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Ihtisham Ali

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Papers by Ihtisham Ali

Discrimination and Cel Counting of Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) under Hypercholesterolemia using K-Means Clustering

Clove leaf extract contains high natural antioxidant. In this study, an experiment was conducted ... more Clove leaf extract contains high natural antioxidant. In this study, an experiment was conducted to analyse the effect methanol extract of clove leaf on the profile of superoxide dismutase (SOD) in the rabbits liver under hypercholesterolemic condition. Rabbits were divided into three groups i.e (1) negative control group, (2) positive control (hypercholesterolemic) group,which fed diet containing 1% cholesterol for 50 days, and (3)group which was given clove leaf extract and 1% cholesterol simultaneously for 50 days. Contents profile of antioxidant superoxide dismutase in rabbit liver tissue was obtained using immunihistochemical techniques. The images were taken from each group using a microscope to analyse the reaction of clove leaf extract to the cells. The images were processed using K�mean clustering to discriminate the cells after treatment. The cell segmentation was performed to count number of the cells based on their treatment. The cell counting technique then compared wit...

Bi-directional Loop Closure for Visual SLAM

arXiv (Cornell University), Apr 1, 2022

Discrimination of active dynamic objects in stereo-based visual SLAM

Electronic Imaging, 2018

Over the years, the problem of simultaneous localization and mapping have been substantially stud... more Over the years, the problem of simultaneous localization and mapping have been substantially studied. Effective and robust techniques have been developed for mapping and localizing in an unknown environment in real-time. However, the bulk of the work presumes that the environment under observation is composed of static objects. In this study, we propose an approach aimed at localizing and mapping an environment irrespective of the motion of the objects in the scene. A hard threshold based Iterative Closest Point algorithm is used to compute transformations between point clouds that are obtained from dense stereo matching. The dynamic entities along with system noise are identified and isolated in the form of outliers of the data correspondence step. A confidence metric is defined that helps in identifying and transitioning a 3D point from static to dynamic and vice versa. The results are then verified in a 2D domain with the aid of a modified Gaussian Mixture Model based motion estimation. The dynamic objects are segmented in 3D and 2D domains for any possible analysis and decision making. The results demonstrate that the proposed approach effectively eliminates noise and isolates the dynamic objects during the mapping of the environment.

Genetic Diversity and Traits Association in Tetraploid and Hexaploid Wheat Genotypes in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan

Sarhad Journal of Agriculture, 2020

All material supplied via Jukuri is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights... more All material supplied via Jukuri is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights. Duplication or sale, in electronic or print form, of any part of the repository collections is prohibited. Making electronic or print copies of the material is permitted only for your own personal use or for educational purposes. For other purposes, this article may be used in accordance with the publisher's terms. There may be differences between this version and the publisher's version. You are advised to cite the publisher's version. This is an electronic reprint of the original article. This reprint may differ from the original in pagination and typographic detail.

Growth Yield and Quality Comparison of Different Forage Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) Cultivars Harvested at Different Flowering Intervals

Transylvanian Review, 2016

A field experiment was conducted to study the influence of harvesting time on growth, yield and q... more A field experiment was conducted to study the influence of harvesting time on growth, yield and quality of three forage sorghum cultivars during 2013 at research farm, Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. The experiment was comprised of four harvesting intervals (25%, 50%, 75% and 100% flowering) and three cultivars (Sorghum 2011, JS-263 and JS-2002) for evaluation. Randomized complete block design (RCBD) with factorial arrangement and three replications was used in the experiment. Net plot size was 1.8 m × 6 m. The data was recorded for yield and quality relating traits viz.,higher plant height was recorded 51.3 (100%), number of leaves per plant, leaf area per plant, stem diameter, plant density, forage yield, dry matter yield, dry matter (%), crude protein contents (%), crude fiber contents (%) and ash contents (%). The growth yield and quality parameters differed among the cultivars. As for harvesting intervals growth and yield was increased with delayi...

