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This book focuses on image based security techniques, namely visual cryptography, watermarking, and steganography. The first section explores basic to advanced concepts of visual cryptography (VC). The second section covers Digital Image Watermarking including watermarking algorithms, frameworks for modeling watermarking systems, and the evaluation of watermarking techniques. The final section analyzes Steganography, including the notion, terminology and building blocks of steganographic communication. The book includes many examples and applications, as well as implementation using MATLAB-- Provided by publisher.

Completely bio-based poly(limonene carbonate) is a thermoplastic polymer, which can be synthesized by copolymerization of limonene oxide (derived from limonene, which is found in orange peel) and CO 2 . Poly(limonene carbonate) has one double bond per repeating unit that can be exploited for further chemical modifications. These chemical modifications allow the tuning of the properties of the aliphatic polycarbonate in nearly any direction. Here we show synthetic routes to demonstrate that poly(limonene carbonate) is the perfect green platform polymer, from which many functional materials can be derived. The relevant examples presented in this study are the transformation from an engineering thermoplastic into a rubber, addition of permanent antibacterial activity, hydrophilization and even pH-dependent water solubility of the polycarbonate. Finally, we show a synthetic route to yield the completely saturated counterpart that exhibits improved heat processability due to lower reactivity. With growing concerns over the sustainability of petroleum-based polymers, poly(limonene carbonate) is offered as a renewable alternative. Here, Greiner and co-workers have managed to tune the properties of poly(limonene carbonate) by carrying out several different chemical modifications.

Objectives: To examine the association between perceived overweight status and weight control, discrepancies between perceived and measured weight status, and opportunities for health care professionals (HCPs) to correct weight perception among US adults. Design: Population-based cross-sectional study. Subjects: In all, 16 720 non-pregnant adults from the 2003 to 2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Results: Overall, 64% (73% women, 55% men) reported a desire to weigh less and 48% (57% women, 40% men) reported pursuing weight control. Weight control was positively associated with overweight perception (odds ratio (OR) women 3.74; 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.96, 4.73; OR men 2.82; 95% CI 2.11, 3.76) and an HCP diagnosis of overweight/obesity (OR women 2.22; 95% CI 1.69, 2.91; OR men 2.14; 95% CI 1.58, 2.91), independent of measured weight status. A large proportion of overweight individuals (23% women, 48% men) perceived themselves as having the right weight. Also, 74% of overweight and 29% of obese individuals never had an HCP diagnosis of overweight/obesity. Although the majority of overweight/obese individuals (74% women, 60% men) pursued at least one weight management strategy, fewer (39% women, 32% men) pursued both dietary change and physical activity. Among overweight/obese adults, those with an HCP diagnosis of overweight/obesity were more likely to diet (74 versus 52%), exercise (44 versus 34%), or pursue both (41 versus 30%, all P<0.01) than those who remained undiagnosed. Conclusion: HCPs have unused opportunities to motivate their patients to control and possibly lose weight by correcting weight perceptions and offering counseling on healthy weight loss strategies.

Quantum entanglement has emerged as a great resource for spectroscopy and its importance in two-photon spectrum and microscopy has been demonstrated. Current studies focus on the two-photon absorption, whereas the Raman spectroscopy with quantum entanglement still remains elusive, with outstanding issues of temporal and spectral resolutions. Here we study the new capabilities provided by entangled photons in coherent Raman spectroscopy. An ultrafast frequency-resolved Raman spectroscopy with entangled photons is developed for condensed-phase molecules, to probe the electronic and vibrational coherences. Using quantum correlation between the photons, the signal shows the capability of both temporal and spectral resolutions not accessible by either classical pulses or the fields without entanglement. We develop a microscopic theory for this Raman spectroscopy, revealing the electronic coherence dynamics even at timescale of 50fs. This suggests new paradigms of optical signals and spectroscopy, with potential to push detection below standard quantum limit.

