Using High-Speed Imaging and Machine Learning to Capture Ultrasonic Treatment Cavitation Area at Different Amplitudes

The ultrasonic treatment process strengthens metals by increasing nucleation and decreasing grain size in an energy efficient way, without having to add anything to the material. The goal of this research endeavor was to use machine learning to automatically measure cavitation area in the Ultrasonic Treatment process to understand how amplitude influences cavitation area. For this experiment, a probe was placed into a container filled with turpentine because it has a similar viscosity to liquid aluminum. The probe gyrates up and down tens of micrometers at a frequency of 20 kHz, which causes cavitations to form in the turpentine. Each experimental trial ran for 5 seconds. We took footage on a high-speed camera running the UST probe from 20% to 35% amplitude in increments of 1%. Our research examined how the amplitude of the probe changed the cavitation area per unit time. It was vital to get a great contrast between the cavitations and the turpentine so that we could train a machine learning model to measure the cavitation area in a software called Dragonfly. We observed that as amplitude increased, average cavitation area also increased. Plotting cavitation area versus time shows that the cavitation area for a given amplitude increases and decreases in a wave-like pattern as time passes.

Research trends on CAPTCHA: A systematic literature

The advent of technology has crept into virtually all sectors and this has culminated in automated processes making use of the Internet in executing various tasks and actions. Web services have now become the trend when it comes to providing solutions to mundane tasks. However, this development comes with the bottleneck of authenticity and intent of users. Providers of these Web services, whether as a platform, as a software or as an Infrastructure use various human interaction proof’s (HIPs) to validate authenticity and intent of its users. Completely automated public turing test to tell computer and human apart (CAPTCHA), a form of IDS in web services is advantageous. Research into CAPTCHA can be grouped into two -CAPTCHA development and CAPTCH recognition. Selective learning and convolutionary neural networks (CNN) as well as deep convolutionary neural network (DCNN) have become emerging trends in both the development and recognition of CAPTCHAs. This paper reviews critically over fifty article publications that shows the current trends in the area of the CAPTCHA scheme, its development and recognition mechanisms and the way forward in helping to ensure a robust and yet secure CAPTCHA development in guiding future research endeavor in the subject domain.

Evaluation of the chemical components and some bioactive compounds of the peppermint essential oil (Mentha arvensis L.) cultivated in Vietnam

Vietnam has diverse plant resources and many species are considered to be valuable medicinal sources. Studying, seeking, and evaluating the bioactive compounds from plants is a valuable research endeavor for producing human healthcare products. Peppermint (Mentha arvensisL.) is widely cultivated in Vietnam as a raw material for the production of essential oils serving local needs and exports. This study compared the chemical components and some bioactive compounds in essential oil from Mentha arvensisL. cultivated in Thai Binh, Binh Thuan, and An Giang provinces. The essential oil yields in all samples ranged from 0.69 to 0.84%. Gas chromatography analyses identified 29 substances in total. Menthol and menthone were the two main ingredients in the oils, accounting for 53.62-62.61% and 18.81-21.06%, respectively. Furthermore, all essential oils exhibited free radical scavenging capacity in vitroand antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli. The plants collected in Thai Binh had the highest content of essential oil, menthol, and menthone, as well as the strongest bioactivities.

The Potential of Digital Phenotyping and Mobile Sensing for Psycho-Diagnostics of Internet Use Disorders

Purpose of Review The present paper provides an accessible overview on the potential of digital phenotyping and mobile sensing not only shedding light on the nature of Internet Use Disorders (IUD), but also to provide new ideas on how to improve psycho-diagnostics of mental processes linked to IUD. Recent Findings In detail, the psycho-diagnostic areas of prevention, treatment, and aftercare in the realm of IUDs are focused upon in this work. Before each of these areas is presented in more specificity, the terms digital phenotyping and mobile sensing are introduced against the background of an interdisciplinary research endeavor called Psychoinformatics. Obstacles to overcome problems in this emerging research endeavor—sensing psychological traits/states from digital footprints—are discussed together with risks and chances, which arise from the administration of online-tracking technologies in the field of IUDs. Summary Given the limited validity and reliability of traditional assessment via questionnaires or diagnostic interviews with respect to recall bias and tendencies to answer towards social desirability, digital phenotyping and mobile sensing offer a novel approach overcoming recall bias and other limitations of usual assessment approaches. This will not only set new standards in precisely mapping behavior, but it will also offer scientists and practitioners opportunities to detect risky Internet use patterns in a timely manner and to establish tailored feedback as a means of intervention.

Materialization of racialized surveillance: Lived experiences of home imprisonment

Racialization, surveillance, and securitization may be distinct theoretical concepts, but they are nevertheless significantly intertwined. Race, as a mode of thinking and governance, largely informs the practices of securitization, whereby surveilling racialized bodies is an immanent task of the securitization process. To demonstrate this relationship, I interviewed three of the men from the infamous Canadian “Secret Trial 5” Security Certificate cases and their family members. I investigate their lived experiences of home imprisonment, examining how their home became a key site for the operation and deployment of racialized surveillance. Their experiences illustrate how surveillance emerges as a practice of securitization, where racialized “Others” are reaffirmed as threats to and subjects of unfettered surveillance practices. As the only research endeavor to interview Canada’s security certificate detainees and their families, this article demonstrates how securitization materializes through the transformation of the home into a prison; this is achieved through the imposition of carceral practices and a penal architecture within the home and through eroding belonging and safety for the people living under this type of regime. Moreover, given that most studies focusing on the experiences of securitization are restricted to the experiences of the incarcerated individuals, these studies often exclude, and by extension, silence the voices of the families also touched by these processes. Thus, this article illuminates that, albeit, in different magnitudes, families also undergo the pains of imprisonment.