Molecular basis of Iron Biofortification in crop plants; A step towards sustainability

Plant Breeding, 2020

Iron is one of the most important micronutrients for crop plants due to its use in important phys... more Iron is one of the most important micronutrients for crop plants due to its use in important physiological processes such as photosynthesis, mitochondrial respiration, metal homeostasis, and chlorophyll synthesis. Crop plants have adapted different strategies for uptake, transport, accumulation, and storage of iron in tissues and organs which later can be consumed by humans. Estimates indicate that about 2 billion people (33% of human population) are at risk of iron deficiency in which infants, children, and pregnant women are potentially compromised. Biofortification refers to the increase in concentration of micronutrients in edible parts of plants and understanding the pathways for iron accumulation in plants is necessary for breeding iron‐enriched crops. Iron‐biofortified crops are also one of the key factors in achieving multiple United Nations Sustainable Development goals. This review article covers different strategies of iron acquisition and transport in plants, its bioavailability, coping with the iron deficiency as a global perspective, the current status of iron biofortification, and how breeding future biofortified crops could be helpful in combating the said issue in a sustainable manner.

FinnForest dataset: A forest landscape for visual SLAM

Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 2020

This paper presents a novel challenging dataset that offers a new landscape of testing material f... more

Multi-View Camera Pose Estimation for Robotic Arm Manipulation

IEEE Access, 2020

This article proposes a novel approach aimed at estimating the pose of a camera, affixed to a rob... more This article proposes a novel approach aimed at estimating the pose of a camera, affixed to a robotic manipulator, against a target object. Our approach provides a way to exploit the redundancy of the robotic arm kinematics by directly considering manipulator poses in the model formulation for camera pose estimation. We adopt a single camera multi-shot technique that minimizes the reprojection error over all the rigid poses. The results of the proposed method are compared to four other studies employing either monocular or stereo setup. The experimental results on synthetic and real data show that the proposed monocular approach achieves better and in some cases comparable results to the stereo approach. Moreover, the proposed approach is significantly more robust and precise compared to other methods.

Infection Control Practices in Peshawar

Journal of Gandhara Medical and Dental Science, 2020

ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to assess the infection control practices amo... more ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to assess the infection control practices among dental trainees and house-officers. The use of method of sterilization, to figure out that whether the dental trainees are vaccinated against Human Immuno-Deficiency Virus (HIV), Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), Hepatitis B and C, the color-coded waste segregation protocols implementation in dental hospitals. METHODOLOGY: A comparative study was conducted in Sardar Begum Dental Hospital (SBDH), Peshawar. The total number of the participants was 150 dental practitioners (75 training medical officers and 75 house officers) including both genders from different departments of SBDH. A questionnaire was designed to obtain the data on infection control practices, method using for sterilization, vaccination of the trainees and waste segregation protocols. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 21.0. RESULTS: Training medical officers (TMO) and house-officers (HO) are followin...

Algorithmic node classification in AND/OR mobile workflow graph

International Journal of Grid and Utility Computing, 2020

The data-intensive applications employ complex workflow graph models in dynamic networks having h... more The data-intensive applications employ complex workflow graph models in dynamic networks having heterogeneity and mobility of nodes, which result in enhanced end-to-end delay in executions. The current workflow models lack structural stability for visualising a complex workflow graph. This paper proposes a hybrid AND/OR mobile workflow graph (MWG) model to visualise a fully conditioned complex workflow graph containing mobile nodes. This paper proposes nodes validity detection (NVD) algorithm for classifying the total number of nodes in the AND/OR MWG. Furthermore, nodes criticality detection (NCD) algorithm is also proposed to identify the set of critical nodes in the AND/OR MWG aiming to enable efficient analysing, mapping and scheduling of complex workflow graphs in a dynamic network environment. The algorithms are implemented and evaluated on Java platform and, the regression analysis is performed to project the algorithmic performances. A detailed comparative analysis with other works is presented in this paper.

Designing hybrid graph model and algorithmic analysis of workflow decomposition in mobile distributed systems

Future Generation Computer Systems, 2018

The execution of data intensive workflow is challenging in the domain of mobile distributed syste... more The execution of data intensive workflow is challenging in the domain of mobile distributed systems due to the involvement of heterogeneous computing devices and dynamic network topology. Moreover, data intensive workflow execution requires frequent access to database servers for dataflow and control flow operations resulting in massive data transfer. The workflow decomposition and distribution are required to minimize data transfer and to reduce execution delay in mobile distributed systems. This paper proposes a hybrid graph model of workflow in mobile distributed systems relying on dynamic network topology and distributed database in order to facilitate workflow decomposition. The algebraic and numerical analysis of the hybrid graph model is represented providing inherent properties. Furthermore, we have presented an extensive analytical study of existing workflow decomposition approaches and have provided detailed analysis to determine the suitability of these approaches in mobile distributed systems. We have also proposed a novel framework and implementation directions for workflow decomposition based on multiple parameters for mobile distributed systems.

