Electrical and Computer Engineering Commons^™

Pvpbc: Privacy- And Verifiability-Preserving E-Voting Based On Permissioned Blockchain, Muntadher Sallal, Ruairí De Fréin, Ali Malik

Articles

Privacy and verifiability are crucial security requirements in e-voting systems and combining them is considered to be a challenge given that they seem to be contradictory. On one hand, privacy means that cast votes cannot be traced to the corresponding voters. On the other hand, linkability of voters and their votes is a requirement of verifiability which has the consequence that a voter is able to check their vote in the election result. These two contradictory features can be addressed by adopting privacy-preserving cryptographic primitives, which at the same time as achieving privacy, achieve verifiability. Many end-to-end schemes that support …

An Evaluation Of A Computational Technique For Measuring The Embeddedness Of Sustainability In The Curriculum Aligned To Aashe-Stars And The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, Philippe Lemarchand, Cormac H. Macmahon Dr, Mick Mckeever, Philip Owende

Articles

Introduction: SDG 4.7 mandates university contributions to the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through their education provisions. Hence, universities increasingly assess their curricular alignment to the SDGs. A common approach to the assessment is to identify keywords associated with specific SDGs and to analyze for their presence in the curriculum. An inherent challenge is associating the identified keywords as used in the diverse set of curricular contexts to relevant sustainability indicators; hence, the urgent need for more systematic assessment as SDG implementation passes its mid-cycle.

Method: In this study, a more nuanced technique was evaluated with notable capabilities …

Deep Learning Framework For Intelligent Pavement Condition Rating: A Direct Classification Approach For Regional And Local Roads, Waqar Shahid Qureshi, David Power, Ihsan Ullah, Brian Mulry, Kieran Feighan, Susan Mckeever, Dympna O'Sullivan

Articles

Transport authorities rely on pavement characteristics to determine a pavement condition rating index. However, manually computing ratings can be a tedious, subjective, time-consuming, and training-intensive process. This paper presents a deep-learning framework for automatically rating the condition of rural road pavements using digital images captured from a dashboard-mounted camera. The framework includes pavement segmentation, data cleaning, image cropping and resizing, and pavement condition rating classification. A dataset of images, captured from diverse roads in Ireland and rated by two expert raters using the pavement surface condition index (PSCI) scale, was created. Deep-learning models were developed to perform pavement segmentation and …

Enhanced Fractional Adaptive Processing Paradigm For Power Signal Estimation, Naveed Ishtiaq Chaudhary, Zeshan Aslam Khan, Muhammad Asif Zahoor Raja, Iqra Ishtiaq Chaudhary

Articles

Fractional calculus tools have been exploited to effectively model variety of engineering, physics and applied sciences problems. The concept of fractional derivative has been incorporated in the optimization process of least mean square (LMS) iterative adaptive method. This study exploits the recently introduced enhanced fractional derivative based LMS (EFDLMS) for parameter estimation of power signal formed by the combination of different sinusoids. The EFDLMS addresses the issue of fractional extreme points and provides faster convergence speed. The performance of EFDLMS is evaluated in detail by taking different levels of noise in the composite sinusoidal signal as well as considering various …

Rapid Detection Of Sars-Cov-2 Nucleocapsid Protein By A Label-Free Biosensor Based On Optical Fiber Cylindrical Micro-Resonator, Ru-Lei Xia, Bin Liu, Yingying Hu, Juan Liu, Yue Fu, Xing-Dao He, Ping Lu, Yingying Hu, Gerald Farrell

Articles

The current global outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to be a severe threat to human health. Rapid, low-cost, and accurate antigen detection methods are very important for disease diagnosis. The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) nucleocapsid protein (N-Protein) is often used as the diagnostic and screening for coronavirus detection. To this end, we propose and experimentally validate a highly sensitive whispering gallery mode (WGM) optical cylindrical micro-resonator (CMR) for bio immunoassay detection. To study the biokinetic process of immunoassay, the surface of the WGM micro-resonator is functionalized with N-Protein monoclonal antibody (N-Protein-m Ab), which led to the specific detection …

