From template to image: reconstructing fingerprints from minutiae points

Most fingerprint-based biometric systems store the minutiae template of a user in the database. It has been traditionally assumed that the minutiae template of a user does not reveal any information about the original fingerprint. In this paper, we challenge this notion and show that three levels of information about the parent fingerprint can be elicited from the minutiae template alone, viz., 1) the orientation field information, 2) the class or type information, and 3) the friction ridge structure. The orientation estimation algorithm determines the direction of local ridges using the evidence of minutiae triplets. The estimated orientation field, along with the given minutiae distribution, is then used to predict the class of the fingerprint. Finally, the ridge structure of the parent fingerprint is generated using streamlines that are based on the estimated orientation field. Line integral convolution is used to impart texture to the ensuing ridges, resulting in a ridge map resembling the parent fingerprint. The salient feature of this noniterative method to generate ridges is its ability to preserve the minutiae at specified locations in the reconstructed ridge map. Experiments using a commercial fingerprint matcher suggest that the reconstructed ridge structure bears close resemblance to the parent fingerprint     

Assessing Mobile Technology Usage for Knowledge Dissemination among Farmers in Punjab

Agriculture-based precise and accurate information needs to be disseminated promptly to farmers so that better decisions such as managing farm fields, making continuous and scientific changes in their production systems and grabbing advantage of market opportunities can be made. In this paper, mobile technology is assessed for the agriculture information dissemination system. A survey has been conducted to find out potential technology, related to the use of the Internet and mobile among farmers in the state of Punjab in India, to deliver agriculture-related information to them. Results show that agricultural information system needs to be developed based on the mass communication technology such as mobile systems. It is also noted that localization and native language of farmers are the concerns to be incorporated into the systems. It has been focused that the use of soft-computing techniques in conjunction with communication networks, for inferring the decision regarding best practices for agricultural activities, is helpful in the development of these systems.     

Differential scanning calorimetric studies on structured lipids from coconut oil triglycerides containing stearic acid

Triglycerides from coconut oil contain high levels of lauric acid. They were replaced by incremental amounts of stearic acid by interesterification reactions catalyzed by immobilized lipase (IM 60 from Rhizomucor miehei). The reactions were carried out in organic solvents such as hexane. Maximum incorporation of stearic acid was observed by 4 h at 37vv°C or by 2 h at 60vv°C when triglycerides to fatty acid (stearic acid) ratio was maintained at 1v:Ң. The stearic acid level in coconut oil triglycerides was increased from an initial value of 2% to 60% under these conditions. The stearic acid replaced lauric, myristic, and palmitic acids in unmodified triglycerides. A major portion of stearic acid incorporated was found in positions 1 and 3 of triglycerides. Differential scanning calorimetry indicated that stearic acid enrichment increased the solid fat content and also the higher melting polymorphs in modified lipids. The studies also indicated that low melting polymorphic forms of coconut oil triglycerides are converted to higher melting forms by stearic acid enrichment. The modified lipids thus obtained can find use in various food applications.     

Unsupervised texture segmentation using Gabor filters

This paper presents a texture segmentation algorithm inspired by the multi-channel filtering theory for visual information processing in the early stages of human visual system. The channels are characterized by a bank of Gabor filters that nearly uniformly covers the spatial-frequency domain, and a systematic filter selection scheme is proposed, which is based on reconstruction of the input image from the filtered images. Texture features are obtained by subjecting each (selected) filtered image to a nonlinear transformation and computing a measure of “energy” in a window around each pixel. A square-error clustering algorithm is then used to integrate the feature images and produce a segmentation. A simple procedure to incorporate spatial information in the clustering process is proposed. A relative index is used to estimate the “true” number of texture categories.     

A parallel technique for signal-level perceptual organization

Due to the potential for essentially unbounded scene complexity, it is often necessary to translate the sensor-derived signals into richer symbolic representations. A key initial stage in this abstraction process is signal-level perceptual organization (SLPO) involving the processes of partitioning and identification. A parallel SLPO algorithm that follows the global hypothesis testing paradigm, but breaks the iterative structure of conventional region growing through the use of α-partitioning and region filtering is presented. These two techniques segment an image such that the gray-level variation within each region can be described by a regression model. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of this algorithm     

Evaluation of projection algorithms

A number of linear and nonlinear mapping algorithms for the projection of patterns from a high-dimensional space to two dimensions are available. These two-dimensional representations allow quick visual observation of a data set. A combination of two popular mapping algorithms-Sammon's mean-square error technique and the triangulation method-is proposed to overcome the limitations in the individual algorithms. Some factors which describe the goodness of a projection are described, and a comparison is made of six of these algorithms by running them on four data sets. The results obtained support the use of the proposed algorithm.     

