α\alpha-Fair Contextual Bandits

Contextual bandit algorithms are at the core of many applications, including recommender systems, clinical trials, and optimal portfolio selection. One of the most popular problems studied in the contextual bandit literature is to maximize the sum of the rewards in each round by ensuring a sublinear regret against the best-fixed context-dependent policy. However, in many applications, the cumulative reward is not the right objective - the bandit algorithm must be fair in order to avoid the echo-chamber effect and comply with the regulatory requirements. In this paper, we consider the $\alpha$-Fair Contextual Bandits problem, where the objective is to maximize the global $\alpha$-fair utility function - a non-decreasing concave function of the cumulative rewards in the adversarial setting. The problem is challenging due to the non-separability of the objective across rounds. We design an efficient algorithm that guarantees an approximately sublinear regret in the full-information and bandit feedback settings

Real Time Respiration Rate Measurement Using Temperature Sensor

Respiration rate is a vital indicator of an individual's health, and therefore it is monitored when performing clinical evaluations. There are many different approaches for respiration monitoring, but usually, they can be classed as contact or non-contact. Respiration Rate is one of the important signs that need regular monitoring among unhealthy individuals. There are a variety of medical devices developed to observe human health condition among them respiration rate monitor is one. The Respiration rate monitor is a device that measures the individual’s respiration rate non-invasively. The objective of the planned work is to design and develop an affordable Respiration rate monitor for clinical applications. The respiration rate of the patient is measured with the assistance of temperature sensor that measures even the slightest change in the temperature while an individual is inhaling or exhalation. And according to the reading obtained the alert message will be sent to the patient’s mobile phone via GSM module that is connected to the device

Maximizing Success Rate of Payment Routing using Non-stationary Bandits

This paper discusses the system architecture design and deployment of non-stationary multi-armed bandit approaches to determine a near-optimal payment routing policy based on the recent history of transactions. We propose a Routing Service architecture using a novel Ray-based implementation for optimally scaling bandit-based payment routing to over 10000 transactions per second, adhering to the system design requirements and ecosystem constraints with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). We first evaluate the effectiveness of multiple bandit-based payment routing algorithms on a custom simulator to benchmark multiple non-stationary bandit approaches and identify the best hyperparameters. We then conducted live experiments on the payment transaction system on a fantasy sports platform Dream11. In the live experiments, we demonstrated that our non-stationary bandit-based algorithm consistently improves the success rate of transactions by 0.92\% compared to the traditional rule-based methods over one month.Comment: 7 Pages, 6 Figure

Assisting Blind Using Facial Recognition and Voice Assistance

The paper aims at developing a system that would be able to recognize the face and hence play the recorded voice of the recognized face (e.g. Playing name of the person recognized ) using speaker/headset and voice module. The paper shows the usage of an electronic gadget in which a software is programmed, the usage of such kinds of product have increased many folds in the past decade because of the advancement in electronic technology as well as in the field of software development. We have used PCA technology with implementation of eigenfacesto recognize faces of different individuals. MATLAB was predominantly used to apply this algorithm. A voice module connected to Arduino uno plays the recorded voice of the identified individual. This could be of further importance for users who are blind, so that they are informed of the person at their door

Comparative evaluation of efficacy of terbinafine and itraconazole in treatment of tinea cruris

Background: In a hot and humid country like India, the prevalence of superficial mycotic infections is on the rise due to contributing environmental and demographic factors. In this study, we sought to assess the efficacies of two oral antifungal drugs, Itraconazole (a traditional azole) and Terbinafine (the only orally available allylamine). The two drugs were analyzed to see whether they differed significantly in their cure rates of tinea cruris. Since data, that compares only systemically administered Itraconazole and Terbinafine in the treatment of tinea cruris, is limited, this study becomes imperative.Methods: 60 patients, all clinically confirmed cases of tinea cruris and belonging to the age group of 18-65 years, were recruited for this prospective study. Patients were then randomly divided into groups A and B and followed-up for a month. Group A received cap. Itraconazole 100 mg, twice a day, for 15 days while group B received tab. Terbinafine 250 mg, once a day, for 4 weeks. Both groups were given topical 2% Sertaconazole that had to be continued for 8 weeks. During the 4 visits, scores for the 3 parameters (erythema, pruritis and scaling) were calculated and recorded for statistical analysis.Results: Authors observed that majority of the patients were exposed to hot and humid environment that contributed to sweating and poor personal hygiene. The changes in scores of erythema, pruritis and scaling from the baseline visit for both, Itraconazole and Terbinafine, were statistically significant at week 4 with P < 0.05 for all parameters. But the difference between the scores of the two drugs was not found to be statistically significant.Conclusions: Although the sample size of this study was small and the data was limited, findings of this study supported that both Itraconazole and Terbinafine were highly effective in the treatment of tinea cruris

Molecular tools for identification and classification of Myxozoan parasites (Cnidaria: Myxosporea) in India: Current status

A substantial literature on myxosporea has been published to date using morphological characters and specificity of host tissue. Currently, there are some 2400 nominal species of myxosporea classified to 17 families and 64 genera. Approximately 300 species have been described from India and most of them have been described solely on the basis of morphological characteristics. Molecular markers like small subunit ribosomal (SSU) and large subunit ribosomal (LSU) DNA have been used worldwide for the identification and validation of fish myxosporeans. Maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree based on SSU rDNA sequences was used to study the phylogenetic relationship among myxosporeans infecting Indian fishes. Myxospore phylogenies disagree with traditional spore-based classification systems, probably due to extreme plasticity in myxospores morphologies that have resulted in extensive convergence. Morphological similarities exist among myxosporea that encounter several problems in categorizing them. That’s why present-day research has shifted to molecular techniques for identification and correct systematics of myxosporeans. Molecular studies of myxozoans in India are still scarce and in infancy. To address persisting taxonomic and phylogenetic discrepancies, validation of these species by molecular tools is needed, because earlier species were reported only on the basis of morphological data. Therefore, the present study has summarized existing molecular data and current status of molecular taxonomy of myxosporeans parasitizing fresh and marine water fishes of India along with the approaches of myxozoan phylogenetics and information about the molecular markers, their interpretation in the identification of myxozoans parasitizing fishes

AUTOMATIC BRAKE FAILURE INDICATOR

Today, Machines are widely controlled by automated control system. To meet the need of growing population economic, effective and reliable control of machines as well as their control system is necessary. The main objective of this project is to continuously monitor the braking system at each and every time during the operation of the vehicle. Now a days, accidents are occurring due to lot of reasons, the one of the main reason is brake failure, it caused to due to poor maintenance, improper use and product defect, in order to safe guard the valuable human for accident the accident monitoring of brake is very important issue in automobile. The brake failure indicator circuit is a circuit that monitors constantly of the condition of brakes and provides an audio visual indication. When the brake is applied in order to slow down or to stop the vehicle the green LED blinks and the piezo buzzer beeps for about one second if the brake system is accurate and working properly. If brake system fails the red LED glows and the buzzer do not beep when the brakes are applied