Engineering Commons^™

Difference-Expansion Based Reversible Data Hiding And Its Steganalysis, Guangsen Tian

Theses

A novel reversible data embedding method was reported in a recent IEEE journal article. The method was based on difference expansion (DE) technique. It used redundancy in digital images to achieve a high embedding capacity, while keeping visual distortion of the stego-image low. In this thesis, this technique was studied and experimentally evaluated. An effective steganalysis scheme for this DE-based reversible data embedding method was proposed, which used 12-dimensional feature vectors and a Bayes Classifier. The proposed steganalysis scheme steadily achieved a correct classification rate of 99%.

Performance Of Multi-User Codes In Wireless Communications, Muhammad Tauseef Ulislam

Theses

Multi-user codes are a widely used in transmitting user data from base station to mobile station and vice versa. In wireless communications a signal received by a mobile station goes through different fading channels resulting. These multi-paths add constructively and destructively with different delays and attenuation at the mobile station. The autocorrelation and cross correlation properties of the Multi-user codes play a significant role in extracting the user data from the signal corrupted by multipath fading channel.

The thesis presents a comparison of different Multi-user codes based on their autocorrelation and cross correlation properties. These codes are passed through a …

Analysis Of Acceleration And Deceleration During Cyclic Exercise, Jeena Vadi

Theses

The Cyclic Exercise Protocol is a novel protocol that is designed to create a series of cyclic waves of exercise and recovery. This exercise protocol involves short bursts of exercise lasting for 60 seconds or less followed by a period of complete cardio recovery. This study involves the analysis of the acceleration and the deceleration regions of the cyclic exercise sessions. The objective of this study was to develop an algorithm to quantitatively analyze the acceleration and the deceleration regions of cyclic exercise sessions. The acceleration and the deceleration regions of cycles were split into three segments and each segment …

Analysis Of Mhpdm Algorithm For Data Hiding In Jpeg Images, Pooja Gore

Theses

In the recent years, there has been a great deal of interest in developing a secure algorithm for hiding information in images, or steganography. There has also been a lot of research in steganalysis of images, which deals with the detection of hidden information in supposedly natural images. The first section of this thesis reviews the steganography algorithms and steganalysis techniques developed in the last few years. It discusses the breadth of steganographic algorithms and steganalytic techniques, starting with the earliest, based on LSB flipping of the DCT coefficients, to more recent and sophisticated algorithms for data hiding and equally …

Synthesis And Solution Characterization Of Water-Soluble Polyacrylamide And Its Applications In Oil Industries, Ghuwaya Humaid Alnuaimi

Theses

No abstract provided.

Labview Controlled Study Of The Propagation Properties Of Ultrasound In Synthetic Fog Environment, Aparna Venkataraman

Theses

Diagnostic ultrasound employs pulsed, high frequency sound waves that are reflected back from body tissues and processed by ultrasound receivers to create characteristic images in varied applications such as cardiology, obstetrics and gynecology neurology and urology. Ultrasound intensity is primarily affected by the changes in acoustic impedance of the medium. Literature on ultrasound indicates that the propagation of ultrasound increases gradually as the density increases from air to water. Such studies have been confined to only the three states of matter and have never discussed a fog medium.

The primary objective of this thesis study was to design a system …

An Autonomous Router-Based Solution To Detect And Defend Low Rate Ddos Attacks, Karunakar Anantharam

Theses

Internet security was not a concern when the Internet was invented, but we cannot deny this fact anymore. Since all forms of businesses and communications are aligned to the Internet in one form or the other, the security of these assets (both infrastructure and content) is of prime importance. Some of the well known consequences of an attack include gaining access to a network, intellectual property thefts, and denial of service.

This thesis focuses on countering flood-type attacks that result in denial of service to end users. A new classification of this denial of service attacks, known as the low …

Cyclic Prefix Assisted Block Transmission For Low Complexity Communication System Design, Haibin Huang

Theses

This thesis presents new results on cyclic prefix (CP) assisted block transmission for low complexity communication system design. Two important aspects are studied: the CP based low-complexity schemes for channel equalization and channel estimation.

Specifically, based on the simple frequency domain equalization, a low complexity joint receiver is proposed for CP-CDMA system, which is a special application of block transmission.

