Automatic Detection and Characterization of Human Veins Using Infra-Red Image Processing

The detection and characterization of human veins using infrared (IR) image processing have gained significant attention due to its potential applications in biometric identification, medical diagnostics, and vein-based authentication systems. This paper presents a low-cost approach for automatic detection and characterization of human veins from IR images. The proposed method uses image processing techniques including segmentation, feature extraction, and, pattern recognition algorithms. Initially, the IR images are preprocessed to enhance vein structures and reduce noise. Subsequently, a CLAHE algorithm is employed to extract vein regions based on their unique IR absorption properties. Features such as vein thickness, orientation, and branching patterns are extracted using mathematical morphology and directional filters. Finally, a classification framework is implemented to categorize veins and distinguish them from surrounding tissues or artifacts. A setup based on Raspberry Pi was used. Experimental results of IR images demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed approach in accurately detecting and characterizing human. The developed system shows promising for integration into applications requiring reliable and secure identification based on vein patterns. Our work provides an effective and low-cost solution for nursing staff in low and middle-income countries to perform a safe and accurate venipuncture.

A Multilayer Perceptron Artificial Neural Network Study of Fatal Road Traffic Crashes

This paper examines the relationship between fatal road traffic accidents and potential predictors using multilayer perceptron artificial neural network (MLANN) models. The initial analysis employed twelve potential predictors, including traffic volume, prevailing weather conditions, roadway characteristics and features, drivers’ age and gender, and number of lanes. Based on the output of the model and the variables’ importance factors, seven significant variables are identified and used for further analysis to improve the performance of models. The model is optimized by systematically changing the parameters, including the number of hidden layers and the activation function of both the hidden and output layers. The performances of the MLANN models are evaluated using the percentage of the achieved accuracy, R-squared, and Sum of Square Error (SSE) functions.

Electrical Signal-to-Noise Ratio Enhancement in Detection of Mid-IR Signals by Four-Wave Mixing in As2S3-on-LiNbO3 Waveguides

Mid-infrared (mid-IR) signals can be converted to near-infrared (near-IR) wavelengths in As2S3-on-LiNbO3 waveguides by high efficiency four-wave mixing. It provided us a solution to detect mid-IR signals indirectly by state-of-the-art near-IR detectors. High efficiency four-wave mixing was demonstrated and electrical signal-to-noise ratio (eSNR) improvement was also investigated. Compared to direct detection by PbSe and HgCdTe (MCT) mid-IR detectors, the calculation indicated that, at room temperature, the indirect detection to mid-IR signals increased the electrical signal-to-noise ratio up to 67 dB.

Utilization of Solar Energy in Irrigation Systems in Bangladesh

The demand for water pumping in urban water supply and irrigation in Bangladesh is significantly influenced by electricity deficits and high diesel costs. To address these challenges, the adoption of solar power for water pumping emerges as a viable alternative to traditional systems reliant on grid power and diesel. In recent years, there has been a growing emphasis on clean and renewable energies, aligning with the environmental and economic priorities of Bangladesh. The agricultural sector, serving as the backbone of the country’s economy, witnesses an escalating demand for water as the population increases. The extraction and transfer of water for agricultural and drinking purposes translate to high-energy consumption. Leveraging the abundant and essentially free solar energy, particularly during the crop growth periods when irrigation is crucial, presents an optimal solution. This study underscores the underutilization of this vital resource in Bangladesh and advocates for the widespread implementation of solar energy conversion programs, specifically in photovoltaic pumping systems. By comparing these systems with conventional diesel pumps, this paper aims to inspire policymakers, statesmen, and industry professionals to integrate green energy into the water sector. The envisioned outcome is a strategic shift towards sustainable development, with a focus on harnessing solar power to pump water for villages and agriculture, thus contributing to economic and environmental sustainability.

