Search results for: Shweta Mukherjee

Authors: Surinder Sood, Debajyoti Mukherjee

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Formal verification techniques have become widely popular in pre-silicon verification as an alternate to constrain random simulation based techniques. This paper proposed a novel formal verification-based coverage augmentation technique in verifying complex RTL functional verification faster. The proposed approach relies on augmenting coverage analysis coming from simulation and formal verification. Besides this, the functional qualification framework not only helps in improving the coverage at a faster pace but also aids in maturing and qualifying the formal verification infrastructure. The proposed technique has helped to achieve faster verification sign-off, resulting in faster time-to-market. The design picked had a complex control and data path and had many configurable options to meet multiple specification needs. The flow is generic, and tool independent, thereby leveraging across the projects and design will be much easier

Keywords: COI (cone of influence), coverage, formal verification, fault injection

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Authors: Lopamudra Malek

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Bangladesh continues a compacted bilateral relationship with Japan since 1971, but the seed of this vital relationship had been sown much earlier in 1863 when MadhushudhonMukhapaddhay translated Commodore Mathew’s book, and the seed was nourished and nurtured by Rabindranath and other writers by translating Japanese literature in Bengali. Sano Jinnotsuke translated Rabindranath’s novel ‘Gora’ in 1924. Concentrating on formal literary translation, Jyotirmoy Mukhopadhyay, Jalal Ahmed continued to translate important novels, short poems, and short stories as well. Kyoko Niwa - GouriAiyub and Monjurul Huq and Swandip Tagore had translated one of the master pieces of Matsuo Basho and 万葉集. Gita A. Keeni has translated few stories from Kenji Miyazawa and in contemporary literature, Abhijit Mukherjee translating Yukio Mishima and Haruki Murakami in Bengali language.

Keywords: literary translation, bengali, Japanese, book

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Authors: Sananda Mukherjee, Nandini Lakshmikantha

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Films are considered as the most influential form of mass media. To attract audience films are made on various themes and issues which are assumed to have an impact on the behavioural pattern of the society. Among the various issues that have been bothering Indian society, health is primary. Thus it is important and interesting to study how health is being projected in Bollywood which is largely considered by the world as Indian cinema. This study tries to focus its attention on some select popular movies made in the recent decade and will try to analyse its content and significance of the same with the contemporary Indian society. It is evident that some of the movies made projecting health issues have earned good box office revenues, but have they been successful in making the public understand the significance of health issues they have been trying to project, is an interesting area to understand.

Keywords: box office, health issues, Indian cinema, social awareness

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Authors: Shweta Jha, Nandita Chaube

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The concept of self has a major role to play in the study of personality which drives the current study in its present form. This is a case of Miss S, a 17-year-old Hindu, currently in eleventh standard, with no family history of mental illness but with a past history of inability to manage relationships, multiple emotional and sexual relationships, repeated self harming behaviour, and sexual abuse over a period of 2 months at the age of 10 years. She comes with a psychiatric history of one episode of dissociative fall followed by a stressful event which left the patient with many psychological disturbances matching the criterion of Cluster B and C traits. Current episode precipitated due to the relationship failure, predisposing factor is her personality traits, and poor social and family support. Considering the patient’s aspiration for positivity and demand of the therapy, ventilation sessions were carried out which made her capable of understanding and dealing with her negative emotions, also strengthened mother child bond, helped her maintain meaningful and healthy relationships, also helped her increase her problem solving ability and adaptive coping skills making her feel more positive and acceptable towards herself, family members and others.

Keywords: cluster B and C traits, personality, therapy, self

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Authors: Piyali Mukherjee, Jai Prakash Keshri

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Anticipated shortages of raw materials for paper industry have forged the entry of algae as alternatives to wood pulp. Five algal species: Pithophora sp., Lyngbya sp., Hydrodictyon sp., Cladophora sp. and Rhizoclonium sp. were collected from different parts of Burdwan town, West Bengal, India. Their biomass compositional values were determined with respect to eucalyptus wood pulp. Paper characteristics were studied in terms of breaking length, tensile strength, CI index, pH, brightness, recyclability, and durability. Hydrodictyon sp., besides Rhizoclonium sp. and Cladophora sp. were established as the most suitable candidates for paper pulp formulation in terms of high cellulose, hemicelluloses contents and low lignin and silica contents. Paper from pure Hydrodictyon sp. pulp was found to have statistically significant (p < 0.05) improved breaking-length and tensile strength properties compared to that obtained from Lyngbya sp.

