PCA Assisted DTCWT Denoising for Improved DOA Estimation of Closely Spaced and Coherent Signals

Performance of standard Direction of Arrival (DOA) estimation techniques degraded under real-time signal conditions. The classical algorithms are Multiple Signal Classification (MUSIC), and Estimation of Signal Parameters via Rotational Invariance Technique (ESPRIT). There are many signal conditions hamper on its performance, such as closely spaced and coherent signals caused due to the multipath propagations of signals results in a decrease of the signal to noise ratio (SNR) of the received signal. In this paper, a novel DOA estimation technique named CW-PCA MUSIC is proposed using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to threshold the nearby correlated wavelet coefficients of Dual-Tree Complex Wavelet transform (DTCWT) for denoising the signals before applying to MUSIC algorithm. The proposed technique improves the detection performance under closely spaced, and coherent signals with relatively low SNR conditions. Also, this method requires fewer snapshots, and less antenna array elements compared with standard MUSIC and wavelet-based DOA estimation algorithms

ANTIFEEDANT EFFECTS OF VITEX NEGUNDO L. LEAF EXTRACTS ON THE STORED PRODUCT PEST, TRIBOLIUM CASTANEUM H. (COLEOPTERA: TENEBRIONIDAE)

Objective: This study aims to evaluate the nutritional and feeding deterrence indices of Tribolium castaneum adults caused by petroleum ether and methanol extracts of Vitex negundo.Methods: A modified method of flour disc bioassay was carried out to study the antifeedant activities of both the extracts on the stored product pest, T. castaneum. In this bioassay, the insects were allowed to feed on wheat flour treated with various concentrations (1.25%, 2.5% and 5%) of petroleum ether and methanol extracts of V. negundo (VPE and VME) for 24 h in ‘no choice' chambers. The effects of different concentrations of the extracts on relative growth rate and relative consumption rate of T. castaneum and the difference between the activities of two extracts were statistically analysed and compared by analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Similarly, the comparison of the activities of VPE and VME, and their dose effects on the efficiency of conversion of ingested food and feeding deterrence indices of the insects were analysed by analysis of variance (ANOVA).Results: VPE and VME significantly affected growth, consumption and utilisation of food, and caused antifeedancy in T. castaneum. It was also found that both the extracts resulted in a slight reduction in growth rate of the insect, compared with that of the control. The reductions in relative growth rate (RGR) (P=0.37) and relative food consumption rate (RCR) (P<0.05) were more prominent for 2.5% and 5% of both the extracts. In nutritional studies, it was found that increase in the concentration (P<0.05) resulted in an increase in the efficiency of conversion of ingested food (ECI) significantly with both the extracts. The RGR, RCR and ECI of the insects were found to be similar with both the extracts. The extracts showed dose-dependent feeding deterrence index (FDI) for this insect (P<0.001). The activity was found to be similar with both the extracts (P=0.07).Conclusion: The present study reveals that both VPE and VME show significant antifeedancy in T. castaneum and thus they can effectively be used for the protection of grains from insects

BQBCC: Design of an Augmented Bioinspired Model for Improving QoS of Blockchain IoT Deployments via Context-based Consensus

Blockchain-deployments are highly secure, but lack in terms of scalability due to exponential increase in mining delay w.r.t. chain lengths. To overcome these issues, researchers have proposes used for low-complexity mining, sharing techniques, and other machine learning optimizations. But these models either depend on underlying blockchain, or showcase larger computational delays, which limits their scalability levels. Moreover, most of these models do not consider consensus optimizations, which further limits their deployment capabilities for large-scale networks. To overcome these issues, this text proposes design of an efficient bioinspired model for improving QoS of blockchain IoT (Internet of Things) deployments via context-based consensus. The proposed model initially collects temporal mining performance from existing miner nodes, and deploys a novel Proof-of-Temporal Trust (PoTT) based consensus for validating responses of these miners. The PoTT Model uses temporal mining delay, energy consumed while mining, and throughput levels for selection of high-performance miners for processing block-addition requests. Requests approved by these miners are stored on a set of Bacterial Foraging Optimized (BFO) sidechains. These sidechains are automatically tuned based on spatial QoS performance of the network under real-time conditions. The BFO Model assists in segregating existing single-length blockchains into QoS-optimized sidechains. To perform this segregation, the BFO Model uses an exhaustive consistency metric that combines QoS & security levels that can be applied to specialized applications like Industrial IoTs. Thus, segregation into sidechains is done while maintaining high security under heterogenous attacks. Due to these optimizations, the model was able to reduce mining delay by 3.9%, reduce energy needed for mining by 2.5%, improve throughput by 4.5%, while maintaining high attack-detection efficiency under Sybil, Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), and Masquerading attacks

