Archives-December 

This paper presents comparative study and simulation results for different Hybrid Multilevel Inverter configurations. This paper covers hybrid multilevel inverters such as cascaded multilevel inverter with high voltage low-frequency pulse width-modulation (PWM) and low voltage high frequency pulse width-modulation (PWM) and series connected half-bridge modules hybrid multilevel inverters. Here the operating principle of each topology is discussed with a review of the relevant modulation method focusing mainly on total harmonic distortion (THD). Such multilevel inverters achieve higher power quality with a given switch count when compared to traditional multilevel inverters. The purpose of the circuits presented here is to minimize the reverse voltage stress that affects the power switches and decrease the harmonic distortion of the voltage applied to the load.

Hydrogen peroxide induce the oxidative stress on the cells. The free oxygen radicle denature the protein by oxidizing the thiole group of protein having cysteine or methionine amino acid that donate proton to free oxygen species thus creating un even di sulphide bonds in protein. Besides H2O2 reduces protein synthesis in various ways with increasing concentration of infusion as well as time. Glutathione which is a natural anti oxidant in cell tries to reduce the oxidative stress in the cell. Glutathione is a tri peptide of glutamate, cysteine and glycine produced by cells. Glutathione prevent oxidation which protect cell and its components from free radicles, reactive oxygen species and peroxides. The ratio of oxidised and reduced glutathione within a cell is indicator of state of oxidative stress on the cell. Thiole group of glutathione donates proton to reduce the oxidative stress on the cell. In an in vitro experiment, liver cell of goat were cultured in M199 media and production of glutathione per milligram of protein with respect to different concentration of hydrogen peroxide as well as different time, glutathione production and protein synthesis was measured by standard method. The production of glutathione per milligram of protein increases with increase in concentration of H2O2 and time.

The paper proposed the application of a new four-dimensional hyper chaotic map based on the Lorenz chaotic system to realize chaotic encryption for improved security. Hyper chaotic systems are more complex and difficult to predict. An image encryption algorithm is designed by utilizing the basic operations like permutation, confusion and diffusion. The combination of the user defined 256 bits secret key and the plain image are used as initial conditions for the 4D hyper-chaotic system to generate the key matrix. Several test images are used for inspecting the validity of the proposed work. The security analyses and computer simulations on the basis of key space analysis, statistical analysis, histogram analysis, information entropy analysis, correlation analysis and differential analysis is done. The NPCR and UACI values of encrypted images are also calculated. The result shows that a single bit change in the pixel value of the input plain images will cause a significant changed in the ciphered images. Total key space for the proposed method is 2256, which is good enough to protect the encrypted image against brute-force attack.

Hydatid disease is a parasitic infestation that is a public health problem in many countries of traditional livestock breeding where it is endemic. Frequently encountered localizations are of hepatic and pulmonary sites, whereas cerebral localization is rare. CT is the test of choice for the diagnosis and postoperative follow-up of cerebral hydatid cyst. MRI is useful for atypical or complicated forms and allows for adequate surgical planning. We report three observations, two of which have an atypical appearance in imaging.

Purchasing and supply management practices play very important role for the performance of the firm, both are recognized as key success factor for an organization. The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship of purchasing and supply management practices with firm performance. In this research data is collected from 440 respondents with the help of questionnaire. The modeling includes regression technique to analyze impact of purchasing and supply management practices on firm performance. On the basis of results of the study it was found that the strategic purchasing and supply management practices have significant impact on firm performance. Study was carefully conducted. But there were some limitations. Research was conducted by covering small population of retail garment sector as in Rawalpindi and Islamabad Pakistan; it would be good if it is completed by covering more cities. 

The focus of this research work was to investigate the influence of awareness and technological issues on the sustenance of institutional repositories (IRs) in three state universities in Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population was made up of librarians and lecturers from Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, Adekunle Ajasin University Akungba Akoko, and Osun State University Osogbo. Data were collected using questionnaire designed to elicit response from respondents and analysed using descriptive statistics method of frequency counts and percentages. However, out of three hundred (300) copies of questionnaire administered to the respondents two hundred and forty three (243) were returned which represents 81% response rate for the study. Findings revealed that there is generally low level of awareness of the existence of institutional repositories among the respondents which could possibly inhibit its sustenance in the long run. In addition, technological challenges such as poor ICTs facilities and telecommunication infrastructure among other issues are factors militating against the sustenance of institutional repositories in Nigeria. However, the study concluded that university management and library stakeholders should mount awareness programmes and advocacy emphasising the benefits of IRs. It was recommended that for universities in Nigeria to keep pace with their counterparts across the globe, there is need to improve on the resources allocation to libraries by the university management to fast track IRs implementation and sustenance among other recommendations.

