The need for participants’ performance assessments in academia and industry has been a growing concern. It has attendance, among other metrics, is a key factor in engendering a holistic approach to decision-making. For institutions or organizations where managing people is an important yet challenging task, attendance tracking and management could be employed to improve this seemingly time-consuming process while keeping an accurate attendance record. The manual/quasi-analog approach of taking attendance in some institutions could be unreliable and inefficient, leading to inaccurate computation of attendance rates and data loss. This work, therefore, proposes a system that employs embedded technology and a biometric/ w

In this study, a three-dimensional finite element analysis using ANSYS 12.1 program had been employed to simulate simply supported reinforced concrete (RC) T-beams with multiple web circular openings subjected to an impact loading. Three design parameters were considered, including size, location and number of the web openings. Twelve models of simply supported RC T-beams were subjected to one point of transient (impact) loading at mid span. Beams were simulated and analysis results were obtained in terms of mid span deflection-time histories and compared with the results of the solid reference one. The maximum mid span deflection is an important index for evaluating damage levels of the RC beams subjected to impact loading. Three experi

In the current Windows version (Vista), as in all previous versions, creating a user account without setting a password is possible. For a personal PC this might be without too much risk, although it is not recommended, even by Microsoft itself. However, for business computers it is necessary to restrict access to the computers, starting with defining a different password for every user account. For the earlier versions of Windows, a lot of resources can be found giving advice how to construct passwords of user accounts. In some extent they contain remarks concerning the suitability of their solution for Windows Vista. But all these resources are not very precise about what kind of passwords the user must use. To assess the protection of pa

The concealment of data has emerged as an area of deep and wide interest in research that endeavours to conceal data in a covert and stealth manner, to avoid detection through the embedment of the secret data into cover images that appear inconspicuous. These cover images may be in the format of images or videos used for concealment of the messages, yet still retaining the quality visually. Over the past ten years, there have been numerous researches on varying steganographic methods related to images, that emphasised on payload and the quality of the image. Nevertheless, a compromise exists between the two indicators and to mediate a more favourable reconciliation for this duo is a daunting and problematic task. Additionally, the current

Data compression offers an attractive approach to reducing communication costs using available bandwidth effectively. It makes sense to pursue research on developing algorithms that can most effectively use available network. It is also important to consider the security aspect of the data being transmitted is vulnerable to attacks. The basic aim of this work is to develop a module for combining the operation of compression and encryption on the same set of data to perform these two operations simultaneously. This is achieved through embedding encryption into compression algorithms since both cryptographic ciphers and entropy coders bear certain resemblance in the sense of secrecy. First in the secure compression module, the given text is p

In this paper, effective slab width for the composite beams is investigated with special emphasis on the effect of web openings. A three dimensional finite element analysis, by using finite element code ANSYS, is employed to investigate shear lag phenomenon and the resulting effective slab width adopted in the classical T-beam approach. According to case studies and comparison with limitations and rules stipulated by different standards and codes of practice it is found that web openings presence and panel proportion are the most critical factors affecting effective slab width, whereas concrete slab thickness and steel beam depth are less significant. The presence of web opening reduces effective slab width by about 21%.