SNR scalability, used in two-layer video coding, guarantees good base quality pictures at the expense of increased overall bit-rate. By understanding the inherent ine ciencies of enhancement layer coding we have developed an optimisation method called optimal coe cient adjustment in order to reduce overall bit-rates to levels consistent with single-layer operation.

In the recent worldwide campaign for the global biodiversity inventory via DNA barcoding, a simple and easily used measure of confidence for assigning sequences to species in DNA barcoding has not been established so far, although the likelihood ratio test and the bayesian approach had been proposed to address this issue from a statistical point of view. The TDR (Two Dimensional non-parametric ...

This article presents an empirical model for the noise of the acoustic underwater channel in shallow water from the analysis of field data measurements. A probability density function for the noise amplitude distribution is proposed and the associated likelihood functions are derived. As a result, an expression to the probability of symbol error for binary signaling is presented for the channel...

The subcellular pattern of cytosolic free Ca2+ ([Ca2+]i) changes in human polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) was studied using imaging of fura-2 fluorescence (time resolution 12.5 ratios/s) to determine whether PMNs could obtain directional information from the [Ca2+]i signal. [Ca2+]i changes were observed during initial adherence, the subsequent chemotactic movement, and the phagocytosis of ...

In this study, Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) from a pharmaceutical wastewater (PhW) was reduced by several techniques such as electro-Fenton (EF), photo electro-Fenton (PEF) and activated sludge (AS) processes and the obtained data were compared with each other. The effects of several parameters such as pH, current density, H2O2/Fe2+ molar ratio, volume ratio of ...

We report on a possible correlation between the mass ratio and period ratio of pairs of adjacent planets in extra-solar planetary systems. Monte-Carlo simulations show that the effect is significant to level of 0.7%, as long as we exclude two pairs of planets whose periods are at the 1:2 resonance. Only the next few multiple systems can tell if the correlation is real. 1. The correlation betwee...

objective(s):valproic acid (vpa), a drug used in the treatment of neurological disorders, has been shown to have cytotoxic effects on cancer cells through different mechanisms. telomerase, a ribonucleoprotein reverse transcriptase, is responsible for elongation of the telomere and is activated in cancers. a relation between telomerase activity and resistance to apoptosis has been established. t...

We investigate the determinants of US credit union capital-to-assets ratios, before and after the implementation of the current capital adequacy regulatory framework in 2000. Capitalization varies pro-cyclically, and until the financial crisis credit unions classified as adequately capitalized or below followed a faster adjustment path than well capitalized credit unions. This pattern was rever...

A joint temporal-spatial rate control method is proposed for adaptive MPEG video transcoding in this work. The proposed rate control scheme adjusts both the frame rate and the frame quantization step size according to the available channel bandwidth to achieve good temporal-spatial quality tradeoff. In the proposed transcoding scheme, motion vectors are reused to facilitate the transcoding spee...

The title compound, C(18)H(25)FO(9), exhibits a similar unit cell and packing to the α polymorph of axial 4a,8a-dihy-droxy-per-hydro-naph-tha-lene-2,3,6,7-tetrayl tetraacetate. The carbonyl O atoms of two of the four acetate groups in the molecule are disordered over two sites with occupancy ratios of 0.59 (4):0.41 (4) and 0.57 (6):0.43 (6). Crystal packing is effected via inter-molecular O-H⋯O...