Abstract: Multimedia information availability has increased
dramatically with the advent of video broadcasting on handheld
devices. But with this availability comes problems of maintaining the
security of information that is displayed in public. ISMA Encryption
and Authentication (ISMACryp) is one of the chosen technologies for
service protection in DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting-
Handheld), the TV system for portable handheld devices. The
ISMACryp is encoded with H.264/AVC (advanced video coding),
while leaving all structural data as it is. Two modes of ISMACryp are
available; the CTR mode (Counter type) and CBC mode (Cipher
Block Chaining) mode. Both modes of ISMACryp are based on 128-
bit AES algorithm. AES algorithms are more complex and require
larger time for execution which is not suitable for real time
application like live TV. The proposed system aims to gain a deep
understanding of video data security on multimedia technologies and
to provide security for real time video applications using selective
encryption for H.264/AVC. Five level of security proposed in this
paper based on the content of NAL unit in Baseline Constrain profile
of H.264/AVC. The selective encryption in different levels provides
encryption of intra-prediction mode, residue data, inter-prediction
mode or motion vectors only. Experimental results shown in this
paper described that fifth level which is ISMACryp provide higher
level of security with more encryption time and the one level provide
lower level of security by encrypting only motion vectors with lower
execution time without compromise on compression and quality of
visual content. This encryption scheme with compression process
with low cost, and keeps the file format unchanged with some direct
operations supported. Simulation was being carried out in Matlab.
Abstract: The modern telecommunication industry demands
higher capacity networks with high data rate. Orthogonal frequency
division multiplexing (OFDM) is a promising technique for high data
rate wireless communications at reasonable complexity in wireless
channels. OFDM has been adopted for many types of wireless
systems like wireless local area networks such as IEEE 802.11a, and
digital audio/video broadcasting (DAB/DVB). The proposed research
focuses on a concatenated coding scheme that improve the
performance of OFDM based wireless communications. It uses a
Redundant Residue Number System (RRNS) code as the outer code
and a convolutional code as the inner code. Here, a direct conversion
of analog signal to residue domain is done to reduce the conversion
complexity using sigma-delta based parallel analog-to-residue
converter. The bit error rate (BER) performances of the proposed
system under different channel conditions are investigated. These
include the effect of additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN),
multipath delay spread, peak power clipping and frame start
synchronization error. The simulation results show that the proposed
RRNS-Convolutional concatenated coding (RCCC) scheme provides
significant improvement in the system performance by exploiting the
inherent properties of RRNS.
Abstract: This paper presents a very simple and efficient
algorithm for codebook search, which reduces a great deal of
computation as compared to the full codebook search. The algorithm
is based on sorting and centroid technique for search. The results
table shows the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm in terms of
computational complexity. In this paper we also introduce a new
performance parameter named as Average fractional change in pixel
value as we feel that it gives better understanding of the closeness of
the image since it is related to the perception. This new performance
parameter takes into consideration the average fractional change in
each pixel value.
Abstract: In this study, a synthetic pathway was created by
assembling genes from Clostridium butyricum and Escherichia coli
in different combinations. Among the genes were dhaB1 and dhaB2
from C. butyricum VPI1718 coding for glycerol dehydratase (GDHt)
and its activator (GDHtAc), respectively, involved in the conversion
of glycerol to 3-hydroxypropionaldehyde (3-HPA). The yqhD gene
from E.coli BL21 was also included which codes for an NADPHdependent
1,3-propanediol oxidoreductase isoenzyme (PDORI)
reducing 3-HPA to 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PD). Molecular modeling
analysis indicated that the conformation of fusion protein of YQHD
and DHAB1 was favorable for direct molecular channeling of the
intermediate 3-HPA. According to the simulation results, the yqhD
and dhaB1 gene were assembled in the upstream of dhaB2 to express
a fusion protein, yielding the recombinant strain E. coliBL21
(DE3)//pET22b+::yqhD-dhaB1_dhaB2 (strain BP41Y3). Strain
BP41Y3 gave 10-fold higher 1,3-PD concentration than E. coliBL21
(DE3)//pET22b+::yqhD-dhaB1_dhaB2 (strain BP31Y2) expressing
the recombinant enzymes simultaneously but in a non-fusion mode.
