Additional Information Delivery to Image Content via Improved Unseen–Visible Watermarking

In a practical watermark scenario, watermarks are used to provide auxiliary information; in this way, an analogous digital approach called unseen–visible watermark has been introduced to deliver auxiliary information. In this algorithm, the embedding stage takes advantage of the visible and invisible watermarking to embed an owner logotype or barcodes as watermarks; in the exhibition stage, the equipped functions of the display devices are used to reveal the watermark to the naked eyes, eliminating any watermark exhibition algorithm. In this paper, a watermark complement strategy for unseen–visible watermarking is proposed to improve the embedding stage, reducing the histogram distortion and the visual degradation of the watermarked image. The presented algorithm exhibits the following contributions: first, the algorithm can be applied to any class of images with large smooth regions of low or high intensity; second, a watermark complement strategy is introduced to reduce the visual degradation and histogram distortion of the watermarked image; and third, an embedding error measurement is proposed. Evaluation results show that the proposed strategy has high performance in comparison with other algorithms, providing a high visual quality of the exhibited watermark and preserving its robustness in terms of readability and imperceptibility against geometric and processing attacks.

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Evaluation of suitability for 3D printing of high performance concretes

MATEC Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/matecconf/201816301002 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 163 ◽

pp. 01002 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Maria Kaszyńska ◽

Marcin Hoffmann ◽

Szymon Skibicki ◽

Adam Zieliński ◽

Mateusz Techman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

3D Printing ◽

High Performance ◽

High Performance Concrete ◽

Visual Quality ◽

Multilayered Structures ◽

Concrete Mix ◽

Mineral Additives ◽

Printing Speed

The article presents overview of additive manufacturing for concrete structures. Study focuses on specific tests used to determine suitability of high performance mixes for 3D printing. The tests include determination of compressive strength and evaluation of printing speed, extrudability and overall surface quality. Tests were performed on a High-Performance Concrete mix with fine natural aggregate up to 2 mm. Mineral additives such as silica fume and fly ash, and superplasticizer were added to obtain proper consistency. The tests were performed using specially designed site consisting of Cartesian robot and pumping module. The design of printed paths were tailored for specific tests. The evaluation of pump performance was made by measuring pumped mix volume in time. The determination of correct pumping speed was made based on the visual quality of the printed layers. Study determines also the ability to print multilayered structures and printability window of proposed mix.

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Imperceptible–Visible Watermarking to Information Security Tasks in Color Imaging

Mathematics ◽

10.3390/math9192374 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (19) ◽

pp. 2374

Author(s):

Oswaldo Ulises Juarez-Sandoval ◽

Francisco Javier Garcia-Ugalde ◽

Manuel Cedillo-Hernandez ◽

Jazmin Ramirez-Hernandez ◽

Leobardo Hernandez-Gonzalez

Keyword(s):

Real World ◽

Color Image ◽

Image Watermarking ◽

Additional Information ◽

Visible Watermarking ◽

Real World Applications ◽

Digital Reproduction ◽

Two Stages

Digital image watermarking algorithms have been designed for intellectual property, copyright protection, medical data management, and other related fields; furthermore, in real-world applications such as official documents, banknotes, etc., they are used to deliver additional information about the documents’ authenticity. In this context, the imperceptible–visible watermarking (IVW) algorithm has been designed as a digital reproduction of the real-world watermarks. This paper presents a new improved IVW algorithm for copyright protection that can deliver additional information to the image content. The proposed algorithm is divided into two stages: in the embedding stage, a human visual system-based strategy is used to embed an owner logotype or a 2D quick response (QR) code as a watermark into a color image, maintaining a high watermark imperceptibility and low image-quality degradation. In the exhibition, a new histogram binarization function approach is introduced to exhibit any watermark with enough quality to be recognized or decoded by any application, which is focused on reading QR codes. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can embed one or more watermark patterns, maintaining the high imperceptibility and visual quality of the embedded and the exhibited watermark. The performance evaluation shows that the method overcomes several drawbacks reported in previous algorithms, including geometric and image processing attacks such as JPEG and JPEG2000.

