Reversible Semi-Fragile Watermarking Technique for Integrity Control of Relational Database

Reversible watermarking schemes for relational database are usually classified into two groups: robust schemes and fragile schemes. The main limitation of existing reversible fragile methods is that they cannot differentiate between legal and malicious modifications. In this paper, we introduce a novel lossless semi-fragile scheme based on prediction-error expansion for content protection of relational database. In the proposed method, all attributes in a database relation are first classified according to their sensitivity to legitimate updates. Then, the watermark is embedded by expanding the prediction error of the two least significant digits of securely selected attributes. At watermark extraction, the proposed method has the ability to fully restore the original data while detecting and localizing tampering. The applicability of our method is demonstrated theoretically and experimentally.

Clinical Profile of Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) in a Semi-Rural Ivorian Environment

Objectives: To describe the clinical profile of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) in a semi-rural Ivorian setting: the rheumatology department of the Bouaké University Hospital (CHU.B). Patients and methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study from January 2018 to December 2023 in the rheumatology department of the CHU.B. The study focused on the epidemiological, diagnostic and therapeutic data of children followed for JIA on the basis of the classification criteria of the International League of Associations for Rheumatology (ILAR). Excel 2019 software was used to analyse the data. Results: Over a 6-year period, JIA represented 0.29% (11/3780) of all rheumatological conditions and 1.40% (11/782) of childhood rheumatic diseases. The mean age of the children at diagnosis was 13.09 ± 3.01 years, and the mean age at onset of the disease was 8.54 years. There were 6 girls and 5 boys. Joint involvement was the main reason for consultation and hospitalisation, accounting for 81.81% (9) of cases. There was a family history in 3 children (27.3%). The clinical forms were as follows: systemic 27.27% (3), oligoarticular 27.27% (3), polyarticular with rheumatoid factor negative 27.27% (3), polyarticular with rheumatoid factor positive 9.09 (1), arthritis with enthesitis 9.09 (1). JIA was discovered at steinbrocker functional stages II and III. Treatment included NSAIDs 72.72% (8), corticosteroid therapy combined with methotrexate and hydroxychloroquine 54.54% (6) and rehabilitation 63.63% (7). Conclusion: JIA is a little-known disease in the semi-rural environment of Côte d’Ivoire. It is characterised by a long delay in diagnosis in relation to poverty and the lack of recourse to alternative medicine in our populations;hence, it is important to raise awareness of the condition among the population and practitioners. Multidisciplinary intervention would improve the diagnosis and management of children with JIA.

Estimating the Drought-Induced Yield Loss for Winter Wheat in a Semi-Arid Region of the Southern United States Using a Drought Index

The economy of most rural locations in the semi-arid region of Llano Estacado in the southern United States is predominantly based on agriculture, primarily beef and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) production. This region is prone to drought and is projected to experience a drier climate. Droughts that coincide with the critical phenological phases of a crop can be remarkably costly. Although drought cannot be prevented, its losses can be minimized through mitigation measures if it is predicted in advance. Predicting yield loss from an imminent drought is an important need of stakeholders. One way to fulfill this need is using an agricultural drought index, such as the Agricultural Reference Index for Drought (ARID). Being plant physiology-based, ARID can represent drought-yield relationships accurately. This study developed an ARID-based yield model for predicting the drought-induced yield loss for winter wheat in this region by accounting for its phenological phase-specific sensitivity to water stress. The reasonable values of the drought sensitivity coefficients of the yield model indicated that it could reflect the phenomenon of water stress decreasing the winter wheat yields in this region reasonably. The values of the various metrics used to evaluate the model, including Willmott Index (0.86), Nash-Sutcliffe Index (0.61), and percentage error (26), indicated that the yield model performed fairly well at predicting the drought-induced yield loss for winter wheat. The yield model may be useful for predicting the drought-induced yield loss for winter wheat in the study region and scheduling irrigation allocation based on phenological phase-specific drought sensitivity.

Solution of the Matrix Second Semi-Tensor Product Equation A ∘ l X ∘ l B=C

In this paper, the solution of the matrix second semi-tensor product equation A∘lX∘lB=Cis studied. Firstly, the solvability of the matrix-vector second semi-tensor product equation is investigated. At the same time, the compatibility conditions, the sufficient and necessary conditions and the specific solution methods for the matrix solution are given. Secondly, we further consider the solvability of the second semi-tensor product equation of the matrix. For each part, several examples are given to illustrate the validity of the results.

Preparation of Semi-Insulating Material by Annealing Undoped InP

Semi insulating (SI) InP wafers of 50 and 75mm in diameter can be obtained by annealing of undoped liquid encapsulated Czochralski (LEC) InP at 930℃ for 80h.The annealing ambient can be pure phosphorus (PP) or iron phosphide (IP).The IP SI InP wafers have good electrical parameters and uniformity of whole wafer.However,PP SI InP wafers exhibit poor uniformity and electrical parameters.Photoluminescence which is subtle to deep defect appears in IP annealed semi insulating InP.Traps in annealed SI InP are detected by the spectroscopy of photo induced current transient.The results indicate that there are fewer traps in IP annealed undoped SI InP than those in as grown Fe doped and PP undoped SI InP.The formation mechanism of deep defects in annealed undoped InP is discussed.

