Data Management ofRFID-based Track-and-Trace Anti-counterfeiting in Apparel Supply Chain

With recent advancement in Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), RFID-based track-and-trace anti-counterfeiting has attracted considerable research interests. A track-and-trace anti-counterfeiting system requires an integral and reliable electronic pedigree (e-pedigree) to ensure high product visibility along the supply chain. With the continuous movements of large volumes of products along the supply chain, huge amounts of RFID data would be inevitably generated, posing great challenges to system development and operation. As such, the front-end RFID data should be well-formatted for efficient capturing, filtering, and synchronization in a logical and reliable way, so that the accumulated e-pedigree would be complete and trustworthy for subsequent product authentication. In this paper, we present an innovative track-and-trace anti-counterfeiting system for apparel products, and discuss a number of key data management issues, such as e-pedigree formatting, data synchronization, and traceability / visibility control. A data format of e-pedigree for full traceability of garments is proposed to support products authentication in item-level, products antilost in pallet-level and products status prediction in batch-level. Based on this format, a three-step mechanism of data synchronization is established to ensure e-pedigree integrity. To avoid possible leakage/falsification of e-pedigree data, an RBACbased access control is proposed as an auxiliary module of the anti-counterfeiting system.published_or_final_versio

Simplicial gauge theory on spacetime

We define a discrete gauge-invariant Yang-Mills-Higgs action on spacetime simplicial meshes. The formulation is a generalization of classical lattice gauge theory, and we prove consistency of the action in the sense of approximation theory. In addition, we perform numerical tests of convergence towards exact continuum results for several choices of gauge fields in pure gauge theory.Comment: 18 pages, 2 figure

Item-level RFID for enhancement of customer shopping experience in apparel retail

In the customer-oriented apparel retail industry, providing satisfactory shopping experience for customers is a vital differentiator. However, traditional stores generally cannot fully satisfy customer needs because of difficulties in locating target products, out-of-stocks, a lack of professional assistance for product selection, and long waiting for payments. Therefore, this paper proposes an item-level RFID-enabled retail store management system for relatively high-end apparel products to provide customers with more leisure, interaction for product information, and automatic apparel collocation to promote sales during shopping. In this system, RFID hardware devices are installed to capture customer shopping behaviour and preferences, which would be especially useful for business decision-making and proactive individual marketing to enhance retail business. Intelligent fuzzy screening algorithms are then developed to promote apparel collocation based on the customer preferences, the design features of products, and the sales history accumulated in the database. It is expected that the proposed system, when fully implemented, can help promote retail business by enriching customers with intelligent and personalized services, and thus enhance the overall shopping experience. © 2015 Elsevier B.V.postprin

Perception and Reaction to Floor Impact Noise in Apartment Buildings: A Qualitative Approach

This study used grounded theory to understand how apartment building residents perceive and react to floor impact noise from upstairs. In-depth interviews with a heterogeneous group of 14 participants were conducted, and the acquired data were analysed to develop a conceptual model for describing perception and reaction to floor impact noise. It was found that floor impact noise had diverse sources, with the majority originating from footsteps. The participants negatively perceived the noise as annoying and disturbing, and sleep disturbance was reported the most frequently. Cognitive and avoidant coping strategies were initially adopted, and complaints were only thereafter registered if the noise persisted. It was also observed that exposure to the noise led to self-reported health problems and concerns. The developed conceptual model highlights potential intervention measures for controlling noise perception and reactions to floor impact noise

Neoproterozoic Mafic-Ultramafic Intrusions from the Fanjingshan Region, South China: Implications for Subduction-Related Magmatism in the Jiangnan Fold Belt

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What is required in terms of mass drug administration to interrupt the transmission of schistosome parasites in regions of endemic infection?

Supplementary information. (PDF 445 kb

Comparative study on the broadening of exciton luminescence linewidth due to phonon in zinc-blende and wurtzite GaN epilayers

The broadening of exciton luminescence linewidth due to phonon in zinc-blende and wurtzite GaN epilayers was discussed. The coupling parameters between exciton and acoustic and longitudinal optical phonons were obtained for both structures. The analysis showed that the coupling constants of both exciton-acoustic optial phonon coupling and exciton-longitudinal optical phonon coupling for zinc-blende GaN were almost twice as much as the corresponding values of wurtzite GaN.published_or_final_versio

Accurate Liability Estimation Improves Power in Ascertained Case Control Studies

Linear mixed models (LMMs) have emerged as the method of choice for confounded genome-wide association studies. However, the performance of LMMs in non-randomly ascertained case-control studies deteriorates with increasing sample size. We propose a framework called LEAP (Liability Estimator As a Phenotype, https://github.com/omerwe/LEAP) that tests for association with estimated latent values corresponding to severity of phenotype, and demonstrate that this can lead to a substantial power increase

Atomic layer deposition of ZnS nanotubes

We report on growth of high-aspect-ratio ($\gtrsim300$) zinc sulfide nanotubes with variable, precisely tunable, wall thicknesses and tube diameters into highly ordered pores of anodic alumina templates by atomic layer deposition (ALD) at temperatures as low as 75 $^{\circ}$C. Various characterization techniques are employed to gain information on the composition, morphology, and crystal structure of the synthesized samples. Besides practical applications, the ALD-grown tubes could be envisaged as model systems for the study of a certain class of size-dependent quantum and classical phenomena.Comment: 1 LaTeX source file, 8 eps figures, and the manuscript in PDF forma

Charge ordering, ferroelectric, and magnetic domains in LuFe2O4 observed by scanning probe microscopy

LuFe2O4 is a multiferroic system which exhibits charge order, ferroelectricity, and ferrimagnetism simultaneously below similar to 230 K. The ferroelectric/charge order domains of LuFe2O4 are imaged with both piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) and electrostatic force microscopy (EFM), while the magnetic domains are characterized by magnetic force microscopy (MFM). Comparison of PFM and EFM results suggests that the proposed ferroelectricity in LuFe2O4 is not of usual displacive type but of electronic origin. Simultaneous characterization of ferroelectric/charge order and magnetic domains by EFM and MFM, respectively, on the same surface of LuFe2O4 reveals that both domains have irregular patterns of similar shape, but the length scales are quite different. The domain size is approximately 100 nm for the ferroelectric domains, while the magnetic domain size is much larger and gets as large as 1 mu m. We also demonstrate that the origin of the formation of irregular domains in LuFe2O4 is not extrinsic but intrinsic. (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.open11116sciescopu