Assessment Of Quality Parameters Research Articles

Spatiotemporal change analysis of permanganate index in the middle and lower mainstem of the Yangtze River since 2004

高锰酸盐指数是我国水环境质量评价和污染控制考核的重要指标，其浓度高低能反映水体受到有机物污染的严重程度.2003年三峡水库投入运行后，长江中下游干流水文情势发生了重大变化.为此，研究了长江中下游干流耗氧有机污染物的典型参数——高锰酸盐指数的时空变化特征.结果表明，长江中下游干流水体：2004年以来，高锰酸盐指数总体趋降，且目前已处于较低水平并趋于稳定；不同江段和水期高锰酸盐指数变化趋势不一致；耗氧有机污染物以溶解态为主，且溶解态所占比例沿程趋于降低，南津关、汉口、吴淞口下23 km断面溶解态占比中位值分别为0.862、0.734和0.598；可沉降颗粒物对水体中高锰酸盐指数浓度影响较低，尤其在研究河段上游段，悬浮颗粒中所含耗氧物质占总量比例中位值分别为0.138、0.266和0.402；上游江段水体同一监测断面不同测线和测点间高锰酸盐指数测定值差异不显著；河口段则存在显著差异，尤其是表层和底层之间；沿江城市江段近岸水域水体中耗氧物质污染程度较低，其澄清样中高锰酸盐指数均值在1.91～3.45 mg/L之间，仅局部城市江段和水期出现值高于6.0 mg/L的现象.;Permanganate index (COD_Mn) is an important parameter for water quality assessment and pollution control supervision in China. Its concentration reflects the severity of organic pollution. Since the Three Gorges Reservoir was put into operation in 2003, the hydrological condition of in the middle and lower Yangtze River mainstem has been changed significantly. Therefore, the characteristics of spatiotemporal distributions of organic substances(OS) corresponding to permanganate index in the middle and lower mainstem of the Yangtze River under new hydrological condition were studied. The results show that in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River: Since 2004, COD_Mn has been decreasing generally, and it is currently at a low level and tends to stabilize. The trend of COD_Mn in the different river sections and the water period is inconsistent. OS(COD_Mn) in the water column are mainly in the dissolved state, and the proportion of the dissolved state tends to decrease along the direction from upstream to downstream. The median values of C_clarified/C_original ratio in Nanjinguan, Hankou and 23 km below Wusongkou, are 0.862, 0.734 and 0.598 respectively. The effect of the precipitable particles on the COD_Mn concentration in the water is low, especially in the upstream section. The median values of (1-C_filtered/C_original) ratios in Nanjinguan, Hankou and 23 km below Wusongkou were 0.138, 0.266 and 0.402, respectively. There is no significant difference between the different lines and measuring points in the transverse profile in the section on upstream end of studied reach, but significant difference in the estuary section, especially between the surface layer and the bottom layer in the vertical direction. Oxygen-consumed organic pollution is not serious in the coastal waters of urban reaches, and the average concentration of COD_Mn of the clarified samples is between 1.91 and 3.45 mg/L, and the concentration value is seldom higher than 6.0 mg/L.

ТЕОРЕТИЧЕСКИЕ АСПЕКТЫ ПРОЦЕССНОГО УПРАВЛЕНИЯ: СОДЕРЖАНИЕ, ХАРАКТЕРИСТИКИ, СПЕЦИФИЧЕСКИЕ ОСОБЕННОСТИ

The article deals with the theoretical aspects of process management, its content, characteristics and specific features. The focus is on the study of the key stages of process management, the basic principles of rational process management, and the consideration of various approaches to process management. The concept of “process management” and the main methods of classification of such management are described in detail. Its specific features and rules, key parameters of quality assessment are considered. The presented theoretical aspects of process management are able to provide a complete picture of the study of this concept, to make an understanding in the field of detailed study of each of the stages of process management and to give the basic knowledge for the implementation of productive process management.

