We use Linear error-block codes (LEBC) to design a new method of gray-scale image steganography. We exploit the fact that in an image there are bits that better hide distortion than others (not necessarily least signi_cant bits). Our method uses the cover bits as extensively as their ability to hide distortion. The results show that with a good choice of parameters, the change rate can also be smaller.

This paper presents an automatic gait recognition system that recognizes a person by the way he/she walks. The gait signature is obtained based on the contour width information of the silhouette. Using this statistical shape information, we could capture the compact structural and dynamic features of the walking pattern. As the extracted contour width feature is large in size, Fisher Discriminant Analysis is used to reduce the dimension of the feature set. After that, a modified Probabilistic Neural Networks is deployed to classify the reduced feature set. Satisfactory result could be achieved when we fuse gait images from multiple viewing angles. In this paper, we aim to identify the complete gait cycle of each subjects. Every person walks at different paces and thus different number of frame sizes are required to record the walking pattern. As such, it is not robust and feasible if we take a fixed number of video frames to process the gait sequences for all subjects. We endeavor to find an efficient method to identify the complete gait cycle of each individual. Towards this end, we can work on succinct representation of the gait pattern which is invariant to walking speed for each individual.

Open Educational Resources offer several benefits mostly in education and training. Being potentially reusable, their use can reduce time and cost of developing educational programs, so that these savings could be transferred directly to students through the production of a large range of open, freely available content, which vary from hypermedia to digital textbooks. This paper discuss this issue and presents a project and a research network that, in spite of being directed to Latin America's reality and need, search for answers that would help to solve some educational questions that go beyond countries' boundaries.

Industrial process control is becoming very important nowadays as more and more systems are integrated with most modern information technology based tools to achieve better process and its control performance results. Here the main problems arise during the execution operations due to poor coordination of the initial safety conditions and absence of services providing devices rating capability with further content error corrections in real time. The main solution would consist of secure middleware based software tools integration in the main service providing systems with devices rating based on the priority settings. In this paper, solution is presented for secure and efficient information assignment between closed network users. Integrated software tools and specific middleware are analyzed as well, which are operating based on functional algorithms. Where the biggest concern is the safety assurance based on trust and priority assessment for each new user in the network, also occurring in many other modern technological processes control problems.

SquashFS is a Linux compress filesystem. Hixosfs is a filesystem to improve file content search by using metadata informations. In this paper we propose to use Hixosfs idea in SquashFS context by creating a new filesystem HSFS. HSFS is a compress Linux filesystem to store metadata within inodes. We test our idea with DICOM file used to store medical images.

The RDF (W3C standard for meta-modeling) language is the most frequently used to represent the semantic graphs. This paper presents a new research combining different fields that are: the semantic web and the model checking. We developed a tool, RDF2NµSMV, which converts RDF graphs into NµSMV language. This conversion aims checking the semantic graphs that have numerous errors of interpretation with the model checker NµSMV in order to verify the consistency of the data. The SPARQL query language is the standard for querying the semantic graph but have a lot of limitations. To this purpose, we define a translation from the SPARQL query language into the temporal logic query language. This language is a graph manipulation language implemented in our toolbox. This translation makes it possible to extend the expressive power of SPARQL naturally by adding temporal logic formulas characterizing sequences, trees, or general sub-graphs of the RDF graph. Our approach exhibits a performance comparable to dedicated SPARQL query evaluation engines, as illustrated by experiments on large RDF graphs. We developed the STL Resolver tool to resolve the temporal logic query. This tool is based on the model checker NµSMV algorithms.

This work is motivated by the need for a model that addresses the study of Knowledge Society in specific environments such as Business and Management, where several situations are very difficult to be analyze in conventional ways and therefore is insufficient in describing the complications of represent a realistic social phenomena and their social actors. We use Distributed Agency methodology that requires the use of all available computational techniques and interdisciplinary theories as an approach to describe the interactions between agents in the development of social phenomena. We also use Data Mining and Neuro-Fuzzy System as part of the methodology to discover and assign rules on agents that represent real-world companies and employees. The case study is based on several IT companies in the region of Baja California Mexico and in the policies they implement to achieve greater competitiveness based on knowledge.

This paper describes the syntax and semantics of multi-level state diagrams to support probabilistic behavior of cooperating robots. The techniques are presented to analyze these diagrams by querying combined robots behaviors. It is shown how to use state abstraction and transition abstraction to create, verify and process large probabilistic state diagrams.