An Invariant of the Projective Semi-symmetric Connection

In this paper the projective semi symmetric connection D is studied, which is projectively equivalent to the Levi_Civita connection . An intrinsic projective invariant is found out and a necessary and sufficient condition is given. Furthermore, another condition is obtained when the convariant derivative of the projective invariant is kept.

Spectral Characterization of Hyponormal Weighted Shifts

The complete characterizations of the spectra and their various parts of hyponormal unilateral and bilateral weighted shifts are presented respectively in this paper. The results obtained here generalize the corresponding work of the references.

Application of High-speed Solenoid Valve to the Semi-active Control of Landing Gear

To select or develop an appropriate actuator is one of the key and difficult issues in the study of semi-active controlled landing gear. Performance of the actuator may directly affect the effectiveness of semi-active control. In this article, parallel high-speed solenoid valves are chosen to be the actuators for the semi-active controlled landing gear and being studied. A nonlinear high-speed solenoid valve model is developed with the consideration of magnetic saturation characteristics and verified by test. According to the design rule of keeping the peak load as small as possible while absorbing the specified shock energy, a fuzzy PD control rule is designed. By the rule controller parameters can be self-regulated. The simulation results indicate that the semi-active control based on high-speed solenoid valve can effectively improve the control performance and reduce impact load during landing.

KEY TECHNOLOGY OF SEMI-CONTINOUS CONVEYOR SYSTEM IN DEEP SURFACE MINE

The key technology of semi-continuous conveyor system decides the successful using of this system. The key technology includes optimal initial building depth of this system,the crusher moving step and the layout of conveyor system are studied, and their calculating models are built up.

Dynamical coarsening processes of microstructures in non dendritic AlSi_7Mg alloy remelted in semi solid state

The microstructural variation in the non dendritic AlSi 7Mg samples remelted in the semi solid state has been investigated. It is proposed that the primary α Al phases are mainly coarsened by connecting the secondary arms or fine primary α Al phases together at the stage of a small quantity of liquid and slowly coarsened through diffusion at the stage of a great quantity of liquid. The dynamical coarsening equation controlled by diffusion is in good agreement with the equation of d 3- d 3 0= kt and the effect of the starting microstructures on the coarsening of primary α Al phases is gradually decreased when the soaking time is long enough.

Deformation mechanism of tension of 2024Al alloy at semi-solid state

The mechanism of the tension and fracture of 2024Al alloy at semi solid were theoretically and experimentally investigated, with the isothermal tension of 2024Al alloy at semi solid state as an example. Results of theoretical and experimental analysis show that the tensile deformation of 2024Al alloy at semi solid state is achieved by the relative sliding of grains and the deformation of liquid membrane under tensile stress. The relative sliding of grains is mainly accommodated by the nucleation and growth of cavities under tensile stress. A cavity will nucleate in the region with the largest hydrostatic stress at first and then grow along preferential grain boundaries, leading to the final fracture of specimen along grain boundaries. [

Preparation of 2024/3003 gradient materials by semi-continuous casting using double-stream-pouring technique

The 2024/3003 aluminum gradient alloys are prepared by semi continuous casting. The influences of throttle bore diameter of embedded nozzle and temperature of internal melt on composition distribution, macrostructure, hardness are analyzed, and the stability of gradient distribution of composition, macrostructure and hardness along the axial direction of the ingot is also studied. The results show that diffe rent composition profiles can be achieved by adjusting the processing parameters; the volume fraction of inner alloy in the ingot can be increased by enlarging the throttle bore diameter and elevating the temperature of inner melt; quasi steady solidification can be realized within 20 s during cast processing, and consistent quality ingot is obtained by controlling the casting speed and liquid height of inner melt.

EARTHQUAKE RESPONSE OF SEMI RIGID FRAME WITH ROTATIONAL DAMPER

The seismic behavior of frames with semi rigid connections and rotational dampers is examined.The ground acceleration due to earthquake is regarded as a stochastic process,and a pseudo excitation algorithm in frequency domain is implemented in a computer program to handle non orthogonal damping properties of the system.The computer program which incorporates detailed connection models and rotational damping models is used to investigate the effect of the connection of the semi rigid frame.It is shown from analytical studies that semi rigid frames with rotational dampers improve the seismic response of the building and may provide an effective and reliable earthquake resistant design solution.