There are several factors like angiogenesis, lymphangiogenesis, genetic alterations, mutational factors that are involved in malignant transformation of potentially malignant oral lesions (PMOLs) to oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) is one of the prototypes of the large family of growth factors that bind heparin. FGF-2 induces angiogenesis and its receptors may play a role in synthesis of collagen. FGFs are involved in transmission of signals between the epithelium and connective tissue, and influence growth and differentiation of a wide variety of tissue including epithelia. The present study was undertaken to analyze expression of FGF-2 and its receptors FGFR-2 and FGFR-3 in 72 PMOLs, 108 OSCC and 52 healthy controls, and their role in risk assessment for malignant transformation of Leukoplakia (LKP) and Oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF) to OSCC. Immunohistochemistry was performed using antibodies against FGF-2, FGFR-2 and FGFR-3. IHC results were validated by Real Time PCR. Expression of FGF-2, FGFR-2 and FGFR-3 was upregulated from PMOLs to OSCC. While 90% (9/10) of PMOLs which showed malignant transformation (transformed) expressed FGF-2, only 24.19% cases (15/62) of PMOLs which were not transformed (untransformed) to OSCC expressed FGF-2. Similarly, FGFR-2 expression was seen in 16/62 (25.81%) of untransformed PMOLs and 8/10 (80%) cases of transformed PMOLs. FGFR-3 expression was observed in 23/62 (37.10%) cases of untransformed PMOLs and 6/10 (60%) cases of transformed PMOLs. A significant association of FGF-2 and FGFR-2 expression with malignant transformation from PMOLs to OSCC was observed both at phenotypic and molecular level. The results suggest that FGF-2 and FGFR-2 may be useful as biomarkers of malignant transformation in patients with OSMF and LKP.

Activating mutations of EZH2, an epigenetic regulator, are present in approximately 20% of patients with follicular lymphoma. We investigated the activity and safety of tazemetostat, a first-in-class, oral EZH2 inhibitor, in patients with follicular lymphoma. This study was an open-label, single-arm, phase 2 trial done at 38 clinics or hospitals in France, the UK, Australia, Canada, Poland, Italy, Ukraine, Germany, and the USA. Eligible patients were adults (≥18 years) with histologically confirmed follicular lymphoma (grade 1, 2, 3a, or 3b) that had relapsed or was refractory to two or more systemic therapies, had an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0–2, and had sufficient tumour tissue for central testing of EZH2 mutation status. Patients were categorised by EZH2 status: mutant (EZH2mut) or wild-type (EZH2WT). Patients received 800 mg of tazemetostat orally twice per day in continuous 28-day cycles. The primary endpoint was objective response rate based on the 2007 International Working Group criteria for non-Hodgkin lymphoma, assessed by an independent radiology committee. Activity and safety analyses were done in patients who received one dose or more of tazemetostat. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01897571, and follow-up is ongoing. Between July 9, 2015, and May 24, 2019, 99 patients (45 in the EZH2mut cohort and 54 in the EZH2WT cohort) were enrolled in the study. At data cutoff for the analysis (Aug 9, 2019), the median follow-up was 22·0 months (IQR 12·0–26·7) for the EZH2mut cohort and 35·9 months (24·9–40·5) for the EZH2WT cohort. The objective response rate was 69% (95% CI 53–82; 31 of 45 patients) in the EZH2mut cohort and 35% (23–49; 19 of 54 patients) in the EZH2WT cohort. Median duration of response was 10·9 months (95% CI 7·2–not estimable [NE]) in the EZH2mut cohort and 13·0 months (5·6–NE) in the EZH2WT cohort; median progression-free survival was 13·8 months (10·7–22·0) and 11·1 months (3·7–14·6). Among all 99 patients, treatment-related grade 3 or worse adverse events included thrombocytopenia (three [3%]), neutropenia (three [3%]), and anaemia (two [2%]). Serious treatment-related adverse events were reported in four (4%) of 99 patients. There were no treatment-related deaths. Tazemetostat monotherapy showed clinically meaningful, durable responses and was generally well tolerated in heavily pretreated patients with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma. Tazemetostat is a novel treatment for patients with follicular lymphoma. Epizyme.

