Deep Learning for Conversions Between Melodic Frameworks of Indian Classical Music

The CycleGAN deep learning framework has been successfully used for image style transfer in important domains such as medical diagnosis. This paper describes attempts, first of their kind, at using the framework for converting Indian Classical music from one melodic framework, called raga or raag, to another. From the audio samples generated and their visualizations, it is evident that the experiments were reasonably successful in converting music in Hindustani Classical raga to music in Indian Carnatic raga and vice versa. The insights presented in the paper are hoped to inspire further work to revolutionize the use of technology to improvise Indian Classical music

Design and analysis of photovoltaic powered battery - operated computer vision - based multi - purpose smart farming robot

Farm machinery like water sprinklers (WS) and pesticide sprayers (PS) are becoming quite popular in the agricultural sector. The WS and PS are two distinct types of machinery, mostly powered using conventional energy sources. In recent times, the battery and solar-powered WS and PS have also emerged. With the current WS and PS, the main drawback is the lack of intelligence on water and pesticide use decisions and autonomous control. This paper proposes a novel multi-purpose smart farming robot (MpSFR) that handles both water sprinkling and pesticide spraying. The MpSFR is a photovoltaic (PV) powered battery-operated internet of things (IoT) and computer vision (CV) based robot that helps in automating the watering and spraying process. Firstly, the PV-powered battery-operated autonomous MpSFR equipped with a storage tank for water and pesticide drove with a programmed pumping device is engineered. The sprinkling and spraying mechanisms are made fully automatic with a programmed pattern that utilizes IoT sensors and CV to continuously monitor the soil moisture and the plant’s health based on pests. Two servo motors accomplish the horizontal and vertical orientation of the spraying nozzle. We provided an option to remotely switch the sprayer to spray either water or pesticide using an infrared device, i.e., within a 5-m range. Secondly, the operation of the developed MpSFR is experimentally verified in the test farm. The field test’s observed results include the solar power profile, battery charging, and discharging conditions. The results show that the MpSFR operates effectively, and decisions on water use and pesticide are automated

Wearable Devices in Health Monitoring from the Environmental towards Multiple Domains: A Survey

The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes the environmental, behavioral, physiological, and psychological domains that impact adversely human health, well-being, and quality of life (QoL) in general. The environmental domain has significant interaction with the others. With respect to proactive and personalized medicine and the Internet of medical things (IoMT), wearables are most important for continuous health monitoring. In this work, we analyze wearables in healthcare from a perspective of innovation by categorizing them according to the four domains. Furthermore, we consider the mode of wearability, costs, and prolonged monitoring. We identify features and investigate the wearable devices in the terms of sampling rate, resolution, data usage (propagation), and data transmission. We also investigate applications of wearable devices. Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, IEEE Xplore, and ACM Library delivered wearables that we require to monitor at least one environmental parameter, e.g., a pollutant. According to the number of domains, from which the wearables record data, we identify groups: G1, environmental parameters only; G2, environmental and behavioral parameters; G3, environmental, behavioral, and physiological parameters; and G4 parameters from all domains. In total, we included 53 devices of which 35, 9, 9, and 0 belong to G1, G2, G3, and G4, respectively. Furthermore, 32, 11, 7, and 5 wearables are applied in general health and well-being monitoring, specific diagnostics, disease management, and non-medical. We further propose customized and quantified output for future wearables from both, the perspectives of users, as well as physicians. Our study shows a shift of wearable devices towards disease management and particular applications. It also indicates the significant role of wearables in proactive healthcare, having capability of creating big data and linking to external healthcare systems for real-time monitoring and care delivery at the point of perception

Understanding and Improving the Culture of Hackathons: Think Global Hack Local

Hackathons bring developers, artists and designers together around a shared challenge: ideate, plan and create an application in a highly constrained time frame. A way to socialize, solve problems, and strengthen soft and hard skills, hackathons have grown tremendously in popularity in the last half decade. Despite this growth, it has been noted that females do not participate in hackathons with the same frequency as males. Some theorize that the hackathon culture is intimidating, does not appeal to women, or that it acts to amplify pre-existing cultural biases in computing. In this paper we introduce an alternative format for hackathons to address these issues. Think Global Hack Local (TGHL) is a non-competitive, community-based hackathon that connects non-profit organizations with student developers. Students donate a weekend to solve problems that these organizations otherwise lack the resources to solve. To date, there have been two TGHL hackathons, and we have observed many interesting divergences within the culture of TGHL in comparison to other hackathons. Response has been positive, and nearly all of them indicate that they would do it again. By adopting some of these ideas, we believe that hackathons can become an environment that is more inclusive and fun for all

Conducting a Large-scale Field Test of a Smartphone-based Communication Network for Emergency Response

Smartphone-based communication networks form a basis for services in emergency response scenarios, where communication infrastructure is impaired or overloaded. Still, their design and evaluation are largely based on simulations that rely on generic mobility models and weak assumptions regarding user behavior. For a realistic assessment, scenario-specific models are essential. To this end, we conducted a large-scale field test of a set of emergency services that relied solely on ad hoc communication. Over the course of one day, we gathered data from smartphones distributed to 125 participants in a scripted disaster event. In this paper, we present the scenario, measurement methodology, and a first analysis of the data. Our work provides the first trace combining user interaction, mobility, and additional sensor readings of a large-scale emergency response scenario, facilitating future research

Monitoring of soil and atmospheric sensors with internet of things (IoT) applied in precision Agriculture / Monitorização de sensores do solo e atmosféricos com internet das coisas (IoT) aplicados em agricultura de precisão