CT fatty muscle fraction as a new parameter for muscle quality assessment predicts outcome in venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation

Impaired skeletal muscle quality is a major risk factor for adverse outcomes in acute respiratory failure. However, conventional methods for skeletal muscle assessment are inapplicable in the critical care setting. This study aimed to determine the prognostic value of computed tomography (CT) fatty muscle fraction (FMF) as a biomarker of muscle quality in patients undergoing extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). To calculate FMF, paraspinal skeletal muscle area was obtained from clinical CT and separated into areas of fatty and lean muscle based on densitometric thresholds. The cohort was binarized according to median FMF. Patients with high FMF displayed significantly increased 1-year mortality (72.7% versus 55.8%, P = 0.036) on Kaplan–Meier analysis. A multivariable logistic regression model was built to test the impact of FMF on outcome. FMF was identified as a significant predictor of 1-year mortality (hazard ratio per percent FMF, 1.017 [95% confidence interval, 1.002–1.033]; P = 0.031), independent of anthropometric characteristics, Charlson Comorbidity Index, Simplified Acute Physiology Score, Respiratory Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Survival Prediction Score, and duration of ECMO support. To conclude, FMF predicted 1-year mortality independently of established clinical prognosticators in ECMO patients and may have the potential to become a new muscle quality imaging biomarker, which is available from clinical CT.

Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy studies of gasoline oxidative stability – Attempt to devise new gasolines chemical stability index

Fuels stored in storage tanks undergo aging processes. In particular, this applies to fuels containing biocomponents. The ability to quickly assess changes taking place in fuel is more and more critical due to the growing resources of fuels stored for a long time. Moreover, it is essential for maintaining the fuel quality. The purpose of this work was to develop a method enabling determination of the stability of gasolines containing biocomponents and allowing for early warning of quality deterioration. For that, the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was tested as it allows for fast, easy, and continuous determination of the gasoline quality. For that, the gasoline electrical parameters were determined by the EIS before and during aging. Then those results were compared with such physico-chemical parameters that change the most quickly during aging. It has been found that selected electrical parameters derived from the impedance spectra, namely, resistance, capacitance, relaxation time, and impedance values at a given frequency decrease with the aging time linearly or exponentially. The changes of those parameters indicate the formation of polar and/or ionic products and decrease of the fuel viscosity, increasing its conductivity. Furthermore, spectral studies of the samples indicate the formation of unsaturated and aromatic hydrocarbons, as well as –OH and C=O group-containing species. These observations are corroborating well with conclusions derived from the EIS studies. Notably, the obtained results indicate the correlation between electrical parameters and critical physicochemical properties of the fuel, thus suggesting possibility of applying the electrical parameters for gasoline quality assessment.

An efficient face anti-spoofing and detection model using image quality assessment parameters

Biometric authentication poses a significant problem as reconstructed sample or fake self-manufactured samples used by intruders for accessing the actual real legitimate traits. The other prime concern for biometrics is the increasing demand for safety in mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets etc. So, in the present scenario security for biometrics has gained considerable attention due to various inherent qualities of biometrics. For detection of valid user in a face recognition system with photographs, videos, and 3D models, face liveness detection system is a great technique against spoofing attacks for differentiating between the fake traits from the real traits. In this paper, a novel fake biometric detection technique utilizing liveness detection is proposed for detecting deceitful access attempts in the biometric face system. The prime objective of the paper is to propose a low-complexity fake biometric detection using different image quality assessment parameters i.e. Mean Square Error, Signal to Noise Ratio,SC etc. on the extracted features of the images. The authenticity of the proposed model is confirmed by analyzing the values of MSE, which are 5.8% and 8.49% more than the threshold value of nose and eye features. The same results have also been shown for other 11 different image quality assessment parameters. The experiments were done on the database prepared using the image samples of the 500 male and female students having age between 20 to 30 years.

Qualidade da saúde no brasil: um retrato do seu desempenho baseado na abordagem sistêmica

O objetivo desse trabalho é avaliar, por meio da abordagem sistêmica, indicadores de qualidade da Saúde no Brasil. A saúde representa um sistema, que transforma insumos em resultado especializados, com serviços para atender às necessidades de saúde dos usuários. Trata-se de uma pesquisa descritiva com dados quantitativos e secundários. O instrumento de pesquisa utilizado foi uma adaptação do Painel de Monitoramento e de Avaliação da Gestão do Sistema Único de Saúde, que divide os indicadores em: entradas - demanda, capital e força de trabalho; processos - participação e controle social; saídas - produtos e resultados. Os principais resultados apontaram que, dos 17 indicadores analisados, somente 7 atenderam ao critério de qualidade, sendo 1 das entradas, 3 no processo e 3 nas saídas. Embora a entrada não esteja sendo suprida com qualidade, os indicadores de resultados mostram que as demandas transformadas conseguem impactar positivamente a saúde da população.

