GUI system for Elders/Patients in Intensive Care

In the old age, few people need special care if they are suffering from specific diseases as they can get stroke while they are in normal life routine. Also patients of any age, who are not able to walk, need to be taken care of personally but for this, either they have to be in hospital or someone like nurse should be with them for better care. This is costly in terms of money and man power. A person is needed for 24x7 care of these people. To help in this aspect we purposes a vision based system which will take input from the patient and will provide information to the specified person, who is currently may not in the patient room. This will reduce the need of man power, also a continuous monitoring would not be needed. The system is using MS Kinect for gesture detection for better accuracy and this system can be installed at home or hospital easily. The system provides GUI for simple usage and gives visual and audio feedback to user. This system work on natural hand interaction and need no training before using and also no need to wear any glove or color strip.Comment: In proceedings of the 4th IEEE International Conference on International Technology Management Conference, Chicago, IL USA, 12-15 June, 201

DISCONTINUOUS RECYCLED CARBON FIBER (rCF) REINFORCED POLYPROPYLENE (PP) COMPOSITES USING CARDING

The use of carbon fiber (CF) composites is growing in non-aerospace markets, such as the automotive and transportation sectors. More than 30% of the CF produced ends up as waste material in landfills at end of life (EOL) from sources such as decommissioned aircraft and industrial components. CF retains its properties over decades and offers significant benefits if recycled and repurposed. Recycled CFs (rCF) are less expensive than virgin fibers, and composites made from rCF have mechanical properties that are acceptable for a variety of non-aerospace applications. In this study, a homogenous mixture of rCF-polypropylene (PP) was achieved using the Resonant Acoustic Mixing (RAM) technique, where water was used as a mixing solvent. The nonwoven composite\u27s mechanical properties and molding conditions are influenced by how well the fibers are aligned. Randomly oriented nonwovens have similar mechanical properties in all directions and can be manufactured using a wet-laid (WL) process, whereas highly aligned nonwoven textiles can be manufactured using carding process. Therefore, nonwoven rCF-PP mats were fabricated using carding and WL techniques to understand the effect of fiber orientation on mechanical properties. In this study we observed that carding machine parameters such as pin length, cylinder width, distance between cylinders have influence on final mechanical properties. The mats were compression molded to obtain consolidated panels. Mechanical, microscopic, and fiber length distribution characterization was performed to determine the properties variation between the two manufacturing techniques. The flexural strength and modulus of carding in the machine (along the fibers) direction (MD) was 22% (from 86.89 ± 5.1 MPa to 105.99 ± 12.42 MPa) and 72% (from 5.14 ± 0.5 GPa to 8.85 ± 1.3 GPa), respectively higher as compared to wet-laid. Further, the tensile strength and modulus of carded composites in MD were 75% (from 35.51 ± 5.1 MPa to 62.10 ± 4.8 MPa) and 110.8% (from 6.58 ± 1.81 GPa to 13.87 ± 1.57 GPa), respectively higher than WL process. This work has broad applications in product development with rCF in many commercial and commodity sectors such as sporting goods, automotive, medical devices, etc

Agro-morphological Diversity of High Altitude Bean Landraces in the Kailash Sacred Landscape of Nepal

Many varieties of bean are widely grown across diverse agro-ecological zones in Nepal. And opportunities exist for improving the crops and enhancing their resilience to various biotic and abiotic stressors. In this context, an experiment was conducted from June to October 2016 in Khar VDC of Darchula district to study the phenotypic traits of nine landraces of bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). The bean landraces were planted using randomized complete block design in three sites (Dhamidera, Dallekh and Sundamunda villages), with three replications in each site for their comparative analysis. The study considered the following phenotypic traits: days to emergence, days to 50% flowering, days to 90% pod maturity, number of nodes, pod length, pod width, number of pods, number of seeds per pod and weight and grain yield for 100 seeds. Kruskal-Wallis test showed significant differences in the landraces both within and among locations. KA-17-08-FB and KA-17-04-FB were late  flowering (63 and 65 days respectively) compared to other landraces whereas KA-17-07-FB flowered earliest (within 42 days). In all three sites, three landraces namely KA-17-07-FB, KA-17-04-FB and KA-17-06-FB were found to be relatively more resistant to pest and diseases than other landraces. Eight out of nine landraces in Dhamidera and Dallekh villages and seven out of nine in Sundamunda village produced seeds greater than 1.0 t/ha. Among the nine varieties KA-17-02-FB was the highest yielding variety, with an average yield of 3.8 t/ha. This study is useful for identifying suitable landraces for future promotion based on their maturity, grain yield, diseases resistance and other qualitative and quantitative characteristics

