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Based on the resource-based view that identifies both CSR and innovation as resourceful and competitive advantage-generating activities, the current paper examines the effect of innovation spending...

Face recognition technology has recently become controversial over concerns about possible bias due to accuracy varying based on race or skin tone. We explore three important aspects of face recognition technology related to this controversy. Using two different deep convolutional neural network face matchers, we show that for a fixed decision threshold, the African-American image cohort has a higher false match rate (FMR), and the Caucasian cohort has a higher false nonmatch rate. We present an analysis of the impostor distribution designed to test the premise that darker skin tone causes a higher FMR, and find no clear evidence to support this premise. Finally, we explore how using face recognition for one-to-many identification can have a very low false-negative identification rate and still present concerns related to the false-positive identification rate. Both the ArcFace and VGGFace2 matchers and the MORPH dataset used in our experiments are available to the research community so that others should be able to reproduce or reanalyze our results.

Introduction. Systemic inflammation triggered by bacterial products like lipopolysaccharides (LPS) in the circulation is an important factor leading to decompensation in patients with chronic liver disease (CLD). High-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) has a significant role in innate immune response to LPS in the circulation and could therefore increase the risk for decompensation in patients with CLD. In this study, we have explored the role of HDL-C as a prognostic marker for decompensation. Methods. This was a prospective, observational, cohort study where consecutive patients with CLD were included. Patients with cholestatic liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma were excluded. Fasting lipids were measured in all patients at the time of recruitment. Each patient was carefully followed up for development of decompensation events such as new-onset/worsening ascites, hepatic encephalopathy, or variceal bleed during follow-up. Results. A total of 170 patients were included (mean age 60 ± 11.5 years, M : F = 6 : 1 ). At the end of follow-up, 97/170 patients (57%) had decompensation events. Mean HDL-C levels were significantly lower among patients with decompensation ( 27.5 ± 15 mg/dL vs. 43.5 ± 13.9 mg/dL; p value 0.004). Using ROC analysis, cut-off for HDL-C of 36.4 mg/dL was identified. On multivariate analysis, HDL-C ( OR = 6.072 ; 95% CI 2.39-15.39) was found to have an independent association with risk of decompensation. Conclusions. HDL-C level (

A mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) wall is an engineered system consisting of alternating layers of soil reinforcement and compacted backfill material fixed to the wall facing and supported on a foundation. The present study is focused on parametric analysis of MSE walls using an analytical method, GEO5 MSE to determine the factor of safety of the wall. The factor of safety of a 10 m high MSE wall was computed with respect to varying environments of backfill soil, the length of reinforcement to height of the wall (L/H), reinforcement characteristic strength and spacing of reinforcement. This study mainly focuses on finding out how variations in the factors affect the behaviour of the wall and its factor of safety. It was observed that improvement in the angle of friction leads to an increase the factor of safety. It was also noted that, increase in L/H ratio from 0.4 to 1.0 showed an increase in factor of safety by 15.92% and increase in reinforcement spacing from 0.2 m to 1 m showed a decrease in factor of safety by 74.52%. Factor of safety was also found to increase with an increase in characteristic strength of embedded reinforcement. From the parametric analysis, MSE walls were developed to replace the failed retaining walls at various locations in India.

Microcoils provide significant applications in biomedical microdevices. Lab-on-chip systems make use of electromagnetic microactuators for controlling fluid flow within microscopic devices. Microcoils are inevitable components in electromagnetic microactuators. The effect of the geometrical parameters of a coplanar microcoil on the electromagnetic force of a microactuator is analysed and presented in this work. An optimized coil geometry is also presented to produce required electromagnetic force for the microactuating applications.

The emerging field of micro dimensioned biomedical sensors involves tremendous research to detect biomolecules and pathogens with an improved sensitivity and a low limit of detection. The use of magnetic labels in biosensors has increased so much over the past years due to unique advantages of magnetic sensing techniques. Planar microcoil based magnetic biosensors help to reduce the system size and improve the sensitivity. This paper proposes non-spiral planar microcoil based magnetic sensors which are advantageous over conventional spiral coil based sensors regarding fabrication easiness and heating losses. The method of microfabrication of the coil sensor described in this paper makes use of a single mask process which is the simplest among all existing processes. Non-spiral planar microcoil sensors based on induction-balance and differential sensing principles are studied in this work. Also, an analytical model is developed to design the dimensions of the sensing coil. Comprehensive finite element analysis of the sensors is performed, and the results are compared with the experimental outcomes. A comparative study of the proposed sensors with the existing planar coil magnetic sensors is also presented to show the advantages of the proposed coil sensors over the existing ones.

