Colour Fusion in Face Authentication System Based on Visible and Near Infrared Images

In this paper, face authentication using images taken in visible and near-infrared spectra (NIR) is studied. Visible images are in RGB colour space and near-infrared images are in gray levels colour space. First, the performance of system in each of the primary colour spaces of visible and near-infrared spectrum is evaluated that the verification process is based on the Normalised Correlation measure within the LDA feature space. In order to utilize the information of colour images, the scores associated to an adaptively selected subset of the colour based classifiers are then fused in the decision level. The selection process is based on a sequential search technique called the "plus L and take away R" algorithm. The sum rule and svm rule is used for fusing the related scores. Our extensive experimental studies using the HFB face database demonstrate that using the proposed method, the performance of the system considerably improves as compared to the individual Visible-based or NIR-based face verification systems

SETTLE DISPUTE METHODS IN DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL MARITIME TRANSPORTATION

Abstract. The rapid economic growth of Iran in the middle of the last century on the one hand and the large number of maritime trade exchanges between Iran and other countries on the other hand led to the Iranian legislator ratified the regulations on maritime transport, therefore, the Iranian Marine Law was approved in 1964. Although today, due to rapid industrial progress, most of the domestic and international transportation is carried out through air and land; the movement of passengers by sea, especially in short trips or sea voyages, is still a major contributor to domestic and international transport. Now, one of the questions that arises is that in the event of a dispute how it is resolved, which we will discuss in this study (both at the domestic and international levels).Keywords: Contract, transport, carrier, convention, arbitration

A Systematic Review and Synthesis of Empirical Research on “Knowledge Leadership”: A New Insight in the Field of Knowledge Management

This paper aims to synthesize findings drawn from studies on knowledge leadership to identify the key trend of research in the knowledge management literature over the past two decades. A systematic literature review was performed over a data set of 149 related studies published in the international journals indexed by the WoS, SCOPUS, ProQuest, Google Scholar, Emerald Insight, and Elsevier databases between 2001 and 2021. The findings conceptualized the nature of “knowledge leadership” and revealed six core themes focusing on multiple leadership styles, knowledge leadership for learning, effective KM leadership, leader-member exchange, and customer knowledge leadership. Additionally, the content analysis revealed the importance of knowledge leaders being more transformational, distributed, empowering, and visionary. It has been widely reported that transformational leadership is a significant driver of knowledge management practices in the organization. This study provides an integrated picture of effective knowledge leadership for managers and practitioners that significantly depends on a paradigm shift from hierarchical structures and traditional models of leadership to the use of shared, distributed, and networking leadership. Given this increasing interest in studying the role of leadership in KM, it is interesting to investigate the research trend of knowledge leadership in the KM literature.https://dorl.net/dor/20.1001.1.20088302.2022.20.4.11.

The effect of halogenation of salicylaldehyde on the antiproliferative activities of {Δ/Λ-[Ru(bpy)2(X,Y-sal)]BF4} complexes

Ru(II) polypyridyl complexes are widely used in biological fields, due to their physico-chemical and photophysical properties. In this paper, a series of new chiral Ru(II) polypyridyl complexes (1-5) with the general formula {Δ/Λ-[Ru(bpy)2(X,Y-sal)]BF4} (bpy = 2,2'-bipyridyl; X,Y-sal = 5-bromosalicylaldehyde (1), 3,5-dibromosalicylaldehyde (2), 5-chlorosalicylaldehyde (3), 3,5-dichlorosalicylaldehyde (4) and 3-bromo-5-chlorosalicylaldehy (5)) were synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR, and 1H/13C NMR spectroscopy. Also, the structures of complexes 1 and 5 were determined by X-ray crystallography; these results showed that the central Ru atom adopts a distorted octahedral coordination sphere with two bpy and one halogen-substituted salicylaldehyde. DFT and TD-DFT calculations have been performed to explain the excited states of these complexes. The singlet states with higher oscillator strength are correlated with the absorption signals and are mainly described as 1MLCT from the ruthenium centre to the bpy ligands. The lowest triplet states (T1) are described as 3MLCT from the ruthenium center to the salicylaldehyde ligand. The theoretical results are in good agreement with the observed unstructured band at around 520 nm for complexes 2, 4 and 5. Biological studies on human cancer cells revealed that dihalogenated ligands endow the Ru(II) complexes with enhanced cytotoxicity compared to monohalogenated ligands. In addition, as far as the type of halogen is concerned, bromine is the halogen that provides the highest cytotoxicity to the synthesized complexes. All complexes induce cell cycle arrest in G0/G1 and apoptosis, but only complexes bearing Br are able to provoke an increase in intracellular ROS levels and mitochondrial dysfunction

