A Generative Model For Zero Shot Learning Using Conditional Variational Autoencoders

Zero shot learning in Image Classification refers to the setting where images from some novel classes are absent in the training data but other information such as natural language descriptions or attribute vectors of the classes are available. This setting is important in the real world since one may not be able to obtain images of all the possible classes at training. While previous approaches have tried to model the relationship between the class attribute space and the image space via some kind of a transfer function in order to model the image space correspondingly to an unseen class, we take a different approach and try to generate the samples from the given attributes, using a conditional variational autoencoder, and use the generated samples for classification of the unseen classes. By extensive testing on four benchmark datasets, we show that our model outperforms the state of the art, particularly in the more realistic generalized setting, where the training classes can also appear at the test time along with the novel classes

Advancing Women, Changing Lives A Comprehensive Evaluation of the Gap Inc. P.A.C.E. Program

Globally the garment industry is one of the biggest employers of low-skilled women workers. Despite their large numbers in the workforce, relatively few female garment workers advance to higher-level positions as they have limited opportunities to acquire the skills that would enable their professional and personal growth. In response to this need, Gap Inc. initiated the P.A.C.E. (Personal Advancement & Career Enhancement) workplace education program to teach women the managerial, interpersonal, organizational and other practical skills needed to move forward in work and in life. This report summarizes findings from program evaluations conducted by ICRW from 2009 - 2013 at six factory sites where P.A.C.E. is implemented - two in India and one each in Cambodia, Vietnam, Bangladesh and China.Research findings from these robust, multi-country evaluations demonstrate that P.A.C.E. is an effective, sustainable and scalable model that yields high returns for women, their families and the businesses where they work

Study of PID controller design for systems with Time delay

PID controllers are being widely used in industry due to their well-grounded established theory, simplicity, maintenance requirements, and ease of retuning online. In the past four decades, there are numerous papers dealing with tuning of PID controller. Designing a PID controller to meet gain and phase margin specification is a well-known design technique. If the gain and phase margin are not specified carefully then the design may not be optimum in the sense that could be large phase margin (more robust) that could give better performance. This paper studies the relationship between ISE performance index, gain margin, phase margin and compares two tuning technique, based on these three parameters. These tuning techniques are particularly useful in the context of adaptive control and auto-tuning, where the control parameters have to be calculated on-line. In the first part, basics of various controllers, their working and importance of PID controller in reference to a practical system (thermal control system) is discussed. In the latter part of the work, exhaustive study has been done on two different PID controller tuning techniques. A compromise between robustness and tracking performance of the system in presence of time delay is tried to achieve. Results of simulation, graph, plots, indicate the validity of the study

Design, Synthese und Charakterisierung neuartiger exogener intelligenter/bioreaktiver Kontrastmittel für die Magnetresonanz und optische Bildgebung

