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In this study, the problem of variable bit rate (VBR) video traffic prediction is addressed. VBR traffic prediction is necessary in dynamic bandwidth allocation for multimedia quality of service control strategies. Autoregressive (AR) models have been widely used in VBR traffic prediction where the least mean square (LMS)-based methods were utilised for parameter estimation. However, they are ineffective when the traffic is dynamic in nature. In this study, using the Brock, Dechert, and Scheinkman (BDS) test, it is shown that the video traffic is non-linear. Kernel is an efficient tool to convert non-linear data into linear one in a higher-dimensional space. The kernel LMS (KLMS) method is... 

Recently, V. Sorokine et al. (see IEEE Trans. Commun., vol.48, no.10, p.1660-8, 2000; vol.48, no.11, p.1818-28, 2000) have introduced a class of low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes which, when applied on an IS-95 CDMA system, show, at BER=10-3, a five-fold and two-fold increase in capacity compared to the traditional uncoded scheme and to state-of-the-art low-rate orthogonal convolutional codes, respectively. However, these codes suffer from an error-floor at lower BERs which are needed for high-quality services, such as data. To enhance the capacity of CDMA systems, not only for moderate BER values but also for lower BER values, we modify the construction of these codes slightly, to... 

Eligibility is one of the important security properties which must be satisfied in electronic voting systems. This property refers to legitimacy of voters and their right to vote only once. Due to insufficiency of an observational analysis to guarantee this property, formal methods are recently used to build trust on sensitive systems such as e-voting for all the involved parties. This paper reports our attempt to automatically check the eligibility property in electronic voting systems using the model checking approach. ThemCRL2 language and its toolset are also used to achieve such a checking. Two protocols, FOO92 and Lee&Kim, are modeled as case studies  

Network forensic analysts employ payload attribution systems (PAS) as an investigative tool, which enables them to store and summarize large amounts of network traffic, including full packet payload. Hence an investigator could query the system for a specific string and check whether any of the packets transmitted previously in the network contained that specific string. As a shortcoming, the previously proposed techniques are unable to support wildcard queries. Wildcards are an important type of query that allow the investigator to locate strings in the payload when only part of the string is known. In this paper, a new data structure for payload attribution, named Character Dependent... 

Distributed generation (DG) units are increasingly installed in the power systems. Distribution companies (DisCo) can opt to purchase the electricity from DG in an energy purchase contract to supply the customer demand and reduce energy loss. This paper proposes a framework for optimal contract pricing of independent dispatchable DG units considering competition among them. While DG units tend to increase their profit from the energy purchase contract, DisCo minimizes the demand supply cost. Multi-leader follower game theory concept is used to analyze the situation in which competing DG units offer the energy price to DisCo and DisCo determines the DG generation. A bi-level approach is used... 

Static bandwidth allocation for variable bit rate (VBR) video traffic forfeits the available bandwidth. Prediction of the next frame size is thus useful in dynamic bandwidth allocation. It has been shown that VBR video traces are long-range dependent, which makes one-frame-ahead prediction insufficient for dynamic bandwidth allocation. Several studies have been conducted based on the linear autoregressive (AR) model to address VBR traffic prediction. In this paper, we propose the use of a nonlinear model from the AR family called logistic smooth transition autoregressive (LSTAR) to predict VBR video traffic. Furthermore, we introduce adaptive algorithms, including least mean square (LMS),... 

The advent of various real-time multimedia applications in high-speed networks creates a need for quality of service (QoS) based multicast routing. Two important QoS constraints are the bandwidth constraint and the end-to-end delay constraint. The QoS based multicast routing problem is a known NP-complete problem that depends on (1) bounded end-to-end delay and link bandwidth along the paths from the source to each destination, and (2) minimum cost of the multicast tree. In this paper, we presents novel centralized algorithms to solve the bandwidth-delay-constrained least-cost multicast routing problem based on the harmony search (HS) algorithm. Our first algorithm uses modified Prüfer... 

The prediction of material microstructure is of great interest to the material designers since the property and performance of materials depend strongly on their microstructures. In this research the Monte Carlo method and grain growth phenomenon have been used to predict the limiting grain size in the presence of second phase particles. The results showed a good agreement with the previous published results predicted by the analytical models. It was found that the lattice orientation parameter, Q, strongly affects the kinetic of the grain growth. The experimental and theoretical results of limiting grain size predicted by Monte Carlo method showed that by decreasing the value of Q the... 