Cloud computing has become a significant technology trend. With the cloud computing technology, users use a variety of devices to access programs, storage, and application- development platforms over the Internet, via services offered by cloud computing providers. Advantages of the cloud computing technology include cost savings and high availability. Access to the infrastructure in Cloud Computing incurs payments. To design and develop Cloud technologies focus on defining novel methods, policies and mechanisms for efficiently managing Cloud infrastructures. To test these newly developed methods and policies, researchers need tools that allow them to evaluate the hypothesis prior to real deployment in an environment where one can reproduce tests free of cost. Simulation- based approaches offer significant benefits. CloudSim enables seamless modeling, simulation, and experimentation of emerging Cloud computing infrastructures and application services. In the CloudSim simulator there are two problems: Lack of links between Datacenters and no possibility to create a virtual machine (VM) in more Datacenters. In this paper we propose a ring topology to allow the exchange and the sharing of information and services between different Datacenter, and we improve the method of creating VMs to allow the creation of VMs in several Datacenter, which improves fault tolerance in this type of environment.

Early identification, discovering and taking legal proceedings against the perpetrator of an electronic incident are necessary. It is necessary to investigate all electronic incidents adequately and promptly and adapt the legal framework and laws related to e- Forensics. e-Forensics is a relatively new discipline within which there is a low level of standardization and consistency. With the purpose of increasing the quality of performing e-Forensics and presenting the evidence in a possible judicial proceeding one has to define the legal framework of e- Forensics. e-Forensics procedures should be performed on every entity of information and communication system which include hardware, software, dataware, netware as well as lifeware and orgware. The analysis of current legal standards and methods used to perform e-Forensics is presented in the paper as well as the proposal of performing e-Forensics with defined procedures and methods with possible application on each and every entity in information and communication system.

When designing digital systems and incorporating a high-speed digital device with the need of quick transfer of large data amounts between chips and peripherals, jitter will be a key parameter to measure. In this paper, we are able to determine the initial phase of a carrier sine wave by performing carrier recovery loop in Digital communication systems of M-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM) schemes. It is important for the M-ary QAM carrier recovery circuits to have low phase jitter as well as only four stable phase points as we see below. We examined the effect of channel noise on carrier recovery. More specifically, we examined what behaviour can occur when channel noise is significant enough to prevent carrier locking. We saw the symbols on the 3D Eye Diagram and constellation plot begin to jitter at first, and then settle closer to the ideal symbol locations after a short period of time. Authors of this article present real results, which illustrate the link between number of symbols in M-state QAM modulation, SNR and BER. Constellation diagrams of transmitted and received symbols (with superposition of noise) were presented in the article. Simple picture is transmitted through simulated radio channel to show the result of signal impairments. Modular PXI HW platform was used in connection with graphically oriented development environment. This combination of modular HW and flexible SW components allows changing the communication protocol, modulation scheme, frequency bandwidth and other parameters in a very simple way by changing the software part of the system.

Over the past few years, hundreds of millions of users have employed social network services (SNS) to exchange information. In spite of the pros of using SNS, there are certain vulnerabilities that are most likely to be exploited by perpetrators to reach their destructive goals. Due to an immense amount of personal data shared on and transmitted over SNSs and weak protection mechanisms, the uploaded information are vastly vulnerable to privacy intrusion threats. Furthermore, nearly all SNSs provide a variety of communication channels which opens more ways to malwares to infect users' machines. This paper encompasses threats, vulnerabilities, and risks that endanger privacy of SNS users. It also investigates techniques used by cybercriminals for propagating ma- licious software (malware) and launching attacks against victims' ma- chines through these services. The paper eventually presents a set of recommendations to eliminate or mitigate the privacy and malware risks of SNS.

In this paper, we present a general description of a new character recognition process based on ontology, semantically annotated by a domain expert. Such process is based essentially on a matching step between two ontologies, the first represents a domain ontology, containing the typographical description of different characters represent an alphabet of a well definite language (Latin for example), the second ontology, describes the document in question in the form of concepts where each concept represents a grapheme located in a -defined order in the document. In this work we consider that there is a robust extraction module of primitives that will serve us to instantiate our ontology, by the different graphemes and their spatial relationships that exist in the processed document.

Traditional wireless sensor network architectures are based on low-power microcontrollers and highly integrated short range radio transceiver chips operating in one of the few ISM bands. This combination provides a convenient and proven approach to design and build inexpensive sensor nodes rapidly. However, the black box nature of these radio chips severely limit experimentation and research with novel and innovative technologies in the wireless infrastructure. Our team previously proposed a revolutionary architecture for wireless nodes based on Flash FPGA devices. This paper shows the initial results of our work through the implementation and evaluation of a simple baseband FSK modem in the SmartFusion FPGA fabric. We also demonstrate how we could leverage existing software radio projects to use the baseband modem in a wide range of radio frequency bands. Finally, the paper describes our approach and implementation of power management and instrumentation, a key building block in our modularized low-power software radio platform.

The evolution and convergence of wireless technologies, mobile devices and sensors, has caused profound mutation in applications. Applications for e-learning are no exception to this trend; the mobile, ubiquitous and ambient learning have appeared next to the e-learning. Far from being simple extensions of distance learning, they pose several challenges. Most of learning content used in learning platforms are built to be consumed on broadband networks and powerful terminals. However, technological advances have allowed their consumption over low flow wireless networks, and terminals with limited resources. Consequently, there is a strong need for learning content adaptation systems. Within this article we study the learning pervasive environment that provides an access to information and activities through different context. We define the different dimensions of this context and describe our platform for dynamic adaptation of learning content that representing a brick of MADAR-Learning project.