Lab-on-chip (LoC) systems such as point of care (PoC) testing biomedical devices have wide applications, and their significance is increasing tremendously. PoC devices use immunodiagnostic assays to detect the presence of specific pathogens or biomolecules. Micropumps and micromotors are inevitable parts of such LoC devices to control the flow of biofluids. Magnetic sensors are gaining attention for the performance that they can provide in magnetic immunodiagnostic assays for PoC devices (Zheng et al. 2016).

This paper presents a finite element analysis of a non-spiral planar microcoil based biomedical wireless power link. Non-spiral planar microcoils provide distinct advantages over the conventional microcoils concerning fabrication easiness and heating losses. Microfabrication of non-spiral planar microcoils requires only a single metal level lithography. Optimum geometry of coils for realizing wireless link is selected as a circular one. The coupling factor of wireless links making use of such coplanar coils is found to reach up to 90% with an additional Neodymium magnetic shield layer by optimizing its position.

The gene for receptor tyrosine kinase ErbB2 is amplified in breast and ovarian tumours. The linear pathway by which signals are transduced through ErbB2 are well known. However, second generation questions that address spatial aspects of signaling remain. To address this, we have undertaken a mass spectrometry approach to identify phosphoproteins specific for ErbB2 using the inhibitors Lapatinib and CP724714 in ovarian cancer cells. The ErbB2 specific proteins identified in SKOV-3 cells were Myristoylated alanine-rich C-kinase substrate, Protein capicua homolog, Protein peptidyl isomerase G, Protein PRRC2C, Chromobox homolog1 and PRP4 homolog. We have evaluated three phosphoproteins PKM2, Aldose reductase and MARCKS in SKOV-3 cells. We observed that PKM2 was phosphorylated by EGF but was not inhibited by Lapatinib and CP724714. The activity of aldose reductase in reducing NADPH as a substrate was significantly higher in EGF stimulated cells which was inhibited by Lapatinib and CP724714 but not by Geftinib (EGFR inhibitor). MARCKS was phosphorylated on stimulation of SKOV-3 cells with EGF that was inhibited by Lapatinib and CP724714 which was dependent on the kinase activity of ErbB2. These results have identified phosphoproteins that are specific to ErbB2 which have not been previously reported and sets the basis for future experiments.

Planar microcoils are essential components in magnetic biosensors for the detection of magnetic micro or nanoparticles. The particles are surface-functionalized to recognize specific molecular targets. Various nonspiral planar coil geometries are analyzed in this work to select the most suitable geometry for biosensing applications. Nonspiral planar coils have the advantage of the easier fabrication process and lower coil parasitics than that of its spiral counterparts. The microcoils are fabricated using a single mask level lithography and characterized to extract the electrical parameters of the microcoil. The results suggest that the circular geometry possesses the lowest series coil resistance and a uniform magnetic field distribution along the coil turns suitable for biosensing applications among the various nonspiral planar microcoils under consideration.

We present a comprehensive analysis of how and why face recognition accuracy differs between men and women. We show that accuracy is lower for women due to the combination of (1) the impostor distribution for women having a skew toward higher similarity scores, and (2) the genuine distribution for women having a skew toward lower similarity scores. We show that this phenomenon of the impostor and genuine distributions for women shifting closer towards each other is general across datasets of African-American, Caucasian, and Asian faces. We show that the distribution of facial expressions may differ between male/female, but that the accuracy difference persists for image subsets rated confidently as neutral expression. The accuracy difference also persists for image subsets rated as close to zero pitch angle. Even when removing images with forehead partially occluded by hair/hat, the same impostor/genuine accuracy difference persists. We show that the female genuine distribution improves when only female images without facial cosmetics are used, but that the female impostor distribution also degrades at the same time. Lastly, we show that the accuracy difference persists even if a state-of-the-art deep learning method is trained from scratch using training data explicitly balanced between male and female images and subjects., Paper will appear at The 2nd Workshop on Demographic Variation in the Performance of Biometric Systems at WACV 2020

