Search results for " Protection."
showing 10 items of 925 documents
Astrobiology of life on Earth
2021
Astrobiology is mistakenly regarded by some as a field confined to studies of life beyond Earth. Here, we consider life on Earth through an astrobiological lens. Whereas classical studies of microbiology historically focused on various anthropocentric sub-fields (such as fermented foods or commensals and pathogens of crop plants, livestock and humans), addressing key biological questions via astrobiological approaches can further our understanding of all life on Earth. We highlight potential implications of this approach through the articles in this Environmental Microbiology special issue ‘Ecophysiology of Extremophiles’. They report on the microbiology of places/processes including low-te…
A robust blind 3-D mesh watermarking based on wavelet transform for copyright protection
2019
Nowadays, three-dimensional meshes have been extensively used in several applications such as, industrial, medical, computer-aided design (CAD) and entertainment due to the processing capability improvement of computers and the development of the network infrastructure. Unfortunately, like digital images and videos, 3-D meshes can be easily modified, duplicated and redistributed by unauthorized users. Digital watermarking came up while trying to solve this problem. In this paper, we propose a blind robust watermarking scheme for three-dimensional semiregular meshes for Copyright protection. The watermark is embedded by modifying the norm of the wavelet coefficient vectors associated with th…
Hybrid blind robust image watermarking technique based on DFT-DCT and Arnold transform
2018
In this paper, a robust blind image watermarking method is proposed for copyright protection of digital images. This hybrid method relies on combining two well-known transforms that are the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) and the discrete cosine transform (DCT). The motivation behind this combination is to enhance the imperceptibility and the robustness. The imperceptibility requirement is achieved by using magnitudes of DFT coefficients while the robustness improvement is ensured by applying DCT to the DFT coefficients magnitude. The watermark is embedded by modifying the coefficients of the middle band of the DCT using a secret key. The security of the proposed method is enhanced by appl…
Radiation leakage study for the Valencia applicators
2011
Abstract Introduction and purpose The Valencia applicators which are accessories of the microSelectron-HDR afterloader (Nucletron, Veenendaal, The Netherlands) are designed to treat skin lesions. These cup-shaped applicators are an alternative to superficial/orthovoltage x-ray treatment units. They limit the irradiation to the required area using tungsten-alloy shielding, and are equipped with a tungsten-alloy flattering filter allowing the treatment of skin tumors, the oral cavity, vaginal cuff, etc. The tungsten-alloy thickness to shield radiation is not the same in all parts of the applicators. This fact led us to question whether the leakage radiation differs depending on where it is me…
Investor protection and business creation
2003
We study the effects of investor protection on the availability of external finance, entrepreneurship, and creation of new firms in an equilibrium search model of private capital markets. In addition to search frictions, we examine contract frictions, specifically interim and ex post moral hazard problems stemming from entrepreneurs’ possibilities to expropriate financiers. In our model, the government chooses the level of investor protection that determines the transferability of match surplus between entrepreneurs and financiers. The results indicate that anything that increases (decreases) entrepreneurship also increases (decreases) the creation of start-ups. The effect of investor prote…
STATUS OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AS A SOURCE OF FINANCE FOR REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: MEASUREMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND REGIONAL POLICY WITH TH…
2008
The present paper analyses spatial distribution of EU financial support for territories, where environmental protection is of high importance, and tests the measuring method based on the t‐statistic of sign frequency in order to apply the R. Fisher function's arcsin transformation. The measuring of EU fund distribution is based on the analysis of sign frequency in sample groups with sign frequency in all the municipalities of Latvia. There are 530 municipalities in Latvia, and in 100 of them environmental protection is of high importance. The author has concluded that Latvian municipalities with high environmental protection levels have significantly higher possibilities to obtain EU funds …
Financing Unemployment Benefits: Dismissal versus Employment Taxes
2006
This paper investigates the effects of using dismissal taxes to finance unemployment benefits. We compare dismissal and employment taxes in a model with search frictions. Employment taxes give rise to externalities because firms do not take into account the effects their dismissal decisions have on others. By introducing dismissal taxes to finance unemployment insurance, these externalities can partly be internalized. Taking into account the budget of the unemployment insurance, employment taxes can be reduced by more than necessary to offset the adverse effect of dismissal taxes on the firm value. The introduction of dismissal taxes leads to higher job creation and lower unemployment, in c…
Indigent consumers’ protection at the financial services market
2016
Opracowanie stanowi próbę odpowiedzi na pytanie, czy ochrona osób niezamożnych na rynku usług finansowych powinna być realizowana odrębnie w stosunku do powszechnie obowiązujących zasad oraz jakie elementy powinna obejmować ta ochrona? Ponadto – jakie podmioty powinny jej udzielać – czy te, które już istnieją na rynku, czy inne, nowe? Problem ochrony osób niezamożnych wynika stąd, że w dużej mierze osoby te są wykluczone z rynku podstawowego (mainstream market), objętego ochroną prawną. Część osób korzysta z oferty rynku alternatywnego, czy wręcz nieformalnego. Wydaje się więc, że dodatkowa ochrona osób niezamożnych powinna być ukierunkowana na te właśnie obszary rynku usług finansowych. Th…
Spain: a decentralised health system in constant flux
2009
The Spanish healthcare system is one of Europe’s most efficient, but urgent reform is needed if it is to cope with changing demands and rising costs, argue Jose M Martin-Moreno and colleagues
The headstarting technique is an ineffective method for conservation of the European pond turtle – elasticity analysis
2008
The European pond turtle ( Emys orbicularis ) is endangered in many areas within its distribution range. Thus, protection programmes for the turtle populations are in place. However, the efficiency of some techniques (including a highly manipulative one - headstarting) is questionable. Elasticity analysis was conducted using the life history data gathered in central Poland during the period 1986 - 2002. The analysis revealed that headstarting is a fairly ineffective method. The most effective methods are those that protect adult individuals. Thus, methods that can sustain a decreasing adult mortality rate should be recommended for turtle conservation.