And in this work the finite impulse response (FIR) model is used for the unknown communication channels. To identify an unknown FIR channel, a novel channel estimation method is proposed by exploiting the cyclic prefix technique. Compared to a conventional …

Parameter Based Synthesis Of Sign Language, Amanda Irving

Theses

The primary objective of this project is to demonstrate synthesis of signs in American Sign Language with a finite number of parameters. The parameters in this method include 22 key locations, six location modifiers, six orientation indicators, 46 hand shapes, six predefined movements and seven possible end effectors. These parameters can be used in conjunction with a computer script and they maximize precision and versatility while minimizing development time and resources. The parameters for each sign are stored in an individual text file averaging approximately half a kilobyte.

The success of this project is demonstrated using UGS's Jack Software, Version …

Obtaining Optimal Data Length For Fmri Images, Vikram M. Natarajan

Theses

Interest in brain hemodynamics has led to a substantial increase in state of the art research within the field of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). FMRI enables research to be conducted on brain mapping in healthy individuals, as well as in patient populations. The need for accurate functional images is required. The primary objective was the development of a method to determine the optimal number of time points required to obtain reliable activation maps. The second phase involved the development of a program, which enabled the conversion of functional magnetic resonance images to a format that the neurosurgeon's scanner could …

Optical Properties Of Sige Nanostructures, Varun Sharma

Theses

In this thesis, Raman Scattering (RS) and photoluminescence (PL) measurements of Ge nanowires (NWs) grown via vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) using chemical vapor deposition silicon substrates consisting of (100) and (111) crystallographic orientations are reported. Ge NWs grown are ~40 nm in diameter, approximately a micrometer in length, and a sharp narrow Raman peak at ~300cm^-1 indicates single crystal quality. An absence of SiGe peak in the Raman spectra indicates that SiGe interdiffusion is insignificant for the NW volume. Low temperature PL-intensity-dependence spectra indicate that the observed emission originates at the Ge NW - Si substrate interface, where SiGe intermixing has …

Ambulatory Measurement Of Body Position, Swetha Vennamaneni

Theses

Ambulatory monitoring is playing an important role in the clinical and research field. In the modem era, physicians are showing much interest in measuring heart rate, blood pressure and many other physical and cardiac conditions and recording electrocardiogram (ECG, a popular technique for diagnosing heart related disease), while the patient is ambulatory. Heart rate, blood pressure and ECG waveform can change because of body position. In the case of the ECG, the changes caused by body position are can change the ST-T segment and also the QRS amplitude. The heart rate and blood pressure changes when there is a change …

Scalable Wide Area Ad-Hoc Networking, Nithin Bose

Theses

The scalability problem of routing algorithms in Mobile Ad-hoc networks (MANET) has conventionally been addressed by introducing hierarchical architectures, clusters, and neighborhood zones. In all of these approaches, some nodes are assigned different routing related roles than others. Examples include cluster heads, virtual backbones and border nodes. The selection of these nodes on a fixed or dynamic basis adds complexity to the routing algorithm, in addition to placing significant demands on mobility and power consumption of these nodes. Furthermore, the scalability achieved with hierarchical architectures or partitions is limited.

This thesis demonstrates that location awareness can greatly aid in MANET …

A Co-Processor Design To Support Mpi Primitives In Configurable Multiprocessor Designs, Rohan Bafna

Theses

The Message-Passing Interface (MIPI) is a widely used standard for inter-processor communication in parallel computers. This standard is normally implemented in software, thus resulting in large communication latencies. A hardware implementation can reduce communication latencies significantly, thereby increasing the bandwidth. However, this approach cannot be applied in practice to the very large set of functions in MPI.

Reconfigurable computing has reached levels where entire parallel systems can be built inside one or more FPGAs (Field-Programmable Gate Arrays). In this scheme, specialized components must be built for inter-processor communication and the resulting code is difficult to port to other reconfigurable platforms. …

Study Of Steganalysis Methods, Wen Chen

Theses

Steganography is the art and science of hiding the presence of conmunication by embedding secret message into digital images. The steganographic techniques can be applied in many areas. On one hand, people can benefit from their application. For example, they can be used for copyright protection. On the other hand, these techniques may be used by criminals or terrorists for malicious purposes. For example, terrorists may use the techniques to transmit the secret plan of terror attacks. Law enforcement and security authorities have concerns about such activities. It is necessary to devise the methods to detect steganographic systems. The detection …

A Digital Signature And Watermarking Based Authentication System For Jpeg2000 Images, Rui Jing

Theses

In this thesis, digital signature based authentication system was introduced, which is able to protect JPEG2000 images in different flavors, including fragile authentication and semi-fragile authentication. The fragile authentication is to protect the image at code-stream level, and the semi-fragile is to protect the image at the content level.