Keywords: algae, biomass, paper, pulp, wood

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Authors: Shweta Lall

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The intent of this paper is to demonstrate the role of computerized auxiliary science in advancing the desired and necessary alliance of historians, surveyors, topographers, and analysts of architectural conservation and management. The digital era practice of recording architectural and cultural heritage in view of its preservation, dissemination, and planning developments are discussed in this paper. Geomatics include practices like remote sensing, photogrammetry, surveying, Geographic Information System (GIS), laser scanning technology, etc. These all resources help in architectural and conservation applications which will be identified through various case studies analysed in this paper. The standardised outcomes and the methodologies using relevant case studies are listed and described. The main component of geomatics methodology adapted in conservation is data acquisition, processing, and presentation. Geomatics is used in a wide range of activities involved in architectural and cultural heritage – damage and risk assessment analysis, documentation, 3-D model construction, virtual reconstruction, spatial and structural decision – making analysis and monitoring. This paper will project the summary answers of the capabilities and limitations of the geomatics field in architectural and cultural conservation. Policy-makers, urban planners, architects, and conservationist not only need answers to these questions but also need to practice them in a predictable, transparent, spatially explicit and inexpensive manner.

Keywords: architectural and cultural conservation, geomatics, GIS, remote sensing

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Authors: Manisha Mukherjee, Diptarka Saha

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Reliable forecasts of univariate time series data are often necessary for several contexts. ARIMA models are quite popular among practitioners in this regard. Hence, choosing correct parameter values for ARIMA is a challenging yet imperative task. Thus, a stepwise algorithm is introduced to provide automatic and robust estimates for parameters (p; d; q)(P; D; Q) used in seasonal ARIMA models. This process is focused on improvising the overall quality of the estimates, and it alleviates the problems induced due to the unidimensional nature of the methods that are currently used such as auto.arima. The fast and automated search of parameter space also ensures reliable estimates of the parameters that possess several desirable qualities, consequently, resulting in higher test accuracy especially in the cases of noisy data. After vigorous testing on real as well as simulated data, the algorithm doesn’t only perform better than current state-of-the-art methods, it also completely obviates the need for human intervention due to its automated nature.

Keywords: time series, ARIMA, auto.arima, ARIMA parameters, forecast, R function

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Authors: Santosh Ghosh, Vinod Kumar Yadav, Vivekananda Mukherjee, Ishta Garg

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India, akin to the rest of the world today, is grappling with balancing act between ever increasing demand for energy and alarmingly high level of green house gas emission, which is inevitable corollary of energy production in the conventional way. Researchers and energy policy makers around the world are now focusing on renewable energy (RE) technologies to find solution to this crisis. In India various agencies at both national and state level has been set up and bestowed with responsibility of development of renewable energy technologies, viz. Ministry of New Renewable Energy (MNRE), National Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd. (NVVNL), Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA) and RE Development Agencies in respective states. In the present work, the preparedness of India in terms of forming institutional and policy frame work briefly discussed. Status of implementation of RE technologies state wise and of India as a whole, critically reviewed.

Keywords: energy policy, energy sustainability, renewable energy, IREDA

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Authors: Aritras Roy, Rinku Mukherjee

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The current study couples a quasi-steady Vortex Lattice Method and a camber correcting technique, ‘Decambering’ for unsteady post-stall flow prediction. The wake is force-free and discrete such that the wake lattices move with the free-stream once shed from the wing. It is observed that the time-averaged unsteady coefficient of lift sees a relative drop at post-stall angles of attack in comparison to its steady counterpart for some angles of attack. Multiple solutions occur at post-stall and three different algorithms to choose solutions in these regimes show both unsteadiness and non-convergence of the iterations. The distribution of coefficient of lift on the wing span also shows sawtooth. Distribution of vorticity changes both along span and in the direction of the free-stream as the wake develops over time with distinct roll-up, which increases with time.

Keywords: post-stall, unsteady, wing, aerodynamics

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Authors: Shweta Maheshwari, Anish Dua

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Hematological changes reflect the adverse effects of heavy metals on fish. Hematology is a valuable tool to evaluate pathological condition of the fish. It helps in diagnosing the structural and functional status of fish exposed to toxicants. Morphological alteration in erythrocytes due to environmental stress can be studied through ultra-structural analysis. The aim of the present study was to assess the toxicity of mercuric chloride on red blood cells of an air breathing fish, Channa punctatus. Fish were subjected to chronic experiments using three sublethal concentration of mercuric chloride (0.020mg/L, 0.027mg/L, 0.040mg/L) for a period of 15, 30 and 60 days. Exposed fish of all the three concentrations were subjected to a recovery period of 30 days. A control was maintained in tap water simultaneously. For SEM analysis, blood from caudal vein of fish was taken and examined at an accelerating voltage of 20kV. Scanning electron micrographs revealed elliptical shaped erythrocytes of control fish. Alterations in the erythrocyte morphology such as presence of spherocytes, membrane internalization, crenation of membrane and development of lobopodial projections were observed in the exposed fish. The study revealed that ultra-structural analysis appears to be a sensitive method to evaluate the toxicity of various toxicants to fish.