There has been a lot of mushrooming of SMEs, particularly in the rural parts of Kenya. The Small scale and medium enterprises (SMEs) contribute immensely to the women’s socio-economic empowerment and hence the growth of most of the world economies. To drive this affirmative action agenda, KWFT funds the SMEs inclined to women groups. However, the economic impact of this on women is still very low. Most women are still poorer than their men counterparts. It was therefore necessary to investigate the influence of awareness of KWFT services on socio-economic empowerment of women entrepreneurs in Kenya. The study objective was to examine the influence of the level of awareness of women on KWFT services on socio-economic empowerment of women entrepreneurs in Kenya. The outcome of the study would be significant since it would be a means to empower women entrepreneurs by enhancing awareness on Services rendered by KWFT. Questionnaires were used to collect data from 60 women entrepreneurs while interview schedule was used to obtain information from five KWFT staff. Simple random sampling was used to select the 60 women respondents and purposive sampling was used to select the five KWFT respondents. The result from the pilot study was used to validate the instruments and to enhance the appropriate reliability coefficient. Descriptive and inferential statistical analysis of quantitative data was done using correlation and multiple regressions. The findings were then presented in tables. The collected qualitative data were analyzed by content analysis into the themes (patterns) that emerged from the study. Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation was computed at p?0.05 level of significance to show the relationship between the variables. Results indicated that majority of the women entrepreneurs (97 percent) were members of registered self- help groups. The study findings revealed a high positive correlation (r =.96) between level of awareness of women entrepreneurs about KWFT services (r = .243) on socio-economic empowerment of women. All the two variables added statistically significant to the prediction, p < .05. The research study concluded that, women who were aware of the services of KWFT were more likely to utilize them for socio-economic empowerment.

In this paper a novel face identification technique, ACOG algorithm has been proposed which is a hybrid of ACO (Ant Colony Optimization) algorithm and GA (Genetic algorithm). The ACO processes and extracts the features of the input image over which several pre-processing steps are done to enhance the chances of feature extraction. The extracted features are given as input to GA which detects the face features and compares the features with the existing face database.

In the present scenario, availability of power and water are insufficient to satisfy the farmer’s requirements. Traditionally implemented Techniques of irrigation are proving to be less futile as these are not good at multitasking different concerns which are combinations of availability of water, source of energy and timely soil profile analysis. With the merger of automation and the methods of irrigation used earlier. The scope to mitigate issues concerning water and power crisis, is huge. In this paper Internet of Things based solar powered smart irrigation system with monitoring and control features, is designed and implemented. The sensor enabled proposed model of smart irrigation system along with its Android application and ESP8266 as its main controllers. The farmland parameters can be monitored anywhere around the world with the help of IoT technology. The whole concept of this paper is implemented and then only the results are presented.

The inhibition of the corrosion of mild steel in 0.1 M HCl solution by Pyridine from 303 K to 333 K at concentrations of 5 x 10-4 M, 1 x 10-4 M, 5 x 10-5, 2 x 10-5 M and 1 x 10-5 M was studied using gravimetric technique. The maximum inhibition efficiency 70 % at 5 x 10-4 M for 333 K was observed. The compound acted as corrosion inhibitors in 0.1 M HCl solution through adsorption on the mild steel surface. The maximum heat of adsorption (Q) was 1.0297 KJ/mol whereas the average kinetic energy (Ea) was 20.0 KJ/mol. The weight loss data treated kinetically gave a first order type of mechanism. The results elucidated the effects of inhibitor concentration, temperature, d? – P? interaction between the metal surface, the heteroatom of the inhibitor, and the electron charge densities on the heteroatoms of the Pyridine molecule. The adsorption of the inhibitor on the metal surface obeyed Temkin adsorption isotherm. Quantum chemical calculations using Hartree-fock density functional theory by Hamiltonian method was employed with PM3 (NDDO) basic set of minimal valence basis as STO3G Program.