Hardware realization and PID control of multi-degree of freedom articulated robotic arm

A robotic manipulator is the most important component in an industrial environment for autonomous execution of tasks. Given the repoted fact that a PID (Proportional-Integral-Derivative) will continue to be the main workhorse in the automation sector, the present paper deals with designing and realizing this control law. A custom-developed pseudo-industrial platform AUTAREP (AUTonomous Articulated Robotic Educational Platform) centered on a 6DOF (Six Degree of Freedom) manipulator is considered. The derived kinematic and dynamic models of the arm form the basis of MATLAB-based control simulation. The control law after discretization is also implemented on embedded hardware. When subject to various inputs, result of trajectory tracking in the form of output responses, demonstrate superior performance in transient as well as steady state. The stability and convergent behavior of the outputs is also observed, thus highlighting efficacy of proposed approach

Embedded control system for autarep - a novel autonomous articulated robotic educational platform

This research introduces an open-source framework, AUTonomous Articulated Robotic Educational Platform (AUTAREP). The platform is centred on a 6 Degree Of Freedom (DOF) arm with multiple feedbacks to ensure precision and autonomy. The sensory system consists of vision, position and force feedbacks while the actuation system comprises six precise DC servo motors. In particular, this paper presents the design of an embedded controller for AUTAREP. The proposed design of the control hardware and software interface has been tailored as per academic requirements of relevant undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Low level commands have been provided to permit readily development of applications for trainees. Advanced users can further exploit the open-source architecture of the platform. The performance of the proposed control system has been demonstrated by various experiments on the fabricated hardware. The control has been subjected to various test inputs to analyse its transient and steady state behaviour. The robot has been tested to achieve a set-point position successfully and the encoder data corresponding to all the joints has been recorded. Finally, a common application of "pick and place" has been implemented. The proposed platform is potentially beneficial in teaching engineering courses, training in industrial sector and research of advanced algorithms

Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic in Pakistani Population

Abstract Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the economic, social and mental health of families living in Lahore, Pakistan. Methodology: A cross-sectional survey conducted for six months included total 200 participants filled a self-designed questionnaire through convenient sampling. The structured questionnaire collected information on socio-demographic profile and data on impact of COVID-19 on economic, social and mental status of residents of Lahore Results: The mean age of the respondents was 42 + 10.281 in years. Nearly 50% of the participants were affected from stress. Most of the participants were stressed, living in nuclear families. Conclusion: COVID-19 pandemic has strong impact on family income. Stress levels were raised especially among male respondents and discord in the family was highlighted. The participants engaged in private jobs were more stressed. Access to friends and families were restricted in this pandemic. Keywords: COVID-19, stress, mental health

Biology of Spodoptera litura on natural and artificial diet under laboratory conditions

Armyworm, Spodoptera litura (Lepidoptera; Noctuidae) is one of the most economically significant insect pests in global agriculture. The current study was performed to study the biology of S. litura under laboratory conditions. In the current study, the biological parameters of pests i.e., egg, larva, pupa and adult along with the duration were determined. The mean incubation period of pests on cabbage, maize and artificial diet was 2.86±0.33, 3.09 ± 0.12 and 3.97±0.77 days, respectively. S. litura had five instars. The mean developmental period of the first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth larval instar on cabbage was 3.44±0.11, 2.09±0.12, 4.11±0.12, 3.00±0.20, 6.68±0.23 and 5.94±0.18 days, respectively while 2.81±0.77, 3.55±0.33, 3.64±0.45, 4.43±0.71, 6.55±0.21 and 5.98±0.19 days on the maize, respectively. The mean developmental periods were 3.85±0.54, 3.45±0.63, 3.67±0.67, 4.37±0.82, 6.55±0.23 and 5.30±0.38 days of first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth larval instars on artificial diet, respectively. The mean total life period of S. litura was 33.43±5.86 days on cabbage and 34.79±6.95 days on maize while 35.98±7.86 days on an artificial diet. The longest developmental period of S. litura was recorded on the artificial diet while the minimum was on cabbage. The mean developmental period of pupa was 7.50±0.71 days on cabbage, 9.87±0.94 days on maize and 11.63±0.99 days on an artificial diet. Females were short-lived as compared to males. The pre-oviposition, oviposition and post-ovipositional period of S. litura on cabbage were recorded as a minimum while maximum on an artificial diet. The maximum number of eggs laid by females with the highest hatchability on cabbage followed by maize and artificial diet. An artificial diet was not good for pest development and growth as compared to a natural diet i.e., cabbage and maize. The findings will provide basic information about food pests which help in pest management

Securing Machine Learning in the Cloud: A Systematic Review of Cloud Machine Learning Security.

