Feature Selection for Recognition of Online Handwritten Bangla Characters

Feature selection through optimization techniques provides an interesting approach to minimize computational time with enhanced prediction capability, and     

Intelligent Water Management: a Triangular Type-2 Intuitionistic Fuzzy Matrix Games Approach

Matrix games with fuzzy payoffs have spread itself nowadays in diverse fields. Fuzzy game theory with triangular type-1 fuzzy numbers are visited more by researchers. In this paper, we consider matrix games with payoffs as triangular type-2 intuitionistic fuzzy numbers, i.e., Triangular Type-2 Intuitionistic Fuzzy Matrix Game (TT2IFMG) as a new and rare concept. A new ranking function is used to get relevant solutions of TT2IFMG. We are living in times of unprecedented scientific-technical advancement, yet facing several critical global problems that threaten human welfare and our ecosystem. Water management, a burning problem of the Earth now-a-days, is treated here under the scanner of TT2IFMG environment where we discuss some policy-management toward the free and fair accession of water against its limited resources.     

Compact,Isolation Enhanced,Band-Notched SWB–MIMO Antenna Suited for Wireless Personal Communications

Herein, a Conductor Backed Co-Planar Waveguide fed, compact, slotted Multiple–Input–Multiple–Output or MIMO antenna having Super Wideband (SWB) response and tunable band-notching feature is presented. In addition, an improved method for cut-off frequency prediction of the antenna is formulated. A super wide frequency response from 01.21 to 34.0 GHz and notches at Wireless Local Area Networks or WLAN bands (04.92–05.83 GHz) and Worldwide Inter-operability for Microwave Access or WiMAX bands (03.30 GHz–03.70 GHz) are obtained. By fine tuning the dimensions of the Split Ring Resonator Structure introduced in the radiating element, band-notched characteristics centered at 05.50 GHz WLAN band is obtained. A second band notch having centre frequency at 03.50 GHz for the WiMAX band is obtained by the introduction of a Spiral Microstrip Defected Structure in the feeding segment. The antenna is 20?×?36?×?1 mm³ in dimension. Acceptable gain all through the functional bandwidth, excepting the notched bands makes the MIMO antenna a novel contender for SWB operations particularly for Wireless Personal Communications.

     

Blind quality assessment of image and video based on fragile watermarking and robust features

Blind quality assessment is an important feature required by many modern multimedia communication systems. Reduced reference approaches employing fragile watermarking techniques have been proposed earlier for this purpose. This paper proposes an approach which makes use of robust image features and fragile watermarking techniques resulting in a reduced reference strategy. Other than the input image, the approach requires no external information. Robust image features are used to construct the watermark from the image to be transmitted, which is then embedded as a fragile watermark in the image itself. The same features are once again used to construct the reference watermark from the received image, with which the extracted fragile watermark is compared to determine the amount of degradation suffered by it. Construction of the watermark from the image itself, dispenses with the need for embedding an extraneous watermark which must be made known to the user separately. Singular Value Decomposition is used for the extraction of the fragile watermark from the received image while a different approach is used for reduced reference quality assessment of video sequences, making use of consecutive video frames. These form the significant contributions of the present work. The performances of the proposed algorithms have been demonstrated through extensive simulations using different kinds of gray-scale and color images and a number of popularly used test video sequences.

     

Ultrathin Crystalline Silicon Nano and Micro Membranes with High Areal Density for Low-Cost Flexible Electronics

Ultrathin crystalline silicon is widely used as an active material for high-performance, flexible, and stretchable electronics, from simple passive and active components to complex integrated circuits, due to its excellent electrical and mechanical properties. However, in contrast to conventional silicon wafer-based devices, ultrathin crystalline silicon-based electronics require an expensive and rather complicated fabrication process. Although silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers are commonly used to obtain a single layer of crystalline silicon, they are costly and difficult to process. Therefore, as an alternative to SOI wafers-based thin layers, here, a simple transfer method is proposed for printing ultrathin multiple crystalline silicon sheets with thicknesses between 300 nm to 13 µm and high areal density (>90%) from a single mother wafer. Theoretically, the silicon nano/micro membrane can be generated until the mother wafer is completely consumed. In addition, the electronic applications of silicon membranes are successfully demonstrated through the fabrication of a flexible solar cell and flexible NMOS transistor arrays.     

