Enhanced multimodal biometric recognition approach for smart cities based on an optimized fuzzy genetic algorithm

Biometric security is a major emerging concern in the field of data security. In recent years, research initiatives in the field of biometrics have grown at an exponential rate. The multimodal biometric technique with enhanced accuracy and recognition rate for smart cities is still a challenging issue. This paper proposes an enhanced multimodal biometric technique for a smart city that is based on score-level fusion. Specifically, the proposed approach provides a solution to the existing challenges by providing a multimodal fusion technique with an optimized fuzzy genetic algorithm providing enhanced performance. Experiments with different biometric environments reveal significant improvements over existing strategies. The result analysis shows that the proposed approach provides better performance in terms of the false acceptance rate, false rejection rate, equal error rate, precision, recall, and accuracy. The proposed scheme provides a higher accuracy rate of 99.88% and a lower equal error rate of 0.18%. The vital part of this approach is the inclusion of a fuzzy strategy with soft computing techniques known as an optimized fuzzy genetic algorithm.

A Novel Approach to Information Security in Medical Sensor Networks

Objective: Preservation of patient’s medical information in health care industries under Medical Sensor Networks (MSN). Methods: This paper proposes a novel key management technique known as k- secure with FBKM, which generates a robust key to allow communication between sensors present in the Body Sensor Units (BSU) and Body Central Unit (BCU). This proposed work strengthens the FBKM technique which is placed between BCU and the point accessible to medical experts at a remote place in the overall health care monitoring environment. Results: The FBKM technique has proved its success in authentication and security by improving genuine acceptance rate, false rejection rate, and declining false acceptance rate. Conclusion: The k- secure with FBKM scheme enhances the performance of the existing FBKM scheme in Medical Sensor Networks.

Preparation and Characterization of Regenerated Cellulose Membrane Blended with ZrO2 Nanoparticles

It is of great significance to search for efficient, renewable, biodegradable and economical membrane materials. Herein, we developed an organic-inorganic hybrid regenerated cellulose membrane (ZrO2/BCM) with excellent hydrophilic and anti-fouling properties. The membrane was prepared by introducing ZrO2 particles into an N-Methylmorpholine-N-oxide(NMMO)/bamboo cellulose(BC) solution system by the phase inversion method. The physi-chemical structure of the membranes were characterized based on thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The modified regenerated cellulose membrane has the excellent rejection of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and anti-fouling performance. The membrane flux of ZrO2/BCM is 321.49 (L/m2·h), and the rejection rate of BSA is 91.2%. Moreover, the membrane flux recovery rate after cleaning with deionized water was 90.6%. This new type of separation membrane prepared with green materials holds broad application potential in water purification and wastewater treatment.

On the Part Quality, Process Parameters and In-Die Pressures in Indirect Squeeze Casting

Squeeze casting is a process that can produce the highest quality castings. In the current study, the effect of the process settings and the in-die conditions on rejection rates is studied through a full-scale experimental study. Factors affecting the as-cast part quality were investigated in the current study from two different viewpoints. The first part of the study was to investigate the influence of the process settings on the part rejection rate, and the second was to understand the conditions in the die and the effects on the part rejection rate to understand better the reasons and sensitivity of the squeeze casting process.

Effect of Curing Temperature on the Properties of Latex Based Membrane for Oily Wastewater Filtration

Oily wastewater pollution has always been part of the most serious worldwide environmental disaster. Thus, the treatment of oily wastewater is notably crucial. In this work, nitrile butadiene rubber/graphene oxide (NBR/GO) membranes were fabricated by latex compounding and curing method which is comparatively brand-new technique to produce membranes for wastewater treatment. Therefore, the steps in the production need to be studied to enhance the performance of the membrane. Curing temperature is an important factor in the production of the latex-based membrane. In this paper, the effect of curing temperature in the range of 90 °C – 110 °C on the morphology, tensile properties, permeation flux, and oil rejection rate performance of the membrane was studied. The curing temperature was found to affect the surface morphology and integrity of the membranes which sequentially affects the performance of the membrane in terms of strength, permeation flux, and oil rejection rate. NBR/GO membranes cured at the temperature of 100 °C exhibit the highest flux of 491.84 L/m2.hr with an oil rejection rate of 95.44 %, with the ultimate tensile strength (UTS), elongation break (EB%), and E-Modulus (E-mod) of 34.490 MPa, 1627.11 %, and 1.309 MPa, respectively.

The method of vicinity minutiae decomposition with higher level graphs for fingerprint verification

The subject matter of the paper is the development of fingerprint local structures based on the new method of the minutia vicinity decomposition (MVD) for the solution to the task of fingerprint verification. It is an essential task because it is produced attempts to introduce biometric technology in different areas of social and state life: criminology, access control system, mobile device applications, banking. The goal is to develop real number vectors that can respond to criteria for biometric template protection schemes such as irreversibility with the corresponding accuracy of equal error rate (EER). The problem to be solved is the problem of accuracy in the case of verification because there are false minutiae, disappearing of truth minutiae and there are also linear and angular deformations. The method is the new method of MVD that used the level of graphs with many a point from 7 to 3. This scheme of decomposition is shown in this paper; such a variant of decomposition is never used in science articles. The following results were obtained: description of a new method for fingerprint verification. The new metric for creating vectors of real numbers were suggested – a minimal path for points in the graphs. Also, the algorithm for finding out minimal paths for points was proposed in the graphs because the classic algorithm has a problem in some cases with many points being 6. These problems are crossing and excluding arcs are in the path. The way of sorting out such problems was suggested and examples are given for several points are 20. Results of false rejection rate (FRR), false acceptance rate (FAR), EER are shown in the paper. In this paper, the level of EER is 33 % with full search. 78400 false and 1400 true tests were conducted. The method does not use such metrics as distances and angles, which are used in the classical method of MVD and will be used in future papers. This result is shown for total coincidences of real number, not a similarity that it is used at verifications. It is a good result in this case because the result from the method index-of-max is 40 %.

