An efficient computerized decision support system for the analysis and 3D visualization of brain tumor

The quality of health services provided by medical centers varies widely, and there is often a large gap between the optimal standard of services when judged based on the locality of patients (rural or urban environments). This quality gap can have serious health consequences and major implications for patient’s timely and correct treatment. These deficiencies can manifest, for example, as a lack of quality services, misdiagnosis, medication errors, and unavailability of trained professionals. In medical imaging, MRI analysis assists radiologists and surgeons in developing patient treatment plans. Accurate segmentation of anomalous tissues and its correct 3D visualization plays an important role inappropriate treatment. In this context, we aim to develop an intelligent computer-aided diagnostic system focusing on human brain MRI analysis. We present brain tumor detection, segmentation, and its 3D visualization system, providing quality clinical services, regardless of geographical location, and level of expertise of medical specialists. In this research, brain magnetic resonance (MR) images are segmented using a semi-automatic and adaptive threshold selection method. After segmentation, the tumor is classified into malignant and benign based on a bag of words (BoW) driven robust support vector machine (SVM) classification model. The BoW feature extraction method is further amplified via speeded up robust features (SURF) incorporating its procedure of interest point selection. Finally, 3D visualization of the brain and tumor is achieved using volume marching cube algorithm which is used for rendering medical data. The effectiveness of the proposed system is verified over a dataset collected from 30 patients and achieved 99% accuracy. A subjective comparative analysis is also carried out between the proposed method and two state-of-the-art tools ITK-SNAP and 3D-Doctor. Experimental results indicate that the proposed system performed better than existing systems and assists radiologist determining the size, shape, and location of the tumor in the human brain.

     

Effectiveness of crypto-transcoding for H.264/AVC and HEVC video bit-streams

Multimedia Tools and Applications - To avoid delays arising from a need to decrypt a video prior to transcoding and then re-encrypt it afterwards, this paper assesses a selective encryption (SE)...     

A low complexity model for predicting slice loss distortion for prioritizing H.264/AVC video

The cumulative mean squared error (CMSE) is a widely used measure of distortion introduced by a slice loss. We propose a low-complexity and low-delay generalized linear model for predicting CMSE contributed by the loss of individual H.264/AVC encoded video slices. We train the model over a video database by using a combination of video factors that are extracted during the encoding of the current frame, without using any data from future frames in the group of pictures (GOP). We then analyze the accuracy of the CMSE prediction model using cross-validation and correlation coefficients. We prioritize the slices within a GOP based on their predicted CMSE values. The performance of our model is evaluated by applying unequal error protection, using rate compatible punctured convolutional codes, to the prioritized slices over noisy channels. We also demonstrate an application of our slice prioritization by implementing a slice discard scheme, where the slices are dropped from the router when the network experiences congestion. The simulation results show that (i) the slice CMSE prediction model performs well for varying GOP structures, GOP lengths, and encoding bit rates, and (ii) the peak signal-to-noise ratio and video quality metric performance of an unequal error protection algorithm using slices prioritized by the predicted CMSE is similar to that of the measured CMSE values for different videos and channel signal-to-noise. We also extend the GOP-level slice prioritization to frame-level slice prioritization and show its performance over noisy channels.     

Conceivable security risks and authentication techniques for smart devices: A comparative evaluation of security practices

With the rapidly escalating use of smart devices and fraudulent transaction of users data from their devices, efficient and reliable techniques for authentication of the smart devices have become an obligatory issue. This paper reviews the security risks for mobile devices and studies several authentication techniques available for smart devices. The results from field studies enable a comparative evaluation of user-preferred authentication mechanisms and their opinions about reliability, biometric authentication and visual authentication techniques.     

