Copyright Protection of Color Imaging Using Robust-Encoded Watermarking

In this paper we present a robust-encoded watermarking method applied to color images for copyright protection, which presents robustness against several geometric and signal processing distortions. Trade-off between payload, robustness and imperceptibility is a very important aspect which has to be considered when a watermark algorithm is designed. In our proposed scheme, previously to be embedded into the image, the watermark signal is encoded using a convolutional encoder, which can perform forward error correction achieving better robustness performance. Then, the embedding process is carried out through the discrete cosine transform domain (DCT) of an image using the image normalization technique to accomplish robustness against geometric and signal processing distortions. The embedded watermark coded bits are extracted and decoded using the Viterbi algorithm. In order to determine the presence or absence of the watermark into the image we compute the bit error rate (BER) between the recovered and the original watermark data sequence. The quality of the watermarked image is measured using the well-known indices: Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR), Visual Information Fidelity (VIF) and Structural Similarity Index (SSIM). The color difference between the watermarked and original images is obtained by using the Normalized Color Difference (NCD) measure. The experimental results show that the proposed method provides good performance in terms of imperceptibility and robustness. The comparison among the proposed and previously reported methods based on different techniques is also provided

Partial characterization and photolabeling of a Rhizobium meliloti polysaccharide methyltransferase with S-adenosylmethionine

S-Adenosylmethionine (SAM) has been used to directly cross-link a polysaccharide specific methyltransferase isolated from Rhizobium meliloti HA. This peculiar enzyme transfers a methyl group to the 2-O-galacturonosyl residue of a teichuronic type polysaccharide and was very unstable. The apparent Km for SAM was 0.46 mM. The Hill coefficient, n, was 1. The enzyme had an optimum pH of 8.2 and requires Mn2+ at concentration of 2 mM. The enzyme was inactivated by saline concentrations of 120 mM or greater and was eluted from Superose columns with an apparent molecular weight of 28 kDa. The isoelectric point was close to 7.0. To elucidate the relationship between chemical structure and catalytic function, (3H)SAM was cross-linked to the enzyme and the enzymatic activity was assayed in presence and in absence of commercial substrate analogs. Cross-linking was performed by direct irradiation of enzyme and (3H)SAM. The uptake of radioactivity was linear up to about 20 min and then reached a plateau. This irreversible junction is specific, as shown by a number of different criteria. Several competitive inhibitors were able to affect this photoactivated cross-linkage. As the concentration of inhibitors increased, both, the level of photolabeling and enzyme activity always decreased. The SAM-enzyme adduct was shown to be a single protein band by SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis

Aplicación del cálculo paralelo al análisis de energía sísmica en la coda de terremotos regionales

Coda waves constitute a powerful tool for the estimation of the seismic wave attenuation in the Earth s lithosphere. Total attenuation includes two effects: intrinsic absorption and scatttering, that can be separated if we perform a multiple scattering modelling of the coda envelope. In this paper we will compare, in terms of the computational point of view, two techniques (a Montecarlo simulation and an analytical procedure) for obtaining the theoretical space and time distribution of the seismic energy in the coda, under the hypothesis of multiple isotropic scattering and uniform distribution of scatterers. We will study the characteristic of the algorithms and will use parallelization techniques in order to reduce the time required for obtaining the results

Estudio de atenuación sísimica en la costa este de la Península Ibérica

El gradiente de decaimiento de la amplitud a lo largo de la coda se caracteriza por el parámetro coda-Q-1 (Qc-1) que es constante independientemente de la localización de la fuente sísmica y de la estación de registro en una región determinada, y que representa una estimación de la atenuación sísmica introducida por el medio. Otros parámetros que caracterizan la atenuación sísmica son: la absorción intrínseca ( Qi-1 ), la atenuación por dispersión ( Q8-1) y la atenuación total Qt –1= Qi-1 + Q8-1. En el presente estudio se han analizado 64 terremotos registrados por 11 estaciones de período corto distribuidas a lo largo de la costa este de la Península Ibérica, de cara a la estimación de la atenuación sísmica y su dependencia frecuencial. En este trabajo se describe el método numérico utilizado y se presentan los parámetros de atenuación estimados para la costa mediterránea española