Image Compression using Wavelet and Modified Extreme Learning Machine

The development of Internet and multimedia technologies that grow exponentially, resulting in the amount of information managed by computer is necessary. This causes serious problems in storage and transmission image data. Therefore, should be considered a way to compress data so that the storage capacity required will be smaller. This paper presents a method of compressing still images combining the powerful features of modified extreme learning machine (MELM) for learning with discrete wavelet transform (DWT) in image transformation. DWT, based on the haar wavelet, has been used to transform the image and the coefficients acquired from DWT are then trained with MELM. MELM has the property that it selects a minimal number of coefficients to model the training data. The coefficients are then quantized and encoded using the Huffman coding algorithm. The performance of the proposed method is aspiring and comparable with the existing image compression standards

Use of Pregnant Cow Urine for Androgenic Alopecia in Medieval India

Methodology: A detailed and in-depth semantic analysis of (i) the name Indralupta, used around 2500 years ago by Suśṟuta to denote a type of alopecia and, (ii) the medications prescribed in two Maṇipravāḷam (medieval Malayāḷam which is admixed with Sanskrit) medical poems, dated to early 1300s CE, was done so as to identify whether the meanings are pertinent to the underlying character of the disease and principle of management. This was done as part of a project aimed at identifying any system of nomenclature of organs, diseases, drugs, etc., the link between these and areas where principles of Āyurvēda correlate with those of Modern medicine Results: The analysis shows that semantically, Indralupta is same as AGA and that the medieval Āyurvēdics had used pregnant cow urine for its treatment. Conclusion: The findings indubitably establish that Āyurvēdic physicians had the clear concept that: (i). A virilising substance in the body caused Indralupta, (ii). Pregnant women have antagonists to this which is excreted through urine, and (iii). Local application of these would be effective in antagonising the virilising one. These are the same as the modern concepts of AGA and its management, thereby underscoring the scientific nature of Āyurvēda, even as per the standards of modern science. It is also concluded that that the method of semantic analysis used here is a feasible and appropriate method to bring out hidden knowledge in Āyurvēda DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.11668.6080

Organic Tuber Production is Promising — Implications of a Decade of Research in India

Alternative soil management practices like organic farming assume significance in the context of climate change for safe food production. Yams (white yam, greater yam and lesser yam) and edible aroids (elephant foot yam (EFY), taro and tannia) are tuberous vegetables with good taste and nutritive value. Six field experiments were conducted at the ICAR-Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram, India, over a decade (2004–2015) to compare the varietal response, yield, quality and soil properties under organic vs conventional system and develop a learning system. The elite and local varieties of EFY and taro and the three species of yams, including trailing and dwarf genotypes, responded equally well to both the systems. Organic management enhanced the yield by 10–20% and the net profit by 20–40% over chemical farming. The tuber quality was improved with higher dry matter, starch, crude protein, K, Ca and Mg contents. The anti-nutritional factor in EFY, oxalate content, was lowered by 21%. Physico-chemical and biological properties of soil were favoured and the organic system scored a significantly higher soil quality index. The cost-effective technologies were field validated. A learning system developed using artificial neural networks predicted the performance of EFY organic production system

Ornithofauna and its conservation in the Kuttanad wetlands, southern portion of Vembanad-Kole Ramsar site, India

The avifauna of Kuttanad was studied from January 1995 to June 2007. Two-hundred-and-twenty-five taxa of birds belonging to 15 orders and 59 families were recorded. Among the birds recorded, 38% were migrants. Fifty-five species were found to breed in the area. Family Scolopaceidae showed maximum species diversity. European Roller Coracias garrulus recorded during this study is the first report of this species from Kerala. Ten globally threatened species were recorded. Kuttanad wetland shows greater species diversity, especially in the wetland birds, than the Kole wetlands of Kerala. Kumarakom heronry holds 8% of the biogeographical population of the Near Threatened Oriental Darter. Landscape alteration, hunting, felling of nesting trees and pesticides are the major detrimental factors for the survival of birds. Conservation aspects of birds of this region are discussed

Micropropagation and conservation of selected endangered anticancer medicinal plants from the Western Ghats of India

Globally, cancer is a constant battle which severely affects the human population. The major limitations of the anticancer drugs are the deleterious side effects on the quality of life. Plants play a vital role in curing many diseases with minimal or no side effects. Phytocompounds derived from various medicinal plants serve as the best source of drugs to treat cancer. The global demand for phytomedicines is mostly reached by the medicinal herbs from the tropical nations of the world even though many plant species are threatened with extinction. India is one of the mega diverse countries of the world due to its ecological habitats, latitudinal variation, and diverse climatic range. Western Ghats of India is one of the most important depositories of endemic herbs. It is found along the stretch of south western part of India and constitutes rain forest with more than 4000 diverse medicinal plant species. In recent times, many of these therapeutically valued herbs have become endangered and are being included under the red-listed plant category in this region. Due to a sharp rise in the demand for plant-based products, this rich collection is diminishing at an alarming rate that eventually triggered dangerous to biodiversity. Thus, conservation of the endangered medicinal plants has become a matter of importance. The conservation by using only in situ approaches may not be sufficient enough to safeguard such a huge bio-resource of endangered medicinal plants. Hence, the use of biotechnological methods would be vital to complement the ex vitro protection programs and help to reestablish endangered plant species. In this backdrop, the key tools of biotechnology that could assist plant conservation were developed in terms of in vitro regeneration, seed banking, DNA storage, pollen storage, germplasm storage, gene bank (field gene banking), tissue bank, and cryopreservation. In this chapter, an attempt has been made to critically review major endangered medicinal plants that possess anticancer compounds and their conservation aspects by integrating various biotechnological tool

Combating ‘fake news’ - Consumption practices drive institutional logic change

We employ a case narrative of the evolution of fake news to inductively develop a process model of institutional logic emergence as a result of changing consumption practices. The empirical context is provided by the proliferation of fake news in India during 2010-2019. Our findings highlight the importance of grassroots social actors performing institutional work in bringing about changes in consumption practices which result in the emergence of new institutional logic. We contribute to the literature on institutional logics, institutional entrepreneurship and practice theory. Our findings shed more light on the phenomenon of fake news, the consequent rise of fact checkers and the need for responsible consumer practices to strategically manage fake news. Our paper has implications for both top-level managers andpolicymakers.Keywords: Consumer responsibilization, fake news, institutional logic, institutional entrepreneurship, logic change, practice theory, Indi