Drought,distress, and a conditional cash transfer programme to mitigate the impact of drought in Bihar,India

Paddy – Bihar’s staple crop – is vulnerable to drought, primarily due to the high cost of irrigation. In 2008, the Bihar government launched a conditional cash transfer scheme to subsidize diesel for irrigation in drought-affected areas. We show that this scheme has not been effective in mitigating the impact of drought on paddy production. A primary survey of potential and actual beneficiaries shows that low awareness and penetration among smallholders, alongside uncertainties and delays in the disbursal of the subsidy, make it ineffective. We suggest that in states with limited capacity, such ad hoc subsidies are unlikely to protect smallholders from weather shocks.     

A Survey on Long Term Evolution Scheduling in Data Mining

Scheduling procedures implemented in wireless networks consists of varied workflows such as resource allocation, channel gain improvement, and reduction in packet arrival delay. Among these techniques, Long term evolution (LTE) scheduling is most preferable due to its high speed communication and low bandwidth consumption. LTE allocates resources to the workflow based on time and frequency domains. Normally, the information gathered prior to scheduling increases the processing time since each attributes of the users have to be verified. In order to solve this issue, parallel processing via data mining is analyzed in recent research studies. The label that is assigned to the user attributes contributes primarily on scheduling time slots effectively. The label assignment and parallel processing via data mining reduces the delay and increases the throughput respectively. Additionally, the matched data extraction from the library and the prediction of available channels with fewer dimensions posed major challenges in the LTE scheduling. This paper surveys about various LTE scheduling algorithms, dimensionality reduction techniques, optimal feature selection techniques, multi-level classification techniques, and data mining combined with LTE techniques. A brief survey illustrates the impact of each technique on 3G/4G networks, channel availability prediction, scheduling of time slots in detail. A brief comparison of the techniques involved in the respective LTE processes via tabular form reveals that the verification of channel and user availability are the primary functions of the LTE scheduling. The survey of this paper identifies the limitations such as computational complexity and poor scheduling performance in the existing systems and encourages researchers to develop novel algorithms for LTE scheduling.     

120 keV Ar ion-induced red and blue shift of SPR Wavelength of Au nanoparticles in fullerene C60

Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics - Au nanoparticles are synthesized in a fullerene C60 matrix using the thermal co-evaporation technique. Fullerene C60 is chosen due to its...     

Polarization-rich continuous wave direct imaging: modeling and visualization

We report a study and comparison of continuous-wave, optical polarization difference imaging (PDI) and polarization modulation imaging (PMI) for imaging through scattering media. The problem is cast in the framework of a theoretical estimation, and the comparison is based on three visualization parameters, namely, the magnitude, the degree, and the orientation of the polarization. We show that PDI is superior in estimating the first two parameters in active imaging under specific conditions, while the PMI is suitable for passive imaging and is the only way to estimate polarization orientation. We also propose new schemes for rendering polarization information as a color image and for applying the newly introduced polarization-orientation imaging for segmentation. Simulation and experimental results verify the theoretical conclusions.     

Using a 3-D multicellular simulation of spinal cord injury with live cell imaging to study the neural immune barrier to nanoparticle uptake

Development of nanoparticle (NP) based therapies to promote regeneration in sites of central nervous system (CNS;i.e.brain and spinal cord) pathology relies critically on the availability of experimental models that offer biologically valid predictions of NP fate in vivo.However,there is a major lack of biological models that mimic the pathological complexity of target neural sites in vivo,particularly the responses of resident neural immune cells to NPs.Here,we have utilised a previously developed in vitro model of traumatic spinal cord injury (based on 3-D organotypic slice arrays) with dynamic time lapse imaging to reveal in real-time the acute cellular fate of NPs within injury foci.We demonstrate the utility of our model in revealing the well documented phenomenon of avid NP sequestration by the intrinsic immune cells of the CNS (the microglia).Such immune sequestration is a known translational barrier to the use of NP-based therapeutics for neurological injury.Accordingly,we suggest that the utility of our model in mimicking microglial sequestration behaviours offers a valuable investigative tool to evaluate strategies to overcome this cellular response within a simple and biologically relevant experimental system,whilst reducing the use of live animal neurological injury models for such studies.     

