A novel design of variable-rate RS encoder for ubiquitous high performance multimedia service in Gbps transmission system

In this paper, we have first reviewed the state-of-the-art technologies related to DOCSIS 3.0 high-speed data transmission system and also looked at current trends in the next generation Gbps transmission technology, which is one of key technology for ubiquitous high performance multimedia service environments. Also, we implemented the RS encoder which was designed using VHDL and verified its operation in order to confirm our design through the ModelSim simulation analysis tool.     

Mobile-cloud assisted framework for selective encryption of medical images with steganography for resource-constrained devices

In this paper, the problem of outsourcing the selective encryption of a medical image to cloud by resource-constrained devices such as smart phone is addressed, without revealing the cover image to cloud using steganography. In the proposed framework, the region of interest of the medical image is first detected using a visual saliency model. The detected important data is then embedded in a host image, producing a stego image which is outsourced to cloud for encryption. The cloud which has powerful resources, encrypts the image and sent back the encrypted marked image to the client. The client can then extract the selectively encrypted region of interest and can combine it with the region of non-interest to form a selectively encrypted image, which can be sent to medical specialists and healthcare centers. Experimental results and analysis validate the effectiveness of the proposed framework in terms of security, image quality, and computational complexity and verify its applicability in remote patient monitoring centers.     

Securing against brute-force attack: A hash-based RFID mutual authentication protocol using a secret value

Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID ) system is a contactless automatic identification system using small, low-cost RFID tags. It enables recognition of the tag information via radio frequency communication, by attaching an RFID tag to an animate or inanimate object. Since an RFID system has the advantage of simultaneously recognizing massive amounts of information, it is expected to replace the bar-code system. The most important problem with an RFID system is that an adversary can access the tag information, which gives rise to privacy and forgery problems. This paper presents a hash-based mutual authentication protocol as a solution. The proposed protocol is designed to send a random number generated by a tag to a back-end server without disclosure. Moreover it substitutes a random number with a secret value, which is employed in a response message. The properties of the proposed protocol enable constant creation of distinct response messages without interferences from intended or meaningless requests generated by an adversary, while the secret value is not directly transmitted. Our proposed protocol make is difficult for an attacker to launch successful brute-force attacks against our approach.     

Kernels for below-upper-bound parameterizations of the hitting set and directed dominating set problems

In the Hitting Set problem, we are given a collection F of subsets of a ground set V and an integer p, and asked whether V has a p-element subset that intersects each set in F. We consider two parameterizations of Hitting Set below tight upper bounds, p=m−k and p=n−k. In both cases k is the parameter. We prove that the first parameterization is fixed-parameter tractable, but has no polynomial kernel unless coNP ⊆ NP/poly. The second parameterization is W[1]-complete, but the introduction of an additional parameter, the degeneracy of the hypergraph H=(V,F), makes the problem not only fixed-parameter tractable, but also one with a linear kernel. Here the degeneracy of H=(V,F) is the minimum integer d such that for each X⊂V the hypergraph with vertex set V?X and edge set containing all edges of F without vertices in X, has a vertex of degree at most d.In Nonblocker (Directed Nonblocker), we are given an undirected graph (a directed graph) G on n vertices and an integer k, and asked whether G has a set X of n−k vertices such that for each vertex y∉X there is an edge (arc) from a vertex in X to y. Nonblocker can be viewed as a special case of Directed Nonblocker (replace an undirected graph by a symmetric digraph). Dehne et al. (Proc. SOFSEM 2006) proved that Nonblocker has a linear-order kernel. We obtain a linear-order kernel for Directed Nonblocker.     

