On designing light-weight object trackers through network pruning: Use CNNs or transformers?

Object trackers deployed on low-power devices need to be light-weight, however, most of the current state-of-the-art (SOTA) methods rely on using compute-heavy backbones built using CNNs or transformers. Large sizes of such models do not allow their deployment in low-power conditions and designing compressed variants of large tracking models is of great importance. This paper demonstrates how highly compressed light-weight object trackers can be designed using neural architectural pruning of large CNN and transformer based trackers. Further, a comparative study on architectural choices best suited to design light-weight trackers is provided. A comparison between SOTA trackers using CNNs, transformers as well as the combination of the two is presented to study their stability at various compression ratios. Finally results for extreme pruning scenarios going as low as 1% in some cases are shown to study the limits of network pruning in object tracking. This work provides deeper insights into designing highly efficient trackers from existing SOTA methods.Comment: Submitted at IEEE ICASSP 202

Formulation Development and Evaluation of Nanoparticulate Systems of Levofloxacin

An emerging advancement in pharmaceutical sciences and perturbing limitation of conventional drug delivery systems have triggered extensive research in novel carrier systems. There has been extensive research on novel carriers that promise patient compliance, but toxicological part is still the biggest challenge to any drug delivery systems. In the present research, we have develop levofloxacin  nanopartulate systems  with chitosan and sodium triphosphte  which offer safer dosage form with increased bioavailability as well as better patient compliance. In all formulation the minimum percentage yield shows in formulation F8 (70.23%) and maximum in formulation F6 (89.23%). The highest % cumulative drug release after 8 hrs was found to be 92.658 and first order release kinetics; the r2 value for first order was found to be 0.988 Keywords: Nanoparticulate systems, Chitosan, Levofloxacin, Compliance, Bioavailability

Formulation and optimization of water soluble granules of Withania Somnifera

Herbal medicines have great demand in the treatment of various kinds of illness.  Ayurvedic system of medicine has consisted of many herbal sources in which ashwagandha one of them which are the very popular herbal sources. Many literature surveys suggest that ashwagandha is used as an immunomodulator, tranquilizer, antioxidant, antidiabetic, and nootropic activity. Present research work explored the potential benefit of ashwagandha by designing suitable granules of its water extract. Further, it is characterized by various parameters and In-vitro drug release Keywords: Immunomodulator, Tranquilizers Ayurvedic, Ashwagandha, Granule

Optimization of Different Factors for Initiation of Somatic Embryogenesis in Suspension Cultures in Sandalwood (Santalum album L.)

Santalum album (L.) is a prized tropical tree species of high therapeutic and industrial importance. The wood of these naturally grown plants is extensively harvested to acquire therapeutically important metabolite santalol and be used for additional functions such as in wood statuette industries. Due to high demand, it is crucial to maintain a sufficient plant population. An easy protocol for establishing cell suspension culture initiated from the loose embryogenic callus mass of sandalwood was realized by shifting 6–8-week-old morphogenic calli acquired from the mature embryonic axis and cotyledon explant cultures in fluid media. The asynchronous embryogenic cultures were sloughed with clumps of flourishing cell clumps and embryos of various progressive phases along with diffident non-embryogenic tissues. The frequency of embryo proliferation was evidenced to determinethe expansion pace of embryogenic masses under diverse conditions. The intonation of initiation and creation of cell suspension was under the directive of the influence of exogenous plant growth regulators amended in the nutrient medium at different concentrations and combinations. Maximum relative growth rate (386%) and clumps/embryoids in elevated integers (321.44) were accomplished on MS nutrient medium fortified with 2.0 mg L−1 2,4-D in association with 0.5 mg L−1 BA and 30.0 g L−1 sucrose raised from mature embryonic axis-derived calli. Plantlet regeneration in higher frequency (84.43%) was evidenced on MS medium amended with 1.0 mg L−1 each of TDZ and GA3 in conjunction with 0.5 mg L−1 NAA and 20.0 g L−1 sucrose. Mature embryonic axis-derived calli were found to be constantly better than mature cotyledon-derived calli for raising profitable and reproducible cell suspension cultures. Regenerants displayed normal growth and morphology and were founded successfully in the external environment after hardening

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Not AvailableThe identification of water stress is a major challenge for timely and effective irrigation to ensure global food security and sustainable agriculture. Several direct and indirect methods exist for identification of crop water stress, but they are time consuming, tedious and require highly sophisticated sensors or equipment. Image processing is one of the techniques which can help in the assessment of water stress directly. Machine learning techniques combined with image processing can aid in identifying water stress beyond the limitations of traditional image processing. Deep learning (DL) techniques have gained momentum recently for image classification and the convolutional neural network based on DL is being applied widely. In present study, comparative assessment of three DL models: AlexNet, GoogLeNet and Inception V3 are applied for identification of water stress in maize (Zea mays), okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) and soybean (Glycine max) crops. A total of 1200 digital images were acquired for each crop to form the input dataset for the deep learning models. Among the three models, performance of GoogLeNet was found to be superior with an accuracy of 98.3, 97.5 and 94.1% for maize, okra and soybean, respectively. The onset of convergence in GoogLeNet models commenced after 8 epochs with 22 (maize), 31 (okra) and 15 (soybean) iterations per epoch with error rate of less than 7.5%.Not Availabl