Isolating critical flow path and algorithmic partitioning of the AND/OR mobile workflow graph

Future Generation Computer Systems, 2019

The standard workflow modeling approaches have insufficient information about structural stabilit... more The standard workflow modeling approaches have insufficient information about structural stability to visualize the tasks in a complex workflow graph. The hybrid AND/OR mobile workflow graph (MWG) model addresses this issue by visualizing a fully conditioned workflow graph for dynamic networks. However, the scheduling and mapping of large scale workflows to heterogeneous resources is NP-complete in parallel and distributed computing systems. This paper aims to partition large scale workflows into mappable sub-workflows by isolating the critical flow paths using a filter matrix method. A set of algorithms are designed to perform decomposability checking and partitions of a AND/OR mobile workflow graph. The filter matrix allows input of user's constraints prior to the partitioning of a complex workflow graph. The experimental results show that valid partitions are obtained from various AND/OR mobile workflow graph. Moreover, non-linear regression analysis is presented to project the algorithmic time complexity for the partitioning of the large scale workflow graphs. A detailed comparative analysis of the proposed algorithm is included in the paper.

Methods for Simultaneous Robot-World Hand-Eye Calibration: A Comparative Study

In this paper, we propose two novel methods for robot-world/hand-eye calibration and provide a co... more In this paper, we propose two novel methods for robot-world/hand-eye calibration and provide a comparative analysis against six state-of-the-art methods. We examine the calibration problem from two alternative geometrical interpretations, called hand-eye and robot-world-hand-eye, respectively. The study analyses the effects of specifying the objective function as pose error or reprojection error minimization problem. We provide three real and three simulated datasets with rendered images as part of the study. In addition, we propose a robotic arm error modeling approach to be used along with the simulated datasets for generating a realistic response. The tests on simulated data are performed in both ideal cases and with pseudo-realistic robotic arm pose and visual noise. Our methods show significant improvement and robustness on many metrics in various scenarios compared to state-of-the-art methods.

Humic Acid and Nitrogen Levels Optimizing Productivity of Green Gram (Vigna radiate L.)

Russian Agricultural Sciences, 2019

Organic matter incorporation into soil act as nutrients reservoir which frequently supply mineral... more Organic matter incorporation into soil act as nutrients reservoir which frequently supply minerals and nutrients to plant and optimizing yield. Humic acid act as a bio-stimulants which improve biological and chemo-physical properties of the soil. In this context an experiment was conducted to determine the effect of different levels of nitrogen and humic acid application on the yield and yield component of mungbean at Palato Farm of the University of Agriculture Peshawar, Amir Muhammad Khan Campus Mardan during summer 2012. The experiment was conducted in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications and plot size was kept 3 × 4 m. The experiment was consisted on two levels of nitrogen (20 kg and 40 kg ha-1) and four levels of humic acid (3, 6, 9, and 12 kg ha-1). Mungbean variety "NCM 213" was sown on a well prepared clay loam soil. Effect of nitrogen and humic acid was found significant for number of plants m-2 , plant height (cm), number of leaves plant-1 , pods length (cm), numbers of seeds pod-1 , number of pods plants-1 , thousand seed weight, seed yield and for harvest index. Interaction between N and HA was found significant for some of the parameters and non-significant for the rest. Control plots (un fertilized) resulted lower in all measured parameters as compared to the rest plots (fertilized plots).

Tailoring strength and modulus by 3D printing different continuous fibers and filled structures into composites

Advanced Composites and Hybrid Materials, 2019

Three-dimensional (3D) printing is one of potential technologies for production of designable com... more Three-dimensional (3D) printing is one of potential technologies for production of designable complex filled structures and mechanical strengthening along the reinforcing fibers for composites. The objective of this paper is to study the tensile mechanical behavior of diverse concentric fiber rings and fiber layers using glass fiber (GF), Kevlar fiber (KF), and carbon fiber (CF) printed into polymer composites and then to compare them. Additionally, it also aims to identify the influence of complex filled structures of Nylon on different fiber printed polymer composites. Tensile tests and scanning electron microscope (SEM) were utilized to characterize the 3D printed composites. Results revealed that CF-printed composite exhibits the greatest tensile strength of 110 MPa and modulus of 3941 MPa as compared to glass and Kevlar fiber composites. Increase of concentric fiber rings and fiber layers is attributed to increase in tensile strength and modulus. Also, the rectangular filled structure of Nylon declared the highest tensile strength and modulus than hexagonal and triangular filled structure owing to its rectangular filling that bears maximum load in longitudinal direction.