Rohinton Mistry is a Parsi Indian born Cannadian writer. He writes about the Parsi community in his works. To survive he endorsed exhausting bank job, yet to slip off from the customary life he studied English and philosophy in part time. Mistry became writer almost by accident. His renowned works are Tales From Firozsha Baag, Such a long journey, A Fine Balance and Family Matters. In hisworkshecentersthe historical backdrop of his country and Parsi communityand culture and national identity. This article aims to analyse the identity of Parsi community in select novels of Mistry., {"references":["1.\tBala, Suman. The writer Par Excellence, New Delhi: Khosla Book House, 2013. Print. 2.\tBijalwan,Richa. \"Diasporic Consciousness and Parsi identity in Rohinton Mistry's Such a Long Journey.\"Journal of English Languarge Teaching and Literary Studies: Vol. 5, 2016. 3.\tDodiya, Jayadipsingh Ed. \"The Parsi community in such a Long Journey\".The Fiction of Rohinton Mistry: Critical Studies. New Delhi: Prestige Books, 1998. 4.\tDodiya, Jayadipsingh Ed. \"The Parsi community in such a Long Journey\".The Fiction of Rohinton Mistry: Critical Studies. Op. Cit. 5.\tDodiya, Jayadipsingh. Perspectives on the novels of Rohinton Mistry. New Delhi: Sarup and sons, 2006. 6.\tDuresh, J.G. \"Reclaiming Racial Identity: an analysis of Parsi Community in Rohinton Mistry's Family Matters.\"The Literary Criterion 42.2(2007) 7.\tDuresh, J.G. \"Reclaiming Racial Identity: an analysis of Parsi Community in Rohinton Mistry's Family Matters.\" The Atlantic Literary Review Quarterly 7.3 (july- Sep 2006) 8.\tGoldberg, David Theo. Multiculturalism: A Critical Reader. USA: Blackwell Publications, 1996. 9.\tKapadia Novy. \"The Parsis: An Introduction\". Parsi Fiction. Vol. I. Op. Cit. 10.\tMistry, Rohinton. A Fine Balance. London: Faber and Faber, 1995. Print. 11.\tMistry, Rohinton. Family Matters. London: Faber and Faber, 2002. Print. 12.\tMistry, Rohinton. Such A Long Journey. London: Faber and Faber, 1992. Print. 13.\tSidhwa, Bapsi. An American Brat. New Delhi: Penguin Books, 1994. Print. 14.\tSingh, Avadhesh Kumar. \"The sense of Community in the Parsi Novels.\" The Literary Criterion 31.3 (1996) 15.\tSrinivas, Sunitha.C. Funtionalism and Indian English Fiction. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers, 2010, 147. Print. 16.\tVinodhini, The Portrayal of Parsi Culture abd Religion in Rohinton Mistry's Such a Long Journey, IRWLE VOL. 8 NO. II July 2012 17.\tVV.L.V.N.Narendra Kumar, Parsee Novel, Prestige Books, New Delhi, 2002."]}

The paper presents a modified dynamic comparator suitable for successive approximation register (SAR) analog-to-digital converter. Improvisations incorporated in the circuit ensure the ultra low power operation of the comparator, maintaining all beneficial attributes of its predecessors. Additional advantages of this circuit are the reduction in the response time of the comparator and die area. The performance of the modified comparator is ensured by the design and simulation using 0.18µm technology in Cadence Virtuoso suit. The results shows power consumption of 142pW at clock frequency of 0.1MHz and 1.5V supply.

Magnetic microbeads have acquired broad scope in immunoassay applications to detect pathogens causing dreadful diseases. In this work, we propose magnetic sensors using non-spiral planar microcoils to sense the presence of the microbeads with better sensitivity and fabrication simplicity. Experiments are performed by measuring the current induced in the sensing coil in the presence of iron oxide microbeads. Meanwhile, simulation studies of the sensors are conducted to verify the experimental results. A comparison of the proposed and the reported works on planar coil sensors are also presented. Improved limit of detection with reduced power consumption is observed to be the significant advantage of the induction-balance and differential sensors compared to the reported works.

