Secure video communication using firefly optimization and visual cryptography

In recent years, we face an increasing interest in protecting multimedia data and copyrights due to the high exchange of information. Attackers are trying to get confidential information from various sources, which brings the importance of securing the data. Many researchers implemented techniques to hide secret information to maintain the integrity and privacy of data. In order to protect confidential data, histogram-based reversible data hiding with other cryptographic algorithms are widely used. Therefore, in the proposed work, a robust method for securing digital video is suggested. We implemented histogram bit shifting based reversible data hiding by embedding the encrypted watermark in featured video frames. Histogram bit shifting is used for hiding highly secured watermarks so that security for the watermark symbol is also being achieved. The novelty of the work is that only based on the quality threshold a few unique frames are selected, which holds the encrypted watermark symbol. The optimal value for this threshold is obtained using the Firefly Algorithm. The proposed method is capable of hiding high-capacity data in the video signal. The experimental result shows the higher capacity and video quality compared to other reversible data hiding techniques. The recovered watermark provides better identity identification against various attacks. A high value of PSNR and a low value of BER and MSE is reported from the results.

     

Potential application of low dose gamma irradiation to improve the microbiological safety of fresh coriander leaves

A local market survey of fresh, raw coriander leaves, which is a component of many ready-to-eat, Indian dishes showed large variation in their bacterial load (7.0×10⁶–1.36×10⁸ cfu/gm) and mold and fungi (3.0×10³–1.0×10⁴ cfu/gm) and presence of potentially pathogenic bacteria such as faecal coliforms, Listeria and Yersinia. Conventional chlorination treatment affected the structural integrity of leaves leading to enhancement of rotting. Exposure to a low dose of 1 kGy was efficient for bacterial decontamination and elimination of potential pathogens without affecting the keeping quality of coriander leaves upto two weeks storage at 8–10 °C, measured visually in terms of degree of yellowing and rotting. Irradiation at higher doses led to the increased rotting during storage. The total chlorophyll contents as well its components, chlorophyll a and b did not change significantly on irradiation and subsequent storage. Similarly, the total carotenoid levels remained unaffected by exposure to 1 kGy dose, however, a dose dependent enhancement in their extractability was observed in irradiated leaves. No qualitative differences were observed in the GLC profile of volatile oils of control and irradiated (1 kGy) samples. There were no significant quantitative changes in the constituents of the major aroma compounds obtained from these two samples. Effects of irradiation on storage of the seasoning were also assessed.     

I-CARES: advancing health diagnosis and medication through IoT

Internet of Things (IoT) is changing the way many sectors operate and special attention is paid to promoting healthy living by employing IoT based technologies. In this paper, a novel approach is developed with IoT prototype of Wireless Sensor Network and Cloud based system to provide continuous monitoring of a patient’s health status, ensuring timely scheduled and unscheduled medicinal dosage based on real-time patient vitals measurement, life-saving emergency prediction and communication. The designed integrated prototype consists of a wearable expandable health monitoring system, Smart Medicine Dispensing System, Cloud-based Big Data analytical diagnostic and Artificial Intelligence (AI) based reporting tool. A working prototype was developed and tested on few persons to ensure that it is working according to expected standards. Based on the initial experiments, the system fulfilled intended objectives including continuous health monitoring, scheduled timely medication, unscheduled emergency medication, life-saving emergency reporting, life-saving emergency prediction and early stage diagnosis. In addition, based on the analysis reports, physicians can diagnose/decide, view medication side effects, medication errors and prescribe medication accordingly. The proposed system exhibited the ability to achieve objectives it was designed using IoT to alleviate the pressure on hospitals due to crowdedness in hospital care and to reduce the healthcare service delays.

     

Live video streaming service with pay-as-you-use model on Ethereum Blockchain and InterPlanetary file system

Wireless Networks - In centralized video streaming platforms, the platform owner, rather than the content producer, controls most of the content uploaded on the centralized video...     

Gas-liquid mass transfer in “dead-end” autoclave reactors

Gas-liquid volumetric mass transfer coefficients, (k_La), have been obtained for “dead-end” autoclave reactors operated in two different modes: (a) gas introduced into the gas phase, and (b) gas introduced through a dip-tube in the liquid. Three different methods of k_La determination have been compared. Effects of agitation speed, impeller diameter, gas to liquid volume ratio (V_g/V_L), position of the impeller and reactor size on k_La have been investigated. The k_La data were found to be correlated as: k_La = 1.48 × 10^?3 (N)^2.18 (V_g/V_L)^1.88 (d_I/d_T)^2.16 (h₁/h₂)^1.16 The critical speed of surface breakage, at which transition from the surface convection to the surface entrainment regime occurs, was also determined for different impeller positions, impeller diameters and gas to liquid volume ratios.     

New 14-Membered Cyclopeptide Alkaloids from Zizyphus oxyphylla Edgew

Two new 14-membered cyclopeptide alkaloids, Oxyphylline B (4) and Oxyphylline C (5), along with three known 13-membered cyclopeptide alkaloids, were isolated from stem and roots of Zizyphus oxyphylla Edgew. The compounds were tested for antibacterial activity. Oxyphylline B (4) showed comparatively better antibacterial activities against Escherichia coli (MIC, 5 μg/mL) than other compounds. This compound also exhibited weak antimicrobial activities against Staphylococcus aureus (MIC, 25 μg/mL), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MIC, 50 μg/mL) and Salmonella typhi (MIC, 50 μg/mL).     

Measurement of nitrogen laser channel current, inductance, and resistance

The laser channel current, inductance, and resistance of a nitrogen laser have been measured using a magnetic probe and have been found to have values of ∼42 kA, 1.6 nH, and 0.1 Ω, respectively, for a laser channel gap of 1.6 cm operated at 10 kV and 60 torr. The results of the measurement confirm a double discharge mechanism for the nitrogen laser.     

User-centric hybrid semi-autoencoder recommendation system

Recommendation System is one of such solutions to overcome information overload issues and to identify products most relevant to users and provide suggestions to users for items they might be interested in consuming or elements matching their needs. The significant challenge of several recommendation approaches is that they suggested a huge number of things to the target user. But the exciting items, according to the target user, are seen at the bottom of the recommended list. The proposed approach has improved the quality of recommendations by implementing some of the unique features in the new framework of auto encoder called semi-autoencoder, which contains the rating information as well as some additional information of users. Autoencoder is widely used in the recommender system because it gives the best result for feature extraction, dimensionality reduction, regeneration of data, and a better understanding of the user’s characteristics. The experimental results are compared with some established popular methods using precision, recall, and F-measure evaluation measures. Users generally don’t want to see lots of suggestions. With its six building blocks, the proposed approach gives better performance for the top 10 recommendations compared to other well-known methods.

     

HTPB-based polyurethanes for inhibition of composite propellants

Polyurethanes were synthesized by the reaction of hydroxyterminated polybutadiene (HTPB) and diisocyanates such as toluene diisocyanate (TDI), diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI), hexamethylene diisocyanate (HMDI), and isophoron diisocyanate (IPDI). A number of fillers such as carbon black, kaolin, and antimony trioxide (Sb₂O₃) were used in these formulations. Mechanical and thermal stability of these polyurethanes were studied. Based on its properties, HTPB-MDI derived filled polyurethane was selected and evaluated as an inhibitor for a composite propellant. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.