Use of nanomaterials in the pretreatment of water samples for environmental analysis

The challenge of providing clean drinking water is of enormous relevance in today’s human civilization, being essential for human consumption, but also for agriculture, livestock and several industrial applications. In addition to remediation strategies, the accurate monitoring of pollutants in water sup-plies, which most of the times are present at low concentrations, is a critical challenge. The usual low concentration of target analytes, the presence of in-terferents and the incompatibility of the sample matrix with instrumental techniques and detectors are the main reasons that renders sample preparation a relevant part of environmental monitoring strategies. The discovery and ap-plication of new nanomaterials allowed improvements on the pretreatment of water samples, with benefits in terms of speed, reliability and sensitivity in analysis. In this chapter, the use of nanomaterials in solid-phase extraction (SPE) protocols for water samples pretreatment for environmental monitoring is addressed. The most used nanomaterials, including metallic nanoparticles, metal organic frameworks, molecularly imprinted polymers, carbon-based nanomaterials, silica-based nanoparticles and nanocomposites are described, and their applications and advantages overviewed. Main gaps are identified and new directions on the field are suggested.publishe

Utredning av falska automatlarm- En litteratur- och intervjubaserad studie

Automatlarm kan rädda många liv och har hjälpt räddningstjänsten att göra nödvändiga insatser på plats, även om fördelarna är många finns det larm som inte är befogade och som orsakar kostnader för samhället. Syfte med den här studien är att genom intervjuer diskutera kring automatlarm, dess för- och nackdelar och genom litteraturstudier analysera olika ingående parametrar. Material och metod: Studiens uppbyggnad baseras på litteraturstudier och intervjuer av chefer och brandmän inom räddningstjänsten. Intervjun var anonym och inkluderade tre brandmän och tre högt uppsatta personer från Räddningstjänsten Stor Göteborg, Räddningstjänsten Syd och Luleås Räddningstjänst. Gemensamt för metoderna är avtalsskrivningar och den avgift som tas för uttryckning vid automatiska automatlarm. Trots kostnader för automatiska brandlarm är närvaron av ett sådant larm effektiv vid bränder till skillnad från om det hade varit frånvarande. Till exempel har räddningstjänsten i Göteborg, en metod baserad på ett tidigare projekt, uppföljningar av automatiska larm. Men dessa metoder ser annorlunda ut i andra regioner eller distrikt. I Luleå tecknar man avtal med alla anläggningsägare. Räddningstjänsten Syd har larmlagring och följer upp sina larm samtidigt som de särskiljer detektorlarm. Slutsatsen är att räddningstjänsterna har olika metoder när det gäller översyn och nya metoder utarbetas allteftersom för att effektivisera och minimera de automatiska brandlarmen.Automatic alarms have saved many lives and have helped the emergency services to make the necessary efforts in place, although there are many benefits, there are alarms that are not justified and that cause costs for the society. The aim of this study is to, through interviews, discuss about automatic alarms and its advantages and disadvantages and through literature studies analyze different input parameters. Material and method: The study's structure is based on literature studies and interviews of high-ranking persons and firefighters in the rescue services. The interviews were anonymous and included 6 interviews, three firefighters and three high ranking officers from the Rescue Service Gothenburg, the Rescue Service South and Luleå Rescue Service. Common to the methods are contractual signatures and the fee charged for expressing automatic alarms. Despite the cost of automatic fire alarms, the presence of such an alarm is effective in case of fires unlike if it had been absent. For example, the Rescue Service in Gothenburg, a method based on a previous project, has follow-ups of automatic alarms. But these methods look different in other regions or districts. In Luleå, you sign an agreement with all facility owners. The Rescue Service South has alarm storage and monitors alarms at the same time as they separate detector alarms. The conclusion is that the emergency services have different methods when it comes to review and new methods are devised as they are made to improve and minimize the automatic fire alarms

