Courtesy amount recognition from bank checks is an important application of pattern recognition. Although much progress has been made on isolated digit recognition for Indian digits, there is no work ...reported in the literature on courtesy amount recognition for Arabic checks using Indian digits. Arabic check courtesy amount recognition comes with its own unique challenges that are not seen in isolated digit recognition tasks and, accordingly, need specific approaches to deal with them. This paper presents an end-to-end system for courtesy amount recognition starting from check images as input to recognizing amounts as a sequence of digits. The system is a hybrid system, combining rule-based modules as well as machine learning modules. For the amount recognition system, both segmentation-based and segmentation-free approaches were investigated and compared. We evaluated our system on the CENPARMI dataset of real bank checks in Arabic. We achieve 67.4% accuracy at the amount level and 87.15% accuracy at the digit level on the test set consisting of 626 check images. The results are presented with detailed analysis, and some possible future work is identified. This work can be used as a baseline to benchmark future research in Arabic check courtesy amount recognition.
Growing emphasis on exploring the antiproliferative potential of natural compounds has gathered momentum for the formulation of anticancer drugs. In the present study, the anticancer and apoptotic ...potential of glycyrrhizin (GLY) was studied on HPV
-
C33A cervical cancer (CCa) cells. Our results indicated that GLY exerted antiproliferative effects in the C33A cells by inducing significant cytotoxicity. Treatment with GLY substantially increases the apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner via disrupting the mitochondrial membrane potential. GLY induced apoptosis in C33A cells via activation of capsase-9 (intrinsic pathway) and caspase-8 (extrinsic pathway) along with the modulation of pro- and antiapoptotic protein expression. Moreover, GLY also exerted cell cycle arrest in C33A cells at G
0
/G
1
phase which was associated with the decreased expression of cyclin D1 and cyclin-dependent kinase 4 (CDK4) along with the increased expression of CDK inhibitor p21
Cip1
. Furthermore, GLY treated CCa cells exhibited significant downregulation of Notch signaling pathway which may be associated with increased apoptosis as well as cell cycle arrest in C33A CCa cells. Thus, GLY could be an appendage in the prevention and management of CCa.
The concept of resilience is a complex, multidisciplinary, and multidimensional phenomenon. It is now being increasingly used in the fields of disaster and climate change. There is a need to identify ...similarities and differences in both research domains to identify characteristics and linkages for potential integration. Using the Web of Science database, this study has conducted bibliometric analyses based on three categories, i.e. “disaster resilience”, “climate change resilience” and “disaster and climate change resilience”. Historical development, keyword, citation and co-citation, institutions, and country-wise analyses were performed. The study identified 4264 and 8164 research articles on disaster resilience and climate change resilience, respectively. Moreover, a total of 927 publications have used both disaster and climate change resilience, which is termed as integrated resilience. The study has revealed an emerging and rapidly growing trend in both climate change and disaster resilience. Comparatively, the number of publications on climate change resilience outweighed disaster resilience. The studies were published by various disciplines, but the majority were in environmental sciences and studies categories. Interestingly, disaster resilience has been studied by more disciplines than climate change resilience. Vulnerability and adaptation were key concepts linking integrated research on resilience. It is recommended to develop a shared understanding of resilience thinking under disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation philosophy. It is argued that resilience can be used as a bridging concept between the fields to truly recognize its potential. The results of this study can help and guide future research on integrating climate change and disaster resilience.
•Resilience is a complex, multidisciplinary and multidimensional phenomenon.•Resilience is used in both climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction.•Vulnerability and adaptation are used in resilience research.•Research studies on climate change resilience are more than disaster resilience.
