Holographic watermarking for authentication of cut images

A watermarking technique, with a Computer Generated Hologram (CGH) coding system of the mark, is introduced and tested. The CGH watermarking can be used to authenticate parts of the original image. The hologram of the mark is embedded in the spatial domain by a blind additive embedding technique. The use of holography allows authenticating cuts of the original image, is the major novelty of this paper. The proposed methodology is characterized as an authentication technique, since it does not rely on the original image to decide whether the watermarked image has been altered or not and at the same time it is able to detect and localize any possible malicious change. Asymmetric cryptography is used to hide the hash information in an unambiguous way (non-repudiation property).     

3D ultrasound reconstruction algorithms from analog and digital data

Freehand 3D ultrasound is increasingly being introduced in the clinic for diagnostics and image-assisted interventions. Various algorithms exist for combining 2D images of regular ultrasound probes to 3D volumes, being either voxel-, pixel- or function-based. Previously, the most commonly used input to 3D ultrasound reconstruction has been digitized analog video. However, recent scanners that offer access to digital image frames exist, either as processed or unprocessed data. To our knowledge, no comparison has been performed to determine which data source gives the best reconstruction quality. In the present study we compared both reconstruction algorithms and data sources using novel comparison methods for detecting potential differences in image quality of the reconstructed volumes. The ultrasound scanner used in this study was the Sonix RP from Ultrasonix Medical Corp (Richmond, Canada), a scanner that allow third party access to unprocessed and processed digital data. The ultrasound probe used was the L14-5/38 linear probe. The assessment is based on a number of image criteria: detectability of wire targets, spatial resolution, detectability of small barely visible structures, subjective tissue image quality, and volume geometry. In addition we have also performed the more “traditional” comparison of reconstructed volumes by removing a percentage of the input data. By using these evaluation methods and data from the specific scanner, the results showed that the processed video performed better than the digital scan-line data, digital video being better than analog video. Furthermore, the results showed that the choice of video source was more important than the choice of tested reconstruction algorithms.     

Digital image correlation approach to cracking and decohesion in a brittle coating/ductile substrate system

By using a digital image correlation technique, the full/local field strain in a brittle coating/ductile substrate system during tension has been successfully monitored. One of the most important experimental results indicates that the distribution of interfacial shear stress in the segmented coating is antisymmetric about the center, which clarifies several controversial assumptions introduced in theoretical models. Two key mechanical properties of thermal barrier coatings, fracture strength in coating and interfacial adhesion strength, were determined as 35.0 ± 4.6 and 14.1 ± 3.2 MPa, respectively, which are consistent with available experimental data.     

Universal prediction-based adaptive fault estimator applied to secure communication

In this paper, a communication scheme that could use a nonlinear dynamical system to create encrypted keys with an additional dimension is proposed, and the scheme could keep encrypted keys not to diverge. Since the divergence of encrypted keys (nonlinear signals) easily happens in non-linear systems coupled with other systems, the adaptive control approach, proposed in this paper, uses the universal state-space adaptive observer-based fault diagnosis/estimator and the high-performance tracker to eliminate the divergence of encrypted keys. At the same time, the receiver of communication retrieves informal messages by the universal state-space adaptive observer-based fault diagnosis/estimator and the high-performance tracker. Thus, this paper takes advantage of the merit of digital redesign methodology for a practical implementation of secure-communication, and the estimator solves the problem of secure communication. Thus developed a new approach could add more dimensions into nonlinear secure-communication systems without having the problem of divergence of encrypted keys.     

CAE-based compensation methods of non-uniform pulse laser beam profiles

Applying the pulse laser to speckle methods, non-uniformities of the laser beam profiles and the intensities between each laser pulse have unpleasant consequences on the intensity distribution of the recorded images and following on the assigned fringes of the corresponding subtractive result. This contribution introduces a computer-based technique for compensating this technical and physical problem, so that the fringe quality is improved, even if the homogeneity of the laser beam profiles is on such low level, that the conventional (subtractive) technique fails. The solution is based on algorithms, which refines each intensity distribution and is comparable with the known shading correction.     

Beam profile measurement with CR-39 track detector for low-energy ions

A CR-39 track detector was successfully used to measure the outline of thin low-energy ion beams. After the etching, the surface of the detector was examined with an observation system composed of a Normarski microscope, a CCD camera and a digital image processing computer. Beam images obtained with the system were in good agreement on the outline of the beam formed with a beam aperture. Also, the resolving power in the beam outline measurement was roughly explained from the consideration of the ion range and the etch-pit growth in the chemical etching for the CR-39 detector.     

Model conversions of uncertain linear system using the improved block-pulse function approach

This paper presents an improved block-pulse function approach to convert a continuous-time (respectively, discrete-time) structured uncertain linear system into an equivalent discrete-time (respectively, continuous-time) structured uncertain linear model. The concept of the principle of equivalent areas is utilized for the uncertain model conversions. This allows the use of well-established theorems and algorithms in the discrete-time (respectively, continuous-time) domain to indirectly solve the continuous-time (respectively, discrete-time) domain problems. A numerical example is given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

From caloric to stathmograph and polarography

Present contribution briefly describes some historical features, which are focused back to the history of the Middle European learning as promoted by the foundation of the Charles University in Prague 1348. Physics and its neighboring areas are mentioned discussing some crucial scientific contributions and stressing out some prominent scholars, such as Tycho de Brahe, Johannes Kepler, Tadeáš Hájek, Marcus Marci, Jan A. Commenius (caloric), Prokop Diviš, Bernard Bolzano, Christian Doppler, Ernst Mach, Albert Einstein, Václav Šimerka, František Záviška, Čeněk Strouhal, Reinhold Fürst or Stanislav Škramovsky (statmograph) and Jaroslav Heyrovsky (polarography), the latter being already the representative of modern age.     

Fine-grained forward-secure signature schemes without random oracles

We propose the concept of fine-grained forward-secure signature schemes. Such signature schemes not only provide non-repudiation w.r.t. past time periods the way ordinary forward-secure signature schemes do but, in addition, allow the signer to specify which signatures of the current time period remain valid when revoking the public key. This is an important advantage if the signer produces many signatures per time period as otherwise the signer would have to re-issue those signatures (and possibly re-negotiate the respective messages) with a new key.Apart from a formal model for fine-grained forward-secure signature schemes, we present practical schemes and prove them secure under the strong RSA assumption only, i.e., we do not resort to the random oracle model to prove security. As a side-result, we provide an ordinary forward-secure scheme whose key-update time is significantly smaller than that of known schemes which are secure without assuming random oracles.     

Statistical Analysis of the Effect of Intensity Pattern Noise on the Displacement Measurement Precision of Digital Image Correlation Using Self-correlated Images

This paper discusses the effect of intensity pattern noise on the displacement measurement precision of digital image correlation (DIC). Through mathematical deduction, a formula is presented to estimate the displacement measurement error caused by intensity pattern noise. The resulting formula synthetically reflects the effects of the variance of noise, the intensity variance and the subset size on the displacement measurement precision. To verify the correctness of the resulting formula, two experiments are done. The first one is a real self-correlation experiment, and aims to analyze the effect of the subset size, while the second is a numerical self-correlation experiment, and is to analyze to the effect of the different noise levels. The experimental results are in good agreement with the theoretical predictions. The project is supported by the National Science Foundation of China (10572103).