Influence of mixed isotropic fiber angles and hot press on the mechanical properties of 3D printed composites

Additive Manufacturing, 2019

This paper aims to study the mechanical properties of mixed isotropic carbon fiber 3D printed com... more This paper aims to study the mechanical properties of mixed isotropic carbon fiber 3D printed composites and further investigates the influence of hot press on the [0°/45°/90°] 2 fiber angles composite with varying temperature, pressure and time. Tensile tests, autoclave treatment and microstructural observation were utilized to characterize the composites. Results revealed that the [0°/45°/90°] 2 performed the highest tensile strength of 79 MPa and modulus of 3.51 GPa, compared to [30°/45°/60°] 2 and [15°/45°/75°] 2. This is due to the fibers along the tensile axis angle that bears maximum load in longitudinal direction. At 200°C temperature, the hot pressed composites presented the highest tensile strength of 98 MPa and modulus of 3.93 GPa than non-hot pressed. Increased temperature caused better interface wettability between fibers and matrix. At 200 kPa pressure, the hot pressed composites showed the highest tensile strength of 100 MPa and modulus of 4.06 GPa than non-hot pressed. Further increased pressure resulted in lower tensile strength and modulus, as the material became stiffer pushing more matrix material to side leaving numerous fibers unbounded by the matrix. For 30 min withholding time, the hot pressed composites indicated the highest tensile strength of 106 MPa and modulus of 4.27 GPa than non-hot pressed. Increased time caused strongest interface bonding by removing the air gaps induced during printing between fibers and matrix. Results revealed that hot press significantly improved the mechanical properties of carbon fiber 3D printed composites.

A Comparative Study and Algorithmic Analysis of Workflow Decomposition in Distributed Systems

International Journal of Grid and High Performance Computing, 2019

Workflow is an essential mechanism for the automation of processes in distributed transactional s... more Workflow is an essential mechanism for the automation of processes in distributed transactional systems, including mobile distributed systems. The workflow modeling enables the composition of process activities along with respective conditions, data flow and control flow dependencies. The workflow partitioning methods are used to create sub-partitions by grouping processes on the basis of activities, data flow and control flow dependencies. Mobile distributed systems consisting of heterogeneous computing devices require optimal workflow decomposition. In general, the workflow partitioning is a NP-complete problem. This article presents a comparative study and detailed analysis of workflow decomposition techniques based on graphs, petri nets and topological methods. A complete taxonomy of the basic decomposition techniques is presented. A detailed qualitative and quantitative analysis of these decomposition techniques are explained. The comparative analysis presented in this article ...

Computer Aided Diagnosis of Acoustic Neuroma: A Neural Network Perspective

Journal of Medical Imaging and Health Informatics, 2017

Quantitative Behaviour of Guar (<i>Cymopsis tetragnolobus</i> L.) to Various Tillage Systems and Mulches and Soil Physical Properties

