Energy Efficient Routing Algorithm in Wireless Sensor Networks

This Wireless sensor network (WSN) is widely considered as one of the most important technologies for the twenty-first century, it provides the availability of small and low-cost sensor nodes with the ability of sensing different types of physical and environmental conditions, data processing, and wireless communication. Sensor nodes have a limited transmission range, and their processing and storage capabilities as well as their energy resources are also limited. Thus, optimized routing algorithms for wireless sensor networks should be utilized in order to maintain the routes in the network and to ensure reliable multi-hop communication under these conditions. Keywords: Wireless Sensor Networks, Energy Efficiency, Routing Protocols, Solar Sensors, Mobile Agent

Study of MAC Protocols for Mobile Wireless Body Sensor Networks

Wireless Body Area Networks (WBAN) also referred to as a body sensor network (BSN), is a wireless network of wearable computing devices. It has emerged as a key technology to provide real-time health monitoring of a patient and diagnose many life threatening diseases. WBAN operates in close vicinity to, on, or inside a human body and supports a variety of medical and non-medical applications. The design of a medium access control is a challenge due to the characteristics of wireless channel and the need to fulfill both requirements of mobility support and energy efficiency.  This paper presents a comparative study of IEEE 802.15.6, IEEE 804.15.4 and T-MAC in order to analyze the performance of each standard in terms of delay, throughput and energy consumption. Keywords: Biomedical, IEEE 802.15.6; T-MAC, IEEE 802.15.4, mobility, low-power communication, wireless body sensor networks, implantable sensors, healthcare applications, biosensors

Combination of the CEEM Decomposition with Adaptive Noise and Periodogram Technique for ECG Signals Analysis

The electrocardiogram (ECG) signal is a fundamental tool for patient treatment, especially in the cardiology domain, due to the high mortality rate of heart diseases. The main objective of this paper is to present the most optimal techniques that can link the processing and analysis of ECG signals. This work is divided into two steps. In the first one, we propose a comparison between some denoising techniques that can reduce noise affecting the ECG signals; these techniques are the empirical mode decomposition (EMD), the ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD), and the complete ensemble empirical mode decomposition with adaptive noise (CEEMDAN). In the second one, we make a comparison of three time-frequency techniques: the Choi-Williams (CW), the periodogram (PE), and the smoothed pseudo Wigner-Ville (SPWV). Firstly, the obtained results illustrate the effectiveness of the CEEMDAN in reducing noise that interferes with ECG signals compared to other denoising methods. Secondly, they show that the periodogram time-frequency technique gives a good detection and localization of the main components in the time-frequency plan of ECG signals. This work proves the utility of the combination of the periodogram and CEEMDAN techniques in analyzing the ECG signals

Relay based thermal aware and mobility support routing protocol for wireless body sensor networks

The evolvement of wireless technologies has enabled revolutionizing the health-care industry by monitor patient health condition requiring early diagnosis and interfering when a chronic situation is taking place. In this regard, miniaturized biosensors have been manufactured to cover various medical applications forming therefore a Wireless Body Sensor Network (WBSN). A WBSN is comprised of several small and low power devices capable of sensing vital signs such as heart rate, blood glucose, body temperature etc.. Although WBSN main purpose is to provide the most convenient wireless setting for the networking of human body sensors, there are still a great number of technical challenges to resolve such as: power source miniaturization, low power transceivers, biocompatibility, secure data transfer, minimum transmission delay and high quality of service. These challenges have to be taken into consideration when creating a new routing protocol for WBSNs. This paper proposes a new Relay based Thermal aware and Mobile Routing Protocol (RTM-RP) for Wireless Body Sensor Networks tackling the problem of high energy consumption and high temperature increase where the mobility is a crucial constraint to handle

Mapping Agricultural Soil in Greenhouse Using an Autonomous Low-Cost Robot and Precise Monitoring

Our work is focused on developing an autonomous robot to monitor greenhouses and large fields. This system is designed to operate autonomously to extract useful information from the plants based on precise GPS localization. The proposed robot is based on an RGB camera for plant detection and a multispectral camera for extracting the different special bands for processing, and an embedded architecture integrating a Nvidia Jetson Nano, which allows us to perform the required processing. Our system uses a multi-sensor fusion to manage two parts of the algorithm. Therefore, the proposed algorithm was partitioned on the CPU-GPU embedded architecture. This allows us to process each image in 1.94 s in a sequential implementation on the embedded architecture. The approach followed in our implementation is based on a Hardware/Software Co-Design study to propose an optimal implementation. The experiments were conducted on a tomato farm, and the system showed that we can process different images in real time. The parallel implementation allows to process each image in 36 ms allowing us to satisfy the real-time constraints based on 5 images/s. On a laptop, we have a total processing time of 604 ms for the sequential implementation and 9 ms for the parallel processing. In this context, we obtained an acceleration factor of 66 for the laptop and 54 for the embedded architecture. The energy consumption evaluation showed that the prototyped system consumes a power between 4 W and 8 W. For this raison, in our case, we opted a low-cost embedded architecture based on Nvidia Jetson Nano

