This dissertation study describes and presents an alternative method for delivering digital video, the MPEG-4 compression format, through the use of an analog cable network for direct viewing on television sets. The purpose of the study is to propose this technology as an alternative to the present cable network technologies in Uruguay and elsewhere in South America. Delivery standards that might be used over such a CATV network include DVB-C (digital video broadcast for cable), and IP (internet protocol) networks. The study compares the current technologies to determine which would be the best way to provide such delivery over CATV networks. It is the argument of this study that the delivery of MPEG-4 format streaming video is no different than the delivery of any type of digital signal: in order for the signal to be delivered, it must pass through a transmission medium such as fiber-optic cable, twisted-wire pair, coaxial cable, etc. The dissertation makes the case that MPEG-4 is a feasible alternative technology which should be considered for new CATV applications in this region. This study is from a technical point of view, when it comes to implementation there are other elements that should be taken into account.

Video-on-Demand (VoD) is a service that allows people to request and view stored videos or movies of their choice directly online from a VoD service provider. The selected streaming videos are then delivered over the broadband Internet. The bursty nature of Variable-Bit-Rate (VBR) compressed video (such as MPEG) poses some important issues for video delivery over high-speed networks due to its significant bit rate variation over multiple time scales. However, sufficient quality of service (QoS) mechanisms must be in place before it can be widely enabled and deployed over Internet. Conventionally a static bandwidth level close to the peak rate is reserved for a streaming video flow. Any static allocation of network resources for VBR video traffic would be difficult and inefficient considering the peak rate to be significantly higher than the average data rate. Since the traffic pattern over time is already known for pre-recorded videos, this issue is addressed by the Renegotiated Constant Bit Rate (RCBR) service which proposes QoS allocation over multiple time scales. Since this mechanism has been tested via simulations and analysis only we implemented it on a real test bed with a VoD server and clients to study its performance. We observed that under heavy bandwidth constraints the performance of RCBR is much better than traditional CBR in terms of packet loss rate. We also implement a new Adaptive Buffer Window mechanism and the concept of application level smoothing to increase the scalability of a VoD server. / Master of Science

Pagrindinis šio darbo tikslas buvo susintetinti vandenyje tirpius norimos struktūros bei skirtingo pakeitimo laipsnio skiepytuosius chitozano-polietilenglikolio (MPEG) kopolimerus bei katijonizuotus chitozano darinius ir ištirti jų savybes. „Klik“ chemijos reakcijų pagalba susintetinti nauji įvairaus pakeitimo laipsnio chitozano-MPEG skiepytieji kopolimerai, turintys triazolilliekaną. Pasiūlyti nauji chitozano-C(6)-MPEG bei N-2,3-epoksipropil-N,N,N-trimetilamonio chloridu C(6)-katijonizuoto chitozano sintezės būdai, chitozano aminogrupių apsaugai naudojant chitozano kompleksus su dodecilsulfatu. Dalinai N-katijonizuoto chitozano darinius papildomai katijonizuojant šarminėje terpėje, gauti N,O-katijonizuoti chitozano dariniai, turintys labai didelį katijonizavimo laipsnį. Pasiūlytas katijonizuoto chitozano fermentinės hidrolizės metodas, kurį naudojant chitozano darinio molekulinę masę lengvai galima sumažinti dešimtimis kartų. Chitozaną modifikuojant vyno, citrinų, adipo rūgštimis, susintetinti dalinai tinklinti chitozano dariniai. Prie chitozano ir karboksirūgštimis modifikuotų chitozano nanodalelių prijungus (4-cianpentano rūgšties)-4-ditiobenzenkarboksilatą, susintetintas makroiniciatorius gyvybingajai radikalinei polimerizacijai RAFT metodu. / The main aim of this work was to synthesize water-soluble chitosan-methoxy poly(ethylene glycol) (MPEG) graft copolymers and quaternized derivative of chitosans of various structure and desirable graft density and to study their properties. Novel chitosan-MPEG derivatives containing triazolyl moiety with different degree of substitution of chitosan were prepared for the first time by “click chemistry”. Several new schemes of the synthesis of chitosan-C(6)-TMPEG and C(6)-quaternized chitosan derivatives were suggested based on protection of amino functionality by using chitosan-dodecyl sulfate complexes. Additional cationization of cationic chitosan through its hydroxyl groups in alkaline medium enabled to prepare N,O-quaternized chitosans derivatives with very high degree of quaternization. It was suggested method of enzymatic hydrolysis of quaternized chitosans which allow a tenfold decrease the molecular weight of chitosans derivatives. Modification of chitosan by tartaric, citric or adipic acid yielded partially crosslinked chitosan derivatives. Modification of chitosan and further modification of chitosan nanoparticles by dithiobenzendicarboxylate resulted in RAFT macroinitiators which are precursors of functionalized nanoparticles.

