ANALYSIS OF FACIAL MARKS TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN IDENTICAL TWINS USING NOVEL METHOD

Reliable and accurate verification of people is extremely important in a number of business transactions as well as access to privileged information. The biometrics-based methods assume that the physical characteristics of an individual (as captured by a sensor) used for verification are sufficiently unique to distinguish one person from another. But the increase in twin births has created a requirement for biometric systems to accurately determine the identity of a person who has an identical twin. Identical twins have the closest genetics-based relationship and, therefore, the maximum similarity between fingerprints is expected to be found among identical twins. They can’t be discriminated based on DNA. As one of the most successful applications of image analysis and understanding, face recognition has recently received significant attention, especially during the past several years. Identical twin face recognition is a difficult task due to the existence of a high degree of correlation in overall facial appearance. In this paper, we study the usability of facial marks as biometric signatures to distinguish between identical twins. We propose a multi scale automatic facial mark detector based on a gradient-based operator known as the fast radial symmetry transform. The transform detects bright or dark regions with high radial symmetry at different scales. Next, the detections are tracked across scales to determine the prominence of facial marks. Extensive experiments are performed both on manually annotated and on automatically detected facial marks to evaluate the usefulness of facial marks as biometric signatures. The results of our analysis signify the usefulness of the distribution of facial marks as a biometric signature

An alternate pathway for bilirubin catabolism

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Evidence for the possible involvement of the superoxide radicals in the photodegradation of bilirubin

The photodecomposition of bilirubin follows first order kinetics with ak B value of 12.5 × 10-3 min-1. In the presence of a model system generating superoxide anions, such as xanthine-xanthine oxidase, the k B value was 103 × 10-3 min-1 This ten-fold enhancement ofk B value by xanthine-xanthine oxidase was abolished when the reaction mixture was supplemented with a superoxide ion scavenger- superoxide dismustase. Further, known singlet oxygen quenchers like β -carotene and bistidine did not prevent the enhancement of bilirubin oxidation by xanthine-xanthine oxidase, thereby ruling out the obligatory conversion of Superoxide anion to singlet oxygen. It is concluded that radical oxygen mediated bilirubin degradation might be a natural catabolic route for the bile pigment degradation during oxygen stress

Design and Analysis of FS-TSPC-DET Flip-Flop for IoT Applications

The paper outlines the utmost importance of energy-efficient devices for IoT applications and recommends adual edge-triggeredTSPC flip-flop in fully-static mode at 45nm technology with low supply rail carried out in CMOS using MENTOR GRAPHICS tool.The proposed flip-flop proved to be energy efficient compared to traditional double and single edge-triggered flip-flops in terms of latency, power, the figure of merit and area for IoT applications. A comparison of two types of dual-edge triggered flip-flops are analyzed concerning the mentioned performance metrics and deduces the best flip-flop for IoT applications. Clock overlap issues are turning down in dual edge-triggered TSPC flip-flopcompared with a conventional dual edge-triggered flip-flop in full static modeand allow stringent operation at 1V supply rail thatdelivers1.14uW power, 0.60fJ figure of merit and 531.99ps latency at 45nm CMOS

Women Entrepreneurs of Rajasthan: Decoding Managerial Skills

Employment has been an obvious marvel in the development of new women entrepreneurs. Men or women are equally endowed with psychological and physical abilities along with managerial abilities that are essential for being a successful entrepreneur. Women are certainly not inferior as many of them are ready to undertake the various type of work if opportunities are provided (Singh N. P., 1985). Nearly a decade back, the International Labour Organization (ILO) 1998 World Employment Report characterized the informal sector in the following words: "Informal units comprise small enterprises with hired workers, household enterprises using mostly family labour, and the self- employed. Women entrepreneurship development can be identified by the motivation amongst women, knowledge and awareness, skill enhancement and training, Decision making and Risk-taking abilities. The objective of the paper is to identify the major challenges and cultural and economic barriers faced by women entrepreneurs in Rajasthan that creates a hindrance in the growth and development of Women entrepreneurship

Intratracheal Instillation of Cerium Oxide Nanoparticles Induces Hepatic Toxicity in Male Sprague-Dawley Rats