Cross-Linking With Diamine Monomers to Prepare Graphene Oxide Composite Membranes With Varying D-Spacing for Enhanced Desalination Properties

As a new type of membrane material, graphene oxide (GO) can easily form sub-nanometer interlayer channels, which can effectively screen salt ions. The composite membrane and structure with a high water flux and good ion rejection rate were compared by the cross-linking of GO with three different diamine monomers: ethylenediamine (EDA), urea (UR), and p-phenylenediamine (PPD). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results showed that unmodified GO mainly comprises π-π interactions and hydrogen bonds, but after crosslinking with diamine, both GO and mixed cellulose (MCE) membranes are chemically bonded to the diamine. The GO-UR/MCE membrane achieved a water flux similar to the original GO membrane, while the water flux of GO-PPD/MCE and GO-EDA/MCE dropped. X-ray diffraction results demonstrated that the covalent bond between GO and diamine can effectively inhibit the extension of d-spacing during the transition between dry and wet states. The separation performance of the GO-UR/MCE membrane was the best. GO-PPD/MCE had the largest contact angle and the worst hydrophilicity, but its water flux was still greater than GO-EDA/MCE. This result indicated that the introduction of different functional groups during the diamine monomer cross-linking of GO caused some changes in the performance structure of the membrane.

A comparative study of graft uptake in split skin grafting between the first postoperative dressing done on day 3 versus day 5

Background: Skin grafting offers a method of regaining skin continuity. The common causes of skin graft failure are hematoma, seroma, infection. These affect the graft uptake maximally in the initial postoperative period by impairing graft adherence and subsequent revascularization. Aim of study was to compare graft uptake, rejection, seroma and infection among first postoperative dressing on day 3 versus day 5.Methods: A comparative, prospective study conducted at our institute from November 2015 to April 2021, with 100 patients who underwent SSG (split skin grafting) who were distributed into two groups. Group A underwent the first postoperative dressing on day 3 and group B on day 5. The second postoperative dressing was done 2 days following the first. The grafted site was then assessed on for the percentage of graft uptake, rejection, seroma, infection clinically and through culture and sensitivity.Results: The mean graft uptake in group A was 88.48% whereas in group B was 82.62% in the first dressing and in the second dressing, group A was 88.14% whereas group B was 78.02%, with statistically significant data and thus showing less rejection and infection rate in group A. Seroma was present in 82% of cases in group A and 74% in group B on 1st postoperative dressing which reduced to 6% and 12% respectively with the 2nd dressing.Conclusions: Thus, the first postoperative dressing done on Day 3 following skin grafting, significantly increased the final uptake of the graft, reduced seroma, infection and rejection rate.

Transdermal Drug Delivery Systems and Their Use in Obesity Treatment

Transdermal drug delivery (TDD) has recently emerged as an effective alternative to oral and injection administration because of its less invasiveness, low rejection rate, and excellent ease of administration. TDD has made an important contribution to medical practice such as diabetes, hemorrhoids, arthritis, migraine, and schizophrenia treatment, but has yet to fully achieve its potential in the treatment of obesity. Obesity has reached epidemic proportions globally and posed a significant threat to human health. Various approaches, including oral and injection administration have widely been used in clinical setting for obesity treatment. However, these traditional options remain ineffective and inconvenient, and carry risks of adverse effects. Therefore, alternative and advanced drug delivery strategies with higher efficacy and less toxicity such as TDD are urgently required for obesity treatment. This review summarizes current TDD technology, and the main anti-obesity drug delivery system. This review also provides insights into various anti-obesity drugs under study with a focus on the recent developments of TDD system for enhanced anti-obesity drug delivery. Although most of presented studies stay in animal stage, the application of TDD in anti-obesity drugs would have a significant impact on bringing safe and effective therapies to obese patients in the future.

Efficacy and Safety of Iguratimod Supplement to the Standard Immunosuppressive Regimen in Highly Mismatched Renal Transplant Recipients: A Pilot Study

Iguratimod (IGU) can mitigate the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis through its anti-inflammatory effects. The objective of this study was to investigate the clinical efficacy and safety of IGU in highly HLA-mismatched renal transplant recipients, in combination with standard immunosuppressive regimen. This pilot study was designed as an open-label, blank-control, randomized clinical trial on patients recruited from a single transplant center in China. Patients who met the inclusion criteria were randomized to the IGU (n=27) and blank control (n=27) groups. IGU was administrated with the conventional triple immunosuppressive protocol for 52 weeks after kidney transplantation. The incidence of biopsy-proven acute rejection rate was 14.8% (4/27) in the IGU group and 29.6% (8/27) in the control group, P = 0.19. The clinical rejection rate was also substantially reduced in the IGU group (3.7% vs. 18.5%, P = 0.08). De novo donor-specific antibody also showed a decline trend in the IGU group after 52 weeks. The graft function and incidence of adverse events were similar between the two groups. In addition, IGU intervention significantly decreased the number of NK cells throughout the follow-up. In conclusion, our study has shown the possibility that IGU could reduce the allograft rejection rate and de novo DSA with appreciable safety in combination with conventional immunosuppressants. Formal clinical trials were warranted based on current findings.