Multiple solutions based particle swarm optimization for cluster-head-selection in wireless-sensor-network

Wireless sensor network (WSN) has a significant role in wide range of scientific and industrial applications. In WSN, within the operation area of sensor nodes the nodes are randomly deployed. The constraint related to energy is considered as one of the major challenges for WSN, which may not only affect the sensor nodes efficiency but also influences the operational capabilities of the network. Therefore, numerous attempts of researches have been proposed to counter this energy problem in WSN. Hierarchical clustering approaches are popular techniques that offered the efficient consumption of the energy in WSN. In addition to this, it is understood that the optimum choice of sensor as cluster head can critically help to reduce the energy consumption of the sensor node. In recent years, metaheuristic optimization is used as a proposed technique for the optimal selection of cluster heads. Furthermore, it is noteworthy here that proposed techniques should be efficient enough to provide the optimal solution for the given problem. Therefore, in this regard, various attempts are made in the form of modified versions or new metaheuristic algorithms for optimization problems. The research in the paper offered a modified version of particle-swarm-optimization (PSO) for the optimal selection of sensor nodes as cluster heads. The performance of the suggested algorithm is experimented and compared with the renowned optimization techniques. The proposed approach produced better results in the form of residual energy, number of live nodes, sum of dead nodes, and convergence rate

BETWEEN GOOD INTENTIONS AND DARK CORNERS: EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP AND UNETHICAL PRO-ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

Employees who are keen to uphold their organizational competetiveness by practicing organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) may, at some point within practical workplace settings, based on their social exchange perceptions (SEP), cross the ethical and moral boundary conditions to benefit the organization and engage in unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB). Drawing on social exchange theory (SET), and social cognitive theory (SCT), a mediated-moderation model has been theorized to broaden our take on UPB as one of the possible downstream effects of OCB, mediated by SEP and moderated by moral attentiveness (MA). As a novel study of its kind, it is likely to have a significant contribution to the body of knowledge regarding the paradoxical nature of UPB

A novel approach for classification of underactuated mechanism in myoelectric hand

Concept of underactuation makes it possible to create such robotic hands that automatically adapt to the shape of the grasped object without using a complex control system or a large number of actuators. In underactuated hand prostheses, depending upon control strategy used, one can get more and more degree of freedoms (DOFs) to make its prosthetic device more versatile and easy to control. In spite of all the great work done by the researchers on underactuated prosthetic hands, no one has given any relationship between the number of motors (or actuators) and the number of degree of freedoms (DOFs). This novel concept named as “Coefficient of UAM” (CoUAM) is “the ratio between numbers of motors to the number of DOFs”. By reviewing various known studies, CoUAM of randomly selected prosthetic hands is calculated separately and analyzed merits/demerits, cost, weight, appearance, ease of controllability and their functionality to make this approach more objective and useful for the future researchers. Hence target of this paper is to assess a Coefficient of UAM (CoUAM) of different types of prostheses available and then classify them into red, green and yellow zones

Conceptual Paper on Halal and Haram: Systems Level Approach

Purpose: Islamic, as well as modern literature, on the issue of halal/haram (permissible and prohibited), primarily circulates around the product’s ingredient aspect, categorizing a particular object specifically into one of the mentioned dichotomist heads. On contrary to the usual individualistic consumer/product-centric approach, this paper discusses several macros, systems-level models, which follow the top-bottom approach. Methodology: A discourse, through conceptual framework analysis, this paper discusses the concept of halal and haram, to understand the nature and antecedents to the concepts as narrated in the revealed texts of Quran and Hadith.  Findings: It is proposed that although the terms of halal and haram are elaborated extensively in literature, there are several gaps in the understanding of the concept at the systems level. Therefore, this paper presents a comprehensive understanding through conceptual framework of halal/haram using the conceptual analysis method, which grounds into Islamic literature to trace the phenomenon’s major concepts and dimensions at various systems levels, such as society and environment. Conclusion: The research would enrich the understanding of how the Creator has created filters to provide the believers the best to consume and balances the cosmic systems through commandments to individuals, compliances to which supplement and support the Islamic lifestyle and Islamic social structure and sustained global development

