Blind multiple watermarking algorithm for audio

To make digital watermarking accomplish several goals, a new method for simultaneously embedding multiple watermarks into the same audio signal is proposed. First, the original audio signal is segmented into frames of appointed lengths and all the element watermarks are encoded to achieve a mixed watermark. Then, the binary bits in the mixed watermark are embedded into the audio frames with the echo hiding technique. The watermark extraction can be performed without an original audio signal. Furthermore, in order to enhance the extraction accuracy and the robustness of the proposed algorithm against common signal manipulations, the autocorrelafion of the power cepstrum is utilized to estimate the echo delays in the watermarked audio frames to extract the mixed watermark and the corresponding decoding method is applied to achieve the element watermarks. Computer simulation results indicate that the proposed scheme has great robustness against common signal manipulations of Mp3 compressing, re-sampling, re-quantizing, low-pass filtering and white noise addition.

Hepatitis B virus pre-S2 start codon mutations in Indonesian liver disease patients

AIM: To identify the prevalence of pre-S2 start codon mutations and to assess their association with liver disease progression. METHODS: The mutations were identified by direct sequencing from 73 asymptomatic carriers, 66 chronic hepatitis (CH), 66 liver cirrhosis (LC) and 63 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. Statistical significances were determined using Fisher's exact test, χ 2 test, and t -test analyses whenever appropriate. Pre-S mutation as a risk factor for advanced liver disease was estimated by unconditional logistic regression model adjusted with age, sex, and hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg). P < 0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: Mutation of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) pre-S2 start codon was found in 59 samples from 268 subjects (22.0%), with higher prevalence in patients with cirrhosis 27/66 (40.9%) followed by HCC 18/63 (28.6%), chronic hepatitis 12/66 (18.2%) and asymptomatic carriers 2/73 (2.7%) (P < 0.001). Logistic regression analysis showed that pre-S2 start codon mutation was an independent factor for progressive liver disease. Other mutations, at T130, Q132, and A138, were also associated with LC and HCC, although this was not statistically significant when adjusted for age, sex, and HBeAg. The prevalence of pre-S2 start codon mutation was higher in HBV/B than in HBV/C (23.0% vs 19.1%), whilst the prevalence of T130, Q132, and A138 mutation was higher in HBV/C than in HBV/B. The prevalence of pre-S2 start codon mutation was higher in LC (38.9%) and HCC (40.0%) than CH (5.6%) in HBeAg(+) group, but it was similar between CH, LC and HCC in HBeAg(-) group. CONCLUSION: Pre-S2 start codon mutation was higher in Indonesian patients compared to other Asian countries, and its prevalence was associated with advanced liver disease, particularly in HBeAg(+) patients.

Methodology for Precious Metal Recovery in Computer Printed Circuit

The life of electronic equipment is becoming increasingly shorter and its replacement always generates a quantity of waste increase, giving rise to a problem of environmental character and still needed new options of solid waste management that will contribute to global sustainable development. Parts of these waste are TCI （the card＇s printed circuit） which containing dangerous elements and turns them into a polluting material from the soil, water and air, being harmful to human health if there is to proper and responsible way, so the recycling of TCI to obtain precious metals is an example of industrial materials that can be recycled. Despite this, large quantities of these are not recycled and some others are not considered. The objective of this work is to present a systematic and ecological methodology for the recovery of valuable materials contained in parts of used in computers, circuit boards using a leaching process. The method determines a set of variables to evaluate the kinetics of the reaction and the leaching of metals that form the substrate of metal and to establish the parameters that affect the rate of leaching of metals through a sensitivity analysis, to identify design alternatives. It determines the quantity and percentages that constitutes the motherboard, processor, video cards, accelerator graphics, network and memory cards RAM, among others and its content of metals such as Cu, Fe, Ag, Au and Pt.

A Brief Review of Chinese Print

Chinese print can date back 1100 years. For example, carved bricks and stones in the Han Dynasty are actually early forms of woodprint. As a type of print art, wood board printing invented in the Tang Dynasty was closely related to life of ordinary people and helped to spread arts in ancient China. Buddhist sutra Vajracchedika printed in 868 AD is the important evidence testifying to the wood board printing of the Tang Dynasty and the world’s earliest complete printed book still preserved today. Thus it is generally recognized as the peak of print art of the Tang Dynasty.

