Ontology based approach for video transmission over the network

With the increase in the bandwidth & the transmission speed over the internet, transmission of multimedia objects like video, audio, images has become an easier work. In this paper we provide an approach that can be useful for transmission of video objects over the internet without much fuzz. The approach provides a ontology based framework that is used to establish an automatic deployment of video transmission system. Further the video is compressed using the structural flow mechanism that uses the wavelet principle for compression of video frames. Finally the video transmission algorithm known as RRDBFSF algorithm is provided that makes use of the concept of restrictive flooding to avoid redundancy thereby increasing the efficiency.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, 4 table

Advances in genetics and molecular breeding of three legume crops of semi-arid tropics using next-generation sequencing and high-throughput genotyping technologies

Molecular markers are the most powerful genomic tools to increase the efficiency and precision of breeding practices for crop improvement. Progress in the development of genomic resources in the leading legume crops of the semi-arid tropics (SAT), namely, chickpea (Cicer arietinum), pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan) and groundnut (Arachis hypogaea), as compared to other crop species like cereals, has been very slow. With the advances in next-generation sequencing (NGS) and high-throughput (HTP) genotyping methods, there is a shift in development of genomic resources including molecular markers in these crops. For instance, 2,000 to 3,000 novel simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers have been developed each for chickpea, pigeonpea and groundnut. Based on Sanger, 454/FLX and Illumina transcript reads, transcriptome assemblies have been developed for chickpea (44,845 transcript assembly contigs, or TACs) and pigeonpea (21,434 TACs). Illumina sequencing of some parental genotypes of mapping populations has resulted in the development of 120 million reads for chickpea and 128.9 million reads for pigeonpea. Alignment of these Illumina reads with respective transcriptome assemblies have provided >10,000 SNPs each in chickpea and pigeonpea. A variety of SNP genotyping platforms including GoldenGate, VeraCode and Competitive Allele Specific PCR (KASPar) assays have been developed in chickpea and pigeonpea. By using above resources, the first-generation or comprehensive genetic maps have been developed in the three legume speciesmentioned above. Analysis of phenotyping data together with genotyping data has provided candidate markers for drought-tolerance-related root traits in chickpea, resistance to foliar diseases in groundnut and sterility mosaic disease (SMD) and fertility restoration in pigeonpea. Together with these traitassociated markers along with those already available, molecular breeding programmes have been initiated for enhancing drought tolerance, resistance to fusarium wilt and ascochyta blight in chickpea and resistance to foliar diseases in groundnut. These trait-associated robust markers along with other genomic resources including genetic maps and genomic resources will certainly accelerate crop improvement programmes in the SAT legum

Time-based Biomedical Readout Circuits in Low-Voltage Nanometer CMOS

Personalized healthcare applications require low-cost sensor readouts that have a small form factor and can acquire multiple signal modalities. This requires sensor circuits that are accurate, have extensive information processing capabilities, while being able to operate with low supply voltages. A significant challenge in achieving this requirement is designing a power- and area-efficient analog front-end (AFE) in a low-voltage-supply and/or a small-scale CMOS technology. It is shown in this thesis that one the main reasons for this to be challenging is the limited voltage headroom, due to the low voltage supply. Other challenges that exist arise from scaling down the transistor size, resulting in an increase in flicker noise, an increase in gate leakage current, a decrease in the intrinsic gain of the transistor and the fact that the area of on-chip passives does not scale down with technology. Each of these challenges and their existing solutions are discussed in detail in this thesis. The central goal of this thesis is to show that the larger dynamic range available in the time domain can be utilized to overcome the problem of the limited voltage headroom and thereby to design power- and area-efficient analog circuits. Towards this end, a key voltage-to-time converter block: a time-based loop is proposed. It essentially consists of a comparator with a 1-bit DAC and an integrator in the feedback. While this architecture has been utilized earlier in applications such as ADCs, communications and power regulation, it has never been analysed and implemented specifically for biomedical applications. To do so, in this thesis, we develop small-signal equations for the gain, the loop gain and the noise performance of the loop. These are then used to optimize the design and consequently, allow us to obtain significant benefits w.r.t. state-of-the-art designs. To verify the feasibility of the proposed concept, two prototypes for ECG readout, each targeting a different application, are designed, implemented and measured. In the first implementation, a time-based instrumentation amplifier (IA) is designed in 180 nm CMOS technology for a prototype ECG readout application. It can operate at 0.35 V, while consuming a power of 210 nW. For traditional voltage-domain circuits with insufficient voltage headroom, the design of a power-efficient and high-gain opamp is one of the main challenges at functioning at such a low voltage supply. In this thesis, however, thanks to the proposed time-based operation, the measured results of the time-based IA show an improvement of > 3x in power consumption for a similar gain w.r.t the state of the art. This design is relevant for readouts required in long-lifetime sensor applications. In the second implementation, a time-based analog front-end (AFE) for ECG readout is designed in 40 nm CMOS technology that can operate at 0.6 V, while consuming a power of 3.3 µW and a silicon area of 0.015 mm2. The circuit can handle a 40 mVpp input AC signal and + 150 mV DC-electrode offset. In a small-scale CMOS technology, such as 40 nm CMOS, existing voltage-based AFE design techniques face a challenging trade-off between the area consumption, the power consumption and the dynamic range. In this implementation, the time-domain operation enables us to overcome the limited voltage headroom. It also helps us to overcome the problem of the reduced intrinsic gain by enabling the use of scalable blocks such as dynamic comparators. Flicker noise is reduced by using the chopping technique. The measurement results show an improvement of > 5x dynamic range w.r.t the state of the art with similar area and power consumption. These prototype designs not only enable low-cost, low-power sensor solutions for personalized healthcare applications, but also open further avenues for analog design in for an ultra-low supply voltage and/or in a small-scale CMOS technology.status: publishe