Keywords: Channa punctatus, erythrocytes, mercuric chloride, scanning electron microscopy

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Authors: Debajyoti Mukherjee, Arathy B. S., Arpita Sahu, Saranga P. Pogula

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A functional model to mimic the functional correctness of a neural network compute accelerator IP is very crucial for design validation. Neural network workloads are based on a Brain Floating Point (BF-16) data type. The major challenge we were facing was the incompatibility of GCC compilers to the BF-16 datatype, which we addressed with a native BF-16 generator integrated into our functional model. Moreover, working with big GEMM (General Matrix Multiplication) or SpMM (Sparse Matrix Multiplication) Work Loads (Dense or Sparse) and debugging the failures related to data integrity is highly painstaking. In this paper, we are addressing the quality challenge of such a complex neural network accelerator design by proposing a functional model-based scoreboard or software model using SystemC. The proposed functional model executes the assembly code based on the ISA of the processor IP, decodes all instructions, and executes as expected to be done by the DUT. The said model would give a lot of visibility and debug capability in the DUT, bringing up micro-steps of execution.

Keywords: ISA, neural network, Brain Float-16, DUT

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Authors: Shweta Jha, Digambar Darekar, Krishna Kadam

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Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is one of the most common of psychiatric disorders. It has a wide range of symptoms, aetiologies and risk factors, and these reasons make MDD affect not only the primary patient, but also their family, caregivers and associates; by negatively impacting their self dignity, economic condition and self-confidence. Thus, it is important to help individuals suffering from MDD learn adaptive mechanism and deal effectively with their environment, with that aim this study focused on a comparative therapeutic intervention using Behaviour Activation (BA), Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) and Waiting list control (WLC) for management of MDD. This study apart from enhancing personal skills will also help us understand which therapeutic method would be more beneficial in treating and prolonging relapse in patients with MDD in Indian population. Fifteen individuals following application of inclusion and exclusion criteria were selected as study samples. They were randomly assigned to three treatment groups. Ten sessions of therapy, forty-five minutes each according to the proposed sessions plan were conducted for each group. The individuals selected as samples were re–assessed after 2 months and 6 months post intervention. The overall result showed that individuals treated with BA and REBT showed more improvement in comparison to those in WLC.

Keywords: behaviour activation, major depressive disorder, rational emotive behaviour therapy, therapeutic intervention

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Authors: Sanjoy Mukherjee

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Discussions on concepts of Single Axis Tracker (SAT) are becoming more and more apt for developing countries like India not just as an advancement in racking technology but due to the utmost necessity of reaching at the lowest Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) targets. With this increasing competition and significant fall in feed-in tariffs of solar PV projects, developers are under constant pressure to secure investment for their projects and eventually earn profits from them. Moreover, being the second largest populated country, India suffers from scarcity of land because of higher average population density. So, to mitigate the risk of this dual edged sword with reducing trend of unit (kWh) cost at one side and utilization of land on the other, tracking evolved as the call of the hour. Therefore, the prime objectives of this paper are not only to showcase how STT proves to be an effective mechanism to get more gain in Global Incidence in collector plane (G_inc) with respect to traditional mounting systems but also to introduce Seasonally Tilted Tracker (STT) technology as a possible option for high latitude locations.

Keywords: tracking system, grid connected solar PV plant, CAPEX reduction, levelized cost of energy

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Authors: S. P. Singh, Shweta Gupta, Kshama Dwivedi, Shivangi Singh

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Aim: To compare the postoperative pupil cosmesis, mydriasis, and anterior chamber depth (ACD) in traumatic and congenital iris defects after Single-Pass Four-Throw pupilloplasty (SFTP). Method: SFTP was performed along with cataract surgery in 6 patients, each of congenital and traumatic iris defects and pupil size, mydriasis, and ACD was compared after three months. Results: SFTP was successful in repairing congenital and traumatic cases except in 1 traumatic case with a large iris defect. Horizontal pupil diameter decreased while ACD increased in both groups and was comparable between the two groups. The traumatic group showed a significant decrease in pupil diameter while there was an insignificant change in the horizontal pupil diameter in the congenital group. Mydriasis was adequate for fundus examination and was comparable between the two groups. The effect of SFTP on ACD was inconclusive due to the confounding effect of cataract surgery. The incidence of iris atrophy was equal in both groups. Conclusion: SFTP results in anatomical and functional restoration in cases of iris defects with no inadvertent effect on mydriasis.

