RoboRun: A gamification approach to control flow learning for young students with TouchDevelop

This demo paper introduces young students to writing code in a touch enabled interactive maze game. Problem-based learning is given a gamified approach to learning, while simultaneously introducing the TouchDevelop platform to build basic first control flow algorithms and to learn about ordering and loops in conditional statements

Statistical Results of Multivariate Fox-H Function for Exact Performance Analysis of RIS-Assisted Wireless Communication

Existing research provides statistical results on the sum of single-variate Fox-H functions to analyze the performance of diversity receivers and reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) based wireless systems. There is a research gap in exact performance analysis when more than a single-variate Fox-H function represents the statistical characterization of wireless systems. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to obtain the distribution of the sum of independent and non-identically distributed (i.ni.d) random variables characterized by the multivariate Fox-H function. Further, we develop a general framework for an exact analysis of the ergodic capacity when the multivariate Fox-H function characterizes the statistics of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). We apply the derived results to conduct an exact performance analysis of outage probability and ergodic capacity, taking an example of RIS-assisted communication over Rician fading channels with phase errors. We conduct computer simulations to validate the exact analysis and demonstrate performance of the RIS-assisted system under various practically relevant scenarios for a better performance assessment

Evaluation of antioxidant activity of ormeloxifene: in vitro study

Background: Ormeloxifene (Centchroman) is a Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulator (SERM) which acts as estrogen antagonist and having anti progestogenic activity also. It is being used in the management of dysfunctional uterine bleeding and as nonhormonal oral contraceptive. It is also being investigated for the indications such as osteoporosis, breast and endometrial carcinoma. In this study, we have evaluated the Antioxidant potential of drug by using DPPH and NO synthase Assay. It was found that ormeloxifene has significant antioxidant activity which could be cause for its use in various gynaecological and other conditions.Methods: In this study, we have demonstrated in vitro antioxidant activity of ormeloxifene. DPPH and NO synthase assay tests were done for different concentrations of ormeloxifene.Results: In our study, it showed that the free radical scavenging activity of ormeloxifene was less in lower concentration and increased in the higher concentration in DPPH assay. The free radical scavenging activity of drug ormeloxifene was 22% at 100µg/ml and 27% for the concentrations of 1000µg/ml in DPPH assay. No scavenging activity was 3% at 100µg/ml and 11% at 1000µg/ml.Conclusions: The invitro antioxidant analysis of ormeloxifene, was proved to be a potent antioxidant

Anomalous change in leakage and displacement currents after electrical poling on lead-free ferroelectric ceramics

We report the polarization, displacement current and leakage current behavior of a trivalent nonpolar cation Al cation substituted lead free ferroelectric NBT-BT electroceramics with tetragonal phase and P4mm space group symmetry. Nearly three orders of magnitude decrease in leakage current were observed under electrical poling, which significantly improves microstructure, polarization, and displacement current. Effective poling neutralizes the domain pinning, traps charges at grain boundaries and fills oxygen vacancies with free charge carriers in matrix, thus saturated macroscopic polarization in contrast to that in upoled samples. E-poling changes bananas type polarization loops to real ferroelectric loops.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figure

Robust Fraud Detection via Supervised Contrastive Learning

Deep learning models have recently become popular for detecting malicious user activity sessions in computing platforms. In many real-world scenarios, only a few labeled malicious and a large amount of normal sessions are available. These few labeled malicious sessions usually do not cover the entire diversity of all possible malicious sessions. In many scenarios, possible malicious sessions can be highly diverse. As a consequence, learned session representations of deep learning models can become ineffective in achieving a good generalization performance for unseen malicious sessions. To tackle this open-set fraud detection challenge, we propose a robust supervised contrastive learning based framework called ConRo, which specifically operates in the scenario where only a few malicious sessions having limited diversity is available. ConRo applies an effective data augmentation strategy to generate diverse potential malicious sessions. By employing these generated and available training set sessions, ConRo derives separable representations w.r.t open-set fraud detection task by leveraging supervised contrastive learning. We empirically evaluate our ConRo framework and other state-of-the-art baselines on benchmark datasets. Our ConRo framework demonstrates noticeable performance improvement over state-of-the-art baselines.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, and 3 table

Inhibition of free radical activity by dual PPAR α and PPAR γ agonist using analytical assay methods

