Cramer Rao-Type Bounds for Sparse Bayesian Learning

In this paper, we derive Hybrid, Bayesian and Marginalized Cram\'{e}r-Rao lower bounds (HCRB, BCRB and MCRB) for the single and multiple measurement vector Sparse Bayesian Learning (SBL) problem of estimating compressible vectors and their prior distribution parameters. We assume the unknown vector to be drawn from a compressible Student-t prior distribution. We derive CRBs that encompass the deterministic or random nature of the unknown parameters of the prior distribution and the regression noise variance. We extend the MCRB to the case where the compressible vector is distributed according to a general compressible prior distribution, of which the generalized Pareto distribution is a special case. We use the derived bounds to uncover the relationship between the compressibility and Mean Square Error (MSE) in the estimates. Further, we illustrate the tightness and utility of the bounds through simulations, by comparing them with the MSE performance of two popular SBL-based estimators. It is found that the MCRB is generally the tightest among the bounds derived and that the MSE performance of the Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm coincides with the MCRB for the compressible vector. Through simulations, we demonstrate the dependence of the MSE performance of SBL based estimators on the compressibility of the vector for several values of the number of observations and at different signal powers.Comment: Accepted for publication in the IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, 11 pages, 10 figure

Is Stack Overflow Overflowing With Questions and Tags

Programming question and answer (Q & A) websites, such as Quora, Stack Overflow, and Yahoo! Answer etc. helps us to understand the programming concepts easily and quickly in a way that has been tested and applied by many software developers. Stack Overflow is one of the most frequently used programming Q\&A website where the questions and answers posted are presently analyzed manually, which requires a huge amount of time and resource. To save the effort, we present a topic modeling based technique to analyze the words of the original texts to discover the themes that run through them. We also propose a method to automate the process of reviewing the quality of questions on Stack Overflow dataset in order to avoid ballooning the stack overflow with insignificant questions. The proposed method also recommends the appropriate tags for the new post, which averts the creation of unnecessary tags on Stack Overflow.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables Presented at Third International Symposium on Women in Computing and Informatics (WCI-2015

Ayurveda perspective of disease manifestation

Studying and understanding a concept in the present era is different from Samhita Kala (1500 BC to 5th century AD). Interlinking and comprehension of subject were done methodologically, even when the concepts were explained under different contexts during those days. To learn in short duration, a concept is compiled and explained completely under single context in this era. In Ayurveda classics, disease manifestation is explained in different contexts. Hence this article is a preliminary effort to bring together and analyse the factors responsible for manifestation of Vyadhi (disease) by thorough evaluation of Ayurveda classics. Understanding the basic elements involved and path of disease manifestation helps in better planning of treatment

Formulation and Evaluation of Lovastatin Loaded Nanosponges for the treatment of Hyperlipidemia

