A variational approach to path planning for hyper-redundant manipulators

Motion planning for hyper-redundant manipulators in a complicated and cluttered workspace is a challenging problem. Many of the path planning algorithms, based on cell decomposition or potential field, fail due to the high dimensionality and complex nature of the C-space. Probabilistic roadmap methods (PRM) which have been proven to be successful in high dimensional C-spaces suffer from the drawback of generating paths which involve a lot of redundant motion. In this paper, we propose a path optimizing method to improve a given path in terms of path length and the safety against the collisions, using a variational approach. The capability of variational calculus to optimize a path is demonstrated on a variety of examples. The approach succeeds in providing a good quality path even in high dimensional C-spaces.     

Analysis and characterization of comparison shopping behavior in the mobile handset domain

In this work we characterize the session-level behavior of users on an Indian mobile phone comparison shopping website. We also correlate the popularity of handset on various news sources to its popularity on the shopping website. There are three aspects to our study: data analysis, correlation between news sources of product information and popularity of a handset, and behavior prediction. We have used KL divergence to show that a time-homogeneous Markov chain is observed when the number of clicks varies from 5 to 30. Our results depict that Markov chain model does not hold in entirety for comparison shopping setting but tells us how far the Markov chain model holds for this setting. Our analysis corroborates intuition that increasing price leads to decrease in popularity. After the strong correlation between various variables and user behavior was found, we predict the users macro (the overall sales of handset) and micro behavior (whether a user will convert or exit the site) using Markov logic networks. Our predictive model validates the intuition that past browsing behavior is an important predictor for future behavior. Methodology of combining data analysis with machine learning is, in our opinion, a new approach to the empirical study of such data sets.     

Challenges and Developments in Secure Routing Protocols for Healthcare in WBAN: A Comparative Analysis

Wireless Personal Communications - The rise in life expectancy of humans, COVID-19 pandemic and growing cost of medical services has brought up huge challenges for the government and healthcare...     

Structural,thermal and electrical properties of Ti4+ substituted Bi2O3 solid systems

In the present study, the effect of TiO₂ doping on (1 ? x) Bi₂O₃ (x)TiO₂ (x = 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20) materials is investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential thermal analysis (DTA), ac conductivity, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). XRD results show the formation of single phase Bi₁₂TiO₂₀ at x ≥ 0.15 concentration of TiO₂. It is observed that, the lower concentration of TiO₂ leads to the formation of mixed phase. The x = 0.15 and x = 0.20 samples exhibit regular and uniform distribution of the grains as compared to x = 0.10 sample. The highest conductivity is observed for x = 0.15 specimen, e.g., 9 × 10^?7 S cm^?1.     

An integrated numerical and experimental framework for modeling of CTB and GD1b ganglioside binding kinetics

A mathematical model is developed and validated for a multistep binding process between cholera toxin subunit B (CTB) and GD1b receptors that precedes cholera infection. To study the dynamics of the complex CTB‐GD1b binding mechanisms, cooperative binding effect and GD1b receptor aggregation in the host cell membrane are considered. More reliable parameters for the CTB‐GD1b binding kinetics are estimated by quantitatively calibrating the proposed multistep binding model against the experimental measurements obtained from the novel nanocube‐based biosensor. Specifically, a numerical scheme that includes the sensitivity analysis, parameter estimation and dynamic optimization is implemented for the model calibration. Through this scheme, identifiable model parameters are determined. After those selected parameters are estimated, the calibrated model and the experimental measurements were in reasonable agreement for different CTB and GD1b concentrations, which shows a promising approach for identification of the kinetics of CTB binding to the host cell membrane. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 64: 3882–3893, 2018     

Thermal and electrical behavior of silver chloride/polyaniline nanocomposite synthesized in aqueous medium using hydrogen peroxide

Nanocomposites of AgCl/PANI were synthesized by chemical polymerization/precipitation in aqueous HCl solution using both aniline monomer and AgNO₃ precursors in different molar ratio in PVP. Silver ions interact with PVP which restrict the bulk growth of AgCl and keep it in nanosized. During synthesis, AgCl NPs got entrapped in PANI chains through inter-chain hydrogen bonding. TGA studies showed complete decomposition of polymer chains occurred at 30–40 °C higher temperature than PANI alone. DSC studies indicate higher thermal stability of the composite, which is due to more heat flow for decomposition of polymer chains indicating compact packing of polymer matrix with AgCl NPs having large surface area to volume ratio. The TEM image showed spherical NPs were randomly dispersed in a polymer matrix and from XRD data crystalline nature of composite was seen. In FT-IR spectrum strong absorption band of a carbonyl stretching group due to PVP indicates its presence on nanoparticle surface in composite. Thin films of nanocomposite were spin casted on ITO coated glass surface. Electrical conductance was calculated from I–V data which was found to be in the range of 10^?2–10^?7 S cm^?1 depending on the concentration of NPs in it. These composites may find applications in solar cells as semiconductor material and for designing multiarray sensors for quality interpretation of beverages on the basis of their conductance changes using soft computing techniques.     

Comparative analysis of microwave photonic links based on different modulators using polarizers

Photonic Network Communications - This paper provides an overview of linearization of two different microwave photonic links based on phase modulator and dual-electrode Mach–Zehnder...