Applicability of feed-forward and recurrent neural networks to Boolean function complexity modeling

In this paper, we present the feed-forward neural network (FFNN) and recurrent neural network (RNN) models for predicting Boolean function complexity (BFC). In order to acquire the training data for the neural networks (NNs), we conducted experiments for a large number of randomly generated single output Boolean functions (BFs) and derived the simulated graphs for number of min-terms against the BFC for different number of variables. For NN model (NNM) development, we looked at three data transformation techniques for pre-processing the NN-training and validation data. The trained NNMs are used for complexity estimation for the Boolean logic expressions with a given number of variables and sum of products (SOP) terms. Both FFNNs and RNNs were evaluated against the ISCAS benchmark results. Our FFNNs and RNNs were able to predict the BFC with correlations of 0.811 and 0.629 with the benchmark results, respectively.     

Fabrication of Low-Porosity Indium Tin Oxide Ceramics in Air from Hydrothermally Prepared Powder

Compositionally homogeneous indium tin oxide (ITO) ceramics with low porosity were obtained successfully by sintering hydrothermally prepared powders. The fabrication technique began with the preparation of microcrystalline, homogeneously tin-doped (5 wt%) indium oxyhydroxide powder, under hydrothermal conditions. Low-temperature (∼500°C) calcination of the hydrothermally derived powder led to the formation of a substitutional-vacancy-type solid solution of In₂Sn_{1− x} O_{5− y} , and further heating of this phase at temperatures of >1000°C resulted in the formation of the tin-doped indium oxide phase, which had the C -type rare-earth-oxide structure. The sintering of uniformly packed, calcined powder compacts at 1450°C for 3 h in air resulted in low-porosity (∼0.7%) ITO ceramics.     

Valuing the Cultural Landscapes Past and Present: Tea Plantations in Sri Lanka

Abstract

The study focuses on tea plantation cultural landscapes in Sri Lanka and its historical formation, present issues and future considerations. [Sri Lanka was known as Ceylon before 1972. At present, the country uses Sri Lanka for all related documents.] According to the research, the tea estate is identified as the main building unit of tea heritage. This paper reveals the historical formation of tea heritage and its contribution to the existing landscape. This study focuses on the Nuwara Eliya region, as it is the main area for tea cultivation. The present condition of tea plantations in Sri Lanka is derived through a survey conducted in Labookellie estate, Blue Field estate and Pedro estate. Past and the present circumstances are examined through analysis of literature, topographical maps and site observations, while interviews with outsiders (foreign visitors) were used to strengthen the thoughts on tea plantation landscapes. This paper reveals basic concepts such as agriculture as a heritage, active agriculture and value added through future conservation and development procedure. The paper first discusses the formation of tea estates and governing factors. Second, the paper explains estate settlement as the main building block of tea heritage with researched case studies and explains existing landscape values. Third, the paper explains future thoughts on the tea plantation landscapes in Sri Lanka. Opinions of foreign visitors to the plantation are considered as a valuable contribution to the conclusions. The paper stresses the importance of understanding tea estate cultural landscapes and their heritage value for future planning and the conservation priorities in Sri Lanka.     

Reduced membrane fouling in a novel bio-entrapped membrane reactor for treatment of food and beverage processing wastewater

A novel Bio-Entrapped Membrane Reactor (BEMR) packed with bio-ball carriers was constructed and investigated for organics removal and membrane fouling by soluble microbial products (SMP). An objective was to evaluate the stability of the filtration process in membrane bioreactors through backwashing and chemical cleaning. The novel BEMR was compared to a conventional membrane bioreactor (CMBR) on performance, with both treating identical wastewater from a food and beverage processing plant. The new reactor has a longer sludge retention time (SRT) and lower mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) content than does the conventional. Three different hydraulic retention times (HRTs) of 6, 9, and 12 h were studied. The results show faster rise of the transmembrane pressure (TMP) with decreasing hydraulic retention time (HRT) in both reactors, where most significant membrane fouling was associated with high SMP (consisting of carbohydrate and protein) contents that were prevalent at the shortest HRT of 6 h. Membrane fouling was improved in the new reactor, which led to a longer membrane service period with the new reactor. Rapid membrane fouling was attributed to increased production of biomass and SMP, as in the conventional reactor. SMP of 10-100 kDa from both MBRs were predominant with more than 70% of the SMP <100 kDa. Protein was the major component of SMP rather than carbohydrate in both reactors. The new reactor sustained operation at constant permeate flux that required seven times less frequent chemical cleaning than did the conventional reactor. The new BEMR offers effective organics removal while reducing membrane fouling.     

Triglyceride composition of tea seed oil

Fatty acid and triglyceride compositions of the seed oil of Thea sinensis (tea seed oil) of Indian origin have been determined by combination of techniques of low temperature crystallisation, spectrophotometry, pancreatic lipase hydrolysis, thin-layer chromatography, gas–liquid chromatography and densitometry. Percentages of individual fatty acids were found to be: palmitic, 17.8; stearic, 3.0; oleic, 59.9; linoleic, 18.0. Triglyceride composition was calculated from the fatty acid compositions of the native oil and of the monoglycerides produced from it by pancreatic lipase hydrolysis. The oil is composed of 0.7, 11.1, 41.9 and 46.3% GS₃, GS₂U, GSU₂ and GU₃ respectively. Prominent features of the oil is its content of 11.6, 21.4 and 22.0% dioleolinolein, triolein and dioleopalmitin respectively.     

