Emergency water supplies

The Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service periodically issues revisions to its publications. The most current edition is made available. For access to an earlier edition, if available for this title, please contact the Oklahoma State University Library Archives by email at [email protected] or by phone at 405-744-6311.Biosystems and Agricultural Engineerin

Exploring Mobile Biometric Performance through Identification of Core Factors and Relationships

Biometrics, as a form of authentication, has existed for several decades and shows no signs of slowing down. Extensive research has been carried out into enhancing systems either by improving error rates or ease of adoption by examining barriers to use. In this paper, we investigate factors of a biometric system that is likely to affect performance, in particular, focusing on mobile device implementation. By surveying the area, we have identified seven core factors that help to form a clearer understanding of what changes the performance of a system. These seven factors are Users, Modality, Environments, Diversity of Scenarios, System Constraints, Hardware and Algorithms and form ‘The Core Factors Affecting Mobile Biometric Performance’. We utilise these factors to illustrate the practicalities of mobile implementations and indicate future considerations to explore future performance enhancements and provide an informative overview to developers, implementers and testers of biometrics systems, enabling the binning of performance alterations within one of these factors

Deciphering the Nature of the Pulsar Wind Nebula CTB 87 with XMM-Newton

CTB 87 (G74.9+1.2) is an evolved supernova remnant (SNR) which hosts a peculiar pulsar wind nebula (PWN). The X-ray peak is offset from that observed in radio and lies towards the edge of the radio nebula. The putative pulsar, CXOU~J201609.2+371110, was first resolved with \textit{Chandra} and is surrounded by a compact and a more extended X-ray nebula. Here we use a deep {\textit{XMM-Newton}} observation to examine the morphology and evolutionary stage of the PWN and to search for thermal emission expected from a supernova shell or reverse shock interaction with supernova ejecta. We do not find evidence of thermal X-ray emission from the SNR and place an upper limit on the electron density of 0.05~cm$^{-3}$ for a plasma temperature $kT\sim 0.8$ keV. The morphology and spectral properties are consistent with a $\sim$20~kyr-old relic PWN expanding into a stellar wind-blown bubble. We also present the first X-ray spectral index map from the PWN and show that we can reproduce its morphology by means of 2D axisymmetric relativistic hydrodynamical simulations.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Face Image Analysis in Mobile Biometric Accessibility Evaluations

Smartphones cameras are widely used for biometric authentication purposes. This enables more and more users experience face recognition in different common scenarios (e.g., unlocking phones, banking, access controls). One of its advantages is that face recognition requires low interaction with the systems (by simply looking at the smartphone's screen). Thus, it may be useful for people affected by mobility concerns. For this reason, researchers recently started to conduct mobile biometric evaluations recruiting accessibility populations. The aim is to analyse all those factors that, depending on the users' capabilities, influence the biometrics recognition process. In this paper we focus our attention on sample quality, analysing the face images collected during a mobile biometric accessibility study. Results obtained enable us to understand how the users' accessibility concerns influence the biometric sample quality and discuss possible solutions for eradicating this inconvenience. This assessment had been conducted following the recommendations of the ISO/IEC TR 29794-5

Responses of Salmonella biofilms to oxidizing biocides: evidence of spatial clustering

The spatial organization of biofilm bacterial communities can be influenced by several factors, including growth conditions and challenge with antimicrobials. Differential survival of clusters of cells within biofilms has been observed. In this work, we present a variety of methods to identify, quantify and statistically analyse clusters of live cells from images of two Salmonella strains with differential biofilm forming capacity exposed to three oxidizing biocides. With a support vector machine approach, we showed spatial separation between the two strains, and, using statistical testing and high‐performance computing (HPC), we determined conditions which possess an inherent cluster structure. Our results indicate that there is a relationship between biocide potency and inherent biofilm formation capacity with the tendency to select for spatial clusters of survivors. There was no relationship between positions of clusters of live or dead cells within stressed biofilms. This work identifies an approach to robustly quantify clusters of physiologically distinct cells within biofilms and suggests work to understand how clusters form and survive is needed. Significance statement: Control of biofilm growth remains a major challenge and there is considerable uncertainty about how bacteria respond to disinfection within a biofilm and how clustering of cells impacts survival. We have developed a methodological approach to identify and statistically analyse clusters of surviving cells in biofilms after biocide challenge. This approach can be used to understand bacterial behaviour within biofilms under stress and is widely applicable

Identification of an age-dependent biomarker signature in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders

Background: Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are neurodevelopmental conditions with symptoms manifesting before the age of 3, generally persisting throughout life and affecting social development and com

Gellan Gum Fluid Gels for Topical Administration of Diclofenac

Diclofenac topical formulations are often preferred for drug administration to patients who experience serious GIT problems. Absorption of the drug through the skin, however, can be challenging due to the natural protective feature of the stratum corneum (SC). In this article, fluid gels prepared from gellan gum were explored as a topical drug delivery vehicle. Rheological analysis of the formulations showed that it was possible to produce a topical gel with a viscosity and the mechanical strength similar to that of the commercially available Voltaren® gel using 1 % w/w of a 50:50 low acyl/high acyl (LA/HA) gellan blend. Soft-tribology was used to assess the lubrication properties of gellan fluid gels. The lubrication of the gellan gum fluid gel formulations at high rubbing speeds was similar to the lubrication of the Voltaren® gel. The use of gellan gum dramatically increased skin permeation of diclofenac when compared with the commercially available formulation and could be controlled by changing the gellan gum concentration and/or sodium ion concentration in the formulation. This study highlights the potential use of fluid gels that can be easily tuned to have physical properties suitable for topical formulations with the added advantage of increasing drug permeation

Biometric Systems Interaction Assessment: The State of the Art

The design and implementation of effective and efficient biometric systems presents a series of challenges to information technology (IT) designers to ensure robust performance. One of the most important factors across biometric systems, aside from algorithmic matching ability, is the human interaction influence on performance. Changes in biometric system paradigms have motivated further testing methods, especially within mobile environments, where the interaction with the device has fewer environmental constraints, whichmay severely affect system performance. Testing methods involve the need for reflecting on the influence of user-system interaction on the overall system performance in order to provide information for design and testing. This paper reflects on the state of the art of biometric systems interaction assessment, leading to a comprehensive document of the relevant research and standards in this area. Furthermore, the current challenges are discussed and thus we provide a roadmap for the future of biometrics systems interaction research