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Neural networks have proved to be useful in a variety of applications in almost any major field of study. Training a neural network requires a repetitive process called hyperparameter tuning. The most important hyperparameter that should be tuned is the learning rate of the neural network. Adaptive learning rate algorithms have improved the efficiency of neural networks by improving the accuracy and minimizing the loss within less number of epochs. Here, a new algorithm called “performance-based adaptive learning rate” algorithm is shown and its various performance results on a dataset are performed to assess the efficiency of the algorithm.

In the developing countries like India, the motorcycle riders are increasing day-by-day, wherein it also constitutes to the unprecedented increase in the number of motorcycle accidents across the country. To overcome this drawback, the proposed research work explains and demonstrates a method to enforce better safety protocols through the automatic detection of motorcyclists with and without a safety helmet by using a real-time traffic surveillance footage. The real-time automatic detection of motorcyclists with and without a safety helmet is established through detecting a vehicle and track pipelining it with OpenCV, sklearn, utilizing a descriptor known as the histogram of oriented gradients (HOG), and support vector classification (SVC), which are the combination of tools pertaining to machine learning and image processing mechanisms. With OpenCV Library method, a bike rider is identified in the surveillance video. Further by using a popular machine learning algorithm model called LinearSVC, the classifier label identifies whether the rider is wearing a safety helmet. The data attained in correspondence to the count of bike riders with and without safety helmet is stored in MySQL database with respective timestamps and is also visualized through tabular and graphical views in the developed desktop interface application. With 87.6% model accuracy, our paper proposes a solution to enhance the existing safety measures and provide a time-efficient approach to handle traffic regulations.

Clove oil, cinnamon oil, and five essential oil components (citral, eugenol, geraniol, limonene, and linalool) were tested for growth inhibition of 14 phytopathogenic fungi. Citral completely inhibited the growth of Alternaria alternata, Aspergillus flavus, Curvularia lunata, Fusarium moniliforme, F. pallidoroseum, and Phoma sorghina in paper disc agar diffusion assays. Cinnamon oil, citral, and clove oil as low as 0.01% (vol/vol) inhibited the spore germination of Cercospora arachidicola, Phaeoisariopsis personata, and Puccinia arachidis by >90% in vitro. Limonene and linalool were observed to be the least antifungal against the test fungi and were not used in further studies. Clove oil (1% vol/vol) applied as a foliar spray 10 min before Phaeoisariopsis personata inoculation reduced the severity of late leaf spot of peanut up to 58% when challenge inoculated with 104 conidia ml-1. This treatment was more effective (P = 0.01) than 0.5% (vol/vol) citral, cinnamon oil, or clove oil and 1% (vol/vol) eugenol or geraniol. Seed treatment with the test compounds had no effect on the incidence of crown rot in peanut in Aspergillus niger-infested soil. However, soil amendment with 0.25% (vol/wt) clove oil and cinnamon oil reduced the preemergence rotting by 71 and 67% and postemergence wilting by 58 and 55%, respectively, compared with the nontreated control. These two treatments were more effective (P < 0.01) than geraniol on preemergence rotting, and more effective than citral, eugenol, and geraniol on postemergence wilting. All treatments significantly outperformed the nontreated control but none were as effective as thiram treatment.

Introduction: With advancing technology the mobile phone with multiple features is used as a multipurpose device and attract people of all age groups. Increased usage of mobile phone raises the question of possible adverse effects on health. Aim: To assess the 1800-2100 MHz radiation effect on learning-memory and microscopic anatomy of hippocampal Cornu Ammonis (CA3) neurons in mice. Materials and Methods: A total of 18 albino mice were divided into 3 groups (6 Mice per group). Group-I: Control Group, Group-II: Exposed to Radio frequency-Electromagnetic radiation (RF-EMR) for 30 minutes/day for 3 months, Group-III: Exposed to RF-EMR for 60 minutes/day for 3 months. Followed by the exposure, learning memory was assessed by using HebbWilliams maze in all the groups. The mice were then sacrificed, brains were dissected out and sections were taken at the level of hippocampus and then stained with Haematoxylin and Eosin for microscopy. The results were expressed in Mean±SD and analysed by using one-way (analysis of variance) ANOVA followed by LSD (Least Square Difference) test for paired wise data. The p-value