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Blind compressive sensing formulation incorporating metadata for recommender system design

APSIPA Transactions on Signal and Information Processing ◽

10.1017/atsip.2015.6 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 4 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Anupriya Gogna ◽

Angshul Majumdar

Keyword(s):

Factor Model ◽

Auxiliary Information ◽

Dense Matrix ◽

Latent Factors ◽

Latent Factor ◽

Sparsity Pattern ◽

Additional Information ◽

Dense Matrices ◽

Design Result

Standard techniques in matrix factorization (MF) – a popular method for latent factor model-based design – result in dense matrices for both users and items. Users are likely to have some affinity toward all the latent factors – making a dense matrix plausible, but it is not possible for the items to possess all the latent factors simultaneously; hence it is more likely to be sparse. Therefore, we propose to factor the rating matrix into a dense user matrix and a sparse item matrix, leading to the blind compressed sensing (BCS) framework. To further enhance the prediction quality of our design, we aim to incorporate user and item metadata into the BCS framework. The additional information helps in reducing the underdetermined nature of the problem of rating prediction caused by extreme sparsity of the rating dataset. Our design is based on the belief that users sharing similar demographic profile have similar preferences and thus can be described by the similar latent factor vectors. We also use item metadata (genre information) to group together the similar items. We modify our BCS formulation to include item metadata under the assumption that items belonging to common genre share similar sparsity pattern. We also design an efficient algorithm to solve our formulation. Extensive experimentation conducted on the movielens dataset validates our claim that our modified MF framework utilizing auxiliary information improves upon the existing state-of-the-art techniques.

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Convergent Beam Electron Diffraction

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100070072 ◽

1978 ◽

Vol 36 (3) ◽

pp. 304-315

Author(s):

G. Lehmpfuhl

Keyword(s):

Electron Diffraction ◽

Diffraction Pattern ◽

Crystal Surface ◽

Diffraction Spot ◽

Crystal Thickness ◽

Large Area ◽

Electron Microscopic ◽

Additional Information ◽

Microscopic Investigations

Introduction In electron microscopic investigations of crystalline specimens the direct observation of the electron diffraction pattern gives additional information about the specimen. The quality of this information depends on the quality of the crystals or the crystal area contributing to the diffraction pattern. By selected area diffraction in a conventional electron microscope, specimen areas as small as 1 µ in diameter can be investigated. It is well known that crystal areas of that size which must be thin enough (in the order of 1000 Å) for electron microscopic investigations are normally somewhat distorted by bending, or they are not homogeneous. Furthermore, the crystal surface is not well defined over such a large area. These are facts which cause reduction of information in the diffraction pattern. The intensity of a diffraction spot, for example, depends on the crystal thickness. If the thickness is not uniform over the investigated area, one observes an averaged intensity, so that the intensity distribution in the diffraction pattern cannot be used for an analysis unless additional information is available.

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Enhancing Visual Quality of Multi-view 360 Video Compression Pipeline

Proceedings of the International Display Workshops ◽

10.36463/idw.2019.0135 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 135

Author(s):

Junyoung Yun ◽

Hong-Chang Shin ◽

Gwangsoon Lee ◽

Jong-Il Park

Keyword(s):

Video Compression ◽

Visual Quality

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THE EFFECT OF PROCESSING METHODS ON THE NUTRITIONAL QUALITY OF AFRICAN BREADFRUITS (TRECULIA AFRICANA) SEEDS

Indonesian Food and Nutrition Progress ◽

10.22146/ifnp.45545 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 16 (2) ◽

pp. 60

Author(s):

Nwozo Sarah Onyenibe ◽

Julius Oluwaseun Oluwafunmilola ◽

Stanley Udogadi Nwawuba

Keyword(s):

