A low-complexity audio fingerprinting technique for embedded applications

Multimedia Tools and Applications - This paper proposes a new optimized audio-based fingerprinting technology for embedded applications. The target use case is related to TV content synchronization...     

Energy consumption and economic growth revisited in African countries

The aim of this paper is to provide new empirical evidence on the relationship between energy consumption and economic growth for 21 African countries over the period from 1970 to 2006, using recently developed panel cointegration and causality tests. The countries are divided into two groups: net energy importers and net energy exporters. It is found that there exists a long-run equilibrium relationship between energy consumption, real GDP, prices, labor and capital for each group of countries as well as for the whole set of countries. This result is robust to possible cross-country dependence and still holds when allowing for multiple endogenous structural breaks, which can differ among countries. Furthermore, we find that decreasing energy consumption decreases growth and vice versa, and that increasing energy consumption increases growth, and vice versa, and that this applies for both energy exporters and importers. Finally, there is a marked difference in the cointegration relationship when country groups are considered.     

Network-controlled mobility within radio access networks based onWLAN technologies

This article presents a network-controlled approach of user terminal mobility within anIP based WirelessLAN Access Network. In a first part, this article makes a review of the mobility support, on the subject of emergingWLAN technologies asHIPERLAN/2 andIEEE 802.11, on the one hand, and, regardingIP networks as currently studied withinIETF, on the other hand. Both types ofIP mobility protocols are presented, either global mobility protocols such as MobileIP, or local mobility management protocols (micro mobility). In the next part, the overall principles of our mobility management approach are explained; this approach is based on the implementation of a new network entity dedicated to the control of user terminal mobility. The last part details a practical implementation of this approach. The implementation is carried out on the basis of Hierarchical MobileIPv6 (HMIPv6). The experimental results confirm the importance to carefully plan and control the user terminal mobility within largeIP based Access Networks, as this brings benefit to the user as well as to the operator.     

Symmetric delay factorization: generalized framework forparaunitary filter banks

The symmetric delay factorization (SDF) was introduced to synthesize linear-phase paraunitary filter banks (LPPUFBs) with uniform order (i.e., filter length equal to NM for arbitrary N) and real-valued coefficients. The SDF presents the advantage of decomposing the polyphase transfer matrix (PTM) into only orthogonal matrices, even at the boundary of finite-duration signals, simplifying significantly the design of time-bounded filter banks (TBFBs) or of time-varying filter banks (TVFBs). However, the symmetric delay factorization applies only to LPPUFBs. On the other hand, lattice structures, as well as finite-size lattice structures, are proposed for classes of nonlinear-phase paraunitary filter banks, as the modulated lapped transform (MLT) and the extended tapped transform (ELT). This paper describes a new minimal and complete symmetric delay factorization valid for a larger class of paraunitary filter banks, encompassing paraunitary cosine modulated filter banks, with nonlinear phase basis functions, as well as for a set of LPPUFBs including the linear-phase lapped orthogonal transforms (LOTs) and the generalized tapped orthogonal transforms (GenLOTs). The derivations for filter banks with even and odd numbers of channels are formulated in a unified form. This approach opens new perspectives in the design of time-varying filter banks used for image and video compression, especially in the framework of region or object-based coding     

Shock-Vortex Interactions at High Mach Numbers

We perform a computational study of the interaction of a planar shock wave with a cylindrical vortex. We use a particularly robust High Resolution Shock Capturing scheme, Marquina's scheme, to obtain high quality, high resolution numerical simulations of the interaction. In the case of a very-strong shock/vortex encounter, we observe a severe reorganization of the flow field in the downstream region, which seems to be due mainly to the strength of the shock. The numerical data is analyzed to study the driving mechanisms for the production of vorticity in the interaction.     

A controlled study of food behavior and emotional manifestation in a population of obese female adolescents

BACKGROUND: Obesity is a major Public Health problem in developed countries. It is frequently associated with psychological difficulties that may interfere with treatment. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 22 obese female adolescents, aged 13 to 19 years, and 24 age-matched female controls, were compared with regard to emotional pathology (anxiety, depression), eating behaviors, self-esteem, body image and parental history of depression. The evaluation was both categorical (DSM III-R criteria) and dimensional for depression and anxiety. It also included a self-esteem scale and questionnaires. RESULTS: The obese adolescents had more depressive symptoms, more prevalent anxiety disorders, more frequent histories of parental depression, eating behaviors characterized by over-eating and/or restricted intake, lower self-esteem and dissatisfaction with their body image, leading to avoidance behaviors in some of them. CONCLUSIONS: Psychological manifestations, although they are still insufficiently documented, especially in adolescents, may aggravate obesity and interfere with treatment.     

Deconstructing public participation in the Water Framework Directive: implementation and compliance with the letter or with the spirit of the law?

This article offers a fresh reading of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and of the Common Implementation Strategy guidance document number 8 on public participation (PP) aimed at identifying the conditions required for successful implementation. We propose that a central barrier to implementing Article 14 is that Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) problems are complex in character and that participation is a wicked process in practice. This article highlights some ambiguous interpretations of the WFD comparing and contrasting the ‘letter of the law’ and its ‘spirit’, based on a critical review of the nature of PP, who it concerns and when it takes place. First we articulate a complex system interpretation of IWRM in the context of the WFD. Second, we explain the difficulty to define blueprint for PP in IWRM. Finally, we present five interpretative challenging readings in order to highlight tensions between the ‘spirit’ and the ‘letter’ of the WFD.     

Neonatal screening for cystic fibrosis: result of a pilot study using both immunoreactive trypsinogen and cystic fibrosis gene mutation analyses

We have evaluated a two-tier neonatal cystic fibrosis (CF) screening of immunoreactive trypsinogen (IRT) followed by CFTR gene mutation analysis using a systematic scanning of exons 7, 10, and 11, and, if necessary, by direct DNA sequencing. Over an 18-month period we screened 32,300 neonates born in the western part of Britanny. The first tier, involving IRT screening at 3 days of age, utilizes a low elevation of the trypsinogen level (600 ng/ml), which is highly sensitive. The second tier, which corresponds to the exhaustive screening for mutations in three exons of the gene, is highly specific for this population (Britanny). The false positive rate is very low, and no false negatives have been reported to date. This strategy has allowed the identification of five novel alleles (V322A, V317A, 1806 del A, R553G, G544S).