The purpose of this research was to prepare Lovastatin Nanosponges for controlled release of drug, to improve the solubility, reduce dose dependent side effects and improve the patient compliance. Lovastatin is a poorly soluble drug with a short half life, thus selected as a model drug for Nanosonges Drug Delivery System and to release the drug in a controlled manner for prolonged period. Lovastatin is formulated as Nanosponges by Emulsion Solvent Evaporation method using Eudragit RS 100 and Ethyl Cellulose as a Polymers, Polyvinyl alcohol as a stabilizer and finally enclosed in hard gelatin Capsules. • The Physical compatibility of Lovastatin with excipients were studied. The drug and exicipients were physically compatible with each other. • The chemical compatibility studies of Lovastatin with excipients were carried out using FTIR Spectrometer. It revealed no interaction between the drug and excipients. • Melting point of drug was determined. It matches with standard value. • Calibration curve was plotted for Lovastatin and it was found that the solutions show linearity (0.999) and obeyed Beer’s and Lambert’s law. • Solubility of pure drug was determined. Lovastatin pure drug in distilled water and phosphate buffer pH 6.8 was found to be insoluble. • Lovastatin loaded Nanosponge formulations were prepared by Emulsion Solvent Evaporation method using Eudragit RS 100 and Ethyl Cellulose as Polymers at different ratios (Drug: polymer- 1:1, 1:2, 1:3, 1:4 and 1:5). The Polyvinyl alcohol was used as surfactant, dichloromethane as cross linker as well as solvent. • All formulations were evaluated for percentage yield was to be in the range of 85.83 to 99.85%, which is in increasing order due to increases in the concentration of polymer. • The entrapment efficiency of all the formulations were found to be in the range of 61.68 to 91.18%. The results show that the increase in polymer concentration. increased the drug entrapment efficiency but after certain concentration, increasing the concentration of the polymer, entrapment efficiency decreased. The entrapment efficiency was found to be higher in F3 (90.04%) and F8 (91.18%) comparatively with other formulations. • The solubility of all formulation in distilled water and Phosphate buffer pH 6.8 were found to be in the range of 1.29161 to 1.95408 mg/ml and 1.95409 to 2.98923 mg/ml. The solubility of all formulation improved (from insoluble to slightly soluble) compared to pure drug of Lovastatin. • The in vitro release was carried out for all the formulations. These results showed that as the concentration of polymer was increased, the drug release rate was decreased. The formulation F3 (containing 1:3 ratio of LOV and Eudragit RS 100) released 98.15% and F8 (containing 1:3 ratio of LOV and Ethyl cellulose) released 97.57% at the end of 12th hour. The release profile was in controlled manner comparatively with other formulations. • Based on the higher entrapment efficiency and prolonged in vitro drug release F3 and F8 were selected as optimized formulations. • The optimized formulation F3 and F8 were characterized for surface morphology, particle size analysis and zeta potential. • The shape and surface morphology of optimized formulations were observed in SEM. It shows that the Nanosponges were spherical with numerous pores on their surface, uniform and spongy in nature. The presence of pores may be due to the diffusion of the solvent (dichloromethane). • The particle size distribution and polydispersity done by Malvern particle size analyzer. The average particle size of formulation F3 was 727.0 nm and F8 was 769.5 nm and within nanometric range. • Polydispersity of formulation F3 and F8 were found to be 0.404 and 0.155 respectively, it shows that uniformity of particle size within formulation. • The zeta potential study was done by Malvern zeta sizer. The zeta potential for the optimized formulations F3 and F8 were found to be be -21.3mV and -21.6mV respectively, it shows that the formulation is stable. • Flow property measurements (Bulk density, Tapped density, Angle of repose, Carr’s index and Hausner’s ratio) and Porosity were carried out for Lovastatin pure drug and optimized Nanosponges. It revealed that the flow property of pure drug was very poor, but the Lovastatin Naosponges have good flow. • The optimized Nanosponge formulation F3 and F8 were filled into “0” size hard gelatin capsules without adding glidant because of its good flow property. • Post formulation parameters (uniformity of weight, disintegration test, drug content, and in vitro drug release) of capsule were evaluated. The results were found to comply with official specifications. • The release kinetics of the optimized formulations were fitted to various kinetic models and the formulations F3 and F8 were best fitted to Zero order kinetics. The zero order kinetics explains the controlled release of the prepared Nanosponges over the period of 12 hours. • Higuchi plot show linearity, which indicates the rate of drug release through the mode of diffusion and the slope of the Korsmeyer Peppas plot indicating the diffusion was anomalous diffusion (Non Fickian diffusion). • Thus, the release kinetics of the optimized formulation was best fitted into Higuchi model and showed zero order drug release with Non Fickian diffusion mechanism. • The optimized formulations F3 and F8 were subjected to accelerated stability study (temperature 40°C±2°C and RH 75±5%) and refrigerator temperature (4±20C). The results show no significant change in appearance, dug entrapment efficiency, drug content and in vitro dissolution profile of optimized formulations after 3 months. • The foregoing results attempt to suggest that for highly lipophilic drugs like Lovastatin, Nanosponge approach would be a possible alternative delivery system to conventional oral formulation to improve its bioavailability

Evaluation of New Grape Hybrids and French Cultivars for Wine Production

This study aimed at evaluating newly developed hybrids and recently introduced cultivars of French grapes grown in mild tropics of South India for quality wine production. Wines produced from French grapes, viz., Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc and Ugni Blanc scored 15.0 -16.8 in the Davis Score Card for organoleptic analysis. Wines from red Hybrid 18/10 possessed phenolic content of 2097mg/l, had a brilliant colour and sensory score of 13.1. Hybrid 23/2 gave good quality white, dry table wines with a sensory score of 13.4

DOCKING STUDIES IN TARGET PROTEINS INVOLVED IN ANTIBACTERIAL ACTION MECHANISMS: ALKALOIDS ISOLATED FROM SCUTELLARIA GENUS

