Copyright Protection of Color Imaging Using Robust-Encoded Watermarking

In this paper we present a robust-encoded watermarking method applied to color images for copyright protection, which presents robustness against several geometric and signal processing distortions. Trade-off between payload, robustness and imperceptibility is a very important aspect which has to be considered when a watermark algorithm is designed. In our proposed scheme, previously to be embedded into the image, the watermark signal is encoded using a convolutional encoder, which can perform forward error correction achieving better robustness performance. Then, the embedding process is carried out through the discrete cosine transform domain (DCT) of an image using the image normalization technique to accomplish robustness against geometric and signal processing distortions. The embedded watermark coded bits are extracted and decoded using the Viterbi algorithm. In order to determine the presence or absence of the watermark into the image we compute the bit error rate (BER) between the recovered and the original watermark data sequence. The quality of the watermarked image is measured using the well-known indices: Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR), Visual Information Fidelity (VIF) and Structural Similarity Index (SSIM). The color difference between the watermarked and original images is obtained by using the Normalized Color Difference (NCD) measure. The experimental results show that the proposed method provides good performance in terms of imperceptibility and robustness. The comparison among the proposed and previously reported methods based on different techniques is also provided

Silica coating for interphase bond enhancement of carbon and AR-glass Textile Reinforced Mortar (TRM)

In this paper, we investigate the effect of silica nano-coating for interphase bond enhancement on the mechanical performance of Textile Reinforced Mortar (TRM) composite materials aimed at structural rehabilitation and strengthening. Alkali-resistant glass (ARG) and carbon fabric reinforcements are preliminarily treated via sol-gel deposition of SiO2coating to promote bond formation capability with the mortar matrix. Optical and electron microscopy provide evidence of interphase bond enhancement. Mechanical performance is assessed both in traction, through uni-axial elongation of prismatic coupons, and in flexure, by three-point bending of laminated masonry bricks. Results are given in terms of mean strength curves, ultimate and design strength and strain values, cracked and uncracked moduli, mean crack spacing, mean crack width and energy dissipation. It is shown that mean absolute performance of silica coating offers a significant improvement over uncoated fabric, yet it is inferior to that of specimens which have been treated with a liquid partially-organic adhesion promoter (polymer coating). However, when design values are considered which incorporate the dispersion of experimental data, silica coating proves superior or at least equivalent to polymer coating, respectively for carbon and ARG fabric. These promising results describe the first application of silica nano-coating to fabric reinforced composite materials

La EscuelaAyllu de Warisata, Bolivia y sus relaciones con México

La constitución y desarrollo de la Escuela de Warisata durante la década del 30 del siglo XX en América, como un proyecto para las comunidades originarias que partía de las tradiciones y costumbres ancestrales, se convirtió en una obra innovadora y opuesta a los proyectos pedagógicos instaurados en Latinoamérica, que produjo la simpatía de diversas naciones de la región, específicamente con la nación mexicana, que también contaba con una experiencia educativa para los pueblos originarios. Ambas naciones mantuvieron diversas relaciones e intercambios, a pesar de que sus proyectos pedagógicos eran diferentes

COMPUTATION OF THE REFLECTANCE AND TRANSMITTANCE FOR AN INHOMOGENEOUS LAYERED MEDIUM WITH TURNING POINT S USING THE WKB AND SPPS METHODS