This is the first report using a gene fusion approach to enhance the
biological conversion of glycerol to the value added compound 1,3-
PD.
Abstract: In this paper, a watermarking algorithm that uses the wavelet transform with Multiple Description Coding (MDC) and Quantization Index Modulation (QIM) concepts is introduced. Also, the paper investigates the role of Contourlet Transform (CT) versus Wavelet Transform (WT) in providing robust image watermarking. Two measures are utilized in the comparison between the waveletbased and the contourlet-based methods; Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) and Normalized Cross-Correlation (NCC). Experimental results reveal that the introduced algorithm is robust against different attacks and has good results compared to the contourlet-based algorithm.
Abstract: In 3D-wavelet video coding framework temporal
filtering is done along the trajectory of motion using Motion
Compensated Temporal Filtering (MCTF). Hence computationally
efficient motion estimation technique is the need of MCTF. In this
paper a predictive technique is proposed in order to reduce the
computational complexity of the MCTF framework, by exploiting
the high correlation among the frames in a Group Of Picture (GOP).
The proposed technique applies coarse and fine searches of any fast
block based motion estimation, only to the first pair of frames in a
GOP. The generated motion vectors are supplied to the next
consecutive frames, even to subsequent temporal levels and only fine
search is carried out around those predicted motion vectors. Hence
coarse search is skipped for all the motion estimation in a GOP
except for the first pair of frames. The technique has been tested for
different fast block based motion estimation algorithms over different
standard test sequences using MC-EZBC, a state-of-the-art scalable
video coder. The simulation result reveals substantial reduction (i.e.
20.75% to 38.24%) in the number of search points during motion
estimation, without compromising the quality of the reconstructed
video compared to non-predictive techniques. Since the motion
vectors of all the pair of frames in a GOP except the first pair will
have value ±1 around the motion vectors of the previous pair of
frames, the number of bits required for motion vectors is also
reduced by 50%.
Abstract: Wavelet transforms is a very powerful tools for image compression. One of its advantage is the provision of both spatial and frequency localization of image energy. However, wavelet transform coefficients are defined by both a magnitude and sign. While algorithms exist for efficiently coding the magnitude of the transform coefficients, they are not efficient for the coding of their sign. It is generally assumed that there is no compression gain to be obtained from the coding of the sign. Only recently have some authors begun to investigate the sign of wavelet coefficients in image coding. Some authors have assumed that the sign information bit of wavelet coefficients may be encoded with the estimated probability of 0.5; the same assumption concerns the refinement information bit. In this paper, we propose a new method for Separate Sign Coding (SSC) of wavelet image coefficients. The sign and the magnitude of wavelet image coefficients are examined to obtain their online probabilities. We use the scalar quantization in which the information of the wavelet coefficient to belong to the lower or to the upper sub-interval in the uncertainly interval is also examined. We show that the sign information and the refinement information may be encoded by the probability of approximately 0.5 only after about five bit planes. Two maps are separately entropy encoded: the sign map and the magnitude map. The refinement information of the wavelet coefficient to belong to the lower or to the upper sub-interval in the uncertainly interval is also entropy encoded. An algorithm is developed and simulations are performed on three standard images in grey scale: Lena, Barbara and Cameraman. Five scales are performed using the biorthogonal wavelet transform 9/7 filter bank. The obtained results are compared to JPEG2000 standard in terms of peak signal to noise ration (PSNR) for the three images and in terms of subjective quality (visual quality). It is shown that the proposed method outperforms the JPEG2000. The proposed method is also compared to other codec in the literature. It is shown that the proposed method is very successful and shows its performance in term of PSNR.