XPS Study of Electroless Deposited Sb2Se3 Thin Films for Solar Cell Absorber Material

As a thin film solar cell absorber material, antimony selenide (Sb2Se3) has become a potential candidate recently because of its unique optical and electrical properties and easy fabrication method. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to determine the stoichiometry and composition of electroless Sb2Se3 thin films using depth profile studies. The surface layers were analyzed nearly stoichiometric. But the abundant amount of antimony makes the inner layer electrically more conductive.

Simulation Study of CuO-Based Solar Cell with Different Buffer Layers Using SCAPS-1D

In copper oxide (CuO) based solar cells, various buffer layers such as CdS, In2S3, WS2 and IGZO have been investigated by solar cell capacitance simulator (SCAPS) in this work. By varying absorber and buffer layer thickness, photovoltaic parameters (open circuit voltage, fill factor, short-circuit current density and efficiency) are determined. The highest efficiency achieved is 19.6% with WS2 buffer layer. The impact of temperature on all CuO-based solar cells is also investigated.

Simplified Method of Stability Analysis of Nonlinear Systems without Using of Lyapunov Concept

In this paper a new simplified method of stability study of dynamical nonlinear systems is proposed as an alternative to using Lyapunov’s method. Like the Lyapunov theorem, the new concept describes a sufficient condition for the systems to be globally stable. The proposed method is based on the assumption that, not only the state matrix contains information on the stability of the systems, but also the eigenvectors. So, first we will write the model of nonlinear systems in the state-space representation, then we use the eigenvectors of the state matrix as system stability indicators.

Simulation Study of Nanoscale FDSOI MOSFET Characteristics

Silicon on insulator (SOI) technology permits a good solution to the miniaturization as the MOSFET size scales down. This paper is about to compare the electrical performance of nanoscale FD-SOI MOSFET at various gate lengths. The performance is compared and contrasted with the help of threshold voltage, subthreshold slope, on-state current and leakage current. Interestingly, by decreasing the gate length, the leakage current and on-state current are increased but the threshold voltage is decreased and the sub-threshold slope is degraded. Silvaco two-dimensional simulations are used to analyze the performance of the proposed structures.

Depth Profile Study of Electroless Deposited Sb2S3 Thin Films Using XPS for Photovoltaic Applications

Sb2S3 has gained tremendous research recently for thin film solar cell absorber material because of their easy synthesis, unique electrical and optical properties. The stoichiometry and composition of electroless Sb2S3 thin films were analyzed using XPS depth profile studies. The surface layers were found nearly stoichiometric. On the other hand, the inner layer was rich in antimony composition making it more conductive electrically.

Simulation Study of 50 nm Gate Length MOSFET Characteristics

With the need to improvement of speed of operation and the demand of low power MOSFET size scales down, in this paper, a 50 nm gate length n-type doped channel MOS (NMOS) is simulated using ATLAS packages of Silvaco TCAD Tool so as to observe various electrical parameters at this gate length. The parameters under investigation are the threshold voltage, subthreshold slope, on-state current, leakage current and drain induced barrier lowering (DIBL) by varying channel doping concentration, drain and source doping concentration and gate oxide thickness.

XPS Depth Profile Study of Sprayed Ga2O3 Thin Films

Ga2O3 thin films were fabricated by spray pyrolysis method using gallium acetylacetonate as source material and water as oxidizer. The films were annealed at 450°C for 60 minutes in argon atmosphere. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) depth profile studies were carried out to analyze the stoichiometry and composition of sprayed as-deposited and annealed Ga2O3 thin films. Surface layers and the inner layers of as-deposited and annealed films were found nearly stoichiometric.

Investigation of Sprayed Lu2O3 Thin Films Using XPS

Spray pyrolysis method was used to deposit Lutetium Oxide (Lu2O3) thin films using lutetium (III) chloride as source material and water as oxidizer. Annealing was carried out in argon atmosphere at 450°C for 60 minutes of the films. To investigate the composition and stoichiometry of sprayed as-deposited and annealed Lu2O3 thin films, depth profile studies using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was done. Nearly stoichiometric was observed for both annealed and as-deposited films in inner and surface layers.

