High Capacity Data Embedding using joint Intermediate Significant Bit (ISB) and Least Significant Bit (LSB) Technique

The success of the Internet, coupled with availability of relatively inexpensive digital devices has created an environment in which it has become very easy to obtain, replicate and distribute digital content without any loss in quality. In such a scenario, data hiding has received significant attention from the research community round the globe, as it has been found useful in various areas like copyright protection, copy control, fingerprinting, content authentication and information security. Least Significant Bit based data hiding techniques have been used as effective means to hide the data to be secured, but they are less robust in nature. This paper presents a high capacity data hiding technique in which the data to be secured is embedded in Intermediate Significant Bits in addition to Least Significant Bits of cover image. The data to be embedded is broken down in data blocks of variable length and each block is embedded in the cover media in such a way that highest length data vector is embedded in lower order bit plane and vice-versa. This work shows attractive results with respect to imperceptibility and capacity when compared with a few reported techniques. Key Words: Intermediate Significant Bit, Embedding, Imperceptibility, Least Significant Bit.

Data Hiding in Color Images: A High Capacity Data Hiding Technique for Covert Communication

A high capacity data hiding technique using color images as cover medium and referred to as 4R-4G-4B technique has been investigated and presented in this paper. The color image is firstly divided into its constituent bit planes followed by data embedding. To thwart the adversary different embedding algorithms have been used for embedding data in Red, Green and Blue planes. Additional layer of security to the embedded data is added by embedding secret data at the pseudorandom locations determined by Main Address Vector (MAV) and Complementary Address Vector (CAV). The comparison of our method with an existing technique shows that proposed technique is capable of providing better quality stego-images even if the embedded data is slightly more. A 2.7dB increase in PSNR in case of proposed technique substantiates the argument

On the Realization of Non-Linear Pseudo-Noise Generator for various Signal Processing and Communication Applications

In digital communication systems and digital signal processing, the design of pseudo-noise (PN) sequences having good correlation properties has been one of the most important development steps. Its well-known application areas include spread spectrum communications, Multiuser Communications, Digital Signal Processing for reduction of power spectral density, mitigation of Multiple Access Interference (MAI) and improvement of signal to noise ratio (SNR) respectively. In this paper a performance of non- linear PN code generator for interference rejection improvement of signal to noise ratio in signal processing applications have been studied.  The signal of interest can be considered to be a digitally controlled wide band digital chaotic signal, which has been implemented by conventional PN code generators.  The proposed technique can be used as an alternative code for improvement in signal to noise ratio, interference rejection, spreading code for various signal processing and communication applications.  The proposed scheme has been implemented using matlab as a simulation tool.  Power spectral density, auto-correlation and cross-correlation property have been thoroughly studied and has been compared with conventional scheme and are presented in the paper. Keywords: PN Code Generator, Spread Spectrum Modulation, Auto-correlation, Cross-correlation, Power Spectral Density

Government Policy Ecosystem for Entrepreneurship Development in MSEs Sector

Government Policy Ecosystem is central to the entrepreneurship development in any economy and generally includes Policies relating to government spending, taxation and regulation etc. There are two distinct channels through which government Policy ecosystem impacts the rate of entrepreneurship; the first is through its impact on the quantity and quality of inputs going into the entrepreneurial process and the second is through the impact of Policy on the institutional structure that determines the rules of the game under which the entrepreneurial process unfolds. The present study aims to assess the ‘Government Policy Ecosystem’ existing in the Jammu & Kashmir State towards the overall entrepreneurship development in the Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) Sector. The study is based on the response of the representative respondents {existing MSEs Sector entrepreneurs from all the three regions (Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh) of the state} against the parameters: Policy focus and nature; Taxation and other regulatory Policies; and Policy implementation structure. Findings indicate that to the extent the Policy implementation structure is made proper and more coordination is brought in among the EPAs in implementing the state polIcies , there will be a remarkable entrepreneurship development in the MSEs Sector of the State. Towards the end of the study for the robust entrepreneurship development in Micro and Small Enterprises Sector of the State, on the basis of the findings, certain suggestions have been put forth for the improvement in the existing ‘Government Policy Ecosystem’ for MSEs Sector

Impact of Income on the Insurance Potential-A Case Study of Rural Sector of Jammu and Kashmir State

The Indian Insurance industry is flourishing with several national and international players competing and growing at rapid rates. The globalisation has allowed the Indian insurance sector to flourish as there is huge market potential for insurance in India and this potential will definitely increase further in future.  The survey was conducted from the state of Jammu and Kashmir using primary and secondary sources of data. This study has explored and assessed insurance potential in rural areas of Jammu and Kashmir State by analysing relationship between disposable income and Insurance potential. Looking at the source of information for households, it was found that television is the primary source for both insured and uninsured households. Other sources of information are friends, relatives and neighbours, news papers, radios, and transistors. Keywords: Households, Insurance, Information, Potential, Regulation

Genetic diversity and relationship assessment among mulberry (Morus spp) genotypes by simple sequence repeat (SSR) marker profile