The semi-fragile can be further classified into lossy and lossless authentication. With lossless authentication, the original image can be recovered after verification. The lossless authentication and the new image compression standard, JPEG2000 is mainly discussed in this thesis.

Study Of Joint Embedding And Compression On Jpeg Compression Scheme Using Multiple Codebook Data Hiding, Amol Nishikant Sukerkar

Theses

This thesis studies a direct application of multiple codebook data hiding technique in the multimedia applications. It studies the practical implementation of a joint embedding and compression scheme. It presents a study of Type III data embedding technique using multiple codebook design on JPEG-85 compression scheme. The application of the above technique is compared with the Type III data embedding techniques using single codebook design. The comparison is carried out in tenns of the parameters such as mean square error and normalized correlation between the embedded and extracted watermark.

The performance of data hiding rate against the embedding distortion is …

Electrospinning Of Biphasic Biopolymer And Polymer : A Feasibility And Characterization Study, Sherry Hsiu-Ying Wang

Theses

Electrospinning of polymeric materials have been experimented to achieve nanoscaled diameters. The approaches to the current study are to combine a natural material such as collagen with synthetic materials and determine if the interactions between the materials can be used in the electrospinning process. Collagen is a material of choice due to its biocompatibility. When collagen is combined with polymer, Polyethylene Oxide (PEG), the fiber diameters ranged from 150nm to one micron. The fibers produced have shown drastic phase separation. The next study involved using a duel solvent system to electrospin fibers. The polymer of choice is Poly (1-lactic acid) …

Multispectral Camera Control And High Speed Image Transfer Using Lossless Hardware Compression, Padraig Ryan

Theses

This work provides extensions of a standard D-Cam/Firewire digital camera platform for use within a multispectral imaging setting and includes real-time lossless image compression targeted at the re-configurable environment of an FPGA. The control and image acquisition structures specific to multispectral systems are detailed with respect to an embedded firmware solution, complementary host PC software driver routines, and camera hardware control infrastructures. The augmentation of the standards based implementation is discussed without compromising compliance with underlying specifications. The mandate for image data acquisition includes glue logic to efficiently transmit data via a high-speed communications pipe, IEEE - 1394 in this …

Automated Control Of Led-Based Illumination Using Image Analysis Metrics, Stephen Mills

Theses

This project discusses a microprocessor controlled illumination system that covers the visible spectrum. It uses multiple discrete wavelength LEDs. Spatial and spectral illumination profiles are achieved by controlling LED currents with an array of voltage controlled current sources. A highly efficient polycarbonate holographic diffuser is used to improve the uniformity of the distribution. System design is underpinned by accurate characterisation and modelling of the LEDs used.

Image analysis techniques are then used to parameterise the recorded scene and to provide a figure of merit for the quality of the illumination. Several functions such as contrast, low/high saturation, average brightness and …

An Evaluation Of Model-Based Predictive Control, Daniel Czarkowski

Theses

This thesis attempts to determine whether advanced control algorithms offer any real benefits to the process industry in terms of optimising single-input single output process units. To establish this, an ideal PID controller, Two Degree of Freedom (2 DOF) PID Controller and the Generalised Predictive Controller (GPC) are compared. A common design philosophy is applied based on optimising performance subject to constraints on robustness. Specifically, three different designs are examined; minimum subject to constraints on the gain and phase margin, minimum lAE subject to constraints on the modulus margin and minimum lAE subject to constraints on the input sensitivity function. …

Real-Time Multi-Spectral Image Processing On The Adsp-Bf533 Dsp, Stephen Niall Coffey

Theses

As the need to process multi-spectral images in real-time is becoming more prevalent, the pressure on Integrated Circuit (IC) manufacturers to produce cheap and reliable devices capable of handling the demands of such operations is growing. This project investigates the ADSP-BF533 Blackfin® Digital Signal Processor (DSP) and its ability to support a real-time multi-spectral imaging system. The Blackfin® DSP, incorporating the Analog Devices/Intel Micro Signal Architecture (MSA), are a broad family of 16-bit fixed-point product with a dual Multiply Accumulate (MAC) core.

Using the MicroC/OS-II Real-time Operating System (RTOS), which is a completely portable and scaleable pre-emptive real-time kernel, the …

Numerical Modelling Of Sediments In Cork Harbour, Jérémy Pingon

Theses

In recent years there have been considerable developments in the new and emerging field of hydroinformatics. This relatively new discipline is concerned with the application of computer and networking technology for the planning, management and protection of water bodies.

Environmental issues in estuaries require accurate and detailed knowledge of cohesive sediment transport processes to assess different issues including water quality, pollutant dispersion, and dredging and maintenance of navigation channels.

