Number Of Pins Research Articles

Description of and complications associated with reinforced, free-form external skeletal fixation for treatment of appendicular fractures in cats: 46 cases (2010-2019).

To describe a modified technique for reinforced, free-form external skeletal fixation (rFF-ESF) of appendicular fractures in cats and identify factors associated with development of complications. 46 cats with fractures repaired with rFF-ESF at Angell Animal Medical Center between 2010 and 2019. Medical records were reviewed for information on signalment, affected bone, fracture location and orientation, degree of comminution, severity (open vs closed), fixator type, number of fixation pins, use of an intramedullary pin (yes vs no), surgeon experience (staff surgeon vs surgical resident), anesthesia time, surgery time, perioperative antimicrobial administration, concurrent surgical procedures, intraoperative complications, postoperative alignment, whether fixator destabilization was performed, and time to complete fixator removal. Postoperative complications were recorded. 43 of the 46 (93%) cats had a successful outcome, with a median time to complete fixator removal of 8 weeks (range, 3 to 61 weeks). Twelve of the 46 (26%) cats had major (n = 3) or minor (9) complications. In univariable analyses, 4 factors were significantly associated with development of postoperative complications: body weight (OR for each 1-kg increase in weight, 1.8), tibial fracture (vs fracture of any other long bone; OR, 16), use of a type 2 fixator (vs a type 1 fixator; OR, 11), and use of destabilization (vs no destabilization; 7). Results indicated that rFF-ESF can be successfully used to stabilize a variety of appendicular fractures in cats. Further studies are required to compare rFF-ESF with other fracture fixation methods.

Miniaturized reconfigurable tri‐polarization metantenna based on characteristic mode analysis with high‐aperture efficiency

This article presents a miniaturized reconfigurable tri-polarization metantenna with compact size of 0.58 λ 0 × 0.58 λ 0 × 0.04 λ 0 ( λ 0 is the free space wavelength referring to the antenna center frequency). Metantenna means the metasurface is directly used as the antenna radiator aperture instead of an accessory. The metantenna is formed by miniaturized windmill like units, which is evolved from square patch units based on characteristic mode analysis, and 46% size reduction is achieved. Two PIN diodes are introduced into the feeding microstrip for switching among tri-polarization. The measured −10 dB impedance bandwidths are 24.6% (3.24–4.15 GHz) and 24.1% (3.26–4.05 GHz) for circular polarization (CP) and linear polarization (LP), respectively. The measured overlapped 3 dB axial ratio (AR) bandwidth is 15% (3.4–3.95 GHz). The measured peak gains are 5.15 dBi, 5.21 dBic, and 5.25 dBic for LP, left hand (LH) CP and right hand (RH) CP, respectively. The aperture efficiency is 77.3%, 78.5%, and 79.1% for LP, LHCP, and RHCP, respectively. The measured AR beamwidth (BW) of LHCP in XZ-plane and YZ-plane is 192° and 174°, respectively, the measured ARBW of RHCP in XZ-plane and YZ-plane is 201° and 166°, respectively. The developed metantenna has the following advantages: broadband 3 dB AR bandwidth, wide ARBW > 166°, least PIN number (tri-polarization with 2 PIN), and high-aperture efficiency.

FINGERPRINT AND FACE RECOGNITION BASED ATM SYSTEM USING RASPBERRY PI

ATMs (Automatic Teller Machine) are becoming widely used in today's world because they are easy to use and offer convenience. However, today's ATM technology comes with some security risks such as the theft and misuse of cards, the possibility of losing a card, and forgetting PIN numbers. A growing number of frauds committed against automatic teller machines over the last decade motivated us to use biometrics to ensure the accuracy and security of personal identification. In this paper, we describe a biometric fingerprint and face recognition system that can replace ATM cards and PINs. The transaction is successful when fingerprint, OTP, and face match. If the fingerprint does not match, the customer is guided to enter the aadhaar number. Similarly, if face matching fails, the customer is given an option to answer the question. Here aadhaar number and correct answer to the question must be entered correctly to proceed. Aadhaar number entry and question & answer options are mainly provided for those who are unable to access the system because of damage to their physical attributes (finger and face).