Objective: In the present work, docking study was performed for 22 selected alkaloids isolated from the genus Scutellaria to evaluate their affinity to bacterial proteins that are known targets for many antibiotics with a different mechanism of action: Inhibitors of cell wall synthesis, inhibitors of nucleic acids synthesis and antimetabolites.Methods: Molecular docking study was carried out using AutoDock 4.2 version and the visualization result using Chimera 1.10 and DiscoveryStudio 4.5.Result: Among the 22 alkaloids studied, with the DNA gyrase protein 1KZN and a dihydropteroate synthase enzyme 3TYE, the compound scutebarbatine E showed a docking score of −8.5 and −8.7 Kcal/mol, respectively, involving with hydrophilic and hydrophobic interactions. With respect to MurD ligase involved in cell wall synthesis 1UAG and 2X5O, the compound 6,7,nicotinyl scutebarbatine G fared well with a docking score of −10.1 and −10.2 Kcal/mol, respectively. Scutebarbatine G performed well with respect to 3UDI with binding scores of −9.3 K cal/mol.Conclusion: Overall, it seems that for the selected alkaloids from the genus Scutellaria, the main mechanism of the action is the inhibition of cell wallsynthesis.Keywords: Scutebarbatine, Alkaloids, Molecular docking, Antimicrobial studies

In silico mining of micro-RNAs from Spodoptera frugiperda (Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, endogenously, non-coding genes that regulate protein production either by mRNA cleavage or by translational repression in eukaryotes and viruses. miRNAs plays a key role in biological processes including growth, development and physiology of an organism. In this study, we employed insilico approaches to identify the miRNAs from Spodoptera frugiperda, a major pest of small grain crops. A total of seven miRNAs were identified and characterized from 67,360 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) of S. frugiperda with: 1) mature and pre-miRNAs sizes vary from 19 to 25 ans 61 to 95 nucleotides respectively; 2) minimum free energy ranged from -31.70 to -21.00 kcal/mol; and 3) (A + U) content varied from 27 to 60. The functional annotation of these miRNAs were identified as regulation of transcription factors, catalytic activities and signal transduction pathways. Further studies of these miRNAs will help to carryout functional analyses, which promises more towards insect pest management free of insecticides and pesticides.Keywords: MicroRNAs, translational repression, Spodoptera frugiperda, expressed sequence tags, minimum free energy, insect pest managementAfrican Journal of Biotechnology, Vol. 13(1), pp. 32-43, 1 January, 201

Hyperspectral radiometry for the detection and discrimination of damage caused by sucking pests of cotton

ABSTRACT Use of remote sensing techniques for detection of crop stress due to pests and diseases is based on the assumption that stresses induced by them interfere with photosynthesis and physical structure of the plant, affect absorption of light energy and thus alter the reflectance spectrum of plants. Field experiments were conducted to detect and estimate damage caused by sucking pests in cotton (cv. Surabi) at regular intervals using GER1500 spectroradiometer, from which canopy reflectance was recorded and vegetation indices (VI) were worked out. There was a decrease in near infrared (770-860nm) while blue (450-520nm), green (520-590nm) and red (620-680nm) reflectances increased compared to undamaged plants. The mean VI values in damaged plants were comparatively lower than undamaged plants in all days of observation. Among spectral bands, red band was highest to thrips and leafhopper damage while NIR band was found to be more sensitive to aphid damage. In the aphid damage sensitivity curves, the trough in green region was not very conspicuous while thrips and leafhopper damage curves had a clear low point in green region at 550 nm in all days of observation. Green red vegetation index (GRVI) was observed to be sensitive in differentiation of sucking pests damage

Effect of water regimes on seed quality parameters of rice (Oryza sativa L.) grown under aerobic and wetland conditions

A field experiment was conducted to know the effect of water regimes on seed quality parameters of rice and the was conducted by using factorial randomized complete block design, with two genotypes (BI-33 and Jaya) and two planting methods (Aerobic and Wetland). The resultants seeds were taken to conduct laboratory experiments pertaining to seed quality attributes and the studies revealed that the BI-33 under aerobic condition had shown a significantly higher seed quality with respect to germination (99%), mean seedling length (26.75cm), seedling dry weight (10.42 mg), SVI-I (2648) and SVI-II (1032) , highest total dehydrogenase activity (0.53 OD @ 480nm), highest amylase activity (14.67 %), highest total soluble protein content (7.15%) and recorded less EC (70.95 ?Sm-1/ppm). The experimental results revealed that both the genotypes and method of planting contribute for seed quality of the genotypes which were grown under different water regimes. The genotype grown under aerobic condition was better in seed quality parameters compared to wetland condition