Transferable potentials for phase equilibria. Improved united‐atom description of ethane and ethylene

A more accurate version of the Transferable Potentials for Phase Equilibria—United Atom force field, called TraPPE–UA2, for ethane and ethylene is presented. Very similar molecular volumes, shapes, and self‐ and cross‐interaction strengths of ethane and ethylene make their separation fundamentally interesting and industrially challenging. Separation factors as low as 1.5–3.0 necessitate very accurate molecular models in order to be able to computationally design potential separation processes. Additional force field parameters, namely the distance between the Lennard‐Jones sites for both compounds and partial charges only for ethylene, are introduced in the parameterization and different combining rules for the Lennard‐Jones interaction are considered. In addition to the liquid densities and critical temperature, the training set also includes saturation vapor pressures to yield an accurate two‐site ethane model. Binary ethane/ethylene, CO₂/ethylene, and H₂O/ethylene vapor–liquid equilibria and H₂O/ethylene dimer calculations are used for further optimization of a four‐site ethylene model. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2017     

When We Stop Talking Politics: The Maintenance and Closing of Conversation in Contentious Times

Despite the democratic significance of citizen talk about politics, the field of communication has not considered how that talk is weathering stresses facing our civic culture. We examine political talk during an archetypal case of political contentiousness: the recall of Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin in 2012. Pairing qualitative and quantitative methods, we show that a fracturing of civic culture took place in which many citizens found it impossible to continue political discussion. Individuals at fault lines of contention, by nature of occupation, geographic location, or other personal circumstance, were most prone to this breakdown. Our results call into question the ability of talk to bridge political and social differences in periods of polarization and fragmentation, with implications for democratic functioning.     

Healable Transparent Electronic Devices

With the advent of the digital era, healable electronic devices are being developed to alleviate the propagation of breakdown in electronics due to the mechanical damage caused by bending, accidental cutting or scratching. Meanwhile, flexible transparent electronics, exhibiting high transmittance and robust flexibility, are drawing enormous research efforts due to their potential applications in various integrated wearable electronics. However, the breakdown of flexible transparent electronics seriously limits their reliability and lifetime. Therefore, transparent healable electronics are desired to tackle these problems, yet most of the healable electronics are not transparent nowadays. The combination of high performance, healability, and transparency into electronics is often mutually exclusive. Herein, after a brief introduction of self‐healing materials, healable electronics, and flexible transparent electronics, the recent progress in the healable electronic devices without transparency is reviewed in detail. Then, healable transparent electronic devices with high transparency, robust portability, and reliable flexibility are summarized. They are drawing great attention owing to their potential application in optical devices as well as smart wearable and integrated optoelectronic devices. Following that, the critical challenges and prospects are highlighted for the development of healable transparent electronic devices.     

Effect of ply lay-up and curing pressure on void content in GFRP laminates of unsaturated polyester resin-reinforced woven E-glass fibers

This paper describes a laminate curing process by hand lay-up of plain-weave woven Glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) composite composed of unsaturated polyester resin reinforced with E-glass fiber fabric, EWR-600B. Symmetrical and non-symmetrical ply orientation arrangements were introduced with respect to different curing pressures to produce consistent composite panels according to the British standard code: BS 1268 (2001) for evaluations of void content and physical properties. Quantitative analysis of volume and weight fractions and void volume content were investigated according to the ASTM code: D 2734. Woven GFRP composites fabricated under different curing pressures of 351.2 (35.8 kg/m²), 687.7 (70.1 kg/m²), 1020.2 (104 kg/m²) and 1355.7 Pa (138.2 kg/m²) showed minimal significant effect on volume and weight fractions of symmetrical and non-symmetrical ply lay-up arrangement, whereas 4 % void content still fulfilled the limit of medium quality composite.     

Sinterability,strength and oxidation of alpha silicon carbide powders

Pressureless sintering of commercially available -SiC powders was investigated at temperatures between 1900 and 2150° C for times of 10 to 240 min under one atmosphere of argon pressure. Alpha-SiC powder containing boron and carbon sintering aids was sinterable at 2150° C for a period of 30 min to a high final density greater than 96 per cent of theoretical. In contrast, a final density only about 80 per cent of theoretical was achieved in -SiC powder containing aluminium and carbon sintering aids. Room temperature and high temperature (1370° C) flexure strength and oxidation resistance were determined on sintered high density (>96% of theoretical) -SiC (boron, carbon) material. Both the strength and the oxidation resistance were found to be equivalent and comparable to those of Carborundum Company sintered -SiC, which is representative of the current state-of-the-art material.     

Effect of annealing and oxygenation on the DC conductivity of amorphous germanium

Thin films of amorphous germanium were deposited in an oxygen atmosphere.dc conductivity results are interpreted considering the possibility of the formation of Ge-O bonds. The density of states was determined. Results of conductivity are interpreted using the Davis-Mott model. Change in conductivity in annealed films of V-a-Ge and O-a-Ge is also reported.