X-linked juvenile retinoschisis: localization between (DXS1195, DXS418) and AFM291wf5 on a single YAC

We studied 17 pedigrees with 108 affected males with X-linked juvenile retinoschisis (RS; McKusick No. 31270) and have analyzed all of the known polymorphic markers in the RS region of Xp22.1-p22.2 between DXS987 and DXS41. By haplotype analyses we found 7 individuals who showed crossovers in this interval surrounding RS. We previously reported AFM291wf5 as the centromeric boundary, and this remains unchanged in the present study. A new recombination was identified on the telomeric side at (DXS1195, DXS418). Our data support the locus order Xpter--(DXS987, DXS207, DXS1053, DXS43)--(DXS1195, DXS418)--(RS, DXS257, DXS999)--(AFM291wf5, DXS443)--DXS1052--(DXS1226, DXS274, DXS41)--Xcen; loci grouped in parentheses could not be mutually ordered by our genetic data. Physical mapping has indicated a distance of at most 900-1,000 kb between (DXS1195, DXS418) and AFM291wf5. No recombination was observed between RS and DXS257 which lies in our new interval of interest, but one critical individual was not informative with this marker. Our data now define the smallest RS inclusion interval. This interval is contained on a single YAC from which we have identified expressed sequences as candidate genes for RS.     

Kinetics of swelling of cotton fibers in aqueous ethylenediamine solutions using moisture regain data

Kinetic studies of swelling of cotton cellulose with 75% (w/w) EDA solution have been carried out. Three rates of the reaction were observed in the temperature range 10–35°C: first, the very fast rate (k₁) lasting for about 10 s; second, the extremely slow rate (k₂) lasting for 30–50 s; and third, once again a fast rate (k₃), k₁ being faster than k₃. k₁ was attributed to the swelling action of EDA–monohydrate in amorphous regions of cellulose; k₂ was assigned to the penetration of swelling species into crystallities accompanied by breakage of H bonds in these regions; and k₃ was assigned to the opening up of the crystallites. Activation energy values confirmed this trend. At higher temperatures (35–55°C), the middle rate k₂ merged with k₃, giving only two rates, k₁ and k₂₊₃, as the higher temperatures brought about simultaneous diffusion of swelling agent into, and decrystallization of, the crystalline portions of cellulose. EDA solution of 65% (w/w) concentration gave only two rates: the initial fast rate assigned to the swelling of the amorphous portion, followed by a slow one, operating in mesomorphous regions of cellulose, without any appreciable decrystallization. This was atributed to the important fact, viz., the absence of EDA–monohydrates in the solution.     

On the applicability of diploid genetic algorithms in dynamic environments

Diploid genetic algorithms (DGAs) promise robustness as against simple genetic algorithms which only work towards optimization. Moreover, these algorithms outperform others in dynamic environments. The work examines the theoretical aspect of the concept by examining the existing literature. The present work takes the example of dynamic TSP to compare greedy approach, genetic algorithms and DGAs. The work also implements a greedy genetic approach for the problem. In the experiments carried out, the three variants of dominance were implemented and 115 runs proved the point that none of them outperforms the other.     

Designing parity check matrix to achieve linear encoding time in LDPC codes

Low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes have become the part of various communication standards due to their excellent error correcting performance. Existing methods require matrix inverse computation for obtaining a systematic generator matrix from parity check matrix. With the change in code rate or code length the process is repeated and hence, a large number of pre-processing computations time and resources are required. In the existing methods, the complexity of encoding is essentially quadratic with respect to the block length. In this paper, it is shown that the parity check matrix can be constructed using patterned sub-matrix structure such that the matrix inverse operation is replaced by matrix multiplication of sparse matrices. The sparseness of matrices is then utilized to obtain efficient encoders which can achieve encoding in real time with reduced pre-computation complexity. Hardware implementation of encoder and simulation results show that the proposed encoder achieves throughput in excess of 1 Gbps with the same error correcting performance as the conventional designs.     

