Focus-score weighted super-resolution for uncooperative iris recognition at a distance and on the move

Uncooperative iris identification systems at a distance and on the move often suffer from poor resolution and poor focus of the captured iris images. The lack of pixel resolution and well-focused images significantly degrades the iris recognition performance. This paper proposes a new approach to incorporate the focus score into a reconstruction-based super-resolution process to generate a high resolution iris image from a low resolution and focus inconsistent video sequence of an eye. A reconstruction-based technique, which can incorporate middle and high frequency components from multiple low resolution frames into one desired super-resolved frame without introducing false high frequency components, is used. A new focus assessment approach is proposed for uncooperative iris at a distance and on the move to improve performance for variations in lighting, size and occlusion. A novel fusion scheme is then proposed to incorporate the proposed focus score into the super-resolution process. The experiments conducted on the The Multiple Biometric Grand Challenge portal database shows that our proposed approach achieves an EER of 2.1%, outperforming the existing state-of-the-art averaging signal-level fusion approach by 19.2% and the robust mean super-resolution approach by 8.7%.

The Heavy Vehicle Study : a case-control study investigating risk factors for crash in long distance heavy vehicle drivers in Australia

Background Heavy vehicle transportation continues to grow internationally; yet crash rates are high, and the risk of injury and death extends to all road users. The work environment for the heavy vehicle driver poses many challenges; conditions such as scheduling and payment are proposed risk factors for crash, yet the precise measure of these needs quantifying. Other risk factors such as sleep disorders including obstructive sleep apnoea have been shown to increase crash risk in motor vehicle drivers however the risk of heavy vehicle crash from this and related health conditions needs detailed investigation. Methods and Design The proposed case control study will recruit 1034 long distance heavy vehicle drivers: 517 who have crashed and 517 who have not. All participants will be interviewed at length, regarding their driving and crash history, typical workloads, scheduling and payment, trip history over several days, sleep patterns, health, and substance use. All participants will have administered a nasal flow monitor for the detection of obstructive sleep apnoea. Discussion Significant attention has been paid to the enforcement of legislation aiming to deter problems such as excess loading, speeding and substance use; however, there is inconclusive evidence as to the direction and strength of associations of many other postulated risk factors for heavy vehicle crashes. The influence of factors such as remuneration and scheduling on crash risk is unclear; so too the association between sleep apnoea and the risk of heavy vehicle driver crash. Contributory factors such as sleep quality and quantity, body mass and health status will be investigated. Quantifying the measure of effect of these factors on the heavy vehicle driver will inform policy development that aims toward safer driving practices and reduction in heavy vehicle crash; protecting the lives of many on the road network.

Robust mean super-resolution for less cooperative NIR iris recognition at a distance and on the move

Less cooperative iris identification systems at a distance and on the move often suffers from poor resolution. The lack of pixel resolution significantly degrades the iris recognition performance. Super-resolution has been considered to enhance resolution of iris images. This paper proposes a pixelwise super-resolution technique to reconstruct a high resolution iris image from a video sequence of an eye. A novel fusion approach is proposed to incorporate information details from multiple frames using robust mean. Experiments on the MBGC NIR portal database show the validity of the proposed approach in comparison with other resolution enhancement techniques.

Using GIS to visualise and evaluate student travel behaviour

Using GIS to evaluate travel behaviour is an important technique to increase our understanding of the relationship between accessibility and transport demand. In this paper, the activity space concept was used to identify the nature of participation in activities (or lack of it) amongst a group of students using a 2 day travel-activity diary. Three different indicators such as the number of unique locations visited, average daily distance travelled, and average daily activity duration were used to measure the size of activity spaces. These indicators reflect levels of accessibility, personal mobility, and the extent of participation respectively. Multiple regression analyses were used to assess the impacts of students socio-economic status and the spatial characteristics of home location. Although no differences were found in the levels of accessibility and the extent of participation measures, home location with respect to a demand responsive transport (DRT) service was found to be the most important determinant of their mobility patterns. Despite being able to travel longer distances, students who live outside of the DRT service area were found to be temporally excluded from some opportunities. Student activity spaces were also visualised within a GIS environment and a spatial analysis was conducted to underpin the evaluation of the performance of the DRT. This approach was also used to identify the activity spaces of individuals that are geographically excluded from the service. Evaluation of these results indicated that although the service currently covers areas of high demand, 90% of the activity spaces remained un-served by the DRT service. Using this data six new routes were designed to meet the coverage goal of public transport based on a measure of network impedance based on inverse activity density. Following assessment of public transport service coverage, the study was extended using a Spatial Multi Criteria Evaluation (SMCE) technique to assess the effect of service provision on patronage.