Kinematic Design of Modular Reconfigurable In-Parallel Robots

This paper describes the kinematic design issues of a modular reconfigurable parallel robot. Two types of robot modules, the fixed-dimension joint modules and the variable dimension link modules that can be custom-designed rapidly, are used to facilitate the complex design effort. Module selection and robot configuration enumeration are discussed. The kinematic analysis of modular parallel robots is based on a local frame representation of the Product-Of-Exponentials (POE) formula. Forward displacement analysis algorithms and a workspace visualization scheme are presented for a class of three-legged modular parallel robots. Two three-legged reconfigurable parallel robot configurations are actually built according to the proposed design procedure.     

Material properties and growth control of undoped and Sn-doped In2O3 thin films prepared by using ion beam technologies

Undoped (IO) and Sn-doped In₂O₃ (ITO) films have been deposited on glass and polymer substrates by an advanced ion beam technologies including ion-assisted deposition (IAD), hybrid ion beam, ion beam sputter deposition (IBSD), and ion-assisted reaction (IAR). Physical and chemical properties of the oxide films and adhesion between films and substrates were improved significantly by these technologies. By using the IAD method, non-stoichiometry and microstructure of the films were controlled by changing assisted oxygen ion energy and arrival ratio of assisted oxygen ion to evaporated atoms. Relationships between structural and electrical properties in ITO films on glass substrates were intensively investigated by using the IBSD method with changing ion energy, reactive gas environment, and substrate temperature. Smooth-surface ITO films (R_rms ≤ 1 nm and R_p-v ≤ 10 nm) for organic light-emitting diodes were developed with a combination of deposition conditions with controlling microstructure of a seed layer on glass. IAR surface treatment enormously enhanced the adhesion of oxide films to polymer substrate. The different dependence of IO and ITO films' properties on the experimental parameters, such as ion energy and oxygen gas environment, will be intensively discussed.     

Electromagnetic shielding properties of soft magnetic metal and ferrite composites for application to suppress noise in a radio frequency range

Electromagnetic shielding properties of soft magnetic metal alloy (Fe-Al-Si) flakes and Ni-Zn ferrite composites for effective suppression of broadband and high frequency noise were investigated. In the soft magnetic composites, the maxima of reflection loss were shifted to high frequency with increase in content of Ni-Zn ferrite. The composites with content of 50 and 70% ferrite exhibited broadband absorptive characteristics. The broadband character- istics might be caused by the extended resonance due to an overlap between imaginary permeability and permittivity of the two composites over the frequency range from 2 to 10 GHz.     

Scalable Model of On-Wafer Interconnects for High-Speed CMOS ICs

This paper describes the development of an equivalent circuit model of on-wafer interconnects for high-speed CMOS integrated circuits. By strategically cascading two-pi blocks together, the lumped model can characterize the distributed effects. Besides, the elaborately proposed model characterizes the frequency-variant characteristics with frequency-independent components. Thus, the model can be easily plugged into commercial computer-aided design tools. By adopting a newly invented optimization algorithm, namely, particle swarm optimization (PSO), the model parameters are extracted and formulated as empirical expressions. Therein, with each set of the geometrical parameters, the interconnect behaviors can be accurately predicted. The accuracy of the model is validated by comparisons with the on-wafer measurements up to 30 GHz. Moreover, the scalability of the proposed model is also discussed     

Two additional cases of metformin‐associated encephalopathy in patients with end‐stage renal disease undergoing hemodialysis

We report on two additional cases of metformin‐associated encephalopathy in patients with end‐stage renal disease (ESRD) undergoing hemodialysis. Two patients were seen at our hospital with abnormal neurological signs and symptoms. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed the same pattern of high signal intensity in both basal ganglia in T2‐weighted images in the two patients. The two patients had started taking metformin 5 and 6 weeks earlier at the same dose of 1000 mg per day. Metformin was immediately stopped, and regular hemodialysis was conducted. Their signs and symptoms resolved completely after these measures. The high signal intensity in both ganglia in T2‐weighted MRI also disappeared. We should suspect metformin‐induced encephalopathy and withdraw the drug when presented with diabetic patients with chronic kidney disease and neurological signs and symptoms of unknown cause.