Abstract: Recent discoveries of Bronze Age artefacts, tin slag, furnaces and crucibles, together with new geological evidence on tin deposits in Tosham area of Bhiwani district in Haryana (India) provide the opportunity to survey the evidence for possible sources of tin and the use of bronze in the Harappan sites of north western India. Earlier, Afghanistan emerged as the most promising eastern source of tin utilized by Indus Civilization copper-smiths. Our excavations conducted at Khanak near Tosham mining area during 2014 and 2016 revealed ample evidence of metallurgical activities as attested by the occurrence of slag, ores and evidences of ashes and fragments of furnaces in addition to the bronze objects. We have conducted petrological, XRD, EDAX, TEM, SEM and metallography on the slag, ores, crucible fragments and bronze objects samples recovered from Khanak excavations. This has given positive indication of mining and metallurgy of poly-mettalic Tin at the site; however, it can only be ascertained after the detailed scientific examination of the materials which is underway. In view of the importance of site, we intend to excavate the site horizontally in future so as to obtain more samples for scientific studies.
Abstract: This paper measures technical and scale efficiencies of 40 Indian sugar companies for the period from 2004-05 to 2013-14. The efficiencies are estimated through input-oriented DEA models using one output variable—value of output (VOP) and five input variables—capital cost (CA), employee cost (EMP), raw material (RW), energy & fuel (E&F) and other manufacturing expenses (OME). The sugar companies are classified into integrated and non-integrated categories to know which one achieves higher level of efficiency. Sources of inefficiency in the industry are identified through decomposing the overall technical efficiency (TE) into pure technical efficiency (PTE) and scale efficiency (SE). The paper also estimates input-reduction targets for relatively inefficient companies and suggests measures to improve their efficiency level. The findings reveal that the TE does not evince any trend rather it shows fluctuations across years, largely due to erratic and cyclical pattern of sugar production. Further, technical inefficiency in the industry seems to be driven more by the managerial inefficiency than the scale inefficiency, which implies that TE can be improved through better conversion of inputs into output.
Abstract: Present paper enumerates highlights of seasonal
variation in floristic composition and ecological strategies for the
management of ‘Gujar Tal’ at Jaunpur in tropical semi-arid region of
eastern U.P. (India). Total composition of macrophytes recorded was
47 from 26 families with maximum 6 plant species of Cyperaceae
from April, 2012 to March, 2013 at certain periodic intervals.
Maximum number of plants (39) was present during winter followed
by (37) rainy and (27) summer seasons. The distribution pattern
depicted that maximum number of plants (27) was of marshy and
swampy habitats usually transitional between land and water.
Abstract: Gladiolus is an important cash crop and is grown
mainly for its elegant spikes. Traditionally the gladiolus corms are
planted manually which is very tedious, time consuming and labor
intensive operation. So far, there is no planter available for planting
of gladiolus corms. With a view to mechanize the planting operation
of this horticultural crop, a prototype of 4-row gladiolus planter was
developed and its performance was evaluated in-situ condition. Cupchain
type metering device was used to place each single gladiolus
corm in furrow at required spacing while planting. Three levels of
corm spacing viz 15, 20 and 25 cm and four levels of forward speed
viz 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5 km/h was taken as evaluation parameter for
the planter. The performance indicators namely corm spacing in each
row, coefficient of uniformity, missing index, multiple index, quality
of feed index, number of corms per meter length, mechanical damage
to the corms etc. were determined during the field test. The data was
statistically analyzed using Completely Randomized Design (CRD)
for testing the significance of the parameters. The result indicated
that planter was able to drop the corms at required nominal spacing
with minor variations. The highest deviation from the mean corm
spacing was observed as 3.53 cm with maximum coefficient of
variation as 13.88%. The highest missing and quality of feed indexes
were observed as 6.33% and 97.45% respectively with no multiples.
The performance of the planter was observed better at lower forward
speed and wider corm spacing. The field capacity of the planter was
found as 0.103 ha/h with an observed field efficiency of 76.57%.
Abstract: This paper presents a methodology using
Gravitational Search Algorithm for optimal placement of Phasor
Measurement Units (PMUs) in order to achieve complete
observability of the power system. The objective of proposed
algorithm is to minimize the total number of PMUs at the power
system buses, which in turn minimize installation cost of the PMUs.
In this algorithm, the searcher agents are collection of masses which
interact with each other using Newton’s laws of gravity and motion.
This new Gravitational Search Algorithm based method has been
applied to the IEEE 14-bus, IEEE 30-bus and IEEE 118-bus test
systems. Case studies reveal optimal number of PMUs with better
observability by proposed method.