American Journal of Plant Sciences, 2016

A field study was conducted to evaluate the effect of organic mulches and tillage practices on gr... more A field study was conducted to evaluate the effect of organic mulches and tillage practices on growth, yield of cluster bean and soil physical properties. Experiment was comprised of two factors: A (Tillage), B (Mulches). Factor A was assigned to main plot and consisted of two treatments (Minimum tillage and Conventional tillage). Factor B was assigned to sub plot and consisted of four treatments (no mulch, wheat straw mulch, grass clipping mulch and saw dust mulch). The mulching materials were partially incorporated in the field after germination of crop. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with split plot arrangement having three replications. Control treatment was kept for comparison. All other agronomic practices were kept standardized and consistent for all the treatments. Data regarding growth and yield components were collected and analyzed statistically by fisher analysis of variance and treatment significance was measured by significant difference test at 5% probability level. The factors, tillage and mulches significantly affected growth, yield, yield parameters and soil physical properties. Maximum plant population (31.7 m 2), plant height (159 cm), branches per plant (18.9), cluster per plant (15.88), grains per pod (7.3), 1000-grain weight (34.6 g), grain yield (1.9 t•ha −1), biological yield (9.91 t•ha −1) and harvest index (19.15) was recorded in conventional tillage comparative to minimum tillage. Mulches also affected grain yield, and maximum grain yield was recorded in wheat straw mulch (1.88 t•ha −1) followed by grass clipping mulch (1.81 t•ha −1) and saw dust mulch (1.76 t•ha −1) while minimum grain yield was recorded in control without mulch application (1.67 t•ha −1). Tillage and mulches interactively affect pH, soil organic matter contents, * Corresponding author. M. S. Zamir et al. 1041 electrical conductivity and soil bulk density. Mulches and minimum tillage improved soil physical properties. Highest BCR was obtained from conventional tillage without mulch and lowest calculated from minimum tillage with saw dust application. The conclusion is that the mulching and conventional tillage improves cluster bean yield about 1%.

Evaluating the Impact of Different Tillage Regimes and Nitrogen Levels on Yield and Yield Components of Maize (<i>Zea mays</i> L.)

American Journal of Plant Sciences, 2016

A field study to evaluate the impact of different tillage regimes and nitrogen levels on yield an... more A field study to evaluate the impact of different tillage regimes and nitrogen levels on yield and yield components of maize (Zea mays L.), was conducted during autumn 2014 at Students Farm, Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. The experiment was laid out in RCBD (Randomized Complete Block Design), with split plot arrangement having three replications. The experiment was comprised of three tillage regimes (Minimum, Conventional and Deep) and three nitrogen levels viz: 100, 200 and 300 kg•ha −1. Urea was used as a source of nitrogen, sulphate of potash as a source of potassium and triple super phosphate as a source of phosphorous. The amount of phosphorous and potash was constant in all the treatments i.e. 125 kg•ha −1 and 100 kg•ha −1 respectively. Results of present study are summarized as yield parameters are significantly affected by different nitrogen levels and tillage regimes. Maximum number of plants at harvest (7.93), number of grain rows per cob (17.70), number of grains per row (34.31), number of grains per cob (678.58), and cob weight (187.50 g) were observed in deep tillage at 200 kg•ha −1 nitrogen application. 1000grain weight (275.52 g), biological yield (15.66 t•ha −1), grain yield (6.16 t•ha −1) and dried stalk yield (9.91 t•ha −1) were observed maximum in deep tillage at 200 kg•ha −1 nitrogen application. Harvest index significantly affected by tillage regimes and maximum harvest index (39.58%) were recorded in deep tillage which was statistically at par with conventional tillage (38.83%). It was concluded that higher grain yield of maize can be obtained by deep tillage with the application of 200 kg•ha −1 nitrogen application under the prevailing conditions of Faisalabad.

Discrimination and Cel Counting of Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) under Hypercholesterolemia using K-Means Clustering

Clove leaf extract contains high natural antioxidant. In this study, an experiment was conducted ... more Clove leaf extract contains high natural antioxidant. In this study, an experiment was conducted to analyse the effect methanol extract of clove leaf on the profile of superoxide dismutase (SOD) in the rabbits liver under hypercholesterolemic condition. Rabbits were divided into three groups i.e (1) negative control group, (2) positive control (hypercholesterolemic) group,which fed diet containing 1% cholesterol for 50 days, and (3)group which was given clove leaf extract and 1% cholesterol simultaneously for 50 days. Contents profile of antioxidant superoxide dismutase in rabbit liver tissue was obtained using immunihistochemical techniques. The images were taken from each group using a microscope to analyse the reaction of clove leaf extract to the cells. The images were processed using K�mean clustering to discriminate the cells after treatment. The cell segmentation was performed to count number of the cells based on their treatment. The cell counting technique then compared wit...