Keywords: anterior chamber depth, mydriasis, pupil cosmesis, single-pass four-throw pupilloplasty

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Authors: Shital Jhunjhunwala, Shweta Saraf

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Research Question: The study, based on a survey, empirically tests the impact of the board’s engagement in the decision-making process on firm outcomes. It also examines the moderating effect of board leadership and board independence on the relationship. Research Findings: Boards’ engagement in the decision-making process is found to be vital for firm performance, wherein effective monitoring by the board outperforms their strategic guidance role in achieving desired outcomes. The separation of CEO and Chairman positively moderates the board’s engagement in protecting stakeholders’ interests, but lack of independence and passive behaviour of independent directors raises concern on the efficacy of independent directors. Theoretical Implications: The study provides the framework for process-oriented corporate governance research, where investigation of boards’ behaviour inside the boardroom develops a deeper understanding of board processes. Practitioner Implications: The study highlights the necessity of developing boards’ focus in a company on monitoring managerial actions. It suggests the need to separate the position of CEO and Chairman for addressing the interest of all stakeholders. It recommends policymakers review the existing mandate on board independence and create alternate monitoring mechanisms for addressing agency conflict.

Keywords: board, decision-making process, engagement, independence, leadership, innovation, stakeholders, firm performance, qualitative, India

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Authors: Ria Ghosh, Soumendra Singh, Dipanjan Mukherjee, Susmita Mondal, Monojit Das, Uttam Pal, Aniruddha Adhikari, Aman Bhushan, Surajit Bose, Siddharth Sankar Bhattacharyya, Debasish Pal, Tanusri Saha-Dasgupta, Maitree Bhattacharyya, Debasis Bhattacharyya, Asim Kumar Mallick, Ranjan Das, Samir Kumar Pal

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Drug delivery to a target without adverse effects is one of the major criteria for clinical use. Herein, we have made an attempt to explore the delivery efficacy of SDS surfactant in a monomer and micellar stage during the delivery of the model drug, Toluidine Blue (TB) from the micellar cavity to DNA. Molecular recognition of pre-micellar SDS encapsulated TB with DNA occurs at a rate constant of k1 ~652 s 1. However, no significant release of encapsulated TB at micellar concentration was observed within the experimental time frame. This originated from the higher binding affinity of TB towards the nano-cavity of SDS at micellar concentration which does not allow the delivery of TB from the nano-cavity of SDS micelles to DNA. Thus, molecular recognition controls the extent of DNA recognition by TB which in turn modulates the rate of delivery of TB from SDS in a concentration-dependent manner.

Keywords: DNA, drug delivery, micelle, pre-micelle, SDS, toluidine blue

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Authors: Vivek Garg, Brajendra S. Sengar, Gaurav Siddharth, Nisheka Anadkat, Amitesh Kumar, Shailendra Kumar, Shaibal Mukherjee