Electromagnetic microactuators offer several advantages for robotic applications such as relatively large stroke and low input voltage requirements. Micro coils are significant components for electromagnetic microactuators for generating force required for micro robots. Non-spiral planar microcoils of square and circular geometries are analyzed here considering the fabrication easiness and low power consumption of non-spiral planar coils. Microfabrication of non-spiral planar coil is simpler and requires a single mask process only. Comparison between non-spiral coils and conventional spiral coils are also discussed. Series resistance of non-spiral coil is found out to be lesser than that of spiral coils though magnetic field is slightly lesser for non-spiral coils. The fabrication advantages and low power dissipation of non-spiral structures make them a strong alternative for conventional spiral planar microcoils. Comparison of different planar microcoils shows that the circular non-spiral coil gives better performance than other coil geometries considered here for robotic applications. Circular coil is found to provide a uniform field with lesser parasitic resistance. Electromagnetic microactuator using non-spiral planar circular and square microcoils are also analyzed to compare the performance between the two coil types. The results show that the force generated using non-spiral circular microcoil in the microactuator is adequate for microrobotic applications with an added advantage of uniform magnetic field provided by the circular coils.

Microcoils are essential components in magnetic sensors made using Micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) technology. Nonspiral microcoils have fabrication advantages over conventional spiral coils and can be effectively used in MEMS micro sensors for generation and detection of magnetic fields. In this work, an analytical model of peak flux density, sensitivity, and resolution for the nonspiral planar microcoil is reported for the first time. Self and mutual inductances of a non-spiral coil are used to calculate the flux density at the innermost turn of the coil. The model derived is compared with standard fabrication results, and it is found to be in good agreement with the experimental results.

Planar microcoils are significant components of inductive devices used for biomedical wireless power transfer applications. Biomedical devices implanted inside the human body needs to be powered up at regular intervals which can be done electromagnetically through a planar microcoils’ setup. Different types of planar microcoils such as spiral and non-spiral planar microcoils are compared in this work in terms of their electrical parameters. An analytical model is also developed which is validated using experimental results. The fabrication advantages and low power dissipation of non-spiral coil structures make them a strong alternative for conventional spiral planar coils. Though the magnitude of magnetic flux density is slightly lesser for non-spiral coils, series resistance required for wireless power link is found to be better for the same. The fabrication of non-spiral planar microcoils of various geometries is shown using a single mask level. Coupling factors of various wireless power links are also simulated using different non-spiral planar microcoil geometries to select the optimum geometry for the wireless power link application.

Microcoils are significant components for micro magnetic sensors and actuators especially in biomedical devices such as micropumps. Non-spiral planar microcoil is an emerging type of planar microcoil which can reduce the overall device dimensions with an easier fabrication process. Coil inductance of the order of 1 mH and series resistance as low as 0.25 Ω are obtained. Non-spiral planar microcoils of the common square and circular geometries are studied here by analyzing their electrical parameters. Comparison between the experimental and theoretical model is also done. Inductance, series resistance and parasitic capacitance of circular and square non-spiral coil geometries are compared along with their magnetic field distributions. Results show that the circular non-spiral coil gives better performance over the square counterpart.

A regulated power supply with ultra-low-power consumption, high current efficiency, line, load and thermal stability is an essential part of any high precision electronic system with stringent power budget such as biomedical sensors or military surveillance systems. In this paper, we propose an ultra-low-power, MOSFET only, voltage reference to regulator convertor, proficient to work below 1 V with reduced power consumption. The proposed idea incorporates the provision to integrate any voltage reference module to a comparator-based circuit so as to transform it to a voltage regulator having similar temperature coefficient (TC) and line regulation as that of the interfaced voltage reference. It is also able to produce a reliable output accounting to load fluctuations. The circuit is simulated in 0.18[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]m CMOS technology using Cadence Virtuoso simulation suit. The complete circuit was found to draw a quiescent current of 319.9 pA with a notable current efficiency of 99.99997% at 27∘C on driving a load of 1[Formula: see text]mA along with a Power Supply Rejection Ratio (PSRR) of [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]dB additional to that of the reference. The proposed circuit will occupy an area of 0.00064[Formula: see text]mm2 and offer a TC as low as 1.7077 ppm/∘C. The whole MOS approach facilitates a reduction in die area and process simplicity.

