This paper proposes an encryption-then-compression (EtC) system-friendly data hiding scheme for images, where an EtC system compresses images after they are encrypted. The EtC system divides an image into non-overlapping blocks and applies four block-based processes independently and randomly to the image for visual encryption of the image. The proposed scheme hides data to a plain, i.e., unencrypted image and the scheme can take hidden data out from the image encrypted by the EtC system. Furthermore, the scheme serves reversible data hiding, so it can perfectly recover the unmarked image from the marked image whereas the scheme once distorts unmarked image for hiding data to the image. The proposed scheme copes with the three of four processes in the EtC system, namely, block permutation, rotation/flipping of blocks, and inverting brightness in blocks, whereas the conventional schemes for the system do not cope with the last one. In addition, these conventional schemes have to identify the encrypted image so that image-dependent side information can be used to extract embedded data and to restore the unmarked image, but the proposed scheme does not need such identification. Moreover, whereas the data hiding process must know the block size of encryption in conventional schemes, the proposed scheme needs no prior knowledge of the block size for encryption. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.

IEEE802.11 Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) are becoming more and more pervasive due to their simple channel access mechanism, Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA), but this mechanism provides all nodes including Access Point and other Stations with the same channel access probability. This characteristic does not suit the infrastructure mode which has so many downlink flows to be transmitted at the Access Point that congestion at the Access Point is more likely to occur. To resolve this asymmetry traffic problem, we develop an Optimal Contention Window Adjustment method assuming the condition of erroneous channels over WLANs. This method can be easily implemented and is compatible with the original CSMA/CA mechanism. It holds the ratio of downlink and uplink flows and at the same time achieves the maximum saturation throughput in the WLANs. We use the Markov Chain analytical model to analyze its performance and validate it through the simulations.

This study investigated the relationship between social skills and facial asymmetry in facial expressions. Three-dimensional facial landmark data of facial expressions (neutral, happy, and angry) were obtained from Japanese participants (n = 62). Following a facial expression task, each participant completed KiSS-18 (Kikuchi's Scale of Social Skills; Kikuchi, 2007). Using a generalized Procrustes analysis, faces and their mirror-reversed versions were represented as points on a hyperplane. The asymmetry of each individual face was defined as Euclidian distance between the face and its mirror reversed face on this plane. Subtraction of the asymmetry level of a neutral face of each individual from the asymmetry level of a target emotion face was defined as the index of “expression asymmetry” given by a particular emotion. Correlation coefficients of KiSS-18 scores and expression asymmetry scores were computed for both happy and angry expressions. Significant negative correlations between KiSS-18 scores and expression asymmetries were found for both expressions. Results indicate that the symmetry in facial expressions increases with higher level of social skills.

A metallic waveguide that has an array of dielectric rods located at a distance from the side wall of approximately one quarter the waveguide width was previously proposed for single mode propagation over a wide frequency range. In this study, the S parameters of such a waveguide were measured for the TE10 mode.

Using frictional force microscopy (FFM), the friction surface characteristics were compared between twisted nematic (TN) mode and vertical alignment (VA) mode alignment films (AFs). The friction asymmetry was detected depending on temperature conditions on TN mode AF, but not on VA mode AF. The difference between two modes was explained by leaning intermolecular repulsion caused by the pre-tilt angle uniformity and the density of side chain. No level difference according to temperature conditions appeared when the pre-tilt angle were measured after liquid crystal (LC) injection.

A system that has an array of dielectric rods at the center of a waveguide was previously suggested for single mode propagation with a wide frequency range. However, it is difficult to introduce the wave source from a coaxial cable, due to use of the TE10-like and TE20-like modes. In this investigation, an asymmetric setup of the dielectric rods is proposed for better coupling efficiency of the TE10 mode.

The time division duplex cellular system can support various downlink and uplink traffic ratios by setting the downlink and uplink transmission periods appropriately. However, it causes severe co-channel interference problem when some cells are active in the downlink while the others are in the uplink [2]. To mitigate this problem, a resource allocation scheme combined with sectorization is proposed for orthogonal frequency division multiple access. Simulations demonstrate that the proposed scheme improves both spectral efficiency and outage performance compared to the conventional allocation schemes.

In this paper, we propose a novel bicubic method for digital image interpolation. Since the conventional bicubic method does not consider image local features, the interpolated images obtained by the conventional bicubic method often have a blurring problem. In this paper, the proposed bicubic method adopts both the local asymmetry features and the local gradient features of an image in the interpolation processing. Experimental results show that the proposed method can obtain high accuracy interpolated images.

A simple method has been proposed for the measurement of the output power and phase characteristics of the 3rd-order inter-modulation distortion (IM3) components appearing in multistage power amplifiers. By adopting a unique definition of the phase for the IM3 components that is independent of the delay time caused by transmission lines and other instrument devices, it is possible to measure the phase, merely by using a vector signal analyzer. It is demonstrated that an accurate estimation of the IM3 characteristics of two-stage cascaded power amplifiers for cellular radio handheld terminals can be made by using the IM3 characteristics of the 1st and 2nd-stage amplifiers as measured by the proposed method. The results indicate that it is possible to reduce the dissipation power by 18% at 28 dBm RF output power with respect to conventional measurement methods. Further studies show that the error in the resultant vector of the estimated IM3 is less than 1 dB, when the asymmetry characteristics of the IM3 sidebands in the 2nd-stage amplifier are less than 7.3%.

Transitional fundamental frequency (F0) characteristics comprise a crucial part of F0 dynamics in singing. This paper examines the F0 characteristics during the note transition period. An analysis of the singing voice of a professional baritone strongly suggests that asymmetries exist in the mechanisms used for controlling rising and falling. Specifically, the F0 contour in rising transitions can be modeled as a step response from a critically-damped second-order linear system with fixed average/maximum speed of change, whereas that in falling transitions can be modeled as a step response from an underdamped second-order linear system with fixed transition time. The validity of the model is examined through auditory experiments using synthesized singing voice.

Real traffic flows are captured in various network environments and their statistical properties are analyzed. Based on real traffic flows, MWM (Multifractal Wavelet Model) and Poisson equivalent synthetic traffic flows are generated. Performance analysis of a SB (Synchronous Bulk) packet switch is joined with different types of traffic. Maximum throughput performance of the SB packet switch for various real traffic flows and appropriate MWM and Poisson equivalent synthetic traffic flows are evaluated by using discrete-event simulations. Different flow persistence, SF (Stretch Factor) and scheduling mechanisms are used in order to asses their influence on SB packet switch performance. Traffic asymmetry, either input or output based, has a major influence on SB packet switch performance. By increasing the level of asymmetry, maximum throughput values decrease considerably, especially if the ROT (Rotation) scheduling mechanism is applied. Traffic asymmetry also decreases the influence of the SF parameter on maximum switch throughput. As a general rule of thumb, SF values of no more then 5 must be used if asymmetrical traffic is switched. It is also advisable that OPF (Oldest Packet First) scheduling mechanism is used in such cases. The influence of burstiness and scaling of traffic flows turns out to be relatively insignificant for the SB packet switch maximum throughput results, if the OPF scheduling mechanism is used. Larger throughput discrepancies are detected, if ROT scheduling is used.