Image Compression and Watermarking scheme using Scalar Quantization

This paper presents a new compression technique and image watermarking algorithm based on Contourlet Transform (CT). For image compression, an energy based quantization is used. Scalar quantization is explored for image watermarking. Double filter bank structure is used in CT. The Laplacian Pyramid (LP) is used to capture the point discontinuities, and then followed by a Directional Filter Bank (DFB) to link point discontinuities. The coefficients of down sampled low pass version of LP decomposed image are re-ordered in a pre-determined manner and prediction algorithm is used to reduce entropy (bits/pixel). In addition, the coefficients of CT are quantized based on the energy in the particular band. The superiority of proposed algorithm to JPEG is observed in terms of reduced blocking artifacts. The results are also compared with wavelet transform (WT). Superiority of CT to WT is observed when the image contains more contours. The watermark image is embedded in the low pass image of contourlet decomposition. The watermark can be extracted with minimum error. In terms of PSNR, the visual quality of the watermarked image is exceptional. The proposed algorithm is robust to many image attacks and suitable for copyright protection applications.Comment: 11 Pages, IJNGN Journal 201

Haematological Studies in High Altitude Natives at Plains and on Return to High Altitude

Haematologic studies were carried out in 20 high altitude natives during two months stay at plains (200 m) and on their return to an altitude of 3,500 m. Haemoglobin, erythrocyte count, haematocrit and reticulocyte count decreased rapidly on arrival to plains and attained minimum level by the end of fourth week. All these parameters increased rapidly on return to high altitude and were found to attain maximum values by 23rd day on return to high altitude. Mean cell volume and mean cell haemoglobin showed significant increase at altitude. Blood volume and red cell mass increased significantly at altitude. It is concluded that the high altitude natives of Ladakh were well adapted to hypoxic environment due to normocythaemic hypervolemia

Pressure-induced amorphization and polyamorphism in one-dimensional single crystal TiO2 nanomaterials

The structural phase transitions of single crystal TiO2-B nanoribbons were investigated in-situ at high-pressure using the synchrotron X-ray diffraction and the Raman scattering. Our results have shown a pressure-induced amorphization (PIA) occurred in TiO2-B nanoribbons upon compression, resulting in a high density amorphous (HDA) form related to the baddeleyite structure. Upon decompression, the HDA form transforms to a low density amorphous (LDA) form while the samples still maintain their pristine nanoribbon shape. HRTEM imaging reveals that the LDA phase has an {\alpha}-PbO2 structure with short range order. We propose a homogeneous nucleation mechanism to explain the pressure-induced amorphous phase transitions in the TiO2-B nanoribbons. Our study demonstrates for the first time that PIA and polyamorphism occurred in the one-dimensional (1D) TiO2 nanomaterials and provides a new method for preparing 1D amorphous nanomaterials from crystalline nanomaterials.Comment: 4 figure

Maximum gradient embeddings and monotone clustering

Let (X,d_X) be an n-point metric space. We show that there exists a distribution D over non-contractive embeddings into trees f:X-->T such that for every x in X, the expectation with respect to D of the maximum over y in X of the ratio d_T(f(x),f(y)) / d_X(x,y) is at most C (log n)^2, where C is a universal constant. Conversely we show that the above quadratic dependence on log n cannot be improved in general. Such embeddings, which we call maximum gradient embeddings, yield a framework for the design of approximation algorithms for a wide range of clustering problems with monotone costs, including fault-tolerant versions of k-median and facility location.Comment: 25 pages, 2 figures. Final version, minor revision of the previous one. To appear in "Combinatorica

Phenotypic variation for agronomic characteristics in a groundnut core collection for Asia

The groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) core collection for Asia consists of 504 accessions of which 274 belong to subsp. fastigiata (var. fastigiata and vulgaris) and 230 to subsp. hypogaea (var. hypogaea). This core collection was evaluated for 20 agronomic characteristics in the 2000 rainy season and for 21 characteristics in the 2000/2001 post-rainy season at two locations, Raichur and Kawadimatti, India, to estimate phenotypic diversity and determine the importance of different descriptor traits. All traits, except leaflet length and width, pod length and width, and seed length and width showed genotype × location interactions. All traits except leaflet width, number of primary branches, nodes on main stem, nodes on cotyledonary branches, total and mature pods, and length of primary and cotyledonary branches, pod length and width, and seed length and width showed genotype × season interaction. The fastigiata and hypogaea groups differed significantly for all traits except one trait each in the rainy season at Raichur and post-rainy season at Kawadimatti and five traits in the post-rainy season at Raichur. The hypogaea group took longer to flower, had more primary branches, longer primary and cotyledonary branches, more nodes on cotyledonary branches, more total pods, mature pods and pegs per plant, longer and wider pods and heavier seeds than the fastigiata group. The range for most traits was different in the two groups. There were significant phenotypic correlations among the various characteristics. Three of these, between number of total pods and mature pods, number of total pods and pegs, and number of mature pods and pegs had values greater than 0.707 (r2=50%) in both the fastigiata and hypogaea groups and in the entire regional collection. Principal component analysis showed that 20 agronomic traits were important in explaining multivariate polymorphism. Pod yield per plant did not significantly account for variation in the first five principal components of fastigiata and hypogaea types as well as for the entire regional collection in either season or location, indicating its relatively low importance as a descriptor. Average phenotypic diversity index was similar in both groups. The Shannon-Weaver diversity index varied among traits between the two groups, and the diversity within a group depended on location, season, and traits recorded