(3-Aminopropyl) Triethoxysilane-Based Immobilization Of Pt/Wo3 On A Microfiber Sensor For High Sensitivity Hydrogen Sensing, Qiao Gao, Bin Liu, Juan Liu, Shengpeng Wan, Tao Wu, Xing-Dao He, Ping Lu, Jinhui Yuan, Renli Ma, Zabih Ghassemlooy, Gerald Farrell, Qiang Wu

Articles

A novel high stability hydrogen sensor based on a Pt/WO3 coated single-mode tapered-no-core single-mode (STNCS) fiber interferometer is proposed and experimentally studied. The STNCS structure is treated by (3-Aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APTES) and then coated with Pt/WO3 nanorods. Compared to the traditional method of using poly (dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) to adhere Pt/WO3 nanorods on the fiber surface, the APTES modified fiber forms strong covalent bonds with Pt/WO3 with stronger adhesion to the fiber surface, resulting in improved long-term stability. Experimental results show that the sensitivity of the sensor varies from -31.05 nm/% to -4.30 nm/% as the hydrogen concentration increases from 0 …

Deactivation Effects Of Tb3+ On Ho3+ Emission In Fluoroindate Glasses For 3.9 Μm Laser Applications, Zhi Zhang, Zhuowei Cheng, Ruicong Wang, Shunbin Wang, Gerald Farrell, Shijie Jia, Pengfei Wang

Articles

A series of Ho3+/Tb3+ co-doped fluoroindate glasses with good thermal stability have been synthesized to study the deactivation effects of Tb3+ on the Ho3+: 3.9 μm emission. Efficient 3.9 μm emission enhancement is obtained under excitation by an 888 nm laser diode (LD). The Judd-Ofelt (J-O) intensity parameters and radiative properties are calculated to evaluate the spectroscopic properties. Possible energy transfer processes resulting in emission reinforcement are discussed. A higher spontaneous transition probability and larger peak emission cross section are achieved with the inclusion of Tb3+. This analysis supports the conclusion that Ho3+/Tb3+ co-doped fluoroindate glass is a potentially useful …

High-Sensitivity Vector Bend Sensor Based On A Fiber Directional Coupler Inscribed By A Femtosecond Laser, Ke Tian, Mingyuan Zhang, Chuanzhein Zhao, Huibin Li, Shilong Li, Yuxuan Jiang, Gerald Farrell, Pengfei Wang

Articles

In this Letter, we demonstrate a high-sensitivity vector bend sensor based on a fiber directional coupler. The fiber directional coupler is composed of two parallel waveguides inscribed within a no-core fiber (NCF) by a femtosecond laser. Since the two written waveguides have closely matched refractive indices and geometries, the transmission spectrum of the fiber directional coupler possesses periodic resonant dips. Such a fiber directional coupler exhibits a good bending-dependent spectral shift response due to its asymmetric structure. Experimental results show that bending sensitivities of -97.11 nm/m-1 and 58.22 nm/m-1 are achieved for the 0° and 180° orientations in the curvature …

Efficient 2075-Nm Laser Emission From Ho3+-Doped Fluorotellurite Glass In A Compact All-Fiber Structure, Liyuan Wang, Xiaotong Zhao, Nian Lv, Niannian Xu, Zhenrui Li, Gerald Farrell, Shunbin Wang, Pengfei Wang

Articles

In this Letter, we report an Ho3+-doped fluorotellurite glass all-fiber laser at 2075 nm. The gain fiber is pumped in-band with a 1976-nm fiber laser and connected by fusion splicing. A high-quality fusion splicing point with a loss of < 0.1 dB was obtained by finely adjusting the splicing power and offset. In addition, by optimizing the writing parameters, a third-order fiber Bragg grating (FBG) with a reflectivity of 98% was achieved at 2075 nm using the femtosecond laser direct-writing method. Using the FBG as the laser cavity mirror and a relatively short 28-cm-long home-made Ho3+-doped fluorotellurite fiber as the laser medium, a laser with a maximum unsaturated output power of 7.33 W was obtained, and the corresponding slope efficiency was as high as 93.4%. The first, to the best of our knowledge, demonstration of the fluorotellurite glass all-fiber ∼2.1-µm laser presented in this work may pave the way for a high-power 2.1-µm fiber laser with a compact structure.

