1,720,960 research outputs found
The human auditory system as a biometric
No full textThis thesis describes the utilisation of a little-known physiological phenomena (otoacoustic emissions) as a biometric. The role of the human auditory system as the sound to nerve impulse transducer is well known and extensively studied. Less well known is the fact that this system can also generate sounds; these are called otoacoustic emissions. Several distinct types of emission are known: of these, one particular type, transient otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) show potential as a biometric. TEOAEs are sounds recorded in the ear canal as the product of an active process in the inner ear which was stimulated. Otoacoustic emissions are analysed from the perspective of what constitutes the fundamental properties a characteristic must posses to be a good biometric and the underlying mathematics are described. Transient OAEs (TEOAEs) are evaluated against these criteria and using linear analysis demonstrate a predicted equal error rate (EER) of 0.182% with a dataset of 561 subjects, confirmed by a similar result on a smaller test dataset of 23 individuals. Permanence of 6 months is demonstrated (with difficulty due to the nature of the current OAE acquisition systems) however stability over several years is suggested by examples from medical literature. A novel acquisition method has been developed with a view to solving the two main problems with current TEOAE acquisition systems: The acceptability problem of having to insert a probe into the ear canal (which is perceived as unnatural and unhygienic) and the extreme sensitivity of the TEOAE to the fit of the probe in the ear canal. Finally a survey of biometrics places TEOAE in context within the field.</p
Innovative teaching of IC design and manufacture using the Superchip platform
No full textIn this paper we describe how an intelligent chip architecture has allowed a large cohort of undergraduate students to be given effective practical insight into IC design by designing and manufacturing their own ICs. To achieve this, an efficient chip architecture, the “Superchip”, has been developed, which allows multiple student designs to be fabricated on a single IC, and encapsulated in a standard package without excessive cost in terms of time or resources. We demonstrate how the practical process has been tightly coupled with theoretical aspects of the degree course and how transferable skills are incorporated into the design exercise. Furthermore, the students are introduced at an early stage to the key concepts of team working, exposure to real deadlines and collaborative report writing. This paper provides details of the teaching rationale, design exercise overview, design process, chip architecture and test regime
IC Design and Manufacture for Undergraduates: Theory, Design and Practice
No full textIn this paper we describe how the practical design and manufacture of modern CMOS integrated circuits (ICs) have been incorporated into the second year of our undergraduate Electronics degree program. While many undergraduate degree programs offer theoretical and design of ICs, none have published a complete design cycle teaching approach including practical manufacture and test of ICs. We demonstrate how the design process has been tightly coupled with theoretical aspects of the degree course and incorporate transferable skills into the design exercise. We will also provide the technical information on how this design exercise can be accomplished sensibly for a large cohort of students (~100) in practical terms
An Intelligent Fuse-box for use with Renewable Energy Sources integrated within a Domestic Environment
No full textThis paper outlines a proposal for an intelligent fuse-box that can replace existing fuse-boxes in a domestic context such that a number of renewable energy sources can easily be integrated into the domestic power supply network, without the necessity for complex islanding and network protection. The approach allows intelligent control of both the generation of power and its supply to single or groups of electrical appliances. Energy storage can be implemented in such a scheme to even out the power supplied and simplify the control scheme required, and environmental monitoring and load analysis can help in automatically controlling the supply and demand profiles for optimum electrical and economic efficiency. Simulations of typical scenarios are carried out to illustrate the concept in operation
Investigation into the uniqueness of neonate transient otoacoustic emissions
No full textThis work presents initial findings from an investigation into the use of otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) for identifying individuals.A data set of 2009 neonate transient otoacoustic emissions was quantified for uniqueness using the Euclidean distance separation of the power spectra. Each sample was compared to all the others and the minimum separation recorded. The percentage separation for 50%, 95%, and 99% of the sample set was calculated and the distribution of the minimum separation plotted. The minimum separation between samples was 1.84% while 99% of the samples had a separation of 3.68%.A simple technique was able to achieve a separation of 3.68% for 99% of the data set, indicating it is highly likely that otoacoustic emissions are unique to an individual and of potential use as a biometric variable in an identification system
The Superchip: Innovative Teaching of IC Design and Manufacture
No full textIn this paper we describe how through intelligent chip architecture, a large cohort (~100 students) of undergraduates can be given effective practical insight into IC design by designing and manufacturing their own individual ICs. To achieve this, the “Superchip” has been developed, which allows (without excessive cost in terms of time or resources) multiple student designs to be fabricated on a single IC, and encapsulated in a standard package. We demonstrate how the practical process has been tightly coupled with theoretical aspects of the degree course and how transferable skills are incorporated into the design exercise. The paper provides details of the chip architecture, test regime, test vectors, and an example design
The biometric potential of transient otoacoustic emissions
No full textWhilst the hearing capabilities of the ear are well known and extensively studied, less well known is the fact that the ear can produce sounds. These faint sounds are called otoacoustic emissions and are an involuntary feature of the biomechanical system employed to hear low amplitude sounds. Several distinct types of emission are known; of these, one particular type, transient otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs), shows potential as a biometric. This paper graphically presents examples of TEOAEs to demonstrate the specificity of TEOAEs to an individual and their stability over a six month period of time. Several large datasets (760 and 561 subjects) and a smaller dataset are numerically analysed to classify individuals and quantify permanence over six months. It was discovered that a high level of classification performance can be obtained using the raw time-pressure data without transformation
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
- …
