Rossler Nonlinear Dynamical Machine for Cryptography Applications

In many of the cryptography applications like password or IP address encryption schemes, symmetric cryptography is useful. In these relatively simpler applications of cryptography, asymmetric cryptography is difficult to justify on account of the computational and implementation complexities associated with asymmetric cryptography. Symmetric schemes make use of a single shared key known only between the two communicating hosts. This shared key is used both for the encryption as well as the decryption of data. This key has to be small in size besides being a subset of a potentially large keyspace making it convenient for the communicating hosts while at the same time making cryptanalysis difficult for the potential attackers. In the present work, an abstract Rossler nonlinear dynamical machine has been described first. The Rossler system exhibits chaotic dynamics for certain values of system parameters and initial conditions. The chaotic dynamics of the Rossler system with its apparently erratic and irregular characteristics and extreme sensitivity to the initial conditions has been used for the design of the cryptographic key in an attempt to increase the confusion and the challenge for the potential attackers.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Evaluating Quality of Matrimonial Websites: Balancing Emotions with Economics

There are a plethora of studies evaluating the quality of websites on functional and design-related aspects such as usability and visual parameters. The majority of these studies are related to e-commerce websites where individuals make decision largely relying on economic parameters. However, matrimonial websites are unique, as the decisions involve both economic and non-economic parameters. Therefore, this study aims to propose a framework to evaluate quality of matrimonial websites by incorporating contextual factors and examine differences among different groups of users. This study proffers a website evaluating framework considering non-economic and emotion based factors from the information systems (IS) success model and the search match interaction (SMI) framework. The study proposes a hybrid model of multi-criteria decision-making techniques—namely Fuzzy-AHP and ranking models such as evaluation based on distance from average solution (EDAS), technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS), and complex proportional assessment (COPRAS). The results indicate that the context-specific factors related to search and matchmaking options are the most preferred parameters for evaluation. Males and females have been found to differ in their preferences related to service quality and price. Next, the study compares the performance of three ranking models, namely EDAS, TOPSIS, and COPRAS. The first and second models provide similar results, while the rankings obtained through COPRAS differ slightly. The study contributes towards website evaluation literature by highlighting the importance of contextual factors while evaluating the matrimonial websites and the differences among preferences of the users

Studies on morpho-physiological characters of different Avena species under stress conditions

Seven species of oat (Avena) were evaluated for their relative drought tolerance under soil moisture stress. The plant height, leaf area production and biomass yield reduced under soil moisture stress. Among the species tested, minimum reduction in height was recorded in Avena vaviloviana, Avena abyssinica and Avena sterilis at vegetative and flowering stages. Significant decrease in leaf area production was recorded at vegetative stage, whereas at flowering stage, the decrease in leaf area production was marginal in A. sterilis followed by A. abyssinica predicting their more adaption to stress environment. The increase in specific leaf weight (SLW) of all the species of Avena showed increase in leaf thickness, exhibiting high water retention capacity under soil moisture stress condition which is a requisite trait for drought tolerance. Soil moisture stress imposed at vegetative and flowering stages reduced fresh biomass yield in all the species. Minimum reduction in dry biomass accumulation under stress environment at vegetative stage was recorded in A. sterilis followed by A. strigosa and A. sativa, exhibiting their tolerance to drought at early stages of growth. However, at flowering stage, minimum decrease in dry biomass production was recorded in A. sterilis (3.47%) followed by A. marocana (12.56%) indicating their relative drought tolerance at flowering stage of crop growth. A  significant positive correlation between total leaf area and dry biomass (r2=0.738) under stress environment indicates that dry biomass accumulation was governed by total leaf area production. A. sterilis accumulated maximum fresh and dry biomass under soil moisture stress with minimum reduction over the non stress environment, indicating its drought tolerance potential as compared to other genotypes tested.Keywords: Avena, biomass, flowering stage, leaf area, soil moisture stress, vegetative stage

PCA based health indicator for remaining useful life prediction of wind turbine gearbox

Fault prognosis of wind turbine gearbox has received considerable attention as it predicts the remaining useful life which further allows the scheduling of maintenance strategies. However, the studies related towards the RUL prediction of wind turbine gearbox are limited, because of the complexity of gearbox, acute changes in the operating conditions and non-linear nature of the acquired vibration signals. In this study, a health indicator is constructed in order to predict the remaining useful life of the wind turbine gearbox. Run to fail experiments are performed on a laboratory scaled wind turbine gearbox of overall gear ratio 1:100. Vibration signals are acquired and decomposed through continuous wavelet transform to obtain the wavelet coefficients. Various statistical features are computed from the wavelet coefficients which return form high-dimensional input feature set. Principal component analysis is performed to reduce the dimensionality and principal components (PCs) are computed from the input feature set. PC1 is considered as the health indicator and subjected to further smoothening by linear rectification technique. Exponential degradation model is fit to the considered health indicator and the model is able to predict the RUL of the gearbox with an error percentage of 2.73 %