A mobile ad hoc network is a collection of autonomous mobile devices that communicate with each other. This network may contain foe nodes and trustworthy nodes. Foe nodes imply attacker nodes which are malwares, threats, malicious nodes. To keep away from these nodes, we introducing node position verification protocol. This protocol is utilized for message exchange which is used for transmitting messages among the nodes and checks the location of each and every node in the network. The message exchange protocol manages the distinguishing proof of nodes that are in a communication range. Distance computation is in view of message transmission between the prover and its correspondence adjacent node. Calculated distance is utilized to confirm the location of communicating nodes in network. For node position verification, mainly three methods are utilized. This problem is implemented for mobile ad hoc network and simulation using NS2 tool. The benefit of this technique is to lessen the delay and accomplish the high throughput and can stop attackers not entering into information transmission nodes.

Mobile ad hoc network (MANET) is a collection of mobile nodes that are connected each other. Considering the potential relay nodes based on power constraint is a difficult problem to obtain efficient throughput. This problem can be solved by selecting the minimum distance nodes as relay nodes from destination. In the proposed method, the delay is analyzed by selecting the relay nodes in multi-hop. Relay nodes are selected when the destination node is not in the communication range. There exists more than one relay node between the source and destination in multi-hop. Thus, the packets are transferred from source to destination through these relay nodes. If the destination node is not in the transmission range, then consider one-hop neighbors of source and calculate the distance from destination to these one-hop neighbors. The network topology is designed using the NS2 tool which gives routing tables, to provide the information about neighbors and also about the selected next hop node. The node with minimum distance is taken as selected next hop node. This node is considered as a relay node. In this manner, relay nodes are selected between source and destination. We can reduce the packet loss and delay.

Aim The main aim of this study was to prepare and evaluate once daily sustained release tablets of aceclofenac by using polyethylene oxides (PEOs) of different molecular weights as matrix polymers. Method A direct compression method was used to prepare PEO matrices. Type and the amount of PEO in the matrices were varied to optimize in vitro aceclofenac release profiles. Results From the in vitro release studies, it was found that the matrix tablets containing 28% of PEO (80% PEO WSR 303 and 20% of PEO WSR N60K) showed similar release profiles, as estimated by similarity factor (f2), to a marketed product, Hifenac SR. From the bioavailability study in human volunteers, it was found that there was no statistically significant difference in the pharmacokinetic parameters such as T max and C max between the optimized sustained release formulation containing 28% of PEO and Hifenac SR. Conclusion It can be concluded from this study, that the bioavailability of the sustained release formulation developed was similar to that of Hifenac SR and the hydrophilic PEO matrices are novel sustained release carriers for the delivery of aceclofenac.

An Online Social Network (OSN) is a platform to build social networks or social relations among people. The OSN’s allow users to share interests, activities, social details and professional details. Some of the OSN’s that are currently being used are Facebook, Twitter, Orkut etc. The major problem of social networks is providing privacy to the users. Social privacy, institutional privacy and surveillance are the key problems that are being faced by the OSN users. We developed a novel method to provide institutional privacy and surveillance to the OSN users. We introduced a new algorithm HSurveillance, which effectively implements the surveillance in OSN. The institutional privacy is provided to the users using locking mechanism. We believe that the proposed method will resolve the key security and privacy problems experienced by the OSN users.