Amino Acid ◽

Amino Acid Composition ◽

Acid Composition ◽

Nutritional Quality ◽

High Performance ◽

Phytochemical Analysis ◽

Mineral Contents ◽

Processing Methods ◽

African Breadfruit

The extracted seeds of African breadfruit are identified to be extremely healthy whenever it is correctly processed. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of processing methods on the nutritional quality of African breadfruit seed. A qualitative phytochemical analysis including: Alkaloid, Flavonoid, Saponin, Tannin, Anthraquinone, Terpenoids, Steroid, and Cardiac Glycosides for the different fraction of African breadfruit seed was performed using a standard method. The result revealed the presence and greater amount of phytochemical for the raw fraction; seven in eight, six in eight for steamed fraction, and four in eight for boiled and roasted respectively. Anti-nutrient, Proximate, and Mineral Content were also conducted using standard methods. The amino acid composition was determined using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). The results of the present study revealed that anti-nutrients including Phytate, Tannins, and Oxalate were significantly p<0.05 reduced in the boiled fraction 5.47±0.15, 3.42±0.02 and 6.89±0.05, and highest in the raw fraction 7.77±0.01, 5.09±0.03 and 9.34±0.14. The proximate composition including; percentage crude fat, Ash, Carbohydrate, Fatty acid, and Energy value were significantly lower p<0.05 in the boiled fraction relative to the other fractions. Mineral contents; calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, and phosphorus were also significantly p<0.05 elevated in the boiled fraction relative to the raw, steamed, and roasted fraction. The amino acid composition was highest in the roasted and boiled fraction 57.350 and 56.978, and lowest in the steamed and raw fraction 35.754 and 28.748 respectively. Therefore, boiling (cooking) is encouraged for the preparation of African breadfruit seed.

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179 Improving Operative Notes in Upper GI Surgery: An Innovative QI Project Utilising Existing Electronic Hospital Systems

British Journal of Surgery ◽

10.1093/bjs/znab134.379 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 108 (Supplement_2) ◽

Author(s):

H Sadik ◽

A Butt ◽

Z Gowie ◽

J Carew ◽

A Mehta ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Electronic Records ◽

Additional Information ◽

Operative Care ◽

Adequate Care ◽

Hospital Systems ◽

Operative Notes ◽

Mean Compliance ◽

Valuable Role ◽

Electronic Hospital

Abstract Introduction Operative notes play a valuable role in ensuring that surgical patients receive consistent and adequate care. There are many inherent difficulties affecting their quality. We performed a QI project to improve surgical operative notes at our centre. Method A questionnaire assessing subjective quality of operative notes was sent to all foundation doctors delivering post-operative care. Compliance to each inclusion recommendation in the RCS guidelines was analysed. A standardised template for operative notes was incorporated into the hospital’s electronic records system, compliance was then reassessed. Results Questionnaire responses (16) were better for typed vs hand-written notes in all domains: ease of accessing notes, following intra-operative steps, following post-operative plans and frequency of asking for additional information regarding plans. After implementation of the template, mean compliance across 19 RCS parameters improved from 69% (55 operations) to 89% (46 operations). Number of parameters with 100% compliance improved from 2/19 to 8/19. Compliance increased in 14/19 parameters, there was no change in 2/19 (already 100%) and a reduction was seen in 3/19. Conclusions Results from our analysis and questionnaire showed that typed notes were favourable when compared to hand-written. The introduction of a standardised electronic template, without investment in new software, improved compliance to RCS guidelines.

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Improving the quality of disaggregated SDG indicators with cluster information for small area estimates

Statistical Journal of the IAOS ◽

10.3233/sji-200741 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 36 (4) ◽

pp. 955-961

Author(s):

Rizky Zulkarnain ◽

Dwi Jayanti ◽

Tri Listianingrum

Keyword(s):

Small Area ◽

Research University ◽

Direct Method ◽

Random Effect ◽

Auxiliary Information ◽

District Level ◽

Small Areas ◽

Associate Dean ◽

Development Goals

The increasing needs for more disaggregated data motivates National Statistical Offices (NSOs) to develop efficient methods for producing official statistics without compromising on quality. In Indonesia, regional autonomy requires that Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) indicators are available up to the district level. However, several surveys such as the Indonesian Demographic and Health Survey produce estimates up to the provincial level only. This generates gaps in support for district level policies. Small area estimation (SAE) techniques are often considered as alternatives for overcoming this issue. SAE enables more reliable estimation of the small areas by utilizing auxiliary information from other sources. However, the standard SAE approach has limitations in estimating non-sampled areas. This paper introduces an approach to estimating the non-sampled area random effect by utilizing cluster information. This model is demonstrated via the estimation of contraception prevalence rates at district levels in North Sumatera province. The results showed that small area estimates considering cluster information (SAE-cluster) produce more precise estimates than the direct method. The SAE-cluster approach revises the direct estimates upward or downward. This approach has important implications for improving the quality of disaggregated SDGs indicators without increasing cost. The paper was prepared under the kind mentorship of Professor James J. Cochran, Associate Dean for Research, Prof. of Statistics and Operations Research, University of Alabama.