The main aim of this work was to synthesize water-soluble chitosan – methoxy poly(ethylene glycol) (MPEG) graft copolymers and cationized chitosan derivatives of various structure and desirable graft density, and to study their properties. Novel chitosan-MPEG derivatives with different degree of substitution of chitosan were prepared for the first time by “click” chemistry. Several new schemes of the synthesis of chitosan-MPEG and additionally cationized chitosan derivatives were suggested based on protection of amino functionality by using chitosan-dodecyl sulphate complexes. Additional cationization of chitosan through its hydroxyl groups in alkaline medium enabled to prepare chitosan derivatives with very high charge density. A method of enzymatic hydrolysis of the cationized chitosans was proposed which allowed a tenfold decrease of the molecular weight of chitosan derivatives. Modification of chitosan by tartaric, citric or adipic acid yielded chitosan nanoparticles. Further modification of chitosan nanoparticles by dithiobenzendicarboxylate resulted in RAFT macroinitiators used as precursors of functionalized nanoparticles. / Pagrindinis šio darbo tikslas buvo susintetinti vandenyje tirpius norimos struktūros bei pakeitimo laipsnio skiepytuosius chitozano – polietilenglikolio (MPEG) kopolimerus bei katijonizuotus chitozano darinius ir ištirti jų savybes. Įvairaus pakeitimo laipsnio chitozano-MPEG skiepytieji kopolimerai susintetinti vykdant „klik“ chemijos reakcijas. Pasiūlyti nauji chitozano-MPEG bei papildomai katijonizuoto chitozano sintezės būdai, chitozano aminogrupių apsaugai naudojant chitozano kompleksus su dodecilsulfatu. Dalinai katijonizuoto chitozano darinius papildomai katijonizuojant šarminėje terpėje, gauti chitozano dariniai, turintys labai didelį krūvio tankį. Pasiūlytas katijonizuoto chitozano fermentinės hidrolizės metodas, kurį naudojant chitozano darinio molekulinę masę lengvai galima sumažinti dešimtimis kartų. Chitozaną modifikuojant vyno, citrinų arba adipo rūgštimis, susintetintos nanodalelės. Prie chitozano nanodalelių prijungus (4-cianpentano rūgšties)-4-ditiobenzenkarboksilatą, susintetintas makroiniciatorius gyvybingajai radikalinei polimerizacijai RAFT metodu.

O trabalho apresentado nesta dissertação trata do desenvolvimento de um mecanismo para adaptação automática de ví?deo MPEG-4 ao vivo, de modo a atender as necessidades ou capacidades atuais de usuários e do sistema. Um dos desafios dessa área é capturar e representar as informações necessárias para realizar a adaptação. Assim, utilizando técnicas da área de computação ciente de contexto, foi desenvolvido um modelo extensível para representação de dispositivos. Também foram desenvolvidos métodos automáticos e semi-automáticos para capturar as informações necessárias. Neste trabalho foi adotado o modelo de recodificação de vídeo, o qual pode gerar atrasos que inviabilizam a adaptação de vídeo ao vivo em aplicações interativas. Assim, este trabalho realizou uma avaliação do impacto causado pela recodificação no atraso total, fim-a-fim, percebido pelo usuário. / This work presents the development of a mechanism to automatically adapt MPEG-4 live video, in a way to response the actual necessities or capacities of users or systems. One of the challanges in this area is to capture and represent the information needed to adapting content. Thus, using context aware computing techniques, an extensible model has been developed, which can be used to represent devices. It has also been developed automatic and semi-automatic methods to capture the needed information. In this work, the transcoding model has been adopted, which may generate latency, making difficult to use transcoding with interactive applications. In this way, this work has evaluated the impact caused by the transcoding when compared to the end-to-end total delay perceived by the user.

