Robust finite-horizon filtering for stochastic systems with missing measurements

Copyright [2005] IEEE. This material is posted here with permission of the IEEE. Such permission of the IEEE does not in any way imply IEEE endorsement of any of Brunel University's products or services. Internal or personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution must be obtained from the IEEE by writing to [email protected]. By choosing to view this document, you agree to all provisions of the copyright laws protecting it.In this letter, we consider the robust finite-horizon filtering problem for a class of discrete time-varying systems with missing measurements and norm-bounded parameter uncertainties. The missing measurements are described by a binary switching sequence satisfying a conditional probability distribution. An upper bound for the state estimation error variance is first derived for all possible missing observations and all admissible parameter uncertainties. Then, a robust filter is designed, guaranteeing that the variance of the state estimation error is not more than the prescribed upper bound. It is shown that the desired filter can be obtained in terms of the solutions to two discrete Riccati difference equations, which are of a form suitable for recursive computation in online applications. A simulation example is presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach by comparing to the traditional Kalman filtering method

A Secure P2P Video Conference System for Enterprise Environments

Abstract. Many emerging group oriented and collaborative applications such as audio/video conferences use the peer-to-peer (P2P) paradigm. Confidentiality is an often demanded feature for such applications, e.g. in business meetings, to provide group privacy. How to build a secure P2P video conference system is still an open issue. In this paper several possible solutions are discussed. We present a security architecture used for P2P video conferences that ensures confidential talks in an enterprise environment whose branches might be geographically dispersed

Ein Schlüsselverteilungsprotokoll für kleine geschlossene Peer-to-Peer Systeme

Vertraulichkeit ist eine der Schlüsselanforderungen für geschäftliche Kommunikation über das Internet. In einer zunehmend mobilen Gesellschaft sind dabei zunehmend spontane Beratungen in Ad hoc-Umgebungen, mitunter mit wechselnden Partnern, erforderlich. Um die Vertraulichkeit der Beratung zu sichern, müssen sich die Partner auf einen gemeinsamen Schlüssel einigen, mit dem sie ihre Kommunikation verschlüsseln. Audio- und Videokonferenzsysteme, die auf einem zentralistischen Ansatz beruhen, bieten dafür praktikable Lösungen an. Dezentrale Lösungen, die dem Peer-to-Peer-Ansatz folgen, bieten hierfür flexiblere Lösungen, die Spontaneität und Flexibilität besser unterstützen. Ein effizienter Schlüsselaustausch stellt für solche Systeme noch eine Herausforderung dar. In diesem Beitrag stellen wir das Schlüsselverteilungsprotokoll VTKD vor, das speziell für den Schlüsselaustausch von kleinen dynamischen Peer-Gruppen mit bis zu 100 Partnern entworfen wurde. Es besteht aus zwei Bestandteilen: einer gegenseitigen Authentifizierung der Partner und einer sicheren Verteilung des Sitzungsschlüssels an die Partner. Das Protokoll nutzt ein virtuelles Token, um den Partner zu bestimmen, der im Fall des Schlüsselwechsels den neuen Schlüssel generiert und verteilt. Wir beschreiben den Protokollverlauf und untersuchen seine Sicherheit. Eine abschließende Leistungsanalyse zeigt, dass VTKD eine geringere Verzögerung für die Schlüsselerneuerung benötigt als existierende Schlüsselaustauschprotokolle

Puzzle -A Novel Video Encryption Algorithm

Abstract. Networked multimedia applications have matured in recent years to be deployed in a larger scale in the Internet. Confidentiality is one of the primary concerns of these services for their commercial usages, e.g. in video on demand services or in video conferences. In particular, video encryption algorithms are strongly required that fulfill real-time requirements. In this paper we present the video encryption algorithm Puzzle to encrypting video streams in software. It is fast enough to fulfill real-time constraints and to provide a sufficient security. Puzzle is a video compression independent algorithm which can be easily incorporated into existing multimedia systems

Exploring Large Language Models for Communication Games: An Empirical Study on Werewolf

Communication games, which we refer to as incomplete information games that heavily depend on natural language communication, hold significant research value in fields such as economics, social science, and artificial intelligence. In this work, we explore the problem of how to engage large language models (LLMs) in communication games, and in response, propose a tuning-free framework. Our approach keeps LLMs frozen, and relies on the retrieval and reflection on past communications and experiences for improvement. An empirical study on the representative and widely-studied communication game, ``Werewolf'', demonstrates that our framework can effectively play Werewolf game without tuning the parameters of the LLMs. More importantly, strategic behaviors begin to emerge in our experiments, suggesting that it will be a fruitful journey to engage LLMs in communication games and associated domains.Comment: 23 pages, 5 figures and 4 table