Mulberry (Morus L.) is essential for sericulture industry as the primary source of food for silkworm Bombyx mori L. In India, long tradition of practising sericulture includes the use of a large number of indigenous cultivars. Since knowledge on genetic divergence of these cultivars/varieties is imperative for conservation and gainful utilization, simple sequence repeat (SSR) profiling was employed to assess genetic relatedness among 17 mulberry genotypes maintained in the Germplasm Bank of Temperate Sericulture Institute, SKUAST Kashmir, Mirgund. Six SSR primers were utilised which generates 17 alleles among the genotypes. The polymorphism information content (PIC) value varied from 0.260 (MulSTR3) to 0.623 (MulSTR4), with an average of 0.438 per locus. The highest similarity value of 0.92 was observed between Lemoncina and Kanva-2, as compared to the lowest similarity coefficient of 0.15 was between SKM-48 and Chinese white. Clustering of the genotypes was done with unweight pair group method using arithmetic average (UPGMA) which generates five clusters. Cluster-2 contained maximum (six) genotypes.Keywords: Clustering, genetic relatedness, mulberry, SSRAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(21), pp. 3181-318

Do universal critical spine dimensions exist?

The effective spinal canal diameter is the fundamental index which will determine whether a patient of any compressive cervical spine pathology will get neurological deficit or not. So we analysed this index in our subset of population. 180 subjects with normal or near normal cervical spine magnetic resonance imaging were included. Antero-posterior diameter and transverse diameter of spinal canal from C3 to C7 was measured. Similarly spinal cord antero-posterior and transverse diameters were measured. Space available for cord was calculated at each of these levels in both sexes as the difference between the antero-posterior diameter of the spinal canal and that of the spinal cord. The mean value with standard deviation of cervical spinal canal diameter antero-posterior diameter at C3, C4, C5, C6 and C7 was 13.69±1.248, 13.34±1.186, 13.15±1.233, 13.12±1.275 and 13.73±1.226 mm respectively. The spinal cord antero-posterior diameter at the same level was 7.61±0.728, 7.58±0.677, 7.40±0.653, 7.12±0.657 and 6.69±0.622 mm respectively. The mean cervical spinal canal diameter of the local population in our region is different from the rest of the country. This has two implications; first the ancestral lineage is matching with some remote races of the world for which a detailed study may be needed. Secondly the dimension at which we call çritical stenosis may be different in the region as compared with the rest of the country

Participatory rural appraisal and farmers’ perception about common bean varieties in temperate Kashmir

Present investigation was undertaken during 2012 to 2014 in which 54 genotypes, both pole and bush type of Common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) were selected among a number of germplasm lines, land races and research material in order to generate information on the farmer’s’ perception about the Common bean varieties. Participatory rural appraisal was conducted in 32 villages of Kashmir through a broad questionnaires comprising of questions pertaining to the socio-economic conditions, farming systems, production constraints and varietal preferences of the common bean. The Participatory Rural Appraisal results revealed that common bean is generally grown as a rainfed crop (70 %) and is intercropped with maize/ potato/vegetable and merely as sole crop (20.66 %). Low yielding varieties and diseases (68.27 %) are considered as major challenges in the success of common bean crop, while as red colour with kidney shaped types (50 %) are highly being preferred as a pulse crop. The exercise of Participatory Rural Appraisal was carried out to generate basic information by assessing the need based constraints and devise the target breeding approach, by taking into consideration all constraints and also devise future breeding programme. A successful PRA provides the information needed to specify the characteristic in a new variety regarding its physical environment and the existing varietal diversity. For a breeding program, well applied Participatory Rural Appraisal techniques or customer profiling results in better client orientation and makes possible efficient goal setting or product design. Successful PRA provides everything that could be included in the full design specification of a new crop variety

Transgenesis: An efficient tool in mulberry breeding

Genetic engineering is the most potent biotechnological approach dealing with transfer of specially constructed gene assemblies through various transformation techniques. Tools of recombinant DNA technology facilitated development of transgenic plants.  The plants obtained through genetic engineering contain a gene or genes usually from an unrelated organisms, and are known as transgenic plants. The combined use of recombinant DNA technology, gene transfer methods and tissue culture techniques has  led to the efficient transformation and production of transgenics in a wide variety of crop plants. In fact transgenesis has emerged as a novel tool for carrying out “single gene breeding” or transgenic breeding of crop plants. Identification, isolation and cloning of resistant genes is the prerequisite for development of transgenic plants for disease resistance. Identification of resistance genes on the basis of amino acid sequence, conservation enables plant breeder to monitor resistance gene segregation using  appropriate DNA probe intend of testing progeny for disease resistance and susceptibility. Significant developments in plant  genetic modification have been achieved in the last 15 years. Some of the success include herbicide tolerant corn, cotton,  soyabeen and papaya; virus resistant corn, potato, cotton among others. In mulberry, little work has been carried out at Delhi University (south campus). They have developed drought and salinity tolerent transgenic mulberry through Agrobacterium mediated transformation. The overexpression of HVA1 gene from barley generates tolerence to salinity and water stress in  transgenic mulberry (Morus indica).Keywords: Transgenic plant, mulberry, resistance, salinity