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CuInGaSe (CIGSe) is the dominant thin film solar cell technology. The band alignment of Buffer/CIGSe interface is one of the most crucial parameters for solar cell performance. In this article, the valence band offset (VBOff) and conduction band offset (CBOff) values of Cu(In0.70Ga0.30)Se/ 1 at.% Ga: Mg0.25Zn0.75O (GMZO) heterojunction, grown by dual ion beam sputtering system (DIBS), are calculated to understand the carrier transport mechanism at the heterojunction for the realization of all sputtered buffer-less solar cells. To determine the valence band offset (VBOff), ∆E_V at GMZO/CIGSe heterojunction interface, the standard method based on core-level photoemission is utilized. The value of ∆E_V can be evaluated by considering common core-level peaks. In our study, the values of (Valence band onset)VBOn, obtained by linear extrapolation method for GMZO and CIGSe films are calculated to be 2.86 and 0.76 eV. In the UPS spectra peak positions of Se 3d is observed in UPS spectra at 54.82 and 54.7 eV for CIGSe film and GMZO/CIGSe interface respectively, while the peak position of Mg 2p is observed at 50.09 and 50.12 eV for GMZO and GMZO/CIGSe interface respectively. The optical band gap of CIGSe and GMZO are obtained from absorption spectra procured from spectroscopic ellipsometry are 1.26 and 3.84 eV respectively. The calculated average values of ∆E_v and ∆E_C are estimated to be 2.37 and 0.21 eV, respectively, at room temperature. The calculated positive conduction band offset termed as a spike at the absorber junction is the required criterion for the high-efficiency solar cells for the efficient charge extraction from the junction. So we can conclude that the above study confirms GMZO thin films grown by the dual ion beam sputtering system are the suitable candidate for the CIGSe thin films based ultra-thin buffer-less solar cells. We investigated the band-offset properties at the GMZO/CIGSe heterojunction to verify the suitability of the GMZO for the realization of the buffer-less solar cells. The calculated average values of ∆E_V and ∆E_C are estimated to be 2.37 and 0.21 eV, respectively, at room temperature. The calculated positive conduction band offset termed as a spike at the absorber junction is the required criterion for the high-efficiency solar cells for the efficient charge extraction from the junction. So we can conclude that the above study confirms GMZO thin films grown by the dual ion beam sputtering system are the suitable candidate for the CIGSe thin films based ultra-thin buffer-less solar cells. Acknowledgment: We are thankful to DIBS, EDX, and XRD facility equipped at Sophisticated Instrument Centre (SIC) at IIT Indore. The authors B.S.S and A.K acknowledge CSIR and V.G acknowledge UGC, India for their fellowships. B.S.S is thankful to DST and IUSSTF for BASE Internship Award. Prof. Shaibal Mukherjee is thankful to DST and IUSSTF for BASE Fellowship and MEITY YFRF award. This work is partially supported by DAE BRNS, DST CERI, and DST-RFBR Project under India-Russia Programme of Cooperation in Science and Technology. We are thankful to Mukul Gupta for SIMS facility equipped at UGC-DAE Indore.

Keywords: CIGSe, DIBS, GMZO, solar cells, UPS

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Authors: Payal Mazumdar, Sunita Rattan, Monalisa Mukherjee

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Polymer nanocomposites are a special class of materials having unique properties and wide application in diverse areas such as EMI shielding, sensors, photovoltaic cells, membrane separation properties, drug delivery etc. Recently the nanocomposites are being investigated for their use in biomedical fields as biosensors. Though nanocomposites with carbon nanoparticles have received worldwide attention in the past few years, comparatively less work has been done on nanographite although it has in-plane electrical, thermal and mechanical properties comparable to that of carbon nanotubes. The main challenge in the fabrication of these nanocomposites lies in the establishment of homogeneous dispersion of nanographite in polymer matrix. In the present work, attempts have been made to synthesize the nanocomposites of polystyrene and nanographite using click chemistry. The polymer and the nanographite are functionalized prior to the formation of nanocomposites. The polymer, polystyrene, was functionalized with alkyne moeity and nanographite with azide moiety. The fabricating of the nanocomposites was accomplished through click chemistry using Cu (I)-catalyzed Huisgen dipolar cycloaddition. The functionalization of filler and polymer was confirmed by NMR and FTIR. The nanocomposites formed by the click chemistry exhibit better electrical properties and the sensors are evaluated for their application as biosensors.

Keywords: nanocomposites, click chemistry, nanographite, biosensor

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Authors: Chandra Mukherjee

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The present paper is a representation of the work done in the field of ECG signal analysis using MATLAB 7.1 Platform. An accurate and simple ECG feature extraction algorithm is presented in this paper and developed algorithm is validated using BIOPAC software. To detect the QRS peak, ECG signal is processed by following mentioned stages- First Derivative, Second Derivative and then squaring of that second derivative. Efficiency of developed algorithm is tested on ECG samples from different database and real time ECG signals acquired using BIOPAC system. Firstly we have lead wise specified threshold value the samples above that value is marked and in the original signal, where these marked samples face change of slope are spotted as R-peak. On the left and right side of the R-peak, faces change of slope identified as Q and S peak, respectively. Now the inbuilt Detection algorithm of BIOPAC software is performed on same output sample and both outputs are compared. ECG baseline modulation correction is done after detecting characteristics points. The efficiency of the algorithm is tested using some validation parameters like Sensitivity, Positive Predictivity and we got satisfied value of these parameters.