XPS Studies on Electroless As-Deposited and Annealed Ni-P Films

Electroless deposition has been used to deposit Ni-P films on glass slides using the reducing agent sodium hypophosphite. This has been done with a purpose to use Ni-P films as back contact for silicon carbide radiation detectors. By keeping deposition time, temperature, pH and concentration of the precursor solution constant, the film deposition has been done. XPS studies were done to analyze the composition and stoichiometry of Ni-P thin films.

Design of a Proportional-Integral-Derivative Controller for an Automatic Generation Control of Multi-area Power Thermal Systems Using Firefly Algorithm

Essentially, it is significant to supply the consumer with reliable and sufficient power. Since, power quality is measured by the consistency in frequency and power flow between control areas. Thus, in a power system operation and control,automatic generation control(AGC) plays a crucial role. In this paper, multi-area(Five areas: area 1, area 2, area 3, area 4 and area 5) reheat thermal power systems are considered with proportional-integral-derivative(PID) controller as a supplementary controller. Each area in the investigated power system is equipped with appropriate governor unit, turbine with reheater unit, generator and speed regulator unit. The PID controller parameters are optimized by considering nature bio-inspired firefly algorithm(FFA). The experimental results demonstrated the comparison of the proposed system performance(FFA-PID)with optimized PID controller based genetic algorithm(GAPID) and particle swarm optimization(PSO) technique(PSOPID) for the same investigated power system. The results proved the efficiency of employing the integral time absolute error(ITAE) cost function with one percent step load perturbation(1 % SLP) in area 1. The proposed system based FFA achieved the least settling time compared to using the GA or the PSO algorithms, while, it attained good results with respect to the peak overshoot/undershoot. In addition, the FFA performance is improved with the increased number of iterations which outperformed the other optimization algorithms based controller.

Recovery of coupled networks after cascading failures

With society＇s increasing dependence on critical infrastructure such as power grids and communications systems, the robustness of these systems has attracted significant attention.Failure of some nodes can trigger a cascading failure, which completely fragments the network, necessitating recovery efforts to improve robustness of complex systems. Inspired by real-world scenarios, this paper proposes repair models after two kinds of network failures, namely complete and incomplete collapse. In both models, three kinds of repair strategies are possible, including random selection（RS）, node selection based on single network node degree（SD）, and node selection based on double network node degree（DD）. We find that the node correlation in each of the two coupled networks affects repair efficiency. Numerical simulation and analysis results suggest that the repair node ratio and repair strategies may have a significant impact on the economics of the repair process. The results of this study thus provide insight into ways to improve the robustness of coupled networks after cascading failures.

Design and implementation of a leader-follower cooperative control system for unmanned helicopters

In this paper, we present a full scheme for the cooperative control of multiple unmanned aerial vehicle （UAV） helicopters. We adopt the leader-follower pattern to maintain a fixed geometrical formation while navigating the UAVs following certain trajectories. More specifically, the leader is commanded to fly on some predefined trajectories, and each follower is controlled to maintain its position in formation using the measurement of its inertial position and the information of the leader position and velocity, obtained through a wireless modem. More specifications are made for multiple UAV formation flight. In order to avoid possible collisions of UAV helicopters in the actual formation flight test, a collision avoidance scheme based on some predefined alert zones and protected zones is employed. Simulations and experimental results are presented to verify our design.

Vehicular Beacon Broadcast Scheduling Based on Age of Information(AoI)

Vehicular beaconing plays an important role to facilitate various applications in the paradigm of Internet of Vehicles(IoV). Due to high dynamic and resource limitation in IoV, how to schedule the vehicular beacon broadcast is challenging, especially in dense scenarios. In this paper, we investigate the beacon broadcast scheduling problem considering the Age of Information(AoI). We first propose an algorithm minimizing the expected sum of AoI considering the limited communication resource and vehicle mobility. Then the performance of the proposed algorithm is analyzed. With the proposed algorithm, the optimal solution can be obtained under certain conditions. Extensive simulations are conducted to verify the efficiency, effectiveness and fairness of the proposed solution.