This thesis presents a review of the main sediment properties and processes required for modelling the behaviour and transport of sediments. It also introduces a new approach to sediment properties using …

Coupled Thermal Fluid Modelling Of A Low Embedded Energy Solar Thermal Collector, Myrrha Corcoran

Theses

Flat-plate collectors are the most economical and are popular in solar domestic heating water system since they are usually permanently fixed in position, have simple construction, and require little maintenance. The design of a solar energy system is generally concerned with obtaining maximum efficiency at minimum cost. The aim of this thesis was to develop a mathematical model, for a forced convection solar heated water system. The solar collector in this study incorporated a honeycombed extruded polycarbonate structure, for both the cover and water channels.

A very detailed thermal analysis of the flat-plate solar collector was carried out to predict …

The Evidence For A Nascent Biotechnology Cluster In Cork, John W. Hobbs

Theses

Over the past 30 years, encouraged by Ireland’s low rate of corporation tax (currently 12.5 %), and active promotion of FDI by the IDA, foreign owned pharmaceutical plants have set up and multiplied in the Cork area. To Ireland’s advantages of a low tax rate, an English speaking population, a pro-business environment and membership of EU, Cork offered the added attractions of a deepwater port and large natural harbour, good freight connections, an international airport, an educated workforce and excellent sporting and leisure facilities for sailing, golf, etc. (Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson and Schering Plough have …

Pervaporation Of Water From Solvent Solutions, Richard Manning

Theses

Pervaporation is an emerging membrane technology which has found acceptance as a method for the dehydration of organic solvents.

An existing pervaporation apparatus was modified to accommodate a new type of pervaporation membrane. The instrumentation used with the pervaporation apparatus was upgraded to include a Keithley Data Logger. A HAZOP was carried out on the modified pervaporation apparatus to ensure the apparatus was safe to operate after the modifications were completed.

The pervaporation apparatus was initially tested using screening experiments to verify that changing the operating parameters produced a measurable response which could be recorded. The pervaporation apparatus was successfully …

Characterisation, Modelling And Performance Evaluation Of Cmos Integrated Rf-Mems Multielectrode Tunable Capacitor, Zbigniew Olszewski

Theses

The circuits used in telecommunications are made of two types of components; active integrated circuits that have continuously been improved together with the evolution of the Si technology and off-chip and on-chip passive components. The latter did not profit from much development and now constitute the bottleneck for further integration of RF (Radio Frequency) integrated circuits. MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) is rapidly emerging as an enabling technology to yield a new generation of high performance components to replace off-chip (not integrated) and on-chip (poor performance) counterparts. The RF components (RF-MEMS) that can be fabricated with MEMS technology are mainly the resonator, …

Sediment Transport In Rivers And Estuaries, John Clancy

Theses

The processes of erosion, transportation and sedimentation in rivers and estuaries have fascinated researchers for centuries. These processes have been active throughout geological time and have shaped the present landscape. To effectively study these processes analysis needs to be carried out at catchment scale level. Cork Harbour and its tributaries including the River Lee, the Owenabue River, the Glashaboy River, the Owennacurra River, and the Dungoumey River are analysed for the processes of sediment transport within their catchments and systems, and particularly river sediment loadings.

This thesis includes a literature review of the properties of sediment, river and estuary related …

Controller Design And Web-Based Simulation For A Pasteurisation Process, Luis Torres

Theses

The basic PID controller remains the most commonly used automatic feedback control technique in industry. Many tuning techniques exist for this controller and the use of tuning rules remains very popular, both in industry and academia. This thesis is concerned with the practical evaluation of a selected number of PID tuning rules. The rules were to be evaluated on an industrial pilot-scale milk pasteurisation process. However, most of these rules could not be tested on the real plant as the industrial distributed control system was quite inflexible and did not permit many of the more advanced PID structures e.g. two-degree …

A 10-Bit 100msample/S Pipeline Analog- To-Digital Converter In Cmos, Pieter Berkelaar

Theses

High speed, medium resolution ADC’s, are required for many applications, including wireless receivers, ultrasound systems, wireline interfaces, cameras and camcorders. Low power dissipation is important, particularly for portable equipment where battery life must be maximised. The pipeline ADC architecture is particularly suited to such applications. Its strength comes from the manner in which it performs a conversion, distributing the work in time and amongst successive stages. These stages operate concurrently, maintaining high throughput. Each stage is made up of a fully differential switched capacitor sample-and- hold amplifier and some other circuitry. Designing these circuits to operate at l00MHz is extremely …