Abstract: In the traditional concept of product life cycle management, the activities of design, manufacturing, and assembly are performed in a sequential way. The drawback is that the considerations in design may contradict the considerations in manufacturing and assembly. The different designs of components can lead to different assembly sequences. Therefore, in some cases, a good design may result in a high cost in the downstream assembly activities. In this research, an integrated design evaluation and assembly sequence planning model is presented. Given a product requirement, there may be several design alternative cases to design the components for the same product. If a different design case is selected, the assembly sequence for constructing the product can be different. In this paper, first, the designed components are represented by using graph based models. The graph based models are transformed to assembly precedence constraints and assembly costs. A particle swarm optimization (PSO) approach is presented by encoding a particle using a position matrix defined by the design cases and the assembly sequences. The PSO algorithm simultaneously performs design evaluation and assembly sequence planning with an objective of minimizing the total assembly costs. As a result, the design cases and the assembly sequences can both be optimized. The main contribution lies in the new concept of integrated design evaluation and assembly sequence planning model and the new PSO solution method. The test results show that the presented method is feasible and efficient for solving the integrated design evaluation and assembly planning problem. In this paper, an example product is tested and illustrated.
Abstract: With the rapid popularization of internet services, it is apparent that the next generation terrestrial communication systems must be capable of supporting various applications like voice, video, and data. This paper presents the performance evaluation of turbo- coded mobile terrestrial communication systems, which are capable of providing high quality services for delay sensitive (voice or video) and delay tolerant (text transmission) multimedia applications in urban and suburban areas. Different types of multimedia information require different service qualities, which are generally expressed in terms of a maximum acceptable bit-error-rate (BER) and maximum tolerable latency. The breakthrough discovery of turbo codes allows us to significantly reduce the probability of bit errors with feasible latency. In a turbo-coded system, a trade-off between latency and BER results from the choice of convolutional component codes, interleaver type and size, decoding algorithm, and the number of decoding iterations. This trade-off can be exploited for multimedia applications by using optimal and suboptimal performance parameter amalgamations to achieve different service qualities. The results are therefore proposing an adaptive framework for turbo-coded wireless multimedia communications which incorporate a set of performance parameters that achieve an appropriate set of service qualities, depending on the application's requirements.
Abstract: Large volumes of fingerprints are collected and stored
every day in a wide range of applications, including forensics, access
control etc. It is evident from the database of Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) which contains more than 70 million finger
prints. Compression of this database is very important because of this
high Volume. The performance of existing image coding standards
generally degrades at low bit-rates because of the underlying block
based Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) scheme. Over the past
decade, the success of wavelets in solving many different problems
has contributed to its unprecedented popularity. Due to
implementation constraints scalar wavelets do not posses all the
properties which are needed for better performance in compression.
New class of wavelets called 'Multiwavelets' which posses more
than one scaling filters overcomes this problem. The objective of this
paper is to develop an efficient compression scheme and to obtain
better quality and higher compression ratio through multiwavelet
transform and embedded coding of multiwavelet coefficients through
Set Partitioning In Hierarchical Trees algorithm (SPIHT) algorithm.
A comparison of the best known multiwavelets is made to the best
known scalar wavelets. Both quantitative and qualitative measures of
performance are examined for Fingerprints.
Abstract: Considering payload, reliability, security and operational lifetime as major constraints in transmission of images we put forward in this paper a steganographic technique implemented at the physical layer. We suggest transmission of Halftoned images (payload constraint) in wireless sensor networks to reduce the amount of transmitted data. For low power and interference limited applications Turbo codes provide suitable reliability. Ensuring security is one of the highest priorities in many sensor networks. The Turbo Code structure apart from providing forward error correction can be utilized to provide for encryption. We first consider the Halftoned image and then the method of embedding a block of data (called secret) in this Halftoned image during the turbo encoding process is presented. The small modifications required at the turbo decoder end to extract the embedded data are presented next. The implementation complexity and the degradation of the BER (bit error rate) in the Turbo based stego system are analyzed. Using some of the entropy based crypt analytic techniques we show that the strength of our Turbo based stego system approaches that found in the OTPs (one time pad).
Abstract: In this study, to compress ECG signals, KLT (Karhunen-
Loeve Transform) method has been used. The purpose of this method is to
perform effective ECG coding by a correlation between the length of frames
and the number of vectors of ECG signals.
