DeepDeMod: BPSK Demodulation Using Deep Learning Over Software-Defined Radio

In wireless communication, signal demodulation under non-ideal conditions is one of the important research topic. In this paper, a novel non-coherent binary phase shift keying demodulator based on deep neural network, namely DeepDeMod, is proposed. The proposed scheme makes use of neural network to decode the symbols from the received sampled signal. The proposed scheme is developed to demodulate signal under fading channel with additive white Gaussian noise along with hardware imperfections, such as phase and frequency offset. The time varying nature of hardware imperfections and channel poses a additional challenge in signal demodulation. In order to address this issue, additionally we propose transfer learning based DeepDeMod scheme. Pilot symbols along with data is transmitted in a packet which is used to learn the time varying parameters from the pilot reception followed by data demodulation. Results show that compared with the conventional demodulators and other machine learning based demodulators, our proposed DeepDeMod provides significantly better performance in term of bit error rate. We also implement the proposed DeepDeMod on software defined radio and present the experimental results

A review on diversity, conservation and nutrition of wild edible fruits

The United Nations adopted the Millennium Declaration of September 2009 to improve the global living conditions through reducing poverty and hunger. However, considerable numbers of people are still living in utter penury and are deprived of a dignified living. In such tough circumstances nature’s free gift in the form of wild edible foods are benefiting the vulnerable and dependent communities. Wild edible plants (WEPs) are the species those are neither cultivated nor domesticated however are available in their wild natural habitat and used as sources of these plants have played a significant role in the development and civilization of human history throughout the ages and globe. These wild edible plants have played a significant role in supplying food and nutritional requirements of poor communities in many rural parts of the world. These wild edibles can be popularized only when they are comparedfor their nutritional and health benefits with major or widely used cultivated plants. The social, cultural, religious, and belief system of the rural communities are incomplete without these wild edible plants. Domestication of these wild edible plants can increase their use and their conservation as well. The present review paper has described the wild edible plants in context of their diversity, traditional knowledge, conservation practices and nutritional composition from the available secondary literature. Authors feel there is still scope to incorporate more contextual variables for explaining more variations embedded with local people’s perception on values and usage of these wild edible fruits

Non-Timber Forest Products: Diversity, Utilization, and Dependency in Fringe Areas of Jaldapara National Park in Indian Sub-Himalayan Region

Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) greatly contribute to livelihood, development, and poverty alleviation across the tropics. We also assumed that the fringe communities inhabiting Jaldapara National Park (JNP) of Indian eastern sub-Himalayan region largely rely on the NTFPs for their livelihood due to its remote and isolated location with no physical infrastructure and facilities. Multistage sampling technique was used for the study. The sample size was 205 households selected randomly from a sample frame of 10 villages. Descriptive statistics was employed to analyze and summarize the data. A total of 146 NTFP species was documented. The communities relied on their NTFP collection/harvest for food, medicine, firewood, fodder, and other socio-cultural items for household use and cash income. The documented species were further categorized into plant, fish, fungus, and insect. The relative frequency of citation (RFC), value ranged from 0.2 to 0.96 for all categories of NTFPs with average 0.78. Income from NTFPs contributed on an average 45% of the total annual household income of the households. NTFPs provided a natural insurance to households especially during the periods of scarcity. Focused interventions with technical and financial support are recommended to uplift the livelihood of the communities in JNP

‘It Takes Two Hands to Clap’: How Gaddi Shepherds in the Indian Himalayas Negotiate Access to Grazing

This article examines the effects of state intervention on the workings of informal institutions that coordinate the communal use and management of natural resources. Specifically it focuses on the case of the nomadic Gaddi shepherds and official attempts to regulate their access to grazing pastures in the Indian Himalayas. It is often predicted that the increased presence of the modern state critically undermines locally appropriate and community-based resource management arrangements. Drawing on the work of Pauline Peters and Francis Cleaver, I identify key instances of socially embedded ‘common’ management institutions and explain the evolution of these arrangements through dynamic interactions between individuals, communities and the agents of the state. Through describing the ‘living space’ of Gaddi shepherds across the annual cycle of nomadic migration with their flocks I explore the ways in which they have been able to creatively reinterpret external interventions, and suggest how contemporary arrangements for accessing pasture at different moments of the annual cycle involve complex combinations of the formal and the informal, the ‘traditional’ and the ‘modern’

Forest Ecology and Conservation

This book is dedicated to forest ecology and conservation on ecological and conservation aspects of forest. The book is divided into two sections: the first section ""Forest Ecology"" with four chapters deals with forest ecological aspects, while the second section ""Forest Conservation"" with two chapters looks into new techniques for conserving the forests. This book will bridge the gaps in the knowledge about some new emerging issues on forest ecology and conservation. It will be an interesting and helpful resource to all those in the field of forestry working for its sustainable use and conservation

Forest Biomass and Carbon

Forests grow and their biomass increases; they absorb carbon from the atmosphere and store it in plant tissue. Understanding the biomass of forest vegetation is essential for determining the storage of carbon in the dominant tree component and computing carbon cycling at a regional as well as global level. This book consisting of five chapters will give a comprehensive understanding of biomass production vis

Energy efficient data gathering in IoT networks with heterogeneous traffic for remote area surveillance applications: A cross layer approach

In this paper, the problem of energy-efficient data gathering in an Internet of Things (IoT) based remote area surveillance application is addressed by designing a suitable MAC layer uplink solution. We follow the 3GPP specified scheduled access scheme for narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) and consider presence of both delay sensitive and delay tolerant traffic in the network. First, we present a mixed integer non-linear programming (MINLP) based optimization framework to minimize the IoT devices\u27 cumulative transmission energy per uplink frame under the constraints of finite resource blocks, mean queue stability and residual energy levels of IoT nodes. A cross layer approach has been adopted. Precisely, using Lyapunov optimization, we propose a dynamic, distributed transmit power allocation for IoT nodes and a centralized node scheduling scheme. Further, assuming Poisson model for traffic generation at delay tolerant traffic generating nodes, we suggest a distributed probabilistic sleep scheduling scheme to improve the average delay experience of delay sensitive traffic while improving the overall energy conservation. Simulation results suggest impressive performance of our proposed solution over the existing uplink solution for NB-IoT, in terms of delay experience of delay sensitive traffic, buffer length requirement and nodes\u27 total energy consumption at high traffic load

PRODUCTION CONSTRAINTS OF BIODIESEL AND ITS REMEDIES IN INDIA WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO JATROPHA

India with its dense population is more prone to energy crisis than its counterparts in other developed countries. Economic, energy along with environmental security concerns arising from overdependence on fossil fuel is now forcing the country to shift for alternative i.e. biofuel. India has a tremendous potential as a producer of biofuels. However, the present production capacity of biodiesel is constrained by the production of feed stocks. The target set by the proposed National Policy on Biofuels is 20 % biodiesel blending after 2017. This set target will only be a reality only when the constraints in biodiesel production and promotion are identified and addressed properly. The paper enlists these constraints and briefly suggests possible remedial measures with special reference to Jatropha so that the set Indian target may be achieved