Implementation and evaluation of simultaneous video-electroencephalography and functional magnetic resonance imaging

The objective of this study was to demonstrate that the addition of simultaneous and synchronised video to electroencephalography (EEG)-correlated functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) could increase recorded information without data quality reduction. We investigated the effect of placing EEG, video equipment and their required power supplies inside the scanner room, on EEG, video and MRI data quality, and evaluated video-EEG-fMRI by modelling a hand motor task. Gradient-echo, echo-planner images (EPI) were acquired on a 3-T MRI scanner at variable camera positions in a test object [with and without radiofrequency (RF) excitation], and human subjects. EEG was recorded using a commercial MR-compatible 64-channel cap and amplifiers. Video recording was performed using a two-camera custom-made system with EEG synchronization. An in-house script was used to calculate signal to fluctuation noise ratio (SFNR) from EPI in test object with variable camera positions and in human subjects with and without concurrent video recording. Five subjects were investigated with video-EEG-fMRI while performing hand motor task. The fMRI time series data was analysed using statistical parametric mapping, by building block design general linear models which were paradigm prescribed and video based. Introduction of the cameras did not alter the SFNR significantly, nor did it show any signs of spike noise during RF off conditions. Video and EEG quality also did not show any significant artefact. The Statistical Parametric Mapping{T} maps from video based design revealed additional blood oxygen level-dependent responses in the expected locations for non-compliant subjects compared to the paradigm prescribed design. We conclude that video-EEG-fMRI set up can be implemented without affecting the data quality significantly and may provide valuable information on behaviour to enhance the analysis of fMRI data

Non-inclined slotted waveguide array with various shapes of Irises

Non-inclined narrow wall slotted waveguide with iris reduces the cross polarization. In this paper non inclined slotted waveguide array with iris is compared with inclined narrow wall slotted waveguide array to demonstrate the huge reduction in cross polarization. Analysis of various shapes of iris is done to compare their effects on co polarization and cross polarization

Engineering Phonon Polaritons in van der Waals Heterostructures to Enhance In-Plane Optical Anisotropy

Van der Waals heterostructures assembled from layers of 2D materials have attracted considerable interest due to their novel optical and electrical properties. Here we report a scattering-type scanning near field optical microscopy study of hexagonal boron nitride on black phosphorous (h-BN/BP) heterostructures, demonstrating the first direct observation of in-plane anisotropic phonon polariton modes in vdW heterostructures. Strikingly, the measured in-plane optical anisotropy along armchair and zigzag crystal axes exceeds the ratio of refractive indices of BP in the x-y plane. We explain that this enhancement is due to the high confinement of the phonon polaritons in h-BN. We observe a maximum in-plane optical anisotropy of {\alpha}_max=1.25 in the 1405-1440 cm-1 frequency spectrum. These results provide new insights on the behavior of polaritons in vdW heterostructures, and the observed anisotropy enhancement paves the way to novel nanophotonic devices and to a new way to characterize optical anisotropy in thin films

Transcriptional Regulation of Sertoli Cell Differentiation by Follicle-Stimulating Hormone at the Level of the C-Fos and Transferrin Promoters1