Abstract: The integration of wide variety of communication services is made possible with invention of 3G technology. Code Division Multiple Access 2000 operates on various RF channel bandwidths 1.2288 or 3.6864 Mcps (1x or 3x systems). It is a 3G system which offers high bandwidth and wireless broadband services but its efficiency is lowered due to various factors like fading, interference, scattering, absorption etc. This paper investigates the effect of diversity (MRC), roll off factor in Root Raised Cosine (RRC) filter for the BPSK and QPSK modulation schemes. It is possible to transmit data with minimum Inter symbol Interference and within limited bandwidth with proper pulse shaping technique. Bit error rate (BER) performance is analyzed by applying diversity technique by varying the roll off factor for BPSK and QPSK. Roll off factor reduces the ISI and diversity reduces the Fading.
Abstract: Present paper deals with an evaluation of magnitude of changes in biomass and net primary productivity at ‘Gujar Tal’ sloppy lake margin at Jaunpur in tropical semi-arid region of eastern U.P. (India). The study site abandoned or neglected lands (50 ×125 m) was divided into two zones, i.e. upper zone (up-land) and lower zone (low-land). Maximum biomass in the upper zone of dominant weed Desmostachya bipinnata (L.) Stapf. was 207.47 g m-2 and ‘rest weeds’ was 457.45 g m-2 both in the month of September. In contrast, the peak biomass value in the lower zone of dominant weed Oryza rufipogon Griff. was 1571.44 g m-2 in October and ‘rest weeds’ 270.65 g m-2 in February. Among the two zones, the peak total community biomass was observed 1655.62 g m-2 (October) in the lower zone while its peak value for the upper zone 457.45 g m-2 (September) was comparatively low. Maximum percentage contribution of dominant weeds (D. bipinnata and O. rufipogon) in the respective upper and lower zones and ‘rest weeds’ in both the zones varied in different months in the total community biomass. The peak net primary productivity of dominant weed (D. bipinnata) was 2.09g m-2 day-1 (September) and ‘rest weeds’ was 2.37 g m-2 day-1 (August) in the upper zone, while the lower zone for O. rufipogon was 5.25 g m-2 day-1 (June) as this zone was inundated later and ‘rest weeds’ was 2.08 g m-2 day-1 (January, 2009). The annual net production of total community at site I was highest, 409.58 g m-2 yr-1 in the upper zone followed by 395.58 g m-2 per eight month in the lower zone as this zone was flooded with water during rainy season. The site significance of variations in biomass in relation to plant species was tested by analysis of variance. It was significant between months in all the two zones (p
Abstract: The results reported in this paper are the part of an extensive laboratory investigation undertaken to study the effects of fibre parameters on the permeability and strength characteristics of steel fibre reinforced concrete (SFRC). The effect of varying fibre content and curing age on the water permeability, compressive and split tensile strengths of SFRC was investigated using straight steel fibres having an aspect ratio of 65. Samples containing three different weight fractions of 1.0%, 2.0% and 4.0% were cast and tested for permeability and strength after 7, 14, 28 and 60 days of curing. Plain concrete samples were also cast and tested for reference purposes.
Permeability was observed to decrease significantly with the addition of steel fibres and continued to decrease with increasing fibre content and increasing curing age. An exponential relationship was observed between permeability and compressive and split tensile strengths for SFRC as well as PCC. To evaluate the effect of fibre content on the permeability and strength characteristics, the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) statistical method was used. An a level (probability of error) of 0.05 was used for ANOVA test. Regression analysis was carried out to develop relationship between permeability, compressive strength and curing age.
Abstract: This paper discusses a new heavy tailed distribution based data hiding into discrete cosine transform (DCT) coefficients of image, which provides statistical security as well as robustness against steganalysis attacks. Unlike other data hiding algorithms, the proposed technique does not introduce much effect in the stegoimage-s DCT coefficient probability plots, thus making the presence of hidden data statistically undetectable. In addition the proposed method does not compromise on hiding capacity. When compared to the generic block DCT based data-hiding scheme, our method found more robust against a variety of image manipulating attacks such as filtering, blurring, JPEG compression etc.
Abstract: The voice signal in Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) system is processed through the best effort policy based IP network, which leads to the network degradations including delay, packet loss jitter. The work in this paper presents the implementation of finite impulse response (FIR) filter for voice quality improvement in the VoIP system through distributed arithmetic (DA) algorithm. The VoIP simulations are conducted with AMR-NB 6.70 kbps and G.729a speech coders at different packet loss rates and the performance of the enhanced VoIP signal is evaluated using the perceptual evaluation of speech quality (PESQ) measurement for narrowband signal. The results show reduction in the computational complexity in the system and significant improvement in the quality of the VoIP voice signal.
