Semi-fragile spatial watermarking based on local binary pattern operators

Local binary pattern (LBP) operators, which measure the local contrast within a pixel's neighborhood, have been successfully applied to texture analysis, visual inspection, and image retrieval. In the paper, we present a novel semi-fragile spatial watermarking method based on LBP operators by using the local pixel contrast for the embedding and extraction of watermarks. We also propose a general framework for multi-level image watermarking. Experimental results show that the proposed watermarking methods are robust against commonly-used image processing operations, such as additive noise, luminance change, contrast adjustment, color balance, and JPEG compression. At the same time, they achieve good invisibility, fragility, and image tamper detection and localization with less computational cost.     

Critical current density and vortex dynamics in uranium irradiated Co-doped BaFe2As2

We report the effect of defects introduced by heavy-ion irradiation with 2.6 GeV uranium ions at several matching fields in single crystalline Ba(Fe_0.925Co_0.075)₂As₂. The suppression rate of T_c at lower matching fields is larger than that at higher matching fields. The critical current density calculated from magnetic hysteresis loop is enhanced up to 4.1 × 10⁶ A/cm² at 2 K. Clear dips in magnetic hysteresis loops near zero field are observed at high matching fields. Field dependence of normalized relaxation rate is suppressed, and the relationship between the dip and the relaxation rate is discussed.     

Effect of fluorine doping on phase formation and properties of Bi(Pb)-2223 ceramics

Superconducting ceramics of Bi_1.6Pb_0.4Sr₂Ca₂Cu₃O_yF_x (x = 0–0.6) are prepared in air by conventional solid state reaction and characterized. The study shows that the melting point of the samples decreases as fluorine content increases. As a consequence, the grain size increases with the doping level and for x = 0.6, the sample is completely deformed and presents a concave shape making impossible the measurements on it. The Vickers microhardness reaches its maximum for x = 0.2. The analysis of the X-ray diffraction results reveals that all the samples are composed of only Bi(Pb)-2212 and Bi(Pb)-2223 phases. The highest proportion of the high T_c phase (Bi(Pb)-2223) is also observed for x = 0.2 and is about 67.32%. The refinement of cell parameters is done by considering the structural modulation. The results show that the doping leads to a reduction of cell volume as well as the a axis component of modulation. From resistivity versus temperature measurements, it is shown that the doped phases exhibit higher onset critical transition temperatures than the undoped one. The residual resistivity increases with fluorine content suggesting that the doping introduces structural defects and disorder into the samples. The obtained critical current density at 77 K under zero magnetic field also increases with fluorine doping.     

Rotation reversal bifurcation and energy confinement saturation in tokamak Ohmic L-mode plasmas

Direction reversals of intrinsic toroidal rotation have been observed in diverted Alcator C-Mod Ohmic L-mode plasmas following electron density ramps. For low density discharges, the core rotation is directed cocurrent, and reverses to countercurrent following an increase in the density above a certain threshold. Such reversals occur together with a decrease in density fluctuations with 2 cm(-1)≤k(θ)≤11 cm(-1) and frequencies above 70 kHz. There is a strong correlation between the reversal density and the density at which the Ohmic L-mode energy confinement changes from the linear to the saturated regime.     

Leakage current and pyroelectric properties of compositionally graded (Pb,Ca)TiO<Subscript>3</Subscript> films

Highly (100)-oriented, compositionally graded (Pb,Ca)TiO₃ (PCT) thin films with a Ca content from 0 to 24 mol% on Pt/Ti/SiO₂/Si substrates were prepared by a sol-gel process. The graded structure of the Au/PCT/Pt film capacitor showed a well-saturated hysteresis loop at an applied field of 500 kV/cm with remanent polarization (P_r), and coercive electric field (E_c) values of 9.35 C/cm² and 130 kV/cm, respectively. At 100 kHz, the dielectric constant and dielectric loss of the film were 129 and 0.024, respectively. The leakage current density of the graded PCT film was less than 1.0×10^-7 A/cm² over a voltage range from 0 to 4 V. The conduction current depended on the voltage polarity. At low electric field (110 and 180 kV/cm, respectively, for Pt and Au electrodes biased negatively), the Au/PCT and PCT/Pt interfaces form a Schottky barrier. At high electric field (>110 kV/cm), the Au electrode biased negatively shows space-charge-limited current (SCLC) behavior. The temperature dependencies of the pyroelectric coefficients of the graded PCT film were measured by a dynamic technique. From 20 to 82 °C, the pyroelectric coefficients of graded PCT film remain steady in the range 106 to 118 C/m²K. The detectivity figure of merit (F_D) of the graded PCT film was 6.7×10^-6 Pa^-0.5. PACS 77.80.-s; 77.70.+a; 77.22.-d; 51.50.+v; 68.37.-d     

Photorefractive shearing interferometer

A novel method of obtaining shearing interferogram by slightly moving the crystal in a photorefractive interferometer is proposed. This method can measure the phase of an object itself instead of its diffraction field, and it is easy to realize continuously changeable shearing distance in any lateral direction and introduce carrier fringes at the same time. Both the theoretical analysis and experimental verification are given.     

Temperature dependent Raman scattering in polycrystalline Bi4Ti3O12 thin films

Polycrystalline Bi₄Ti₃O₁₂ thin films were prepared on quartz substrates by pulsed laser deposition. The films were crystallized in the orthorhombic layer perovskite structure confirmed by X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. The Raman spectra are strongly dependent on temperature. A subtle phase transition in the temperature range 473-573 K exists in polycrystalline BTO thin films, which is evidenced by the disappearance of the Raman band at 116 cm⁻¹ and appearance of a new Raman band at 151 cm⁻¹. The two broad Raman bands centered at the 57 and 93 cm⁻¹ at 300 K break up into clusters of several sharp Raman peaks at 77 K, due to monoclinic distortion of orthorhombic structure at low temperature in the as-prepared Bi₄Ti₃O₁₂ thin films.     

A determination of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa parameter |V us| using KL decays

We present a determination of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa parameter |V(us)| based on new measurements of the six largest K(L) branching fractions and semileptonic form factors by the KTeV (E832) experiment at Fermilab. We find |V(us)|=0.2252+/-0.0008(KTeV)+/-0.0021(ext), where the errors are from KTeV measurements and from external sources. We also use the measured branching fractions to determine the CP violation parameter |eta(+-)|=(2.228+/-0.005(KTeV)+/-0.009(ext))x10(-3).     

Mechanism of hopping transport in disordered mott insulators

By using a combination of detailed experimental studies and simple theoretical arguments, we identify a novel mechanism characterizing the hopping transport in the Mott insulating phase of Ca2-xSrxRuO4 near the metal-insulator transition. The hopping exponent alpha shows a systematic evolution from a value of alpha=1/2 deeper in the insulator to the conventional Mott value alpha=1/3 closer to the transition. This behavior, which we argue to be a universal feature of disordered Mott systems close to the metal-insulator transition, is shown to reflect the gradual emergence of disorder-induced localized electronic states populating the Mott-Hubbard gap.     

Direct observation of large electronic domains with memory effect in doped manganites

We use a spatially resolved, direct spectroscopic probe for electronic structure with an additional sensitivity to chemical compositions to investigate high-quality single crystal samples of La(1/4)Pr(3/8)Ca(3/8)MnO3, establishing the formation of distinct insulating domains embedded in the metallic host at low temperatures. These domains are found to be at least an order of magnitude larger in size compared to previous estimates and exhibit memory effects on temperature cycling in the absence of any perceptible chemical inhomogeneity, suggesting long-range strains as the probable origin.