New watermarking algorithm utilizing quaternion Fourier transform with advanced scrambling and secure encryption

Digital watermarking technology, as a powerful tool for copyright protection and content authentication of multimedia works, has received increasing attention, and the current image watermarking technology has developed significantly. Generally, embedding a watermark is done in grayscale images, mainly due to the fact that grayscale images are easier to process than color images, and grayscale images only contain brightness information and color-free information, in which an embedded watermark will not produce new color components. In real life, however, color images are more common than grayscale image information. To improve the security of the watermark information and the ability to embed the location and improve the security of the algorithm against a variety of attacks, this paper proposes an algorithm based on quaternion Fourier transform (QFT) with chaotic encryption and Arnold scrambling. Geometric Algebra (GA) can process color images in the form of vectors, and each component of Red,Green and Blue (RGB) should be processed separately. We utilized quaternion (which is a subalgebra of GA) and effectively completed color image processing by utilizing Fourier transform. After utilizing QFT, each component was made more secure by scrambling the pixels of the watermark and performing encryption utilizing chaotic sequencing. Different types of results utilizing Mean Square Error (MSE),Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR),Structure Similiarity Index Metric (SSIM), etc. were computed to verify the performance of our proposed algorithm and show that the robustness and security are high by utilizing our method.

     

On Effective Dual Use of Auxiliary Information in Variability Control Charts

During the last decade, variance control charts based on different sampling schemes have attracted research interest in the field of statistical process control. These charts used extra (auxiliary) information either for ranking of units or estimation rather than using it for both. The effectiveness of a control chart can be increased by utilizing the auxiliary information for dual purposes. This article is focused on developing a generalized structure of variance control charts based on dual use of auxiliary information under different sampling strategies and runs rules. The generalized structure mainly depends on three auxiliary information‐based estimators with dual use of auxiliary information, three bivariate process distributions, and variety of sampling schemes. The performance of the proposed control charts is investigated by assessing the power curve. We have observed that the proposals of the study perform better than its complement. An application example is also provided for practitioners' concerns to monitor the stability of physicochemical parameter of groundwater. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Nonlinear dimensionality reduction in robot vision for industrial monitoring process via deep three dimensional Spearman correlation analysis (D3D-SCA)

Multimedia Tools and Applications - During the era of Industry 4.0, the industrial robot monitoring process is getting success and popularity day by day. It also plays a vital role in the...     

Increasing signal to noise ratio and minimizing artefacts in biomedical instrumentation systems

Capturing a near-perfect, artefact free signal is an ideal of biomedicine. However, this depends on the removal of different types of artefact, all of which can be considered unwanted noise on the desired signal. Failure to remove artefacts could lead to a clinical misinterpretation of the results. All medical equipment such as electrocardiogram systems which use electrodes attached to patients suffer from artefacts, with effects ranging from minor blurring to significant distortion of the output signal(s). For this reason, it is important to identify how artefacts can influence the output signal. In this paper, we propose a new technique to detect and minimise movement artefacts using strain gauges embedded into the electrodes.     

Computational Analysis of the Effect of Nano Particle Material Motion on Mixed Convection Flow in the Presence of Heat Generation and Absorption

The present study is concerned with the physical behavior of the combined effect of nano particle material motion and heat generation/absorption due to the effect of different parameters involved in prescribed flow model. The formulation of the flow model is based on basic universal equations of conservation of momentum, energy and mass. The prescribed flow model is converted to non-dimensional form by using suitable scaling. The obtained transformed equations are solved numerically by using finite difference scheme. For the analysis of above said behavior the computed numerical data for fluid velocity, temperature profile, and mass concentration for several constraints that is mixed convection parameter λ_t, modified mixed convection parameter λ_c, Prandtl number Pr, heat generation/absorption parameter δ, Schmidt number Sc, thermophoresis parameter N_t, and thermophoretic coefficient k are sketched in graphical form. Numerical results for skin friction, heat transfer rate and the mass transfer rate are tabulated for various emerging physical parameters. It is reported that in enhancement in heat, generation boosts up the fluid temperature at some positions of the surface of the sphere. As heat absorption parameter is decreased temperature field increases at position X = π/4 on the other hand, no alteration at other considered circumferential positions is noticed.     