The past decade has seen episodes of increasingly severe air pollution across much of the highly populated Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP), particularly during the post-monsoon season when crop residue burning (CRB) is most prevalent. Recent studies have suggested that a major, possibly dominant contributor to this air quality decline is that northwest (NW) Indian rice residue burning has shifted later into the post-monsoon season, as an unintended consequence of a 2009 groundwater preservation policy that delayed the sowing of irrigated rice paddy. Here we combine air quality modelling of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) over IGP cities, with meteorology, fire and smoke emissions data to directly test this hypothesis. Our analysis of satellite-derived agricultural fires shows that an approximate 10 d shift in the timing of NW India post-monsoon residue burning occurred since the introduction of the 2009 groundwater preservation policy. For the air quality crisis of 2016, we found that NW Indian CRB timing shifts made a small contribution to worsening air quality (3% over Delhi) during the post-monsoon season. However, if the same agricultural fires were further delayed, air quality in the CRB source region (i.e. Ludhiana) and for Delhi could have deteriorated by 30% and 4.4%, respectively. Simulations for other years highlight strong inter-annual variabilities in the impact of these timing shifts, with the magnitude and even direction of PM2.5 concentration changes strongly dependent on specific meteorological conditions. Overall we find post-monsoon IGP air quality to be far more sensitive to meteorology and the amount of residue burned in the fields of NW India than to the timing shifts in residue burning. Our study calls for immediate actions to provide farmers affordable and sustainable alternatives to residue burning to hasten its effective prohibition, which is paramount to reducing the intensity of post-monsoon IGP air pollution episodes.

Cavity-electromechanical systems are extensively used for sensing and controlling the vibrations of mechanical resonators down to their quantum limit. The nonlinear radiation-pressure interaction in these systems could result in an unstable response of the mechanical resonator showing features such as frequency-combs, period-doubling bifurcations and chaos. However, due to weak light-matter interaction, typically these effects appear at very high driving strengths. By using polariton modes formed by a strongly coupled flux-tunable transmon and a microwave cavity, here we demonstrate an electromechanical device and achieve a single-photon coupling rate g 0 / 2 π of 160 kHz, which is nearly 4% of the mechanical frequency ω m . Due to large g 0 / ω m ratio, the device shows an unstable mechanical response resulting in frequency combs in sub-single photon limit. We systematically investigate the boundary of the unstable response and identify two important regimes governed by the optomechanical backaction and the nonlinearity of the electromagnetic mode. Such an improvement in the single-photon coupling rate and the observations of microwave frequency combs at single-photon levels may have applications in the quantum control of the motional states and critical parametric sensing. Our experiments strongly suggest the requirement of newer approaches to understand instabilities. In electromechanical devices, nonlinear radiation-pressure interaction can lead to significant changes in the dynamics from just few photons. Here, by enhancing the light-matter coupling in a cavity electromechanical device, the author show the onset of mechanical instabilities with less than a single photon in the cavity.

We demonstrate the existence of the phenomenon of the inverse electromagnetically induced transparency (IEIT) in an opto mechanical system consisting of a nanomechanical mirror placed in an optical cavity. We show that two weak counter-propagating identical classical probe fields can be completely absorbed by the system in the presence of a strong coupling field so that the output probe fields are zero. The light is completely confined inside the cavity and the energy of the incoming probe fields is shared between the cavity field and creation of a coherent phonon and resides primarily in one of the polariton modes. The energy can be extracted by a perturbation of the external fields or by suddenly changing the Q of the cavity.

Finding new phase of matter is a fundamental task in physics. Generally, various phases or states of matter (for instance solid/liquid/gas phases) have different symmetries, the phase transitions among them can be explained by Landau’s symmetry breaking theory. The topological phases discovered in recent years show that different phases may have the same symmetry. The different topological phases are characterized by different integer values of the Berry phases. By studying one dimensional (1D) trimer lattices we report new phases beyond topological phases. The new phases that we find are characterized by piecewise continuous Berry phases with the discontinuity occurring at the transition point. With time-dependent changes in trimer lattices, we can generate two dimensional (2D) phases, which are characterized by the Berry phase of half period. This half-period Berry phase changes smoothly within one state of the system while changes discontinuously at the transition point. We further demonstrate the existence of adiabatic pumping for each phase and gain assisted enhanced pumping. The non reciprocity of the pumping process makes the system a good optical diode.