An interactive method for extracting grammar from programs

The grammar of the language in which some given code is written is essential for developing automated tools for maintenance, reengineering, and program analysis. Frequently grammar is available for a language but not for its variants that are implemented by various vendors and in which the given code may be written. In this work we address the problem of obtaining the grammar from source code, which can then be used for generating tools for the programs. We propose an incremental method for obtaining grammar for a particular language variant, from a set of programs written in the language variant and an approximate grammar (presumably of the standard language) with some user interaction. We also present the design of a tool for implementing this approach and our experience in working with grammars of C, C++ and COBOL. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Antioxidant activity of compounds isolated from the pyroligneous acid, Rhizophora apiculata

The polyphenols (CPAE II) was isolated from the dichloromethane extract of the pyroligneous acid, Rhizophora apiculata by simultaneous acid base and solvent extraction method. Its qualitative and quantitative composition was studied by gas chromatography mass spectroscopy (GC/MS) and out of 57 peaks, 52 compounds were identified, representing 95.47% of the total polyphenols. The CPAE II was then fractionated to four fractions (F1–F4) by means of thin layer chromatography and silica gel column chromatography with dichloromethane, dichloromethane/chloroform/ethyl acetate mixture (8:1:1; 4:3:3, v/v/v), and ethyl acetate, respectively. The antioxidant properties of the CPAE II and the fractions were evaluated. Among the four fractions, fraction 1 (F1) was the most potent in DPPH radical scavenging activity and molybdenum (VI) reducing power. It was subjected to further purification by means of silica gel column chromatography with hexane, hexane/diethyl ether mixture (9:1, 6:1, 3:1, v/v), and diethyl ether, respectively. 2,6-Dimethoxyphenol (syringol) and dihydroxybenzenes (catechol and 3-methoxycatechol) were isolated and identified by GC/MS, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR spectral analyses, and confirmed by GC co-injection with authentic standards. Syringol, catechol and 3-methoxycatechol constitute 39.08, 4.21 and 1.10% of F1, respectively. Their antioxidant activities were evaluated by DPPH radical scavenging activity, ABTS radical cation scavenging activity, phosphomolybdenum and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP). The trend in antioxidant capacity was similar in all the four assays, with dihydroxybenzenes > 2,6-dimethoxyphenols, although discrepancies in the ranking within the dihydroxybenzenes were present. These three compounds which showed significant antioxidant activities were isolated for the first time from the pyroligneous acid, R. apiculata.     

Graph theoretic foundations of multibody dynamics

This second part of a two part paper uses concepts from graph theory to obtain a deeper understanding of the mathematical foundations of multibody dynamics. The first part (Jain in Graph theoretic foundations of multibody dynamics. Part I. Structural properties, 2010) established the block-weighted adjacency (BWA) matrix structure of spatial operators associated with serial- and tree-topology multibody system dynamics, and introduced the notions of spatial kernel operators (SKO) and spatial propagation operators (SPO). This paper builds upon these connections to show that key analytical results and computational algorithms are a direct consequence of these structural properties and require minimal assumptions about the specific nature of the underlying multibody system. We formalize this notion by introducing the notion of SKO models for general tree-topology multibody systems. We show that key analytical results, including mass-matrix factorization, inversion, and decomposition hold for all SKO models. It is also shown that key low-order scatter/gather recursive computational algorithms follow directly from these abstract-level analytical results. Application examples to illustrate the concrete application of these general results are provided. The paper also describes a general recipe for developing SKO models. The abstract nature of SKO models allows for the application of these techniques to a very broad class of multibody systems.     

集成模拟和实际测试带来更短的设计周期和更高质量的产品

尽管模拟和测试在产品开发过程中扮演着相似的角色,但到目前为止功能上的互补并未臻完整.它们存在于各自相对隔绝的环境中(一个处于实际环境中,另一个则处于虚拟环境中),彼此的结果不能互用,在许多情况下甚至不相信彼此的结果.……