Effectiveness of Deep Feature Extraction Algorithm in Determining the Maturity of Fruits: A Review

Intelligent farming technology helps farmers overcome tough obstacles in the farming process, such as increased sup-plier costs, a lack of labour, customer satisfaction, and more. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a remarkable technology in smart farming because it deeply understands the issue and can help farmers make decisions. This article's main objective is to identify and examine the concepts and techniques of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) technology that could aid in classifying the ripeness stages of fruit in intelligent farming. This paper systematically reviews 18 previous works for classifying the ripeness stages of fruit. This review outlines the most commonly used algorithms, activation functions, optimisation functions, and platforms for algorithm implementation. In addition, found that not all algorithms are suitable for even near-equivalent processes. Therefore, this study suggests the intensity of the CNN algorithms concerning various metrics to find the suitability for the operations/applications. Finally, this paper offers some future research directions in the ripeness classification of fruits

Are General Insurance Companies Efficient in their Performance? – A Comparison

The insurance sector has witnessed significant changes in the last few years, specifically due to the effects of liberalisation, globalisation, and privatisation. It is imperative to compare and study the earnings and profitability of public sector non-life general insurance companies in India. The public sector non-life general insurance companies are competing with each other, and also with the private players in the same industry and thereby reducing the processing costs and facilitating the innovation of different types of policies across the geographic boundaries. In this paper, secondary data is used to analyse the earnings and profitability of non-life general insurance companies in India by using certain ratios which are available exclusively to evaluate the performance of insurance companies such as Claim Ratio, Expenses Ratio, Combined Ratio, Investment Income Ratio and Return on Equity Ratio.   , , , Ratio Analysi

Bioreduction of silver nanoparticles from aerial parts of Euphorbia hirta L. (EH-ET) and its potent anticancer activities against neuroblastoma cell lines

Euphorbia hirta L. (Family: Euphorbiaceae) is a versatile medicinal plant and enriched with novel bioactive molecules and possess broad-spectrum pharmacological actions. Present work is aiming to synthesis and characterize of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) by bioreduction method an using ethanolic extract of aerial parts of Euphorbia hirta L. (EH-ET). The synthesized AgNPs observed by a color change of source solution (as AgNPs) and further confirmed by the UV-Visible spectroscopic technique. The AgNPs synthesized were characterized by Scanning Electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and Zeta potential analysis. The synthesized AgNPs are polydispersed and some places it’s agglomerated. The particle size EH-ET silver nanoparticles were analyzed using Beckman coulter particle size analyzer (DelsaTM Nano common). The average size of the particles size noted in 2.9-206.3 nm. Anticancer activity of EH-ET Silver nanoparticles was tested against neuroblastoma cells (SH-SY5Y) and breast cancer cells (SH-SY5Y) and cytotoxicity were tested in vero cells by MTT assay. The preliminary confirmation of the synthesized AgNPs by the present method was made by the appearance of reddish brown color and the visible absorption peak at 429.5 nm. SEM image revealed that AgNPs synthesized were spherical in shape and silver nanoparticles were in the size range of 2.9 to 206.3 nm. FT-IR spectra showed the peaks corresponding to functional groups C=O, -C=C and -OH, which actively participated in bio-reduction and subsequent stabilization reactions in the synthesis of AgNPs. The obtained nanoparticles showed promising anticancer activity against neuroblastoma cells (SH-SY5Yc) and breast cancer cells (MCF-7) with IC50 values of 29.85 and 335 µg/mL, respectively. Whereas, the nanoparticles did not show any activity against vero cell lines. The synthesized silver nanoparticles using an ethanolic extract of Euphorbia hirta L. would be helpful for the preparation of potent cytotoxicity agents to destroy cancer cells

"Design Thinking in Healthcare: A Conceptual Framework for Innovation and Patient-Cantered Solutions"

Design thinking is a human-cantered approach to problem-solving that has gained prominence in various industries, including healthcare. This conceptual paper explores the application of design thinking principles in healthcare settings to drive innovation, improve patient experiences, and foster better patient outcomes. It provides an overview of the key elements of design thinking, its relevance in healthcare, and its potential impact on addressing complex healthcare challenges. The paper emphasizes the importance of empathy, ideation, prototyping, and iteration in designing patient-centered solutions. Additionally, it discusses the integration of design thinking into healthcare processes, the role of multidisciplinary collaboration, and the implications for healthcare professionals and organizations. Through this conceptual paper, we aim to inspire further research and practical applications of design thinking in healthcare to enhance the quality of care and patient satisfaction

Management of coriander wilt using biocontrol agents

A replicated field trial on biocontrol of coriander wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum f., sp. coriander; was conducted in kharif season during 1995-96, 1996-97 and 1997-98 in the Department of Spices and Plantation Crops, Horticultural College and Research Institute, TNAU, Coimbatore. Seed treatment with Trichoderma viride at 4 g kg-1 of seed was found to be more effective in reducing the wilt incidence to 5.3 per cent as against 28.3 per cent recorded in untreated, control plots in all the three years. The mean yield (387.5 kg ha-1) for all the three years was also significantly higher in seed treatment with T. viride as against very low yield (162 kg ha-1) obtained in untreated plots. The cost benefit ratio was also enhanced with the same treatment. &nbsp