Background: Overproduction of free radicals involved in the pathology of a wide variety of clinical disorders. Poor glycaemic control in diabetic people leads to free radical production responsible for diabetic related complications. Antioxidants produces resistance against the oxidative stress by scavenging free radicals may useful in treating diabetic related complications. Saroglitazar is a newer antidiabetic drug act on dual Peroxisome Proliferator Receptor Agonist α (PPAR α) and PPAR γ agonist with protection effect on Diabetes mellitus induced lipid dystrophy. Our study was done to evaluate the in vitro antioxidant effect Saroglitazar by 1, 1 Diphenyl 2 Picryl hydrazide (DPPH) and Nitric Oxide (NO) method.Methods: In this study, we demonstrated invitro antioxidant activity by using 10 mg/dl stock solutions of Saroglitazar. DPPH and NO free radical scavenging test were done for different concentration of Saroglitazar.Results: Saroglitazar showed concentration dependent free radical scavenging activity in DPPH assay. In DPPH assay at higher concentration 1000ug concentration showed 49.18% free radical scavenging activity. At lower concentration 10ug showed 17.18% free radical scavenging activity. NO scavenging activity at lower concentration 100ug showed 55.15% activity. But the higher concentration (1000ug) only slight increase in 60.15% activity.Conclusions: Thus Saroglitazar invitro antioxidant analysis proved that it is a potent antioxidant

A Policy Review of Public Libraries in India

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the status of policies, legislation and finance with respect to public libraries in India. Design/methodology/approach This is a descriptive study based on data collected from literature review and census data on public libraries, along with a field visit of government public libraries at Bangalore. It attempts a critique of existing policies related to public libraries in particular and the culture sector in general, which governs the Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums (GLAMs) in India. Findings Of India’s 29 states and 7 union territories, 19 states have passed state library legislations, of which only 5 have the provision of a library cess or tax levy and it was found that states with lower literacy rates do not have library legislations. Bihar and Chhattisgarh in 2008 and Arunachal Pradesh in 2009 have recently passed these legislations without a library cess. Few states have progressed with the automation of public libraries, while 16 state libraries continue to function without any such legislation. The legislative process and legal issues involved in policy making, combined with the lack of political consensus and goodwill, have severely constrained the growth, coverage and development of public libraries for people in India. The existing national acts and state library legislations should be reviewed to adapt to changing times and to bring about integrated information services across GLAMs for the public. A RTI query sent to the Ministry of Culture revealed that there is no official data available on the per capita expenditure on public libraries in India. Practical implications In an online-networked environment, all GLAM institutions work towards collecting, preserving and providing access to educational and cultural heritage resources as social capital. However, there is a lack of national policy to govern GLAMs and the government bodies responsible for developing GLAMs are not integrative in their processes. A more holistic framework is required to assess funding needs and to ensure reforms in culture sector. Central government should make it mandatory to have access to public library for every citizen of India, legitimating public library services, even as India celebrates 100 years of public librarianship and enters its second century of providing library and information services to the nation. Originality/value GLAMs should be inclusionary public spaces for intellectual engagement and community development and need greater attention of policy makers. Though the public library movement reached its peak in the nationalist movements of the early 20th century, developing integrated and contemporary policies for the growth and development of public libraries as a public good in the 21st century will make India a knowledge society

Antimicrobial effect of Lagenaria siceraria (Mol.) Standley, against certain bacteria and fungal strains

This study was performed to evaluate the antibacterial and antifungal potency of Lagenaria siceraria (Mol.) Standley, commonly known as bottle gourd belonging to the family Cucurbitaceae. Petroleum Ether, Chloroform, Methanol, Absolute alcohol and Water showed a majority of the compound including Steroids, Alkaloids, Tannins, Flavonoids, Lactones and Carbohydrates. All the five extracts were prepared by using soxhlet apparatus and the extracts showed moderate to potent antimicrobial activity against the bacterial strains: Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis, Klebsiella pneumonia, Salmonella typhi, Staphylococcus aureus and antifungal strains: such as Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus oryzae and Trichoderma harzianum

An Integrative Review of Web 3.0 in Academic Libraries

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to present an integrated literature review exploring the nature of responsive, semantic and interactive Web 3.0 technologies applicable for academic libraries. Design/methodology/approach – We conducted an integrated review of the literature combining a strategy of automated and keywords search. The main source for identifying the studies are Emerald Library Studies and Information & Knowledge Management eJournals, Web of Knowledge, and Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts (EBSCO) databases. To this end, a sample of (n= 140) studies were analyzed to characterize the Web 3.0 trends and its applications based on theme, years and document types. Findings – A review of literature reveals that Web 3. needs evaluation as to what extent they are integrated, deployed and mainstreamed into library services and in information management practices. It is important to develop a conceptual framework that explores the linkages of Web 3.0 technologies and their applications in academic libraries. Originality/value –This review shows how Web 3.0 technologies enhance library services in its holistic conceptualization and how academic libraries are moving into a more robust, inclusive and adaptable phase in their service values and innovation