140 research outputs found
Transparent authentication methodology in electronic education
No full textIn the context of on-line assessment in e-learning, a problem arises when a student taking an exam may wish to cheat by handing over personal credentials to someone else to take their place in an exam, Another problem is that there is no method for signing digital content as it is being produced in a computerized environment. Our proposed solution is to digitally sign the participant’s work by embedding voice samples in the transcript paper at regular intervals. In this investigation, we have demonstrated that a transparent stenographic methodology will provide an innovative and practical solution for achieving continuous authentication in an online educational environment by successful insertion and extraction of audio digital signatures
Forensic Applications of Whole Genome Amplification
No full textWhole genome amplification (WGA) has been touted as a possible technique to augment fragment analysis of STRs in amplifying low-levels of DNA recovered from crime scenes or items. Only LCN DNA analysis is routinely used as an additional amplification step; but this is not without problems, such as the increased incidents of stochastic variations.
A review of the literature was carried out in order to assess the latest research and to identify a potentially fit for purpose whole genome amplification technique.
There are three potential alternative techniques which show promise, miPEP, dcDOP-PCR and MDA used in conjunction with a macromolecular crowder; with the majority of studies investigating the effect of non-crowded MDA on a variety of stains, including degraded, low-level and stains containing mixtures of DNA.
A number of techniques are suggested for incorporation into STR analysis depending on the sample type as well as future strands of work
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Harmony in the Songs of Hugo Wolf
No full textThe songs of Hugo Wolf represent the culmination of the Romantic German Lied tradition. Wolf developed a personal chromatic harmonic style that allowed him to respond to every nuance of a poetic text, thereby stretching tonality to its limits. He was convinced, however, that despite its novel nature his music could be explained through the traditional theory of harmony. This study determines the degree to which Wolf's belief is true, and begins with an evaluation of the current state of research into Wolf's harmonic practice. An explanation of my analytical method and its underlying philosophy follows; historical perspective is provided by tracing the development of three major elements of traditional theory from their inception to the present day: fundamental bass, fundamental chords, and tonal function. The analytical method is then applied to the works of Wolf's predecessors in order to allow comparison with Wolf. In the investigation of Wolf's harmonic practice the individual elements of traditional functional tonality are examined, focusing on Wolf's use of traditional harmonic functions in both traditional and innovative ways. This is followed by an investigation of the manner in which Wolf assembles these traditional elements into larger harmonic units. Tonal instability, rapid key shifts, progressive tonality, tonal ambiguity, and transient keys are hallmarks of his style. He frequently alters the quality of chords while retaining the function of their scale-degree root. Such "color" chords are classified, and their effect on harmonic progression examined. Wolf's repetitive motivic style and the devices that he employs to provide motion in his music are also discussed. I conclude by examining Wolf's most adventuresome techniques—including parallel chords successions, chromatic harmonic and melodic sequences, and successions of augmented triads--and the suspension of tonality that they produce. This project encompasses all of Wolf's songs, and should be a useful tool for Wolf scholars and performers, students of late nineteenth-century music, the music theorist, and for anyone interested in the concept of harmony as a stylistic determinant
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Transposition and the Transposed Modes in Late-Baroque France
No full textThe purpose of the study is the investigation of the topics of transposition and the transposed major and minor modes as discussed principally by selected French authors of the final twenty years of the seventeenth century and the first three decades of the eighteenth. The sources are relatively varied and include manuals for singers and instrumentalists, dictionaries, independent essays, and tracts which were published in scholarly journals; special emphasis is placed on the observation and attempted explanation of both irregular signatures and the signatures of the minor modes. The paper concerns the following areas: definitions and related concepts, methods for singers and Instrumentalists, and signatures for the tones which were identified by the authors. The topics are interdependent, for the signatures both effected transposition and indicated written-out transpositions. The late Baroque was characterized by much diversity with regard to definitions of the natural and transposed modes. At the close of the seventeenth century, two concurrent and yet diverse notions were in evidence: the most widespread associated "natural" with inclusion within the gamme; that is, the criterion for naturalness was total diatonic pitch content, as specified by the signature. When the scale was reduced from two columns to a single one, its total pitch content was diminished, and consequently the number of the natural modes found within the gamme was reduced. An apparently less popular view narrowed the focus of "natural tone" to a single diatonic pitch, the final of the tone or mode. A number of factors contributed to the disappearance of the long-held distinction between natural and transposed tones: the linking of the notion of "transposed" with the temperament, the establishment of two types of signatures for the minor tones (for tones with sharps and flats, respectively), the transition from a two-column scale to a single-column one, and the recognition of a unified system of major and minor keys
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Harmonic and Contrapuntal Techniques in the Late Keyboard Works of Cesar Franck
No full textThis study examines the five late keyboard works of Cesar Franck: the Prelude, Chorale, and Fugue and the Prelude. Aria, and Finale for piano, and the three organ chorales. The study focuses on harmonic and contrapuntal techniques and their interrelationships, placing the discussion in the context of an analysis of the whole piece. The primary goal is to identify the salient characteristics of each piece; a secondary goal is to identify common harmonic and contrapuntal aspects of Franck's style
A measurement system for precise determination of the refractive-indexes of anesthetic agent vapors
No full textThe evaluation of interactions between anesthetic agent vapors and carrier gases by laser refractometry
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Sharjah, U.A.E.: the urban conservative dilemma
No full textThis thesis has two broad aims, to outline and analyse the urban development of the city of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, illuminating significant events leading to the establishment and subsequent spatial expansion of the settlement. This analysis provides the basis from which the second part of the thesis is derived, thus fulfilling the second aim; to create a series of conservation zones in the city based upon the historical, architectural and cultural significance of groups of buildings, plus their feasibility for preservation according to their physical condition. It is to attempt to redress the balance of the wholesale demolition of historic areas of Middle-Eastern cities that this thesis is offered, in the hope that the suggestions contained within may provide, at the very least, a stimulus or springboard that could result in the extension and application of ideas to other Gulf cities, so resulting in the regional development of conservation zones. Chapters 1.1, 1.2 and 2 trace the establishment and development of the settlement called Sharjah, outlining significant historic events and their geographical impact upon the town, including the Master Plan of 1959.Chapter 3 widens the approach, comparing the town to others in the Middle East with respect to components considered to be essential elements of urban cores ('medinas').Chapters 4, 5 and 6 analyse these individual components; religious institutional buildings, suqs and residential structures, collating evidence to create proposed conservation zones based on both broad-based patterns and individual case studies to exemplify such findings in detail. Chapter 7 outlines potential problems of large-scale conservation schemes, offering some possible solutions but significantly, presenting the dilemma common to many such cities: the conflict of land use at the heart of the city: its historic urban core. Chapter 8 concludes the thesis by summarizing all previous evidence and submitting up-to-date findings from a field visit in 1991, thus illustrating any significant developments with respect to conservation in the city
Mid-infrared gas detection using optically-immersed, room temperature, semiconductor devices
No full textWe report the application of optically immersed, room-temperature InSb/InAlSb LED and photodiode devices to the ppm-level detection of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) at a wavelength of 6 µm. The LED emission and the photodiode detectivity are both increased by the optical immersion, resulting in a power dissipation of only 0.25 mW in the LED. A White cell is used for high gas sensitivity and its relatively small numerical aperture can be conveniently matched to the field of view of the hyperspherically immersed devices.</p
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