One of the primary endocrine hormones that influence the onset of Sertoli cell differentiation at puberty and help maintain differentiation in the adult testis is FSH. FSH can modulate the majority of Sertoli cell differentiated functions, including stimulation of the iron-binding protein transferrin. Previous studies have shown that FSH alters the levels of cAMP and the immediate early gene c-fos. The current study was designed to investigate the transcriptional regulation of Sertoli cell differentiation by examining the actions of FSH on the promoter of the immediate early gene c-fos and the promoter of the downstream differentiated function gene transferrin. The regulation of c-fos by FSH was investigated with various chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) constructs containing segments of the c-fos promoter , such as the serum response element (SRE), cAMP response element (CRE), and AP1/phorbol ester/TPA response element (TRE), that were transfected into cultured Sertoli cells. Observations indicate that FSH can stimulate all three response elements, as well as a whole c-fos promoter construct. Interestingly, FSH was found to have a more dramatic effect on the SRE-CAT than a cAMP analog, suggesting a difference in the actions of the two agents. Gel mobility shift assays were performed to confirm the reporter gene results. Nuclear extracts of FSH-stimulated Sertoli cells caused a labeled AP1 oligonucleotide to form a DNA/protein complex (i.e., gel shift), indicating activation of the c-fos gene and binding of the c-fosljun complex. Nuclear extracts from both FSH-and cAMP-stimulated Sertoli cells promoted similar gel shifts with SRE and CRE oligonucleotides. This observation supports the reporter gene data in indicating that FSH can influence both the SRE and CRE. A gel mobility shift assay was also performed with an oligonucleotide containing the 5'-flanking ETS domain of the SRE (ETS-SRE) that allows the formation of a ternary complex. FSH-stimulated Sertoli cell nuclear extracts were found to promote a unique ETS-SRE gel shift not present in cAMP-stimulated cells. The observations imply that FSH actions on the SRE are in part distinct from the actions of cAMP. Transferrin gene expression was examined to study the downstream regulation of Sertoli cell differentiation. CAT constructs containing deletion mutants of a 3-kb mouse transferrin promoter were used. When transfected into Sertoli cells, the 581-bp transferrin minimal promoter, previously shown to contain a CRE, had a significant response to cAMP and FSH. The 1.6-, 2.6-, and 3-kb transferrin promoter constructs also responded to FSH and cAMP to the same extent as, or to a lesser extent than, the 581-bp minimal promoter. Interestingly, the actions of FSH on the 581-bp minimal transferrin promoter were more dramatic than those of cAMP. The importance of FSH-induced c-fos in the regulation of transferrin expression was demonstrated in the current study when a c-fos antisense oligonucleotide was found to partially inhibit (50%) the ability of FSH to induce the expression of a transferrin promoter (CAT) construct. Therefore, FSH appears to act through multiple transcriptional activation pathways. The first involves cAMP and the CRE at both early-event genes (e.g., c-fos) and downstream genes (e.g., transferrin). It is likely that other pathways involve alternate signal transduction events (e.g., calcium mobilization) and promoter response elements (e.g., SRE). These multiple pathways may act in a compensatory manner to assure the ability of FSH to influence Sertoli cell differentiation and/or in a synergistic manner to amplify FSH actions

Maintaining regularity and generalization in data using the minimum description length principle and genetic algorithm: case of grammatical inference

In this paper, a genetic algorithm with minimum description length (GAWMDL) is proposed for grammatical inference. The primary challenge of identifying a language of infinite cardinality from a finite set of examples should know when to generalize and specialize the training data. The minimum description length principle that has been incorporated addresses this issue is discussed in this paper. Previously, the e-GRIDS learning model was proposed, which enjoyed the merits of the minimum description length principle, but it is limited to positive examples only. The proposed GAWMDL, which incorporates a traditional genetic algorithm and has a powerful global exploration capability that can exploit an optimum offspring. This is an effective approach to handle a problem which has a large search space such the grammatical inference problem. The computational capability, the genetic algorithm poses is not questionable, but it still suffers from premature convergence mainly arising due to lack of population diversity. The proposed GAWMDL incorporates a bit mask oriented data structure that performs the reproduction operations, creating the mask, then Boolean based procedure is applied to create an offspring in a generative manner. The Boolean based procedure is capable of introducing diversity into the population, hence alleviating premature convergence. The proposed GAWMDL is applied in the context free as well as regular languages of varying complexities. The computational experiments show that the GAWMDL finds an optimal or close-to-optimal grammar. Two fold performance analysis have been performed. First, the GAWMDL has been evaluated against the elite mating pool genetic algorithm which was proposed to introduce diversity and to address premature convergence. GAWMDL is also tested against the improved tabular representation algorithm. In addition, the authors evaluate the performance of the GAWMDL against a genetic algorithm not using the minimum description length principle. Statistical tests demonstrate the superiority of the proposed algorithm. Overall, the proposed GAWMDL algorithm greatly improves the performance in three main aspects: maintains regularity of the data, alleviates premature convergence and is capable in grammatical inference from both positive and negative corpora