The mediating effect of body mass index on the relationship between cigarette smoking and atopic sensitization in Chinese adults

Background: It is unclear whether the relationship between cigarette smoking and atopy is mediated by body fat mass, such as the Body Mass Index (BMI). We assessed the mediating role of BMI on the relationship between smoking and atopy in Chinese adults. Methods: A hospital-based case-control study of 786 atopic cases and 2771 controls was conducted in adults aged 18 years or older from March 2010 to September 2014 in Harbin, China. Mediation models were used to estimate the indirect effects of smoking on atopic sensitization through BMI. Results: Compared to non-smokers, light smokers and moderate smokers had a lower risk of inhalant allergen sensitization. The indirect effect of smoking and sensitization to aeroallergens were only observed in light smokers (point estimate, -0.026; 95% CI, -0.062 to -0.004). The mediating roles of BMI on the relationships between smoking and other types of allergic sensitization were not statistically significant. Conclusion: BMI appeared to partially mediate the effect of light smoking on sensitization to aeroallergens. However, considering the other harmful health effects of cigarette smoking, the effective method to lower the incidence of atopy would be to decrease body fat mass by physical exercise and employing other more healthy ways of living rather than smoking

Position-Enhanced Visual Instruction Tuning for Multimodal Large Language Models

Recently, Multimodal Large Language Models (MLLMs) that enable Large Language Models (LLMs) to interpret images through visual instruction tuning have achieved significant success. However, existing visual instruction tuning methods only utilize image-language instruction data to align the language and image modalities, lacking a more fine-grained cross-modal alignment. In this paper, we propose Position-enhanced Visual Instruction Tuning (PVIT), which extends the functionality of MLLMs by integrating an additional region-level vision encoder. This integration promotes a more detailed comprehension of images for the MLLM. In addition, to efficiently achieve a fine-grained alignment between the vision modules and the LLM, we design multiple data generation strategies to construct an image-region-language instruction dataset. Finally, we present both quantitative experiments and qualitative analysis that demonstrate the superiority of the proposed model. Code and data will be released at https://github.com/PVIT-official/PVIT

Complex population genetic and demographic history of the Salangid, Neosalanx taihuensis, based on cytochrome b sequences

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Salangid icefish <it>Neosalanx taihuensis </it>(Salangidae) is an economically important fish, which is endemic to China, restricted to large freshwater systems (e.g. lakes, large rivers and estuaries) and typically exhibit low vagility. The continuous distribution ranges from the temperate region of the Huai and Yellow River basins to the subtropical region of the Pearl River basin. This wide ranging distribution makes the species an ideal model for the study of palaeoclimatic effects on population genetic structure and phylogeography. Here, we aim to analyze population genetic differentiation within and between river basins and demographic history in order to understand how this species responded to severe climatic oscillations, decline of the sea levels during the Pleistocene ice ages and tectonic activity.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We obtained the complete mtDNA cytochrome <it>b </it>sequences (1141 bp) of 354 individuals from 13 populations in the Pearl River, the Yangze River and the Huai River basin. Thirty-six haplotypes were detected. Haplotype frequency distributions were strongly skewed, with most haplotypes (n = 24) represented only in single samples each and thus restricted to a single population. The most common haplotype (H36) was found in 49.15% of all individuals. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed a random pattern in the distribution of genetic diversity, which is inconsistent with contemporary hydrological structure. Significant levels of genetic subdivision were detected among populations within basins rather than between the three basins. Demographic analysis revealed that the population size in the Pearl River basin has remained relatively constant whereas the populations in the Yangze River and the Huai River basins expanded about 221 and 190 kyr ago, respectively, with the majority of mutations occurring after the last glacial maximum (LGM).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The observed complex genetic pattern of <it>N. taihuensis </it>is coherent with a scenario of multiple unrelated founding events by long-distance colonization and dispersal combined with contiguous population expansion and locally restricted gene flow. We also found that this species was likely severely impacted by past glaciations. More favourable climate and the formation of large suitable habitations together facilitated population expansion after the late Quaternary (especially the LGM). We proposed that all populations should be managed and conserved separately, especially for habitat protection.</p