Bi-directional Loop Closure for Visual SLAM

arXiv (Cornell University), Apr 1, 2022

Discrimination of active dynamic objects in stereo-based visual SLAM

Electronic Imaging, 2018

Over the years, the problem of simultaneous localization and mapping have been substantially stud... more Over the years, the problem of simultaneous localization and mapping have been substantially studied. Effective and robust techniques have been developed for mapping and localizing in an unknown environment in real-time. However, the bulk of the work presumes that the environment under observation is composed of static objects. In this study, we propose an approach aimed at localizing and mapping an environment irrespective of the motion of the objects in the scene. A hard threshold based Iterative Closest Point algorithm is used to compute transformations between point clouds that are obtained from dense stereo matching. The dynamic entities along with system noise are identified and isolated in the form of outliers of the data correspondence step. A confidence metric is defined that helps in identifying and transitioning a 3D point from static to dynamic and vice versa. The results are then verified in a 2D domain with the aid of a modified Gaussian Mixture Model based motion estimation. The dynamic objects are segmented in 3D and 2D domains for any possible analysis and decision making. The results demonstrate that the proposed approach effectively eliminates noise and isolates the dynamic objects during the mapping of the environment.

Genetic Diversity and Traits Association in Tetraploid and Hexaploid Wheat Genotypes in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan

Sarhad Journal of Agriculture, 2020

All material supplied via Jukuri is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights... more All material supplied via Jukuri is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights. Duplication or sale, in electronic or print form, of any part of the repository collections is prohibited. Making electronic or print copies of the material is permitted only for your own personal use or for educational purposes. For other purposes, this article may be used in accordance with the publisher's terms. There may be differences between this version and the publisher's version. You are advised to cite the publisher's version. This is an electronic reprint of the original article. This reprint may differ from the original in pagination and typographic detail.

Growth Yield and Quality Comparison of Different Forage Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) Cultivars Harvested at Different Flowering Intervals

Transylvanian Review, 2016

A field experiment was conducted to study the influence of harvesting time on growth, yield and q... more A field experiment was conducted to study the influence of harvesting time on growth, yield and quality of three forage sorghum cultivars during 2013 at research farm, Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. The experiment was comprised of four harvesting intervals (25%, 50%, 75% and 100% flowering) and three cultivars (Sorghum 2011, JS-263 and JS-2002) for evaluation. Randomized complete block design (RCBD) with factorial arrangement and three replications was used in the experiment. Net plot size was 1.8 m × 6 m. The data was recorded for yield and quality relating traits viz.,higher plant height was recorded 51.3 (100%), number of leaves per plant, leaf area per plant, stem diameter, plant density, forage yield, dry matter yield, dry matter (%), crude protein contents (%), crude fiber contents (%) and ash contents (%). The growth yield and quality parameters differed among the cultivars. As for harvesting intervals growth and yield was increased with delayi...

Molecular basis of Iron Biofortification in crop plants; A step towards sustainability

Plant Breeding, 2020

Iron is one of the most important micronutrients for crop plants due to its use in important phys... more Iron is one of the most important micronutrients for crop plants due to its use in important physiological processes such as photosynthesis, mitochondrial respiration, metal homeostasis, and chlorophyll synthesis. Crop plants have adapted different strategies for uptake, transport, accumulation, and storage of iron in tissues and organs which later can be consumed by humans. Estimates indicate that about 2 billion people (33% of human population) are at risk of iron deficiency in which infants, children, and pregnant women are potentially compromised. Biofortification refers to the increase in concentration of micronutrients in edible parts of plants and understanding the pathways for iron accumulation in plants is necessary for breeding iron‐enriched crops. Iron‐biofortified crops are also one of the key factors in achieving multiple United Nations Sustainable Development goals. This review article covers different strategies of iron acquisition and transport in plants, its bioavailability, coping with the iron deficiency as a global perspective, the current status of iron biofortification, and how breeding future biofortified crops could be helpful in combating the said issue in a sustainable manner.

FinnForest dataset: A forest landscape for visual SLAM

Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 2020

This paper presents a novel challenging dataset that offers a new landscape of testing material f... more

Multi-View Camera Pose Estimation for Robotic Arm Manipulation

IEEE Access, 2020

This article proposes a novel approach aimed at estimating the pose of a camera, affixed to a rob... more This article proposes a novel approach aimed at estimating the pose of a camera, affixed to a robotic manipulator, against a target object. Our approach provides a way to exploit the redundancy of the robotic arm kinematics by directly considering manipulator poses in the model formulation for camera pose estimation. We adopt a single camera multi-shot technique that minimizes the reprojection error over all the rigid poses. The results of the proposed method are compared to four other studies employing either monocular or stereo setup. The experimental results on synthetic and real data show that the proposed monocular approach achieves better and in some cases comparable results to the stereo approach. Moreover, the proposed approach is significantly more robust and precise compared to other methods.