Fragile Watermarking of Medical Image for Content Authentication and Security

Currently in the health environment, medical images are a very crucial and important part of the medical information because of the large amount of information and their disposal two-dimensional. Medical images are stored, transmitted and recovered on the network. The images users await efficient solutions to preserve the quality and protect the integrity of images exchanged. In this context, watermarking medical image has been widely recognized as an appropriate technique to enhance the security, authenticity and content verification. Watermarking image may bring elements of complementary research methods of classical cryptography. The objective of this paper is to develop a method to authenticate medical images to grayscale, detect falsified on these image zones and retrieve the original image using a blind fragile watermarking technique. We propose a method based on the discrete wavelet transform (DWT) for the application of content authentication. In our algorithm, the watermark is embedded into the sub-bands detail coefficient. The subbands coefficients are marked by adding a watermark of the same size as three sub-bands and a comparison of embedding a watermark at vertical (LH), horizontal (HL) and diagonal (HH) details. We tested the proposed algorithm after applying some standard types of attacks and more interesting. The results have been analyzed in terms of imperceptibility and fragility. Tests were conducted on the medical images to grayscale and color size 512 × 512

Fragile Watermarking of Medical Image for Content Authentication and Security

Currently in the health environment, medical images are a very crucial and important part of the medical information because of the large amount of information and their disposal two-dimensional. Medical images are stored, transmitted and recovered on the network. The images users await efficient solutions to preserve the quality and protect the integrity of images exchanged. In this context, watermarking medical image has been widely recognized as an appropriate technique to enhance the security, authenticity and content verification. Watermarking image may bring elements of complementary research methods of classical cryptography. The objective of this paper is to develop a method to authenticate medical images to grayscale, detect falsified on these image zones and retrieve the original image using a blind fragile watermarking technique. We propose a method based on the discrete wavelet transform (DWT) for the application of content authentication. In our algorithm, the watermark is embedded into the sub-bands detail coefficient. The subbands coefficients are marked by adding a watermark of the same size as three sub-bands and a comparison of embedding a watermark at vertical (LH), horizontal (HL) and diagonal (HH) details. We tested the proposed algorithm after applying some standard types of attacks and more interesting. The results have been analyzed in terms of imperceptibility and fragility. Tests were conducted on the medical images to grayscale and color size 512 × 512

Indicateurs de Gestion Durable des Ressources Floristiques dans les Parcs Agroforestiers à Daniellia oliveri (rolfe) hutch. & dalz. et Bombax costatum pellegr. & Vuillet dans l’Ouest Nigérien

Au Niger, les aires protégées subissent de plus en plus un processus de dégradation lié d’une part aux variabilités climatiques et d’autre part aux activités humaines illégales. C’est dans ce contexte que la présente étude a été conduite dans la Réserve Partielle de Faune de Dosso qui couvre une superficie de 527 261,75 ha et située à cheval entre la région de Dosso et celle de Tillabéry. Elle vise à caractériser la phytodiversité de la réserve en vue de déterminer des indicateurs de gestion durables des ressources naturelles.  Pour ce faire, quatre villages situés dans la réserve ont été soumis à un échantillonnage systématique à travers des placettes d’inventaires disposées à des intervalles réguliers dans la végétation. Les données issues de 62 relevés phytosociologiques réalisés selon la méthode stigmatise de Braun-Blanquet ont permis d’inventorier 146 espèces dont 101 herbacées et 45 ligneuses ; appartenant à 109 genres reparties en 43 familles dont les principales sont : les Poaceae (14 %) et les Papilionaceae (12 %). Les types biologiques les plus abondants sont les Thérophytes (41,38 %) suivis des Microphanérophytes (31,03 %). La chorologie de la flore est caractérisée par des espèces à distribution Soudano-Zambéziennes avec 38,35 % suivies des Guinéo-Congolaises-Soudano-Zambéziennes 30,82 %. La classification hiérarchique ascendante (CHA) a permis de discriminer 4 groupements végétaux tous diversifiées. Cette évaluation de l’état actuel de phytodiversité a abouti à des résultats exploitables pour la préservation de la flore de la Réserve Partielle de Faune de Dosso.   In Niger, protected areas are increasingly undergoing a process of degradation linked on the one hand to climatic variability and on the other hand to illegal human activities.  It is in this context that this study was conducted in the Partial Fauna Reserve of Dosso which covers an area of 527,261.75 ha and is located between the Dosso and Tillabéry regions.  It aims to characterize the phytodiversity of the reserve in order to determine indicators for the sustainable management of natural resources.  To do this, four villages located in the reserve were subjected to systematic sampling through inventory plots placed at regular intervals in the vegetation.  The data from 62 phytosociological surveys carried out according to the Braun-Blanquet stigma method made it possible to inventory 146 species, including 101 herbaceous and 45 ligneous; belonging to 109 genera divided into 43 families, the main ones being: Poaceae (14%) and Papilionaceae (12%).  The most abundant biological types are Therophytes (41.38%) followed by Microphanerophytes (31.03%).  The chorology of the flora is characterized by species with Sudano-Zambézian distribution with 38.35% followed by Guinean-Congolese-Sudano-Zambéziennes 30.82%.  The ascending hierarchical classification (CHA) made it possible to discriminate 4 plant groups all diversified.  This assessment of the current state of phytodiversity has led to exploitable results for the preservation of the flora of the Partial Fauna Reserve of Dosso