Relationship between morphology and tensile properties of pig hair fibre

The surface and cross-sectional features of hair fibres from four different breeds of pigs has been evaluated using scanning electron microscopy. The cross-section of the pig hair is modelled into an ellipse and the elliptical features of the fibre are correlated with its tensile properties. Surface scales in pig hair are arranged in imbricate type, crenate pattern and spaced at a mean distance of 4.58±0.24μm. Overall mean eccentricity, flattening, focus, area and angular eccentricity of pig hair fibre is found to be 0.60±0.09, 0.25±0.07, 195.16±33.68μm, and 0.06±0.01mm2 and 38.24±6.61 ° respectively. The ellipticity parameters are positively correlated with tensile properties (tenacity, extensibility, initial modulus and work of rupture) of the fibre. The specific flexural rigidity is negatively correlated with the ellipticity of the fibre, suggesting that the elliptical fibres may be more flexible than the fibres with circular cross-section

Patriarchy in Perumal Murugan’s One Part Woman

This paper tries to examine how patriarchy oppresses female sexuality by viewwing its very purpose to be motherhood in Perumal Murugan’s One Part Woman. The novel set in Tiruchengode, a rural village in Tamil Nadu, is a poignant tale of Kali and Ponna, a childless couple. They try every possible way to get pregnant, putting their marriage at stake. Since they fail to perform the duties assigned by the society, they are constantly criticized and are deemed to be unfit. Their inability to ‘perform’ this predetermined roles, puts their entire life under risk

Novel approaches in molecular characterisation of prostate cancer

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

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Training Manual on Artificial Insemination in dairy animalsTraining Manual on Artificial Insemination in dairy animalsNot Availabl

Characterization of motor functions of the human Superior Colliculus using fMRI

The Superior Colliculus (SC) is well established to be a structure that plays a major role in orienting the eyes and head towards objects of interest in the surroundings. Most of the studies in the SC thus far have been conducted on non-human primates. Although the neural architecture is presumed to be similar, existence of differences in anatomy, afferents and efferents between the SC of different mammals questions functional extrapolation of such studies to humans. Also, there have been very few electrophysiological studies that have investigated the role of the SC in reaching and finger tapping movements. An fMRI study in humans conducted earlier in the lab was the first to show that the SC is involved in reaching movements in humans. In order to further elucidate the motor functions of the SC in humans, we conducted three experiments and analysed one pre-acquired dataset. These studies used two simple and classical paradigms – reaching, and finger tapping movements. The SC is widely believed to be a visually driven structure, supported by numerous studies in macaques. With our first study, we sought to decipher if the SC is also active in response to reaching, guided by tactile stimulation. We designed a task where subjects had to maintain fixation while performing reaching movements to peripheral targets that were either visual or tactile in nature, separated by their respective blocks. We found that the SC indeed shows activity in response to somatically or visually guided reaching, but not to visual stimulation or somatic stimulation on their own. In addition, we also observed a strong signal contribution from button presses in tasks with control conditions, which were required to be performed by subjects in response to oddball stimuli, to make sure that they were engaged in the tasks. Our second study was divided into two parts. The first part consisted of an analysis of the finger tapping task (motor task section) from the Human Connectome Project (HCP) database. The second part of the study investigated whether complex finger tapping and simple finger tapping movements, paced by visual or auditory stimuli, caused an activation in the SC. We found no activation in response to the finger tapping task from the HCP data. We also found that the SC did not take part in either the complex or simple finger tapping tasks that we conducted. This, together with the results corresponding to finger tapping from the HCP data, and the finger tapping (recorded as button presses) results from the first experiment, led us to postulate that the SC might be involved only when finger tapping movements occur in response to novel stimuli. With our third and final study, we investigated the response of the SC to novel stimuli. In the experiment, subjects responded with button presses or counting to oddballs involving the same modalities as the first experiment: visual and somatic stimulation. We found some activity in response to all oddball conditions combined together. This activity was further weakened when oddballs were bifurcated into four conditions by the sensory modalities involved - visual and somatic stimulation and the corresponding responses - button presses and counting. Although these results hint that the SC might respond to oddball stimulation, these effects were not consistent across subjects warranting further investigation for more concrete conclusions. Taken together, our results conclusively show that apart from visual information the SC integrates sensory information such as touch towards the execution of reaching movements. In addition, the SC does not play a role in the execution of movement sequences that are repetitive, irrespective of whether they are complex or simple movements. For a concrete conclusion regarding responses to novel stimuli, more sensitive experiments are necessary.Dissertation ist gesperrt bis zum 16.12.2023

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