Identification of diverse groundnut germplasm through multienvironment evaluation of a core collection for Asia

In Asia, like elsewhere, the use of genetic resources has been limited in groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) breeding programs, resulting in a narrow genetic base of cultivars. Utilization of exotic germplasm in breeding programs is needed to enhance the diversity of cultivars. Core collections, which generally contain 10% of total accessions and represent the diversity of the entire collection, have been suggested as a means to enhance the use of genetic resources. For traits of economic importance, which often display high genotype × environment interactions, multienvironment evaluation is required to choose desirable parents. The groundnut core collection for Asia, consisting of 29 accessions of subsp. fastigiata var. fastigiata, 245 of subsp. fastigiata var. vulgaris, and 230 of subsp. hypogaea var. hypogaea, along with four control cultivars, was evaluated in multienvironments for 22 agronomic traits to select diverse superior germplasm accessions for use as parents in improvement programs. Data were recorded for 12 traits in six environments, eight traits in four environments, and for two traits in two environments. Analysis of data, using the residual maximum likelihood (REML) approach, indicated that variance components due to genotypes were significant for all 22 traits, and genotypes × environment interaction was significant for eight traits. Estimates of broad sense heritability ranged from 35.5% for pod yield per plant to 98.0% for days to cessation of flowering, indicating relative reliability of selection for different traits. On the basis of performance compared to control cultivars in different environments, 15 fastigiata, 20 vulgaris, and 25 hypogaea accessions from 14 countries were selected. The selected accessions and control cultivars were grouped using scores of the first 15 principal components (PCs) in fastigiata, 20 PCs in vulgaris, and 21 PCs in hypogaea. The clustering by Ward's method indicated that the selected accessions were diverse from the control cultivars. These 60 diverse parents will provide the germplasm, which can be used in the improvement programs to broaden the genetic base of groundnut cultivars

Specific-Heat Exponent of Random-Field Systems via Ground-State Calculations

Exact ground states of three-dimensional random field Ising magnets (RFIM) with Gaussian distribution of the disorder are calculated using graph-theoretical algorithms. Systems for different strengths h of the random fields and sizes up to N=96^3 are considered. By numerically differentiating the bond-energy with respect to h a specific-heat like quantity is obtained, which does not appear to diverge at the critical point but rather exhibits a cusp. We also consider the effect of a small uniform magnetic field, which allows us to calculate the T=0 susceptibility. From a finite-size scaling analysis, we obtain the critical exponents \nu=1.32(7), \alpha=-0.63(7), \eta=0.50(3) and find that the critical strength of the random field is h_c=2.28(1). We discuss the significance of the result that \alpha appears to be strongly negative.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures, 1 table, revtex revised version, slightly extende

Prediction of preterm birth with and without preeclampsia using mid-pregnancy immune and growth-related molecular factors and maternal characteristics.

OBJECTIVE:To evaluate if mid-pregnancy immune and growth-related molecular factors predict preterm birth (PTB) with and without (±) preeclampsia. STUDY DESIGN:Included were 400 women with singleton deliveries in California in 2009-2010 (200 PTB and 200 term) divided into training and testing samples at a 2:1 ratio. Sixty-three markers were tested in 15-20 serum samples using multiplex technology. Linear discriminate analysis was used to create a discriminate function. Model performance was assessed using area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). RESULTS:Twenty-five serum biomarkers along with maternal age <34 years and poverty status identified >80% of women with PTB ± preeclampsia with best performance in women with preterm preeclampsia (AUC = 0.889, 95% confidence interval (0.822-0.959) training; 0.883 (0.804-0.963) testing). CONCLUSION:Together with maternal age and poverty status, mid-pregnancy immune and growth factors reliably identified most women who went on to have a PTB ± preeclampsia

Bio-nanotechnology application in wastewater treatment

The nanoparticles have received high interest in the field of medicine and water purification, however, the nanomaterials produced by chemical and physical methods are considered hazardous, expensive, and leave behind harmful substances to the environment. This chapter aimed to focus on green-synthesized nanoparticles and their medical applications. Moreover, the chapter highlighted the applicability of the metallic nanoparticles (MNPs) in the inactivation of microbial cells due to their high surface and small particle size. Modifying nanomaterials produced by green-methods is safe, inexpensive, and easy. Therefore, the control and modification of nanoparticles and their properties were also discussed

First-principles calculations of the phase stability of TiO2

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