Scalable Video Coding Guidelines and Performance Evaluations for Adaptive Media Delivery of High Definition Content

International audienceScalability within media coding allows for content adaptation towards heterogeneous user contexts and enables in-network adaptation. However, there is no straightforward solution how to encode the content in a scalable way while maximizing rate-distortion performance. In this paper we provide encoding guidelines for scalable video coding based on a survey of media streaming industry solutions and a comprehensive performance evaluation using four state of the art scalable video codecs with a focus on high-definition content (1080p)

Scalable Media Coding Enabling Content-Aware Networking

Increasingly popular multimedia services are expected to play a dominant role in the future of the Internet. In this context, it is essential that content-aware networking (CAN) architectures explicitly address the efficient delivery and processing of multimedia content. This article proposes the adoption of a content-aware approach into the network infrastructure, thus making it capable of identifying, processing, and manipulating media streams and objects in real time to maximize quality of service (QoS) and experience (QoE). Our proposal is built on the exploitation of scalable media coding technologies within such a content-aware networking environment. This discussion is based on four representative use cases for media delivery (unicast, multicast, peer-to-peer, and adaptive HTTP streaming) and reviews CAN challenges, specifically flow processing, caching/buffering, and QoS/QoE management

European sourcebook of crime and criminal justice statistics – 2021

This is the sixth edition of a data collection initiative that started in 1993 under the umbrella of the Council of Europe and has been continued since 2000 by an international group of experts that created the European Sourcebook of Criminal Justice e.V.1 and is also a Working Group of the European Society of Criminology. These experts act as regional coordinators of a network of national correspondents whose contribution has been decisive in collecting and validating data on a variety of subjects from 42 countries.2 This edition of the Sourcebook is composed of six chapters. The first five cover the current main types of national crime and criminal justice statistics – police, prosecution, conviction, prison, and probation statistics – for the years 2011 to 2016, providing detailed analysis for 2015. The sixth chapter covers national victimization surveys, providing rates for the main indicators every five years from 1990 to 2015. As with every new edition of the Sourcebook, the group has tried to improve data quality as well as comparability and, where appropriate, increase the scope of data collection. For example, offence definitions were updated to reflect the lessons learned from previous editions.peer-reviewe

Unpaid work as an alternative to imprisonment for fine default in Austria and Scotland

Many jurisdictions have introduced other non-custodial measures to decrease the usage of fines, nevertheless they are still a popular sanction. Although the majority of offenders fined pay their fine, some are unable or unwilling to do so and as a consequence can be imprisoned. At a time when prisons are overcrowded and short term sentences are a substantial administrative endeavour, with little to no re-socializing potential, many jurisdictions have implemented other measures to prevent imprisonment for fine default such as unpaid work. Both Austria and Scotland have implemented the possibility of unpaid work as an alternative to imprisonment for fine default. While Scotland has almost 20 years of experience, Austria has just recently implemented the option of community work for fine defaulters in 2008. This article examines the experience of unpaid work as an alternative to imprisonment for fine default in these two contrasting jurisdictions and discusses the key differences between them. It considers whether the implementation of unpaid work as an alternative to imprisonment for fine default in each jurisdiction fulfilled the original policy intentions and what wider lessons can be learned from their experiences of unpaid work for offenders who fail to pay their fines

Evaluation of Hybrid Scalable Video Coding for HTTP-based Adaptive Media Streaming with High-Definition Content

International audienc

Scalable Video Coding in Content-Aware Networks: Research Challenges and Open Issues

Abstract The demand for access to advanced, distributed media resources is nowadays omnipresent due to the availability of Internet connectivity almost anywhere and anytime, and of a variety of different devices. This calls for rethinking of the current Internet architecture by making the network aware of which content is actually transported. This paper introduces Scalable Video Coding (SVC) as a tool for Content-Aware Networks (CANs) which is currently researched as part of the EU FP7 ALICANTE project. The architecture of ALICANTE with respect to SVC and CAN is presented, use cases are described, and finally research challenges and open issues are discussed.