PRATIT: a CNN-based emotion recognition system using histogram equalization and data augmentation

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Emotions are spontaneous feelings that are accompanied by fluctuations in facial muscles, which leads to facial expressions. Categorization of these facial...     

Antioxidant effect of turmeric powder,nitrite and ascorbic acid on stored chicken mince

This investigation was carried out to evaluate the antioxidant effect of turmeric (turmeric 1000 ppm, turmeric 5000 ppm), nitrite (nitrite 200 ppm) and ascorbic acid (ascorbic acid 500 ppm) on raw minced chicken stored at 4 ± 1 °C. Physicochemical properties [pH, water activity, cooking loss, thiobarbituric acid (TBA) value, peroxide value (PV), free fatty acid (FFA)] were evaluated on 0, 2, 4 and 6th day of storage. Highly significant differences (P < 0.01) in pH, TBA value, PV and FFA value were noticed between treatments and between storage periods. TBA values were observed to be lowest for nitrite 200 ppm and then turmeric 5000 ppm, and there was no significant difference between nitrite 200 ppm and turmeric 5000 ppm, and both were superior to ascorbic acid 500 ppm and turmeric 1000 ppm. Among different treatments, PV was found to be lowest in turmeric 5000 ppm and highest in nitrite 200 ppm. FFA value was found to be lowest in turmeric 5000 ppm and highest in ascorbic acid 500 ppm among all treated samples. It can be concluded that turmeric has potential to replace synthetic antioxidants presently used in meat processing with many added advantages.     

Alumina Supported Co–K–Mo Based Catalytic Material for Diesel Soot Oxidation

Alumina supported Co–K–Mo based mixed metal oxide type catalytic materials have been prepared by co-impregnation. These catalysts show excellent activity for carbon as well as diesel soot oxidation, which could be due to the redox properties of Mo and Co as well as to a synergistic effect of molybdenum, cobalt, and K contents. The catalyst containing 5 wt% molybdenum shows a lowering of carbon oxidation by about 190 °C under loose contact conditions as compared to the non-catalyzed reaction, as well as to bare alumina. Characterization studies suggest a composite nature of these materials, while thermal stability investigations confirm the stable nature. The selected catalyst has been studied by XPS, however, it is difficult to conclude which are the important factors contributing to the catalytic activity. It appears to be a synergistic effect of Co, K, and Mo components as these catalysts show much improved activity as compared to the individual components in supported and unsupported forms.     

ADYTIA: Adaptive and Dynamic TCP Interface Architecture for heterogeneous networks

Due to the widespread popularity and usage of Internet of things (IoT)‐enabled devices, there is an exponential increase in the data traffic generated from these IoT devices. Most of these devices communicate with each other using heterogeneous links having constraints such as latency, throughput, and interference from concurrent transmissions. This results in an extra burden on the underlying communication infrastructure to manage the traffic within these constraints between source and destination. However, most of the existing applications use different Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) variants for traffic management between these devices and are dependent on the stage of the sender, irrespective of the application types and link characteristics. Each operating system (OS) has different TCP variant for all applications, irrespective of path characteristics. Hence, a single TCP variant cannot select the best suitable link, which results in degradation in throughput compared to the existing default. Moreover, it cannot use the full capacity of the available link for different applications and network links, especially in heterogeneous network such as IoT. To cope up with these challenges, in this paper, we propose an Adaptive and Dynamic TCP Interface Architecture (ADYTIA). ADYTIA allows the usage of different TCP variants based on application and link characteristics, irrespective of the physical links of the entire path. It allows the usage of different TCP variants based on their design principle across heterogeneous technologies, platforms, and applications. ADYTIA is implemented on NS‐2 and Linux kernel for real testbed experiments. Its ability to select the best suitable TCP variant results in 20% to 80% improvement in throughput compared with the existing default and single TCP variant on Linux and Windows.     

