Abstract

The use of camera as a biometric sensor is desirable due to its ubiquity and low cost, especially for mobile devices. Palmprint is an effective modality in such cases due to its discrimination power, ease of presentation and the scale and size of texture for capture by commodity cameras. However, the unconstrained nature of pose and lighting introduces several challenges in the recognition process. Even minor changes in pose of the palm can induce significant changes in the visibility of the lines. We turn this property to our advantage by capturing a short video, where the natural palm motion induces minor pose variations, providing additional texture information. We propose a method to register multiple frames of the video without requiring correspondence, while being efficient. Experimental results on a set of different 100 palms show that the use of multiple frames reduces the error rate from 12.75% to 4.7%. We also propose a method for detection of poor quality samples due to specularities and motion blur, which further reduces the EER to 1.8%.

Abstract

This paper introduces an efficient privacy-preserving protocol for distributed K-means clustering over an arbitrary partitioned data, shared among N parties. Clustering is one of the fundamental algorithms used in the field of data mining. Advances in data acquisition methodologies have resulted in collection and storage of vast quantities of user’s personal data. For mutual benefit, organizations tend to share their data for analytical purposes, thus raising privacy concerns for the users. Over the years, numerous attempts have been made to introduce privacy and security at the expense of massive additional communication costs. The approaches suggested in the literature make use of the cryptographic protocols such as Secure Multiparty Computation (SMC) and/or homomorphic encryption schemes like Paillier’s encryption. Methods using such schemes have proven communication overheads. And in practice are found to be slower by a factor of more than 106. In light of the practical limitations posed by privacy using the traditional approaches, we explore a paradigm shift to side-step the expensive protocols of SMC. In this work, we use the paradigm of secret sharing, which allows the data to be divided into multiple shares and processed separately at different servers. Using the paradigm of secret sharing, allows us to design a provably-secure, cloud computing based solution which has negligible communication overhead compared to SMC and is hence over a million times faster than similar SMC based protocols

Abstract

Concerns on widespread use of biometric authentication systems are primarily centered around template security, revocability, and privacy. The use of cryptographic primitives to bolster the authentication process can alleviate some of these concerns as shown by biometric cryptosystems. In this paper, we propose a provably secure and blind biometric authentication protocol, which addresses the concerns of user’s privacy, template protection, and trust issues. The protocol is blind in the sense that it reveals only the identity, and no additional information about the user or the biometric to the authenticating server or vice-versa. As the protocol is based on asymmetric encryption of the biometric data, it captures the advantages of biometric authentication as well as the security of public key cryptography. The authentication protocol can run over public networks and provide nonrepudiable identity verification. The encryption also provides template protection, the ability to revoke enrolled templates, and alleviates the concerns on privacy in widespread use of biometrics. The proposed approach makes no restrictive assumptions on the biometric data and is hence applicable to multiple biometrics. Such a protocol has significant advantages over existing biometric cryptosystems, which use a biometric to secure a secret key, which in turn is used for authentication. We analyze the security of the protocol under various attack scenarios. Experimental results on four biometric datasets (face, iris, hand geometry, and fingerprint) show that carrying out the authentication in the encrypted domain does not affect the accuracy, while the encryption key acts as an additional layer of security.

Abstract

Heritage could be something which is acquired from one’s ancestors. It could be natural heritage, cultural heritage, food heritage, built monumental heritage; or it could be the virtue of vernacular architectural & construction techniques which people from many different communities have secured from their ancestors through generations. But, with the advent of modernism, vernacular architecture, construction techniques and skills are fast disappearing as there is simply no demand for them anymore. Similar to the case with many of our traditional crafts, we are facing the risk of extinction of skills for buildings. As more and more constructions in villages are turning towards cement and steel, the traditional and sophisticated art of construction will fade away sooner rather than later. The preservation of such skills and, in fact their propagation must be an important priority for stakeholders and policy makers. This paper not only the presents the risks of extinction which these heritage construction techniques & skills are facing from modern mind-set, but it also presents some of the vernacular building typologies in seismic zones IV & V showing, their uniqueness in intertwining the culture and resistance to natural forces of the region.

Abstract

This paper presents the preliminary seismic hazard assessment of the peninsular India (lat. 10-26N and long. 68-90E) which is considered to be seismically most stable land masses of the Indian plate. Past major seismic events in this region (Koyna, 10 Dec 1967; Bhadrachalam, 13 Apr 1969; Hyderabad, 30 Jun 1983; Latur, 30 Sep 1993; Jabalpur, 22 May 1997; Bhuj, 26 Jan 2001) clearly shows that the seismicity of the area is highly varying. There were five damaging earthquakes with magnitudes Mw 6.0 occurred in this region, stressing the importance of detailed seismic hazard assessment for this region. For India, Bhatia published a probabilistic seismic hazard map based on several well identified and prominent source zones in the country. An attempt has been made in this paper to study the present seismic status of this region incorporating the detailed seismicity, tectonic and geologic characteristics. Around 110 major faults are considered in this present research study for estimating the peak ground acceleration at the bedrock level using the attenuation relationships developed by Atkinson and Boore. The considered area under peninsular region has been divided into grid pattern with 10x10 and around 280 site specific locations are considered for the detailed analysis. From this study, it is observed that 30% of PI is overestimated and 12% is underestimated when compared with PGA values for various regions provided in Indian seismic code IS: 1893-2002. The results show that there is a great need for carrying out the detailed microzonation of an area within the peninsular India.