Electromagnetic wave propagation is currently present in the vast majority of situations which occur in veryday life, whether in mobile communications, DTV, satellite tracking, broadcasting, etc. Because of this the study of increasingly complex means of propagation of lectromagnetic waves has become necessary in order to optimize resources and increase the capabilities of the devices as required by the growing demand for such services. Within the electromagnetic wave propagation different parameters are considered that characterize it under various circumstances and of particular importance are the reflectance and transmittance. There are several methods or the analysis of the reflectance and transmittance such as the method of approximation by boundary condition, the plane wave expansion method (PWE), etc., but this work focuses on the WKB and SPPS methods. The implementation of the WKB method is relatively simple but is found to be relatively efficient only when working at high frequencies. The SPPS method (Spectral Parameter Powers Series) based on the theory of pseudoanalytic functions, is used to solve this problem through a new representation for solutions of Sturm Liouville equations and has recently proven to be a powerful tool to solve different boundary value and eigenvalue problems. Moreover, it has a very suitable structure for numerical implementation, which in this case took place in the Matlab software for the valuation of both conventional and turning points profiles. The comparison between the two methods allows us to obtain valuable information about their perfor mance which is useful for determining the validity and propriety of their application for solving problems where these parameters are calculated in real life applications

Factores que afectan algunas de las pruebas del tamiz neonatal

Introducción: los métodos analíticos del tamiz metabólico, adaptados al estudio de sangre impregnada en un papel fi ltro, pueden afectarse por factores externos que alteran falsamente los resultados. Objetivo: identificar los factores que afectan las pruebas y el control de calidad del tamiz neonatal. Material y métodos: se realizó análisis retrospectivo y observacional, desde junio del 2002 hasta octubre del 2004, y se estudió el tamiz neonatal de 632 pacientes para identificar los factores que alteran los resultados y determinar cuáles son las pruebas más susceptibles. Se evaluó la calidad de la muestra, y las condiciones de almacenamiento y transporte. Resultados: entre los 632 estudios, en 42 pacientes (6.6%) estuvieron alterados uno o varios de los analitos; en 11 de estos últimos (1.7% del total y 26% de los estudios con resultados anormales) se comprobó un defecto metabólico y en los restantes 31 alguna interferencia. Las pruebas más susceptibles al efecto de la interferencia fueron glucosa-6-fosfato deshidrogenasa (13 casos), uridil galactosa transferasa (nueve casos) y tripsinógeno inmunoreactivo (cinco casos). Las causas más frecuentes de interferencia fueron muestras mal conservadas y administración de medicamentos anticonvulsivantes (ácido valproico). Discusión: la elevada frecuencia de resultados falsos positivos en el tamiz neonatal hace imperativo establecer acciones preventivas para disminuir el número de muestras rechazadas y obliga a descartar las fuentes comunes de interferencia antes de emitir algún diagnóstico presuntivo

Effect of Impulsivity Traits on Food Choice within a Nudging Intervention

Food choices are often driven by impulsive tendencies rather than rational consideration. Some individuals may find it more difficult resisting impulses related to unhealthy food choices, and low self-control and high impulsivity have been suggested to be linked to these behaviors. Recent shifts have been made towards developing strategies that target automatic processes of decision-making and focus on adjusting the environment, referred to as nudging interventions. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of impulsivity traits on food choices within a nudging intervention (increased perceived variety). A total of 83 adults participated in an experimental study consisting of a self-service intelligent buffet. Impulsivity traits were measured using the UPPS-P impulsivity scale. General linear models were fitted to evaluate the effect of the five impulsivity traits on the difference of salad consumption (g) between the control and intervention situations. Results showed that impulsivity does not affect food choices in this nudging situation, suggesting that nudging works independently of the participant’s impulsivity score. Results also showed a significantly higher consumption of salad in the nudging versus the control setting (17.6 g, p < 0.05), suggesting that nudging interventions can be effective in significantly increasing total vegetable consumption across the whole impulsivity scale

Industry 4.0 and smart data as enablers of the circular economy in manufacturing: Product re-engineering with circular eco-design

