Detecting flaws and intruders with visual data analysis

The task of sifting through large amounts of data to find useful information spawned the field of data mining. Most data mining approaches are based on machine-learning techniques, numerical analysis, or statistical modeling. They use human interaction and visualization only minimally. Such automatic methods can miss some important features of the data. Incorporating human perception into the data mining process through interactive visualization can help us better understand the complex behaviors of computer network systems. This article describes visual-analytics-based solutions and outlines a visual exploration process for log analysis. Three log-file analysis applications demonstrate our approach's effectiveness in discovering flaws and intruders in network systems.     

Automated droplet measurement (ADM): an enhanced video processing software for rapid droplet measurements

This paper identifies and addresses the bottlenecks that hamper the currently available software to perform in situ measurement on droplet-based microfluidic. The new and more universal object-based background extraction operation and automated binary threshold value selection make the processing step of our video processing software (ADM) fully automated. The ADM software, which is based on OpenCV image processing library, is made to perform measurements with high processing speed using efficient code. As the processing speed is higher than the data transfer speed from the video camera to permanent storage of computer, we integrate the camera software development kit (SDK) with ADM. The integration allows simultaneous operations of the video transfer/streaming and the video processing. As a result, the total time for droplet measurement using the new process flow with the integrated program is shortened significantly. ADM is also validated by comparing with both manual analysis and DMV software. ADM will be publicly released as a free tool. The software can also be used on a video file or files without the integration with the camera SDK.     

Enhanced maximum curvature descriptors for finger vein verification

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Maximum Curvature Method (MCM) is one of the promising methods for finger vein verification. MCM scans the curvature of the vein image profiles within a finger...     

Current Development of Electron Beam Irradiation of Natural Rubber–Polymer Blends

The application of electron beam irradiation in polymers blend with natural rubber such as thermoplastic polymers, specialty polymers, and thermoset polymers are discussed in this paper for the aspects of physical, mechanical, and thermal properties. The interaction of additives and irradiation for natural rubber blends were also been analyzed. The addition of cross-linking agent such as trimetylolpropane trimethacrylate with appropriate amount could enhance the mechanical properties of the polymer–natural rubber blend and lower the optimum dose of electron beam irradiation. In short, electron beam is another potential aspect worth for study in natural rubber research area.     

Review of Nanocellulose Polymer Composite Characteristics and Challenges

The nanosize cellulose has emerged in the last two decades as an efficient strategy to improve the structural and functional properties of polymer composite. This review focuses to explore the unique mechanical–thermal properties of cellulose-based nanocomposites particularly on the various reinforcing mechanisms of nanocellulose. The promising reinforcing capabilities of nanocellulose mainly lie in their intrinsic chemical natures, aspect ratio, and degree of crystallinity. In this article, the potential factors deteriorating the aspect ratio and crystallinity have been systematically reviewed. Some relevant suggestions/solutions were also widely exploited toward tailoring the generating problems.     

Performance study on a WDM packet switch with limited-rangewavelength converters

We consider a slotted WDM packet switch with limited-range wavelength converters. The performance of this switch is studied using simulations with various types of data traffic. Results show that the slotted WDM packet switch with a small range of wavelength conversion capability can achieve a performance close to that of a switch with the full range of wavelength conversion capability     

Improved Bit-Based Joint Source-Channel Decoding of Variable Length Codes

Joint source channel decoding (JSCD) for variable length codes (VLCs) has been shown to be effective for error- prone channels. In this paper, we propose two schemes to enhance the performance of the existing bit-based JSCD approach for VLCs. Simulation results show that the performance of the decoder can be significantly improved, while the computational complexity is only slightly increased by using our proposed schemes.     

Development of annulus fibrosus tissue construct with hydrogel coils containing pre-conditioned mesenchymal stem cell

Low back pain associated with degenerative disc diseases has been a major health concern that brings suffering to the patients physically and economically.Many existing therapeutic strategies provide shortterm relief of symptoms rather than treatment of the underlying cause.Development of an engineered tissue for disc regeneration is still in its infancy due to the limited autologous healthy disc cell source from the patients.It is also challenging to mimic the complexity of micro-architecture in the native disc tissue that determine their unique structural properties.To date,simple tissue models that mimic the annulus fibrosus(AF)micro-environment for understanding the potential of mesenchymal stem cells(MSCs)in AF tissue engineering are still lacking.In this study,the assembly of a coiled hydrogel microfiber has shown its capability to encapsulate MSCs and create an engineered tissue model that mimics the multiple lamellae of native AF.Using this model,we investigated the potential of MSCs that were previously induced by ascorbic acid(AA).Compared to non-induced MSCs,AA-induced MSCs exhibited significant increase in AF-associated biomarkers during later development in the engineered AF tissue model and also encouraged collagen accumulation through the down-regulated catabolic gene MMP1 and upregulated anti-catabolic gene TIMP1.Furthermore,AA-induced MSCs exhibited a Col2/Col1 ratio closer to that of a native AF tissue.These results suggested that AA-induced MSCs could be a potential cell source for AF tissue engineering and this established tissue model may provide a simple tool for successful AF tissue engineering strategies in the future.