Pande, S., Kishore, G. K., Upadhyaya, H. D., and Rao, J. N. 2006. Identification of sources of multiple disease resistance in mini-core collection of chickpea. Plant Dis. 90:1214-1218. Host plant resistance is the major component in the management of fungal diseases in chickpea (Cicer arietinum). We screened a chickpea mini-core collection composed of 211 germ plasm accessions representing the diversity of the global chickpea germ plasm collection of 16,991, maintained at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics to identify sources of multiple disease resistance. The accessions were screened for resistance against Ascochyta blight (Ascochyta rabiei), Botrytis gray mold (Botrytis cinerea), Fusarium wilt (Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceris), and dry root rot (Rhizoctonia bataticola) under a controlled environment. High levels of resistance were observed to Fusarium wilt (FW), where 21 accessions were asymptomatic and 25 resistant. In all, 3, 55, and 6 accessions were moderately resistant to Ascochyta blight (AB), Botrytis gray mold (BGM), and dry root rot (DRR) respectively. ICC 11284 was the only accession moderately resistant to both AB and BGM. Combined resistance also was identified for DRR and FW in 4 accessions, and for BGM and FW in 11 accessions. Through this study, chickpea germ plasm accessions were identified that possess high levels of resistance to more than one fungal disease and would be useful in chickpea multiple disease resistance breeding programs.

Three hundred and ninety-three groundnut-associated bacterial strains, applied both as seed treatment and soil amendment, were evaluated for control of stem rot disease (caused by Sclerotium rolfsii) of groundnut in a controlled environment. Twelve strains significantly (P=0.01) reduced the incidence of stem, rot of which groundnut seed endophytes Pseudomonas aeruginosa GSE 18 and GSE 19 reduced the seedling mortality by 54% and 58%, compared to the control. In dual cultures, the 12 biocontrol strains reduced the mycelial growth of S. rolfsii by 32%–74% as compared to the control. Cell- free culture filtrates of P. aeruginosa GSE 18 and GSE 19 inhibited the activity in vitro of the cell wall-degrading enzymes (CWDE) polygalacturonase and cellulase by S. rolfsii up to a maximum of 55% and 50%, respectively, when measured 6 days after inoculation. Pseudomonas aeruginosa GSE 18 and GSE 19 with a known tolerance to thiram, a commonly used seed dressing fungicide, suppressed the growth of S. rolfsii, inhibited the activity of CWDE, and reduced the incidence of stem rot, suggesting the usefulness of these biocontrol strains as components in the integrated management of groundnut stem rot.

Kishore, G. K., Pande, S., and Podile, A. R. 2005. Biological control of late leaf spot of peanut (Arachis hypogaea) with chitinolytic bacteria. Phytopathology 95:1157-1165. Late leaf spot (LLS), caused by Phaeoisariopsis personata, is a foliar disease of groundnut or peanut (Arachis hypogaea) with high economic and global importance. Antifungal and chitinolytic Bacillus circulans GRS 243 and Serratia marcescens GPS 5, selected among a collection of 393 peanut-associated bacteria, were applied as a prophylactic foliar spray and tested for control of LLS. Chitin-supplemented application of B. circulans GRS 243 and S. marcescens GPS 5 resulted in improved biological control of LLS disease. Supplementation of bacterial cells with 1% (wt/vol) colloidal chitin reduced lesion frequency by 60% compared with application of bacterial cells alone, in the greenhouse. Chitinsupplemented application of GRS 243 and GPS 5 also resulted in improved and stable control of LLS in a repeated field experiment and increased the pod yields by 62 and 75%, respectively, compared with the control. Chitin-supplemented application of GPS 5 was tested in six onfarm trials, and the increase in pod yields was up to 48% in kharif (rainy season). A 55-kDa chitinase was purified from the cell-free culture filtrate of GPS 5 by affinity chromatography and gel filtration. Purified chitinase of S. marcescens GPS 5 (specific activity 120 units) inhibited the in vitro germination of P. personata conidia, lysed the conidia, and effectively controlled LLS in greenhouse tests, indicating the importance of chitinolysis in biological control of LLS disease by GPS 5.