Vocal for local: Diversity of local cucurbits cultivars in East Siang, Arunachal Pradesh

Laying more and more importance on mere edible yield through introduction of high-yielding, uniform cultivars is leading to compromising on nutritional quality of crops coupled with loss of biodiversity. In spite of this scenario, there are still many local cultivars, which are indigenously grown for long time approximately for more than five decades, and haveits own heritage which is sustained by family groups, regions and ethnicity. The traditional names, unique appearance, uses, and historical significance give recognition to these local cultivars. In the present study, 15 morphologically diverse local cultivars of cucurbits with numerous landraces have been documented from the sample area. Of these, seven speciesespecially in pumpkin, ash guard, bottle gourd and Cucumis melo spp. are produced by the Adi tribe of East Siang. These traditional cultivars have been cultivated for many generations, particularly for their attributes such as superior flavor and its high adaptability under biotic and abiotic stress. Other traits such as productivity, nutritional and nutraceutical properties of traditional cultivars of these cucurbits are to be well understood. However, such information is not organizedly available, and therefore the purpose of this study was to capture some of the unique traits of local cultivars. Such information may helpdesigning breeding programs for developing locally adapted, high-value cultivars

Assessment of total phenolic and flavonoid contents and potential biological efficacy of few Pinus species growing in Northern Himalayas

Environmental interventions and ecological adaptations harbor millions of valued substances and metabolites in plants which can be employed and commercialized for human benefits. Present study encompasses the untapped potential of pine needles of Indo-Himalayan region for the production of different metabolites and their pharmacological significance in terms of antioxidant and antimicrobial activity. Total phenolic and flavonoid content from the needles of ten pine species was quantified using three different solvent systems. Results revealed that out of 10 different selected Pinus species, Pinus taeda L. showed the highest concentration of total phenolics, Soluble-F phenolics and flavonoids content (approx. 147.02 mg/g, 141.08 mg/g and 21.91 mg/g, respectively) as compared to other species. On the other hand, Pinus greggii Engelm. ex Parl. showed the highest Bound-W phenolic content (approx. 3.62 mg/g). Among all the selected plant species, the needles of Pinus echinata Mill. exhibited the highest and Pinus thunbergii Parl. had the lowest ratio of total flavonoids to total phenolics. Most of these compounds were found to have effective antioxidant activities as well as antimicrobial activity, as estimated by oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) and disk diffusion test, respectively

Evaluating Quality of Matrimonial Websites: Balancing Emotions with Economics

There are a plethora of studies evaluating the quality of websites on functional and design-related aspects such as usability and visual parameters. The majority of these studies are related to e-commerce websites where individuals make decision largely relying on economic parameters. However, matrimonial websites are unique, as the decisions involve both economic and non-economic parameters. Therefore, this study aims to propose a framework to evaluate quality of matrimonial websites by incorporating contextual factors and examine differences among different groups of users. This study proffers a website evaluating framework considering non-economic and emotion based factors from the information systems (IS) success model and the search match interaction (SMI) framework. The study proposes a hybrid model of multi-criteria decision-making techniques—namely Fuzzy-AHP and ranking models such as evaluation based on distance from average solution (EDAS), technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS), and complex proportional assessment (COPRAS). The results indicate that the context-specific factors related to search and matchmaking options are the most preferred parameters for evaluation. Males and females have been found to differ in their preferences related to service quality and price. Next, the study compares the performance of three ranking models, namely EDAS, TOPSIS, and COPRAS. The first and second models provide similar results, while the rankings obtained through COPRAS differ slightly. The study contributes towards website evaluation literature by highlighting the importance of contextual factors while evaluating the matrimonial websites and the differences among preferences of the users

Acoustical and optical properties of binary liquid mixtures: A comparative study

Ultrasonic velocity in conjunction with density plays a major role in determining a number of key thermophysical parameters which are used in multifarious industrial applications. In the present investigation, a comparative study has been carried out employing a number of predictive approaches for evaluating ultrasonic velocity for 82 binary systems and refractive index for 76 binary systems, taking AAPD as the criterion for their predictive capability. Some very important findings emerge which will be beneficial to researchers in this, and allied fields of work

Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis in Older Adulthood

Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) is a devastating brain disorder that typically affects children and adolescents. SSPE is caused by persistent measles virus infection. The mechanisms that facilitate the measles virus entering the brain, and persisting and proliferating there for very long periods are not precisely known. Once inside the brain, the measles viral genome undergoes a series of mutations, particularly in the M and F protein genes. These mutations are considered responsible for viral persistence and transneuronal spread inside the brain. Measles viral genome isolated from human brain tissues demonstrates clustered mutations in the virus genome, particularly in the M gene. These mutations destroy the structure and functioning of the encoded proteins. Complete infectious virus particle has rarely been demonstrated in the brain tissue.1 In the brain, the mutated measles virus triggers an intense inflammatory reaction that leads neuron destruction