Gray Image extraction using Fuzzy Logic

Fuzzy systems concern fundamental methodology to represent and process uncertainty and imprecision in the linguistic information. The fuzzy systems that use fuzzy rules to represent the domain knowledge of the problem are known as Fuzzy Rule Base Systems (FRBS). On the other hand image segmentation and subsequent extraction from a noise-affected background, with the help of various soft computing methods, are relatively new and quite popular due to various reasons. These methods include various Artificial Neural Network (ANN) models (primarily supervised in nature), Genetic Algorithm (GA) based techniques, intensity histogram based methods etc. providing an extraction solution working in unsupervised mode happens to be even more interesting problem. Literature suggests that effort in this respect appears to be quite rudimentary. In the present article, we propose a fuzzy rule guided novel technique that is functional devoid of any external intervention during execution. Experimental results suggest that this approach is an efficient one in comparison to different other techniques extensively addressed in literature. In order to justify the supremacy of performance of our proposed technique in respect of its competitors, we take recourse to effective metrics like Mean Squared Error (MSE), Mean Absolute Error (MAE), Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR).Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, Fuzzy Rule Base, Image Extraction, Fuzzy Inference System (FIS), Membership Functions, Membership values,Image coding and Processing, Soft Computing, Computer Vision Accepted and published in IEEE. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1206.363

Probing long-range correlations in the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless fluctuation regime of ultra-thin NbN superconducting films using transport noise measurements

We probe the presence of long-range correlations in phase fluctuations by analyzing the higher-order spectrum of resistance fluctuations in ultra-thin NbN superconducting films. The non-Gaussian component of resistance fluctuations is found to be sensitive to film thickness close to the transition, which allows us to distinguish between mean field and Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) type superconducting transitions. The extent of non-Gaussianity was found to be bounded by the BKT and mean field transition temperatures and depend strongly on the roughness and structural inhomogeneity of the superconducting films. Our experiment outlines a novel fluctuation-based kinetic probe in detecting the nature of superconductivity in disordered low-dimensional materials.Comment: submitted to PR

Phytochemical, antioxidant and in-vitro anti-inflammatory studies of peels of sweet potato (Ipomea batatas) have shown a promising natural cure against antibiotic resistant bacteria and opportunistic fungus

Background- Multidrug-resistance has become an emerging health concern worldwide mostly in the immune-compromised patients. This indicates the need to search for alternative methods of controlling antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Ethono-medicinal data indicated sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), a widely consumed vegetable as a potent remedy in inflammatory and infectious diseases. The present study evaluated the phytochemical, antioxidant and anti-bacterial action of the ethanolic extract of Ipomoea batatas peels against some drug-resistant pathogens like Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and anti-fungal action against Aspergilus niger responsible for most of the infections leading to the treatment failure. There is inflammation induced disorders like cardiovascular diseases, atherosclerosis, type 2 diabetes, etc. where the peels of Ipomoea batatas have very much potent anti-inflammatory activity. Methods- The peels of sweet potato were authenticated and macerated ethanolic extract was used for the Phytochemical analysis, antioxidant, in-vitro anti-inflammatory studies were performed. The antifungal activity was studied against Aspergilus niger and antimicrobial action was evaluated against two most commonly found resistant strains like Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. Results- The phytochemical analysis the ethanolic extract of the peels of Ipomoea batatas has shown the presence of alkaloid, glycoside, phenol and tannin. Antioxidant activity in terms of total phenolic & total flavonoid contents has shown a significantly good value, less than 50µg/ml. The anti-bacterial activity against two antibiotic resistant bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureous were prominently good with the MIC (Minimum Inhibitory Concentration) 25 mg/ml and for the fungal strain Aspergilus niger, the MIC was 50 mg/ml. The various in-vitro anti-inflammatory studies like heat induced haemolysis, protein denaturation study etc. have proved that the sweet potato leaves have potent anti-inflammatory activity with an IC50 value less than 400 µg/ml. Conclusion- The present study indicated the ethanolic extract of Ipomoea batatas peel can be beneficial to develop a cost-effective natural source of antimicrobial agent against drug resistant pathogen and also source of cure for various inflammation induced disorders. Further study will lead to a sustainable source in pharmaceutical industries also helpful to maintain an eco-friendly environment

Enhancing livelihoods in farming communities through super-resolution agromet advisories using advanced digital agriculture technologies