Effects of pin fin height, spacing and orientation to natural convection heat transfer for inline pin fin and plate heat sinks by experimental investigation

In this work, pin fin and plate heat sinks were investigated in terms of natural convection and radiation heat transfer by experimental means. One rectangular base plate and eight pin fin and plate heat sinks were manufactured particularly for this study. Eight different pin fin and plate heat sinks had four different pin fin numbers and hence pin fin spacings; and two different pin fin heights. Three different orientations of 0°, 90° and 180° were tested. Ten different constant heating rates were applied to heat sinks during tests, corresponding to Rayleigh number interval between 1 × 106 and 7 × 106. Heating powers were changed between 5 and 50 W by 5 W increments by means of DC electrical power source. All cases were compared with each other. Results were evaluated by calculating heat transfer indicators from experimental measurements, dependent Nusselt and Rayleigh numbers, and by drawing their corresponding graphics. It was detected that increasing pin fin number up to a threshold value increases thermal performance. After the threshold pin fin number, thermal convection coefficient decreases significantly. Up to the favourable highest pin fin number, the reason of thermal performance enhancement is due to increasing surface area without deteriorating thermal convection coefficient significantly. It is also seen that extended surface area by increasing number of pin fins partly compensates the reduction in thermal convection coefficient up to a level. However, increasing pin fin number further degrades heat transfer performance. Results show that the highest heat transfer is achieved by 121 × 40 pin fin and plate heat sink for all three orientation angles. The lowest heat transfer performance is realized by non-pinned plate. When plate orientation is considered, the highest heat transfer is achieved with upward facing orientation which has 0° orientation angle value, and the lowest heat transfer rate is realized with downward facing heat sink which has 180° orientation angle value. Therefore, it is concluded that inline pin fin and plate heat sinks are best used with upward orientation with optimum number of pins. Experimental dataset was analysed in terms of parametrical effects and accordingly empirical correlations expressions were composed and proposed.

Assessment of heat transfer and pressure drop of metal foam-pin-fin heat sink

Numerical investigation on Metal Foam Pin-Fin Heat Sink (MFPFHS) has been conducted and compared to the traditional Solid Pin-Fin Heat Sink (SPFHS). For investigating turbulent convection heat transfer and friction factor characteristics in the MPFHS, the 3D steady continuity, momentum, and energy equations are discretized using the finite volume approach. The key parameters investigated here are; the pin diameter ratio (DR) i.e., reducing the upper diameter and increasing the lower diameter simultaneously, the number of pins and the pins’ height ratio (HR) i.e., reducing the pin height and increasing its diameter simultaneously. The overall pin volume is retained constant throughout the whole study. The results show that (i) the MFPF exhibit a superior enhancement in the heat dissipation and reduction in the frictional losses compared to the solid pin-fin (SPF), (ii) a great heat transfer and PEC enhancement is observed when DR increases associated with a decrease in the friction factor, (iii) heat transfer and performance evaluation criteria (PEC) enhancement (with a maximum value of 3.7) is obtained when the number of MFPF increases with a large decrease in the friction factor, (iv) high augmentation in PEC with a peak value of 3.8 but up to a certain value is seen, however, with an association of high increase in the friction factor.

Design Space Exploration of Matrix–Matrix Convolution Operation

Convolution is an important operation in neural networks which, in recent years, received significant attention from the researchers thanks to its ability to handle complex tasks such as image processing, computer vision in an efficient manner. In general, the convolution operation in neural networks considers two matrices as inputs: an image matrix representing an image and a kernel matrix required for necessary image processing operation and performs several multiplications and addition operations among the elements of image and kernel matrices. Realizing a circuit structure for matrix–matrix convolution is straightforward as each multiplication is realized by a multiplier, whereas an addition is carried out by an adder. However, the corresponding circuits result in large area, high power consumption and long delay because of the large number of multiplications and additions that are involved in the matrix–matrix convolution operations. While, the existing approaches focus on the accelerations of this computationally intensive tasks, they often do not guarantee minimality of area, power and delay. But we show that there exists design aspects through which the circuit structures for convolution operations can be realized with less area, power and delay. To do this, we consider the kernel definitions during the design of the circuit structures since the kernel matrices are often (pre)-determined based on the desired applications. Motivated by this, we first explore the design space of the convolution operation by introducing an alternative design scheme for realizing the respective operation between two matrices keeping the image processing/neural network applications in mind. Experimental evaluations confirm the potential benefits of the proposed design scheme and demonstrate that the reductions in the area and power by approximately [Formula: see text] and critical path delay by approximately [Formula: see text] can be achieved using the proposed design scheme. In addition, the FPGA implementations of the proposed scheme also show that the reductions of approximately [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] in the number of LUTs and in the number of pins, respectively, can be achieved. Compared to prior works, the proposed scheme allows higher parallelism with minimum LUT utilization.

