Abstract Digital Watermarking is used for copyright protection and authentication of digital media–image/ audio/video data. In this paper, a novel dual watermarking scheme is described based on Discrete Wavelet Transforms (DWT) and Singular Value Decompositions (SVD). Unlike the existing dual watermarking schemes, both the watermark embedded using DWT and SVD are invisible in the proposed scheme. For embedding, both the images... Digital Watermarking is used for copyright protection and authentication of digital media–image/ audio/video data. In this paper, a novel dual watermarking scheme is described based on Discrete Wavelet Transforms (DWT) and Singular Value Decompositions (SVD). Unlike the existing dual watermarking schemes, both the watermark embedded using DWT and SVD are invisible in the proposed scheme. For embedding, both the images are transformed into Wavelet domain and SVD is performed further on both the images. Subsequently the singular values are summed up to find the new set of singular values. Both the watermarks get embedded in the same manner. A reliable watermark extraction scheme has been developed for the extraction of the watermarks from the distorted image. Experimental evaluation demonstrates that the proposed scheme is capable of withstanding variety of attacks. Read More Read Less

Abstract Web recommendation is a promising technology aimed to predict the needs of users by suggesting them information or services retained interesting according to their preferences. Web recommendation finds in Soft Computing techniques a valid tool to handle with the uncertainty and the ambiguity characterizing the Web and all phases of user interactions with Web sites. The main rationale behind this... Web recommendation is a promising technology aimed to predict the needs of users by suggesting them information or services retained interesting according to their preferences. Web recommendation finds in Soft Computing techniques a valid tool to handle with the uncertainty and the ambiguity characterizing the Web and all phases of user interactions with Web sites. The main rationale behind this success seems to be the complementary nature of Soft Computing paradigms that properly combined enable the development of hybrid schemes exploiting the potential of each single paradigm. In this paper, we present NEWER, a neuro-fuzzy Web recommendation system that dynamically suggests interesting pages to the current user. NEWER employs a neuro-fuzzy approach in order to determine categories of users sharing similar interests and to extract a recommendation model in the form of fuzzy rules expressing associations between user categories and relevances of pages. The derived model is used by an online recommendation module to dynamically suggest interesting links. Comparative accuracy results show the effectiveness of NEWER. Read More Read Less

Abstract In many computer vision applications such as surveillance systems, detecting moving objects is the first step of information extraction. This paper introduces a query answering system that aims at responding to user queries without the need to scan the whole video tape. The proposed system is based on finding the minimum boundary rectangles (MBRs) of moving objects which appear in... In many computer vision applications such as surveillance systems, detecting moving objects is the first step of information extraction. This paper introduces a query answering system that aims at responding to user queries without the need to scan the whole video tape. The proposed system is based on finding the minimum boundary rectangles (MBRs) of moving objects which appear in the video. It detects moving objects in the video frame set, keeps track of those objects, and saves information to answer future queries. Read More Read Less

Abstract Collaborative querying is a technique that harnesses the collective search experiences of users to assist in query formulation. We present the Query Graph Visualizer (QGV), a visual collaborative querying system that recommends related queries to a user’s submitted query through a network visualization scheme. Users are able to explore the query network and select queries for execution on an information... Collaborative querying is a technique that harnesses the collective search experiences of users to assist in query formulation. We present the Query Graph Visualizer (QGV), a visual collaborative querying system that recommends related queries to a user’s submitted query through a network visualization scheme. Users are able to explore the query network and select queries for execution on an information retrieval (IR) system. The QGV is not meant to be a replacement for IR systems but as a value-added module to help users search more effectively. Consequently, the QGV is not an IR system but works in tandem with existing IR systems. The design of the QGV is discussed, focusing on its architecture, the interaction between the QGV’s main components and the implementation of the user interface. An evaluation of the QGV was also conducted to assess the performance of the system against to a conventional search engine. Results indicate that the evaluators who used the QGV completed their tasks much faster compared to those using a search engine alone. A usability evaluation also showed that the system complied with standard user interface heuristics. Read More Read Less

Abstract Graph embeddings play an important role in interconnection network and VLSI design. Determining the number of layers required to build a VLSI chip is just one of the many areas in which graph embeddings are used. A type of embedding that is helpful in determining the number of layers is a book embedding. We develop upper and lower bounds on... Graph embeddings play an important role in interconnection network and VLSI design. Determining the number of layers required to build a VLSI chip is just one of the many areas in which graph embeddings are used. A type of embedding that is helpful in determining the number of layers is a book embedding. We develop upper and lower bounds on the pagenumber of a book embedding of the k-ary hypercube along with an upper bound on the cumulative pagewidth. Read More Read Less

Abstract The well-known search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and MSN, are not enough for the advanced users who require user experience, for instance, much more correlative words, or interactive operations applied to returned results such as re-ranking and zooming. To focus on this idea of interactivity, we proposed and implemented interactive interfaces to improve user experience for supporting Web search.... The well-known search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and MSN, are not enough for the advanced users who require user experience, for instance, much more correlative words, or interactive operations applied to returned results such as re-ranking and zooming. To focus on this idea of interactivity, we proposed and implemented interactive interfaces to improve user experience for supporting Web search. They are nice interfaces supporting dynamically changing re-ranking, related word zooming, and related word emphasizing and deemphasizing. It has been served as online search service recently. Our experimental evaluations confirm their convenience and good online performance. Read More Read Less

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to examine the evolution of biotechnology systems to nanotechnology systems. This in turn explains how three sub-technologies under the umbrella of biotechnology (therapeutics, platform and bioinformatics) are determining its evolution and subsequent contribution to nanotechnology. A large sample was used to test three propositions for the three technologies. The findings indicate that only platform... The purpose of this paper is to examine the evolution of biotechnology systems to nanotechnology systems. This in turn explains how three sub-technologies under the umbrella of biotechnology (therapeutics, platform and bioinformatics) are determining its evolution and subsequent contribution to nanotechnology. A large sample was used to test three propositions for the three technologies. The findings indicate that only platform technology is positively significantly related. This implies that therapeutics and bioinformatics are less likely to co-evolve with nanotechnology. Accordingly, firms in platform technologies are likely to perform in the economies where there is greatest focus on nanotechnology development. Read More Read Less