The emerging field of micro-level biosensors paves the way for specific and accurate sensing of target molecules. In this work, a novel biosensor using non-spiral planar microcoils is presented for detecting magnetic microparticles. The magnetic particles belong to a label or marker assisted method of pathogen detection in clinical diagnostics. Non-spiral planar microcoils are arranged in an induction-balance set up to sense the microparticles. The coil sensor is fabricated using a single mask level lithography with one level of metal interconnections. The output voltage at the receiving coil is measured in the presence and absence of the microparticles. The proposed coil sensor geometry showcases better performance compared to existing planar coil biosensor configurations.

Fruit juices sold for commercial purpose have a very large market. Classification of the same type of fruit juice belonging to different brands is however not well advanced. This aspect if studied could benefit the two major roles in the industry, which are the producers and the consumers. Commercial fruit juices unlike the real fruit juices have additives in different proportions. The concentrations and quantities of these additives need to be aggregated to evaluate the quality of the juice. Another major influencing factor in the producer-consumer relationship is the monetary benefit. Our study involves analysis of the nutrition facts claimed by the brand. These involve calories, sugars, carbohydrates, vitamin A, vitamin C and price per 1000ml. We aim to combine both these factors to suggest overall benefit of consuming the juice with respect to the brand.

Extracting thematic information from scientific papers has wide applications in information retrieval systems. Keywords give compact representation of a document. This paper proposes a document-centered approach for automatic keyword extraction and domain classification of research articles. Here, we induce a hybrid approach by adopting different methods in various phases of the system. Domain classification is important for researchers to identify the articles within their interest. The proposed system uses Rapid Automatic Keyword Extraction (RAKE) algorithm for automatic keyphrase extraction which gives best score of keywords. The classification process concerns semantic analysis which includes keyword score-matrix and cosine similarity. A comparative study of performance of RAKE algorithm which uses score-matrix against KEA based on term frequencies to extract relevant keyword was also performed.

Induction motor drive is used in almost all industries including oil and gas sectors, production plants and process industries. Speed control of induction motor is a major concern. The proposed technology implements a better speed control for induction motor drives using a multilevel inverter. The switching sequences are generated by optimized pre-calculated angles for controlling induction motor. And also with the use of a multi-level inverter there is lower distortion of output voltages and Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) of machine currents under steady state operating conditions can be minimized. THD can be further reduced by optimizing the switching angles. This technology can be extended to higher levels of output voltages by using an n state multilevel inverter. In this paper, a seven level multilevel inverter is proposed, its simulation is done in MATLAB/Simulink and the results were verified by experimenting on a hardware prototype. This could be extended to higher levels of voltage waveform and can be used in photovoltaics. A multilevel inverter could be a better choice as a dc-dc converter in solar power circuits.

The objective of this research work is to isolate and identify calcite precipitating bacteria and to check the suitability of these bacteria for use in concrete to improve its strength. Bacteria to be incorporated in concrete should be alkali resistant to endure the high pH of concrete and endospore forming to withstand the mechanical stresses induced in concrete during mixing. They must exhibit high urease activity to precipitate calcium carbonate in the form of calcite. Bacterial strains were isolated from alkaline soil samples of a cement factory and were tested for urease activity, potential to form endospores and precipitation of calcium carbonate. Based on these results, three isolates were selected and identified by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. They were identified as Bacillus megaterium BSKAU, Bacillus licheniformis BSKNAU and Bacillus flexus BSKNAU. The results were compared with B. megaterium MTCC 1684 obtained from Microbial Type Culture Collection and Gene Bank, Chandigarh, India. Experimental work was carried out to assess the influence of bacteria on the compressive strength and tests revealed that bacterial concrete specimens showed enhancement in compressive strength. The efficiency of bacteria toward crack healing was also tested. Substantial increase in strength and complete healing of cracks was observed in concrete specimens cast with B. megaterium BSKAU, B. licheniformis BSKNAU and B. megaterium MTCC 1684. This indicates the suitability of these bacterial strains for use in concrete. The enhancement of strength and healing of cracks can be attributed to the filling of cracks in concrete by calcite which was visualized by scanning electron microscope.