SilkSatDb: a microsatellite database of the silkworm, Bombyx mori

The SilkSatDb (silkmoth microsatellite database) (http://www.cdfd.org.in/silksatdb) is a relational database of microsatellites extracted from the available expressed sequence tags and whole genome shotgun sequences of the silkmoth, Bombyx mori. The database has been rendered with a simple and robust web-based search facility, developed using PHP. The SilkSatDb also stores information on primers developed and validated in the laboratory. Users can retrieve information on the microsatellite and the protocols used, along with informative figures and polymorphism status of those microsatellites. In addition, the interface is coupled with Autoprimer, a primer-designing program, using which users can design primers for the loci of interest

Immune indices and identical functions of two prophenoloxidases from the haemolymph of green tiger shrimp Penaeus semisulcatus and its antibiofilm activity

In the present study, we purified two prophenoloxidases (proPO) from haemolymph of green tigershrimp,Penaeus semisulcatusby gel fermentation chromatography using blue Sepharose matrix. The twopurified prophenoloxidase macromolecules are of about 76 and 75 kDa determined through SDS-PAGEand named asPenaeus semisulcatusprophenoloxidase I (PSproPO I) andPenaeus semisulcatusproph-enoloxidase II (PSproPO II). It was further characterized by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier TransformInfrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Circular Dichroism (CD) and High Performance Liquid Chromatography(HPLC) analysis. The purified PSproPO I and PSproPO II showed the strongest agglutination titre againsthuman erythrocytes compared to goat RBC. The PSproPO I and PSproPO II showed phagocytic activityagainst yeastSaccharomyces cerevisiaeand encapsulation activity against Sepharose CL 6B beadscompared to CM Sepharose and Sodium alginate beads. The functional analysis of purified PSproPO I andPSproPO II showed enhanced PO activity when added with the triggering molecules such as pathogenassociated molecular patterns (PAMPs), metals and chemicals. In addition, eluted fraction containingPSproPO I and PSproPO II showed antibiofilm activity against Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria.The above results concluded that no significant differences were found between the purified PSproPO Iand PSproPO II immune indices and functions. This study might provide a sensitive platform to under-stand more about the critical roles of PSproPO I and PSproPO II in crustacean immune syste

Electrodeposition and Capacitive Behavior of Films for Electrodes of Electrochemical Supercapacitors

Polypyrrole films were deposited by anodic electropolymerization on stainless steel substrates from aqueous pyrrole solutions containing sodium salicylate and tiron additives. The deposition yield was studied under galvanostatic conditions. The amount of the deposited material was varied by the variation of deposition time at a constant current density. SEM studies showed the formation of porous films with thicknesses in the range of 0–3 μm. Cyclic voltammetry data for the films tested in 0.5 M Na2SO4 solutions showed capacitive behavior and high specific capacitance (SC) in a voltage window of 0.9 V. The films prepared from pyrrole solutions containing tiron showed better capacitive behavior compared to the films prepared from the solutions containing sodium salicylate. A highest SC of 254 F g−1 was observed for the sample with a specific mass of 89 μg cm−2 at a scan rate of 2 mV s−1. The SC decreased with an increasing film thickness and scan rate. The results indicated that the polypyrrole films deposited on the stainless steel substrates by anodic electropolymerization can be used as electrodes for electrochemical supercapacitors (ES)

Analytical framework for Adaptive Compressive Sensing for Target Detection within Wireless Visual Sensor Networks

Wireless visual sensor networks (WVSNs) are composed of a large number of visual sensor nodes covering a specifc geographical region. This paper addresses the target detection problem within WVSNs where visual sensor nodes are left unattended for long-term deployment. As battery energy is a critical issue it is always challenging to maximize the network's lifetime. In order to reduce energy consumption, nodes undergo cycles of active-sleep periods that save their battery energy by switching sensor nodes ON and OFF, according to predefined duty cycles. Moreover, adaptive compressive sensing is expected to dynamically reduce the size of transmitted data through the wireless channel, saving communication bandwidth and consequently saving energy. This paper derives for the first time an analytical framework for selecting node's duty cycles and dynamically choosing the appropriate compression rates for the captured images and videos based on their sparsity nature. This reduces energy waste by reaching the maximum compression rate for each dataset without compromising the probability of detection. Experiments were conducted on different standard datasets resembling different scenes; indoor and outdoor, for single and multiple targets detection. Moreover, datasets were chosen with different sparsity levels to investigate the effect of sparsity on the compression rates. Results showed that by selecting duty cycles and dynamically choosing the appropriate compression rates, the desired performanc