A Contrast Enhancement Model for X-Ray Mammograms Using Modified Local s-Curve Transformation Based on Multi-Objective Optimization

The biased X-ray field and the subtle difference in X-ray attenuation between normal and abnormal breast tissues prevent the biomedical sensors to generate mammograms with good quality. These are the common imperfections in the acquisition systems (sensor) of Mammography which contribute towards the degradation of mammogram image quality. This paper aims to develop a contrast enhancement model for mammograms so that the human or machine vision can distinguish easily among the variants of breast lesions and predict their severity. The proposed mammogram enhancement model exploits locally the proprieties of the sigmoidal function based on multi-objective Genetic Algorithm for improving the contrast of lesions along with a simultaneous increment in various Image Quality Assessment (IQA) parameters like: $\textit {EME}$ , $\textit {EC}$ , $\textit {AMBEn}$ and $\textit {FSIM}$ . Herein, the multi-objective optimization problem is transformed into a single-objective optimization to find a unique solution for mammogram enhancement. An increase in these IQA metrics is indicative of better contrast, edge content, and conservation of brightness and other diagnostics information. Simulations of the proposed enhancement model are carried out on mammograms from the mini-MIAS database for benchmarking and validation of results.

Application of equilibrium passive sampling to profile pore water and accessible concentrations of hydrophobic organic contaminants in Danube sediments

Total concentrations of hydrophobic organic contaminants (HOCs) in sediment present a poor quality assessment parameter for aquatic organism exposure and environmental risk because they do not reflect contaminant bioavailability. The bioavailability issue of HOCs in sediments can be addressed by application of multi-ratio equilibrium passive sampling (EPS). In this study, riverbed sediment samples were collected during the Joint Danube Survey at 9 locations along the Danube River in 2013. Samples were ex-situ equilibrated with silicone passive samplers. Desorption isotherms were constructed, yielding two endpoints: pore water (CW:0) and accessible (CAS:0) concentration of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers in sediment. CW:0 concentrations of DDT and its breakdown products exhibited elevated levels in the low Danube, with the maximum in the river delta. Other investigated HOCs did not show any clear spatial trends along the river, and only a moderate CW:0 variability. CAS:0 in sediment ranged from 10 to 90% of the total concentration in sediment. CW:0 was compared with freely dissolved concentration in the overlaying surface water, measured likewise by passive sampling. The comparison indicated potential compound release from sediment to the water phase for PAHs with less than four aromatic rings, and for remaining HOCs either equilibrium between sediment and water, or potential compound deposition in sediment. Sorption partition coefficients of HOC to organic carbon correlated well with octanol-water partition coefficients (KOW), showing stronger sorption of PAHs to sediment than that of PCBs and OCPs having equal logKOW. Comparison of CW:0 values with European environmental quality standards indicated potential exceedance for hexachlorobenzene, fluoranthene and benzo[a]pyrene at several sites. The study demonstrates the utility of passive sampling as an innovative approach for risk-oriented monitoring of HOCs in river catchments.

Statistical assessment of in vitro drug release kinetics and quality evaluation of desloratadine orally disintegrating generic tablets available in Bangladesh

The objective of the present study was to compare the in vitro equivalence of different orally disintegrating tablets (ODT) of Desloratadine (DES) available in Bangladesh pharmaceutical market with the reference brand. The in vitro dissolution study was carried out using the United States Pharmacopoeia (USP) paddle method and a comparative study were also carried out with the reference brand. Other pharmacopoeial and non-pharmacopoeial quality assessment parameters including hardness, friability, water absorption ratio, and disintegration time etc. were also evaluated. From the results of the dissolution profile of the commercially available products, it found majority of the products didn’t exhibited compendial requirements in dissolution behavior to the reference brand with model-independent approach ( f2 > 50, f1 < 15) and showed statistically significant differences. Additionally, the data of different physical quality parameters revealed that all commercial products complied with the official specifications. From these findings, it could be suggested that the DES-ODT formulations’ available in the Bangladesh market could be prescribed; however additional experiments might require to clarify the interchangeability among the products.