This work consists in the development of a system for data acquisition of parameters in an agricultural application. For this, the system includes the monitoring of soil moisture and atmospheric sensors (temperature and relative humidity), in order to provide subsidies to farmers in decision-making, aiming at a future implementation of an automated irrigation system, with minimization of waste of water resources. Data acquisition is carried out by means of sensors connected to a microcontrolled system, and the signals are transmitted through a radio frequency module using LoRaWanTM protocol. Data is received at a gateway and made available in the cloud, applying Internet of Things (IoT) concepts, and can be monitored in real time in an academic interface. Additionally, the data can also be monitored through a simplified interface accessible through an app developed specifically for the application

Community participation in cultural heritage management: A systematic literature review comparing Chinese and international practices

\u3cp\u3eCommunity participation is an essential issue in heritage management. The international heritage organisation ICCROM published a guidance document discussing people-centred approaches to heritage management in 2015. Cultural heritage management is recommended to be carried out through a community participation process. Despite the growing literature on community participation in cultural heritage management, little research has been done on comparing Chinese to international approaches. Although in China several pilot projects have conducted effective community participation and achieved excellent outcomes. This paper aims to fill this gap by providing an overview that compares and discusses the similarities and differences between Chinese and international approaches. A systematic literature review of the state-of-the-art was conducted to explore these differences based on four themes: engaged communities, participatory methods, degrees of participation and steps taken within cultural heritage management. This review concludes both Chinese and international practices seek to collaborate with and empower local communities in their approaches, with Chinese pilot cases, such as Tianzifang in Shanghai. However, in general, Chinese cultural heritage management is government-led, in which community participation is happening to a minimal degree. China is encouraged to learn from international practices when developing contextualised management approaches, to better face the challenges of rapid urbanisation.\u3c/p\u3

Micro-Hydropower in Nepal:Analysing the Project Process to Understand Drivers that Strengthen and Weaken Sustainability

Evaluating the sustainable operation of community-owned and community-operated renewable energy projects is complex. The development of a project often depends on the actions of diverse stakeholders, including the government, industry and communities. Throughout the project cycle, these interrelated actions impact the sustainability of the project. In this paper, the typical project cycle of a micro-hydropower plant in Nepal is used to demonstrate that key events throughout the project cycle affect a plant’s ability to operate sustainably. Through a critical analysis of the available literature, policy and project documentation and interviews with manufacturers, drivers that affect the sustainability of plants are found. Examples include weak specification of civil components during tendering, quality control issues during manufacture, poor quality of construction and trained operators leaving their position. Opportunities to minimise both the occurrence and the severity of threats to sustainability are identified. For the micro-hydropower industry in Nepal, recommendations are made for specific actions by the relevant stakeholders at appropriate moments in the project cycle. More broadly, the findings demonstrate that the complex nature of developing community energy projects requires a holistic consideration of the complete project process

Development and Evaluation of Laser-Controlled Chesil Plough

The main purpose of this study is to improve the tillage operational efficiency of using chesil plough by transforming it into a more reliable system based on laser levelling technology. And thus, achieve quality of field sub-surface levelling in term of continues proper tilled layer and more stability of the soil tilled layer height along the whole field. The developed chesil plough chassis-attached laser control unit constructed by attaching levelling adjustment wheel system to chesil plough’ main frame and both coupled with the hydraulic system to facilitates the using of laser unit and to manage the receiver tower's up and down motion. Measured data of tilled layers elevations was collected after using laser-controlled chesil plough l and normal plough. The readings of point levels for subsurface layer were taken at a regular interval of 5 m x 5 m to achieve greater precision in soil elevations topography changes. Irrigation water advance times and total applied irrigation water amounts were receded as indicator for the performance of developed prototype and for tracking the effect of such prototype on irrigation water behaviour. Results demonstrated that the laser-controlled chesil plough significantly improved the field flatness and proper tilled layer enabling any field machine to work a stable depth of tilled layers. After using laser-controlled chesil plough, elevation values ranged from 34 cm to 43 cm with an average recorded elevation value of 39.8 cm with standard deviation (of elevation) 0.99 cm. Using normal plough gave elevation values ranged from 22 cm to 52 cm with an average recorded elevation value of 39.4 cm with standard deviation (of elevation) 5.7 cm. Irrigation water advance times were shorter with plots that were ploughed by using laser-controlled chesil. The water advance times recorded were 0, 132, 165 s at beginning, middle and end of irrigation line respectively for location 1 and similar results for locations 2 and 3. While, it was much longer in plots where the normal chesil plough were used with were 0, 224, 287 s as average water advance times values for location 1 and similar results for location 2 and 3

Shielding Effectiveness Measurements of Drywall Panel Coated with Biochar Layers

Shielding against electromagnetic interference (EMI) is a critical issue in civil applications generally solved with metal screens. In recent years, the properties of many composite materials filled with carbon nanotubes or graphene or materials with a carbon-based coating have been analysed with the aim of using them for electromagnetic shielding applications. Among other carbon materials, biochar, derived from biomass and characterized by high carbon content, emerges as a sustainable, renewable, environmentally friendly, and inexpensive material. In this paper, commercial biochar thermally treated at 750 °C is used to coat with several layers common building components such as drywall panel. Shielding effectiveness is measured in the frequency band 1–18 GHz for normal incidence and skew angles 10, 20 and 30 deg in a full anechoic chamber with double ridged, vertically and horizontally polarized broadband horn antennas. The results show that the proposed biochar-coated drywall panels provide a good shielding effectiveness compared to similar solutions, with the advantage of a less expensive and easier to realize building material