Spectrum of Cervical Lesions in Pap Smear with Histopathological Concordance: A Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Cervical cancer is amongst the leading causes of death in females. According to the World Cancer Statistics, the global incidence of cervical cancer is 6.5% and mortality related to it is 7.5%. The most effective way to screen and thus treat in early stages is achieved by screening the patients with Papanicolaou (Pap) smear. Aim: To assess the spectrum of cervical lesions in Pap smears, classify them as per the Bethesda System of reporting Cervical Cytology and compare the cytology results with histopathology where available. Materials and Methods: The present study was a cross-sectional study carried out for a period of two months from August 2022 to September 2022 in Rohilkhand Medical College and Hospital, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India. The slides of Pap smear were reported as per the 2014 Bethesda System of reporting cervical cytology. Comparison with the histopathological findings was done in cases whenever cervical biopsy or hysterectomy specimen was received. Data was collected, entered and compiled in Microsoft excel followed by analysis using software Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 23.0. The data was represented in frequency and validity was calculated in terms of sensitivity, specificity, Positive Predictive Value (PPV), Negative Predictive Value (NPV) and accuracy. The p-value was calculated using Chi-square test and significance was set at p<0.05. Results: All cases received during the study duration of two months were included in the study which was 400 consecutive PAP smears. Epithelial cell abnormality was seen in 17 (4.25%) cases. Atypical Squamous Cells of Undetermined Significance (ASCUS) was seen in 8 (2%) cases, Low-grade Squamous Intraepithelial Lesion (LSIL) in 2 (0.5%) cases, High-grade Squamous Intraepithelial Lesion (HSIL) in 1 (0.25%) case, Atypical Squamous Cells- cannot exclude high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (ASC-H) in 4 (1%) cases and Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SQCC) in 2 (0.5%) cases. Concordance with histopathathology was seen in 33 of 37 cases. The overall sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV and diagnostic accuracy was 90%, 88.9%, 75%, 96% and 89%, respectively. The p-value was 0.00001. Conclusion: Cases diagnosed on Pap smear as low-grade epithelial cell abnormality including ASCUS and LSIL should be kept in follow-up, whereas cases diagnosed with high-grade epithelial cell abnormality including ASC-H, HSIL or SQCC, appropriate treatment should be planned

A 0.6-V, 0.015-mm2, time-based ECG readout for ambulatory applications in 40-nm CMOS

© 2016 IEEE. A scalable time-based analog front end in 40-nm CMOS is presented for ECG readout for ambulatory applications. The main challenge addressed is achieving a large dynamic range readout (necessary to handle large signals during motion) in a power and area-efficient manner at low voltage supplies while also tackling the challenges of increase in flicker noise and gate-leakage current. Demonstrated results show a significant improvement in ac-dynamic range without compromising on area (0.015 mm2) and power consumption (3.3∼ μW). This paper will be relevant toward developing low-cost, low-power sensor system-on-chips required for wearable biomedical applications.status: publishe