A mobile cloud computing framework for execution of data as a service using cloudlet

The mobile device has become an essential utility tool for more effective computation, storage, and power, making it suitable for mobile cloud computing. The cloudlet is used as a connectivity establishment link between the mobile device and the cloud. The objective of this paper is to focus on mobile cloud computing facilitated with cloudlet-based computation. The latter possesses inter-cloudlet communication, which had been proposed within the mobile cloudletbased computing environment framework. The same had been further enhanced to scalable critical parameter yield of resources framework. Nevertheless, this was not taken to the criteria, which would impact the yield factor, in terms of availability. The present research endeavor aims to improve the algorithm by considering some more criterion and provides a new mobile cloud computing framework for data execution as a service using cloudlet. The outcome shows a positive result in the cloud- cloudlet based computation.

History of Jirga Laws in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa - Do Islamic Law and Jirga Laws had the same Historical Jurisprudential Approach?

Jirga, a historical legal antique has been an informal adjudication of Pakhtūns. In the present research endeavor conventional Jirga and its various facets had been critically examined from Sharī’ah perspective i.e. whether such Jirga and its procedure is based on Islamic law or not. Jarga bears a very close resemblance in terms of structure and procedure with Qad̝ā and Taḥkīm. Jirga has been simple with no binding implementation. Since 18th century and on-wards, Jirga has evolved into an informal institution of dispute resolution. The criterion for Jirga-Mārān, and Qād̝ī or Ḥākim, astonishingly, have been identical. Besides the free consent, justice dispenser (Jarga-Mār/Qād̝ī or Ḥākim) was supposed not be relative or party (himself) in the matter at all. The fuqahā, both classical and contemporary, have discussed the intermediation through Jirga. This study focuses on compliance and non-compliance of Jirga to Qad̝ā.

Vulnerable Research: Competencies for Trauma and Justice-Informed Ethnography

Ethnographers often work with individuals who are physically, psychologically, spiritually, and/or structurally vulnerable. The article introduces six competencies for ethnographers to be trained in and assessed on to ensure their research is trauma and justice-informed. The author builds from her own research experiences, current methodological approaches to qualitative inquiry, and an integration of sociology and psychology to detail these competencies and provide tools for training and assessment. The competencies include the following: (a) self-awareness; (b) participant-centered approach; (c) recognition of social location; (d) attention to trauma; (e) knowledge of professional limits; and (f) effective boundaries and self-care. The six competencies and Action-reflection course outlined in the article are designed to support researchers in attending to how their personal histories, embodied states, and power dynamics shape the research endeavor, as well as, learn skills for healthy boundary-keeping, risk assessment, and steps to minimize participant (re)traumatization. Although these competencies are essential for work with disempowered populations, they are beneficial for all qualitative researchers to ensure both personal and participant safety.

Needs Analysis of Chinese English Majors in EGP Courses

Based on the needs analysis model outlined by Li (2007), this study investigates the needs of Chinese English majors enrolled in EGP courses and identifies the gender differences in their needs from linguistic, cognitive, and affective perspectives. SPSS 23.0 was used in this study to analyze data obtained from 221 Chinese English majors through a revised version of Li’s (2007) questionnaire. The results showed that: 1) from the linguistic perspective, students revealed the strongest desire to practice pronunciation and speaking in class, attached the greatest importance to vocabulary and speaking, and had a conflict opinion of vocabulary. 2) from the cognitive perspective, students manifested aspirations for the teacher’s positive feedback, a harmonious English learning environment, communicative learning activities, and the opportunity to practice in class. 3) from the affective perspective, students recorded the usefulness of English as their primary learning motivation, showing a broadly positive attitude and adequate confidence when learning English. 4) males preferred using the grammar-translation method to learn English and were more likely to be motivated by their desires to understand the information in English; females favored adopting the communicative method to learn English and were more likely to be stimulated by school’s requirement and their cravings for good grades. This research endeavor is considered significant because its finding can be used to assist Chinese teachers and course designers to develop the rarely-examined EGP courses provided for Chinese English majors based on the often-overlooked students’ needs.

RESPONSE OF YIELD AND ITS ATTRIBUTING TRAITS FOR VARIOUS NITROGEN REGIMES IN INDIAN MUSTARD [BRASSICA JUNCEA (L.) CZERN. AND COSS.]

The research endeavor to study the effect of nitrogen levels on yield and its attributing traits including both quantitative and qualitative characters was undertaken by utilizing eleven diverse commercial Indian mustard (Brassica juncea L.) cultivars and forty-five hybrids raised in alpha lattice design with two replications under three nitrogen levels viz., control; 75 kg Nitrogen /ha and 150 kg Nitrogen /ha. at the experimental farm of Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar Punjab. The traits viz., days to flower initiation, 50 percent flowering and maturity; plant height; number of secondary branches; test weight; seed yield; harvest index; oil content; seed & chaff nitrogen and Seed & Chaff Nitrogen uptake increased with the increase in nitrogen levels. On the other hand, the number of seeds per siliqua decreased with the increase in Nitrogen level. Some traits viz. Number of Primary branches & Siliqua on main shoot; length of main shoot and biological yield were found unaffected and didn’t depicted a clear trend at Nitrogen levels under study.