Percutaneous Fixation of Unstable Proximal Phalanx Fractures: A Biomechanical Study.

Unstable extra-articular proximal phalanx fractures are common injuries to the hand that are often treated by closed reduction and percutaneous pinning. Fracture-induced shortening of the proximal phalanx leads to an extensor lag at the proximal interphalangeal joint. We describe a biomechanical study in cadaver hands to compare the ability of each of three different pin configurations to resist shortening in unstable fractures. Seventeen fresh frozen hands were disarticulated at the proximal ends of the metacarpals. The second, third, and fourth proximal phalanges were tested. A 5-mm section of bone was resected from the mid-shaft of proximal phalanx to simulate an unstable fracture. Three techniques were employed and randomized for each finger: transmetacarpophalangeal joint pinning using 1 or 2 Kirschner wires (K-wires) and periarticular cross pinning using 2 K-wires. Compressive axial loads and energy at 1 mm, 2 mm, 3 mm, 4 mm, and 5 mm of subsidence were examined. The forces and energy required to shorten the finger for each amount of subsidence were similar for all 3 pinning techniques and for all 3 finger types. Greater amounts of shortening were found to require larger forces. Closed reduction and percutaneous pinning using any of the presented techniques is an adequate method of treatment for unstable proximal phalanx fractures. All of the techniques were equivalent in their ability to resist axial loading, regardless of the complexity of technique, the number of pins used, or finger that was pinned.

Plasmonic resonant modes in highly symmetric multi-branches sea-urchin like nanostructures

The electrostatic charge distribution model and the finite-difference time-domain method were used to provide a physically intuitive interpretation of how the shape and the number of branches affect the localized surface plasmon resonances of 3D sea-urchin like nanoparticles. We consider both planner and spherical structures with pins of cylindrical, triangular and hexagonal shape. Better alignment between surface charges of opposite sign leads to higher resonant energy states. More pin numbers provide more surface distribution area to spread dipole charges which leads to worse charges alignment and redshift of dipole mode. However, as the pin number increases, the quadrupole surface charge was pushed toward the pin tip due to Coulomb repulsion. Better charge alignment caused the quadrupole blueshift. Other effects such as convex and concave shape and dielectric materials are also discussed. Our finding may provide a designing rule to synthesize multi-branch nanoparticles for bio-chemical sensing applications.

The Effects of Different Substrate Combinations on Growth and Yield of Oyster Mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus)

This research was aimed at evaluating the effect of mixing substrates on the growth and yield of Oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus). Seven substrates, namely, Trt1 (cotton waste), Trt2 (wheat straw), Trt3 (crushed baobab fruit shells, 100%), Trt4 (cotton husk + wheat straw + crushed baobab fruit shells, 1 : 1 : 1), Trt5 (baobab fruit shells + cotton husks, 1 : 1), Trt6 (baobab fruit shells + wheat straw, 1 : 1), and Trt7 (cotton waste + wheat straw, 1 : 1) were used. Each treatment was replicated 5 times and laid out in a CRD. The duration of developmental stages, yield, and biological efficiency was recorded. Cotton waste demonstrated a significantly ( p < 0.05 ) higher mycelial colonization rate taking an average of 18.20 days to complete full spawn run, 23.20 days from spawning to pinhead formation, 2.80 days for pins to mature, and an average of 26.00 days to first harvest. There was a significant ( p < 0.05 ) difference in the total number of pins with cotton waste being the highest with an average of 29.80 pins, although it was not significantly different from Trt4. The highest (5.40 cm) stipe girth was recorded from Trt4 while the highest (5.22 cm) cap diameter was recorded in Trt1. There was a significant ( p < 0.05 ) difference in yield and biological efficiency. Trt1 had the highest (1.292 kg) average yield; however, it was not significantly ( p > 0.05 ) different from that of Trt4 (1.289 kg). From the research, it was observed that mixing substrate can help to increase yield and, as a result, a higher benefit-cost ratio. Therefore, further studies should be done to evaluate the effects of mixing other substrates besides the ones used in this current research.