Semi-solid extrusion of TiC_p/2024Al composites prepared by contact reaction method

The contact reaction method was employed to prepare TiC p/2024Al composites and the semi solid extrusion was employed to manufacture composite rods. Through many experiments, suitable processing parameters were obtained, under which sound rods can be fabricated. It is found from the extrusion pressure—stroke curves of semi solid extrusion that the deformation force during semi solid extrusion is low and steady. The reason for lower extrusion pressure of semi solid extrusion was given. Some fabrication defects, such as break out and excessive extrusion force, owing to the inappropriate selection of processing parameters were also observed. The microstructures of TiCp/2024Al composites are characterized by well densified matrix, uniformly distributed TiC particles, some banded particle clusters and realignment of TiC particles along the extrusion direction, and no fracture of TiC particles. The mechanical properties of TiC p/2024Al composites are much higher than those of unreinforced alloy. In the meantime, the elongations of the composites are maintained at the level enough for practical applications.

HYPONORMALITY OF BLOCK TOEPLITZ OPERATORS ON THE WEIGHTED BERGMAN SPACES

In this paper we consider the block Toeplitz operators TФ on the weighted Bergman space A2α（D, Cn） and we give a necessary and sufficient condition for the hyponor-mality of block Toeplitz operators with symbol in the class of functions Ф=F ＋ G＊ withmatrix-valued polynomial functions F and G with degree 2.

ON REFLEXIVITY OF HYPONORMAL AND WEIGHTED SHIFT OPERATORS

By an elementary proof, we use a result of Conway and Dudziak to show that if A is a hyponormal operator with spectral radius r（A） such that its spectrum is the closed disc {z：｜z｜ ≤ r（A）} then A is reflexive. Using this result, we give a simple proof of a result of Bercovici, Foias, and Pearcy on reflexivity of shift operators. Also, it is shown that every power of an invertible bilateral weighted shift is reflexive.

Effect of Mg and semi solid processing on microstructure and impression creep properties of A356 alloy

The effects of Mg and semi solid processing on the creep properties ofA356 A1 alloy were investigated. The results show that the dislocation climb controlled creep is the dominant creep mechanism and it is not affected by the semi solid processing and further addition of Mg. Mg improves the alloy creep properties probably by forming large Chinese script Mg2Si compounds at the interdendritic regions. The semi solid processed specimens exhibit better creep properties in comparison with the as cast ones. It is attributed to the reduction in the stacking fault energy resulting from the significant dissolution of Mg in the a（A1） phase.

Competition of the active roots of Cassia siamea Lam. and Zea mays L.(cv.Katumani Composite B) in an alley cropping trial in semi arid Kenya

A study on root competition in alley cropping was carried out in an agroforestry system, involving Cassia siamea Lam. and maize ( Zea mays L. cv. Katumani composite B). The existence and intensity of root competition in the top soil as manifested by the distribution of the active roots of cassia and maize, in space and time, was assessed. The root length density of maize was far greater than that of cassia in the upper 10 cm, implying that cassia was not competing with maize for water and/or nutrients at that depth. However, at maize crop tasselling and grain filling stages there was a marked overlap of roots of the two plants at lower depths (20—50 cm). This varied with distance from the cassia hedge in a way that there was a tendency for highest overlap near middle maize rows. This partly explained observed yield differences. Therefore cassia may not be a suitable choice for alley cropping with maize under semi\|arid conditions on non\|sloping land, unless most of its active roots can be properly managed to absorb resources below the feeding rhizosphere of the active maize roots.

Effects of Compression Parameters on Deformation Behaviors of Semi-Solid ZA27 Alloys

An investigation was performed on the effects of semi solid compression parameters,such as strain rate,compression temperature and heating time at these temperatures on deformation behaviors of two kinds of ZA27 alloys,one was modified by Zr and the other was unmodified.The results indicate that with the increasing of the strain,the stress of the modified composite first sharply increases to a peak value,then dramatically decreases to a plateau value,and again increases till the end of deformation.But for the unmodified,after being up to a peak value,the stress only decreases slowly.As the compression temperature or the heating time decreases,or the strain rate increases,the stress level and the cracking degree of these two kinds of alloys increase.Under the same deformation conditions,the stress level and the cracking degree of the unmodified alloy are higher than those of the modified one.But there is an exception that the stress level of the unmodified alloy is minimum and smaller than that of the modified one when deformed at the low temperature of 450℃.These phenomena were mainly discussed through analyzing the microstructures under different conditions and the deformation mechanisms at different deformation stages.

Design and optimization of a semi-active suspension system for railway applications

The present work focused on the application of innovative damping technologies in order to improve railway vehicle performances in terms of dynamic stability and comfort. As a benchmark case-study, the secondary sus- pension stage was selected and different control techniques were investigated, such as skyhook, dynamic compensation, and sliding mode control. The final aim was to investigate which control schemes are suitable for optimal exploitation of the non-linear behavior of the actuators. The performance improvement achieved by adoption of the semi-active dampers on a standard high-speed train was evaluated in terms of passenger comfort. Different control strategies have been investigated by comparing a simple SISO （single input single output） regulator based on the skyhook damper ap- proach with a centralized regulator. The centralized regulator allows for the estimation of a near optimal set of control forces that minimize car-body accelerations with respect to constraints imposed by limited performance of semi-active actuators. Simulation results show that best results is obtained using a mixed approach that considers the simultaneous applications of model based and feedback compensation control terms.