Zno Varistors – The Ideal Microstructure And Characteristics, And Methods Investigated And Developed To Achieve These, Maura Kelleher

Books/Book Chapters

ZnO-Bi2O3-Sb2O3 varistors have been extensively studied since their discovery 5 decades ago. Their function in protecting increasingly sensitive electronic components by absorbing random surges of energy is even more important today. Also, the metal oxides from which they are made from are becoming even more precious. Their electrical characteristics are highly dependent on their microstructural characteristics which are highly dependent on their composition and methods used. The purpose of this article is to explain the ideal microstructure required to obtain the ideal electrical characteristics, the powder preparation methods investigated and developed to achieve it, and some future directions are outlined.

Co-Design Of An Interactive Wellness Park: Exploring Design Requirements For A Multimodal Outdoor Physical Web Installation With Older Adults, Fatima Badmos

Academic Posters Collection

The global demographic landscape is experiencing a notable shift, characterised by a growing proportion of adults over 60. According to projections, the proportion of individuals aged 60 and above is expected to reach one-sixth of the global population by 2030. Furthermore, by 2050, this demographic is projected to exceed a staggering two billion people. Amidst this shift, there is an urgent need to develop interactive and innovative solutions to address older adults' unique challenges, particularly in outdoor physical activity.

A co-design methodology involving older adults’ participation from the idea generation to the application development process will be adopted to address …

Comparing The Iwl-Mvm-Rs And Minstrel-Ht Rate Adaptation Algorithms Under Different Local Error Conditions, Luhan Wang, Mark Davis

Conference papers

WLAN technology has grown rapidly and now provides increasingly reliable and fast wireless connectivity. A number of Rate Adaptation Algorithms (RAAs) which are designed to select the optimal line rate according to the channel conditions have been proposed. Iwl-Mvm-Rs RAA which is implemented in the Intel wireless chips and Minstrel-HT RAA which is implemented in the Linux kernels are two such well known algorithms. Many existing papers evaluate these two algorithms with regard to device mobility and signal fading. However, the causes of frame errors can be divided into two categories: weak signal reception and collisions. Therefore, in this paper, …

Simultaneous Measurement Of Gas Pressure And Temperature Using A Microbubble Resonator Combined With An Fbg, Ketan Dong, Ke Tian, Chuanzhen Zhao, Huibin Li, Jibo Yu, Angzhen Li, Xiaoling Sun, Elfed Lewis, Gerald Farrell, Pengfei Wang

Conference Papers

We propose and demonstrate a microbubble resonator combined with a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) for simultaneous measurement of gas pressure and temperature. The approach used allows for very close proximity (<200 >μm) between the FBG and the microbubble resonator. The microbubble resonator is fabricated in a section of hollow-core fiber (HCF), spliced to a single-mode fiber (SMF) with a pre-inscribed FBG to form a single-ended open structure. Fresnel reflection from the HCF cleaved end means that broadband light is reflected backwards in the same direction as the Bragg wavelength from the FBG. A tapered fiber couples the reflected broadband light …

Tunable Erbium-Doped Fiber Ring Laser With A Polymer Micro Bottle Resonator, Anuradha Rout, Zhe Wang, Zhuochen Wang, Yuliya Semenova

Conference Papers

A new tunable fiber laser structure based on an erbium-doped fiber ring laser (FRL) and a polymer-based microbottle resonator (PMBR) as the wavelength selective filter is proposed and demonstrated. The tunability of the laser output in response to axial strain of up to 253.6 με applied to the PMBR is demonstrated experimentally. When the strain was applied to the PMBR’s long axis, the central lasing wavelength shifted towards shorter wavelengths in a linear fashion. The laser's strain sensitivity was determined to be 0.69 pm/με. The proposed strain-tunable PMBR laser offers the advantages of simple structure, low cost, robust performance, and …