Density functional theory (DFT) and time dependent DFT has been applied to shed light on the electronic properties, photophysical properties and electron injection in the photosensitizers ...2-cyano-5-(4-(phenyl(4-vinylphenyl)amino)phenyl)penta-2,4-dienoic acid (TC4) and its derivatives. The ground state structures have been optimized by using DFT-B3LYP/6-31G** level of theory. The absorption spectra have been computed by using PCM-TDBHandHLYP/6-311 + G** level of theory. Generally, highest occupied molecular orbitals are delocalized on whole of the dye while lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals are localized on ligand C, conjugated chain and anchoring group. By substituting the vinyl at positions 3,3′ on A- and B-ligands leads toward red shift. The methoxy group as donor is better than the methyl which can improve the electron injection and coupling constant. The light harvesting efficiency of mono-methoxy derivative (11) would be comparable to TC4. The size effect of titanium dioxide (TiO2) (nanoparticles) has been investigated on the electronic structure of the dye. By increasing the size of TiO2 intra-molecular charge transfer from dye to nanoparticles enhanced.
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•HOMO is delocalized on entire sensitizers while LUMO is localized on anchoring group.•The mono-substituent is more suitable to design sensitizers of longer wavelength.•The methoxy group as donor improved the electron injection and coupling constant.•Effect of methyl is not significant towards the enhancement of electron injection.•The size effect of TiO2 on the electronic structure of the dye has been studied.
Charge transport and electronic properties of 4-nitro-4′-amino-azobenzene compounds with donor-acceptor backbone were examined at the molecular level. Optical properties of all the studied six ...azobenzene dyes were also explored at the solid-state bulk level, i.e., dielectric constants, conductivity, refractive index, and extinction coefficient values. The introduction of benzyl group enhances whereas propanenitrile diminishes the values for real and imaginary dielectric functions. Moreover, the substitution of 3-methoxy-3-oxopropyl and propanenitrile at amino group decreases the real conductivity values; however, bis(3-methoxy-3-oxopropyl) improves these values. These 4-nitro-4′-amino-azobenzene compounds showed good refractive indices in the energy range 0–2 eV which revealed that these dyes would be efficient to generate healthier outputs with lower energy inputs. The effect of substituents was also investigated on transfer integrals, frontier molecular orbitals (FMOs), reorganization energies, electron affinity (EA), and ionization energy (IE). The ground-state geometries were optimized by density functional theory at B3LYP/6-31G** level to probe the molecular level properties. The same level of theory was used for the cation and anion optimizations. The hole and electron transfer nature of azo dyes was investigated by evaluating the electron/hole transfer integrals (
V
electron
/V
hole
) as well as hole and electron reorganization energy values. The results exposed that superior
V
hole
values of
Azo2
and
Azo4
might lead to these dyes as
p
-type contenders. Moreover, larger
V
electron
values of
Azo1, Azo3, Azo5
, and
Azo6
might lead to these dyes as
n
-type competitors. These results revealed that inspected Azo dyes would be able to serve as competent hole and electron transfer materials within versatile organic semiconductors.
The compensation of nonlinear hysteretic behavior is one of the mandatory requirements in order to achieve precise reference tracking performance from a piezoelectric positioning stage. A common ...practice of employing an inverse hysteresis model as a feed-forward compensator must deal with modeling complexity; consequently, real-time tracking performance suffers due to modeling errors. In this paper, a two degree-of-freedom robust digital feedback controller design scheme in the presence of a simple Bouc-Wen hysteresis feed-forward compensator is proposed to deal with the dual challenge of modeling complexity and modeling errors. The proposed control scheme takes into account the performance and robustness requirements simultaneously. The desired performance and robustness requirements are expressed by means of constraints on the shapes of closed-loop sensitivity functions (CLSFs). Then, pole placement with sensitivity function shaping methodology is adopted so that the CLSFs respect their respective constraints and the desired performance with robustness could be achieved. The presented experimental results verify the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme in achieving the peak-to-peak reference tracking error of 0.36% for the desired displacement of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">12~\mu \text{m} </tex-math></inline-formula> with tracking frequency of 10 Hz, whereas the peak-to-peak tracking error of 4.33% is observed with a Bouc-Wen hysteresis feed-forward compensator (without the feedback controller). Overall, 91% improvement is achieved in reducing the reference tracking error with the proposed control scheme.
