An Intelligent Paper Currency Recognition System

AbstractPaper currency recognition (PCR) is an important area of pattern recognition. A system for the recognition of paper currency is one kind of intelligent system which is a very important need of the current automation systems in the modern world of today. It has various potential applications including electronic banking, currency monitoring systems, money exchange machines, etc. This paper proposes an automatic paper currency recognition system for paper currency. A method of recognizing paper currencies has been introduced. This is based on interesting features and correlation between images. It uses Radial Basis Function Network for classification. The method uses the case of Saudi Arabian paper currency as a model. The method is quite reasonable in terms of accuracy. The system deals with 110 images, 10 of which are tilted with an angle less than 15o. The rest of the currency images consist of mixed including noisy and normal images 50 each. It uses fourth series (1984–2007) of currency issued by Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) as a model currency under consideration. The system produces accuracy of recognition as 95.37%, 91.65%, and 87.5%, for the Normal Non-Tilted Images, Noisy Non-Tilted Images, and Tilted Images respectively. The overall Average Recognition Rate for the data of 110 images is computed as 91.51%. The proposed algorithm is fully automatic and requires no human intervention. The proposed technique produces quite satisfactory results in terms of recognition and efficiency

Evaluation of antimicrobial and nematicidal properties of nanosized materials, and investigation of the mode of action of redox-active sulfur and selenium compounds

Complex living organisms, such as humans, animals and plants suffer from diseases which can be caused by pathogenic bacteria, fungi and nematodes. The activity of presently available antimicrobial and nematicidal agents is continuously becoming ineffective because of drug resistance arising due to excessive and inappropriate use. Therefore, an inevitable need for new sources of antimicrobials, nematicides and phytoprotectants is growing and attracting a lot of scientific interest. The first part of the thesis encompassed the investigation of nanosized materials (plants and their waste materials, and chalcogen-containing compounds) against a broad-spectrum of microorganisms. The second part of the study comprised the mechanistic understanding of allicin and selenocyanates by exploiting a library of yeast mutants carrying deletions for specific protein functions. Generally, the nanosized substances exhibited excellent antimicrobial and nematicidal activities. Chemogenetic screening of allicin and selenocyanates revealed hypersensitive yeast mutants with gene deletions coding for specific proteins. In summary, the results obtained as a part of the current investigation uncover the feasibility of utilizing nanosized materials, allicin and selenocyanates against a plethora of microorganisms in Medicine and Agriculture.Komplexe lebende Organismen wie Menschen, Tiere und Pflanzen leiden an Krankheiten, die durch pathogene Bakterien, Pilze und Nematoden verursacht werden können. Die Aktivität der heutzutage verfügbaren antimikrobiellen und nematiziden Wirkstoffe wird aufgrund von Arzneimittelresistenzen, die durch übermäßigen und unsachgemäßen Gebrauch entstehen, kontinuierlich unwirksamer. Daher wächst der unvermeidliche Bedarf an neuen Quellen für antimikrobielle, Nematizide und Phytoprotektive Wirkstoffe, und dieszufolge auch das wissenschaftliche Interesse. Der erste Teil der Arbeit umfasste die Untersuchung von Nanomaterialien (Pflanzen und deren Abfallstoffe sowie Chalkogen haltige Verbindungen) gegen ein breites Spektrum an Mikroorganismen. Der zweite Teil der Studie umfasste das mechanistische Verständnis von Allicin und Selenocyanaten durch die Nutzung einer Bibliothek von Hefemutanten, die Deletionen für spezifische Proteinfunktionen tragen. Im Allgemeinen wiesen die Nanosubstanzen ausgezeichnete antimikrobielle und nematizide Aktivitäten auf. Der chemogenetische Screening von Allicin und Selenocyanaten zeigte hypersensible Hefemutanten mit Gendeletionen, die für spezifische Proteine kodieren. Zusammenfassend lässt sich sagen, dass die Ergebnisse, die im Rahmen der aktuellen Forschungsarbeit erzielt wurden, die Anwendbarkeit von Nanomaterialien, Allicin und Selenocyanaten gegen eine Vielzahl von Mikroorganismen in Medizin und Landwirtschaft aufweisen