Late leaf spot (LLS, Phaeoisariopsis personata) and rust (Puccinia arachidis) are the two major biotic constraints of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) of global importance. To identify economic and eco-friendly disease management options, we evaluated extracts of 38 plant spp. of 23 families, for their antifungal activity. Aqueous leaf extracts (20%, w/v) of Prosopis juliflora and Lycopersicon esculentum completely inhibited the in vitro germination of P. personata and P. arachidis, and extracts of Achras sapota, Cyamposis tetragonolobus, Piper betle and Tagetus patula were inhibitory by >95%. In the greenhouse, the severity of LLS and rust corresponded with the time interval between the foliar application of leaf extract and fungal inoculum. Extract of P. juliflora (2%, w/v) in simultaneous application reduced the lesion frequency of LLS and rust by ∼75%, and 35.7% and 50.7% in a prophylactic spray of 96 h before the pathogen inoculation. The extract had no effect on the phenolic content of groun...

Cultural, morphological and pathogenic variation in Indian isolates of Ascochyta rabiei, the causal agent of blight of chickpea, was investigated. Fungal isolates representative of seven agroclimatic regions in north western plain zones (NWPZ) of India showed variation in colony colour as mouse gray with green hue, light mouse gray with slate gray centre and gray with dark brown centre, when grown on chickpea dextrose agar (CDA). Conidiomatal color of the isolates varied from brown to slate gray and black. The number of conidiomata and conidia formed on CDA ranged from 49.7 to 90.7 and , respectively. The size of conidiomata and conidia of A. rabiei isolates varied from , and from , respectively. Fourteen A. rabiei isolates from the seven agroclimatic regions of NWPZ were evaluated for their virulence on 180 chickpea genotypes in controlled environment. Cluster analysis based on the disease rating on a 1-9 scale indicated higher similarity coefficient (> 0.65) between isolates from different agroecological regions, while few isolates from the same region had less similarity. The 14 isolates were grouped into eight pathotypes at > 0.5 similarity coefficient. Sixteen genotypes were identified as probable differentials to distinguish A. rabiei isolates.

In foliar and postharvest biocontrol systems, the use of active metabolites produced by antagonistic microorganisms is advantageous compared with the use of living microorganisms. Chitinases, a major group of hydrolytic enzymes produced by biocontrol agents, are involved in the lysis of cell walls of pathogenic fungi. In the present study, an attempt was made to test the partially purified β-1,4-N-acetylglucosaminidase (NAGase) of a biocontrol strain Bacillus subtilis AF 1 for control of rust in groundnut (caused by Puccinia arachidis) and soft rot in lemons (caused by Aspergillus niger). Four proteins of molecular mass 67, 40, 37, and 32 kDa were isolated from the culture filtrates of AF 1 by affinity chromatography, of which the 67-kDa protein has detectable chitinolytic ability. This protein (NAGase) effectively inhibited the in vitro growth of A. niger in microtitre plates. In the presence of NAGase, germination of urediniospores of P. arachidis was reduced by 96% compared with the control. In a detached leaf bioassay, NAGase reduced the rust lesion frequency by >60%. NAGase significantly reduced the incidence of soft rot in harvested lemon fruits. However, fresh cells and (or) alginate formulation of AF 1 were more effective than NAGase in control of both of the test plant – pathogen systems.Key words: chitinase, peanut rust, lemon fruit rot, biocontrol.

