A Dynamic Inertial Weight Strategy in Micro PSO for Swarm Robots

Wireless Personal Communications - A relatively new area of research and development is Swarm Robotics. It is a part of the swarm intelligence field. In the proposed paper, we shall use swarm...     

Experimental and Analytical Behavior of Carbon Fiber-Based Rods as Flexural Reinforcement

This paper presents the results of an experimental and analytical comparison of a study on the flexural behavior of concrete beams reinforced with sandblasted carbon fiber-based composite rods. Twelve beams, including three control beams reinforced with steel, were tested for strength, deformation, and failure characteristics. Analytical comparisons included the generation of the theoretical strength and moment curvature relations. Experimental data from pullout tests indicated that bonding of sandblasted rods is not a major concern. However, excessive deformation in achieving the predicted moment capacity could be a limiting factor in the design of these beams.     

Synthesis and characterization of amide linkage-incorporated polyethyleneimine-based chelating resins and studies of the crosslink density and surface properties on metal ion uptake

The chelating resins incorporating amide linkages were synthesized in open reaction vessels (OV) by polycondensing different proportions, viz., 1 : 1, 1 : 1.3, and 1.3 : 1 of polyethyleneimine (PEI) and diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA), respectively, at 145–155°C, and at varying curing times (15 h and 22 h). For the proportion 1 : 1, the synthesis was performed in a closed reaction vessel (CV) as well. The resins were characterized by FTIR, elemental, and thermogravimetric analysis, apart from sarptometric surface studies. The extent of crosslinking was evaluated by swelling measurements and the chemical stability was assessed by acid and alkali treatment. The effect of the mode of heating and curing times on the extent of crosslinking and pore structure modifications were evaluated. The influence of these factors on the capacities, the kinetics, and the break through curve trends of these resins were studied using zinc and cadmium metal ions as references. The reproducibility of the resins were ascertained by assessing the extent of change in the break through curve trends of their different batches, synthesized under identical conditions. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Mixing matrix estimation using discriminative clustering for blind source separation

Mixing matrix estimation in instantaneous blind source separation (BSS) can be performed by exploiting the sparsity and disjoint orthogonality of source signals. As a result, approaches for estimating the unknown mixing process typically employ clustering algorithms on the mixtures in a parametric domain, where the signals can be sparsely represented. In this paper, we propose two algorithms to perform discriminative clustering of the mixture signals for estimating the mixing matrix. For the case of overdetermined BSS, we develop an algorithm to perform linear discriminant analysis based on similarity measures and combine it with K-hyperline clustering. Furthermore, we propose to perform discriminative clustering in a high-dimensional feature space obtained by an implicit mapping, using the kernel trick, for the case of underdetermined source separation. Using simulations on synthetic data, we demonstrate the improvements in mixing matrix estimation performance obtained using the proposed algorithms in comparison to other clustering methods. Finally we perform mixing matrix estimation from speech mixtures, by clustering single source points in the time-frequency domain, and show that the proposed algorithms achieve higher signal to interference ratio when compared to other baseline algorithms.     

Hybrid Authentication Using Node Trustworthy to Detect Vulnerable Nodes

An ad-hoc sensor network (ASN) is a group of sensing nodes that transmit data over a wireless link to a target node, direct or indirect, through a series of nodes. ASN becomes a high-risk group for several security exploits due to the sensor node’s limited resources. Internal threats are more challenging to protect against than external attacks. The nodes are grouped, and calculate each node’s trust level. The trust level is the result of combining internal and external trust degrees. Cluster heads (CH) are chosen based on the anticipated trust levels. The communications are then digitally signed by the source, encoded using a key pair given by a trustworthy CH, decoded by the recipient, and supervised by verifications. It authenticates the technique by identifying the presence of both the transmitter and the recipient. Our approach looks for a trustworthy neighboring node that meets the trust threshold condition to authenticate the key produced. The companion node reaffirms the node’s reliability by getting the public-key certification. The seeking sensor node and the certification issuer node must have a close and trusting relationship. The results of the proposed hybrid authentication using a node trustworthy (HANT) system are modeled and tested, and the suggested approach outperforms conventional trust-based approaches in throughput, latency, lifetime, and vulnerability methods.     

Biosynthesised silver and copper nanoformulation as foliar spray to control bird's eye spot disease in tea plantations

Tea leaves have economic importance in preparation of the popular beverage of the world “tea”. Bird’s eye spot disease of tea leaves creates significant revenue loss in tea trade of many tea plant cultivating countries. Management of this disease by silver (AgNps) and copper (CuNps) nanoparticles that are biosynthesised by efficient antagonists was studied. The biocontrol agents like Pseudomonas fluorescens, Trichoderma atroviride and Streptomyces sannanensis were evaluated for nanoparticle synthesis against Cercospora theae isolates namely KC10, MC24 and VC38. Initially, the freshly prepared extracellular AgNps showed high disease control (59.42 – 79.76%), but the stability of antagonistic property in stored nanoparticles were significantly high in CuNps (58.71 – 73.81%). Greenhouse studies on various treatments imposed also showed reduced disease incidence percentage of 13.4, 7.57 and 10.11% when treated with CuNps synthesized by P. fluorescens, T. atroviride and S. sannanensis respectively. Various treatment schedule in fields suggested the use of Bionanocopper@1.5 ppm for highest yield (3743 kg/ha) with 66.1% disease prevention. The results suggest the use of biosynthesised CuNps using Streptomyces sannanensis for controlling the tea plant pathogens causing foliar disease with higher stability in releasing the antagonistic activity during sporadic disease incidence of bird’s eye spot disease in tea plants.Inspec keywords: silver, copper, crops, plant diseases, nanoparticles, air pollution, agrochemicals, nanobiotechnologyOther keywords: biosynthesised silver, biosynthesised copper, nanoformulation, foliar spray, bird eye spot disease control, tea plantations, tea leaves, economic importance, revenue loss, tea trade, tea plant cultivating countries, silver nanoparticles, AgNps, copper nanoparticles, CuNps, biocontrol agents, nanoparticle synthesis, Cercospora theae isolates, KC10, MC24, VC38, greenhouse studies, antagonistic property, P. fluorescens, T. atroviride, S. sannanensis, fungicides, synthetic nanomaterials, bionanomaterials, disease prevention, green leaf yield, BionanoCu, tea plant pathogens, foliar disease     