Exports and Economic Growth

International Development, International Relations/Trade,

INEQUALITY IN WORLD GDP DISTRIBUTION

International Development,

INVESTMENT AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

We used unit root and cointegration techniques to determine the long run relationship between GDP and investment for 90 countries using data from World Bank for the period 1960-1992. In the first step of our analysis we found GDP and investment integrated of different orders for 33 countries. Second step of our analysis shows no cointegration between GDP and investment for 25 countries and cointegration for 25 countries with both variables of order I(1). The other 7 countries with both variables of order I(0) are in long run relation and do not need cointegration test. To determine the direction of causal effect between GDP and investment we used Granger causality test as the third step of our analysis. We found causality in the short run for 15 countries and in the long run for 23 countries. Bi-directional causality is found for 10, unidirectional causality from GDP to investment for 18 and from investment to GDP for 10 countries. The causality from GDP to investment is positive for 11 countries and from investment to GDP for 6 countries. Bi-directional causality is mostly positive between the two variables.International Development,

Successful anesthetic management of patient with stiff person syndrome

We herein describe the successful anesthetic management of a patient with stiff person syndrome undergoing right total hip replacement under spinal anesthesia. We also describe the problems associated with general anesthesia. The advantage of using regional anesthesia in these patients is the avoidance of muscle relaxants. The use of general anesthesia carries the risk of hypotonia in stiff person syndrome postoperatively due to enhancement of γ aminobutyric acid (GABA) action on synaptic transmission by drugs that have a γ GABA agonistic action

The impact of cash holding, and exchange rate volatility on the firm’s financial performance of all manufacturing sector in Pakistan

Exchange rate movement is a mostly debatable issue amongst economists and strategic financial planners in the economies as a vital phenomenon, of every economy in the developing the world. This study sets out to examine the impact of cash conversion cycle, Size, Age, and exchange rate movement on firms’ financial decisions. The estimation used techniques of static panel data analysis in this study; pooled OLS, random effects, and fixed effects. Interaction techniques are applied to check the impact of the exchange rate by multiplying this variable with the main variables of cash conversion cycle, that is receivable in days and payables in days. The results depict there is a significant negative relationship between return on assets and exchanger rate during the period of review while the beta of cash conversion cycle has negative value; age and size are positive and significant at 1% level with return on assets. Therefore, it is recommended that organizations that have some measure to agreement in foreign currencies can adopt some advanced hedging technique to occupy the exchange rate movements risk to improve firm’s performance

Electrolyte Disturbances in Patients with Dengue Fever

Background: To determine the electrolyte disturbances in patients with dengue fever and dengue hemorrhagic fever.Methods: In this cross-sectional study 110 patients, with dengue fever, were included. Serum electrolytes levels were measured at the fifth and sixth day of fever irrespective of the stage of dengue infection (DF/DHF). Dengue was confirmed by NS1 or IgM/IgG positivity. DHF was labeled as per WHO criteria of Dengue Hemorrhagic fever. Dengue fever was confirmed in 110 patients by NS1 antigen and IgM/IgG positivity by ELISA. Serum sodium, potassium, and chloride concentrations were measured by standard protocols.Results: Average age of patients was 34.02 years with the majority of males (63.6%). Seventy (63.6%) patients were diagnosed as a case of dengue fever (DF) and 40 (34.4%) patients were diagnosed as case of dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF). Out of the total, 82 (74.5%) patients had NS1 positive, 54 (49.1%) patients had IgG positive and 33 (30%) patients had IgM positive. Although serum electrolytes were higher among patients with DHF as compared to DF but the association was insignificant. Conclusion: Hyponatremia was the most common disturbance in patients with Dengue fever as well as in patients with dengue hemorrhagic fever. No significant association was found in electrolyte disturbances between patients of dengue fever and dengue hemorrhagic fever

EFFECT OF SELF-EFFICACY ON STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT IN SCIENCE: A CASE OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN PAKISTAN

The current study aimed to investigate the effect of self-efficacy on students’ achievement in science. The case of secondary school science students’ is examined to achieve this task. The study is based on Bandura's Theory of Self-Efficacy, which divides Academic, Social and Emotional self-efficacy in three categories. The Questionnaire ‘Self-efficacy Questionnaire for Children (SEQ-C) developed by (Muris, 2001) was adapted in the present study to quantify secondary school students’ and was administered to 811 students. The achievements of students in science subjects governed by their academic, social and emotional self-efficacy were statistically examined to meet the research objectives. Findings revealed that secondary school students have a stronger academic and social self-efficacy. The need to assimilate content for developing emotional self-efficacy among students is highlighted. The study also discovered the significant impacts of parents’ job status and the qualifications on children’s self-efficacy.  Article visualizations