A signature-and-verification-based method, automatic peer-to-peer anti-spoofing (APPA), is proposed to prevent IP source address spoofing. In this method, signatures are tagged into the packets at the source peer, and verified and removed at the verification peer where packets with incorrect signatures are filtered. A unique state machine, which is used to generate signatures, is associated with each ordered pair of APPA peers. As the state machine automatically transits, the signature changes a...

Many video surveillance applications rely on efficient motion detection. However, the algorithms are usually costly since they compute a background model at every pixel of the frame. This paper shows that, in the case of a planar scene with a fixed calibrated camera, a set of pixels can be selected to compute the background model while ignoring the other pixels for accurate but less costly motion detection. The calibration is used to first define a volume of interest in the real world and to pro...

Many algorithms have been proposed to achieve sparse representation over redundant dictionaries or transforms. A comprehensive understanding of these algorithms is needed when choosing and designing algorithms for particular applications. This research studies a representative algorithm for each category, matching pursuit (MP), basis pursuit (BP), and noise shaping (NS), in terms of their sparsifying capability and computational complexity. Experiments show that NS has the best performance in te...

A neuro-sliding-mode control (NSMC) strategy was developed to handle the complex nonlinear dynamics and model uncertainties of flexible-link manipulators. A composite controller was designed based on a singularly perturbed model of flexible-link manipulators when the rigid motion and flexible motion are decoupled. The NSMC is employed to control the slow subsystem to track a desired trajectory with a traditional sliding mode controller to stabilize the fast subsystem which represents the link vi...

The scheme introduced by Hwang and Liu in 2008 is shown to be insecure against the key replacement attack. A more practical attack model is introduced, and according to this model, an efficient certificateless encryption scheme is presented which is IND-CCA secure against both Type I and Type II attackers without random oracle. This encryption scheme can defend against the malicious key generation center attack, and can reach Girault's trusted level 3 as in traditional public key infrastructure-...

A compact antenna with extended band-notched characteristics was designed for ultra wideband (UWB) communications. The antenna consists of a crescent-shaped elliptical patch with a T-shaped stub and a square ground board plane. The antenna is easily integrated with radio-frequency/microwave circuits to reduce the manufacturing cost. The central frequency and the notch bandwidth can be adjusted by changing the size of the T-shaped stub. Simulations verify the design characteristics. Measurements ...

Peer-to-peer (P2P) networks aggregate enormous storage and processing resources while minimizing entry and scaling costs. Gnutella-like P2P networks are complex heterogeneous networks, in which the underlying overlay topology has a power-law node degree distribution. While scale-free networks have great robustness against random failures, they are vulnerable to deliberate attacks where highly connected nodes are eliminated. Since high degree nodes play an important role in maintaining the connec...

For certain system models, the structure of the Kalman filter is equivalent to a second-order variable gain digital phase-locked loop (DPLL). To apply the knowledge of DPLLs to the design of Kalman filters, this paper studies the steady-state performance of Kalman filters for these system models. The results show that the steady-state Kalman gain has the same form as the DPLL gain. An approximate simple form for the steady-state Kalman gain is used to derive an expression for the equivalent loop...

Reed-Solomon (RS) codes have been widely adopted in many modern communication systems. This paper describes a new method for error detection in the syndrome calculator block of RS decoders. The main feature of this method is to prove that it is possible to compute only a few syndrome coefficients — less than half — to detect whether the codeword is correct. The theoretical estimate of the probability that the new algorithm failed is shown to depend on the number of syndrome coefficie...

Skin segmentation is widely used in many computer vision tasks to improve automated visualization. This paper presents a graph cuts algorithm to segment arbitrary skin regions from images. The detected face is used to determine the foreground skin seeds and the background non-skin seeds with the color probability distributions for the foreground represented by a single Gaussian model and for the background by a Gaussian mixture model. The probability distribution of the image is used for noise s...

A carrier frequency offset (CFO) estimator was developed based on an interference cancellation scheme for an orthogonal frequency division multiplex access uplink. An initial CFO estimate was first obtained based on the received training signals at each user's prescribed subcarrier positions. Then, the received training signals were compensated by using the initial CFO estimates in the frequency domain and the multi-user interferences were estimated. Finally, the interference-cancelled training ...

The service-oriented architecture (SOA) and the model-driven architecture (MDA) have been recognized as major evolutionary steps in enterprise integration (EI) in service-oriented computing environments. Service-oriented enterprise (SOE) networks (SOEN) are emerging with the significant advances of EI, SOA, and MDA. However, the implementation and optimization of SOEN is still lacking integrated SOA, MDA, and performance analysis and optimization (PAO) methods. This paper introduces an integrate...

Most existing system-on-chip (SoC) architectures are for microprocessor-centric designs. They are not suitable for computing intensive SoCs, which have their own configurability, extendibility, performance, and data exchange characteristics. This paper analyzes these characteristics and gives design principles for computing intensive SoCs. Three architectures suitable for different situations are compared with selection criteria given. The architectural design of a high performance network secur...

E^rns is a highly glycosylated envelope protein of classical swine fever virus (CSFV) with RNase activity. E^rns can induce neutralizing antibodies and provide immune protection against CSFV infection. In this study, the RNase domain of the E^rns was produced in Escherichia coli. Its reactivity with CSFV-positive sera and its ability to induce antibodies and to provide protective immunity were then investigated. The serological tests showed that the prokary...

Corticosterone, a principal glucocorticoid synthesized in the rodent adrenal cortex, can be cumulatively toxic to hippocampal neurons, the cause of which is not known. The present study determined whether the cytosol adenylate kinase (AK) system was involved in the neuronal damage induced by long-term exposure to high corticosterone levels. We investigated the effects of long-term exposure to high corticosterone levels on AK1 activity, AK1 mRNA expression, and energy levels in cultured hippocamp...

The effects of salvianolic acid B (SalB) on the mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), calcium, and apoptosis of neurons with cerebral ischemia in mice were investigated using an acute cerebral ischemia model established by ligating the bilateral common carotid arteries in mice. The MMP, the intracellular calcium concentration, and the apoptosis rate of cortical neurons were measured at 6 min, 12 min, 18 min, 24 min, and 30 min after cerebral ischemia by a flow cytometer. The experiments show t...

Previous pharmacological, human genetics, and animal models have implicated the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor α4 subunit (CHRNA4) gene in the pathogenesis of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The objective of this study is to examine the genetic association between single nucleotide polymorphisms in the CHRNA4 gene (rs2273502, rs1044396, rs1044397, and rs3827020 loci) and ADHD. Both case-control and family-based designs are used. Children aged 6 to 16 years were interviewed and...

A method was developed to restore degraded images to some extent after the pixel binning process in image sensors to improve the resolution. A pixel binning model was used to approximate the original un-binned image. Then, the least squares error criterion was used as a constraint to reconstruct the restored pixel values from the binning model. The technique achieves about a one-decibel increase in the peak signal-to-noise ratio compared with the original estimated image. The technique has good ...

Polystyrene/polyaniline core-shell structure microspheres were synthesized in the presence of poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) as stabilizer and hydrochloric acid as dopant to improve the processibility of conducting polyaniline. After the one-pot reacting process, the product was easily purified by washing with water. The polyaniline shell covering the polystyrene sphere surface was confirmed with FT-IR and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The conductivity of the polyaniline-coated pol...