Keywords: first derivative, variable threshold, slope reversal, baseline modulation correction

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Authors: Debajyoti Mukherjee, Arathy B. S., Arpita Sahu, Saranga P. Pogula

Abstract:

A Functional Model to mimic the functional correctness of a Neural Network Compute Accelerator IP is very crucial for design validation. Neural network workloads are based on a Brain Floating Point (BF-16) data type. The major challenge we were facing was the incompatibility of gcc compilers to BF-16 datatype, which we addressed with a native BF-16 generator integrated to our functional model. Moreover, working with big GEMM (General Matrix Multiplication) or SpMM (Sparse Matrix Multiplication) Work Loads (Dense or Sparse) and debugging the failures related to data integrity is highly painstaking. In this paper, we are addressing the quality challenge of such a complex Neural Network Accelerator design by proposing a Functional Model-based scoreboard or Software model using SystemC. The proposed Functional Model executes the assembly code based on the ISA of the processor IP, decodes all instructions, and executes as expected to be done by the DUT. The said model would give a lot of visibility and debug capability in the DUT bringing up micro-steps of execution.

Keywords: ISA (instruction set architecture), NN (neural network), TLM (transaction-level modeling), GEMM (general matrix multiplication)

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Authors: I. Mukherjee, J. Ghose, T. Chakraborty, S. Chaudhury, R. Majumder

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India is the second most populated nation in the world. With the Indian population hitting the 1.26 billion mark in the year 2014, there has been an unprecedented rise in power and energy requirements throughout the nation. This mammoth demand for energy, both at the industrial as well as at the domestic household level, as well as the increase in the usage of automobiles has led to a corresponding increase in the total tonnage of fuels being burnt every year. This, in turn, has led to an increase in the concentration of atmospheric pollutants over the years with enhanced particulate concentrations being reported for different parts of the country. Considering the adverseness of the particulates, the paper analyses the role of the particulates on the air quality of four major congested cities of the country namely, Kolkata (22034’ N, 88024’ E), Delhi (28038’N , 77012’ E), Bangalore (12058’ N , 77038’E) and Mumbai (18.9750° N, 72.8258° E) over a period of four years from 2006-2009. The fractional contribution of the finer fractions to the coarser one has been considered in the study in addition to the relative occurrences of the particulate fractions with respect to the other gaseous pollutants such as sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOX).

Keywords: air quality, particulates, yearly variation, relative occurrence, SO2, NOX

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Authors: Chakshu Baweja, Ishaan Prakash, Deepak Giri, Prithwish Mukherjee, Herambraj Ashok Nalawade

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The need to prevent and control rampant and indiscriminate usage of energy in present-day realm on earth has motivated active research efforts aimed at understanding of controlling mechanisms leading to sustained energy. Although much has been done but complexity of the problem has prevented a complete understanding due to nonlinear interaction between flow, heat and mass transfer in terrestrial environment. Therefore, there is need for a systematic study to clearly understand mechanisms controlling energy-spreading phenomena to increase a system’s efficiency. The present work addresses the issue of sustaining energy and proposes a devoted technique of optimizing energy in the automotive domain. The proposed method focus on utilization of the mechanical and thermal energy of an automobile IC engine by converting and storing energy due to motion of a piston in form of electrical energy. The suggested technique utilizes piston motion of the engine to generate high potential difference capable of working as a secondary power source. This is achieved by the use of a gear mechanism and a flywheel.

Keywords: internal combustion engine, energy, electromagnetic induction, efficiency, gear ratio, hybrid vehicle, engine shaft

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Authors: Niranjan Mukherjee, Burga Braun, Ulrich Szewzyk

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Recalcitrant pharmaceuticals are increasingly found in urban water systems forced by demographic changes. The groundwater-surface water interface, or the hyporheic zone, is known for its impressive self-purification capacity of water bodies. Redox gradients present in this zone provide a wide range of electron acceptors and harbour diverse microbial communities. Biotic transformations of pharmaceuticals in this zone have been demonstrated, but not much information is available on the kind of communities bringing about these transformations. Therefore, bioreactors using sediment from the hyporheic zone of a river in Berlin were set up and fed with iopromide, a recalcitrant iodinated X-ray contrast medium. Iopromide, who’s many oxic and anoxic transformation products have been characterized, was shown to be transformed in such a bioreactor as it passes along the gradient. Many deiodinated transformation products of iopromide could be identified at the outlet of the reactor. In our experiments, it was seen that at the same depths of the column, the transformation of iopromide increased over time. This could be an indication of the microbial communities in the sediment adapting to iopromide. The hyporheic zone, with its varying redox conditions, mainly due to the upwelling and downwelling of surface and groundwater levels, could potentially provide microorganisms with conditions for the complete transformation of recalcitrant pharmaceuticals.

