A Simple Proof of the Alternation Theorem

A simple proof of the alternation theorem for minimax FIR filter design is presented in this paper. It requires no background on mathematical optimization theory, and is based on easily understood properties of filters with equiripple behavior. The method is similar to the classical counting argument used in early mathematics literature. The contribution here is a simplified presentation which directly uses filter design language

Promoting adoption of management practices from the outside: insights from a randomized field experiment

We conducted a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) to explore the role of government information intervention on a firm’s management practices and performance. Specifically, we studied whether providing managers with information regarding the benefits of Quality Management practice (QM) can enable government to influence manager perception and adoption of QM, output quality, and firm performance. Our main finding demonstrates that the information intervention improves manager perception of QM benefits; this, in turn, encourages managers to adopt QM, leading to improvements in quality and firm performance

Deep-NC: a secure image transmission using deep learning and network coding

Visual communications have played an important part in our daily life as a non-verbal way of conveying information using symbols, gestures and images. With the advances of technology, people can visually communicate with each other in a number of forms via digital communications. Recently Image Super-Resolution (ISR) with Deep Learning (DL) has been developed to reproduce the original image from its low-resolution version, which allows us to reduce the image size for saving transmission bandwidth. Although many benefits can be realised, the image transmission over wireless media experiences inevitable loss due to environment noise and inherent hardware issues. Moreover, data privacy is of vital importance, especially when the eavesdropper can easily overhear the communications over the air. To this end, this paper proposes a secure ISR protocol, namely Deep-NC, for the image communications based on the DL and Network Coding (NC). Specifically, two schemes, namely Per-Image Coding (PIC) and Per-Pixel Coding (PPC), are designed so as to protect the sharing of private image from the eavesdropper. Although the PPC scheme achieves a better performance than the PIC scheme for the entire image, it requires a higher computational complexity on every pixel of the image. In the proposed Deep-NC, the intended user can easily recover the original image achieving a much higher performance in terms of Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) and Structural Similarity Index Measure (SSIM) than those at the eavesdropper. Simulation results show that an improvement of up to 32 dB in the PSNR can be obtained when the eavesdropper does not have any knowledge of the parameters and the reference image used in the mixing schemes. Furthermore, the original image can be downscaled to a much lower resolution for saving significantly the transmission bandwidth with negligible performance loss

A new root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne moensi n. sp. (Nematoda : Meloidogynidae), parasitizing Robusta coffee from Western Highlands, Vietnam

A new root-knot nematode, parasitizing Robusta coffee in Dak Lak Province, Western Highlands of Vietnam, is described as Meloidogyne moensi n. sp. Morphological and molecular analyses demonstrated that this species differs clearly from other previously described root-knot nematodes. Morphologically, the new species is characterized by a swollen body of females with a small posterior protuberance that elongated from ovoid to saccate; perineal patterns with smooth striae, continuous and low dorsal arch; lateral lines marked as a faint space or linear depression at junction of the dorsal and ventral striate; distinct phasmids; perivulval region free of striae; visible and wide tail terminus surrounding by concentric circles of striae; medial lips of females in dumbbell-shaped and slightly raised above lateral lips; female stylet is normally straight with posteriorly sloping stylet knobs; lip region of second stage juvenile (J2) is not annulated; medial lips and labial disc of J2 formed dumbbell shape; lateral lips are large and triangular; tail of J2 is conoid with rounded unstriated tail tip; distinct phasmids and hyaline; dilated rectum. Meloidogyne moensi n. sp. is most similar to M. africana, M. ottersoni by prominent posterior protuberance. Results of molecular analysis of rDNA sequences including the D2-D3 expansion regions of 28S rDNA, COI, and partial COII/16S rRNA of mitochondrial DNA support for the new species status