Chemical Investigations on Celastrus paniculatus Seed Oil I

Fatty acid compositions of four lipid fractions of Celastrus paniculatus seed namely normal triglycerides (20.2%), polar triglycerides (44.4%), polar nonglyceridic ester (23.5%), and nonpolar nonglyceridic ester (11.9%), have been determined by gas liquid chromatography. Percentage contents of major component acids in these fractions are: palmitic, 25.1, 42.0, 12.7, 58.2; stearic, 6.7, 4.5, 15.8; oleic, 46.1, 24.8, 4.7, 14.2; linoleic, 15.4, 14.7, 10.0; and linolenic, 3.0, 13.1, 43.0, respectively. The major molecular species constituting the normal triglycerides are: palmitooleopalmitin, 6.8%; palmitooleostearin, 5.6%; palmitodiolein, 14.7; palmitooleolinolein, 7.0%; stearodiolein, 6.1%; triolein, 8.0% and dioleolinolein 7.6%. Lipolysis of the polar triglyceride indicated as high as 59.6% of saturated acids linked to the 2-position of glycerol.     

Efficient design centering of analog integrated circuits using binary search

This paper introduces a procedure for automatically design centering analog integrated circuits called the divide-and-focus method (DAF). DAF is a simple, efficient, and effective algorithm for design centering complex circuits, even if the performance of the original nominal design is poor. DAF uses a binary search of each dimension of parameter space to rapidly focus on regions promising high yield. DAF was applied to a third-order elliptic CMOS transconductance-C integrated circuit filter derived from an automated layout and containing 126 nodes and 319 MOSFETS. Using five key capacitor values as design centering parameters, DAF improved yield in the presence of parasitic capacitance (as extracted from the layout) by a factor of 19 from an initial value of 4% to a final value of 76%. By relaxing constraints on component value symmetry, DAF found a higher yield than was possible when maintaining symmetry, where DAF achieved a yield of 34%. Since DAF uses Monte Carlo analysis to estimate circuit yield, its execution time can be further reduced by exploiting the parallelism implicit in Monte Carlo techniques. Using a local area network of 10 workstations similar to those available at most engineering sites, DAF completed the design centering of the filter 7.4 times faster than when using a single workstation.Supported in part by a Research Initiation grant (CCR-9111941) from the National Science Foundation.Supported in part by a grant (MIP-9121360) from the National Science Foundation.     

Employee perception towards electronic monitoring at work place and its impact on job satisfaction of software professionals in Sri Lanka

Electronic monitoring is a rapidly growing phenomenon in Sri Lankan software industry. It allows employers to observe what employees do on the job and review employee communications, including e-mail and internet activity that employees consider private. Often, employers use electronic monitoring to ensure organizational confidentiality, limiting employer liability for employee misconduct. From the perspective of employees, electronic monitoring by employers involves several privacy and confidentiality concerns. Most of the time, employee performance and productivity aspects captured via electronic monitoring are effectively used by the Human Resources Departments, for decision making associated with the employees.Majority of the software development organizations in Sri Lanka today use some means of electronic technology to monitor their employee activities. Most of the time, employee perception towards electronic monitoring at work, contradicts with the need for law enforcement within the organization intended by the top management. Employers justify electronic monitoring at work place in terms of protecting the company’s confidential information, preventing the misuse of the organizational resources while uplifting the quality of work and productivity. On the other hand, the mutual trust that should be there between the employer and the employee is in question. Therefore, this study empirically investigated the relationship that might exist between the software professionals’ perception towards electronic monitoring at work place and its impact on their job satisfaction.Based on disproportionate stratified random sampling, data were collected from 380 software professionals in Sri Lanka, by administrating a structured questionnaire in which items were of 5 point Lickert scale. The data analysis included the univariate, bivariate and multivariate analyses.In this study, Perceived Relevance to Work and Personal Judgment of Effectiveness which were two variables used to measure perception of electronic monitoring were positively correlated with Job Satisfaction. This means that the software professionals, who view electronic monitoring as something which is relevant to their work as well as which uplifts the quality of their work, are satisfied in their jobs. Perceived Invasion of Privacy was negatively correlated to Job Satisfaction, which sheds some light in organizational electronic monitoring policy making. Also, Perceived Task Satisfaction was negatively correlated to Job Satisfaction. This means that the software professionals, who thought that working in an electronically monitored environment makes their tasks more complex, are rather dissatisfied in the job. Also, it appeared that the impact of electronic monitoring at work place on the job satisfaction of software professionals becomes less significant along with higher professional experience.The findings of this research can be incorporated in IT security policy making in the software development organizations in Sri Lanka and in similar economics, with a special emphasis on the job satisfaction of their employees, which is the most valuable asset of the organization.     

Chemistry and medicinal properties of the Bakul (Mimusops elengi Linn): A review

India is one of the world's biodiversity hotspots and reports confirm that a great variety of fruiting trees are indigenous to this region of the world. Mimusops elengi Linn (family Sapotaceae) commonly known as Bakul is one such tree native to the Western Ghat region of the peninsular India. However, today this tree is also found growing in other parts of the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. The tree is of religious importance to the Hindus and finds mention in various mythological texts. The stem, barks, leaves and fruits are used in various Ayurvedic and folk medications to treat various ailments. In the prehistoric days the ripe fruits were an important source of diet but today no one knows of its dietary use as it is seldom used. Studies suggest the tree contains medicinally-important chemicals, particularly the triterpenes and alkaloids. Preclinical studies in the past five years have shown that the extracts prepared from Bakul possess antibacterial, antifungal, anticariogenic, free radical scavenging, antihyperglycemic, antineoplastic, gastroprotective, antinociceptive and diuretic effects, thus lending pharmacological support to the tree's ethnomedicinal uses in Ayurveda. In this review for the first time attempt is made at addressing the chemical constituents, medicinal uses and validated pharmacological observations of Bakul.