SAR image despeckling using plug‐and‐play ADMM

The presence of speckle, a granular structure, seriously affects the visual interpretability of the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images. Recently, model-based reconstruction techniques that use alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) have been widely utilised for denoising problems. Owing to the modular structure of ADMM, it is very simple to implement and also enables one to plug in any off-the-shelf denoising algorithm. However, the major limitations of these methods are mostly they have been established for Gaussian noise and the selection of a regulariser for a specific forward model is unknown. In this study, the despeckling of SAR images is addressed in the presence of multiplicative noise such as Rayleigh and Poisson. A mean filter is introduced for images corrupted by Rayleigh-based speckle, which transforms it to Nakagami distributed speckle, to improve the performance. Maximum a posteriori-based estimation involving Nakagami and Poisson distributions are applied to plug-and-play ADMM (PnP ADMM) framework, which provides enhanced despeckling ability along with the preservation of important details. The convergence analysis of the proposed PnP ADMM for multiplicative noise is also provided. The simulation studies are carried out taking several parameters for visual quality and statistical assessment to justify the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Application of ecological and aesthetic parameters for riparian quality assessment of a small tropical river in eastern India

Abstract Assessments of the ecological quality of riparian zones help ascertain the status of channel-floodplain linkages, which are often affected by anthropogenic interventions, resulting in stream health degradation. Here we have evaluated the riparian condition of 54 sites along the River Dulung in eastern India using various ecological and aesthetics related indices for demarcating degraded channel reaches. Among the ecological parameters, the Qualitat del Bosc de Ribera (QBR) Index considers key aspects of vegetation, such as coverage and structure, as well as morphological aspects and anthropogenic interference in the landscape. The Riparian Strip Quality Index (RSQI) evaluates the ecological condition of riparian habitats based on the percentage of riparian vegetation, as was delineated from high resolution satellite images. The vegetation robustness was assessed using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). The RSQI and NDVI parameters were extracted for a series of concentric buffers of varying widths on either side of the channel to differentiate between the vegetation cover on either bank and their changes with increasing distance from the channel. Since effective ecological restoration requires active public involvement, a perception survey was conducted for exploring links between the ecological quality and aesthetic appeal of the studied sites. Results suggest that majority of the sites have fair ecological quality, with a median QBR value of 60. The riparian strip quality is lower, with an average RSQI score of 55. This discrepancy may result from the qualitative (QBR) versus quantitative (RSQI) nature of the two indices employed. Nevertheless, both indices indicate that all sites are disturbed to some degree, mainly due to anthropogenic activities like ambient agriculture and natural processes like recurrent monsoonal floods and riverbank erosion. Results of the perception survey indicate that sites with higher ecological quality garner more public appeal, with attributes like the state of the surrounding vegetation and any visible human modifications of the riparian zone being important determinants of how the sites are perceived. Obviously, the most preferred stretches are those with lush green vegetation, continuous water flow with visibly low human impacts. The ecological and aesthetic indices have been combined to identify the most degraded reaches along the river, which account for 52% of the total sites. These sites merit attention both in short and long-term for restoration purposes. Although the degradation overall (arising from natural and anthropogenic causes) is not too high at present, we suggest that regular monitoring of the ecological quality of these sites be undertaken in order to preserve both the ecological and aesthetic aspects of the existing riparian vegetation and arrest any further deterioration.

Scots Pine Stem Parameters in Sites with Different Stand Densities in Lithuania

Background and Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the effects of different stand densities and thinning regimes on stem quality parameters, mainly branch characteristics, of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) trees. The study provides some input to the discussion about Scots pine stem quality responses to different forest management practices in relatively young stands. Materials and Methods: Total tree height, height to the lowest live and dead branch, diameter at breast height (DBH), and diameter of all branches from the whorls located up to 6 m from the ground were measured. The linear regression models to predict branch diameter, as the main parameter for the stem quality assessment, were developed based on stand density and stem parameters. Results and Conclusions: DBH, branch diameter and number of branches up to 6-m stem height were significantly higher in the stands with the lowest density. These stem parameters showed a relatively clear downward trend from the lowest to the highest stand densities. The main identified variables which significantly affected stem quality, were branch diameter and diameter of the thickest branch in the bottom part of the stem, at least up to 3-m stem height. For practical use, the best fitted model was estimated when stand density, DBH, and branch diameter up to 3-m height were included in a single equation. The developed model for branch diameter could be used as a forest management tool for managing stem-wood quality.