MEDIAL AND LATERAL CROSSED-PINNING VERSUS ONLY LATERAL PINNING IN THE TREATMENT OF SUPRACONDYLAR FRACTURES OF HUMERUS A RETROSPECTIVE COMPARATIVE CLINICAL STUDY

OBJECTIVE: In this study, we aimed to compare the clinical and radiological results of cross-pinning technique (CP) and lateral pinning technique (LP) in pediatric patients operated for supracondylar humerus fracture (SHF).MATERIAL AND METHODS: The medical records of patients undergoing operations for an SFH either with crossed-pinning technique or only lateral pining technique between the years 2017 and 2019 at the same institution were retrospectively reviewed. Age, gender, reduction type, Gartland class, duration of surgery, number of pins, postop neuro-vascular status, postoperative initial Baumann’s angle and Baumann’s angle at last follow-up visit, Lateral capitellohumeral angle, pin removal time, follow-up time, Flynn's criteria and complications (revision for fixation failure, infection, nerve palsy. nonunion, avascular necrosis ) were evaluated for all patients.RESULTS: 77 patients were included in the study. Of these, crossed-pinning (CP) technique was performed on 51 patients while only lateral pinning technique (LP) was performed on 26 patients. Among the CP group, 24 of the cross-pinned patients had undergone a medial open reduction. There was no significant difference between the groups ; in terms of the number of pins used, postoperative initial Baumann’s angle and Baumann’s angle at last follow-up visit, Lateral capitellohumeral angle, pin removal time, follow-up time, Flynn's criteria and complications(p>0,005). Nonunion, delayed union or avascular necrosis was not detected in any of the patients. However, the duration of the surgery was shorter in the LP group (p= 0,038). Iatrogenic ulnar nerve palsy was detected in four patients in the CP group and 1 fixation failure was detected in the LP group.CONCLUSIONS: Our study revealed that the results of both groups were comparable in terms of functional results. However, ulnar nerve injury was more common in patients undergoing closed reduction and percutaneous crossed-pinning. Although threre was no statistically difference in terms of complications among the groups, only lateral pinning or crossed-pinning with a limited medial open procedure may be safer for treatment of supracondylar humerus fractures.

Multivariate analysis of causal factors influencing accuracy of guided implant surgery for partial edentulism: a retrospective clinical study

BackgroundIn dental implant treatment, the placement position of the implant body is important. The hypothesis is that there are factors that have a greater impact than the factors that have been studied so far.Material and MethodsThe deviation between planned and actually placed implants was measured three-dimensionally by modified treatment evaluation method in 110 patients who underwent implant placement with guided surgery for partial edentulism. Ten factors that seemed to affect errors in placement were selected: the type of tooth, type of edentulism, distance from the remaining teeth, the type of implant, implant length, number of implants, method of guidance, the number of teeth supporting the surgical guide, number of anchor pins, and presence or absence of a reinforcement structure. The effect of each factor that corrected each confounding was calculated using multivariate analysis.ResultsIn this study, 188 implant bodies were set to target, and the errors measurement data of the implant position were as follows: average Angle, 2.5 ± 1.6° (95% CI 2.25–2.69); Base, 0.67 ± 0.37 mm (95% CI 0.62–0.72); and Apex, 0.92 ± 0.47 mm (95% CI 0.86–0.98). As the result of multivariate analysis, larger errors were present in the partially guided group than the fully guided group. The number of teeth supporting the surgical guide significantly influenced the error in placement position. The error caused by the number of anchor pins was significantly different for the Angle. Similarly, the presence of the reinforcement structure influenced the error significantly for the Angle.ConclusionsIt was suggested that the smaller errors could be present by performing guided surgery with full guidance and devising the design of the guide such as the number of teeth supporting the surgical guide, the setting of the anchor pin, and the reinforcement structure.