The aim of this paper deals with the design of a multi-agents system associated with array sensors dedicated to wireless telecommunications. We will present as first part, the spatially distributed array general modeled as well as the channel spatial propagation stimulus. Indeed, the integration and implementation of these systems is not simple and often goes through heuristics optimization design phases. This synthesis will be useful for selection of the different algorithms related to the beamforming and detection problem. As second part, we present the general multi-agents model proposed as solution. In this case multi-agents systems are presented as a new design paradigm that allows an efficient use of multicore- processor and distributed systems architectures currently widely available and preferred. In our case, multi-agents systems will bring the concepts of artificial intelligence, collaboration principles, autonomy, proactive behavior and communications possibility. The final solution will provide several issues: simultaneous several signals acquisition, effective spatial filttering, optimal performance under the imposed environment circumstances and prompt reaction and treatment.

This article describes application of an automatic classification system on a database of rat polysomnographic recordings. A two-step automatic system is used to analyze and score the recordings into three stages: wake, NREM sleep and REM sleep. First step of the analysis consists in artifact identification which leads to the selection of artifact-free signals. Then, 30sec epochs are classified according to relevant features extracted from the available artifact-free signals using artificial neural network classifiers. The overall classification accuracy reached by the presented classification system exceeded 95%, when analyzed 53 polysomnographic recordings.

This paper is aimed at presenting a concept of a flexible diagramming framework for building engineering and educational applications. The framework was designed to serve as a platform for online services and collaborative environments where users typically work on remotely stored, shared data through a browser-based user interface. The paper summarizes the common requirements towards such services, overviews related approaches and gives insights into some design challenges through the analysis of two use-cases. The design problem is examined from a user-centered view: the key motivation of our research is to find innovative, possibly device- independent solutions that enable seamless user experiences. A generic framework based on JavaScript and HTML5 on the client-side, using novel, high-performance JavaScript technologies on the server-side is proposed. This framework could be employed for implementing a wide spectrum of software solutions from diagramming- related e-learning to cloud-based modeling environments.

"XML language tends to become a standard for data exchanges between various Web applications. However, despite the big extent of the XML language, most of this applications store their information in relational databases. This fact is unlikely to be changed considering many advantages of the relational database systems like: fiability, scalability, performance and working tools. Thus, while XML language is under development, the necessity of some mechanism to publish XML documents from relational databases is obvious."

The problem of measurement is the Achilles heel of the information society research. Despite, or possibly because of this reason, one can find a number of quantitative studies on the topic. In recent years, studies using composite indices gain broader media popularity. This paper presents the results of the analysis of most common composite indices used in information society research. It discusses the basic methodological issues as well as strengths and limitations of using such tools.

High quality of data warehouse is a key to make smart strategic decisions. The data cleaning is program that performs to deal with the quality problems of data extracted from operational sources before their loading into data warehouse. As the data cleaning can introduce errors and some data require manually clean, there is a need for an open user involvement in data cleaning for data warehouse quality. This is essential to validate the cleaned data by users and to replace the dirty data in their original sources, and also to correct the poor data that can't be cleaned automatically. In this paper, we extend the data cleaning and extract-transform-load (ETL) processes to better support the user involvement in data quality management. We proposed that the ETL processes include two phases: the transformation to clean data at the operational data sources and the propagation of data cleaned towards their original sources. The major benefits of our proposal are twofold. First, it is the validation of cleaned data by users. Second, it allows the operational data sources quality improvement. Consequently the user involvement based data cleaning leads to a total data quality management and avoids redoing the same clean for future warehousing.

Modeling and simulation of a software process is one way a company can decide which software process and/or its adjustment is the best solution for its current project. Since there are many different approaches to modeling and simulation and all of them have pros and cons, the very first task is the selection of the appropriate and useful model and simulation approach for the current domain and selected conditions. In this paper we focus on applying a discrete event based modeling and simulation approach and system dynamics modeling and simulation approach to the real case study of the software process. The issue is the comparison of the approaches that should answer the questions: what type of information can we get from the simulation results and how can we use it for decisions about the software process.

Nowadays, recognizing whether or not a digital document has been counterfeit is a priority issue, particularly in organizations where legal information is handled digitally. Signing a digital document is maybe a preliminary solution. In general, we are interested in developing a web service that allows signing a document using cryptography and steganography techniques to protect the information; and also, it can verify the authenticity of the document that has previously been signed. To protect the web service against malicious activity there are aspects of computer security that must be considered, such as the implementation of a security protocol considered secure. This article reports the general ingredients to implement a Web Service to sign and authenticate digital documents using a symmetric cryptography protocol previously published by the authors; and also it describes some implementations carried out so far.