Fixed-time Distributed Optimization under Time-Varying Communication Topology

This paper presents a method to solve distributed optimization problem within a fixed time over a time-varying communication topology. Each agent in the network can access its private objective function, while exchange of local information is permitted between the neighbors. This study investigates first nonlinear protocol for achieving distributed optimization for time-varying communication topology within a fixed time independent of the initial conditions. For the case when the global objective function is strictly convex, a second-order Hessian based approach is developed for achieving fixed-time convergence. In the special case of strongly convex global objective function, it is shown that the requirement to transmit Hessians can be relaxed and an equivalent first-order method is developed for achieving fixed-time convergence to global optimum. Results are further extended to the case where the underlying team objective function, possibly non-convex, satisfies only the Polyak-\L ojasiewicz (PL) inequality, which is a relaxation of strong convexity.Comment: 25 page

Detection and Prevention of Vampire Attack in MANET

A mobile ad-hoc network is a temporary, infrastructure less network where nodes communicate without any centralized mechanism. This dynamic behaviour of MANET makes this network more potentially applicable in conference, battlefield environment and disaster relief, and has received significant attention in recent years. Attacker may use this weakness to disrupt the network. Subsequently, Power draining is the major thread; where attacker not only exhausts the network traffic but also degrades the life of node as well network. The objective of this study is to detect and prevent mobile ad- hoc networks from unwanted power draining due to Vampire attack. Here, Targeted Flooding through high battery capacity node has been used to deploy Vampire attack in mobile ad-hoc network. Subsequently, energy consumption and capacity observation technique has been used to detect malicious node(s). Furthermore, prevention method forcefully shutdown malicious nodes and transfer communication

SUCCESSFUL TREATMENT OF VENTILATOR ASSOCIATED PNEUMONIA CAUSED BY MULTIDRUG RESISTANT ACINETOBACTER BAUMANNII WITH A COMBINATION THERAPY OF CSE1034 AND COLISTIN: A CASE REPORT.

 Objective: One of the major causes of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in hospital settings is Acinetobacter baumannii. The propensity of acquiring antimicrobial resistance rapidly through a multiple number of mechanisms makes the selection of an appropriate empirical antimicrobial agent exceedingly challenging for this pathogen.Methods: The present case report explores the option of treating VAP infection due to carbapenem-resistant pathogens with antibiotic adjuvant entities.Results: We present a case of VAP due to carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii that was successfully treated with CSE-1034 and colistin combination therapy.Conclusion: Early recognition and appropriate antibiotic therapy are essential to eliminate poor outcomes in multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial infections. The present case highlights the antibiotic adjuvant entity CSE-1034†as an empiric option for the treatment of VAP due to MDR A. baumannii in intensive care unit

Evaluation of heavy metal resistance profile of Candida parapsilosis

64-68Heavy metals have caused a lot of imbalance in the environment due to its widespread ill effects. There have been tremendous efforts to reduce the levels of these metals from the environment, but demerits of existing methods exceed over the merits in most of the cases and hence there is a need for more effective mechanisms. In the present study, resistance profile of Candida parapsilosis was studied against various heavy metals. A time based tolerance study was performed using up to 12 mM concentrations of heavy metal salts such as zinc sulfate (Zn), cupric sulfate (Cu), lead acetate (Pb), mercury chloride (Hg), nickel sulfate (Ni), and potassium chromate (Cr). It was observed that tolerance against heavy metal depends upon its concentration as well as time of exposure. The obtained pattern of resistance for each individual heavy metal was Ni > Zn > Cu > Cr > Pb > Hg. Maximum growth of 57.6% was obtained for Ni salt and least for Hg with 26.9% cell viability at 12 mM concentration. Cell viability decreased as time of exposure was increased. After 72 h only 16.4% cell growth was obtained for Hg as compared to Ni showing cell viability of 37.5% up to 12 mM concentration. Significant resistance to other salts such as Zn, Cu, Cr and Pd have also been shown by C. parapsilosis

SEAL: Scientific Keyphrase Extraction and Classification

Automatic scientific keyphrase extraction is a challenging problem facilitating several downstream scholarly tasks like search, recommendation, and ranking. In this paper, we introduce SEAL, a scholarly tool for automatic keyphrase extraction and classification. The keyphrase extraction module comprises two-stage neural architecture composed of Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory cells augmented with Conditional Random Fields. The classification module comprises of a Random Forest classifier. We extensively experiment to showcase the robustness of the system. We evaluate multiple state-of-the-art baselines and show a significant improvement. The current system is hosted at http://lingo.iitgn.ac.in:5000/.Comment: Accepted at JCDL 202

Fixed-Time Stable Proximal Dynamical System for Solving MVIPs

In this paper, a novel modified proximal dynamical system is proposed to compute the solution of a mixed variational inequality problem (MVIP) within a fixed time, where the time of convergence is finite, and is uniformly bounded for all initial conditions. Under the assumptions of strong monotonicity and Lipschitz continuity, it is shown that a solution of the modified proximal dynamical system exists, is uniquely determined and converges to the unique solution of the associated MVIP within a fixed time. As a special case for solving variational inequality problems, the modified proximal dynamical system reduces to a fixed-time stable projected dynamical system. Furthermore, the fixed-time stability of the modified projected dynamical system continues to hold, even if the assumption of strong monotonicity is relaxed to that of strong pseudomonotonicity. Connections to convex optimization problems are discussed, and commonly studied dynamical systems in the continuous-time optimization literature follow as special limiting cases of the modified proximal dynamical system proposed in this paper. Finally, it is shown that the solution obtained using the forward-Euler discretization of the proposed modified proximal dynamical system converges to an arbitrarily small neighborhood of the solution of the associated MVIP within a fixed number of time steps, independent of the initial conditions. Two numerical examples are presented to substantiate the theoretical convergence guarantees.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure

Odontogenic Keratocyst: An Enigma

Odontogenic Keratocyst (Primordial cyst) is known amongst clinicians for its peculiar behaviour, origin of varied nature, discussions regarding its development and a unique tendency to recur. Hence, it has been the subject of interest over the past 40 years. These cysts can occur singly or multiply, as a part of Nevoid Basal Cell Carcinoma Syndrome (NBCCS). The objective of this case report and discussion is to emphasize that proper examination, diagnosis and appropriate treatment is vital to prevent recurrence of the lesion

Role of Laser Biostimulation in Treatment of Oral Submucous Fibrosis: A Clinical Trial

AIM: To evaluate the efficacy of Low Level Laser Therapy (LLLT) in treatment of Oral Submucous Fibrosis (OSMF).MATERIAL & METHODS: 20 patients with a clinical diagnosis of OSMF were included in the study after informed consents and measurements of mouth opening (mm) and burning sensation (VAS) were made at day 0. Laser biostimulation was performed on right and left cheeks in anterior and posterior bands for 3 cycles of 10 seconds each. They were recalled for follow-up measurements and Laser biostimulation at 3rd, 7th and 15th day. The paired t-test was applied for analysing significant differences, if any, using SPSS version 21.0.RESULTS: In the follow up recordings, generally, there was an increase in mouth opening after LLLT therapy and a significant difference was seen in males(p=.04) as well as the total population(p=0.02). Burning sensation(VAS Scale), on day zero was 5.5±1.20, which was reduced to 3.4±.084 on the 15th day with a significant difference seen in the entire study population(p=0.03).CONCLUSION: Biostimulation by Laser in the treatment of OSMF is a good non-invasive, painless and quick alternative treatment modality for the management of diseases