Problem Solving

It is the process of working through details of problem to reach a solution. Problem solving may include mathematical or systematic operations and can be a gauge of an individual's critical thinking skill. Problem solving refers to a state of desire for reaching a definite 'goal' from a present condition either is not directly moving toward the goal, or needs more complex logic for finding a missing description of conditions or steps toward the goal

HSAS: Hindi Subjectivity Analysis System

With the development of Web 2.0, we are abundant with the documents expressing user's opinions, attitudes and sentiments in the textual form. This user generated textual content is an important source of information to make sound decisions by the organizations and the government. The textual information can be categorized into two types: facts and opinions. Subjectivity analysis is the automatic extraction of subjective information from the opinions posted by users and divides the content into subjective and objective sentences. Most of the works in subjectivity analysis exists for English language data but with the introduction of unicode standards UTF-8, Hindi language content on the web is growing very rapidly. In this paper, Hindi Subjectivity Analysis System (HSAS) is proposed. It explores two different methods of generating subjectivity lexicon using the available resources in English language and their comparative evaluation in performing the task of subjectivity analysis at the sentence level. The first method uses English language OpinionFinder subjectivity lexicon. The second method uses a small seed word list of Hindi language and expands it to generate subjectivity lexicon. Different evaluation strategies are used to validate the lexicon. We achieved 71.4% agreement with human annotators and ~80% accuracy in classification on a parallel data set in English and Hindi. Extensive simulations conducted on the test dataset confirm the validity of the suggested method

LWT based encrypted payload steganography

Steganography is used in covert communication for transportation of secrete information. In this paper we propose LWT based Encrypted Payload Steganography (LEPS). The payload is segmented into two parts say block 1 and block 2. The LWT is applied on block 2 to generate four sub bands. Payload block 1 is retained in the spatial domain itself. The values of approximation band coefficients of block 2 and spatial domain intensity values of block 1 are compressed. The LWT is applied on cover image to generate wavelet sub bands and considered only diagonal sub bands (XD). The XD band is decomposed into three parts. The key values are embedded into first part of XD band. The compressed payload is embedded in second and third blocks of XD adaptively. The payload can be retrieved at the destination by adapting reverse process of embedding. It is observed that the values of PSNR and capacity are better in the case of proposed algorithm compared to existing algorithm

In situ carbon coated Li2MnSiO4/C composites as cathodes for enhanced performance li-ion batteries

An in-situ carbon coated Li2MnSiO4/C composite was synthesized by a nanocomposite gel precursor route using starch as the carbon source. Our approach enabled a uniform coating of amorphous carbon on Li 2MnSiO4 with an orthorhombic crystalline structure, which was confirmed by electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and Raman studies. Conducting-atomic force microscopy (C-AFM) images also revealed the presence of high current interconnected domains in the composite, indicating the ability of the carbon coating to facilitate electron movement. Galvanostatic charge-discharge studies demonstrated outstanding initial charge and discharge capacities, respectively, of 330 and 195 mAh g-1 at 0.05 C-rate for the composite, and after 30 cycles a reversible capacity of 115 mAh g -1 was retained. The electrochemical performance of the neat silicate was dismal (10.6 mAh g-1 at 0.05 C-rate), which again reiterated the role of carbon in improving the conduction and Li-ion storage capacity of the silicate. An insignificant change in charge transfer resistance, with cycling, as inferred from impedance spectroscopy illustrated that charge transfer and transport processes remain facile with cycling, thus demonstrating Li 2MnSiO4/C to be promising cathode Li-ion batteries

Identification and cost of adverse events in metastatic breast cancer in taxane and capecitabine based regimens.