Preparation and characterization of BaTiO3–natural muscovite composites

Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics - Natural muscovite (nM) exhibiting magnetic vortex states are ball milled into fine powder and mixed in different relative ratios (weight %)...     

Further insight into interfacial interactions in nickel/liquid Sn–Ag solder system at 230–350 °C

Interfacial reactions are investigated between electrochemical deposited Sn-2 wt%Ag alloy and Ni for isothermal heating at various temperature (230–350 °C) and for various time to study initial stages (1–4 min) and latter stages of reaction (15 min–4 h). During the isothermal heating a continuous compound layer of Ni₃Sn₄ is formed at the interface between liquid Sn–Ag and solid Ni. In this study scallop like morphology with round and smooth surfaces of Ni₃Sn₄ intermetallic (IMC) layer is observed for shorter time of isothermal holding, which is in fact contradictory to the observations reported by recent studies which describe the morphology of IMC as elongated and faceted needles. For longer reaction times (>1 h) the scallop-like morphology is transformed gradually to a facetted abnormal growth morphology but not elongated structure. The average thickness of the reaction layer is proportional to a power function of the annealing time with an exponent n varying from 0.35 to 0.40 and the apparent activation energy for liquid–solid Ni₃Sn₄ formation was evaluated to be of about 21 kJ mol^?1. The role of deposition method of Ni and Sn layers on the morphology and the growth kinetics of the reaction layer is discussed. A theoretical analysis of the initial formation and growth of Ni₃Sn₄ phase at the Ni/Sn interface is also presented.     

A methodology for joint optimization for maintenance planning, process quality and production scheduling

Performance of a manufacturing system depends significantly on the shop floor performance. Traditionally, shop floor operational policies concerning maintenance scheduling, quality control and production scheduling have been considered and optimized independently. However, these three aspects of operations planning do have an interaction effect on each other and hence need to be considered jointly for improving the system performance. In this paper, a model is developed for joint optimization of these three aspects in a manufacturing system. First, a model has been developed for integrating maintenance scheduling and process quality control policy decisions. It provided an optimal preventive maintenance interval and control chart parameters that minimize expected cost per unit time. Subsequently, the optimal preventive maintenance interval is integrated with the production schedule in order to determine the optimal batch sequence that will minimize penalty-cost incurred due to schedule delay. An example is presented to illustrate the proposed model. It also compares the system performance employing the proposed integrated approach with that obtained by considering maintenance, quality and production scheduling independently. Substantial economic benefits are seen in the joint optimization.     

A unified framework for the numerical solution of optimal control problems using pseudospectral methods

A unified framework is presented for the numerical solution of optimal control problems using collocation at Legendre-Gauss (LG), Legendre-Gauss-Radau (LGR), and Legendre-Gauss-Lobatto (LGL) points. It is shown that the LG and LGR differentiation matrices are rectangular and full rank whereas the LGL differentiation matrix is square and singular. Consequently, the LG and LGR schemes can be expressed equivalently in either differential or integral form, while the LGL differential and integral forms are not equivalent. Transformations are developed that relate the Lagrange multipliers of the discrete nonlinear programming problem to the costates of the continuous optimal control problem. The LG and LGR discrete costate systems are full rank while the LGL discrete costate system is rank-deficient. The LGL costate approximation is found to have an error that oscillates about the true solution and this error is shown by example to be due to the null space in the LGL discrete costate system. An example is considered to assess the accuracy and features of each collocation scheme.     

Content-based image retrieval for categorized dataset by aggregating gradient and texture features

Neural Computing and Applications - Content-based image retrieval is the process of retrieving images similar to the Query Image. The task of finding the dissimilarity among the different objects...