Can physical characteristics in the interrogation room aid the witness in recalling what happened?

Background and aim - Police interrogations tend to be very stressful. This comes at the expense of the effectiveness of interrogations as stressed suspects and witnesses provide less extensive and accurate statements. A more comfortable environment probably leads to more effective interrogations for all persons involved. The aim of this research...

A possible slow-slip-event in the Vrancea seismic active region of Romania

In the last 300 years the window of time for two consecutive large and destructive intermediate-depth earthquakes in Vrancea (Romania) was between 36 and 102 years. An explanation for the larger window of time might be a release of stress produced by a slow-slip-event (SSE). In a vertical sinking slab slightly attached from the Earth’s crust...

Characterization and modeling of mismatch in Cryo-CMOS

This paper presents a device matching study of a commercial 40-nm bulk CMOS technology operated at cryogenic temperatures. Transistor pairs and linear arrays, optimized for device matching, were characterized over the temperature range from 300 K down to 4.2 K. The device parameters relevant for mismatch, i.e., the threshold voltage and the...

Erickson’s practice for crews: What about coping to the situation with zen?

Hypnosis has already been used in very long flights by Bertrand Piccard, one of the two Solar Impulse pilots, to manage fatigue and rest periods. It is also used by navigators like Armel Le Cléac’h during solo races. For this reason we consider it is worth to look at such technics to cope with the constraints of long flights. A study was done in...

Detecting Work Stress in Offices by Combining Unobtrusive Sensors

Employees often report the experience of stress at work. In the SWELL project we investigate how new context aware pervasive systems can support knowledge workers to diminish stress. The focus of this paper is on developing automatic classifiers to infer working conditions and stress related mental states from a multimodal set of sensor data ...

Improving trainees’ performances while under stress using real-time feedback

Professionals working in different domains often experience stressful conditions evoked by disasters or crisis scenarios. Regardless of these conditions, they have to perform at high standards in order to preserve safety for themselves, avoid any casualties, and to resolve the overall situation. Stress, however, negatively affects cognitive...

Fabrication and characterization of suspended beam structures for SiO2 photonic MEMS

This paper proposes a microfabrication process for the reliable release of SiO2 beam structures. These structures are intended to be utilized in SiO2 photonic MEMS. A major fabrication challenge is the release of thick (>10 ?m) SiO2 structures with high yield. A single mask process is developed based on temporary reinforcement of the SiO2...

Modelling environmental and cognitive factors to predict performance in a stressful training scenario on a naval ship simulator

Professionals working in risky or emergency situations have to make very accurate decisions, while the quality of the decisions might be affected by the stress that these situations bring about. Integrating task feedback and biofeedback into computer-based training environments could improve trainees’ stress-coping behaviour. This paper presents...

Multimodal Surveillance: Behavior analysis for recognizing stress and aggression

Nowadays, camera systems are installed in military areas as well as in public spaces like schools, shopping malls, airports, and football stadiums. Human operators are monitoring the screens, looking for any signs of unwanted behavior and negative incidents. The task requires working personnel 24/7. With the ever increasing number of cameras,...

Stress in and texture of PVD deposited metal nitride films

Thin metal nitride films deposited by Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) are used amongst many other applications as wear protective coatings in tool industry or as diffusion barriers in integrated circuit technology. Typically these films exhibit a residual in-plane stress when deposited onto rigid substrates such as silicon wafers or cutting...

Optimization of heating and cooling operations of power block pressure elements

High thermal stresses are created during the operation of power block devices such as boiler drums, outlet headers, steam valves, turbines and heat exchangers. Due to a cyclic character of such stresses, a phenomenon of low-cyclic fatigue occurs, which may lead to the formation of fractures. Manufacturers of power block devices frequently advice...

Stress analysis of fatigue cracks in mechanically fastened joints: An analytical and experimental investigation

The two historical fuselage failures, Comet in 1954 and Aloha in 1988, illustrate that similar accidents must be avoided which requires a profound understanding of the fatigue mechanisms involved, including analytical models to predict the fatigue behavior of riveted joints of a fuselage structure. The scope of the research project covers a...

The effect of mechanical stress on bipolar transistor characteristics

Transistors under stress: Mechanical stress affects amplification

Practically every modern Intel Pentium processor main board features a temperature sensor developed at Delft University of Technology. The sensor detects when the processor starts to become too hot, and switches on a fan to cool it down. As soon as the temperature drops to an acceptable level, the fan is switched off. The temperature sensor was...

Neutron Depolarization in Submicron Ferromagnetic Materials

The neutron depolarization technique is based on the loss of polarization of a polarized neutron beam after transmission through ferromagnetic substances. This loss, caused by Larmor precession in individual domains, determines the mean domain size, the mean square direction cosines of the domains and the mean magnetization. The method is...