Not Available

Not AvailableThe identification of water stress is a major challenge for timely and effective irrigation to ensure global food security and sustainable agriculture. Several direct and indirect methods exist for identification of crop water stress, but they are time consuming, tedious and require highly sophisticated sensors or equipment. Image processing is one of the techniques which can help in the assessment of water stress directly. Machine learning techniques combined with image processing can aid in identifying water stress beyond the limitations of traditional image processing. Deep learning (DL) techniques have gained momentum recently for image classification and the convolutional neural network based on DL is being applied widely. In present study, comparative assessment of three DL models: AlexNet, GoogLeNet and Inception V3 are applied for identification of water stress in maize (Zea mays), okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) and soybean (Glycine max) crops. A total of 1200 digital images were acquired for each crop to form the input dataset for the deep learning models. Among the three models, performance of GoogLeNet was found to be superior with an accuracy of 98.3, 97.5 and 94.1% for maize, okra and soybean, respectively. The onset of convergence in GoogLeNet models commenced after 8 epochs with 22 (maize), 31 (okra) and 15 (soybean) iterations per epoch with error rate of less than 7.5%.Not Availabl

Status of multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) among the Sahariya tribe of North Central India

Summary: Background: The incidence/prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) is reported to be high in the Sahariya tribe of North Central India. The outbreaks of different drug-resistant isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis emphasized the need for continuous monitoring of resistance to anti-tuberculosis drugs. This study aimed to assess the profile of multidrug resistant TB among the Sahariya tribe and their non-tribal neighbors for first line drugs through field-based investigations. Methodology: A total of 274 sputum positive pulmonary TB individuals were enrolled and studied for their drug susceptibility profile by the proportion method. Results: A total of 21 cases from Sahariya and 6 from non-tribes were identified with MDR-TB. Thus Sahariya tribe showed a 1.95-fold increased risk of developing drug resistance than non-tribes. Significant differences were observed for developing drug sensitivity between Sahariya males and females when analyzed for resistance developed to any drug and overall drug resistance vs. sensitive isolates, respectively. A 4.46-fold risk was found for MDR-TB among the smokers of Sahariya tribe, whereas, the non-tribes did not show any significant association. Conclusion: The drug susceptibility profile developed in the present study indicates that drug-resistant tuberculosis is emerging as a serious public health concern in Sahariya tribe. Urgent and effective control measures and better management policies are needed for the prevention of MDR-TB in the tribe. Keywords: Sahariya tribe, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, MDR-T

Modeling and Simulation of Tin Sulfide (SnS)-Based Solar Cell Using ZnO as Transparent Conductive Oxide (TCO) and NiO as Hole Transport Layer (HTL)

This paper describes the simulation by Solar Cell Capacitance Simulator-1D (SCAPS-1D) software of ZnO/CdS/SnS/NiO/Au solar cells, in which zinc oxide (ZnO) is used as transparent conductive oxide (TCO) and nickel oxide (NiO) is used as a hole transport layer (HTL). The effects of absorber layer (SnS) thickness, carrier concentration, SnS defect density, NiO HTL, ZnO TCO, electron affinity and work function on cell performance have been evaluated. The effect of interface defect density of SnS/CdS on the performance of the heterojunction solar cell is also analysed. As the results indicate, a maximum power conversion efficiency of 26.92% was obtained

Prostatic abscess: Diagnosis and management in the modern antibiotic era

This retrospective study was aimed at analyzing the clinical findings and thera-peutic strategies in 24 patients who were admitted with prostatic abscess, during the period from 1999 to 2008. The diagnosis of prostatic abscesses was made clinically by digital rectal palpation based on the presence of positive fluctuation with tenderness. All cases were confirmed by trans-rectal ultrasound (TRUS), and only positive cases were included in this study. The diagnostic work-up included analysis of midstream urine and abscess fluid culture for pathogens. Therapeutic options included endoscopic trans-urethral incision or trans-perineal aspiration under ultrasound guidance, or conservative therapy. Of the 24 patients studied, 45.83% of the cases had a pre-di-posing factor, and diabetes mellitus (37.50%) was the most common. Digital rectal palpation re-vealed fluctuation in 70.83% of the cases. Trans-abdominal ultrasonography missed the condition in 29.16% of the cases. On TRUS, all the study patients showed hypo-echoic zones, while nine others showed internal septations. In most of the cases, the lesion was peripheral. A causative pathogen could be identified in 70.83% of the cases. Surgical drainage of the abscess by trans-urethral deroofing was performed in 17 cases (including one with failed aspiration), trans-perineal aspiration under TRUS guidance was performed in three cases and conservative therapy was followed in five cases. Our data confirms the importance of predisposing factors in the patho-genesis of prostatic abscess. In most of the cases, the clue to diagnosis is obtained by digital rectal palpation. TRUS gives the definite diagnosis and also helps in follow-up of patients. Trans-urethral deroofing is the ideal therapy where the abscess cavity is more than 1 cm, although in some selected cases, TRUS-guided aspiration or conservative therapy does have a role in treatment