Tagging provides a convenient means to assign tokens of identification to research papers which facilitate recommendation, search and disposition process of research papers. This paper contributes a document centered approach for auto-tagging of research papers. The auto-tagging method mainly comprises of two processes:- classification and tag selection. The classification process involves automatic keyword extraction using Rapid Automatic Keyword Extraction (RAKE) algorithm which uses the keyword — score matrix. The generated top scored keywords are added to the train dataset dynamically, which can be used further. This add-on feature of the system is considered to be one of the main advantages of the system since adding new born phrases is time-consuming and error prone. Cosine similarity is used for classifying the research paper into corresponding domain utilizing the extracted keywords. Tag selection concentrates on the selection of proper tags for the research paper. Tagging facilitates better search facility and determines the dynamics of research areas in terms of number of publications in a domain by each author. The system generates reports for statistical analysis of research papers in each domain and expertise of each faculty in the research community.

Use of planar microcoils is widely accepted for various sensing and actuating applications in diverse engineering fields. In this work, the applications of a non-spiral planar micro coil as electromagnetic MEMS actuator in micro pumps for miniaturized biomedical devices is studied. Microfabrication of non-spiral coils is easier compared to that of a conventional spiral coil. Moreover, non-spiral coils have lesser series resistance compared to spiral micro coils. The range of magnetic field and force produced by non-spiral coils are simulated using COMSOL Multiphysics software and found to be sufficient for various biomedical applications. Therefore non-spiral coils can become a better alternative to the spiral coils being used at present.

Fingerprint is an important measure used to detect an unknown victim, suspect or witness. It has a major role in verifying records to explore links and matches between a suspect and a crime. Fingerprints are also used for security reasons, such as an entrance control at important buildings. But the quality of fingerprint images can easily get degraded by skin dryness, wet, wound and other types of noises. Hence denoising of fingerprint images is a necessary step in systems for automatic fingerprint recognition. This paper suggests a 3-stage process for the removal of noise from fingerprint images, through exploring external correlations and internal correlations, with the help of a set of correlated images. Internal and external data cubes are built for each noisy patch by discovering identical patches from the corresponding noisy and internet based images. External denoising in the first stage is done by a graph based optimization method and internal denoising is done by means of a frequency truncation process. Internal denoising results and external denoising results are combined to obtain the preliminary denoising result. The second stage performs filtering of external and internal cubes and the fused result is in turn passed to the third stage. In the third stage, an image enhancement technique is carried out to obtain the final denoised result. This method is compared with the existing algorithms and the experimental results, in terms of its PSNR (Peak Signal to Noise Ratio) values and SSIM (Structural Similarity Measure) values proved that the method is efficient than all of them.

Non-spiral planar microcoil presented in this paper has a different structure and fabrication easiness compared to conventional planar spiral coils. Non spiral coils are suitable in biomedical applications for low field magnetic resonance measurements. Non-spiral coil does not require interconnection between inner coil and output pads. Therefore its fabrication requires only one metal level without interconnection whereas conventional spiral type requires at least two metal layers. Comparison between spiral and non-spiral coils is presented here. Although spiral coil has more flux density than that of non-spiral coil, non-spiral coil has an interesting property of increased flux density at the innermost turn with reduced number of turns. Simulation of coil types is performed using COMSOL Multiphysics software.

