A New Approach of Iris Detection and Recognition

This paper proposes an IRIS recognition and detection model for measuring the e-security. This proposed model consists of the following blocks: segmentation and normalization, feature encoding and feature extraction, and classification. In first phase, histogram equalization and canny edge detection is used for object detection. And then, Hough Transformation is utilized for detecting the center of the pupil of an IRIS. In second phase, Daugmen’s Rubber Sheet model and Log Gabor filter is used for normalization and encoding and as a feature extraction method GNS (Global Neighborhood Structure) map is used, finally extracted feature of GNS is feed to the SVM (Support Vector Machine) for training and testing. For our tested dataset, experimental results demonstrate 92% accuracy in real portion and 86% accuracy in imaginary portion for both eyes. In addition, our proposed model outperforms than other two conventional methods exhibiting higher accuracy

A Video Summarization Approach to Speed-up the Analysis of Child Sexual Exploitation Material

[Abstract] Identifying key content from a video is essential for many security applications such as motion/action detection, person re-identification and recognition. Moreover, summarizing the key information from Child Sexual Exploitation Materials, especially videos, which mainly contain distinctive scenes including people’s faces is crucial to speed-up the investigation of Law Enforcement Agencies. In this paper, we present a video summarization strategy that combines perceptual hashing and face detection algorithms to keep the most relevant frames of a video containing people’s faces that may correspond to victims or offenders. Due to legal constraints to access Child Sexual Abuse datasets, we evaluated the performance of the proposed strategy during the detection of adult pornography content with the NDPI-800 dataset. Also, we assessed the capability of our strategy to create video summaries preserving frames with distinctive faces from the original video using ten additional short videos manually labeled. Results showed that our approach can detect pornography content with an accuracy of 84.15% at a speed of 8.05 ms/frame making this appropriate for realtime applications.This work was supported by the framework agreement between the Universidad de León and INCIBE (Spanish National Cybersecurity Institute) under Addendum 01. Also, this research has been funded with support from the European Commission under the 4NSEEK project with Grant Agreement 821966. This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the European Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. Finally, we acknowledge the NVIDIA Corporation for the donation of the TITAN Xp GPU

Explicit finite difference analysis of an unsteady magnetohydrodynamics heat and mass transfer micropolar fluid flow in the presence of radiation and chemical reaction through a vertical porous plate

The investigation of this paper is undertaken to study of the problem of chemical reaction on MHD unsteady heat and mass transfer effects of micropolar fluid flow through a vertical plate. Different effects such as thermal diffusion, Soret and Dufour effects in the presence of radiation and chemical reaction are permitted in this observation. Firstly, the governing partial differential equations (PDEs) are transformed into a system of dimensionless coupled partial differential equations by the procedure of mathematical transformation. Then the obtained dimensionless equations are solved by explicit finite difference method (EFDM). Further, the momentum, temperature and concentration distributions are permitted by the variations of various parameters with the help of computer programming language FORTRAN. By using initial boundary conditions U = 0, V = 0, Γ = 0, T = 1, C = 1 and for Δτ = 0.0005, ΔX = 0.83 and ΔY = 0.50, the convergence criteria are exhibited Pr ≥ 0.205 and Sc ≥ 0.045. In addition, the streamlines and isotherms are evaluated for different interesting parameters. Finally, after stability convergence test (SCT) the profiles of velocity, angular velocity, temperature and concentration are analysed and scrutinized graphically by using graphs software tacplot-9

How Close Do We Live to Water? A Global Analysis of Population Distance to Freshwater Bodies

Traditionally, people have inhabited places with ready access to fresh water. Today, over 50% of the global population lives in urban areas, and water can be directed via tens of kilometres of pipelines. Still, however, a large part of the world's population is directly dependent on access to natural freshwater sources. So how are inhabited places related to the location of freshwater bodies today? We present a high-resolution global analysis of how close present-day populations live to surface freshwater. We aim to increase the understanding of the relationship between inhabited places, distance to surface freshwater bodies, and climatic characteristics in different climate zones and administrative regions. Our results show that over 50% of the world's population lives closer than 3 km to a surface freshwater body, and only 10% of the population lives further than 10 km away. There are, however, remarkable differences between administrative regions and climatic zones. Populations in Australia, Asia, and Europe live closest to water. Although populations in arid zones live furthest away from freshwater bodies in absolute terms, relatively speaking they live closest to water considering the limited number of freshwater bodies in those areas. Population distributions in arid zones show statistically significant relationships with a combination of climatic factors and distance to water, whilst in other zones there is no statistically significant relationship with distance to water. Global studies on development and climate adaptation can benefit from an improved understanding of these relationships between human populations and the distance to fresh water

Has the sensitivity of soybean cultivars to ozone pollution increased with time? : An analysis of published dose–response data