Abstract: The shortest path routing problem is a multiobjective
nonlinear optimization problem with constraints. This problem has
been addressed by considering Quality of service parameters, delay
and cost objectives separately or as a weighted sum of both
objectives. Multiobjective evolutionary algorithms can find multiple
pareto-optimal solutions in one single run and this ability makes them
attractive for solving problems with multiple and conflicting
objectives. This paper uses an elitist multiobjective evolutionary
algorithm based on the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm
(NSGA), for solving the dynamic shortest path routing problem in
computer networks. A priority-based encoding scheme is proposed
for population initialization. Elitism ensures that the best solution
does not deteriorate in the next generations. Results for a sample test
network have been presented to demonstrate the capabilities of the
proposed approach to generate well-distributed pareto-optimal
solutions of dynamic routing problem in one single run. The results
obtained by NSGA are compared with single objective weighting
factor method for which Genetic Algorithm (GA) was applied.
Abstract: Rice seed expression (cDNA) library in the Lambda
Zap 11® phage constructed from the developing grain 10-20 days
after flowering was transformed into yeast for functional
complementation assays in three salt sensitive yeast mutants S.
cerevisiae strain CY162, G19 and Axt3K. Transformed cells of G19
and Axt3K with pYES vector with cDNA inserts showed enhance
tolerance than those with empty pYes vector. Sequencing of the
cDNA inserts revealed that they encode for the putative proteins with
the sequence homologous to rice putative protein PROLM24
(Os06g31070), a prolamin precursor. Expression of this cDNA did
not affect yeast growth in absence of salt. Axt3k and G19 strains
expressing the PROLM24 were able to grow upto 400 mM and 600
mM of NaCl respectively. Similarly, Axt3k mutant with PROLM24
expression showed comparatively higher growth rate in the medium
with excess LiCl (50 mM). The observation that expression of
PROLM24 rescued the salt sensitive phenotypes of G19 and Axt3k
indicates the existence of a regulatory system that ameliorates the
effect of salt stress in the transformed yeast mutants. However, the
exact function of the cDNA sequence, which shows partial sequence
homology to yeast UTR1 is not clear. Although UTR1 involved in
ferrous uptake and iron homeostasis in yeast cells, there is no
evidence to prove its role in Na+ homeostasis in yeast cells. Absence
of transmembrane regions in Os06g31070 protein indicates that salt
tolerance is achieved not through the direct functional
complementation of the mutant genes but through an alternative
mechanism.
Abstract: Abstract–The objectives of the current study are to determine the
prevalence, etiological agents, drug susceptibility pattern and plasmid
profile of Acinetobacter baumannii isolates from Hospital-Acquired
Infections (HAI) at Community Hospital, Al Jouf Province, Saudi
Arabia. A total of 1890 patients had developed infection during
hospital admission and were included in the study. Among those who
developed nosocomial infections, 15(9.4), 10(2.7) and 118 (12.7) had
respiratory tract infection (RTI), blood stream infections (BSI) and
urinary tract (UTI) respectively. A total of 268 bacterial isolates were
isolated from nosocomial infection. S. aureus was reported in 23.5%
for of the total isolates followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae (17.5%), E.
coli (17.2%), P. aeruginosa (11.9%), coagulase negative
staphylococcus (9%), A. baumannii (7.1%), Enterobacter spp.
(3.4%), Citrobacter freundii (3%), Proteus mirabilis (2.6%), and
Proteus vulgaris and Enterococcous faecalis (0.7%). Isolated
organisms are multi-drug resistant, predominantly Gram-positive
pathogens with a high incidence of methicillin-resistant S. aureus,
extended spectrum beta lactamase and vancomycin resistant
enterococci organisms. The RFLP (Fragment Length Polymorphisms)
patterns of plasmid preparations from isolated A. baumannii isolates
had altered RFLP patterns, possibly due to the presence of plasmid(s).
Five A. baumannii isolates harbored plasmids all of which were not
less than 2.71kbp in molecular weight. Hence, it showed that the gene
coding for the isolates were located on the plasmid DNA while the
remaining isolates which have no plasmid might showed gene coding
for antibiotic resistance being located on chromosomal DNA.
Nosocomial infections represent a current problem in Community
Hospital, Al Jouf Province, Saudi Arabia. Problems associated with
SSI include infection with multidrug resistant pathogens which are
difficult to treat and are associated with increased mortality.