Effect of pitching and rolling motion on hydrothermal performance of rectangular channel flow enhanced by twisted-tape pin–fin array

Abstract Motivated by the requirements for the effective heat exchange with marine applications, the hydrothermal performances of the rectangular channel enhanced by the array of twisted-tape pin-fins in rolling and pitching motions were studied using the steady-state infrared thermography method. The distributions of endwall Nusselt number, the Fanning friction coefficients, and the thermal performance factors were measured at Reynolds numbers of 1500, 2500, 3500, 4500 and 5500 with the test channel in single pitching, single rolling and combined pitching-rolling motions. For each mode of swinging condition with the frequency of 0, 0.5, 0.667 or 0.833 Hz at each Reynolds number tested, four heater powers were applied to the test channel for exploring the buoyancy effect on the heat transfer performance. While the present pitching or rolling forces agitated the vortical flows developed in the pin–fin channel to augment strain rates for heat transfer enhancements, the synergetic heat transfer impact at the combined pitching-rolling mode suppressed the effectiveness of heat transfer enhancement attributed to the single pitching and single rolling motions. Relative to the static-channel conditions, the time-mean averaged Nusselt numbers in the single pitching, the single rolling and the combined pitching-rolling motions were modified to 0.88–1.31, 1.02–1.55 and 0.98–1.77 times of the static-channel Nusselt numbers with the corresponding elevations of friction factor to 1.05–2.59, 0.76–2.50 and 2.09–6.79 times of the static-channel references. At all the swinging conditions tested, the time-mean local and area-averaged Nusselt numbers were increased by enhancing the buoyancy level. The considerable pressured drop augmentations at the combined pitching and rolling modes led to the degradation of the hydrothermal performance from that with the single pitching or the single rolling motions. In addition to the newly devised array of twisted tapes as a passive heat transfer enhancement method, the individual and synergetic impacts of pitching and rolling motions on the detailed heat transfer distribution revealed by the present study went beyond the previous efforts in the literature. For assisting the relevant engineering applications, two set of empirical correlations that calculated the time-mean endwall averaged Nusselt number and Fanning friction coefficient of the present twisted-tape pin–fin channel in single pitching, single rolling and combined pitching-rolling motions were devised.

Does Surgical Experience Decrease Radiation Exposure in the Operating Room?

Intraoperative fluoroscopy facilitates minimally invasive surgery, and although it is irreplaceable in terms of intraoperative guidance, it results in substantial radiation exposure to the patient and surgical team. Although the risk of radiation exposure because of equipment factors has been described, there is little known about the impact of surgeon experience on radiation exposure. The aim of this study was to determine whether there is a relationship between years of surgical experience and total dose of radiation used for an archetypal pediatric orthopaedic surgical procedure that requires intraoperative fluoroscopy. This was a retrospective cohort study of children undergoing closed reduction and percutaneous pinning for supracondylar humerus fractures at a level I pediatric trauma center. Information pertaining to radiation dosage was gathered including fluoroscopic time, total images acquired, magnification use, and dose area product (DAP). Regression analysis was used to evaluate the effect of surgeon experience on the outcome variables. A total of 759 pediatric patients treated by 17 attending surgeons were included. The median surgeon experience was 8.94 years (interquartile range, 5.9 to 19.8). Increased number of pins was associated with increased DAP (P<0.001) and lower years of experience (P=0.025). There was significantly higher fluoroscopy time in seconds (56.9 vs. 42.1 s, P=0.001), DAP (179.9 vs. 110.3 mGy-cm2, P=0.001), use of magnification (39.5 vs. 31.9 s, P=0.043), and total number of images obtained (74.5 vs. 57.6, P=0.008) in attending surgeons with <1 year of experience compared with those with greater experience. An operator extremity was visible in at least 1 saved image in 263 of 759 (35%) cases. Increased surgical experience was significantly associated with decreased fluoroscopy usage, including time, number of images, and dose. Surgeon inexperience increases radiation exposure for patients and staff by over 60% when treating supracondylar humerus fractures. This study clearly identifies methods to reduce radiation exposure, including use of pulsed fluoroscopy instead of continuous fluoroscopy, decreasing use of magnification, removing the operator's extremity from the field, and judicious use and placement of each additional pin. Level III.