AI-Enabled Traffic Control Prioritization in Software-Defined IoT Networks for Smart Agriculture

Smart agricultural systems have received a great deal of interest in recent years because of their potential for improving the efficiency and productivity of farming practices. These systems gather and analyze environmental data such as temperature, soil moisture, humidity, etc., using sensor networks and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. This information can then be utilized to improve crop growth, identify plant illnesses, and minimize water usage. However, dealing with data complexity and dynamism can be difficult when using traditional processing methods. As a solution to this, we offer a novel framework that combines Machine Learning (ML) with a Reinforcement Learning (RL) algorithm to optimize traffic routing inside Software-Defined Networks (SDN) through traffic classifications. ML models such as Logistic Regression (LR), Random Forest (RF), k-nearest Neighbours (KNN), Support Vector Machines (SVM), Naive Bayes (NB), and Decision Trees (DT) are used to categorize data traffic into emergency, normal, and on-demand. The basic version of RL, i.e., the Q-learning (QL) algorithm, is utilized alongside the SDN paradigm to optimize routing based on traffic classes. It is worth mentioning that RF and DT outperform the other ML models in terms of accuracy. Our results illustrate the importance of the suggested technique in optimizing traffic routing in SDN environments. Integrating ML-based data classification with the QL method improves resource allocation, reduces latency, and improves the delivery of emergency traffic. The versatility of SDN facilitates the adaption of routing algorithms depending on real-time changes in network circumstances and traffic characteristics

INDEXED STROKE VOLUME IN CHILDREN WITH VARYING LEFT VENTRICLE EJECTION FRACTION AND ITS CORRELATION WITH VARIOUS CARDIAC FACTORS

OBJECTIVE: To determine the variation in indexed stroke volume (LVSVi) in children with varying left ventricle ejection fraction (LVEF) using cardiac magnetic imaging (CMR) and its correlation with various cardiac factors. METHODS: This observational comparative study was conducted at The Children’s Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan from December 2018 to November 2021. All children below 18 years’ age presenting to hospital for CMR for tissue characterization, having normal vital organs function and no clinical signs of heart failure were included in the study. Relevant clinical data was recorded. CMR was performed using 1.5T Philips Ingenia MRI scanner. The data were analyzed with varying LVEF and correlation of LVSVi with various cardiac factors including indexed left ventricular end diastolic volume (LVEDVi), cardiac output (CO) and heart rate (HR). RESULTS: Out of 175 patients, 170 children up to 18 years old completed the test with mean age 14.3±3.3 years. Mean LVSVi was 42+12 ml/m2 which followed Frank Starling curve except in children with LVEF <36%. Mean LVEDVi was 86±34 ml/m2. LVSVi did not correlate with heart rate or indexed ventricular systolic volumes acting as an independent variable. Minimum LVSVi remained similar all groups as demonstrated through centile distribution. CONCLUSION: Indexed stroke volume is an independent variable in children having normal vital organs function with varying LVEF. It can serve as an independent monitoring parameter for clinical management of children with impaired ejection fraction

Efficacy of Avicennia marina (Forsk.) Vierh. leaves extracts against some atmospheric fungi