We present an efficient and provably-secure e-voting protocol, which is a variant of the JCJ e-votingprotocol (Juels et al., 2010). It decreases the total number of JCJ's operations from O(n2) to O(n), where n is the number of votes or voters (whichever is the maximum). Note that since the operations under consideration are time-consuming (e.g., public-key encryption), the improvement is quite substantial. As a rough comparison, consider a nation-wide election with around ten million voters/votes. Assuming each operation takes one microsecond, and no parallelization is used, one can see a huge difference: our protocol tallies the votes in 10 seconds, while the JCJ protocol requires over 3... 

Chevallier-Mames et al, proved that in a specific condition (such as the lack of untappable channels and trusted-third parties), the universal verifiability and privacy-preserving properties of e-voting protocols are incompatible (WOTE'06 and TTE'10). In this paper, we first show a flaw in their proof. Then, we prove that even with more assumptions, such as the existence of TTPs and untappable channels between the authorities, an e-voting protocol is unable to preserve privacy, regardless of verifiability. Finally, we demonstrate that preserving privacy in e-voting protocols requires the provision of at least one of the following assumptions: limited computational power of adversary,... 

In this paper, the crack growth simulation is presented in saturated porous media using the extended finite element method. The mass balance equation of fluid phase and the momentum balance of bulk and fluid phases are employed to obtain the fully coupled set of equations in the framework of u - p formulation. The fluid flow within the fracture is modeled using the Darcy law, in which the fracture permeability is assumed according to the well-known cubic law. The spatial discritization is performed using the extended finite element method, the time domain discritization is performed based on the generalized Newmark scheme, and the non-linear system of equations is solved using the... 

The advent of various real-time multimedia applications in high-speed networks creates a need for quality of service (QoS) based multicast routing. Two important QoS constraints are the bandwidth constraint and the end-to-end delay constraint. The QoS based multicast routing problem is a known NP-complete problem that depends on (1) bounded end-to-end delay and link bandwidth along the paths from the source to each destination, and (2) minimum cost of the multicast tree. In this paper we describe a new representation, called node parent index (NPI) representation, for representing trees and describe harmony operations accord to this representation. The presented algorithm is based on the... 

Purpose: Although it has been proposed that individuals with patellofemoral pain show less lower limb intersegmental coordination variability, the evidence to support this hypothesis is rare. The purpose of this study was, therefore, to evaluate whether individuals with patellofemoral pain exhibit less intersegmental coordination variability compared with healthy individuals during walking and running. Also, it was hypothesized that increasing task demand would exacerbate group differences regarding coordination variability measures. Methods: Three-dimensional kinematics were collected while 17 females with patellofemoral pain and 17 healthy females walked at preferred speed, and ran at... 

Purpose: There is a scarcity of studies evaluating the variability of couplings between proximal segments (trunk, pelvis, and thigh) in individuals with patellofemoral pain (PFP) while emerging evidence has suggested that aberrant motions of trunk and pelvis can have a contributory role in the etiology of PFP. The purpose of this study was, therefore, to evaluate the trunk, pelvis, and thigh intersegmental coordination variability in PFP compared with healthy individuals. Methods: Thirty-four participants (17 with PFP and 17 healthy controls) walked (at preferred speed) and ran (at preferred and fixed speed) on a treadmill each trial for 30 seconds. Three-dimensional kinematics were recorded... 

In the original publication, there were errors in some sentences, Figure legends, and Tables that are corrected as below:. © 2021, Taiwanese Society of Biomedical Engineering  

Iron oxyhydroxide (α-FeOOH, Goethite) is one of the most thermodynamically stable iron oxides and a widespread soil mineral. In this study, a mixture of two phenolic extracts of rosemary and Echinacea was utilized as stabilizing and reducing agents for the synthesis of Goethite (FeOOH) nanoparticles without utilizing harmful toxic solvents. The resulting nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM)-energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), vibrating-sample magnetometer (VSM), thermogravimetry/differential thermal analysis (TG/DTA), and Brunauer–Emmett-Teller (BET). MTT assay was...