Household Electricity Consumption: A Study On The Role Of Micro-Renewable Energy Systems In Vietnam, Luong Vinh Quoc Duy, Damien Cassells, Jim Hanly

Articles

Although nearly all households in Vietnam have connected to the national grid, electricity shortage in the residential sector is still an issue. One measure of residential electricity shortage is the micro-renewable energy system (micro-RES), but little is known about the drivers for household adoption of such system and whether the presence of a micro-RES can help to reduce household energy consumption. This paper examines the characteristics of households that have adopted a micro-RES and investigates whether the presence of micro-RES would result in a decrease in energy demand by using fixed-effects models. Analysis was carried out on the 2016 and …

A Novel Unidirectional Smart Charging Management Algorithm For Electric Buses, Nicolae Darii, Roberto Turri, Keith Sunderland, Fabio Bignucolo

Articles

The difficulty of controlling the charging of electric buses (EBs) and their effects on network demand are discussed in this study. The solutions suggest a call for worldwide, complex infrastructures that manage EVs and EBs equally. Additionally, the Distribution Network (DN) must be prepared for an increased prevalence of reverse power flow caused by widespread distributed renewable generation. This paper focuses exclusively on EBs since they have higher capacity and predictable charging patterns, which makes them more significant for the DN in the context of a transition to complete vehicle electrification and technologies that are mature enough to be hosted. …

A Molecular Dynamics Study Of Water Confined In Between Two Graphene Sheets Under Compression, Ming-Lang Tseng, Ayomide Adesiyan, Abdelaziz Gassoumi, Nima E. Gorji

Articles

Several studies have demonstrated interest in creating surfaces with improved water interaction and adaptive properties because the behavior of water confined at the nanoscale plays a significant role in the synthesis of materials for technological applications. Remarkably, confinement at the nanoscale significantly modifies the characteristics of water. We determine the phase diagram of water contained by graphene stack sheets in slab form, at T=300 K, and for a constant pressure using molecular dynamics simulations. We discover that, as shown in the simulation, water can exist in both the liquid and vapor phases depending on the confining geometry and compressibility ratio. …

Intelligent Beam Steering For Wireless Communication Using Programmable Metasurfaces, Nouman Ashraf, Taqwa Saeed, Hamidreza Taghvaee, Sergi Abadal, Vasos Vasos, Christos Liaskos Christos Liaskos, Andreas Pitsillides, Marios Lestas Marios Lestas

Articles

Future generations of wireless communications are envisioned to provide several Gbps data rates per user for billions of users simultaneously [1]. The proliferation of billions of Internet of Things (IoT) devices in various industries has pushed wireless networks to their limits in terms of the required capacity to effectively communicate the vast amounts of data that are generated [2]. Moreover, the increasing number of IoT devices is changing mobile communication services from interpersonal communication to smart interconnection among billions of devices. 6G is expected to fulfill the requirements of a fully connected world and provide ubiquitous wireless connectivity for all …

Investigation Of Dielectric And Mechanical Properties Of Lignocellulosic Rice Husk Fibril For High And Medium Voltage Electrical Insulation Applications, T. Rajamanikandan, S. Banumathi, B. Karthikeyan, R. Palanisamy, Mohit Bajaj, Hossam Zawbaa, Salah Kamel

Articles

The insulating material is made from rice husk and epoxy resin which are ecologically friendly and incredibly durable. When coarse Rice husk is mechanically disintegrated, fibrils are formed. By weaving together fibrillated threads, and robust biodegradables, lightweight dielectric fibers are created. Then the Composites are examined utilizing a blend of agave Rice husk fibers (10–35%) and an epoxy resin solution. The Chemical treatment of the Rice husk fibers increases the composites’ mechanical strength and electrical insulating properties. The tensile strength of Rice husk in epoxy composites is increased from 37.84 MPa to 48.32 MPa. The experimental results are compared using …