Agricultural production in India is highly vulnerable to climate change. Transformational change to farming systems is required to cope with this changing climate to maintain food security, and ensure farming to remain economically viable. The south Asian rice-fallow systems occupying 22.3 million ha with about 88% in India, mostly (82%) concentrated in the eastern states, are under threat. These systems currently provide economic and food security for about 11 million people, but only achieve 50% of their yield potential. Improvement in productivity is possible through efficient utilization of these fallow lands. The relatively low production occurs because of sub-optimal water and nutrient management strategies. Historically, the Agro-met advisory service has assisted farmers and disseminated information at a district-level for all the states. In some instances, Agro-met delivers advice at the block level also, but in general, farmers use to follow the district level advice and develop an appropriate management plan like land preparation, sowing, irrigation timing, harvesting etc. The advisories are generated through the District Agrometeorology Unit (DAMU) and Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) network, that consider medium-range weather forecast. Unfortunately, these forecasts advisories are general and broad in nature for a given district and do not scale down to the individual field or farm. Farmers must make complex crop management decisions with limited or generalised information. The lack of fine scale information creates uncertainty for farmers, who then develop risk-averse management strategies that reduce productivity. It is unrealistic to expect the Agro-met advisory service to deliver bespoke information to every farmer and to every field simply with the help of Kilometre-scale weather forecast. New technologies must be embraced to address the emerging crises in food security and economic prosperity. Despite these problems, Agro-met has been successful. New digital technologies have emerged though, and these digital technologies should become part of the Agro-met arsenal to deliver valuable information directly to the farmers at the field scale. The Agro-met service is poised to embrace and deliver new interventions through technology cross-sections such as satellite remote sensing, drone-based survey, mobile based data collection systems, IoT based sensors, using insights derived from a hybridisation of crop and AIML (Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning) models. These technological advancements will generate fine-scale static and dynamic Agro-met information on cultivated lands, that can be delivered through Application Programming Interface (APIs) and farmers facing applications. We believe investment in this technology, that delivers information directly to the farmers, can reverse the yield gap, and address the negative impacts of a changing climate

VprBP binds full-length RAG1 and is required for B-cell development and V(D)J recombination fidelity

The N-terminus of full-length RAG1, though dispensable for RAG1/2 cleavage activity, is required for efficient V(D)J recombination. This region supports RING E3 ubiquitin ligase activity in vitro, but whether full-length RAG1 functions as a single subunit or a multi-subunit E3 ligase in vivo is unclear. We show the multi-subunit cullin RING E3 ligase complex VprBP/DDB1/Cul4A/Roc1 associates with full-length RAG1 through VprBP. This complex is assembled into RAG protein–DNA complexes, and supports in-vitro ubiquitylation activity that is insensitive to RAG1 RING domain mutations. Conditional B lineage-specific VprBP disruption arrests B-cell development at the pro-B-to-pre-B cell transition, but this block is bypassed by expressing rearranged immunoglobulin transgenes. Mice with a conditional VprBP disruption show modest reduction of D–JH rearrangement, whereas VH–DJH and Vκ–Jκ rearrangements are severely impaired. D–JH coding joints from VprBP-insufficent mice show longer junctional nucleotide insertions and a higher mutation frequency in D and J segments than normal. These data suggest full-length RAG1 recruits a cullin RING E3 ligase complex to ubiquitylate an unknown protein(s) to limit error-prone repair during V(D)J recombination

Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis

Search for heavy resonances decaying to two Higgs bosons in final states containing four b quarks

A search is presented for narrow heavy resonances X decaying into pairs of Higgs bosons (H) in proton-proton collisions collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC at root s = 8 TeV. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 fb(-1). The search considers HH resonances with masses between 1 and 3 TeV, having final states of two b quark pairs. Each Higgs boson is produced with large momentum, and the hadronization products of the pair of b quarks can usually be reconstructed as single large jets. The background from multijet and t (t) over bar events is significantly reduced by applying requirements related to the flavor of the jet, its mass, and its substructure. The signal would be identified as a peak on top of the dijet invariant mass spectrum of the remaining background events. No evidence is observed for such a signal. Upper limits obtained at 95 confidence level for the product of the production cross section and branching fraction sigma(gg -> X) B(X -> HH -> b (b) over barb (b) over bar) range from 10 to 1.5 fb for the mass of X from 1.15 to 2.0 TeV, significantly extending previous searches. For a warped extra dimension theory with amass scale Lambda(R) = 1 TeV, the data exclude radion scalar masses between 1.15 and 1.55 TeV

Measurement of the top quark forward-backward production asymmetry and the anomalous chromoelectric and chromomagnetic moments in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV

Abstract The parton-level top quark (t) forward-backward asymmetry and the anomalous chromoelectric (d̂ t) and chromomagnetic (μ̂ t) moments have been measured using LHC pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, collected in the CMS detector in a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb−1. The linearized variable AFB(1) is used to approximate the asymmetry. Candidate t t ¯ events decaying to a muon or electron and jets in final states with low and high Lorentz boosts are selected and reconstructed using a fit of the kinematic distributions of the decay products to those expected for t t ¯ final states. The values found for the parameters are AFB(1)=0.048−0.087+0.095(stat)−0.029+0.020(syst),μ̂t=−0.024−0.009+0.013(stat)−0.011+0.016(syst), and a limit is placed on the magnitude of | d̂ t| < 0.03 at 95% confidence level. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

MUSiC : a model-unspecific search for new physics in proton-proton collisions at root s=13TeV

Results of the Model Unspecific Search in CMS (MUSiC), using proton-proton collision data recorded at the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb(-1), are presented. The MUSiC analysis searches for anomalies that could be signatures of physics beyond the standard model. The analysis is based on the comparison of observed data with the standard model prediction, as determined from simulation, in several hundred final states and multiple kinematic distributions. Events containing at least one electron or muon are classified based on their final state topology, and an automated search algorithm surveys the observed data for deviations from the prediction. The sensitivity of the search is validated using multiple methods. No significant deviations from the predictions have been observed. For a wide range of final state topologies, agreement is found between the data and the standard model simulation. This analysis complements dedicated search analyses by significantly expanding the range of final states covered using a model independent approach with the largest data set to date to probe phase space regions beyond the reach of previous general searches.Peer reviewe