An analytical stress model for composite multi-pinned plates considering the combination effects of pin load and bypass load in different positions

Multi-pin joints are commonly used in engineering due to their high loading capacity. However, affected by coupling relationships between pin load and bypass load, the evaluation of stress state is difficult for composite multi-pin joints. An analytical method is proposed in this paper to calculate stress distribution of these joints under tensile load. Stress functions in this method are created considering the pin load and bypass load, according to a geometry division of the whole plate. Superposition relationships are built for each section type with an influence coefficient of bypass load. Stress components could be obtained by calculation of stress functions when material properties, geometry dimension and load are known. Experiments and finite element method are employed to verify the validation of proposed method. Results show that pin position affects stress state, and mainly embodies in σx. The first pin always gets the highest stress level, while for the other pins the stress is quite similar. Increase pin number will decrease stress level but the effect is relatively small for the first pin.

A 2D Refreshable Braille Display Based on a Stiffness Variable Polymer and Pneumatic Actuation.

Visual impairments limit a person's ability to process information such as obstacles, environments, reading and especially multimedia content (e.g., photographs and videos). In this work, we present the design and operating mechanism of Braille PolyPad, a prototype 2D refreshable braille display featuring 4×10 braille cells, enabling the transformation of images to 2D braille information. The Braille Polypad is based on a miniature pump enabled pneumatic actuation of Braille pins. The encoder transformed the pattern information to a heating circuits to trigger the softening of a stiffness variable polymer, allowing for large pneumatic actuation in the softened pin area. The braille pattern can switch on and off in 0.5s each regardless of the number of braille cells and pins, with low operation voltage and low power consumption. The technical features in this work could enable low-cost, large-size matrix refreshable braille displays in compact form factor. Full development of the prototype device is still ongoing, including materials optimization, actuation uniformity, and improvement of user-friendly control interface.

Experimental Study on Joining by Forming of HCT590X + Z and EN-AW 6014 Sheets Using Cold Extruded Pin Structures

Due to stricter emission targets in the mobility sector and the resulting trend towards lightweight construction in order to reduce weight and consequently emissions, multi-material systems that allow a material to be placed in the right quantity and in the right place are becoming increasingly important. One major challenge that is holding back the rapid and widespread use of multi-material systems is the lack of adequate joining processes that are suitable for joining dissimilar materials. Joining processes without auxiliary elements have the advantage of a reduced assembly effort and no additional added weight. Conventional joining processes without auxiliary elements, such as welding, clinching, or the use of adhesives, reach their limits due to different mechanical properties and chemical incompatibilities. A process with potential in the field of joining dissimilar materials is joining without an auxiliary element using pin structures. However, current pin manufacturing processes are mostly time-consuming or can only be integrated barely into existing industrial manufacturing processes due to their specific properties. For this reason, the present work investigates the production of single- and multi-pin structures from high-strength dual-phase steel HCT590X + Z (DP600, t0 = 1.5 mm) by cold extrusion directly out of the sheet metal. These structures are subsequently joined with an aluminium sheet (EN AW-6014-T4, t0 = 1.5 mm) by direct pin pressing. For a quantitative evaluation of the joint quality, tensile shear tests are carried out and the influence of different pin heights, pin number, and pin arrangements, as well as different joining strategies on the joint strength is experimentally evaluated. It is proven that a single pin structure with a diameter of 1.5 mm and an average height of 1.86 mm achieves a maximum tensile shear force of 1025 N. The results reveal that the formation of a form-fit during direct pin pressing is essential for the joint strength. By increasing the number of pins, a linear increase in force could be demonstrated, which is independent of the arrangement of the pin structures.

Modernizing the active neutron collar poison rod correction using simulations to enhance PWR fresh fuel verification

The declared inventory of 235U in fresh, low enriched uranium, nuclear fuel assemblies is routinely verified by nuclear safeguards inspectorates using the UNCL (Uranium Neutron Collar – Light Water Reactor Fuel) nondestructive assay instrument. The trend in modern fuels is towards higher initial enrichment, which in turn requires a larger number of burnable poison pins with higher Gadolinia concentration to hold down the initial reactivity. UNCL assay error for modern fuel assemblies typically exceeds 10%. The traditional algorithm used to correct the response for burnable poison content needs revision to achieve accuracy comparable to the σR of 4.5% expected for poison-free assemblies. In this paper we review the problem and use a large set of 287 Monte Carlo simulations based on an experimentally benchmarked model corresponding to the 16×16 PWR array used in Brazilian Angra type II and III fuel. Simulated relative responses are used to evaluate the functional form of the poison correction and determine parameters optimal for 16×16 PWR assemblies. This update is conducted using between 4–24 Gadolinia pins ranging 2–11 wt% Gd2O3 with assemblies having mean enrichments ranging 2.5%–5%. Experimental validation of the updated coefficients using seven measurements shows bias is reduced by an order of magnitude and σR reduced from 10% to less than 2%. Two updated sets of coefficients are provided, the most accurate of which is directly useable in the existing analysis code (INCC) in use by inspectorate at fuel fabrication facilities.

