Why my photos look sideways or upside down? Detecting Canonical Orientation of Images using Convolutional Neural Networks

Image orientation detection requires high-level scene understanding. Humans use object recognition and contextual scene information to correctly orient images. In literature, the problem of image orientation detection is mostly confronted by using low-level vision features, while some approaches incorporate few easily detectable semantic cues to gain minor improvements. The vast amount of semantic content in images makes orientation detection challenging, and therefore there is a large semantic gap between existing methods and human behavior. Also, existing methods in literature report highly discrepant detection rates, which is mainly due to large differences in datasets and limited variety of test images used for evaluation. In this work, for the first time, we leverage the power of deep learning and adapt pre-trained convolutional neural networks using largest training dataset to-date for the image orientation detection task. An extensive evaluation of our model on different public datasets shows that it remarkably generalizes to correctly orient a large set of unconstrained images; it also significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art and achieves accuracy very close to that of humans

Triboelectric nanogenerators as power sources for chemical sensors and biosensors

The recent advances of portable sensors in flexible and wearable form factors are drawing increasing attention worldwide owing to their requirement applications ranging from health monitoring to environment monitoring. While portability is critical for these applications, real-time data gathering also requires a reliable power supply─which is largely met with batteries. Besides the need for regular charging, the use of toxic chemicals in batteries makes it difficult to rely on them, and as a result different types of energy harvesters have been explored in recent years. Among these, triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) provide a promising platform for harnessing ambient energy and converting it into usable electric signals. The ease of fabrication and possibility to develop TENGs with a diverse range of easily available materials also make them attractive. This review focuses on the TENG technology and its efficient use as a power source for various types of chemical sensors and biosensors. The paper describes the underlying mechanism, various modes of working of TENGs, and representative examples of their utilization as power sources for sensing a multitude of analytes. The challenges associated with their adoption for commercial solutions are also discussed to stimulate further advances and innovations

Environmental sustainability of milk production: a comparative environmental impact analysis and sustainability evaluation

ContextAssessing the sustainability of milk production in India (the largest milk producer country in the world) is essential to ensure that the dairy industry can meet the growing demands for dairy products while minimizing its negative impact on the environment, society, and the well-being of the people involved in the sector.ObjectiveCurrent research is intended to compare the emissions associated with packed milk production in two contrasting states, Punjab (an Indian state with helpful agricultural resources and plenty of water) and Rajasthan (a state with a significant desert area) of India. The dairy industry has to undergo different production processes, including livestock, feed, farming, transportation, processing, packaging, and distribution. All of these production steps generate environmental impacts. This study aims to compare the environmental impacts of milk production in Punjab and Rajasthan by understanding the variation in the ecological effects due to the modifications adopted in dairy practices.MethodsThis study uses Umberto LCA+ with Ecoinvent v3.6 dataset as a Life cycle assessment (LCA) tool and data collected from milk producers and processing plants. The primary data was collected from farmers (milk producers) and dairy plants (processing plants), real-time observations, and inputs from the processing plant staff. The LCA analysis was performed, including parameters such as feed agriculture, milking, storage, transportation, processing, packaging, and distribution.Results and conclusionThe analysis results indicate that milk production in Punjab is more environmentally efficient than in Rajasthan, and the feed required for cattle is a critical environmental impact-generating activity along with the selection of packaging material for processed milk.SignificanceThe current article assesses the environmental implications of milk production. The study employs a comprehensive analysis to inform sustainable practices and reduce the ecological footprint of this crucial industry

Recent developments in 2D materials for energy harvesting applications

The ever-increasing demand for energy as a result of the growing interest in applications, such as the Internet of Things and wearable systems, etc, calls for the development of self-sustained energy harvesting solutions. In this regard, 2D materials have sparked enormous interest recently, due to their outstanding properties, such as ultra-thin geometry, high electromechanical coupling, large surface area to volume ratio, tunable band gap, transparency and flexibility. This has given rise to noteworthy advancements in energy harvesters such as triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs), piezoelectric nanogenerators (PENGs) and photovoltaics based on 2D materials. This review introduces the properties of different 2D materials including graphene, transition metal dichalcogenides, MXenes, black phosphorus, hexagonal boron nitride, metal-organic frameworks and covalent-organic frameworks. A detailed discussion of recent developments in 2D materials-based PENG, TENG and photovoltaic devices is included. The review also considers the performance enhancement mechanism and importance of 2D materials in energy harvesting. Finally, the challenges and future perspectives are laid out to present future research directions for the further development and extension of 2D materials-based energy harvesters

Triboelectric Nanogenerators: Design, Fabrication, Energy Harvesting, and Portable-Wearable Applications

Scavenging energy from our day-to-day activity into useful electrical energy be the best solution to solve the energy crisis. This concept entirely reduces the usage of batteries, which have a complex issue in recycling and disposal. For electrical harvesting energy from vibration energy, there are few energy harvesters available, but the fabrication, implementation, and maintenances are quite complicated. Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENG) having the advantage of accessible design, less fabrication cost, and high energy efficiency can replace the battery in low-power electronic devices. TENGs can operate in various working modes such as contact-separation mode, sliding mode, single-electrode mode, and free-standing mode. The design of TENGs with the respective operating modes employed in generating electric power as well as can be utilized as a portable and wearable power source. The fabrication of triboelectric layers with micro-roughness could enhance the triboelectric charge generation. The objective of this chapter is to deal with the design of triboelectric layers, creating micro structured roughness using the soft-lithographic technique, fabrication of TENGs using different working modes, energy harvesting performance analysis, powering up commercial devices (LEDs, displays, and capacitors), and portable-wearable applications

V2O5 nanowires coated yarn based temperature sensor with wireless data transfer for smart textiles

Smart textile with capabilities to sense different stimuli like temperature, pressure etc. are of considerable interest in applications such as sports, fashion, healthcare and robotics etc. The seamless integration of various sensors is desired for effective use of smart textiles in these applications. To this end, here, we present a yarn based wireless temperature sensor developed by modifying a P(VDF-TrFE) coated stainless steel yarn with vanadium pentoxide (V 2 O 5 ) nanowires (NWs). The current-voltage (I-V) characteristics and the temperature sensing performance of the devices are evaluated between 5-50°C with a step increase of 5°C. The unpacked device exhibits a sensitivity of 3.7 %/°C with a response time of 9s. The device is encapsulated with nanosilica/epoxy polymeric layer and its influence on sensors performance is also analyzed. After encapsulation, the device showed more linear response, but with slightly reduced sensitivity of 2.18 %/°C. Moreover, the effect of mechanical bending cycles on sensing performance of packaged device is studied. The sensor showed linear response even after 2000 bending cycles, but sensitivity was reduced to 1.257%/°C. Finally, the temperature sensor data is wirelessly transferred to demonstrate the potential use of developed sensors in above applications

Operation of Circuit Breaker with the help of Password

A circuit breaker is an electrical switch use to protect an electrical circuit from damage caused by faults. Its basic function is to detect a fault condition and protect from it. Fuse operates once after that it must be replaced but a circuit breaker can be reset to resume normal condition. During the manual operation, we see inoperable electrical accidents to the line man are rises during maintenance due to improper communication between the maintenance staff and the substation staff. In order to prevent such accidents, password based circuit breaker is design so that only authentic person can operate it with a password. There is also a facility of changing the password. The system is fully controlled by the microcontroller. The password is saved in an EEPROM, interfaced to the microcontroller and the password can be changed any time. A keypad is used to submit the password and a relay to operate circuit breaker, which is indicated by a bulb. Any wrong attempt to open the circuit breaker by entering the wrong password an alert will be shown in the LCD