Indicateurs de Gestion Durable des Ressources Floristiques dans les Parcs Agroforestiers à Daniellia oliveri (rolfe) hutch. & dalz. et Bombax costatum pellegr. & Vuillet dans l’Ouest Nigérien

Au Niger, les aires protégées subissent de plus en plus un processus de dégradation lié d’une part aux variabilités climatiques et d’autre part aux activités humaines illégales. C’est dans ce contexte que la présente étude a été conduite dans la Réserve Partielle de Faune de Dosso qui couvre une superficie de 527 261,75 ha et située à cheval entre la région de Dosso et celle de Tillabéry. Elle vise à caractériser la phytodiversité de la réserve en vue de déterminer des indicateurs de gestion durables des ressources naturelles.  Pour ce faire, quatre villages situés dans la réserve ont été soumis à un échantillonnage systématique à travers des placettes d’inventaires disposées à des intervalles réguliers dans la végétation. Les données issues de 62 relevés phytosociologiques réalisés selon la méthode stigmatise de Braun-Blanquet ont permis d’inventorier 146 espèces dont 101 herbacées et 45 ligneuses ; appartenant à 109 genres reparties en 43 familles dont les principales sont : les Poaceae (14 %) et les Papilionaceae (12 %). Les types biologiques les plus abondants sont les Thérophytes (41,38 %) suivis des Microphanérophytes (31,03 %). La chorologie de la flore est caractérisée par des espèces à distribution Soudano-Zambéziennes avec 38,35 % suivies des Guinéo-Congolaises-Soudano-Zambéziennes 30,82 %. La classification hiérarchique ascendante (CHA) a permis de discriminer 4 groupements végétaux tous diversifiées. Cette évaluation de l’état actuel de phytodiversité a abouti à des résultats exploitables pour la préservation de la flore de la Réserve Partielle de Faune de Dosso.   In Niger, protected areas are increasingly undergoing a process of degradation linked on the one hand to climatic variability and on the other hand to illegal human activities.  It is in this context that this study was conducted in the Partial Fauna Reserve of Dosso which covers an area of 527,261.75 ha and is located between the Dosso and Tillabéry regions.  It aims to characterize the phytodiversity of the reserve in order to determine indicators for the sustainable management of natural resources.  To do this, four villages located in the reserve were subjected to systematic sampling through inventory plots placed at regular intervals in the vegetation.  The data from 62 phytosociological surveys carried out according to the Braun-Blanquet stigma method made it possible to inventory 146 species, including 101 herbaceous and 45 ligneous; belonging to 109 genera divided into 43 families, the main ones being: Poaceae (14%) and Papilionaceae (12%).  The most abundant biological types are Therophytes (41.38%) followed by Microphanerophytes (31.03%).  The chorology of the flora is characterized by species with Sudano-Zambézian distribution with 38.35% followed by Guinean-Congolese-Sudano-Zambéziennes 30.82%.  The ascending hierarchical classification (CHA) made it possible to discriminate 4 plant groups all diversified.  This assessment of the current state of phytodiversity has led to exploitable results for the preservation of the flora of the Partial Fauna Reserve of Dosso

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century