Analysis Of Degradation Of Sb2se3 Thin Film Solar Cells Deploying A Time-Dependent Approach Linked With 1d-Amps Simulation, Ming-Lang Tseng, Malek Gassoumi, Nima Ghadiri

Articles

In this paper, we have developed a time-dependent model to study defect growth in the absorber layer of Sb2Se3 thin film solar cells. This model has been integrated with the AMPS-1D simulation platform to investigate the impact of increasing defect density at different positions within the Sb2Se3 layer on the electrical parameters of the solar cell. We adopted the Gloeckler standard model for thin films in AMPS to represent Sb2Se3 materials. The study focuses on tracking the degradation of device performance parameters as donor-like mid-gap states accumulate in the Sb2Se3 layer over time. We monitored the variation of key electrical …

Does Self-View Mode Generate Video Conferencing Fatigue? An Experiment Using Eeg Signals, Jin Xu, Eoin Whelan, Ann O'Brien, Denis O’Hora

Conference papers

The ability to see or hide one’s own image is a typical feature of video conferencing platforms. This study will conduct an EEG-based neurobiological experiment to determine if the self-view mode generates video conference fatigue and if this differs between males and females. 40 volunteers will participate in a simulated video conference meeting with the self-view mode on and off at different times. In addition, an EEG-based fatigue monitor will be proposed to demonstrate the level of human mental fatigue. The experimental insights will provide direct biological evidence of the impact of video conferencing features on the user experience and …

Simulation And Analysis Of Synthetic Aperture Radar Images, Jonathan Blackledge

Books/Book chapters

The principal model for an image, generated by the interaction of an incident wave field with an inhomogeneous medium, is based on the ‘weak scattering approximation’. This approximation forms the basis for image processing, analysis and image understanding associated with applications over a broad range of frequencies. The physical limitations of such a model are typically overcome by introducing an additional stochastic field term that takes into account those effects that do not conform to the weak scattering approximation, coupled with background ‘system noise’. In this chapter, a solution to the scattering problem is presented, which is based on an …

Series-Fed Omnidirectional Mm-Wave Dipole Array, Neeraj Kumar Maurya, Max Ammann, Patrick Mcevoy

Articles

THE rapid expansion in the millimeter-wave (mm-wave) frequency domain has completely changed the course of wireless communication. One of the most important steps to make smart cities, the Internet-of-Things (IoT), smart homes, and vehicular communication a reality is to use mm-wave frequencies for wireless applications. The rise in the number of wireless appliances has also led to a rise in data traffic [1]. The adoption of mm-wave frequencies enabled several gigahertz of bandwidth, allowing data rate and latency limits to be exceeded. The availability of a broad electromagnetic spectrum and frequency reusability are the most important characteristics of mm-wave deployment …

Energy-Aware Ai-Driven Framework For Edge-Computing-Based Iot Applications, Muhammad Zawish, Nouman Ashraf, Rafay Iqbal Ansari, Steven Davy

Conference papers

The significant growth in the number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices has given impetus to the idea of edge computing for several applications. In addition, energy harvestable or wireless-powered wearable devices are envisioned to empower the edge intelligence in IoT applications. However, the intermittent energy supply and network connectivity of such devices in scenarios including remote areas and hard-to-reach regions such as in-body applications can limit the performance of edge computing-based IoT applications. Hence, deploying state-of-the-art convolutional neural networks (CNNs) on such energy-constrained devices is not feasible due to their computational cost. Existing model compression methods, such as network …

Subnetwork Ensembling And Data Augmentation: Effects On Calibration, A. Çağrı Demir, Simon Caton, Pierpaolo Dondio

Articles

Deep Learning models based on convolutional neural networks are known to be uncalibrated, that is, they are either overconfident or underconfident in their predictions. Safety-critical applications of neural networks, however, require models to be well-calibrated, and there are various methods in the literature to increase model performance and calibration. Subnetwork ensembling is based on the over-parametrization of modern neural networks by fitting several subnetworks into a single network to take advantage of ensembling them without additional computational costs. Data augmentation methods have also been shown to enhance model performance in terms of accuracy and calibration. However, ensembling and data augmentation …