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•Five metal-free TPA sensitizers were molecularly engineered.•Energy gap and optoelectronic properties were customized by oligocene π-linkers.•Charge transport was explored by dyes ...tethering upon Ti3O6H and Ti6O12H.•Electron injection and recombination hindrance; improve photovoltaic performance.
A series of metal-free organic dyes (TPA1-TPA5) comprising triphenylamine as electron donor, cyanoacrylic acid as anchoring group and oligocenothiophene-pyrimidine as π-bridge linkers were molecularly engineered. By incorporation and elongation of oligocene spacer between donor and acceptor, electronic structures, photovoltaic and optoelectronic properties were tuned. Electronic and optical properties calculations of TPA dye upon adsorbing onto Ti3O6H and Ti6O12H were performed systematically. The charge transfer from occupied to unoccupied molecular orbitals in unaccompanied dyes and TPA@TiO2 clusters, broad and long range spectral peaks affirmed that linkers elongation enhance electron injection (ΔGinject) and electronic coupling constants (|VRP|). Tailoring the energy gap by elevating HOMO and lowering LUMO energy levels as well as fostering ΔGinject, oligocene elongation was commenced excellent linkers. The superior photovoltaic parameters than referenced compounds, frontier molecular orbitals analyses and charge transfer nature in TPA@TiO2 clusters are illuminating that these dyes would be efficient to be used in photovoltaic devices.
In recent years, crucial questions have been raised about
anthropology as a discipline, such as whether ethnography is
central to the subject, and how imagination, reality and truth are
joined in ...anthropological enterprises. These interventions have
impacted anthropologists and scholars at large. This volume
contributes to the debate about the interrelationships between
ethnography and anthropology and takes it to a new plane. Six
anthropologists with field experience in Egypt, Greece, India,
Laos, Mauritius, Thailand and Switzerland critically discuss these
propositions in order to renew anthropology for the future. The
volume concludes with an Afterword from Tim Ingold.
Machine learning is a powerful tool that can provide a way to revolutionize the material science. Its use for the designing and screening of materials for polymer solar cells is also increasing. ...Search of efficient polymeric materials for solar cells is really difficult task. Researchers have synthesized and fabricated so many materials. Sorting the results and get feedback for further research requires an innovative approach. In this minireview, we provides brief introduction of machine learning. The importance of machine learning is also mentioned, and the application of machine learning for polymeric material design is discussed. The key challenges that are hindering the wide spread use of machine are discussed. Suggestions are also given to improve the use of data science. The predictions using machine learning maybe not highly accurate but it definitely better than no prediction at all.
Jamaat-e-Islami Hind is the most influential Islamist organization in India today. Founded in 1941 by Syed Abul Ala Maududi with the aim of spreading Islamic values in the subcontinent, Jamaat and ...its young offshoot, the Student Islamic Movement of India or SIMI, have been watched closely by Indian security services since September 11. In particular, SIMI has been accused of being behind terrorist bombings. This book is the first in-depth examination of India's Jamaat-e-Islami and SIMI, exploring political Islam's complex relationship with democracy and providing a rare window into the Islamist trajectory in a Muslim-minority context. Irfan Ahmad conducted extensive ethnographic fieldwork at a school in the town of Aligarh, among student activists at Aligarh Muslim University, at a madrasa in Azamgarh, and during Jamaat's participation in elections in 2002. He deftly traces Jamaat's changing position in relation to India's secular democracy and the group's gradual ideological shift toward religious pluralism and tolerance. Ahmad demonstrates how the rise of militant Hindu nationalism since the 1980s--evident in the destruction of the Babri mosque and widespread violence against Muslims--led to SIMI's radicalization, its rejection of pluralism, and its call for jihad. Islamism and Democracy in India argues that when secular democracy is responsive to the traditions and aspirations of its Muslim citizens, Muslims in turn embrace pluralism and democracy. But when democracy becomes majoritarian and exclusionary, Muslims turn radical.
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