Impact of pulsed electric field pretreatment on yield and quality of lipid extracted from cephalothorax of Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) by ultrasound-assisted process

Pacific white shrimp cephalothorax was subjected to pulsed electric field (PEF) pretreatment at different electric field strengths (4, 8, 12 and 16 kV cm⁻¹) and pulse numbers (120, 160, 200 and 240) to enhance the extraction yield of lipids. PEF-treated samples were subsequently subjected to lipid extraction using ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) process at ultrasound amplitude of 80% for 25 min in continuous mode. PEF-pretreated samples subjected to UAE rendered the highest lipid yield (30.34 g 100 g⁻¹ solids). PEF pretreatment resulted in reduced lipid oxidation as evidenced by the decreases in peroxide value (PV) and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS). Lipids from PEF-pretreated samples extracted using UAE had higher content of PUFAs and carotenoids, including astaxanthin, astaxanthin monoester, astaxanthin diester, canthaxanthin and β-carotene. Overall, PEF pretreatment helped in enhancing the extraction yield of lipids and carotenoids from shrimp cephalothorax and reduce lipid oxidation to some extent.     

Reliable Data Analysis through Blockchain based Crowdsourcing in Mobile Ad-hoc Cloud

Mobile Networks and Applications - Mobile Ad-hoc Cloud (MAC) is the constellation of nearby mobile devices to serve the heavy computational needs of the resource-constrained edge devices. One of...     

Optical Investigation of Sm<Superscript>3+</Superscript> Doped in Phosphate Glass

Samarium doped zinc-magnesium-phosphate glasses having composition (60 – x)P₂O₅–10MgO–30ZnO–xSm₂O₃ where x = 0.1, 0.3, 0.6, 1.0 mol % were prepared by melt quenching technique. Archimedes method was used to measure their densitieswhich are lying in the range 2.65–2.91 g/cm³. On the basis of the increasing trend in the density while increasing the content of Sm₂O₃ it can be concluded that the bridging oxygen is converted to non-bridging oxygen The UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy was carried on in the wavelength range 310–900 nm where the absorption spectra consist of six absorption peaks corresponding to the transitions from the ground state ⁶H_5/2 to various excited energy levels. The optical band gaps are calculated to be 3.93–4.41 eV, 3.31–3.73 eV and 0.27–0.29 eV for direct band gap, indirect band gap and Urbach energy, respectively. The physical parameters like oxygen packing density, refractive index, molar refractivity, metallization, and electronic polarizability are also studied. The Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) technique is used to evaluate the thermal stability.     

An efficient and secure partial image encryption for wireless multimedia sensor networks using discrete wavelet transform,chaotic maps and substitution box

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) is widely deployed in monitoring of some physical activity and/or environmental conditions. Data gathered from WSN is transmitted via network to a central location for further processing. Numerous applications of WSN can be found in smart homes, intelligent buildings, health care, energy efficient smart grids and industrial control systems. In recent years, computer scientists has focused towards findings more applications of WSN in multimedia technologies, i.e. audio, video and digital images. Due to bulky nature of multimedia data, WSN process a large volume of multimedia data which significantly increases computational complexity and hence reduces battery time. With respect to battery life constraints, image compression in addition with secure transmission over a wide ranged sensor network is an emerging and challenging task in Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks. Due to the open nature of the Internet, transmission of data must be secure through a process known as encryption. As a result, there is an intensive demand for such schemes that is energy efficient as well as highly secure since decades. In this paper, discrete wavelet-based partial image encryption scheme using hashing algorithm, chaotic maps and Hussain’s S-Box is reported. The plaintext image is compressed via discrete wavelet transform and then the image is shuffled column-wise and row wise-wise via Piece-wise Linear Chaotic Map (PWLCM) and Nonlinear Chaotic Algorithm, respectively. To get higher security, initial conditions for PWLCM are made dependent on hash function. The permuted image is bitwise XORed with random matrix generated from Intertwining Logistic map. To enhance the security further, final ciphertext is obtained after substituting all elements with Hussain’s substitution box. Experimental and statistical results confirm the strength of the anticipated scheme.