Parametric optimization of abrasive water-jet machining processes using grey wolf optimizer

Abrasive water-jet machining (AWJM) is a hybrid advanced machining process, which can be economically applied to machine almost any kind of material. It employs a high velocity waterjet to propel abrasive particles through a nozzle on the workpiece surface for material removal. The machining performance of AWJM process naturally depends on its several control (input) parameters, like water pressure, nozzle diameter, jet velocity, abrasive concentration, nozzle tip distance etc., which have also predominant effects on its responses, i.e., material removal rate, surface roughness, overcut, taper etc. In this paper, a new evolutionary algorithm, i.e., grey wolf optimizer (GWO), a technique based on the hunting behavior of grey wolves, is applied for finding out the optimal parametric combinations of AWJM processes. The main advantage of this algorithm is that it does not accumulate towards some local optima, and the presence of a social hierarchy helps it in storing the best possible solutions obtained so far. The derived results using GWO exhibit a significant improvement in the response values as compared to the previous attempts for parametric optimization of AWJM processes while applying other algorithms.     

Microwave irradiation of guar seed flour: Effect on anti-nutritional factors,phytochemicals, in vitro protein digestibility,thermo-pasting,structural, and functional attributes

Guar seed flour (GSF) has a high amount of carbohydrates, proteins, phytochemicals, and anti-nutritional factors (ANFs), which limits its use. To address this issue, the current study was undertaken to understand the effect of microwave (MW) irradiation on ANFs, phytochemicals, in vitro protein digestibility (IVPD), and functional attributes of GSF at varying power density (P_d: 1–3 W/g) and duration (3–9 min). The ANFs were determined using a colorimetric assay and a Fourier transform infrared spectrum. At 3 P_d-9 min, the maximum reduction in ANFs (tannin, phytic acid, saponin, and trypsin inhibitor activity) was observed. Higher P_d and treatment duration increased antioxidant activity and total phenolic content, except for total flavonoid content. Furthermore, compared to the control sample (78.38%), the IVPD of the GSF samples increased to 3.28% (3 P_d-9 min). An increase in P_d and duration of MW treatment improved the thermal and pasting properties of GSF samples up to 2 P_d-9 min. Due to inter- and intramolecular hydrogen bonding degradation, the relative crystallinity of the 3 P_d-9 min treated GSF sample was 30.58%, which was lower than that of the control (40.08%). In MW-treated samples, SEM images revealed smaller clusters with rough and porous structures. However, no noticeable color (ΔE) changes were observed in MW-treated samples. Aside from water absorption capacity and water solubility index, MW treatment reduced oil absorption capacity, foaming capacity, and emulsifying capacity. As demonstrated by principal component analysis, MW irradiation with moderate P_d (2–3) was more effective in reducing ANFs, retaining nutritional contents, and improving the digestible properties of GSF, which could be a potential ingredient for developing gluten-free products.     

Polypyrrole–titanium(IV) doped iron(III) oxide nanocomposites: Synthesis,characterization with tunable electrical and electrochemical properties

Titanium(IV)-doped synthetic nanostructured iron(III) oxide (NITO) and polypyrrole (PPy) nanocomposites was fabricated by in situ polymerization using FeCl₃ as initiator. The polymer nanocomposites (PNCs) and pure NITO were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Föurier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, electron dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, etc. Thermo gravimetric and differential thermal analyses showed the enhancement of thermal stability of PNCs than the pure polymer. Electrical conductivity of the PNCs had increased significantly from 0.793 × 10^?2 S/cm to 0.450 S/cm with respect to the PPy, and that had been explained by 3-dimensional variable range hopping (VRH) conduction mechanisms. In addition, the specific capacitance of PNCs had increased from 147 F/g to 176 F/g with increasing NITO content than that of pure NITO (26 F/g), presumably due to the growing of mesoporous structure with increasing NITO content in PNCs which reduced the charge transfer resistance significantly.