Quickly locating efficient, equitable deals in automated negotiations under two-sided information uncertainty

This paper develops an automated negotiation procedure inclusive of mechanism design and agent design for bilateral multi-issue negotiations under two-sided information uncertainty. The proposed negotiation mechanism comprises a protocol called MUP (Monotonic Utility-granting Protocol) and a matching strategy called WYDIWYG (What You Display Influences What You Get). The proposed preference elicitation procedure makes the agents faithful surrogates of the user they represent while the proposed Frontier Tracking Proposal Construction Algorithm (FTPCA) makes them learn the opponent's flexibility in negotiation and respond appropriately. The mechanism design and the agent design together help in locating efficient and equitable deals quickly. The efficiency, stability, simplicity, distribution symmetry and incentive compatibility of the proposed procedure are demonstrated through negotiation simulation experiments.     

Probabilistic approximations of ODEs based bio-pathway dynamics

Bio-chemical networks are often modeled as systems of ordinary differential equations (ODEs). Such systems will not admit closed form solutions and hence numerical simulations will have to be used to perform analyses. However, the number of simulations required to carry out tasks such as parameter estimation can become very large. To get around this, we propose a discrete probabilistic approximation of the ODEs dynamics. We do so by discretizing the value and the time domain and assuming a distribution of initial states w.r.t. the discretization. Then we sample a representative set of initial states according to the assumed initial distribution and generate a corresponding set of trajectories through numerical simulations. Finally, using the structure of the signaling pathway we encode these trajectories compactly as a dynamic Bayesian network.This approximation of the signaling pathway dynamics has several advantages. First, the discretized nature of the approximation helps to bridge the gap between the accuracy of the results obtained by ODE simulation and the limited precision of experimental data used for model construction and verification. Second and more importantly, many interesting pathway properties can be analyzed efficiently through standard Bayesian inference techniques instead of resorting to a large number of ODE simulations. We have tested our method on ODE models of the EGF-NGF signaling pathway [1] and the segmentation clock pathway [2]. The results are very promising in terms of accuracy and efficiency.     

A new fluoride mediated synthesis of mesoporous silica and their usefulness in controlled delivery of duloxetine hydrochloride a serotonin re-uptake inhibitor

A new type of mesoporous silica nanoparticle (MSN) was synthesized in fluoride media via sol–gel technique using TritonX 100 and Tween-20. The surface area and pore volume of the MSN particles were modified by varying the concentration of Tween-20. The prepared MSN nanoparticles with large surface area and pore volume (T-2, T-3) were selected to accommodate the model drug duloxetine hydrochloride (DX) for evaluation of their drug-loading and release abilities. Calcined and DX loaded nanoparticles were characterized by Brunauer–Emmett–Teller technique (BET), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetric (TG) analysis and UV-diffuse reflectance (UV-DRS). In vitro release studies proved that the particle displays an initial burst release followed by sustained release for up to 140 h. From the studies it is evident that the synthesized particle may be useful as a carrier for sustained release of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).     

Stable Synthetic Bacteriochlorins for Photodynamic Therapy: Role of Dicyano Peripheral Groups,Central Metal Substitution (2H,Zn, Pd), and Cremophor EL Delivery

A series of four stable synthetic bacteriochlorins was tested in vitro in HeLa cells for their potential in photodynamic therapy (PDT). The parent bacteriochlorin (BC), dicyano derivative (NC)₂BC and corresponding zinc chelate (NC)₂BC–Zn and palladium chelate (NC)₂BC–Pd were studied. Direct dilution of a solution of bacteriochlorin in an organic solvent (N,N‐dimethylacetamide) into serum‐containing medium was compared with the dilution of bacteriochlorin in Cremophor EL (CrEL; polyoxyethylene glycerol triricinoleate) micelles into the same medium. CrEL generally reduced aggregation (as indicated by absorption and fluorescence) and increased activity up to tenfold (depending on bacteriochlorin), although it decreased cellular uptake. The order of PDT activity against HeLa human cancer cells after 24 h incubation and illumination with 10 J cm^?2 of near‐infrared (NIR) light is (NC)₂BC–Pd (LD₅₀=25 nM ) > (NC)₂BC > (NC)₂BC–Zn ≈ BC. Subcellular localization was determined to be in the endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria and lysosomes, depending on the bacteriochlorin. (NC)₂BC–Pd showed PDT‐mediated damage to mitochondria and lysosomes, and the greatest production of hydroxyl radicals as determined using a hydroxyphenylfluorescein probe. The incorporation of cyano substituents provides an excellent motif for the enhancement of the photoactivity and photostability of bacteriochlorins as PDT photosensitizers.