To Enhance Security Mechanism in ATM Account Using Biometric System

The services we use on our day-to-day life like ATM will raise a confidence that it is safe to use for daily transactions that have withdrawals, balance enquiry and take care of all other transactions ATM machine reads the card, which could be Savings or Current accounts. After verification process one can withdraw or transfer or deposit the amount. In such situations, some fraud may occur where some individuals notice others ATM account details and perform transaction process. To overcome such disturbances Biometrics can be applied. Every individual can perform his/her transactional process with Two step verification process i.e., with pin number and biometric verification process. In this way, for some extent the ATM account fraud can be controlled.

Enabling Finger-Touch-Based Mobile User Authentication via Physical Vibrations on IoT Devices

This work enables mobile user authentication via finger inputs on ubiquitous surfaces leveraging low-cost physical vibration. The system we proposed extends finger-input authentication beyond touch screens to any solid surface for IoT devices (e.g., smart access systems and IoT appliances). Unlike passcode or biometrics-based solutions, it integrates passcode, behavioral and physiological characteristics, and surface dependency together to provide a low-cost, tangible and enhanced security solution. The proposed system builds upon a touch sensing technique with vibration signals that can operate on surfaces constructed from a broad range of materials. New algorithms are developed to discriminate fine-grained finger inputs and supports three independent passcode secrets including PIN number, lock pattern, and simple gestures by extracting unique features in the frequency domain to capture both behavioral and physiological characteristics including contacting area, touching force, and etc. The system is implemented using a single pair of low-cost portable vibration motor and receiver that can be easily attached to any surface (e.g., a door panel, a stovetop or an appliance). Extensive experiments demonstrate that our system can authenticate users with high accuracy (e.g., more than 97 percent within two trials), low false positive rate (e.g., less 2 percent) and is robust to various types of attacks.

Immersive augmented reality system for the training of pattern classification control with a myoelectric prosthesis

BackgroundHand amputation can have a truly debilitating impact on the life of the affected person. A multifunctional myoelectric prosthesis controlled using pattern classification can be used to restore some of the lost motor abilities. However, learning to control an advanced prosthesis can be a challenging task, but virtual and augmented reality (AR) provide means to create an engaging and motivating training.MethodsIn this study, we present a novel training framework that integrates virtual elements within a real scene (AR) while allowing the view from the first-person perspective. The framework was evaluated in 13 able-bodied subjects and a limb-deficient person divided into intervention (IG) and control (CG) groups. The IG received training by performing simulated clothespin task and both groups conducted a pre- and posttest with a real prosthesis. When training with the AR, the subjects received visual feedback on the generated grasping force. The main outcome measure was the number of pins that were successfully transferred within 20 min (task duration), while the number of dropped and broken pins were also registered. The participants were asked to score the difficulty of the real task (posttest), fun-factor and motivation, as well as the utility of the feedback.ResultsThe performance (median/interquartile range) consistently increased during the training sessions (4/3 to 22/4). While the results were similar for the two groups in the pretest, the performance improved in the posttest only in IG. In addition, the subjects in IG transferred significantly more pins (28/10.5 versus 14.5/11), and dropped (1/2.5 versus 3.5/2) and broke (5/3.8 versus 14.5/9) significantly fewer pins in the posttest compared to CG. The participants in IG assigned (mean ± std) significantly lower scores to the difficulty compared to CG (5.2 ± 1.9 versus 7.1 ± 0.9), and they highly rated the fun factor (8.7 ± 1.3) and usefulness of feedback (8.5 ± 1.7).ConclusionThe results demonstrated that the proposed AR system allows for the transfer of skills from the simulated to the real task while providing a positive user experience. The present study demonstrates the effectiveness and flexibility of the proposed AR framework. Importantly, the developed system is open source and available for download and further development.