Design Of Event-Triggered Asynchronous H∞ Filter For Switched Systems Using The Sampled-Data Approach, Sheraz Shafique, Ghulam Mustafa, Nouman Ashraf, Owais Khan

Articles

The design of networked switched systems with event-based communication is attractive due to its potential to save bandwidth and energy. However, ensuring the stability and performance of networked systems with event-triggered communication and asynchronous switching is challenging due to their time-varying nature. This paper presents a novel sampled-data approach to design event-triggered asynchronous H∞ filters for networked switched systems. Unlike most existing event-based filtering results, which either design the event-triggering scheme only or co-design the event-triggering condition and the filter, we consider that the event-triggering policy is predefined and synthesize the filter. We model the estimation error system as an …

Optical Properties Of Periodically And Aperiodically Nanostructured P-N Junctions, Z. Taliashvili, E Łusakowska E Łusakowska, S. Chusnutdinow, A. Tavkhelidze, L. Jangidze, S. Sikharulidze, Nima Ghadiri, Z. Chubinidze, R. Melkadze

Articles

Recently, semiconductor nanograting layers have been introduced and their optical properties have been studied. Spectroscopic ellipsometry has shown that nanograting significantly modifies the dielectric function of c-Si layers. Photoluminescence spectroscopy reveals the emergence of an emission band with a remarkable peak structure. It has been observed that nanograting also alters the electronic and magnetic properties. In this study, we investigate the quantum efficiency and spectral response of Si p-n junctions fabricated using subwavelength grating layers and aperiodically nanostructured layers.

Spherical Modes Driven Directional Modulation With A Compact Mimo Antenna, Abel Zamdemala, Nicola Marchetti, Max Ammann, Adam Narbudowicz

Articles

In this letter, a compact beamsteering MIMO antenna is proposed for Directional Modulation (DM) applications. A generalization of the beamsteering principle is presented and by exploiting the antenna’s unidirectional beamsteering capability within the entire azimuth plane, the system realizes secure steerable transmissions in the direction of the legitimate receiver, with a low Bit Error Rate (BER) of 10^(-5), while a high error rate of 10^(-1) is seen outside the desired regions. Numerical and experimental verifications are carried out to validate the proposed concept and comparisons with circular arrays are conducted, revealing that the system achieves comparable performance but with up …

Exploiting Multimode Antennas For Mimo And Aoa Estimation In Size-Constrained Iot Devices, Abel Zandamela, Alessandro Chiumento Alessandro Chiumento, Alessandro Chiumento, Nicola Marchetti, Max Ammann, Adam Narbudowicz

Articles

This work proposes compact multimode Multiple-Input–Multiple-Output (MIMO) antennas for Angle of Arrival (AoA) estimation in miniaturized Internet of Things (IoT) systems. The method excites different orthogonal radiating modes (TM 21 , TM 02 , and TM 31 modes) for beamforming capabilities, and the AoA performance is investigated using the Multiple Signal Classification (MUSIC) algorithm, executed using numerical and experimental data. The technique is tested at 2.238GHz , while using an antenna diameter

A Label-Free Fiber Ring Laser Biosensor For Ultrahigh Sensitivity Detection Of Salmonella Typhimurium, Shi Qiu, Bin Liu, Yuankui Leng, Edward Fox, Xian Zhou, Binbin Yan, Xinzhu Sang, Long Long, Xingdao He, Jinhui Yuan, Gerald Farrell, Qiang Wu

Articles

The rapid detection of low concentrations of Salmonella Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) is an essential preventive measure for food safety and prevention of foodborne illness. The study presented in this paper addresses this critical issue by proposing a single mode-tapered seven core-single mode (STSS) fiber ring laser (FRL) biosensor for S. Typhimurium detection. The experimental results show that the specific detection time of S. Typhimurium is less than 20 min and the wavelength shift can achieve -0.906 nm for an S. Typhimurium solution (10 cells/mL). Furthermore, at a lower concentration of 1 cell/mL applied to the biosensor, a result of -0.183 …