Recovery of Gold, Silver, Copper and Niobium from Printed Circuit Boards Using Leaching Column Technique

Nowadays, over 300 tons of Au are used in electronic equipment each year with other precious and strategic metals such as Ag, Pt, Pd, Cu, Nb, Ta, etc.. After the use-phase, the electronic devices become electronic waste （e-waste）; consequently it is important to consider e-waste as a secondary supply for the recovery of these metals. This paper presents the recovery ofAu, Ag, Cu and Nb from PCBs （printed circuit boards） of discarded computers using leaching column technique. The PCBs were crushed with a hammer mill until reaching a particle size between 3.33 mm to 0.43 mm, Then, it was leached with a sodium cyanide solution in a glass column using the following conditions： sodium cyanide concentration 4 g/L, flux 20 L/d kg PCBs day, pH between 10.5 to 11 and leaching time 15 days. Every day, after leaching, the pregnant solutions passed through a column with activated carbon to complete the closed loop system. The following recoveries were obtained： Au 46.6%, Ag 51.3%, Nb 47.2% and Cu 62.3%. A preliminary technical-economic study shows the feasibility to create a small-scale PCBs recycling plant. The initial investment is on the order of USS155,639, considering the recovered metals from the loaded carbon. The internal rate of return for a 10 years period IRR （internal rate of return） and NPV （net present value） estimated are 27% and US$105,926 respectively.

Is Earnings Management a Technique to Reduce Cost of Capital？ Exploratory Study on Indian Companies

Earnings management has attracted lots of academicians towards the research due to the emerging frauds and downfall of great corporate giants of the world. Mainly earnings measurement is based on the accounting estimates which managers can easily manipulate for their self-interest. The study investigates the relationship between cost of capital and the earnings measurement for the Indian firms. Measurement of earnings is mostly computed by taking either discretionary accruals （DAC） or non-discretionary accruals （NDAC）. Present study has used Dechow, Sloan, and Sweeney （1995） model for earnings measurement and for analyzing the results. Panel data regression has also been used. Findings of the study conclude that DAC has a significant influence on cost of capital, but NDAC has no influence.

Interactive Optimization of Impressive Parameters Middling in Biological Leaching

In this study, single and interactive effect of three parameters, pH, ferrous and pulp concentration has been investigated by a 2^3 full factorial CCRD （central composite rotatable design） composed of eight factorial points, six central and six axial points. Initially, ＂none＂ mode from transformation subsection was chosen as the default choice for both responses, i.e. %recovery and gram of recovered zinc. Box-Cox plots give the best Lambda for each response （y^Lambda= f （A, B, C .....）） which occur at 1.91 and 2.16 for %recovey and gram of recovered zinc, respectively. A linear （y^1.91 = f （linear）） and a quadratic （y^2. 16= f （quadratic）） equation were suggested by software as the model for %recovery and gram of recovered zinc, respectively. Analysis of variance （ANOVA） for both models shows a high coefficient of determination （R^2）. In order to optimize and find the best conditions under which three parameters occur appropriately, optimization was done numerically. Desirability plots indicate properly that the best conditions occur at pH = 1.46, ferrous = 6.67 g/L, %pulp = 7.1 （%w/v）, %recovery = 86.5, gram of recovered zinc = 0.63 g and desirability = 0.777. Finally, PRP （progressive route of the process） analysis donates us a proper insight of what is happening during these 30 days. PRP analysis categorizes flasks in two parts, 1- flasks worth economically, 2- flasks with one-time-usable feed materials.

Analysis of Affecting Factors to the Regional Growth and Poverty Rate in Indonesia： Applying the Heterogeneous Regression

Effective regional budget may significantly affect the development of province in Indonesia. Subsidy from central government heavily composed in regional budget. This shows low real regional income which means districts are still depending on budget from central government in general. This research aims to analyze some local factors that affect the regional growth and poverty in 28 provinces in Indonesia. Data panel and heterogeneous regression would be employed in the research. Real regional income, transfer revenue, and labor are the most significant factors to regional growth differently, but it has a different sign as well as the poverty rate. Heterogeneous regression may give better model analysis than the simple one.

High Phenotypic Variation in Morus alba L. along an Altitudinal Gradient in the Indian Trans-Himalaya

Ten quantitative morphological characters were studied in 56 Morus alba L. trees representing three natural populations from the trans-Himalayan Ladakh region. The altitude of collection sites ranged from 2815 to 3177 m above the sea level(asl). Coefficient of variation(CV) showed high phenotypic variation in M. alba. Linear regression analysis revealed that leaf and fruit size decreases with an increase in altitude. High CV was observed for leaf length, leaf width, petiole length, leaf area, internodal distance, number of nodes, bud length, fruit length, fruit width and fruit weight. Similarly, a high phenotypic plasticity index was observed for bud length, leaf length, leaf width, petiole length, leaf area, inter-nodal distance, number of nodes, fruit length, fruit width and fruit weight. For every 100 m increase in altitude, leaf length, leaf width and leaf area decreased by 1 cm, 0.8 cm and 16.6 cm2, respectively. Analysis of covariance showed a predominant altitudinal effect on the morphological characters in comparison to the population effect. A small change in the altitude caused significant change in the plant morphological characteristics. The present investigation represents to our knowledge the first study addressing phenotypic variation in mulberryalong an altitudinal gradient.