With the advances in machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) techniques, and the potency of cloud computing in offering services efficiently and cost-effectively, Machine Learning as a Service (MLaaS) cloud platforms have become popular. In addition, there is increasing adoption of third-party cloud services for outsourcing training of DL models, which requires substantial costly computational resources (e.g., high-performance graphics processing units (GPUs)). Such widespread usage of cloud-hosted ML/DL services opens a wide range of attack surfaces for adversaries to exploit the ML/DL system to achieve malicious goals. In this article, we conduct a systematic evaluation of literature of cloud-hosted ML/DL models along both the important dimensions-attacks and defenses-related to their security. Our systematic review identified a total of 31 related articles out of which 19 focused on attack, six focused on defense, and six focused on both attack and defense. Our evaluation reveals that there is an increasing interest from the research community on the perspective of attacking and defending different attacks on Machine Learning as a Service platforms. In addition, we identify the limitations and pitfalls of the analyzed articles and highlight open research issues that require further investigation

A First Look at CQVID-19 Messages on WhatsApp in Pakistan

The worldwide spread of COVID-19 has prompted extensive online discussions, creating an `infodemic' on social media platforms such as WhatsApp and Twitter. However, the information shared on these platforms is prone to be unreliable and/or misleading. In this paper, we present the first analysis of COVID-19 discourse on public WhatsApp groups from Pakistan. Building on a large scale annotation of thousands of messages containing text and images, we identify the main categories of discussion. We focus on COVID-19 messages and understand the different types of images/text messages being propagated. By exploring user behavior related to COVID messages, we inspect how misinformation is spread. Finally, by quantifying the flow of information across WhatsApp and Twitter, we show how information spreads across platforms and how WhatsApp acts as a source for much of the information shared on Twitter

Metode AOP – GAC dalam Penanganan Limbah Cair Batik di Kalurahan Wijirejo, Kepanewon Pandak, Kabupaten Bantul Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta

Seluruh aspek kehidupan memerlukan air bersih untuk memenuhi kebutuhan sehari-hari. Salah satu daerah di Kalurahan Wijirejo, Kepanewon Pandak, Kabupaten Bantul, Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta menjadi sentra batik dengan skala rumah tangga di DIY. Kegiatan pengolahan batik akan menghasilkan limbah yang berasal dari proses pewarnaan dan pelorodan. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui kemampuan metode Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOP) – Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) untuk mendegradasi parameter BOD5 , COD, dan Fenol. Hasil penelitian dengan metode AOP –GAC yaitu injeksi ozon dengan larutan H2O2 (50%) sebanyak 1,5 ml dalam 1 liter limbah selama 30 menit merupakan waktu efektif. Penggunaan karbon aktif yang efektif yaitu sebanyak 6 gram dalam 1 liter limbah menghasilkan efisiensi yang dapat menurunkan 98,5% pada parameter BOD5 , COD sebanyak 98,6 %, dan Fenol sebanyak 99,5 %. Hasil penelitian menyimpulkan bahwa AOP - GAC efektif untuk menurunkan parameter BOD5 , COD, dan Fenol pada limbah Batik.Kata Kunci: Industri Batik; Limbah Cair; AOP – GAC; IPAL; Ozonisasi; Adsorps

Effect of slow-release nitrogenous fertilizers on dry matter accumulation, grain nutritional quality, water productivity and wheat yield under an arid environment

Slow release nitrogenous fertilizers can improve crops production and reduce the environmental challenges in agro-ecosystem. There is a need to test the efficiency and performance under arid climatic conditions. The study investigates the effect of slow-release fertilizers (urea, neem coated urea (NCU), sulfur coated urea (SCU) and bioactive sulfur coated urea (BSCU)) on the growth, productivity and grain nutritional qualities of wheat crop. Slow-release fertilizers (SRF) with nitrogen levels (130,117,104 and 94 kg ha−1) were applied with equal splits at sowing, 20 and 60 days after sowing (DAS). Research showed that the BSCU with 130 kg ha−1 increased dry matter accumulation (1989 kg ha−1) after anthesis and grain yield 4463 kg ha−1. The higher plant height (102 cm) was attained by 130 kg N ha−1 SCU while the minimum (77.67 cm) recorded for 94 kg N ha−1 as urea source. Maximum grain NPK concentrations (3.54, 0.66 and 1.07%) were recorded by BSCU 130 kg N ha−1 application. While, the minimum NPK (0.77, 0.19 and 0.35%) were observed by Urea 94 kg N ha−1. The high irrigation water use efficiency (WUE) recorded (20.92 kg ha−1 mm−1) and a crop index of 25.52% by BSCU 130 kg N ha−1 application. Research findings show that generally all SRF but particularly BSCU proved effective and can be recommended for wheat crop under arid environmen

Dipyridamole-Induced Stemi: Case Report and Review of the Literature

Dipyridamole nuclear myocardial perfusion imaging is a safe and useful modality to assess for myocardial ischemia. It is the modality of choice for cardiac risk stratification in patients unable to exercise. Intravenous dipyridamole causes coronary vasodilation and may yield heterogeneity of coronary blood flow in significant coronary artery disease. Ischemic electrocardiographic changes following pharmacologic stress testing are less likely compared to exercise stress tests. Ischemia more likely presents in the form of ST depression, with ST-elevation being exceedingly rare. We present a case of a 73-year-old patient who developed ST-elevation myocardial infarction following pharmacologic stress testing