Evaluation of Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) and Remote Sensing (RS) for Estimating Pasture Quality in Mediterranean Montado Ecosystem

Pasture quality monitoring is a key element in the decision making process of a farm manager. Laboratory reference methods for assessing quality parameters such as crude protein (CP) or fibers (neutral detergent fiber: NDF) require collection and analytical procedures involving technicians, time, and reagents, making them laborious and expensive. The objective of this work was to evaluate two technological and expeditious approaches for estimating and monitoring the evolution of the quality parameters in biodiverse Mediterranean pastures: (i) near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) combined with multivariate data analysis and (ii) remote sensing (RS) based on Sentinel-2 imagery to calculate the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and the normalized difference water index (NDWI). Between February 2018 and March 2019, 21 sampling processes were carried out in nine fields, totaling 398 pasture samples, of which 315 were used during the calibration phase and 83 were used during the validation phase of the NIRS approach. The average reference values of pasture moisture content (PMC), CP, and NDF, obtained in 24 tests carried out between January and May 2019 in eight fields, were used to evaluate the RS accuracy. The results of this study showed significant correlation between NIRS calibration models or spectral indices obtained by remote sensing (NDVIRS and NDWIRS) and reference methods for quantifying pasture quality parameters, both of which open up good prospects for technological-based service providers to develop applications that enable the dynamic management of animal grazing.

Effect of warming method on embryo quality in a simplified equine embryo vitrification system

Equine embryo vitrification is still not a well-established technique in equine practice. Notably, little work has been done on the effect of the warming system on viability of vitrified embryos. Our goal was to evaluate the effect of warming without cryoprotectants on in vitro - produced (IVP) embryo viability in culture, quality assessment parameters, and pregnancy after transfer. Equine IVP blastocysts were vitrified using commercial embryo vitrification media and a semi-closed vitrification device. In Exp. 1, we evaluated two warming temperatures (room temperature, RT, ∼22 °C; and 38 °C) for each of three warming systems: commercial warming solution (Kit); commercial embryo holding medium (EHM) with decreasing concentrations of sucrose (EHM + SS); or EHM alone without added sucrose. Embryos (n = 9 to 14 per treatment) were cultured in vitro for 24 h, stained with DAPI, TUNEL, and fluorophore-labelled phalloidin, and evaluated for nucleus number, mitotic rate, apoptotic rate, and actin filament distribution. In Exp. 2, to survey embryo viability in vivo, vitrified IVP blastocysts were shipped to an embryo transfer facility, then warmed immediately before transfer to recipient mares, using the warming treatments associated with the nominally best (Kit-RT, Kit-38, EHM-RT) and poorest (EHM + SS-38) assessed embryo quality in Exp. 1 (n = 7 to 8 per treatment). Subsequently, IVP blastocysts produced as part of our clinical program were vitrified and shipped, then warmed in embryo holding medium at an embryo transfer facility before transfer to recipient mares; fresh IVP embryos were shipped and transferred as controls. In Exp. 1, embryos increased significantly in diameter after culture (P < 0.01), with no difference among treatments. There was no difference (P > 0.05) in the number of viable nuclei, apoptotic rate, or microfilament distribution among treatments, or between vitrified-warmed and Control embryos. The mitotic rate was higher (P = 0.021) for Kit-RT (3.6%) when compared with the other treatment groups (1.5–2.0%). In Exp. 2, there was no difference (P > 0.05) in initial pregnancy (71.4–87.5%) or heartbeat (57.1%–85.7%) rates among warming treatments. In the clinical trial, there was no difference (P > 0.05) between vitrified-warmed and Control embryos in initial pregnancy (90.9% and 66.6%, respectively) or heartbeat (81.8% and 66.6%, respectively) rates. These results indicate that a semi-closed vitrification system using commercially-available media, and incorporating warming in the field in a single step using commercial embryo holding medium without cryoprotectants, can provide high pregnancy rates with IVP equine embryos.