Abstract: An image texture analysis and target recognition approach of using an improved image texture feature coding method (TFCM) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) for target detection is presented. With our proposed target detection framework, targets of interest can be detected accurately. Cascade-Sliding-Window technique was also developed for automated target localization. Application to mammogram showed that over 88% of normal mammograms and 80% of abnormal mammograms can be correctly identified. The approach was also successfully applied to Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) images for target detection.
Abstract: The cDNA encoding the 326 amino acids of a Class I
basic chitinase gene from Leucaena leucocephala de Wit (KB3,
Genbank accession: AAM49597) was cloned under the control of
CaMV35S promoter in pCAMBIA 1300 and transferred to
Koshihikari. Calli of Koshihikari rice was transformed with
agrobacterium with this construct expressing the chitinase and β-
glucouronidase (GUS). The frequencies of calli 90 % has been
obtained from rice seedlings cultured on NB medium. The high
regeneration frequencies, 74% was obtained from calli cultured on
regeneration medium containing 4 mg/l BAP, and 7 g/l phytagel at
25°C. Various factors were studied in order to establish a procedure
for the transformation of Koshihikari Agrobacterium tumefaciens.
Supplementation of 50 mM acetosyringone to the medium during
coculivation was important to enhance the frequency to transient
transformation. The 4 week-old scutellum-derived calli were
excellent starting materials. Selection medium based on NB medium
supplement with 40 mg/l hygromycin and 400 mg/l cefotaxime were
an optimized medium for selection of transformed rice calli. The
percentage of transformation 70 was obtained. Recombinant calli and
regenerated rice plants were checked the expression of chitinase and
gus by PCR, northern blot gel, southern blot gel, and gus assay.
Chitinase and gus were expressed in all parts of recombinant rice.
The rice line expressing the KB3 chiitnase was more resistant to the
blast fungus Fusarium monoliforme than control line.
Abstract: This paper presents a new steganography approach suitable for Arabic texts. It can be classified under steganography feature coding methods. The approach hides secret information bits within the letters benefiting from their inherited points. To note the specific letters holding secret bits, the scheme considers the two features, the existence of the points in the letters and the redundant Arabic extension character. We use the pointed letters with extension to hold the secret bit 'one' and the un-pointed letters with extension to hold 'zero'. This steganography technique is found attractive to other languages having similar texts to Arabic such as Persian and Urdu.
Abstract: Eukaryotic protein-coding genes are interrupted by spliceosomal introns, which are removed from the RNA transcripts before translation into a protein. The exon-intron structures of different eukaryotic species are quite different from each other, and the evolution of such structures raises many questions. We try to address some of these questions using statistical analysis of whole genomes. We go through all the protein-coding genes in a genome and study correlations between the net length of all the exons in a gene, the number of the exons, and the average length of an exon. We also take average values of these features for each chromosome and study correlations between those averages on the chromosomal level. Our data show universal features of exon-intron structures common to animals, plants, and protists (specifically, Arabidopsis thaliana, Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila melanogaster, Cryptococcus neoformans, Homo sapiens, Mus musculus, Oryza sativa, and Plasmodium falciparum). We have verified linear correlation between the number of exons in a gene and the length of a protein coded by the gene, while the protein length increases in proportion to the number of exons. On the other hand, the average length of an exon always decreases with the number of exons. Finally, chromosome clustering based on average chromosome properties and parameters of linear regression between the number of exons in a gene and the net length of those exons demonstrates that these average chromosome properties are genome-specific features.
Abstract: This study was carried out to determine the feedback from the primary school headmasters on in-service training activities. 384 primary school headmasters were asked to give feedback on the in-service training facilities organized by the Ministry of Education through an open –ended question. The study group was formed by 359 primary school headmasters who attended “Management Skills" seminars which were organized in March, April and May in the extent of 2006 In-service Training Facilities Plan by the Ministry of Education and were also volunteers to give feedback on the inservice training activities. The qualitative research method was used in the analysis of the data since the primary school headmasters gave written feedback on the in-service training activities. Having analyzed the feedback, certain categories were formed by coding it. Certain frequencies and percentages were determined according to the codes. It was made obvious that the primary school headmasters benefitted from those facilities by sharing their experiences, problems and their possible solutions mutually