Machine Learning at the Network Edge: A Survey

Resource-constrained IoT devices, such as sensors and actuators, have become ubiquitous in recent years. This has led to the generation of large quantities of data in real-time, which is an appealing target for AI systems. However, deploying machine learning models on such end-devices is nearly impossible. A typical solution involves offloading data to external computing systems (such as cloud servers) for further processing but this worsens latency, leads to increased communication costs, and adds to privacy concerns. To address this issue, efforts have been made to place additional computing devices at the edge of the network, i.e., close to the IoT devices where the data is generated. Deploying machine learning systems on such edge computing devices alleviates the above issues by allowing computations to be performed close to the data sources. This survey describes major research efforts where machine learning systems have been deployed at the edge of computer networks, focusing on the operational aspects including compression techniques, tools, frameworks, and hardware used in successful applications of intelligent edge systems.

Can differences in publisher size account for the relatively low prices of the journals available to master’s universities through commercial publishers’ databases? The importance of price discrimination and substitution effects

Using price quotes and invoices for thousands of full-text databases and single-journal subscriptions, this study confirms that for a typical master’s university, the journals acquired through commercial publishers’ databases cost substantially less than those acquired through the databases of scholarly societies, universities, and other nonprofits. Moreover, the lower prices of commercial publishers’ journals cannot be readily attributed to publisher size (number of journals published) or to any of several other explanatory variables. There is a weak, direct association between publisher size and price among the for-profit journals but a stronger, inverse relationship between publisher size and price among the nonprofit journals. These findings, along with the results of previous research, suggest that resource providers may have incentives to keep prices low due to the collection development strategies adopted by many teaching-oriented colleges and universities. If the library’s goal is to hold a sufficient number of high-quality journals rather than to provide immediate access to every wanted journal, particular journals and databases may be regarded as substitutes even when each product provides unique content. Many U.S. bachelor’s and master’s institutions have goals different from those of the major research universities, and commercial publishers (along with some of the larger nonprofits) seem to recognize this when setting and negotiating prices.

A Review of Aquilaria malaccensis Propagation and Production of the Secondary Metabolite from Callus

Aquilaria is an evergreen non-timber agarwood obtained from the 15 species of Aquilaria belonging to the family Thymelecea. There are two species endemic to Northeast India, A. malaccensis and A. khasiana. A. malaccensis generate a high-grade degree of resin as compared to the other Aquilaria species, and it contributes to the economy of the Northeast states of India and the country as a whole. Due to its profoundly valuable sources, it is overexploited, which impacted its availability in genetic environments. The cultivation of the tree is challenging due to some environmental factors like the sensitivity of the seeds to desiccation, high light intensity, low shelf life, slow growth rate, and the effect of insects and microorganisms. Therefore, conservation and proliferation are urgently required for environmental sustainability and prevention from the stage of extinction. The objective of this paper is to compile the major research works on the conservation, production of the secondary metabolite from callus of A. malaccensis and updated information on its developments and approaches that are rapidly taking place in recent years so that further novel research can be envisaged.

Postal Automation System in Gurmukhi Script using Deep Learning

Nowadays in the era of automation, the postal automation system is one of the major research areas. Developing a postal automation system for a nation like India is much troublesome than other nations because of India’s multi-script and multi-lingual behavior. This proposed work will be helpful in the postal automation of district names of Punjab (state) written in Gurmukhi script, which is the official language of the state in North India. For this, a holistic approach i.e. a segmentation-free technique has been used with the help of Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and Deep learning (DL). For the purpose of recognition, a database of 22[Formula: see text]000 images (samples) which are handwritten in Gurmukhi script for all the 22 districts of Punjab is prepared. Each sample is written two times by 500 different writers generating 1000 samples for each district name. Two CNN models are proposed which are named as ConvNetGuru and ConvNetGuruMod for the purpose of recognition. Maximum validation accuracy achieved by ConvNetGuru is 90% and ConvNetGuruMod is 98%.