Optical Properties of Spin-Deposited Nanocrystalline Ni-Zn Ferrite Thin Films Processed by Sol-Gel

Nano crystalline Zn-substituted Ni ferrite films with compositions of Ni_1?xZn_xFe₂O₄ (x = 0.25, 0.50, 0.75) were synthesized by sol–gel spin coating method. The synthesized films were characterized for their structural, morphology, optical, electric, and magnetic properties using x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, UV-Vis spectrometer, two probe resistivity, and vibrating sample magnetometer techniques, respectively. The corresponding results indicate that zinc content has significant effect on physical, magnetic, and optical properties of the ferrite. X-ray diffraction studies of thin films showed that the samples have pure cubic spinel phase. The crystallite size is of the nanoparticles estimated using Debey-Scherrer’s method was found to be in the range of 10.27 to 14.97 nm. The lattice parameter was found to be increased from 8.35 to 8.40 Å with increasing Zn²⁺ contents. The morphology of the thin films depicted the formation of well-developed nano-sized clusters with homogeneous and agglomerated. The optical absorption seen to be affected due to the presence of Zn in Ni-Zn ferrite thin films. Ni-Zn ferrite thin films possess small coercivity and remnant magnetization, which indicates the soft magnetic nature of the material. Electrical resistivity of the films decreases with increasing temperature, suggesting the semiconducting nature of the samples.     

Chemically deposited nickel oxide as counter electrode for dye sensitized solar cell

Nickel oxide (NiO) thin films have been synthesized by simple and inexpensive chemical bath deposition at low temperature. The synthesized thin films were annealed at 623 K and used for further characterization. Structural and morphological properties of the NiO thin film were characterized using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscope (SEM), respectively. The structural study shows the simple cubic formation of NiO thin films with average crystallite size of 9 nm. Honeycomb like surface morphology with porous structure was observed from the SEM study. NiO thin film electrode has been used as a counter electrode in dye sensitized solar cell. Finally, photovoltaic parameters such as short circuit current density (J_sc), open circuit voltage (V_oc), Fill Factor (FF) and efficiency (η) have been studied.     

Piezoelectric cantilever sensors with asymmetric anchor exhibit picogram sensitivity in liquids

We show for the first time that self-exciting and self-sensing piezoelectric cantilevers consisting only of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) measure resonance only if they are asymmetrically anchored. Symmetric-anchoring did not give rise to electrically measurable bending resonant modes in the 0-100 kHz range. Sensitivity of first and second bending mode resonances was characterized in a flow apparatus using small density changes in liquid (0.003-0.01 g/cm³) and by dodecanethiol chemisorption at 30 pM. Density change results were consistent with existing models of submerged cantilevers, and yielded mass-change sensitivity of ∼33 ng/Hz and 217 pg/Hz for the first two modes. In chemisorption experiments, where binding was localized to 1 mm² distal tip of the PZT cantilever, sensitivity improved by an order of magnitude to 2 pg/Hz and 414 fg/Hz for the same two resonant modes.     

Multi-Objective Optimization Model for QoS-Enabled Web Service Selection in Service-Based Systems

Nowadays, the web service has become the emerging communication technology where the interaction of each user is performed through the World Wide Web. However, the performance of the web service mechanism is degraded due to security flaws that occur throughout the Internet.. The user or service requester may not attain the relevant web service for their requirement. To overcome this problem, the newly developed multi-objective based Cuckoo Search (MCS) algorithm is proposed in this article. Initially, the input query model was built by the query keyword that is provided by the service requester. Then, the given query is matched with the database that hosts the web services that relates to input query. Among the various services, the user has to select the appropriate web service using the proposed algorithm. The MCS algorithm is newly designed by combining the Cuckoo Search algorithm and the QoS parameter based multiple objectives. Additionally, the new mathematical model of fitness is evaluated by the multi-objective parameters. Finally, the proposed algorithm exploits the fitness value to select the relevant web service for the user query. The experimental results are validated and performance is analyzed by the parameters of precision, recall, and F-measure. Thus, 86.6% of precision value was obtained by the proposed method, which ensured provision of the appropriate web service.     

SVM based robust watermarking for enhanced medical image security

Medical images are more typical than any other ordinary images, since it stores patient’s information for diagnosis purpose. Such images need more security and confidentiality as total diagnosis depends on it. In telemedicine applications, transmission of medical image via open channel, demands strong security and copyright protection. In our proposed robust watermarking model, a double layer security is introduced to ensure the robustness of embedded data. The embedded data is scrambled using a unique key and then a transform domain based hybrid watermarking technique is used to embed the scrambled data into the transform coefficients of the host image. The data embedding in medical images involves more attention, so that the diagnosis part must not be affected by any modification. Therefore, Support Vector Machine (SVM) is used as a classifier, which classify a medical image into two regions i.e. Non Region of Interest (NROI) and Region of Interest (ROI) to embed watermark data into the NROI part of the medical image, using the proposed embedding algorithm. The objective of the proposed model is to avoid any quality degradation to the medical image. The simulation is performed to measure the Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) for imperceptibility and Structural Similarity Index (SSIM) to test the robustness. The experimented result shows, robustness and imperceptibility with SSIM of more than 0.50 and PSNR of more than 35 dB for proposed watermarking model.