Infection Control Practices in Peshawar

Journal of Gandhara Medical and Dental Science, 2020

ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to assess the infection control practices amo... more ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to assess the infection control practices among dental trainees and house-officers. The use of method of sterilization, to figure out that whether the dental trainees are vaccinated against Human Immuno-Deficiency Virus (HIV), Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), Hepatitis B and C, the color-coded waste segregation protocols implementation in dental hospitals. METHODOLOGY: A comparative study was conducted in Sardar Begum Dental Hospital (SBDH), Peshawar. The total number of the participants was 150 dental practitioners (75 training medical officers and 75 house officers) including both genders from different departments of SBDH. A questionnaire was designed to obtain the data on infection control practices, method using for sterilization, vaccination of the trainees and waste segregation protocols. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS 21.0. RESULTS: Training medical officers (TMO) and house-officers (HO) are followin...

Algorithmic node classification in AND/OR mobile workflow graph

International Journal of Grid and Utility Computing, 2020

The data-intensive applications employ complex workflow graph models in dynamic networks having h... more The data-intensive applications employ complex workflow graph models in dynamic networks having heterogeneity and mobility of nodes, which result in enhanced end-to-end delay in executions. The current workflow models lack structural stability for visualising a complex workflow graph. This paper proposes a hybrid AND/OR mobile workflow graph (MWG) model to visualise a fully conditioned complex workflow graph containing mobile nodes. This paper proposes nodes validity detection (NVD) algorithm for classifying the total number of nodes in the AND/OR MWG. Furthermore, nodes criticality detection (NCD) algorithm is also proposed to identify the set of critical nodes in the AND/OR MWG aiming to enable efficient analysing, mapping and scheduling of complex workflow graphs in a dynamic network environment. The algorithms are implemented and evaluated on Java platform and, the regression analysis is performed to project the algorithmic performances. A detailed comparative analysis with other works is presented in this paper.

Designing hybrid graph model and algorithmic analysis of workflow decomposition in mobile distributed systems

Future Generation Computer Systems, 2018

The execution of data intensive workflow is challenging in the domain of mobile distributed syste... more The execution of data intensive workflow is challenging in the domain of mobile distributed systems due to the involvement of heterogeneous computing devices and dynamic network topology. Moreover, data intensive workflow execution requires frequent access to database servers for dataflow and control flow operations resulting in massive data transfer. The workflow decomposition and distribution are required to minimize data transfer and to reduce execution delay in mobile distributed systems. This paper proposes a hybrid graph model of workflow in mobile distributed systems relying on dynamic network topology and distributed database in order to facilitate workflow decomposition. The algebraic and numerical analysis of the hybrid graph model is represented providing inherent properties. Furthermore, we have presented an extensive analytical study of existing workflow decomposition approaches and have provided detailed analysis to determine the suitability of these approaches in mobile distributed systems. We have also proposed a novel framework and implementation directions for workflow decomposition based on multiple parameters for mobile distributed systems.

Isolating critical flow path and algorithmic partitioning of the AND/OR mobile workflow graph

Future Generation Computer Systems, 2019

The standard workflow modeling approaches have insufficient information about structural stabilit... more The standard workflow modeling approaches have insufficient information about structural stability to visualize the tasks in a complex workflow graph. The hybrid AND/OR mobile workflow graph (MWG) model addresses this issue by visualizing a fully conditioned workflow graph for dynamic networks. However, the scheduling and mapping of large scale workflows to heterogeneous resources is NP-complete in parallel and distributed computing systems. This paper aims to partition large scale workflows into mappable sub-workflows by isolating the critical flow paths using a filter matrix method. A set of algorithms are designed to perform decomposability checking and partitions of a AND/OR mobile workflow graph. The filter matrix allows input of user's constraints prior to the partitioning of a complex workflow graph. The experimental results show that valid partitions are obtained from various AND/OR mobile workflow graph. Moreover, non-linear regression analysis is presented to project the algorithmic time complexity for the partitioning of the large scale workflow graphs. A detailed comparative analysis of the proposed algorithm is included in the paper.