Abstract: This paper describes a steady state model of a multiple
effect evaporator system for simulation and control purposes. The
model includes overall as well as component mass balance equations,
energy balance equations and heat transfer rate equations for area
calculations for all the effects. Each effect in the process is
represented by a number of variables which are related by the energy
and material balance equations for the feed, product and vapor flow
for backward, mixed and split feed. For simulation 'fsolve' solver in
MATLAB source code is used. The optimality of three sequences i.e.
backward, mixed and splitting feed is studied by varying the various
input parameters.
Abstract: CDMA cellular networks support soft handover,
which guarantees the continuity of wireless services and enhanced
communication quality. Cellular networks support multimedia
services under varied propagation environmental conditions. In this
paper, we have shown the effect of characteristic parameters of the
cellular environments on the soft handover performance. We
consider path loss exponent, standard deviation of shadow fading and
correlation coefficient of shadow fading as the characteristic
parameters of the radio propagation environment. A very useful
statistical measure for characterizing the performance of mobile radio
system is the probability of outage. It is shown through numerical
results that above parameters have decisive effect on the probability
of outage and hence the overall performance of the soft handover
algorithm.
Abstract: The habitat where the present study has been carried
out is productive in relation to nutrient quality and they may perform
several useful functions, but are also threatened for their existence.
Hence, the proposed work, will add much new information about
biodiversity of macrophytes in drains and their embankment. All the
species were identified with their different stages of growth which
encountered on the three selected sites (I, II and III). The number of
species occurring at each site is grouped seasonally, i.e. summer,
rainy and winter season and the species were further recorded for the
study of phytosociology. Phytosociological characters such as
frequency, density and abundance were influenced by the climatic,
anthropogenic and biotic stresses prevailing at the three study sites.
All the species present at the study sites have shown maximum
values of frequency, density and abundance in rainy season in
comparison to that of summer and winter seasons.
Abstract: This paper presents a new spread-spectrum
watermarking algorithm for digital images in discrete wavelet
transform (DWT) domain. The algorithm is applied for embedding
watermarks like patient identification /source identification or
doctors signature in binary image format into host digital
radiological image for potential telemedicine applications.
Performance of the algorithm is analysed by varying the gain factor,
subband decomposition levels, and size of watermark. Simulation
results show that the proposed method achieves higher watermarking
capacity.
Abstract: Array signal processing involves signal enumeration and source localization. Array signal processing is centered on the ability to fuse temporal and spatial information captured via sampling signals emitted from a number of sources at the sensors of an array in order to carry out a specific estimation task: source characteristics (mainly localization of the sources) and/or array characteristics (mainly array geometry) estimation. Array signal processing is a part of signal processing that uses sensors organized in patterns or arrays, to detect signals and to determine information about them. Beamforming is a general signal processing technique used to control the directionality of the reception or transmission of a signal. Using Beamforming we can direct the majority of signal energy we receive from a group of array. Multiple signal classification (MUSIC) is a highly popular eigenstructure-based estimation method of direction of arrival (DOA) with high resolution. This Paper enumerates the effect of missing sensors in DOA estimation. The accuracy of the MUSIC-based DOA estimation is degraded significantly both by the effects of the missing sensors among the receiving array elements and the unequal channel gain and phase errors of the receiver.
Abstract: A self-association model has been used to understand
the concentration dependence of free energy of mixing (GM), heat of
mixing (HM), entropy of mixing (SM), activity (a) and microscopic
structures, such as concentration fluctuation in long wavelength limit
(Scc(0)) and Warren-Cowley short range order parameter ( 1
α )for Cu-
Tl molten alloys at 1573K. A comparative study of surface tension of
the alloys in the liquid state at that temperature has also been carried
out theoretically as function of composition in the light of Butler-s
model, Prasad-s model and quasi-chemical approach. Most of the
computed thermodynamic properties have been found in agreement
with the experimental values. The analysis reveals that the Cu-Tl
molten alloys at 1573K represent a segregating system at all
concentrations with moderate interaction. Surface tensions computed
from different approaches have been found to be comparable to each
other showing increment with the composition of copper.
Abstract: In this paper, Tobephobia (TBP) alludes to the fear of
failure experienced by teachers to manage curriculum change. TBP is
an emerging concept and it extends the boundaries of research in
terms of how we view achievement and failure in education.
Outcomes-based education (OBE) was introduced fifteen years ago
in South African schools without simultaneously upgrading teachers-
professional competencies. This exploratory research, therefore
examines a simple question: What is the impact of TBP and OBE on
teachers? Teacher ineptitude to cope with the OBE curriculum in the
classroom is a serious problem affecting large numbers of South
African teachers. This exploratory study sought to determine the
perceived negative impact of OBE and TBP on teachers. A survey
was conducted amongst 311 teachers in Port Elizabeth and Durban,
South Africa. The results confirm the very negative impact of TBP
and OBE on teachers. This exploratory study authenticates the
existence of TBP.