A new robust reference watermarking scheme based on DWT-SVD

This paper presents a new semi-blind reference watermarking scheme based on discrete wavelet transform(DWT) and singular value decomposition(SVD) for copyright protection and authenticity. We are using a gray scale logo image as watermark instead of randomly generated Gaussian noise type watermark. For watermark embedding, the original image is transformed into wavelet domain and a reference sub-image is formed using directive contrast and wavelet coefficients. We embed watermark into reference image by modifying the singular values of reference image using the singular values of the watermark. A reliable watermark extraction scheme is developed for the extraction of watermark from distorted image. Experimental evaluation demonstrates that the proposed scheme is able to withstand a variety of attacks. We show that the proposed scheme also stands with the ambiguity attack also.     

Orthogonal and fine lithographic structures attained from the next generation proton beam writing facility

A second generation proton beam writing (PBW) system has been built at the Centre for Ion Beam Applications at the National University of Singapore for fabrication of high aspect ratio 3D nano lithographic structures. System improvements and a few lithographic structures obtained with this facility are presented in this paper. Through accurate alignment of the magnetic quadrupole lenses and the electrostatic scanning system, orthogonal beam scanning has been achieved. The earlier constrain of limited beam scan area has been overcome by adopting a combination of beam and stage scanning as well as stitching. With these improvements smallest ever Ni structure of 65 nm in width has been fabricated using nickel electroplating on a proton beam written PMMA sample in the second generation PBW facility. Using this improved PBW facility, we have also demonstrated the fabrication of fine lithographic patterns with 19 nm line width and 60 nm spacing in 100 nm thick negative high resolution hydrogen silsesquioxane resist. Future possible system improvements leading to finer resolution will be discussed briefly.     

Realizing a TMN

A functional partitioning of a TMN in terms of management functional areas and functional layers is proposed. This new method for classifying TMN functions is used to suggest logical expansions of the function decomposition in ITU-T Recommendation M. 3400. The method is also shown to be a useful tool for graphically comparing the functionality of Operations Systems that are already deployed, showing how they are positioned within a real TMN. Further, the new classification scheme is applied to the representation, in tabular form, of the functions of a particular example of a deployed OS.Industry standard open interfaces using the Common Management Information Service Element (CMISE) in the context of Open Systems Interconnections (OSI) protocols and the Generic Network Information Model are also being implemented. An example of a Q3 interface (between Operations Systems and Network Elements) and an example of an X interface (between different administrative jurisdictions) are discussed.Progress is being made on infrastructure software components that will ease implementations of TMN functions in a distributed processing environment. Future directions, such as the use of evolving Open Distributed Processing (ODP) specifications in distributed network management, are discussed.     

A constrained non-linear optimization model for fuzzy pairwise comparison matrices using teaching learning based optimization

Non-linear optimization models have been recently proposed to derive crisp weights from fuzzy pairwise comparison matrices. In this paper, a TLBO (Teaching Learning Based Optimization) based solution is presented for solving an optimization model as a system of non-linear equations to derive crisp weights from fuzzy pairwise comparison matrices in AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process). This fuzzy-AHP method is named as TLBO-1. It has been found that TLBO-1 can lead to inconsistent or less consistent weights. To solve the problem of inconsistent weights, a new constrained non-linear optimization model is proposed in this paper. This model is based on the min-max approach for fuzzy pairwise comparison ratios of weights. TLBO is again used to solve this optimization model, and crisp weights are derived. This fuzzy AHP method is named as TLBO-2. The effectiveness of the proposed model is illustrated by three examples. For each example, the consistency of the derived crisp weights is compared with other optimization models. The results show that the TLBO-2 method can derive more consistent weights for the fuzzy AHP based Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) systems as compared to the other optimization models.     

Prediction of Alzheimer’s Using Random Forest with Radiomic Features

Alzheimer’s disease is a non-reversible, non-curable, and progressive neurological disorder that induces the shrinkage and death of a specific neuronal population associated with memory formation and retention. It is a frequently occurring mental illness that occurs in about 60%–80% of cases of dementia. It is usually observed between people in the age group of 60 years and above. Depending upon the severity of symptoms the patients can be categorized in Cognitive Normal (CN), Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Alzheimer’s disease is the last phase of the disease where the brain is severely damaged, and the patients are not able to live on their own. Radiomics is an approach to extracting a huge number of features from medical images with the help of data characterization algorithms. Here, 105 number of radiomic features are extracted and used to predict the alzhimer’s. This paper uses Support Vector Machine, K-Nearest Neighbour, Gaussian Naïve Bayes, eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) and Random Forest to predict Alzheimer’s disease. The proposed random forest-based approach with the Radiomic features achieved an accuracy of 85%. This proposed approach also achieved 88% accuracy, 88% recall, 88% precision and 87% F1-score for AD vs. CN, it achieved 72% accuracy, 73% recall, 72% precisionand 71% F1-score for AD vs. MCI and it achieved 69% accuracy, 69% recall, 68% precision and 69% F1-score for MCI vs. CN. The comparative analysis shows that the proposed approach performs better than others approaches.     

Assessment of the impact of the journal literature produced by Indian CSIR laboratories using subfield corrected impact

Comparative assessment of the journal literature produced by laboratories/institutions working in different fields is a difficult exercise. The impact factor of the journals is not a suitable indicator since citation practices vary with fields. The variation is corrected in this study using a measure, the “subfield corrected impact factor” and it is applied to the journal papers produced by the Indian Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Laboratories. This measure helped to compare the impact of journal literature in different fields.     

Hallucinations, sleep fragmentation, and altered dream phenomena in Parkinson''s disease

Middle ear effusion has been considered the most common cause of vestibular disturbance in children. However, there have been only a few studies on vestibular disturbance in children with otitis media with effusion. We studied the vestibular systems of 30 children with otitis media with effusion aged 8 to 13 years and compared the results with 15 age- and sex-matched controls. A questionnaire relating to vestibular disturbance was given to patients and their parents. Spontaneous nystagmus and positional nystagmus were recorded by electronystagmography as diagnostic tests of the vestibular system. Romberg's and past-pointing tests were performed on children with otitis media with effusion and controls. After vestibular tests were completed, myringotomy was performed, and a ventilation tube was inserted. The questionnaire and the vestibular tests were repeated after the operation and during the first month after surgery. Our study showed that there was a history of vestibular disturbance in 33% of children with otitis media with effusion. Electronystagmography and Romberg's test findings demonstrated that 33% of the children had vestibular dysfunction (p < 0.05). After myringotomy with ventilation tube insertion, vestibular test results returned to normal, and symptoms related to vestibular disturbance improved. These findings confirm the assumption that middle ear effusion may affect the vestibular system, which can be resolved after myringotomy with ventilation tube insertion.     

Life cycle assessment of biodiesel production using alkali, soluble and immobilized enzyme catalyst processes

This study deals with the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of three different catalytic processes for biodiesel production. In the LCA study, a “cradle to gate” approach was adopted to estimate the environmental impact of different catalytic processes such as immobilized, soluble biocatalyst and alkali catalyst. The results revealed that, biodiesel production using immobilized biocatalyst has less environmental impact compared to alkali and soluble biocatalyst. The environmental impact of the immobilized biocatalyst depends on the reusability factor.