Abstract

In the proximity of an active fault, spatial variation of peak ground motion is significantly affected by the faulting mechanism. It has been observed that near fault ground motions consists of different characteristics compared to the far fault ground motions. Near fault records, in the distance range of less than 100 m from the faults are not available except for few cases. Therefore numerical simulation of ground motions for such near-fault situations is necessary. In addition to the understanding of the phenomenon of near fault ground motion there is a need to enhance our understanding of the possible potential hazard that can be caused due to the future rupture activity by understanding the phenomenon of surface faulting. In this paper we propose numerical simulation based on discrete modeling to investigate the fault rupture propagation and its effect on the surface peak ground acceleration. In the present two dimensional study rupture propagation due to bedrock motion has been observed for different shear wave velocity. A model of size 1000 X 150 m is selected for this purpose. It has been observed that as the stiffness of the media is decreasing, the affected surface is decreasing and also width of the shear crack zone is decreasing. Secondly, we attempted to study the ground motion on the surface due to the bedrock motion in presence of boulders in the soil media. Surface faulting has been examined by keeping the boulder at different positions. We find that there is an increase in the shear zone as well as the PGA on the surface when the boulder is present on the foot wall and in the vicinity of the rupture zone. Finally, we performed the …

Abstract

Ask a common man about past earthquakes in india. Most people would answer Latur earthquake of 1993 and Bhuj earthquake of 2001 in addition to tsunami devastation of Dec 2004. However if we look at the figure we can see many events have occurred in last two decades. But why we remember only few events. The reason being obvious i.e life loss during these events. From the figure we can easily understand that during during last decades we have witnessed 6 moderate earthquake.

Abstract

Bamboo was used as construction material for housing since times immemorial. However, with the advent of materials like concrete and steel, its use has been signicantly reduced in last 50-100 years. On the other hand concrete and steel has large carbon footprints before even they are born. Use of wood has already banned by Central Public Works Department (CPWD). Similarly, State PWD's are also trying to follow the same. In this scenario, there is a great need to demonstrate cost eective housing with alternate technologies, especially like bamboo. However, for promoting bamboo as natural building material for housing, several dificulties are involved. This paper discusses the dificulties involved in promoting bamboo as sustainable construction material.

Abstract

Transmission tower lines are one of most important life-line structures. It is necessary that these structures are designed for seismicity. The dynamic behavior of a single transmission tower and transmission tower system that are linked by conductors has been studied in this research work. The dynamic analysis is performed on both the single transmission tower and the tower line system. The wind force acting on the tower is considered as an equivalent static force. The seismic analysis of the tower has been performed in SAP2000 Nonlinear computer program (SAP2000, Computers and Structures). The tower elements are modeled using 3 D frame elements. The tower has been subjected to North-ridge strong ground motion (1994) and the Koyna strong ground motion (1967) to study the dynamic behavior as described in the present work. Parametric study has been carried out by studying the influence of cable on the tower when the force in the cable is applied at different angles to the cross arms. The non-linear material behavior of the leg members of the tower has been studied when it is subjected to the two strong ground motions considered. To understand the non-linear behavior of the material bi-linear model has been considered and it is analyzed in the present work.

Abstract

Bhuj earthquake of 26 January 2001 caused 14,000 casualties. Main reason for such huge casualties is low earthquake awareness and poor construction practices. Based on the technology advancement and knowledge gained after earthquake occurrences, the seismic code is usually revised. Last revision of IS 1893 (Criteria for earthquake resistant design of structures) was done in 2002 after a long gap of about 18 years. Some new clauses were included and some old provisions were updated. Assuming that concerned authorities will take enough steps for code compliance and the structures that are being constructed are earthquake resistant. In this light, what will happen to the safety of pre-code revision structures? These structures carry major percentage of vulnerable structure stock. Even if we have a very good disaster response system, it is impossible to reduce earthquake damage without considering the safety of pre-code revision structures. In this regard, a comprehensive study of seismic risk assessment of Gujarat is necessary. As a pilot study, government of Gujarat selected Gandhidham and Adipur cities. Rapid Visual Screening (RVS) was conducted on 16000 buildings in Gandhidham and Adipur cities. Initial results reveal that there are large variety of construction practices, however, predominantly RCC and masonry structure were found. RVS score of these structures reveal that in general buildings are of low quality and further evaluation and strengthening of buildings is recommended. Keywords: RVS, performance score, preliminary assessment and detailed assessment Earthquake Vulnerability Assessment of Existing Buildings in Gandhidham and Adipur Cities Kachchh, Gujarat (India)