Photocatalytic hydrogen production with iron oxide under solar irradiation

As solar hydrogen is a sustainable and environmental friendly energy carrier, it is considered to take the place of fossil fuels in the near future. Solar hydrogen can be generated by splitting of water under solar light illumination. In this study, the use of nanostructured hematite thin-film electrodes in photocatalytic water splitting was investigated. Hematite (á-Fe2O3) has a narrow band-gap of 2.2 eV, which is able to utilise approximately 40% of solar radiation. However, poor photoelectrochemical performance is observed for hematite due to low electrical conductivity and a high rate of electron-hole recombination. An extensive review of useful measures taken to overcoming the disadvantages of hematite so as to enhance its performance was presented including thin-film structure, nanostructuring, doping, etc. Since semiconductoring materials which exhibit an inverse opal structure are expected to have a high surface-volume ratio, unique optical characteristics and a shorter distance for photogenerated holes to travel to the electrode/electrolyte interface, inverse opals of hematite thin films deposited on FTO glass substrate were successfully prepared by doctor blading using PMMA as a template. However, due to the poor adhesion of the films, an acidic medium (i.e., 2 M HCl) was employed to significantly enhance the adhesion of the films, which completely destroyed the inverse opal structure. Therefore, undoped, Ti and Zn-doped hematite thin films deposied on FTO glass substrate without an inverse opal structure were prepared by doctor blading and spray pyrolysis and characterised using SEM, EDX, XRD, TGA, UV-Vis spectroscopy and photoelectrochemical measurements. Regarding the doped hematite thin films prepared by doctor blading, the photoelectrochemical activity of the hematite photoelectrodes was improved by incorporation of Ti, most likely owing to the increased electrical conductivity of the films, the stabilisation of oxygen vacancies by Ti4+ ions and the increased electric field of the space charge layer. A highest photoresponse was recorded in case of 2.5 at.% Ti which seemed to be an optimal concentration. The effect of doping content, thickness, and calcination temperature on the performance of the Ti-doped photoelectrodes was investigated. Also, the photoactivity of the 2.5 at.% Ti-doped samples was examined in two different types of electrochemical cells. Zn doping did not enhance the photoactivity of the hematite thin films though Zn seemed to enhance the hole transport due to the slow hole mobility of hematite which could not be overcome by the enhancement. The poor performance was also obtained for the Ti-doped samples prepared by spray pyrolysis, which appeared to be a result of introduction of impurities from the metallic parts of the spray gun in an acidic medium. Further characterisation of the thin-film electrodes is required to explain the mechanism by which enhanced performance was obtained for Ti-doped electrodes (doctor blading) and poor photoactivity for Zn and Ti-doped samples which were synthesised by doctor blading and spray pyrolysis, respectively. Ti-doped hematite thin films will be synthesised in another way, such as dip coating so as to maintain an inverse opal structure as well as well adhesion. Also, a comparative study of the films will be carried out.

Employer-based support for registered nurses undertaking postgraduate study via distance education

Previous literature has focused on the need for support of undergraduate nursing students during clinical placements. Little is known about the support provided by employers for registered nurses (RNs) who pursue further education. This study sought to identify and describe the types, levels and perceived need for support in the workplace for RNs as they undertake further postgraduate nursing study by distance education (DE).Using an exploratory descriptive design a self-report questionnaire was distributed to a convenient sample of 270 RNs working in one acute care public hospital in Tasmania, Australia.92 questionnaires (response rate 34%) were returned with 26 (28%) reporting being currently enrolled in further study by DE and a further 50 (54)% of RNs planning future study. Results revealed that 100% of participants with a Masters degree completed this by DE. There were differences between the support sought by RNs to that offered by employers, and 16 (34%) who had done or were currently doing DE study, received no support to undertake DE. There was an overwhelming desire by RNs for support; 87 (94%), with a majority believing some support should be mandatory 76 (83%).This study may encourage employers to introduce structured support systems that will actively assist nurses to pursue further study. © 2010.

Pseudoseeds : investigating long-distance, ocean seed dispersal with wireless sensors

Recent theoretical research has shown that ocean currents and wind interact to disperse seeds over long distances among isolated landmasses. Dispersal of seeds among isolated oceanic islands, by birds, oceans and man, is a well-known phenomenon, and many widespread island plants have traits that facilitate this process. Crucially, however, there have been no mechanistic vector-based models of long-distance dispersal for seeds among isolated oceanic islands based on empirical data. Here, we propose a plan to develop seed analogues, or pseudoseeds, fitted with wireless sensor technology that will enable high-fidelity tracking as they disperse across the ocean. The pseudoseeds will be precisely designed to mimic actual seed buoyancy and morphology enabling realistic and accurate, vector-based dispersal models of ocean seed dispersal over vast geographic scales.

Modelling the activation of words in human memory : the spreading activation, spooky-activation-at-a-distance and the entanglement models compared

Modelling how a word is activated in human memory is an important requirement for determining the probability of recall of a word in an extra-list cueing experiment. The spreading activation, spooky-action-at-a-distance and entanglement models have all been used to model the activation of a word. Recently a hypothesis was put forward that the mean activation levels of the respective models are as follows: Spreading � Entanglment � Spooking-action-at-a-distance This article investigates this hypothesis by means of a substantial empirical analysis of each model using the University of South Florida word association, rhyme and word norms.