Ambiguity attacks on SVD audio watermarking approach using chaotic encrypted images

In this paper, we study the robustness of the proposed watermarking algorithm by Al-Nuaimy et al. (Digit Signal Process 21(6):764–779 2011) for audio signals which is based on singular value decomposition (SVD). It has been concluded that it is fundamentally flawed in its design, in that it falls to two ambiguity attacks where the extracted watermark is not the embedded one but determined by the reference watermark. In the first attack, when a watermarked audio signal is rewatermarked by an attacker’s watermark, this one can be easily extracted to claim ownership of the original audio signal. In the second attack, during the extracting process when an attacker uses the singular vectors of his watermark, he can extract the attacker’s watermark. Therefore, he can claim ownership of the watermarked audio signal. The experimental results prove that the proposed attacks create a false positive detection in watermark extraction. Therefore, Al-Nuaimy et al. algorithm cannot be used for security systems, data hiding and copyright protection.

     

Modelling of the Influence of Micro‐Plasticity on the Magnetic Behaviour of Ferromagnetic Polycrystals through a Multiscale Approach

A drastic degradation of the magnetic behaviour of low carbon or silicon steels occurs with weak plastic deformations, associated with strong second order internal stresses. A micromechanical modelling of plasticity is linked to a multiscale modelling of the magnetic behaviour. Experimental results and modelled data are compared.     

Preparation of aerochitin‐TiO2 composite for efficient photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue

An aerochitin–titania (TiO₂) composite was successfully synthesized and characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and N₂ adsorption isotherms. The photocatalytic activity of the composite was investigated on the degradation of the model organic pollutant, methylene blue (MB) dye, under UV irradiation. The aerochitin–TiO₂ composite showed excellent adsorptive and photocatalytic activity with a degradation degree of 98% for MB. The first‐order rate constants for the photodegradation MB by TiO₂ nanoparticles and aerochitin–TiO₂ composite were found to be (3.49 ± 0.04) × 10^?3 and (1.82 ± 0.02) × 10^?2 min^?1. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018 , 135, 45908.     

U2RV: UAV‐assisted reactive routing protocol for VANETs

When it comes to keeping the data routing robust and effective in vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs), stable and durable connectivity constitutes the keystone to ensure successful point‐to‐point communication. Since VANETs can comprise all kinds of mobile vehicles moving and changing direction frequently, this may result in frequent link failures and network partitions. Moreover, when VANETs are deployed in a city environment, another problem arises, that is, the existing obstructions (eg, buildings, trees, and hoppers) preventing the line‐of‐sight between vehicles, thus degrading wireless transmissions. Therefore, it is more complicated to design a routing technique that adapts to frequent changes in the topology. In order to settle all these problems, in this work, we design a flooding scheme that automatically reacts at each topology variation while overcoming the present obstacles while exchanging data in ad hoc mode with drones that are commonly called unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Also, the aim of this work is to explore well‐regulated routing paths providing a long lifetime connectivity based on the amount of traffic and the expiration time of each discovered path. A set of experiments is carried out using a simulation, and the outcomes are confronted with similar protocols based on a couple of metrics. The results clearly show that the assistance of UAVs to vehicles is capable of providing high delivery ratios and low delivery delays while efficiently extending the network connectivity.     

EARP: An Enhanced ACO-Based Routing Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks with Multiple Mobile Sinks

A plenty of Ant Colony Optimization (ACO)-based routing algorithms have been proposed to find optimal path of mobile sinks in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). However, they concentrate on energy efficiency and ignore fault tolerance for critical data collection points like Cluster Heads (CHs). They supposed an ideal scenario where there are no failures which is not the case in reality due to failures resulting from unattended and hostile deployment environments and so on. Moreover, the existing routing protocols are not application-specific enabled (i.e., the parameters cannot be adapted to the application’s requirements). In this paper, we propose an energetically-optimized multi-sink-based clustered WSN model along with a fault-tolerant and energy-efficient Enhanced ACO based Routing Protocol (EARP) to provide reliable data transmission in case of encountering a faulty path. Unlike existing studies, EARP addresses jointly the different constraints of forest fires detection application like fault tolerance, network lifetime and response time. The proposed EARP is simulated along with its counterparts in a general scenario based on various main metrics and also in an application-specific scenario (forest fires detection) based on network lifetime and response time. The simulations results prove its superiority, compared to its peers, in both scenarios.

     

Adsorption kinetics and surface modeling of aqueous methylene blue onto activated carbonaceous wood sawdust

In this work, Sawdust was used to develop a new low-cost adsorbent and study its application to remove methylene blue dye from aqueous solution. Sawdust was calcined under air atmosphere at three different temperatures (300°C, 400°C, and 500°C) using phosphoric acid (H₃PO₄) as an activating agent. The structure, morphology, surface functions and the chemical composition of adsorbent were characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared spectra (FTIR), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), specific surface area (BET) and Boehm method. Different operational parameters such as pH, adsorbent loading, contact time and were investigated to evaluate experimental data. The adsorption of MB on SD-300, SD-400, and SD-500 show that the pseudo-second-order and Langmuir models fitted better the experimental results of MB adsorption onto all adsorbents. The maximum capacities based on the Langmuir model were 416.7 mg.g^?1 for SD-300, 526.3 mg.g^?1 for SD-400, and 819.7 mg.g^?1 for SD-500. The positive values of ΔG, ΔH, and ΔS implied that the adsorption process was non-spontaneous and endothermic nature. Finally, Regeneration of the SD-500 was investigated and optimization was performed using CCD combined with RSM.     

Augmented Hammerstein model for the calibration of six‐port based dual band wireless receivers

Two architectures of concurrent dual‐band six‐port‐based receiver (SPR), which are modeled and calibrated using the augmented Hammerstein model (AHM) are proposed for the first time in this article. The receivers are based on six‐port junctions with one or two local oscillators (LO). The proposed single step calibration algorithms achieve the recovery of the two in‐phase (I₁ and I₂) and quadrature (Q₁ and Q₂) components of an RF signal with two frequency components (RF₁ and RF₂). Experimental validations have been performed to verify the performance of the proposed concurrent dual‐band receivers and to test the efficiency of the AHM based calibration algorithms. As a performance metric, the Error Vector Magnitude (EVM) has been measured to compare the transmitted and recovered baseband signals and to evaluate the performance and efficiency of the proposed calibration algorithms for the two receiver topologies. The IQ data has been recovered with EVMs no higher than 2% for the two LOs based receiver excited with a QAM modulated dual‐band RF signal. The single LO based receiver has been tested with a dual‐band LTE signal and the recovered IQ data exhibited EVMs no higher than 4%.     

Fuzzy chromatic co-occurrence matrices for tracking objects

Pattern Analysis and Applications - Tracking objects is an important field for many applications like driving assistance and video surveillance. Every tracking system should be able to track...     

Crystallographic Orientation in Pure and Aluminum-Doped Zinc Oxide Thin Films Prepared by Sol–Gel Technique

Novel sol–gel processes for the preparation of grain-oriented thin films of pure and aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) are reported. Using various stabilizing ligands, oxide films with different degree of c -axis orientation could be prepared on amorphous substrates. The origin of orientation in sol–gel-derived ZnO and AZO films is investigated. The texture selection of ZnO films is independent of the heat-treatment schedule but sensitive to the precursor system. The electrical properties of the films do not depend significantly on the crystallographic orientation. The film visible transmittance remained higher than 90% even after vacuum annealing.