The core project of the thesis deals with developing a MRI approach for detecting neuronal activity and to translate activity into changes in MR image contrast. A modulation of water relaxivity by contrast agents can be achieved by specific physiological or biochemical triggers that can be changes in pH, calcium ion, neurotransmitter concentration, or enzymatic activity. The purpose of this project was to design and synthesize a new class of gadolinium(III) (Gd)-based calcium ion, pH, and enzyme sensitive "smart" contrast agents that are capable of reporting on the brain activity status by contrast change in MR images. The thesis also involves in development of Gd-based neuroanatomical tracers and some precursors towards targeted contrast agents which can be useful in MRI as well as optical imaging. The first part of thesis contained synthetic bifunctional probes based on DO3A-EA preloaded with gadolinium which were prepared for applications in targeted MRI and optical imaging. A convenient route of synthesis is reported, which allowed conjugation of this probe with biomolecules for the preparation of model MR contrast agents for targeted imaging. The synthesized compounds were analyzed for use in these imaging modalities. The results indicate that DO3Aethylamine is a multipurpose precursor, from which various targeted contrast agents can be synthesized after a single-step conjugation with organic/bioorganic molecules. The second phase of work contained four DO3A-based lanthanide(III) complexes bearing ester protected and unprotected phosphonate groups which have been synthesized and analyzed. The ligands were made by four-step synthetic procedures and purified with preparative RP-HPLC, after which they were used to prepare gadolinium(III) and europium(III) complexes. The MR results showed that all complexes have possible use as pH sensitive contrast agents, which was confirmed by physiochemical characterization. The third part of this thesis described some novel GdDO3A-type bismacrocyclic complexes; conjugated to Ca2+ chelating moieties like EDTA- and DTPA-bisamides, were synthesized as potential ‘smart’ MRI contrast agents. Their sensitivity towards Ca2+ was studied by relaxometric titrations. A maximum relaxivity increase of 15, 6 and 32 % was observed upon Ca2+ binding for Gd2-25, Gd2-26 and Gd2-27, respectively. These results were confirmed by use of different physiochemical techniques. In the fourth phase, our aim was to synthesize multimodal neuronal tracer molecules that can be visualized not only by microscopic techniques in postmortem fixed tissue, but also by MRI in living animals, allowing in vivo brain connectivity studies to be performed. In order to achieve our goal, we designed and synthesized three novel and structurally different gadolinium containing biocytin-based neuroanatomical tract-tracers (41, 45, and 50). The compounds were tested in histology and found to be more stable and well taken up by neurons as compared to the conventional tracer biocytin. Our results suggest that the class of biocytin-based and Gd3+-containing molecules here described, represents a new and very powerful strategy for neuroanatomical tract-tracing.Diese Arbeit soll zur Entwicklung eines neuen MRI Ansatzes zur Detektion neuronaler Aktivität und die Umsetzung derselben in Änderungen des Kontrastes in MR Bildern beitragen. Die hierfür benötigte Modulation der Wasser-Relaxivität kann durch Kontrastmittel erreicht werden, die auf Änderungen spezifischer physiologischer oder biochemischer Prozesse reagieren, wie z.B. pH-Wert, Calcium-Konzentration, Neurotransmitter-Konzentration oder enzymatischer Aktivität. In dieser Arbeit sollte deshalb eine neue Klasse so genannter „smarter“ Gadolinium-basierter Kontrastmittel entwickelt werden, die über den Nachweis von Änderungen der Calcium-Ionen-Konzentration, des pH-Wertes oder der Aktivität eines Enzyms die Hirnaktivität direkt in Kontraständerungen eines MR-Bildes umsetzt. Außerdem beinhaltet diese Arbeit die Entwicklung neuartiger Gadolinium(Gd)-basierter neuroanatomischer Indikatorsubstanzen sowie einige Vorarbeiten zu gezielt einsetzbaren Kontrastmitteln, die sowohl für die MR als auch die optische Bildgebung einsetzbar sind. Der erste Teil der Arbeit behandelt bifunktionelle Moleküle, die auf einem im Vorfeld mit Gd-beladenem DO3A-EA basieren und für gezielte MR oder optische Bildgebung verwendet werden sollen. Es wird ein einfacher Syntheseweg beschrieben, der die Darstellung dieser Moleküle sowie eine Kopplung an Biomoleküle erlaubt, um Modellverbindungen für MR Kontrastmittel herzustellen, die in der gezielten Bildgebung verwendet werden können. Die hergestellten Verbindungen wurden auf ihre Verwendbarkeit für diese Bildgebungsmethoden untersucht. Es zeigte sich, dass das DO3A-ethylamin eine vielseitig nutzbare Vorstufe darstellt, aus der durch Einschritt-Reaktionen mit organischen/bioorganischen Molekülen verschiedenste gezielte Kontrastmittel synthetisiert werden können. Im zweiten Teil werden die Synthese und Charakterisierung von vier DO3A-basierten Lanthanid(III)-Komplexen beschrieben, die Ester-geschützte oder freie Phosphonat-Gruppen enthalten. Die Liganden hierfür wurden in einer vierschrittigen Synthese hergestellt und mittels präpativer RP-HPLC aufgereinigt. Anschließend wurden diese Liganden zur Herstellung der entsprechenden Gd(III)- bzw. Eu(III)-Komplexe verwendet. Die MR Ergebnisse und die physikochemische Charakterisierung dieser Komplexe zeigten, dass sie alle als pH-empfindliche Kontrastmittel eingesetzt werden können. Des Weiteren werden neuartige bis-makrozyklische Gd-DO3A-basierte Komplexe beschrieben, die an Ca2+-bindende Einheiten wie EDTA- oder DTPA-bis-Amid gekoppelt wurden. Diese sollen als potentielle „smarte“ MR Kontrastmittel Verwendung finden. Ihre Sensitivität für Ca2+ wurde mit Hilfe von relaxometrischen Titrationen untersucht. Dabei wurden durch die Bindung von Ca2+ maximale Relaxivitätsanstiege von 15% für Gd2-25, 6% für Gd2-26 und 32% für Gd2-27 gefunden. Diese Ergebnisse konnten durch verschiedene physikochemische Techniken bestätigt werden. Im letzten Teil war die Synthese multimodaler neuronaler Indikator-Moleküle das Ziel, die nicht nur postmortem in fixiertem Gewebe durch mikroskopische Techniken sichtbar gemacht werden können, sondern auch mittels der MRI im lebenden Tier. Dies würde die Durchführung von in vivo Untersuchungen über die Verknüpfung einzelner Nervenzellen im Gehirn erlauben. Hierzu wurden drei neuartige und strukturell unterschiedliche Gd-enthaltende neuroanatomische Indikatorsubstanzen (41, 45 und 50) entwickelt und synthetisiert, die auf Biocytin basieren. Die Verbindugen wurden mittels histologischer Methoden getestet und zeigten eine sehr gute Aufnahme in Neuronen sowie eine höhere metabolische Stabilität als das konventionelle Biocytin. Die Ergebnisse weisen darauf hin, dass die hier beschriebene Klasse der Biocytin-basierten Gd3+-enthaltenden Moleküle, eine neue und leistungsfähige Möglichkeit bieten kann, um die neuronalen Verknüpfungen im Gehirn darzustellen