A esteganografia em vídeos digitais possibilita o ocultamento de um grande volume de informações quando comparada a técnicas em imagens. Contudo, esta tarefa não é trivial quando aplicada a vídeos comprimidos, pois a inserção de informações ocultas pode adicionar ruído dificultando a perfeita recuperação das mesmas durante a decodificação. Este trabalho apresenta uma técnica para esteganografia em vídeos comprimidos, denominada MP4Stego, a qual explora estruturas e tecnologias do padrão de vídeo MPEG-4 de modo a proceder recuperação de informações sem perda e apresentar maior capacidade de inserção de dados ocultos. Entre os benefícios da técnica estão: A capacidade de ocultamento de grande volume de dados; a capacidade de reprodução do vídeo contendo dados ocultos em players não especializados (ajudando a dar a ilusão de que se trata de um vídeo comum), sua imunidade, até o momento, as técnicas de esteganálise / Digital video steganography makes possible to hide higher volumes of information than the broadly used image steganography techniques. However, apply steganography to compressed digital videos is not a trivial task because the information hiding process may add noise to the original data. In this way, during the video decoding, the recovered hidden information is not an exact copy of the original data. This work presents a new steganographic technique, called MP4Stego, which explores new video structures of the MPEG-4 standard in order to recover hidden data without loss and in order to provide higher capacity of hidden data insertion. Some benefits of the MP4Stego technique are: to hide high volumes of data; to playback steganographyed videos by the means of non specialized players (this helps users to think that it is a regular video); so far, its immunity to stegoanalysis techniques

O Monometoxi-polietilenoglicol succinimidil ácido propiônico (mPEG-SPA 5 e 20 kDa) foi analisado como adjuvante e inibidor da atividade neurotóxica da toxina tetânica (TxT) adsorvida ou não em Al(OH)3, à qual o polímero foi conjugado. Avaliou-se a toxicidade das amostras por DL50, demonstrando que a atividade neurotóxica da TxT foi inibida. A via subcutânea foi mais efetiva na indução de resposta à TxT tratada pelo mPEG-SPA e o efeito adjuvante do Al(OH)3 se deu pela intramuscular. Trinta cavalos foram submetidos a esquema de imunização seletiva, dividindo-se os dezoito escolhidos em grupos para imunização com TxT conjugada ao mPEG-SPA 5.000 e 5.000(2X) e TxT adsorvida ou não. Os soros dos cavalos foram analisados por ToBI Teste, que avaliou a evolução da resposta imune. Os soros também foram analisados por imunodifusão, eletroforese e immunoblotting, tendo este indicado uma provável superioridade antigênica da TxT Fluida relativamente aos adjuvantes. A conjugação mPEG-SPA provou ser efetiva na produção do soro antitetânico terapêutico para uso humano. / Monometoxypolyethylene glycol succinimidyl propionic acid (SPA-mPEG 5 and 20 kDa) was analyzed as adjuvant and inhibitor of tetanus toxin neurotoxic activity (TxT) adsorbed or not by Al(OH)3, to which the polymer was conjugated. The samples toxicity was evaluated by DL50, disclosing that TxT neurotoxic activity was inhibited. The subcutaneous inoculation was more effective in induction of response to TxT treated with SPA-mPEG and the adjuvant effect of Al(OH)3 was evidenced by the intramuscular. Thirty horses were submitted to a selective scheme of immunization and eighteen were divided in groups to be immunized with TxT conjugated to SPA-mPEG 5,000 and 5,000(2X) and TxT adsorbed or not. The horses sera were analysed by ToBI Test, which evaluated the immune response development. The sera were also analysed through immunodifusion, electrophoresis and immunoblotting and the last one indicates a probable antigenic superiority of TxT fluid relatively to the adjuvants. The SPA-mPEG conjugation proved to be effective for anti-tetanus human therapeutic serum production.