Patient dose optimization for computed radiography using physical and observer-based measurements as image quality metrics

Radiation protection of patients undergoing diagnostic x-ray examinations requires practical evaluation of doses and image quality under clinical conditions. On this subject, optimization of the dose-image quality relationship plays key role in order to achieve this goal. In this study, patient dose optimization was implemented for a computed radiography (CR) system used in general x-ray examinations, considering physical and observer-based measurements as image quality metrics. An anthropomorphic phantom was used to simulate the patient under clinical conditions of chest and abdominal x-rays. Entrance surface doses (ESDs) were measured using a solid-state dose detector positioned at phantom entrance surface during simulated x-rays with different combinations of tube potential (kV) and tube current-time product (mAs), including the kV-mAs used clinically. Agfa's CR System with CR12-X digitizer and a set of 35x43cm cassettes and imaging plates (IP) were employed to capture digital images. Contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) determined from different regions in the acquired images was used as physical measurement of image quality. Two experienced radiologists evaluated the images qualifying them in terms of acceptable noise. The relationship between calculated CNR and ESD measured for each exposure setting in association to the acceptable images by radiologists were employed as optimization strategies: maximize CNR for a constant dose, minimize dose for a constant CNR and, finally, maximize the figure of merit (FoM) that relates CNR and dose. Prior to the dose and image quality optimization, standardized exposure index (EI) from clinically accepted images and its associated deviation index (DI) were collected for one month. Large reductions in ESD (up to 65%) with clinical image quality assurance were achieved with optimization strategies. The results indicate that the physical parameters of digital image quality assessment validated by experts observation can be an efficient way in the practice of optimization.

A Novel Coverless Information Hiding Method Based on the Most Significant Bit of the Cover Image

With the rapid development of information technology recently, information security has become the focus of public concern. Information Hiding (IH) technology is an effective method to tackle the problem of information leakage incidents. In this paper, a novel coverless information hiding method based on the Most Significant Bit (MSB) of cover image is proposed (CIHMSB). Firstly, the cover image is segmented into a number of fragments. Secondly, in order to use the MSB of cover image to represent the secret information, the average intensity of each fragment is calculated. Thirdly, a one-to-one mapping between the MSB of the image fragment and the secret information is established using the mapping sequence (denote as $Km$ ), decided by the sender and the receiver in advance. This process produces a mapping flag (denote as $Kf$ ), which is sent by the sender along with the stego image. The objective of the proposed work is to increase hiding capacity, curtail the distortion of the stego image to improve its quality and reduce the Bit Error Rate ( $BER$ ) of stego image in the case of distortion. Experimental results show that the proposed method can conceal 2601 bits secret information per carrier with peak signal-to-noise ratio ( $PSNR$ ) of $\infty $ dB. What’s more, some stego image quality assessment parameters, such as structural similarity ( $SSIM$ ) index and universal image quality index ( $Qi$ ), are slightly better than existing information hiding methods. Furthermore, the proposed method has good performance against such as AGWN, salt & pepper noise, low-pass filtering and JPEG compression attacks.

Post-Project Environmental Impact Evaluation of Ota Industrial Housing Estate on the Localized Environment and Environs in Ogun State, Nigeria

In this research paper, twelve (12) consecutive weekly field-studies were carried-out within a study-period of three (3) months to determine the current baseline environmental data of the study-area—'Ota Industrial Housing Estate and Environs' by conducting a Post-Project Environmental Impact Evaluation (EIE) of the Estate's industrial wing on its residential wing—which was divided into three Catchments (Catchment 1, Catchment 2 and Catchment 3) in addition to Catchment 4 (i.e. its Environs) which is a proximal neighbouring community to the study-area called ‘Obasanjo locality’. Consequently, standard experimental procedures were engaged to determine the baseline data values of the selected biophysiochemical environmental parameters of the study area, which were then compared with the values obtained at the Control-environment [i.e. ‘Atan locality’ which is a distant community located about 15km from the study-area] and/or with the benchmark values/limits recommended by global and national standardizing bodies (organizations) [such as the' ' WHO , ' ' ISO , ' ' OSHA , ' ' ASTM , ' ' APHA , ' ' DPR ,' ' SON and ' ' FMEnv] for human safety. Based on the experimental results obtained, some of the inferences made are summarily stated below. Majority of the measured microclimatic, acoustic and outdoor air quality parameters are higher than the standard recommended limits and the control environment’s values. The Soil Nutrients' and Heavy metals' concentrations are randomly distributed. The predominant land-use type is 'Residential' while the least is 'Educational'. The predominantly occurring vegetation is 'Elephant grass (Botanical name: Permisetum Purpuretum)'. Apart from pH, Electrical Conductivity, Temperature, Dissolved Oxygen( ) DO and Biochemical Oxygen Demand( ) BOD , all the other Groundwater quality assessment parameters are higher than the standards’ recommended limits. Thus, the industrial wing of ‘Ogun State Industrial Housing Estate’ environmentally impacts its residential wing and environs negatively.