A complete understanding of the epidemiological factors required for optimum for disease development facilitates the design of effective and reliable screening techniques and also disease prediction models. An attempt was made to study the effects of different temperatures (15- 35oC) and leaf wetness periods (4-24 h) on the development of late leaf spot (LLS) in three groundnut genotypes differing in their susceptibility to LLS infection. Irrespective of the genotype, the disease progress evaluated based on different components of resistance was maximum between 15-20oC and minimum between 20-25oC. At temperatures iA30oC, LLS development was insignificant. The overall severity of LLS increased with an increase in the leaf wetness period from 4 h to 12 h a day. Further increase of wetness period to 16 h resulted in a rapid increase in the severity. Thereafter, the disease severity gradually decreased with an increase in the wetness period. The effect of temperature and wetness periods on the individual component of disease quantification was not uniform compared between genotypes with different levels of susceptibility/resistance to LLS infection. The results of this study indicate that temperature and leaf wetness period are critical in late leaf spot screening programs since the expression of disease symptoms measured from disease initiation till defoliation, varied differently in the test genotypes with respect to change in these two parameters.

In an attempt to develop effective biocontrol system for management of stem rot disease in groundnut, 57 bacterial isolates and 13 isolates of Trichoderma spp. Were evaluated for their antagonistic activity against Sclerotium rolfsii. The antagonists were selected based on their ability to inhibit the external growth of S. rolfsii from infected groundnut seeds. Four isolates of Pseudomonas fluorescens, GB 4, GB 8, GB 10 and GB 27, and T. viride pq 1 were identified as potent antagonists of S. rolfsii. T. viride pq 1 produced extra cellular chitinase and parasitized the mycelium of S. rolfsii. Under controlled environment conditions, P. fluorescens GB 10, GB 27, T. viride pq 1 and the systemic fungicide Thiram reduce the mortality of S. Rolfsii inoculated to groundnut seedlings by 58.0%, 55.9%, 70.0% and 25.9%, respectively compared to control. In vitro growth of P.fluorescens GB 10 and GB 27 was compatible with T. Viride pq 1 and Thiram Integrated use of these two bacterial isolates with T. viride pq 1 or Thiram improved their biocontrol efficacy. Combined application of either GB 10 or GB 27 with T. viride pq 1 was significantly effective than that with Thiram in protecting groundnut seedlings form stem rot infection

Andhra Pradesh is one of the major groundnut growing states in India. A total of 182 groundnut samples collected at harvesting from farmers fields in five districts, namely; Anantapur, Chittoor, Cuddapah, Kurnool, and Mahaboobnagar, during 1999 and 2000 rainy seasons were evaluated for the presence of mycotoxins (both aflatoxins and zearalenone) and toxigenic fungi. In samples collected from each district, average seed infection by Aspergillus flavus and Fusarium spp. was 11.9-18.3% and 5.6-12.8% in 1999, and 9.5-14.1% and 9.4-11.9% in 2000, respectively. Among the samples collected, 20.3% and 16.5% were contaminated with aflatoxin in 1999 and 2000, respectively, and in 11.4% and 8.7% of the seed samples collected in two seasons, the aflatoxin content was >30 mg/kg. An alarming aflatoxin content of 851.9 mg/kg was found in samples collected from Anantapur district during the rainy season in 1999. Zearalenone was not detected in any of the samples collected in 1999, while 2 out of 103 samples collected in 2000 were contaminated with 35.1 and 129.4 mg/kg. Under in vitro cultural conditions, 35.8% of the 173 A. flavus isolates collected from the groundnut samples produced aflatoxins at concentrations of 94.3- 1598.6 ng/ml and 3% of the 266 Fusarium spp. isolates produced 98.1-847.3 mg/g of zearalenone. The results emphasize the need for a more systematic and regular monitoring of pre-harvest aflatoxin contamination.

An investigation has been reported concerning characterisation of large span stable crack growth (SCG) through AISI 4340 steel in terms of CTOD/CTOA under both mode I and mixed (I and II) mode loadings. The characterisation has been possible through finite element analysis of published experimental results with compact tension type of specimens. As against the earlier observations by many investigators of a bilinear CTOD/CTOA variation, decreasing initially and constant later, characterising the crack growth through other materials, an increasing initially and constant later type of variation is found to be suitable for AISI 4340 steel. The same variation is found to characterise both mode I and mixed mode SCG. The starting value of CTOD/CTOA is 0.035 mm/0.0875 rad; the value at the later stages is 0.08 mm/0.20 rad. The same variation is found to predict accurate enough for engineering applications the initiation ( P i ) and maximum ( P max ) loads and the variation of load-displacement diagrams over a span of crack growth up to 10 mm.