The rising trend in concentrations of ground-level ozone (O3) – a common air pollutant and phytotoxin – currently being experienced in some world regions represents a threat to agricultural yield. Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) is an O3-sensitive crop species and is experiencing increasing global demand as a dietary protein source and constituent of livestock feed. In this study, we collate O3 exposure-yield data for 49 soybean cultivars, from 28 experimental studies published between 1982 and 2014, to produce an updated dose–response function for soybean. Different cultivars were seen to vary considerably in their sensitivity to O3, with estimated yield loss due to O3 ranging from 13.3% for the least sensitive cultivar to 37.9% for the most sensitive, at a 7-h mean O3 concentration (M7) of 55 ppb – a level frequently observed in regions of the USA, India and China in recent years. The year of cultivar release, country of data collection and type of O3 exposure used were all important explanatory variables in a multivariate regression model describing soybean yield response to O3. The data show that the O3 sensitivity of soybean cultivars increased by an average of 32.5% between 1960 and 2000, suggesting that selective breeding strategies targeting high yield and high stomatal conductance may have inadvertently selected for greater O3 sensitivity over time. Higher sensitivity was observed in data from India and China compared to the USA, although it is difficult to determine whether this effect is the result of differential cultivar physiology, or related to local environmental factors such as co-occurring pollutants. Gaining further understanding of the underlying mechanisms that govern the sensitivity of soybean cultivars to O3 will be important in shaping future strategies for breeding O3-tolerant cultivars

Perceptual Image Hashing and Machine Learning methods applied to prevent and fight against Cybercrime = Hash perceptual de imágenes y aprendizaje automático para prevenir y luchar contra el cibercrimen

192 p.Esta Tesis presenta nuevos métodos de reconocimiento de rostros para ayudar a las Fuerzas y Cuerpos de Seguridad del Estado (FCSE) a luchar contra la ciberdelincuencia

Modelling multi-year phosphorus flow at the regional scale: the case of Gippsland, Australia

© 2015 Dr. Rubel Biswas ChowdhuryPhosphorus (P) is an essential element for global food production, but it is geographically limited, non-substitutable, and non-renewable. In the traditional P management system, there exist a number of challenges to the sustainability of this vital resource, which, if not properly tackled, may lead to global P scarcity and hinder global food security. In order to provide effective policy and management response to overcome these challenges, and to safeguard global P sustainability, there is need for a sound understanding of the nature and magnitude of P flow through different systems at various geographical and temporal scales. An in-depth review of the available P flow analyses at different geographical and temporal scales has revealed that the regional scale which is significant in terms of the magnitude of P flow, has received limited attention in the multi-year analysis of P flow. Thus, there is a knowledge gap regarding the nature and magnitude of P flow over several years at the regional scale, but this understanding is essential for providing long-term and effective P management decisions. Therefore, utilizing the Substance Flow Analysis (SFA) method that relies on the mass balance principle, this study has performed a quantitative modelling of P flow over multiple years at the regional scale. In this regard, this study has developed SFA model of P in MATLAB/Simulink® software platform that can be utilized for analysing the nature and magnitude of multi-year P flow at the regional scale. This model takes into account both structurally and operationally, all the relevant P flows and storage associated with all key systems, subsystems, processes or components, and associated interactions of P flow to represent a typical P flow system at the regional scale. The main advantage of this model over available regional scale SFA models is that it is capable of analysing the trends or dynamic changes in P flow and storage over many years at an annual time step, whereas the available P flow models are static and can analyse P flow only for a particular year at a time. The unique capability of the model to comprehensively analyse various P flows and storage in a system, subsystems, or/and different components within subsystems and sub-subsystems while taking into account all interactions of P flow render it as a robust and powerful tool for the regional scale P flow analysis. This study has utilized this model in the case of Gippsland region in Australia to analyse the nature and magnitude of P flow and storage over a six-year period (2008-2013). This analysis has revealed that approximately 29% (4,445 tonnes) of the mean annual total inflow (15,349 tonnes) of P in this region eventually exited the system, indicating a substantial amount (10,904 tonnes) of P storage. The inflow of P mainly occurred as commercial fertilizer (10,263 tonnes) and livestock feed (4,443 tonnes), and the outflow mainly occurred as livestock products (4,181 tonnes); whereas the majority (66% or 7,218 tonnes) of P storage occurred in soils of the livestock farming system. The analysis has also revealed that the majority (approximately 90%) of the P flow and storage in this region was associated with the livestock farming subsystem. A significant annual variation in the magnitude of nearly all P flow and storage has been observed in the case of the main system (Gippsland region) and all subsystems. These variations in annual P flow and storage implies that making judgement based on a single year analysis may not represent the true picture of the magnitude of P flow, and therefore, emphasises the significance for multi-year analysis. This analysis also indicates that over the study period, a total of about 3,241 tonnes P were lost as soil erosion and runoff from different subsystems to water bodies in this region, eventually causing a substantial environmental and economic damage. Over the study period, a total of approximately 65,424 tonnes P storage (mainly in soils of the livestock farming subsystem) occurred in this region, which is more than the total quantity of P imported as commercial fertilizer into this region in that period. The accumulation of P in this manner over several years may lead to a massive stock of P in soils, which may ultimately intensify the risk of P loss as soil erosion and runoff. The findings of this analysis could be effectively utilized for making better P management decisions towards achieving P sustainability in this region. However, this study suggests that future research should investigate the reasons for the variations and trends in multi-year P flow as identified in the case of Gippsland region