Energy-efficient inter-RAN cooperation for non-collocated cell sites with base station selection and user association policies

Wireless Networks - Conventional planning and optimization of cellular mobile networks for supporting the peak-time user demand leads to substantial wastage of electrical energy. Infrastructure...     

Security analysis of an ultra‐lightweight RFID authentication protocol for m‐commerce

Nowadays, many people perform their commercial activities, such as electronic payment and electronic banking, through their mobile phones. Mobile commerce (m‐commerce) refers to manipulating electronic commerce (e‐commerce) by using mobile devices and wireless networks. Radio‐frequency identification (RFID) is a technology which can be employed to complete payment functions on m‐commerce. As an RFID subsystem is applied in m‐commerce and supply chains, the related security concerns are very important. Recently, Fan et al. have proposed an ultra‐lightweight RFID authentication scheme for m‐commerce (ULRAS) and claimed that their protocol is efficient enough and provides a high level of security. In this paper, we show that their protocol is vulnerable to secret disclosure and reader impersonation attacks. Finally, we improve it to a protocol that is resistant to the attacks presented in this paper and the other known attacks in the context of RFID authentication. We further analyze the security of the improved protocol through the Burrows–Abadi–Needham logic (BAN‐logic). Moreover, our proposed improvement does not impose any additional workload on the RFID tag.     

A computationally scalable fast intra coding scheme for HEVC video encoder

Multimedia Tools and Applications - The High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) adopts 35 intra prediction modes to provide a more precise intra prediction. As a result, HEVC intra coding is much more...     

Composite nonlinear feedback design for discrete-time switching systems with disturbances and input saturation

This paper addresses the problem of robust controller design for a class of discrete-time switching systems with input saturation. To this aim, the composite nonlinear feedback method is extended to design a robust controller with improved performances in terms of the response speed and overshoot in the presence of disturbances and input saturation. The proposed approach is theoretically analysed and its closed-loop stability is proved. Then, the performance of the proposed method is verified using numerical simulations.     

Does Ergonomics Improve Product Quality and Reduce Costs? A Review Article

Competition is an ongoing challenge confronting industrial corporations, particularly automobile manufacturing. Striving to improve product quality and productivity, automotive industries have used different quality management approaches, such as reduced variability, total quality management, and lean management, over recent years. Furthermore, incorporating proactive ergonomics such as physical and organizational ergonomics and psychosocial factors into the structure of a company is considered to be a support for productivity and quality. Several studies have shown the effects of ergonomics on better quality. Application of both quality management approaches and ergonomics in an integrated manner in the manufacturing production system is emphasized because they are similar concepts with the same objectives, that is, to improve efficiency. In this study, a comprehensive review was undertaken and 25 studies were reviewed in order to define how integration of an ergonomic approach in the manufacturing production system can reduce defects and improve quality in the production process.     

Uncertainty Assessment of the Integrated Hybrid Data Processing Techniques for Short to Long Term Drought Forecasting in Different Climate Regions

Water Resources Management - Accurate prediction of drought indices is a useful method to reduce its undesirable consequences. In this study, the workability of newly integrated hybrid forecasting...     

The CO-catalyzed conversion of H2S to H2 + sulfur part 2. The thermal decomposition of COS

The pyrolysis of COS has been studied over the temperature range 300 to 750°C using a variety of catalysts. The observed product distribution confirmed that two parallel reaction paths: 2 COS → 2 CO S₂ (2) and 2 COS → CO₂ + CS₂ (4) are involved in the decomposition. The decomposition yield increased with rising temperature, accompanied with a shift in selectivity. At temperatures lower than ～700°C the disproportionation reaction 4 was predominant, whereas at temperatures higher than 700°C, reaction 2 was favoured. In the high-temperature region (700 to 750°C) it was possible to achieve full suppression of reaction 4 with added CS₂. The pyrolysis of COS was also studied in a reactor packed with quartz chips without catalysts at high temperatures. Between 800 and 900°C, up to 99% conversion (with respect to the thermodynamic limit) could be achieved, with the almost complete absence of the disproportionation reaction 4. The results point to the commercial potential in the two-step reaction sequence: for the economic conversion of hydrogen sulfide to hydrogen and sulfur.     

Multicast-Unicast Data Delivery Method in Wireless IPv6 Networks

Multicast IPv6 is an efficient way of transmitting data simultaneously to a group of IPv6 users. It has the advantage of reducing the required bandwidth of IPv6 data delivery compared to unicast transmission. The data rate of multicast transmission over WLAN is confined by the user with the lowest rate in the multicast group, which is called the fixed base rate problem. This paper proposes a delivery method that incorporates both multicast and unicast transmissions to solve the fixed base rate problem. The proposed method divides the IPv6 network into two levels: multicast mode for the upper level of the network [IPv6 server to Access Point (AP)], and unicast mode for the lower level (AP to mobile nodes). To maintain the end-to-end multicast transmission, the AP is responsible for converting multicast packets to unicast packets. Such a combination enables the proposed method to inherit the advantages of both multicast and unicast transmissions. The performance of our proposed method is evaluated in a test-bed environment that considers the transmission of real-time video application. The proposed multicast-unicast is able to improve the throughput and video quality experienced by the end user, with low packet loss and transmission delay.