An Improved Rate Control Method Based on Modification at Scene Change for H.264

This paper presents an improved rate control method for H.264. First, the scene changes are detected by the average absolute difference of the brightness histograms between the adjacent frames. Then, the bit allocation and quantization parameters are adjusted, using a certain threshold. In addition, the calculation of the mean absolute difference （MAD） is modified in an alternative way, which makes the rate distortion optimization （RDO） more accurate. Extensive simulation results show that the proposed method, compared with G012, can improve the average peak signal-to-noise ratio （PSNR） and moderate the image quality.

Performance of Dexcom G5 and FreeStyle Libre sensors tested simultaneously in people with type 1 or 2 diabetes and advanced chronic kidney disease

BACKGROUND Advanced chronic kidney disease(CKD) is a common complication for people with type 1 and 2 diabetes and can often lead to glucose instability. Continuous glucose monitoring(CGM) helps users monitor and stabilize their glucose levels. To date, CGM and intermittent scanning CGM are only approved for people with diabetes but not for those with advanced CKD.AIM To compare the performance of Dexcom G5 and FreeStyle Libre sensors in adults with type 1 or 2 diabetes and advanced CKD.METHODS This was a non-randomized clinical trial that took place in two outpatient clinics in western Sweden. All patients with type 1 or 2 diabetes and an estimated glomerular filtration rate(eGFR) of < 30 mL/min per 1.73 m^(2) were invited to participate. Forty patients(full analysis set = 33) carried the Dexcom G5 sensor for 7 d and FreeStyle Libre sensor for 14 d simultaneously. For referencing capillary blood glucose(SMBG) was measured with a high accuracy glucose meter(HemoCue®) during the study period. At the end of the study, all patients were asked to answer a questionnaire on their experience using the sensors.RESULTS The mean age was 64.1(range 41-77) years, hemoglobin A1 c was 7.0% [standard deviation(SD) 3.2], and diabetes duration was 28.5(SD 14.7) years. A total of 27.5% of the study population was on hemodialysis and 22.5% on peritoneal dialysis. The mean absolute relative difference for Dexcom G5 vs SMBG was significantly lower than that for FreeStyle Libre vs SMBG [15.2%(SD 12.2) vs 20.9%(SD 8.6)], with a mean difference of 5.72 [95% confidence interval(CI): 2.11-9.32;P = 0.0036]. The mean absolute difference was also significantly lower for Dexcom G5 than for FreeStyle Libre, 1.21 mmol/L(SD 0.78) and 1.76 mmol/L(SD 0.78), with a mean diffrenec of 0.55(95%CI: 0.27-0.83;P = 0.0004).The mean difference(MD) was-0.107 mmol/L and-1.10 mmol/L(P = 0.0002), respectively. In all, 66% of FreeStyle Libre values were in the no risk zone on the surveillance error grid compared to 82% of Dexcom G5 values.CONCLUSION Dexcom G5 produces more accurate sensor values than FreeStyle Libre in people with diabetes and advanced CKD and is likely safe to be used by those with advanced CKD.

A Simple Adaptive Rate Control for H.264/AVC

The purpose of this paper is to improve allocation of the number of bits without skipping the frame by accurately estimating the target bits in H.264/AVC rate control.In our scheme,we propose an enhancement method of the target frame rate based H.264/AVC bit allocation.The enhancement uses a frame complexity estimation to improve the existing mean absolute difference(MAD)complexity measurement Bit allocation to each frame is not just computed by target frame rate but also adjusted by a combined frame complexity measure.Using the statistical characteristic,we obtain change of occurrence bit about QP to apply the bit amount by QP from the video characteristic and applied in the estimated bit amount of the current frame. Simulation results show that the proposed rate control scheme could not only achieves time saving of more than 99%over existing rate control algorithm,but also increase the average PSNR of reconstructed video for around 0.02～0.78 dB in all the sequences.

Adaptive Rate Control Scheme for H.264/AVC

The purpose of this paper is to improve allocation of the number of bits without skipping the frame by accurately estimating the target bits in H. 264/AVC rate control. The scheme ImPoses an enhancement method of the target frame rate based on H. 264/AVC bit allocation. The enhancement uses a frame complexion estimation to improve the existing Mean Absolute Difference （MAD） complexity measurement. Bit allocation to each frame is not just computed by target frame rote but also adjusted by a combined frame complexity measure. Using the statistical characteristic, the scheme obtains change of occurrence bit about QP to apply the bit amount by QP from the video characteristic and apply it in the estimated bit amount of the current frame. Simulation results show that the proposed rate eontrol scheme achieves time saving of mine than 99% over existing rate control algorithm. Nevertheless, Peak Signal-to-Noise Ration （PSNR） and bit rate were almost the same as the performances.

Inter-comparison of Raingauges on Rainfall Amount and Intensity Measurements in a Tropical Environment

The HKO （Hong Kong Observatory） has been carrying out an inter-comparison of automatic raingauges since 2011 for identifying raingauges that can meet the ~ 5% accuracy requirement of the WMO （World Meteorological Organization） in measuring rainfall amount. The inter-comparison was conducted at HKO＇s meteorological stations at King＇s Park and Hong Kong International Airport in Hong Kong. Two 0.1-mm resolution Pluvio-OTT weighing gauges were introduced in 2013. This type of raingauges has outperformed others in the WMO＇s field inter-comparison held between October 2007 and April 2009. The performances of 14 raingauges, comprising five different measurement methods, viz. drop-counting, weighing, tipping bucket with software correction, tipping bucket with extra pulse correction and tipping bucket without correction, were evaluated. The focus was to study their performances in rainfall intensity measurement, especially during heavy rain situations. Different high rainfall intensity episodes were selected for analysis. Among these episodes, the maximum 1-minute rainfall intensity as high as around 130 mm/hr was recorded by the Pluvio-OTT raingauges. This paper serves to conclude the 3-year （2011-2013） inter-comparison exercise for rainfall amount measurements and to provide preliminary 1-year （2013） comparison results on rainfall intensity measurements.

An adaptive fast search algorithm for block motion estimation in H.264

Motion estimation is an important issue in H.264 video coding systems because it occupies a large amount of encoding time.In this paper,a novel search algorithm which utilizes an adaptive hexagon and small diamond search (AHSDS) is proposed to enhance search speed.The search pattern is chosen according to the motion strength of the current block.When the block is in active motion,the hexagon search provides an efficient search means;when the block is inactive,the small diamond search is adopted.Simulation results showed that our approach can speed up the search process with little effect on distortion performance compared with other adaptive approaches.