Urban Policy And Heritage Planning: The Disproportionate Designation Of Heritage Conservation Districts (HCDs) In The City Of Toronto

<div>This Major Research Paper (MRP) examines the disproportionate designation of Heritage Conservation Districts (HCDs) within the City of Toronto, which are predominantly located in the City's downtown core, compared to the City's inner suburban areas. To illustrate the discrepancies in HCD designation, two potential HCDs in Scarborough, one of three inner suburbs in Toronto, are chronologically examined. Both Agincourt and Midland Park’s HCD represent the most recent examples of heritage designation in the inner suburb, which stands as the only area in the City that has zero HCDs. Before the case studies are discussed, the effects of Toronto's 1998 amalgamation, select timeframes of the City's planning history and recent changes to Provincial planning legislation that govern municipalities' heritage approach are examined. It is determined that a series of factors contribute to the disproportionate designation of HCDs in the City of Toronto. These factors include the incremental designation of heritage properties post amalgamation, the lengthy heritage designation process, the intergovernmental nature of municipal heritage policies, the lack of public education on the benefits of heritage and a complex HCD prioritization process all contribute to the disproportionate designation of HCD’s in the City of Toronto. Four key recommendations are offered to help resolve the heritage designation issue in the City of Toronto.</div><div><br></div><div>Keywords: Heritage Conservation Districts; Toronto; Urban Planning, Urban Policy, Heritage Urbanism.</div>

Urban Policy And Heritage Planning: The Disproportionate Designation Of Heritage Conservation Districts (HCDs) In The City Of Toronto

<div>This Major Research Paper (MRP) examines the disproportionate designation of Heritage Conservation Districts (HCDs) within the City of Toronto, which are predominantly located in the City's downtown core, compared to the City's inner suburban areas. To illustrate the discrepancies in HCD designation, two potential HCDs in Scarborough, one of three inner suburbs in Toronto, are chronologically examined. Both Agincourt and Midland Park’s HCD represent the most recent examples of heritage designation in the inner suburb, which stands as the only area in the City that has zero HCDs. Before the case studies are discussed, the effects of Toronto's 1998 amalgamation, select timeframes of the City's planning history and recent changes to Provincial planning legislation that govern municipalities' heritage approach are examined. It is determined that a series of factors contribute to the disproportionate designation of HCDs in the City of Toronto. These factors include the incremental designation of heritage properties post amalgamation, the lengthy heritage designation process, the intergovernmental nature of municipal heritage policies, the lack of public education on the benefits of heritage and a complex HCD prioritization process all contribute to the disproportionate designation of HCD’s in the City of Toronto. Four key recommendations are offered to help resolve the heritage designation issue in the City of Toronto.</div><div><br></div><div>Keywords: Heritage Conservation Districts; Toronto; Urban Planning, Urban Policy, Heritage Urbanism.</div>

An Affair with a Village – Joy Hendry

Joy Hendry is today a leading Japanese studies scholar and anthropologist, recompensed with the Order of the Rising Sun, who founded and presided over several major research associations over the past decades. However, at the time this story starts (as it is a story Hendry is writing in this book), she is a young woman starting her fieldwork for a doctorate. She had mastered the Japanese language already, but many aspects of Japanese daily life, especially in a retired rural area such as the small village of Kurotsuchi (Kyushu), elude her – as it did for most foreign academics in the 1970s. Written during lockdown due to the pandemic, Hendry narrates [...]

Reactivity and selectivity modulation within a molecular assembly: recent examples from photochemistry

In recent years, photochemical reactions have emerged as powerful transformations which significantly expand the repertoire of organic synthesis. However, a certain lack of selectivity can hamper their application and limit their scope. In this context, a major research effort continues to focus on an improved control over stereo- and chemoselectivity that can be achieved in molecular assemblies between photosubstrates and an appropriate host molecule. In this tutorial review, some recent, representative examples of photochemical reactions have been collected whose unique outcome is dictated by the formation of a molecular assembly driven by non-covalent weak interactions. Graphical Abstract