical developments to model the TBM-ground interaction more realistically. Some ideas on how these developments can be applied into practice are presented. Finally, a discussion is proposed about how an effective collaboration between academia and industry can alleviate the current concentration of knowledge in the state of practice

Surface MIMO: Using Conductive Surfaces For MIMO Between Small Devices

As connected devices continue to decrease in size, we explore the idea of leveraging everyday surfaces such as tabletops and walls to augment the wireless capabilities of devices. Specifically, we introduce Surface MIMO, a technique that enables MIMO communication between small devices via surfaces coated with conductive paint or covered with conductive cloth. These surfaces act as an additional spatial path that enables MIMO capabilities without increasing the physical size of the devices themselves. We provide an extensive characterization of these surfaces that reveal their effect on the propagation of EM waves. Our evaluation shows that we can enable additional spatial streams using the conductive surface and achieve average throughput gains of 2.6-3x for small devices. Finally, we also leverage the wideband characteristics of these conductive surfaces to demonstrate the first Gbps surface communication system that can directly transfer bits through the surface at up to 1.3 Gbps.Comment: MobiCom '1

Compact half diamond dual-band textile HMSIW on-body antenna

A novel wearable dual-band textile antenna, designed for optimal on-body performance in the 2.4 and 5.8 GHz Industrial, Scientific and Medical bands, is proposed. By using brass eyelets and a combination of conducting and non-conductive textile materials, a half-mode substrate integrated waveguide cavity with ground plane is realized that is very compact and flexible, while still directing radiation away from the wearer. Additional miniaturization is achieved by adding a row of shorting vias and slots. Beside excellent free space performance in the 2.4 and 5.8 GHz bands, respectively, with measured impedance bandwidth of 4.9% and 5.1%, maximal measured free-space gain of 4.1 and 5.8 dBi, and efficiency of 72.8% and 85.6%, very stable on-body performance is obtained, with minimal frequency detuning when deploying the antenna on the human body and when bent around cylinders with radii of 75 and 40 mm. At 2.45 and 5.8 GHz, respectively, the measured on-body gain is 4.4 and 5.7 dBi, with sufficiently small calculated SAR values of 0.55 and 0.90 W/kg. These properties make the proposed antenna excellently suited for wearable on-body systems

Langley aerospace test highlights, 1985

The role of the Langley Research Center is to perform basic and applied research necessary for the advancement of aeronautics and space flight, to generate new and advanced concepts for the accomplishment of related national goals, and to provide research advice, technological support, and assistance to other NASA installations, other government agencies, and industry. Significant tests which were performed during calendar year 1985 in Langley test facilities, are highlighted. Both the broad range of the research and technology activities at the Langley Research Center and the contributions of this work toward maintaining United States leadership in aeronautics and space research, are illustrated. Other highlights of Langley research and technology for 1985 are described in Research and Technology-1985 Annual Report of the Langley Research Center