The digital transformation of manufacturing firms, in addition to making operations more efficient, offers important opportunities both to promote the transition to a circular economy and to experiment with new techniques for designing smarter and greener products. This study integrates Industry 4.0 technologies, smart data, Life Cycle Assessment methodology, and material microstructural analysis techniques to develop and apply a circular eco-design model that has been implemented in the Italian ceramic tile manufacturing industry. The model has been initially adopted in a simulation environment to define five different scenarios of raw material supply, alternative to the current production one. The scenarios were then validated operationally at laboratory scale and in a pilot environment, demonstrating that a proper selection of raw material transport systems significantly improves the environmental performance of the ceramic product. Both the results of the laboratory tests and of the pre-industrial experiments have demonstrated the technological feasibility of the solutions identified with circular eco-design, enabling the re-engineering of the ceramic product as the fifth of the 6Rs of the circular economy. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Diabetes Mellitus and Depression as Risk Factors for Dementia: SADEM Study

Aim: 3Evidence indicates that the comorbidity of dementia with diabetes and depression may affect most cognitive functions. Our chief interest was to examine the patterns of cognitive functioning in individuals diagnosed with dementia, diabetes, and depression as compared with dementia plus diabetes (DDM), or dementia plus depression (DD) and healthy controls

Radio-Optically- and Thermally Stimulated Luminescence of Zn(BO2)2:Tb3+ exposed to Ionizing Radiation

The optical absorption of zinc tetraborate at different concentrations of the terbium impurity (0, 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 8 mol%) was analyzed. The radioluminescence (RL) emission spectra was obtained after beta irradiation of a 90Sr/90Y source. The RL spectrum showed the characteristics bands of Tb3+ with two main emissions at 489 nm and 546 nm which corresponding to the5D4→7F6 and 5D4→7F5 transitions respectively in this ion. The OSL and TL characteristics have been analyzed. The stimulation blue light (497 nm) of a diode laser at 500 mA was used to bleach the thermoluminescent (TL) signals obtained with 5Gy of 60Co source. The two main glow peaks (79 and 161 °C) are sensitives under 497 nm stimulation, and they were shifted to higher temperature values and faded their TL intensities. Similar behavior of TL glow curves before and after OSL stimulation with blue light was observed when the samples were exposed to 30 Gy gamma dose of 137Cs irradiator. The OSL signal response was linear with the dose range of 1-10 Gy and increased their response up to 200 Gy gamma dose. The OSL shows a bleaching sensitive shallow traps and diminishing the intensity of the TL glow curves remaining a complex traps distribution. The RL, TL and OSL properties were investigated in Zn(BO2)2:Tb3+ phosphor

Experimental and theoretical assessment of native oxide in the superconducting TaN

In this manuscript, we show through an experimental-computational proof of concept the native oxide formation into superconducting TaN films. First, TaN was synthesized at an ultra-high vacuum system by reactive pulsed laser deposition and characterized in situ by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The material was also characterized ex situ by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and the four-point probe method. It was detected that TaN contained considerable oxygen impurities (up to 26 %O) even though it was grown in an ultra-high vacuum chamber. Furthermore, the impurified TaN evidence a face-centered cubic crystalline structure only and exhibits superconductivity at 2.99 K. To understand the feasibility of the native oxide in TaN, we study the effect of incorporating different amounts of O atoms in TaN using ab-initio calculations. A thermodynamic stability analysis shows that a TaOxN1-x model increases its stability as oxygen is added, demonstrating that oxygen may always be present in TaN, even when obtained at ultra-high vacuum conditions. All analyzed models exhibit metallic behavior. Charge density difference maps reveal that N and O atoms have a higher charge density redistribution than Ta atoms. The electron localization function maps and line profiles indicate that Ta-O and Ta-N bonds are mainly ionic. As expected, stronger ionic behavior is observed in the Ta-O bonds due to the electronegativity difference between O and N atoms. Recent evidence points to superconductivity in bulk TaO, confirming the asseverations of superconductivity in our samples. The results discussed here highlight the importance of considering native oxide when reporting superconductivity in TaN films since the TaO regions formed in the compound may be key to understanding the different critical temperatures reported in the literature.Comment: 23 pages, 7 figure