Software defined vehicular networks: A comprehensive review

The recent breakthroughs in the automobile industries and telecommunication technologies along with the exceptional multimodal mobility services brought focus on intelligent transportation system (ITS), of which vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) gain much more attention. The distinctive features of software‐defined networking (SDN) leverages the vehicular networks by its state of the centralized art having a comprehensive view of the network. Its potential to bring the flexibility, programmability and other extensive advancements to vehicular networks has set the stage for a novel networking paradigm termed as software‐defined vehicular networks (SDVNs). Many researchers have demonstrated the SDN‐based VANETs with the various configuration of the SDN components in VANET architecture. However, a compilation of the work on the SDN‐based VANET system as a whole, incorporating its architecture, use‐cases, and opportunities, is still inadequate. We start with the summary of the recent studies that exist on the SDVNs, followed by the comprehensive explanation of its components. Next, we present the taxonomy of SDVN based on the architecture modes, protocols, access technologies, and opportunities with trending technologies. Finally, we highlight the challenges, open research issues, and future research directions.     

Wavelength Dependence of the Aerosol Angstrom Exponent and Its Implications Over Delhi,India

The aerosol optical depth (AOD), Angstrom coefficients (α and β), and the second-order Angstrom exponent (α′) obtained by Microtops-II sun photometer have been analyzed in the spectral range 0.34–0.87 μm over the urban polluted city of Delhi, India for the period 2007–2008, aiming at investigating the physical and optical properties of aerosols. The average values of AOD at 500 nm, α and β (in the range 340–870 nm) are found to be 0.78 ± 0.32, 0.78 ± 0.28, and 0.45 ± 0.21, respectively, for the entire period of observations. The AOD data show significant curvature in the lnτ versus lnλ relationship suggesting different dominant aerosol types depending on season. In order to analyze further the curvature effect and the relative dominance of aerosol size, α has been calculated in three wavelength bands, i.e., shorter (0.34–0.50 μm), longer (0.675–0.87 μm), and broad (0.34–0.87 μm) during four seasons, summer (April–June), monsoon (July–September), winter (October–January), and spring (February–March) accompanied with calculations of α′, which quantifies the deviation of logarithmic behavior of AOD with lnλ. The α′ values are found to be positive and higher in the months of October–December and mostly negative in February and March, while close to zero values of α′ are found in April–August. These results indicate that winter season exhibits dominance of fine-mode aerosols while summer relatively higher concentration of coarse-mode particles. On the other hand, monsoon and spring seasons revealed the presence of mixed type, both fine- and coarse-mode aerosols over Delhi.     

Nanoscale Mapping of the Conductivity and Interfacial Capacitance of an Electrolyte-Gated Organic Field-Effect Transistor under Operation

Probing nanoscale electrical properties of organic semiconducting materials at the interface with an electrolyte solution under externally applied voltages is key in the field of organic bioelectronics. It is demonstrated that the conductivity and interfacial capacitance of the active channel of an electrolyte-gated organic field-effect transistor (EGOFET) under operation can be probed at the nanoscale using scanning dielectric microscopy in force detection mode in liquid environment. Local electrostatic force versus gate voltage transfer characteristics are obtained on the device and correlated with the global current–voltage transfer characteristics of the EGOFET. Nanoscale maps of the conductivity of the semiconducting channel show the dependence of the channel conductivity on the gate voltage and its variation along the channel due to the space charge limited conduction. The maps reveal very small electrical heterogeneities, which correspond to local interfacial capacitance variations due to an ultrathin non-uniform insulating layer resulting from a phase separation in the organic semiconducting blend. Present results offer insights into the transduction mechanism at the organic semiconductor/electrolyte interfaces at scales down to ≈100 nm, which can bring substantial optimization of organic electronic devices for bioelectronic applications such as electrical recording on excitable cells or label-free biosensing.     

SSEER: Segmented sectors in energy efficient routing for wireless sensor network

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Nowadays, wireless sensor network (WSN) is an essential segment in the Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm. Essentially, WSN provides access to location, latest...