Keywords: iopromide, hyporheic zone, recalcitrant pharmaceutical, redox gradients

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Authors: Atinderpal Kaur, Shweta Dang

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Our aim is to develop a nanoemulsion-based delivery system containing polyphenon 60 (P60) and ciprofloxacin (Cipro) for intravaginal delivery to treat urinary tract infection. In the present study Polyphenon 60 (P60) and ciprofloxacin (Cipro) were loaded in a single nano emulsion (NE) system via ultra-sonication technique and characterized for particle size, in vitro release and antibacterial efficacy against Bcl-2 level Escherichia coli bacteria. To determine in vivo pharmacokinetic parameters and intravaginal transportation of NE, gamma scintigraphy and biodistribution study was conducted by radiolabelling NE with technetium pertechnetate (99mTc). The preliminary antibacterial investigation showed synergy between these compounds with FICindex of 0.42. The developed formulation showed zeta potential +55.3 and particle size of 151.7 nm, with PDI of 0.196. The in vitro release percentage of P60 at the end of 7th hours was 94.8 ± 0.9 % whereas the release for Cipro was 75.1± 0.15 % in simulated vaginal media. MBC was identified and the findings demonstrated that in both ESBL (Extended Spectrum β- lactamase) and MBL (Metallo β- lactamase) cultures the P60+Cipro NE showed inhibition of growth of all the isolates at 2 mg/ml dilutions. The percentage per gram of radiolabelled drug was found (3.50±0.26) and (3.81±0.30) in kidney and urinary bladder, respectively at 3 h. From the findings, it was concluded that the developed P60+Cipro NE was transported efficiently throughout the target organs, had long duration of action and high biocompatibility via intravaginal administration as compared to oral administration.

Keywords: ciprofloxacin, gamma scintigraphy, intravaginal drug delivery, Polyphenon 60

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Authors: Jitender Sodhi, Shweta Talati, A. K. Gupta, Pankaj Arora

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Background:Equipment donation to hospitals in resource-limited settings can significantly benefit services in these settings albeit requires important ethical, practical and financial issues to be considered before accepting donations. Objective: To understand the decision making process leading to acceptance/ rejection/ deferment of equipment donation from the perspective of a public sector teaching tertiary care hospital. Design: Retrospective, record based study. Setting: 2000-bedded public sector teaching tertiary care hospital in North India. Methods: A total of 30 cases of equipment donation from March 2010-October 2013, were analysed for their decision process leading to acceptance/rejection/deferment.Each case was studied retrospectively and data pertaining to the agenda and decision taken was collected. Results: A total of 30 cases of equipment donation received from March 2010- October 2013 were screened, out of which 17 (56.6%) were for diagnostic purpose and 13 (43.3%) for therapeutic purpose. Out of 30 cases, 16 (53.3%) were accepted and 8 (26.6%) were rejected. The remaining 6 cases included 3 (10%) which required further clarification and other 3 (10%) which were out of the domain of committee. Conclusion: This study highlights the importance of equipment donation in resource limited settings and considerations involved while making decisions for acceptance/rejections/defermentof such donations.

Keywords: equipment donation, teaching hospital, decision-making, North India

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Authors: Rajiv Kumar, Amit Sachan, Arindam Mukherjee

Abstract:

Despite the transparency and benefits of e-government, and its potential to serve citizens better, there is low diffusion and adoption of e-government services in India. Limited access to computer and internet, lack of computer and internet skills, low trust in technology, and risk associated in using e-government services are major hindrances in e-government adoption in India. Despite a large number of citizens belonging to the non-adopter category, the government has made some services mandatory to be accessed online where citizens have no other choice. Also despite the digital divide, a large number of citizens prefer online access to government services. In such cases intermediaries like common service centers, internet café and services agents’ roles are significant for accessing e-government services. Hence research is needed to explore this. The study aims to investigate the role of intermediaries in online access to public services by citizens. Qualitative research methodology using semi-structured interview was used. The results show that intermediaries play an important role in bridging the digital divide. The study also highlights on what circumstances citizens are taking help of these intermediaries. The study then highlights its limitations and discusses scope for future study.

Keywords: adoption, digital divide, e-government, India, intermediaries

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Authors: Nazar Hussain, Debaraj Mukherjee

Abstract:

Carbohydrate-derived chiral intermediates which contain arrays of defined stereocenters have found enormous applications in organic synthesis due to their inherent functional group, stereochemical and structural diversities as well as their ready availability. Stereodiversity of these classes of molecules has motivated synthetic organic chemistry over the years. One major challenge is control of relative configuration during construction of acyclic fragments. Here, we show that The Diels Alder addition of arynes to appropriately substituted vinyl/aryl glycals followed by π-extension via pyran ring opening smoothly furnished meta-disubstituted fused aromatic cores containing a stereo-defined orthogonally protected chiral side chain. The method is broad in terms of aryl homologation affording benzene, naphthalene, and phenanthrene derivatives. Base-induced deprotonation followed by cleavage of the allylic C-O bond appears to be the crucial steps leading to the development of aromaticity, which is the driving force behind the annulative π-extension process. The present protocol can be used for the synthesis of meta-disubstituted naphthalene aldehydes and substrates for aldolases.