The traditional view of tumour vascularization is that tumours acquire blood supply from the neighbouring normal stroma. However, recently the origin of tumour endothelial cells or pericytes in part has been shown to be derived from cancer stem cells (CSCs) in glioblastoma. In high grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC), the origin of endothelial cells is not known. Our objective was to determine if components of a tumour blood vessel and lymphatic vessel are derived from CSCs in ovarian cancer. Using spheroids as an in vitro model, we have evaluated the role of CSCs in primary malignant cells (PMCs) from patients with serous adenocarcinoma of ovary cultured under specific conditions. The expression of endothelial, pericyte and lymphatic endothelial markers was evaluated by flow cytometry. In addition, functional assays were performed to assess the endothelial phenotype. Further, the ability of CSCs to express endothelial markers under appropriate growth conditions was also evaluated with Bevacizumab which antagonize VEGF. PMCs grown in endothelial growth medium (EGM) showed significantly higher expression of CD105 (n=32, p = 0.002) and CLEC14A (n=10, p = 0.012) and co-expression of CD105/CLEC14A (n=10, p= 0.012) than that of spheroids. Primary malignant cells when grown in pericyte and lymphatic endothelial specific conditions, showed significantly higher expression of desmin (n=10, p=0.03), Smooth muscle actin (SMA) (n=10, p=0.017) and VEGFR3 (n=10, p=0.028) than that of the spheroids. When the PMCs were grown as spheroids in endothelial conditions in the presence or absence of Bevacizumab (1 μg/μl), there was a reduction in the co-expression of CD105 and CLEC14A (P=0.04). The cells grown in endothelial conditions showed formation of tubes, uptake of Dil-ac-LDL and expressed eNOS, confirming their endothelial phenotype. GFP transduced spheroids from PMCs formed tumours in mice and the blood vessels in the tumour co-expressed CD31, SMA, VEGFR3 and GFP, suggesting that these cells are derived from CSCs. These results prove that a proportion of endothelial cells, pericytes and lymphatic endothelial cells are derived from CSCs in serous ovarian carcinoma and the VEGF pathway has a key role. This property of CSCs to contribute to tumour angiogenesis can be inhibited. Citation Format: S Krishnapriya, C Sidhanth, P Manasa, S Sneha, S Bindhya, R P. Nagare, T S. Ganesan. Cancer stem cells and tumor angiogenesis in serous adenocarcinoma of ovary [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 182.

Objectives: The objective of our work is to analyse various data mining tools and techniques in health care domain that can be employed in prediction of heart disease system and their efficient diagnosis. Methods/Statistical Analysis: A heart disease prediction model, which implements data mining technique, can help the medical practitioners in detecting the heart disease status based on the patient’s clinical data. Data mining classification techniques for good decision making in the field of health care addressed are namely Decision trees, Naive Bayes, Neural Networks and Support Vector Machines. Hybridizing or combining any of these algorithms helps to make decisions quicker and more precise. Findings: Data mining is a powerful new technology for the extraction of hidden predictive and actionable information from large databases that can be used to gain deep and novel insights. Using advanced data mining techniques to excavate valuable information, has been considered as an activist approach to improve the quality and accuracy of healthcare service while lowering the healthcare cost and diagnosis time. Using this technique presence of heart disease can be predicted accurately. Using more input attributes such as controllable and uncontrollable risk factors, more accurate results could be achieved. Applications/Improvements: This method can be further expanded. It can use many of input attributes. Other data mining techniques are also be used for predication such as Clustering, Time series, Association rules. The unstructured data available in healthcare industry database can also be mined using text mining.

Objective:Abnormalities of the third branchial arch are less common than those of the second arch and usually present with left thyroid lobe inflammation. This paper describes 15 cases of pyriform sinus fistulae of third branchial arch origin usually presenting as recurrent thyroid abscess on the left side.Method:A retrospective review of 15 cases of third arch fistulae managed 2000 and 2008, diagnosed based on histopathology and radiological evidence of a fistulous tract, and treated with fistulectomy with left hemithyroidectomy.Results:All patients (six boys and nine girls, aged three to 15 years) presented with recurrent low neck inflammation. Pre-operative ultrasound, computed tomography fistulography and barium swallow demonstrated a third arch fistulous tract, left-sided in all cases. The fistula was detected intra-operatively and pathologically in all cases. Surgery (successful in all cases) emphasised complete recurrent laryngeal nerve and ipsilateral pyriform sinus exposure, to facilitate tract excision, with left hemithyroidectomy. There was no recurrence over three to five years' follow up.Conclusion:Paediatric recurrent low neck inflammatory episodes, due to thyroidal abscess, especially left-sided, should raise suspicion of pyriform sinus fistulae.