Effect of capacitance on ZnO-Bi_2O_3-Yb_2O_3 based varistor for nanosecond transients

The microstructure and electrical properties of ZnO-Bi2O3-Yb2O3 based varistor ceramics were investigated with various temperature effects from 900°C to 1050°C.From the results,it was observed that the increase of sintering temperature offers a reduced capacitive effect from 0.460 nF to 0.321 nF.Furthermore,the grain sizes of varistors were varied from 6.8μm to 9.8μm.The consequence of such smaller grain sizes provided a better voltage gradient of about 895 V/mm for the disc sintered at 900°C and fallen drastically to 410 V/mm for the sample sintered at 1050°C.In addition,there was an increase of non-linearity index to a maximum value of 36.0 and reduced leakage current of 0.026 mA/cm2.However,the density of the varistor decreased with an increase of temperature from 5.41 g/cm3 to 5.24 g/cm3.With this base,the influence of varistor capacitance and high voltage gradient were scrutinized and it led an improved transition speed of the varistor assembly from non-conduction to conduction mode during intruding nanosecond transients.

Wide speed range for traction motor in braking force of electric braking control system

A vehicle stopping method using an electric brake until a traction motor is stopped is studied. At the moment of vehicle stop, electric brake is changed to control mode where torque is reduced at a low speed. Gradient is controlled by estimating the load torque of motor, thereby traction motor is not rotated after stop. In addition, coasting operation and brake test are performed from normal-opposite operation and start using a small-scale model comprising the inertial load equipment and the power converter. Further, traction motor is made to be equipped with a suspension torque. Pure electric braking that makes traction motor stop by an air brake at the time of stop is also implemented. Constant torque range and constant power range are expanded during braking so that braking force is secured with the electric brakes even in high speed region. Therefore, vehicle reduction effect can be expected by reducing parts related with an air brake which is not used frequently by using a pure electric brake in the M car in wide speed region. Further, maintenance of brake system can be reduced. Besides, ride comfort of passenger in the electric rail car, energy efficiency improvement, and noise reduction effect can be additionally expected. Further, an improved brake method that uses only an electric brake till motor stop is proposed by comparing those in the blending brake that uses an air brake while reducing brake torque at vehicle stop.

HfO_2 Gate Dielectrics for Future Generation of CMOS Device Application

The material and electrical properties of HfO 2 hi gh-k gate dielectric are reported.In the first part,the band alignment of H fO 2 and (HfO 2) x(Al 2O 3) 1-x to (100)Si substrate and thei r thermal stability are studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and TEM.The energy gap of (HfO 2) x(Al 2O 3) 1-x,the valence band offset, and the conduction band offset between (HfO 2) x(Al 2O 3) 1-x and the Si substrate as functions of x are obtained based on the XPS results .Our XPS results also demonstrate that both the thermal stability and the resist ance to oxygen diffusion of HfO 2 are improved by adding Al to form Hf aluminat es.In the second part,a thermally stable and high quality HfN/HfO 2 gate stack is reported.Negligible changes in equivalent oxide thickness (EOT),gate leakage, and work function (close to Si mid-gap) of HfN/HfO 2 gate stack are demonstrat ed even after 1000℃ post-metal annealing(PMA),which is attributed to the super ior oxygen diffusion barrier of HfN as well as the thermal stability of the HfN/ HfO 2 interface.Therefore,even without surface nitridation prior to HfO 2 depo sition,the EOT of HfN/HfO 2 gate stack has been successfully scaled down to les s than 1nm after 1000℃ PMA with excellent leakage and long-term reliability.T he last part demonstrates a novel replacement gate process employing a HfN dummy gate and sub-1nm EOT HfO 2 gate dielectric.The excellent thermal stability of the HfN/HfO 2 gate stack enables its use in high temperature CMOS processes.Th e replacement of HfN with other metal gate materials with work functions adequat e for n- and p-MOS is facilitated by a high etch selectivity of HfN with respe ct to HfO 2,without any degradation to the EOT,gate leakage,or TDDB characteris tics of HfO 2.