Keywords: vinyl/C-2 aryl glycal, arynes, cyclization, ring opening

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Authors: Jyothi Nagraj, Sudeshna Mukherjee, Rajdeep Chowdhury

Abstract:

Autophagy has recently been linked with cancer cell survival post drug insult contributing to acquisition of resistance. However, the molecular signaling governing autophagic survival response is poorly explored. In our study, in osteosarcoma (OS) cells cisplatin shock was found to activate both MAPK and autophagy signaling. An activation of JNK and autophagy acted as pro-survival strategy, while ERK1/2 triggered apoptotic signals upon cisplatin stress. An increased sensitivity of the cells to cisplatin was obtained with simultaneous inhibition of both autophagy and JNK pathway. Furthermore, we observed that the autophagic stimulation upon drug stress regulates other developmentally active signaling pathways like the Hippo pathway in OS cells. Cisplatin resistant cells were thereafter developed by repetitive drug exposure followed by clonal selection. Basal levels of autophagy were found to be high in resistant cells to. However, the signaling mechanism leading to autophagic up-regulation and its regulatory effect differed in OS cells upon attaining drug resistance. Our results provide valuable clues to regulatory dynamics of autophagy that can be considered for development of improved therapeutic strategy against resistant type cancers.

Keywords: JNK, autophagy, drug resistance, cancer

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Authors: R. Harihara Prakash, Shweta R. Parikh, Sangna S. Sheth

Abstract:

The purpose of this study was to explore the usefulness of the Mini-BESTest compared to the Berg Balance Scale in evaluating balance in people with Parkinson's Disease (PD) of varying severity. Evaluation were done to obtain (1) the distribution of patients scores to look for ceiling effects, (2) concurrent validity with severity of disease, and (3) the sensitivity & specificity of separating people with or without postural response deficits. Methods and Material: Seventy-seven(77) people with Parkinson's Disease were tested for balance deficits using the Berg Balance Scale, Mini-BESTest. Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) III and the Hoehn & Yahr (H&Y) disease severity scales were used for classification. Materials used in this study were case record sheet, chair without arm rests or wheels, Incline ramp, stopwatch, a box, 3 meter distance measured out and marked on the floor with tape [from chair]. Statistical analysis used: Multiple Linear regression was carried out of UPDRS jointly on the two scores for the Berg and Mini-BESTest. Receiver operating characteristic curves for classifying people into two groups based on a threshold for the H&Y score, to discriminate between mild PD versus more severe PD.Correlation co-efficient to find relativeness between the two variables. Results: The Mini-BESTest is highly correlated with the Berg (r = 0.732,P < 0.001), but avoids the ceiling compression effect of the Berg for mild PD (skewness −0.714 Berg, −0.512 Mini-BESTest). Consequently, the Mini-BESTest is more effective than the Berg for predicting UPDRS Motor score (P < 0.001 Mini-BESTest versus P = 0.72 Berg), and for discriminating between those with and without postural response deficits as measured by the H&Y (ROC).

Keywords: balance, berg balance scale, MINI BESTest, parkinson's disease

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Authors: Vidhu Mitha Goutham, Ruma Mukherjee

Abstract:

The low availability of well-trained, unlimited, dynamic-access models for specific languages makes it hard for corporate users to adopt quick translation techniques and incorporate them into product solutions. As translation tasks increasingly require a dynamic sequence learning curve; stable, cost-free opensource models are scarce. We survey and compare current translation techniques and propose a modified sequence to sequence model repurposed with attention techniques. Sequence learning using an encoder-decoder model is now paving the path for higher precision levels in translation. Using a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) encoder and a Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) decoder background, we use Fairseq tools to produce an end-to-end bilingually trained Spanish-English machine translation model including source language detection. We acquire competitive results using a duo-lingo-corpus trained model to provide for prospective, ready-made plug-in use for compound sentences and document translations. Our model serves a decent system for large, organizational data translation needs. While acknowledging its shortcomings and future scope, it also identifies itself as a well-optimized deep neural network model and solution.

Keywords: attention, encoder-decoder, Fairseq, Seq2Seq, Spanish, translation

Procedia PDF Downloads 148