Office Channeling and Its Impact on the Growth of Indonesian Islamic Banking Industry

The purpose of this paper is to analyze that the office channeling policy that based on Bank Indonesia＇s rule No. 8/3/PBI/2006 had an impact on the growth of Islamic banking industry in Indonesia. This research used ordinary least square regression to analyze the impact of office channeling policy on the growth of Indonesian Islamic banking industry. The variable used in this paper is office channeling which is used as a dummy variable, and margin deposit and non-performing financing （NPF） are also used as control variables. The indicators of the growth of Indonesian Islamic banking industry are asset and third-party funds. The result shows that office channeling does not have an impact on the growth of Islamic banking industry which is measured by asset growth and third-party funds growth. According to this result, Bank Indonesia should have an innovative policy to stimulate the Islamic banking industry growth in Indonesia.

Preliminary Studies on Predicting the Tropical Indian Ocean Sea Surface Temperature through Combined Statistical Methods and Dynamic ENSO Prediction

The sea surface temperature （SST） in the In- dian Ocean affects the regional climate over the Asian continent mostly through a modulation of the monsoon system. It is still difficult to provide an a priori indication of the seasonal variability over the Indian Ocean. It is widely recognized that the warm and cold events of SST over the tropical Indian Ocean are strongly linked to those of the equatorial eastern Pacific. In this study, a statistical prediction model has been developed to predict the monthly SST over the tropical Indian Ocean. This model is a linear regression model based on the lag relationship between the SST over the tropical Indian Ocean and the Nino3.4 （5°S-5°N, 170°W-120°W） SST Index. The pre- dictor （i.e., Nino3.4 SST Index） has been operationally predicted by a large size ensemble E1 Nifio and the Southern Oscillation （ENSO） forecast system with cou- pled data assimilation （Leefs_CDA）, which achieves a high predictive skill of up to a 24-month lead time for the equatorial eastern Pacific SST. As a result, the prediction skill of the present statistical model over the tropical In- dian Ocean is better than that of persistence prediction for January 1982 through December 2009.

Performance of Spread Spectrum Watermarking in Autoregressive Host Model Under Additive White Gaussian Noise Channel

A large class of multimedia and biomedical signals can be modeled as Autotegessive （AR） random processes. Pefformance of watermarking embedding algorithms utilizing this host model is still left unexplored. The authors investigate the decoding perform-nance of Spread Spectrum （SS） embedding algorithm in the standard Additive White Gaussian Noise （AWGN） channel with the host signal being modeled as AR process. The SS embedding algorithm also use linear interference cancelation in the subspace spanned by watermark pattern. They study the influence of design parameters on the decoding performance. The analytic result is verified by Monte Carlo simulation on synthesized AR process. The result may be helpful to design watermarking system for speech, biomedical and image signals.

Recycling Plastics for Economical Housing

Abstract： The search for ＂new materials＂ to manufacture building elements for economical housing is the aim of this work. These materials are the following recycled plastics： Low-density polyethylene （LDPE）, recycled out of discarded soft drink packs： Polyethylene-terephthalate （PET）, recycled out of discarded soft drink bottles; and several plastics, from the printed films used like packages of candies （remainder of production plant by faults in the thickness of the films or in the inked process of themt. These conveniently grounded plastics were taken as ＂arids＂ to be mixed with Normal Portland cement, replacing heavy sand and gravel habitually used in these mixtures. These materials are used in constructive elements such as bricks, blocks and plates for economical houses closures or traditional construction. The developed constructive elements offer high thermal insulation, so they can be used in closures with a smaller thickness than conventional bricks and blocks. Besides, they have a lower specific weight than these traditiunal constructive elements. Recycling means lowering costs, making part of the environment contaminating waste useful and providing the unemployed and/or unqualified work force with jobs through uncomplicated technologies. Therefore, this recycling technology has an economic as well as an ecological purpose.

前言

本期刊登的两篇文章是我院青年教员王晓光、翟起滨同志根据某些工作单位的同志提出的问题做出的一些初步成果。 所谓整差置换是一个古老的排列问题。

Use of Service Middleware Based on ECHO with CSW for Discovery and Registry of MODIS Data

Nowadays, NASA is producing several terabytes Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer （MODIS） data everyday; how to find the data with criteria, such as specific times, locations, and scales using an international standard becomes more and more important. In this paper, a service-oriented architecture for use of the integration Earth Observation System Clearing- HOuse （ECHO） with the Open Geospatial Consortium （OGC） Catalogue Service--Web profile （CSW） is put forward. The architecture consists of three roles： a service requester （the user）, a service provider （the ECHO metadata server）, and a service broker （the GeoNetwork CSW and MODIS registry service middleware）. The core component-MODIS registry service middleware includes three components： metadata fetcher, metadata transformer, and metadata register. The metadata fetcher is used to fetch metadata from ECHO metadata server; the metadata transformer is responsible for transform metadata from one form to another; the metadata register is in charge of registering ISO19139-based metadata to CSW. A prototype system is designed and implemented by using the service middleware technology and a standard interface and protocol. The feasibility and the response time of registry and retrieval of MODIS data are evaluated by means of a realistic LPDAAC_ECS MODIS data center. The implementation of this prototype system and the experiment show that the architecture and method is feasible and effective.