"Video-based sensor networks can be used to improve environment surveillance, health care and emergency response. Many sensor network scenarios require multiple high quality video streams that share limited wireless bandwidth. At the same time, the lifetime of wireless video sensors are constrained by the capacity of their batteries. Media scaling may extend battery life by reducing the video data rate while still maintaining visual quality, but comes at the expense of additional compression time. This thesis studies the effects of media scaling on video sensor energy consumption by: measuring the energy consumption on the different components of the video sensor; building a energy consumption model with several adjustable parameters to analyze the performance of a video sensor; exploring the trade-offs between the video quality and the energy consumption for a video sensor; and, finally, building a working video sensor to validate the accuracy of the model. The results show that the model is an accurate representation of the power usage of an actual video sensor. In addition, media scaling is often an effective way to reduce energy consumption in a video sensor."

Au cours des dernières années les Mondes Virtuels 3D (MV3D) sont devenus une réalité. Initialement considérés comme un nouveau moyen de communication sociale, initiés par le développement logiciel et matériel, les MV3Ds révèlent diverses fonctionnalités, des expériences et des connaissances. Étant la représentation de l'utilisateur, l'avatar est l’une des ressources les plus significatives et les plus complexes d'un monde virtuel. Une courte analyse d'un contenu de MV nous informe que le stockage/transmission est la partie la plus significative des ressources du MV. Dans l’ensemble des ressources, les avatars sont les structures les plus complexes, représentés par différents composants : géométrie, images, animations, etc. Donc, en abordant les problématiques de compression, d'adaptation et d'interopérabilité liées aux avatars, nous traitons implicitement presque tout type de ressources tifs qu’on pourrait retrouver dans les MVs. L'objectif global du développement d’outils et des méthodes, pour un déploiement élargi de MV, est traduit par les trois points spécifiques suivants: Proposer un framework de compression pour permettre le transfert efficace et compact d'avatars et de ressources graphiques 3D généraux. Spécifiquement pour des avatars, le framework devrait être indépendante avec un formalisme de représentation. Proposer une solution optimisée permettant l’accessibilité aux avatars sur des terminaux à faibles ressources tels que les téléphones portables. Définir un modèle de métadonnées permettant l'interopérabilité d'avatars entre différents MVs. Les trois objectifs sont traités dans ce manuscrit et pour chacun nous proposons des contributions originales. / In the last few years 3D Virtual Worlds (3DVWs) became a reality. Initially considered as a new mean for social communication, triggered by the development of software and hardware technology, 3DVWs are exposing now different functionalities, experiences and acquaintances. Therefore, they achieved their popularity very fast, indicated by the number and the progression of active users. Being the representation of the user, the avatar is one of the most significant and most complex assets of a Virtual World. A short analysis of a VW content allows one to observe that from the point of view of the storage/transmission the most significant amount is represented by the VW assets. Within the set of assets, the avatars are the most complex structures, consisting of different components: geometry, images, animations, structures, etc. The overall objective of developing tools and methods for a large deployment of VW are translated into three specific ones: To propose a compression framework to enable efficient, compact transfer of avatars, and general 3D graphics assets. Specifically for avatars, the framework should be independent from the representation formalism. To propose an optimized solution making the avatars accessible on weak terminals such as mobile phones. To define a metadata model allowing avatars interoperability between different VWs. The three objectives are addressed in this thesis and for each we propose original contributions.

<p>The packing and coding of digital video is a part of science where much innovation has taken place during the last few decades. The MPEG standards of video encoding are some of the most well-known and used video coding standards today. Since MPEG defines exact requirements for the decoder, but not the encoder, encoders can be made in many different ways and levels of complexity, as long as they produce legal MPEG streams that can be viewed on any MPEG-conformant decoder. This thesis will examine the possible performance of MPEG, in particular MPEG-1/MPEG-2 full TV resolution (720*576), for coding video at bitrates significantly lower than the 2-15 Mb/s MPEG-2 originally was designed for. For this purpose, encoding methods previously proposed by various researchers are presented. Furthermore a few new algorithms, which can be used for MPEG coding in general, but was constructed with a low-bitrate encoder in mind, were developed. Finally objective video quality benchmarks were conducted and the results evaluated.</p>