Botrytis grey mould (BGM), caused by Botrytis cinerea Pers. ex. Fr., is an economically important disease of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), especially in areas where cool, cloudy, and humid weather persists. Several epidemics of BGM causing complete crop loss in the major chickpea-producing countries have been reported. The pathogen B. cinerea mainly survives between seasons on infected crop debris and seeds. Despite extensive investigations on pathological, physiological, and molecular characteristics of B. cinerea causing grey mould type diseases on chickpea and several other hosts, the nature of infection processes and genetic basis of pathogen variability have not been clearly established. This lack of information coupled with the need for repeated application of chemical fungicides forced the deployment of host plant resistance (HPR) as a major option for BGM management. Effective and repeatable controlled-environment and field-screening techniques have been developed for identification of HPR. Of the selected portion of chickpea germplasm evaluated for BGM resistance, only few accessions belonging to both cultivated and wild Cicer spp. were tolerant to BGM, and the search for higher levels of disease resistance continues. Fungicide application based on disease predictive models is helpful in precision-based fungicide application. Integrated disease management (IDM) of BGM has proved more effective than any of the individual disease management components in large-scale, on-farm studies conducted in India, Nepal, and Bangladesh. Further information on the biology of B. cinerea and epidemiology of the disease is needed to strengthen the IDM programs. In this paper the biology of B. cinerea including its variability, epidemiology of BGM, identified sources of resistance, and other management options, and available information on biochemical and genetic basis of disease resistance have been reviewed with a mention of future research priorities.

Late leaf spot (LLS) (causal agent Phaeoisariopsis personata) and rust (causal agent Puccinia arachidis) are economically important foliar diseases of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea) and have global significance. Aqueous leaf extracts of Datura metel and Lawsonia inermis, known for their high antifungal activity against P. personata, completely inhibited the germination of urediniospores of P. arachidis in vitro. In the greenhouse, extracts of D. metel (25g/L) and L. inermis (50g/L) applied as a prophylactic spray reduced the frequency of LLS lesions and rust pustules by 65–74% compared with controls. In field studies, a programme of four sprays of D. metel leaf extract at 45, 60, 75 and 90 days after sowing (DAS) was partially effective against the foliar diseases (LLS and rust) up to 95 DAS. A single spray of chlorothalonil at 45 DAS combined with three sprays of D. metel at 60, 75 and 90 DAS effectively reduced the combined severity of LLS and rust. The increase in pod yield by this treatment (91 % over control) was comparable with the sustained application of chlorothalonil. Further validation of integrated applications of D. metel extract and chlorothalonil may reduce the dependency on fungicides in groundnut cultivation.

Electric field gradient tensors at the bridging chlorine sites in niobium pentachloride dimer have been evaluated using point-charge model with de Wette’s planewise summation method for rapid convergence of the lattice sums. The results are discussed based on the experimental results and the existing theory on dimeric molecules.

Following the treatment of Vega (1973), the theoretical expressions for the second moments in nuclear quadrupole resonance (nqr) due to dipole-dipole interactions have been derived for the system containing the nuclei with spinI=3/2. Cases with the orientation of the static magnetic field and the interactions with the other magnetic nuclei are also dealt with.

The theoretical hybridization model of Vega is adapted to the tetrahedral environment around the nitrogen nucleus in eleven amino acids to estimate the orbital occupation numbers using the experimental values of the quadrupole coupling constant and asymmetry parameter of14N quadrupole resonance and the results are discussed.