Face anti-spoofing aims to prevent false authentications of face recognition systems by distinguishing whether an image is originated from a human or spoof medium. In this work, we note that images unseen domains having different spoof-irrelevant factors (e.g., background patterns and subject) induce domain shift between source target distributions. Also, when the same SiFs are shared genuine i...

Even though several studies have assessed the degree of progressivity in targeting communities under the participatory Social Investment Fund (SIF) approach to the provision of local public goods, there is yet little evidence on how increasing decentralization affects the quality of this targeting. We identify the impact of increasing decentralization on community targeting using the unique sit...

In the present paper, computations of mixed mode stress intensity factor (SIF) variations along the crack front, and fatigue-crack-growth simulations, in cracked I-beams, considering different load cases and initial crack configurations, are carried out by employing the three-dimensional SGBEM (Symmetric Galerkin Boundary Element Method)–FEM (Finite Element Method) Alternating Method. For mode-...

Vertebral fractures (VF) and sacral insufficiency fractures (SIFs) are very common in osteoporotic patients with low-back pain and are often overlooked in clinical practice. Plain radiography is usually the first examination. However, on many occasions, further evaluation with CT scan, MRI and nuclear medicine studies is necessary. Nuclear medicine examinations have important applications for t...

The effects of elastic constants mismatch on the interaction between a propagating crack and single or multiple inclusions in brittle matrix materials are investigated using numerical simulations. The simulations employ a quasi-static crack-growth prediction tool based upon the symmetric-Galerkin boundary element method (SGBEM) for multiregions, a modified quarter-point crack-tip element, the d...

Analytical integrations, in the framework of linear elastic problems modelled by means of boundary integral equations, have been considered in a previous publication (Int. J. Numer. Methods Eng. 2002; 53(7):1695–1719): the present note aims at extending the subject to linear elastic fracture mechanics. In such a context, special shape functions have been recently proposed (SIAM J. Appl. Math. 1...

The scaled boundary finite element method (SBFEM) is extended for shape sensitivity analysis of stress intensity factors (SIFs) with respect to the crack geometry. The procedure combines the finite element formulations with the boundary discretization. The original equations of the SBFEM are reformulated as functions of the so-called scaling centre, synonymous to the crack tip. The variation in...

BACKGROUND Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a highly crystalline and mechanically stable nanopolymer, which has excellent potential as a material in many novel applications, especially if it can be produced in large amounts from an inexpensive feedstock. Waste fiber sludge, a residue with little or no value, originates from pulp mills and lignocellulosic biorefineries. A high cellulose and low ligni...