Objective Acute suppurative neck infections associated with third or fourth branchial arch fistulas are frequently recurrent. Third and fourth branchial arch anomalies are much less common than those of second arch and usually present with left thyroid lobe inflammation. The authors present their experience with 15 cases of pyriform sinus fistulae (PSF) of third branchial arch origin and 3 cases of fourth arch origin, all of which presented as recurrent neck infection mainly on the left side. Methods A retrospective review of 18 cases of third and fourth arch fistulae treated at JIPMER from 2005 to 2010. This study includes 18 patients with PSF diagnosed by the existence of fistulous tract radiologically and intraoperatively with pathological correlation. Neck exploration with excision of tract and left hemithyroidectomy was performed in all cases. Results The patients consisted of 7 males and 11 females, and the ages ranged from 3 to 15 years. All of them presented with recurrent episodes of neck infection. Investigations performed include computed tomography (CT) fistulography, barium swallow and ultrasound which were useful in delineating pyriform sinus fistulous tract preoperatively. All cases were on the left side and the fistula was identified by barium swallow in 14 cases (80%), while intraoperative and pathologic confirmation of the tract was possible in all cases (100%). Neck exploration with an emphasis on complete exposure of the recurrent laryngeal nerve and exposure of the pyriform sinus opening to facilitate complete fistulous tract excision with left hemithyroidectomy was successful in all patients. A follow up period of 1–3 years showed no recurrence. Conclusion Recurrent neck infection in a child should alert the physician to the possibility of an underlying pyriform sinus fistula of branchial origin and CT fistulography should be performed after the resolution of the neck infection to delineate the tract anatomically.

Nature has various biological activities which has simulated the development of many elegant algorithms for problem-solving since it exhibits extremely heterogeneous and captivating phenomenon. The bio-inspired tactics have several mesmeric features and choices compared to conventional optimization solvers. Genetic Algorithm (GA) are adaptive heuristic search algorithm based on the evolutionary ideas of natural selection and has significant benefits over more typical search of optimization techniques. Self-organization technique automates the selection of appropriate parameter values of GA during execution without the user's intervention. GA explores the multi-parameter space of solution and in each iterative step; chromosomes are altered. To blend self-organization and GA, it is essential to understand its various aspects clearly. In GA, the selection of appropriate parameters is difficult, reducing run time and avoiding premature convergence is difficult. In this paper, a new Bio-inspired optimization algorithm has been proposed based on the foraging behaviour of the Bottlenose dolphin. One of the famous combinatorial hard problems of Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) is being chosen as thetest bed.

Scaling problems associated with the MOSFET calls for other novel devices which can outperform MOSFET at nanometer dimensions. As device dimensions shrink, various tunneling leakage factors in the MOSFET increase due to non-scalable junction electric fields. Devices based on tunneling currents can be effectively used as a solution to this problem. In this paper, a novel concept of a particular type of tunnel field effect transistor (TFET) with gate controlled band to band tunneling as its working principle is presented and it is observed that a germanium source-germanium channel-silicon drain TFET is able to provide better on current to off current ratios compared to a silicon TFET thus enabling efficient operation at low supply voltage and power. In this work, the TFET structure is studied and design parameters are optimized based on theory and simulation results to have high on current to off current ratio. Synopsis® device simulation tool MEDICI® is used for the simulations.

Online videos are one of the most prevalent forms of communication over the Internet because humans are attracted to visual stimulations. Multimedia services, especially real-time services, require data to arrive on time. Unlike any other transmissions, video streaming needs to be monitored and adapted to bandwidth, when the video stream passes through the best-effort environment. A guaranteed QoS (Quality of Service) is essential in all real-time applications. This paper presents a contextaware mechanism, which improves the QoS of real time video transmission, over wireless networks. This proposed RSQA system ensures video availability even when the bandwidth is low. Drawbacks to other solutions for saving bandwidth in real-time include being: 1) too expensive due to requiring a priority based router (in the case of proxy based and frame prioritization approaches); 2) too complex; 3) not appropriate for real-time systems. This RSQA system succeeds in being of low complexity, appropriate for real-time systems and cost effective (not requiring a priority based router to function). This RSQA system is independent of wireless technology making, thus it appropriate for use in a heterogeneous environment as well. Whenever a user experiences packet loss or a delay in receiving a video, the server will be notified about the congestion and decrease the video quality to make the video available at low bandwidth. The decision regarding the needed QoS parameters and the rate control is based on context information (available bandwidth). The RTP (Real-time Transport Protocol) based streaming is simulated and verified by an Eclipse simulator and Java using an MJPEG standard. Results show that the QoS parameters of video transmission were improved considerably by this RSQA system.