A robust watermarking approach for security issue of binary documents using fully convolutional networks

International Journal on Document Analysis and Recognition (IJDAR) - Motivated by increasing possibility of the tampering of genuine documents during a transmission over digital channels, we focus...     

Solid respirometry to characterize nitrification kinetics: a better insight for modelling nitrogen conversion in vertical flow constructed wetlands

We developed an original method to measure nitrification rates at different depths of a vertical flow constructed wetland (VFCW) with variable contents of organic matter (sludge, colonized gravel). The method was adapted for organic matter sampled in constructed wetland (sludge, colonized gravel) operated under partially saturated conditions and is based on respirometric principles. Measurements were performed on a reactor, containing a mixture of organic matter (sludge, colonized gravel) mixed with a bulking agent (wood), on which an ammonium-containing liquid was applied. The oxygen demand was determined from analysing oxygen concentration of the gas passing through the reactor with an on-line analyzer equipped with a paramagnetic detector. Within this paper we present the overall methodology, the factors influencing the measurement (sample volume, nature and concentration of the applied liquid, number of successive applications), and the robustness of the method. The combination of this new method with a mass balance approach also allowed determining the concentration and maximum growth rate of the autotrophic biomass in different layers of a VFCW. These latter parameters are essential inputs for the VFCW plant modelling.     

Identification,Synthesis, and Behavioral Activity of 5,11-Dimethylpentacosane,A Novel Sex Pheromone Component of the Greater Wax Moth,Galleria Mellonella (L.)

The greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella (L.), is a serious and widespread pest of the honeybee, Apis mellifera L. In contrast to most moths, for which long-range mate finding is mediated by female-produced sex pheromones, G. mellonella males attract conspecific females over long distances by emitting large amounts of a characteristic scent in combination with bursts of ultrasonic calls. The male scent for this species was previously identified as a blend of nonanal and undecanal. When these compounds were bioassayed, characteristic short-range sexual behavior, including wing fanning, was triggered in conspecific females, but the aldehyde blend failed to elicit attraction over longer distances. We identified, via analysis and synthesis, a third male-specific compound, 5,11-dimethylpentacosane. We show that it acts as a behavioral synergist to the aldehydes. In wind tunnel experiments, very few female moths responded to the aldehyde blend or to 5,11-dimethylpentacosane tested separately, but consistently showed orientation and source contact when a combination of all three compounds was applied. The level of attraction to the three-component mixture was still lower than that to male extract, indicating that the composition of compounds in the synthetic blend is suboptimal, or that additional pheromone components of G. mellonella are yet to be identified. The identification of 5,11-dimethylpentacosane is an important step for the development of an efficient long-range attractant that will be integrated with other environmentally safe strategies to reduce damage to beehives caused by wax moths.     

Productivity and mobility in academic research: evidence from mathematicians

Using an exhaustive database on academic publications in mathematics all over the world, we study the patterns of productivity by mathematicians over the period 1984–2006. We uncover some surprising facts, such as the weakness of age related decline in productivity and the relative symmetry of international movements, rejecting the presumption of a massive “brain drain” towards the US. We also analyze the determinants of success by top US departments. In conformity with recent studies in other fields, we find that selection effects are much stronger than local interaction effects: the best departments are most successful in hiring the most promising mathematicians, but not necessarily at stimulating positive externalities among them. Finally we analyze the impact of career choices by mathematicians: mobility almost always pays, but early specialization does not.     

Crude glycerine inclusion in Limousin bull diets: Animal performance,carcass characteristics and meat quality

Three hundred and six Limousin young bulls (7 ± 1 months of age, initial body weight 273 ± 43 kg) were used to evaluate the effect of crude glycerine supplementation on animal performance, carcass characteristics and meat quality. Animals were assigned to three different diets: Control (0% of crude glycerine), G2 and G4 (2 and 4% of crude glycerine, respectively). The diets were administrated ad libitum for 240 days (final body weight 644 ± 24 kg). Average daily weight gain, average daily feed intake, the gain:feed ratio, ultrasound measures in vivo, carcass characteristics, pH, water holding capacity, drip losses, and cooking losses were not affected (P > 0.05) by diets. Diet decreased C16:0 (P < 0.01) and C16:1 (P < 0.05) contents in meat. The G4 meat showed lower C12:0, C14:0, C17:0, C18:0, C18:1, C18:2, C18:3, c9,t11-c18:2, C20:0 and C20:4 levels (P < 0.05) than control. Glycerine increased desirable fatty acid percentages (P < 0.05) in intramuscular fat.     

Neuro-evolutionary approach applied for optimizing the PEMFC performance

A multi-objective optimization strategy, based on stacked neural network–genetic algorithm (SNN–GA) hybrid approach, was applied to study the C/PBI content on a high temperature PEMFC performance. The operating conditions of PEMFC were correlated with power density and electrochemical active surface area for electrodes. The structure of the stack was determined in an optimal form related to the contribution of individual neural networks, after applying an interpolation based procedure. Multi-objective optimization using SNN as model and GA as solving procedure provides optimal working conditions which lead to a high PEMFC performance. Simulation results were in agreement with experimental data, both for model validation and system optimization (the C/PBI content in the range of 17–21%).     

Motion analytics of zebrafish using fine motor kinematics and multi-view trajectory

Zebrafish is a useful animal model for studying human diseases such as muscle disorders. However, manual monitoring of fish motion is time-consuming and prone to subjective variations. In this paper, an automatic fish motion analytics framework is proposed. The proposed framework could be exploited to help validate zebrafish models of transgenic zebrafish that express human genes carrying mutations which lead to muscle disorders, thus affecting their ability to swim normally. To differentiate between wild-type (normal) and transgenic zebrafish, the proposed framework consists of two approaches to exploit discriminative spatial–temporal kinematic features which are extracted to represent zebrafish movements. First, the proposed approach studies precise quantitative measurements of motor movement abnormalities using a camera with the capability to record videos with high frames rates (up to 1,000 frames per second). This differs from previous works, which only tracked each fish as a single point over time. Second, the proposed approach studies multi-view spatial–temporal swimming trajectories. This differs from previous works which typically only considered single-view analysis of fish swimming trajectories. The proposed motion features are then incorporated into a supervised classification approach to identify abnormal fish movements. Experimental results have shown that the proposed approach is capable of differentiating between wild-type and transgenic zebrafish, thus helping to validate the zebrafish models.     

Real-time infinite horizon tracking with data fusion for augmented reality in a maritime operations context

In this paper, we propose a method for real-time horizon tracking (i.e., separation line between the sky and the sea) in a maritime operations context. We present the fusion of an image processing algorithm with the data obtained from the inertial measurement unit (IMU). The initial aim is to filter out environmental conditions using inertial information in order to combine a video stream with onboard electronic charts. This is achieved by the detection of the horizon with an image processing algorithm in an area defined by the IMU. We then present an evaluation of the algorithm with regard to the rate of detection of the horizon and the impact of the image resolution on the computational time. The purpose of developing this method is to create an augmented reality maritime operations application. We combine the video stream with electronic charts in a single display. We use the position of the horizon in the image to split the display into different areas. Then, we use transparency to display the video, the electronic charts or both.