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ART-UP: A Novel Method for Generating Scanning-Robust Aesthetic QR Codes

ACM Transactions on Multimedia Computing Communications and Applications ◽

10.1145/3418214 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 17 (1) ◽

pp. 1-23

Author(s):

Mingliang Xu ◽

Qingfeng Li ◽

Jianwei Niu ◽

Hao Su ◽

Xiting Liu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

State Of The Art ◽

Visual Quality ◽

Qr Code ◽

Quick Response ◽

Estimation Model ◽

Qr Codes ◽

Excellent Performance ◽

Novel Method ◽

Coarse To Fine

Quick response (QR) codes are usually scanned in different environments, so they must be robust to variations in illumination, scale, coverage, and camera angles. Aesthetic QR codes improve the visual quality, but subtle changes in their appearance may cause scanning failure. In this article, a new method to generate scanning-robust aesthetic QR codes is proposed, which is based on a module-based scanning probability estimation model that can effectively balance the tradeoff between visual quality and scanning robustness. Our method locally adjusts the luminance of each module by estimating the probability of successful sampling. The approach adopts the hierarchical, coarse-to-fine strategy to enhance the visual quality of aesthetic QR codes, which sequentially generate the following three codes: a binary aesthetic QR code, a grayscale aesthetic QR code, and the final color aesthetic QR code. Our approach also can be used to create QR codes with different visual styles by adjusting some initialization parameters. User surveys and decoding experiments were adopted for evaluating our method compared with state-of-the-art algorithms, which indicates that the proposed approach has excellent performance in terms of both visual quality and scanning robustness.

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Development and application of a spectrophotometric method in quality evaluation of benzimidazole anthelminthics in Nairobi city county

Future Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences ◽

10.1186/s43094-020-00103-4 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Johnson K. Murage ◽

Beatrice K. Amugune ◽

Peter Njogu ◽

Stanley Ndwigah

Keyword(s):

Spectrophotometric Method ◽

High Performance ◽

Neglected Tropical Diseases ◽

Developing Economies ◽

Raw Materials ◽

Poor Quality ◽

Prolonged Treatment ◽

Good Precision ◽

Market Surveillance

Abstract Background Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a group of communicable diseases which are prevalent in the tropics affecting more than one billion people. Treatment and prevention of these infections is very costly to developing economies. Helminthiases are classified among NTDs. The communities afflicted are poor and have limited access to essential resources for their livelihood. Poor-quality drugs for NTDs may lead to death or prolonged treatment without achieving the desired results. The limited resources used in purchasing poor-quality drugs will therefore be wasted instead of being put to good use. Most of the methods available for the analysis of benzimidazole anthelminthics utilize high-performance liquid chromatography. They are therefore time consuming, require sophisticated and expensive equipment, utilize rare and expensive reagents and solvents, and call for skilled personnel. A simple, rapid, and inexpensive ultraviolet spectrophotometric method of analysis would therefore come in handy especially in the analysis of many samples as occurs during post-authorization market surveillance for quality. Results The suitable solvent for the spectroscopic analysis was established as 0.1 M methanolic HCl. The wavelength of analysis was set at 294 nm. Upon validation, the method was found to have good linearity. The range over which linearity was established was way beyond the 80 to 120% of the working concentration specified by the ICH. The method exhibited good precision. Out of 32 commercial samples analyzed, five (15.6%) did not comply with compendial specifications. Intra-brand batch variation was also observed. Out of three batches of product A002T analyzed, one did not comply with compendial specifications. Conclusion A major limitation in the analysis of benzimidazole anthelminthics is the lack of reliable, simple, rapid, and low-cost methods of analysis with high throughput. The developed method serves to fill this gap. It can be used in the analysis of raw materials and finished products. It can also be used in the establishment of the quality of products prior to registration. The method will prove very useful in post-market surveillance of quality of benzimidazole anthelminthics.

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