Do Organizations Need Emotionally Intelligent Leadership at the Workplace?

Organization is a group of people who are joining together to perform specific tasks. Every organization has a different set of policies and practices which an individual needs to follow. An organization includes teams and team members who have to perform specific tasks on a daily basis. People have to perform their work by proper communication, trust and integrity. Due to lack of these three attributes, conflicts arise among the team members which cause the conditions of anxiety, depression, anger and mood variation, improper response to top management, counter productivity and errors in tasks performance. To overcome such a situation, there is a need for an appropriate style of leadership which can help teams to perform well. The performance of a team depends upon the nature of leadership styles. The kind of leadership style adopted by leaders is sometimes not appropriate completely. To apply appropriate leadership in a particular situation, there is a need to be emotionally intelligent at the workplace. I would like to build a proper relationship between how the traits of Emotional Intelligence will influence positively on the leadership efficiency in organizations. Key findings of the study have focused on the impact of emotional intelligence on organizational growth. The given model has recommended that people with high emotional intelligence can build effective communication, trust and integrity in a team. The attempt has also been made to build a relationship between emotional intelligence and the nature of leadership styles to be adopted in organizations. The finding suggested that transformational style of leadership should be encouraged in an organization. The study of the mentioned topic will help in understanding individual and collective behavior and its effect on the quality of work

Image Compression using Gaussian Smoothing Filter and Median Filter

Now a day’s we are facing a lots of problem regarding data storage. We have very large amount of data with high resolution quality and it is increasing day by day. Data compression is playing a vital role in modern world, because data compression is a technique by which we can store large amount of data in a limited storage device. Data compression can be used in mass communication, online data storing and real time data storing. This paper is based on data compression using efficient data compression algorithm. In this paper we use Gaussian filter as sharping tool and median filter as compression tool

Creating the conditions for scale-up of the Men in Maternity intervention in India

The Frontiers in Reproductive Health (FRONTIERS) program conducted an operations research study, called the Men in Maternity (MiM) study, in collaboration with the Employees\u27 State Insurance Corporation of India (ESIC), aimed at involving men in the antenatal and postpartum care of their partners to raise knowledge and use of postpartum contraception and preventive practices against sexually transmitted infections, as well as improving pregnancy outcomes. This report details the MiM scale-up process, which worked well in terms of ESIC assuming ownership of the training component of the program and being able to build capacity for training. However, to further scale up MiM in the remaining dispensaries in Delhi there needs to be commitment from ESIC for supervision and monitoring of the implementation process so that delays can be minimized and MiM can be fully integrated into the dispensary norms for maternity services. To fully institutionalize MiM in ESIC services, limited and continued external support is required, particularly in the area of supportive supervision and MIS. This could perhaps be achieved through expansion, better coordination with implementing hospitals, and reinforcement of similar messages in different venues such as ESIC hospitals