PurposeWe sought to compare the economic impact of treatment-related adverse events (AEs) in patients with metastatic breast cancer (mBC) using taxane- or capecitabine-based treatment regimens as either first- or second-line (FL or SL) therapy in the US.MethodsWe used healthcare claims data from the Truven Health Analytics MarketScan® Commercial Databases to conduct a retrospective cohort study comparing the economic impact of AEs amongst taxane- and capecitabine-treated mBC patients in the US. We selected women diagnosed with mBC between 2008-2010 who received a taxane or capecitabine as first- or second-line (FL or SL) chemotherapy. Costs related to hospitalization, outpatient services, emergency department visits, chemotherapy and other medications were tabulated and combined to determine total healthcare costs. The incremental monthly costs associated with the presence of AEs compared to no AEs were estimated using generalized linear models, controlling for age and Charlson Comorbidity Index.ResultsWe identified 15,443 mBC patients meeting inclusion criteria. Adjusted total monthly costs were significantly higher in those who experienced AEs than in those without AEs in both lines of treatment (FL incremental cost: taxanes $1,142, capecitabine$1,817; SL incremental cost: taxanes $1,448, capecitabine$4,437). Total costs increased with the number of AEs and were primarily driven by increased hospitalization amongst those with AEs.ConclusionsAdverse events in taxane- or capecitabine-treated mBC patients are associated with significant increases in costs. Selecting treatment options associated with fewer AEs may reduce costs and improve outcomes in these patients

Good Codons, Bad Transcript: Large Reductions in Gene Expression and Fitness Arising from Synonymous Mutations in a Key Enzyme

Biased codon usage in protein-coding genes is pervasive, whereby amino acids are largely encoded by a specific subset of possible codons. Within individual genes, codon bias is stronger at evolutionarily conserved residues, favoring codons recognized by abundant tRNAs. Although this observation suggests an overall pattern of selection for translation speed and/or accuracy, other work indicates that transcript structure or binding motifs drive codon usage. However, our understanding of codon bias evolution is constrained by limited experimental data on the fitness effects of altering codons in functional genes. To bridge this gap, we generated synonymous variants of a key enzyme-coding gene in Methylobacterium extorquens. We found that mutant gene expression, enzyme production, enzyme activity, and fitness were all significantly lower than wild-type. Surprisingly, encoding the gene using only rare codons decreased fitness by 40%, whereas an allele coded entirely by frequent codons decreased fitness by more than 90%. Increasing gene expression restored mutant fitness to varying degrees, demonstrating that the fitness disadvantage of synonymous mutants arose from a lack of beneficial protein rather than costs of protein production. Protein production was negatively correlated with the frequency of motifs with high affinity for the anti-Shine-Dalgarno sequence, suggesting ribosome pausing as the dominant cause of low mutant fitness. Together, our data support the idea that, although a particular set of codons are favored on average across a genome, in an individual gene selection can either act for or against codons depending on their local context.Organismic and Evolutionary Biolog

Vertical propagation characteristics and seasonal variability of tidal wind oscillations in the MLT region over Trivandrum (8.5° N, 77° E): first results from SKiYMET Meteor Radar

Tidal activity in the Mesospheric Lower Thermosphere (MLT) region over Trivandrum (8.5° N, 77° E) is investigated using the observations from newly installed SKiYMET Meteor Radar. The seasonal variability and vertical propagation characteristics of atmospheric tides in the MLT region are addressed in the present communication. The observations revealed that the diurnal tide is more prominent than the semi/terdiurnal components over this latitude. It is also observed that the amplitudes of meridional components are stronger than that of zonal ones. The amplitude and phase structure shows the vertical propagation of diurnal tides with vertical wavelength of ~25 km. However, the vertical wavelength of the semidiurnal tide showed considerable variations. The vertical propagation characteristics of the terdiurnal tide showed some indications of their generating mechanisms. The observed features of tidal components are compared with Global Scale Wave Model (GSWM02) values and they showed a similar amplitude and phase structure for diurnal tides. Month-to-month variations in the tidal amplitudes have shown significant seasonal variation. The observed seasonal variation is discussed in light of the variation in tidal forcing and dissipation