Background: Cerium oxide (CeO2) nanoparticles have been posited to have both beneficial and toxic effects on biological systems. Herein, we examine if a single intratracheal instillation of CeO2 nanoparticles is associated with systemic toxicity in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Methods and results: Compared with control animals, CeO2 nanoparticle exposure was associated with increased liver ceria levels, elevations in serum alanine transaminase levels, reduced albumin levels, a diminished sodium-potassium ratio, and decreased serum triglyceride levels (P \u3c 0.05). Consistent with these data, rats exposed to CeO2nanoparticles also exhibited reductions in liver weight (P \u3c 0.05) and dose-dependent hydropic degeneration, hepatocyte enlargement, sinusoidal dilatation, and accumulation of granular material. No histopathological alterations were observed in the kidney, spleen, and heart. Analysis of serum biomarkers suggested an elevation of acute phase reactants and markers of hepatocyte injury in the rats exposed to CeO2 nanoparticles. Conclusion: Taken together, these data suggest that intratracheal instillation of CeO2nanoparticles can result in liver damage

Luminescence studies and EPR investigation of solution combustion derived Eu doped ZnO

ZnO:Eu (0.1 mol) nanopowders have been synthesized by auto ignition based low temperature solution combustion method. Powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) patterns confirm the nanosized particles which exhibit hexagonal wurtzite structure. The crystallite size estimated from Scherrer's formula was found to be in the range 35-39 nm. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies reveal particles are agglomerated with quasi-hexagonal morphology. A blue shift of absorption edge with increase in band gap is observed for Eu doped ZnO samples. Upon 254 nm excitation, ZnO:Eu nanopowders show peaks in regions blue (420-484 nm), green (528 nm) and red (600 nm) which corresponds to both Eu2+ and Eu3+ ions. The electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectrum exhibits a broad resonance signal at g = 4.195 which is attributed to Eu2+ ions. Further, EPR and thermoluminescence (TL) studies reveal presence of native defects in this phosphor. Using TL glow peaks the trap parameters have been evaluated and discussed. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Me3Al-mediated domino nucleophilic addition/intramolecular cyclisation of 2-(2-oxo-2-phenylethyl)benzonitriles with amines; a convenient approach for the synthesis of substituted 1-aminoisoquinolines

A simple and efficient protocol for the construction of 1-aminoisoquinolines was achieved by treating 2-(2-oxo-2- phenylethyl)benzonitriles with amines in the presence of Me 3 Al. The reaction proceeds via a domino nucleophilic addition with subsequent intramolecular cyclisation. This method provides a wide variety of substituted 1-aminoisoquinolines with good func- tional group tolerance. Furthermore, the synthetic utility of this protocol was demonstrated in the successful synthesis of the anti- tumor agent CWJ-a-5 in gram scale

Preclinical Pharmacokinetic Evaluation to Facilitate Repurposing of Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors Nilotinib and Imatinib as Antiviral Agents

Background Several tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) developed as anti-cancer drugs, also have anti-viral activity due to their ability to disrupt productive replication and dissemination in infected cells. Consequently, such drugs are attractive candidates for “repurposing” as anti-viral agents. However, clinical evaluation of therapeutics against infectious agents associated with high mortality, but low or infrequent incidence, is often unfeasible. The United States Food and Drug Administration formulated the “Animal Rule” to facilitate use of validated animal models for conducting anti-viral efficacy studies. Methods To enable such efficacy studies of two clinically approved TKIs, nilotinib, and imatinib, we first conducted comprehensive pharmacokinetic (PK) studies in relevant rodent and non-rodent animal models. PK of these agents following intravenous and oral dosing were evaluated in C57BL/6 mice, prairie dogs, guinea pigs and Cynomolgus monkeys. Plasma samples were analyzed using an LC-MS/MS method. Secondarily, we evaluated the utility of allometry-based inter-species scaling derived from previously published data to predict the PK parameters, systemic clearance (CL) and the steady state volume of distribution (Vss) of these two drugs in prairie dogs, an animal model not tested thus far. Results Marked inter-species variability in PK parameters and resulting oral bioavailability was observed. In general, elimination half-lives of these agents in mice and guinea pigs were much shorter (1–3 h) relative to those in larger species such as prairie dogs and monkeys. The longer nilotinib elimination half-life in prairie dogs (i.v., 6.5 h and oral, 7.5 h), facilitated multiple dosing PK and safety assessment. The allometry-based predicted values of the Vss and CL were within 2.0 and 2.5-fold, respectively, of the observed values. Conclusions Our results suggest that prairie dogs and monkeys may be suitable rodent and non-rodent species to perform further efficacy testing of these TKIs against orthopoxvirus infections. The use of rodent models such as C57BL/6 mice and guinea pigs for assessing pre-clinical anti-viral efficacy of these two TKIs may be limited due to short elimination and/or low oral bioavailability. Allometry-based correlations, derived from existing literature data, may provide initial estimates, which may serve as a useful guide for pre-clinical PK studies in untested animal models