Crude ethanolic extract of Avicennia marina leaves was tested against seven allergenic fungi viz., Alternaria alternata, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus niger, Cladosporium herbarum, Penicillium notatum and Saccharomyces cerevisiae using five different solvents: dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO), distilled water (DW), chloroform, ethanol and acetone at 2000, 4000 and 6000 ppm doses. Dose dependent tendency in the increase or decrease in the growth of fungi was observed. Two synthetic drugs miconazole and amphotericin-B were used as positive control. Miconazole was 100% effective against A. alternata, C. herbatum, P. notatum and S. cerevisiae with the concentrations of 95.00 ± 1.62, 78.00 ± 4.99, 100.00 ± 0.69 and 110.00 ± 2.33 (μg/ml of SDA medium), respectively. Amphotericin-B completely controlled the growth of A. flavus, A. fumigatus and A. niger in the concentration of 24.00 ± 17.00, 30.00 ± 15.66 and 18.00 ± 18.34 (μg/ml of SDA medium), respectively. Distilled water and DMSO were considered to be the most effective solvents preventing 83.00 ± 4.73% growth of A. niger, 80.33 ± 5.60% A. flavus, 78.58 ± 3.18% A. alternata, 72.91 ± 7.96% P. notatum, 65.25 ± 3.55% C. herbarum, 63.25 ± 4.52% A. fumigatus and 48.5 ± 7.89% S. cerevisiae. Statistically, the results were compared with negative control and found to be highly significant (p&lt;0.01).Key words: Allergenic fungi, inhibition, dose dependent, growth control, synthetic drugs

Performance analysis of sphere packed aided differential space-time spreading with iterative source-channel detection

The introduction of 5G with excessively high speeds and ever-advancing cellular device capabilities has increased the demand for high data rate wireless multimedia communication. Data compression, transmission robustness and error resilience are introduced to meet the increased demands of high data rates of today. An innovative approach is to come up with a unique setup of source bit codes (SBCs) that ensure the convergence and joint source-channel coding (JSCC) correspondingly results in lower bit error ratio (BER). The soft-bit assisted source and channel codes are optimized jointly for optimum convergence. Source bit codes assisted by iterative detection are used with a rate-1 precoder for performance evaluation of the above mentioned scheme of transmitting sata-partitioned (DP) H.264/AVC frames from source through a narrowband correlated Rayleigh fading channel. A novel approach of using sphere packing (SP) modulation aided differential space time spreading (DSTS) in combination with SBC is designed for the video transmission to cope with channel fading. Furthermore, the effects of SBC with different hamming distances d(H,min) but similar coding rates is explored on objective video quality such as peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) and also the overall bit error ratio (BER). EXtrinsic Information Transfer Charts (EXIT) are used for analysis of the convergence behavior of SBC and its iterative scheme. Specifically, the experiments exhibit that the proposed scheme of error protection of SBC d(H,min) = 6 outperforms the SBCs having same code rate, but with d(H,min) = 3 by 3 dB with PSNR degradation of 1 dB. Furthermore, simulation results show that a gain of 27 dB Eb/N0 is achieved with SBC having code rate 1/3 compared to the benchmark Rate-1 SBC codes.Web of Science2116art. no. 546

Conceptual paper on Halal and Haram: systems level approach

Purpose: Islamic, as well as modern literature, on the issue of halal/haram (permissible and prohibited), primarily circulates around the product’s ingredient aspect, categorizing a particular object specifically into one of the mentioned dichotomist heads. On contrary to the usual individualistic consumer/product-centric approach, this paper discusses several macros, systems-level models, which follow the top-bottom approach. Methodology: A discourse, through conceptual framework analysis, this paper discusses the concept of halal and haram, to understand the nature and antecedents to the concepts as narrated in the revealed texts of Quran and Hadith. Findings: It is proposed that although the terms of halal and haram are elaborated extensively in literature, there are several gaps in the understanding of the concept at the systems level. Therefore, this paper presents a comprehensive understanding through conceptual framework of halal/haram using the conceptual analysis method, which grounds into Islamic literature to trace the phenomenon’s major concepts and dimensions at various systems levels, such as society and environment. Conclusion: The research would enrich the understanding of how the Creator has created filters to provide the believers the best to consume and balances the cosmic systems through commandments to individuals, compliances to which supplement and support the Islamic lifestyle and Islamic social structure and sustained global development