Performance Analysis of Various Filters for De-Speckling of Thyroid Ultrasound Images

Thyroid ultrasonography is the most common and extremely useful, safe, and cost effective way to image the thyroid gland and its pathology. However, an inherent characteristic of Ultrasound (US) imaging is the presence of multiplicative speckle noise. Speckle noise reduces the ability of an observer to distinguish fine details, make diagnosis more difficult. It limits the effective implementation of image analysis steps such as edge detection, segmentation and classification. The main objective of this study is to compare the performance of various spatial and frequency domain filters so as to identify efficient and optimum filter for de-speckling Thyroid US images. The performance of these filters is evaluated using the image quality assessment parameters Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR), Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR), Structural Similarity Index (SSIM), Mean Square Error (MSE) and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) for different speckle variance. Experimental work revealed that kuan filter resulted in higher PSNR, SNR, SSIM and least MSE, RMSE values compared to other filters

Reversible Image Steganography Using Dual-Layer LSB Matching

Recently, reversible information hiding (RIH) methods have drawn substantial attention in many privacy-sensitive real-time applications, such as the Internet of Things (IoT) enabled communications, electronic health care infrastructure, and military applications. The RIH methods are proven to be competent in such hyper-sensitive infrastructures where the loss of a single bit of information is not acceptable. In this paper, dual-layered based RIH method using modified least significant bit (LSB) matching has been proposed. The objective of the proposed work is to enhance the embedding efficiency (EE) using dual-layer based embedding strategy and to curtail the distortion caused to the stego-image to improve its quality. At the first layer of embedding, each pixel conceals two bits of information using the proposed modified LSB matching method to produce the intermediate pixel pair (IPP). Further, the IPP is utilized to conceal four bits of information during the next layer of embedding. Experimental study reveals that, the proposed method can embed 1,572,864 bits of secret data with peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) of 47.86 dB, 48.05 dB, 46.51 dB and 48.14 dB, for the respective images. Further, the image quality assessment parameters like structural similarity (SSIM) index and universal image quality index (Q) are as good as the existing literature. Additionally, the proposed method shows excellent anti-steganalysis ability to regular and singular (RS) and pixel difference histogram (PDH) analysis.

Reliability of the Digital Sea Bottom Model Sourced by Multibeam Echosounder in Shallow Water

Reliability of Digital Terrain Model created with geospatial data is a parameter in evaluation of its quality that takes into consideration both the method as well as the quality of data. Bathymetric surveys – dynamic measurements of a moving transducer of a singlebeam or multibeam echosounder used for depth measurements in water are a string of interrelated phenomena that determine the quality (accuracy) of geospatial coordinates. Inclusion of all factors influencing the accuracy of measurements, such as echosounder’s calibration, is a prerequisite for minimisation of systematic measurement errors. Random and gross errors are inevitable, and are eliminated during the cleaning process of geospatial data. High reliability, preliminarily filtered cloud of data is the initial source of the data for the creation of the Digital Sea Bottom Model. Comparison of two models using interpolation methods on the basis of discrete data carries the risk of the outcome being blurry. Cell size optimization on the basis of echosounder beams geometry is one of the essential parameters in quality assessment – two surface models comparison. Dynamic calibration of multibeam echosounder, based on the comparison of depths of outer edges of the bathymetric swath, is carried out utilizing raw data. Correct spatial orientation of echosounder’s head(s), due to the angular regulation of the echosounder’s head, minimizes discrepancies and increases the reliability of the data that is to be used to create the Digital Sea Bottom Model. This article presents the results of the analysis of accuracy of DSBM created with geospatial data acquired by multibeam echosounder, based on the calibration soundings that are the enabling stage for hydrographic surveys using MBES. The data used was recorded by R2Sonic multibeam echosounder in shallow waters (up to 30m depth), deriving from general rules of depths carting on nautical charts.