Incorporation of Fuzzy Sets and Earned Value Management into a Cost-Time Trade-off Model

Time-cost trade-off (TCT) problem is a well-known subject in the project scheduling contexts. None of previous studies in this area of research emphasize on the incorporation of the TCT problem into the started project’s performance in order to present a comprehensive model for scheduling and controlling the project in its whole life. The aim of this paper is to provide a novel control mechanism which includes scheduling the project prior to start date, monitoring the project’s performance through the execution, predicting future performance of the project, determining the necessity for re-scheduling, and providing an approach for re-scheduling of the project. In the proposed model, several options with specific time and cost have been considered for the initiation of each activity. These options make different paths for the construction of the project. Due to vagueness and imprecision presented in real case projects, the time and cost behavior for each option has been presumed as fuzzy numbers. Earned Value Management (EVM) has been then utilized for measuring project performance and ultimately, statistical modeling has been also employed in predicting the future trend of EVM’s indices. The model has resulted in selection of the best path for implementation purpose among all available paths. Moreover, the proposed model provides the advantage of assessing the possibility of rescheduling process. An illustrative case has been studied to analyze the application of the proposed model

Evaluation of Biaxial Mechanical Properties of Aortic Media Based on the Lamellar Microstructure

Evaluation of the mechanical properties of arterial wall components is necessary for establishing a precise mechanical model applicable in various physiological and pathological conditions, such as remodeling. In this contribution, a new approach for the evaluation of the mechanical properties of aortic media accounting for the lamellar structure is proposed. We assumed aortic media to be composed of two sets of concentric layers, namely sheets of elastin (Layer I) and interstitial layers composed of mostly collagen bundles, fine elastic fibers and smooth muscle cells (Layer II). Biaxial mechanical tests were carried out on human thoracic aortic samples, and histological staining was performed to distinguish wall lamellae for determining the dimensions of the layers. A neo-Hookean strain energy function (SEF) for Layer I and a four-parameter exponential SEF for Layer II were allocated. Nonlinear regression was used to find the material parameters of the proposed microstructural model based on experimental data. The non-linear behavior of media layers confirmed the higher contribution of elastic tissue in lower strains and the gradual engagement of collagen fibers. The resulting model determines the nonlinear anisotropic behavior of aortic media through the lamellar microstructure and can be assistive in the study of wall remodeling due to alterations in lamellar structure during pathological conditions and aging

Modeling of fatigue life in double shear lap joints using artificial neural networks

Fatigue is one of the most important failure sources of material that is caused by repeatedly applied loads. It is a progressive and localized structural damage that occurs when a material is subjected to cyclic loading. The experimental results of fatigue tests on Al-alloy 2024-T3 in double shear lap joints were used to estimate (model) fatigue life with artificial neural networks (ANN). Artificial neural networks with experimental data processing can find the knowledge or law lies behind the data, and unlike mathematical models, itâs not necessary to determine the mathematical relation between inputs and outputs. To model by artificial neural network, one of the experimental data of fatigue life randomly selected for validation and two other were selected for testing, the rest of the data were used to find the optimal values of weights and bias. After being ensured of the model accuracy, it was used to predict the fatigue life at different loads in the working phase that had not been tested. Comparison of experimental results and the results of the model shows that a 3-layer artificial neural network with less than 10% error could be used to predict the fatigue life at different loads