Methods for Simultaneous Robot-World Hand-Eye Calibration: A Comparative Study

In this paper, we propose two novel methods for robot-world/hand-eye calibration and provide a co... more In this paper, we propose two novel methods for robot-world/hand-eye calibration and provide a comparative analysis against six state-of-the-art methods. We examine the calibration problem from two alternative geometrical interpretations, called hand-eye and robot-world-hand-eye, respectively. The study analyses the effects of specifying the objective function as pose error or reprojection error minimization problem. We provide three real and three simulated datasets with rendered images as part of the study. In addition, we propose a robotic arm error modeling approach to be used along with the simulated datasets for generating a realistic response. The tests on simulated data are performed in both ideal cases and with pseudo-realistic robotic arm pose and visual noise. Our methods show significant improvement and robustness on many metrics in various scenarios compared to state-of-the-art methods.

Humic Acid and Nitrogen Levels Optimizing Productivity of Green Gram (Vigna radiate L.)

Russian Agricultural Sciences, 2019

Organic matter incorporation into soil act as nutrients reservoir which frequently supply mineral... more Organic matter incorporation into soil act as nutrients reservoir which frequently supply minerals and nutrients to plant and optimizing yield. Humic acid act as a bio-stimulants which improve biological and chemo-physical properties of the soil. In this context an experiment was conducted to determine the effect of different levels of nitrogen and humic acid application on the yield and yield component of mungbean at Palato Farm of the University of Agriculture Peshawar, Amir Muhammad Khan Campus Mardan during summer 2012. The experiment was conducted in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications and plot size was kept 3 × 4 m. The experiment was consisted on two levels of nitrogen (20 kg and 40 kg ha-1) and four levels of humic acid (3, 6, 9, and 12 kg ha-1). Mungbean variety "NCM 213" was sown on a well prepared clay loam soil. Effect of nitrogen and humic acid was found significant for number of plants m-2 , plant height (cm), number of leaves plant-1 , pods length (cm), numbers of seeds pod-1 , number of pods plants-1 , thousand seed weight, seed yield and for harvest index. Interaction between N and HA was found significant for some of the parameters and non-significant for the rest. Control plots (un fertilized) resulted lower in all measured parameters as compared to the rest plots (fertilized plots).

Tailoring strength and modulus by 3D printing different continuous fibers and filled structures into composites

Advanced Composites and Hybrid Materials, 2019

Three-dimensional (3D) printing is one of potential technologies for production of designable com... more Three-dimensional (3D) printing is one of potential technologies for production of designable complex filled structures and mechanical strengthening along the reinforcing fibers for composites. The objective of this paper is to study the tensile mechanical behavior of diverse concentric fiber rings and fiber layers using glass fiber (GF), Kevlar fiber (KF), and carbon fiber (CF) printed into polymer composites and then to compare them. Additionally, it also aims to identify the influence of complex filled structures of Nylon on different fiber printed polymer composites. Tensile tests and scanning electron microscope (SEM) were utilized to characterize the 3D printed composites. Results revealed that CF-printed composite exhibits the greatest tensile strength of 110 MPa and modulus of 3941 MPa as compared to glass and Kevlar fiber composites. Increase of concentric fiber rings and fiber layers is attributed to increase in tensile strength and modulus. Also, the rectangular filled structure of Nylon declared the highest tensile strength and modulus than hexagonal and triangular filled structure owing to its rectangular filling that bears maximum load in longitudinal direction.

Influence of mixed isotropic fiber angles and hot press on the mechanical properties of 3D printed composites

Additive Manufacturing, 2019

This paper aims to study the mechanical properties of mixed isotropic carbon fiber 3D printed com... more This paper aims to study the mechanical properties of mixed isotropic carbon fiber 3D printed composites and further investigates the influence of hot press on the [0°/45°/90°] 2 fiber angles composite with varying temperature, pressure and time. Tensile tests, autoclave treatment and microstructural observation were utilized to characterize the composites. Results revealed that the [0°/45°/90°] 2 performed the highest tensile strength of 79 MPa and modulus of 3.51 GPa, compared to [30°/45°/60°] 2 and [15°/45°/75°] 2. This is due to the fibers along the tensile axis angle that bears maximum load in longitudinal direction. At 200°C temperature, the hot pressed composites presented the highest tensile strength of 98 MPa and modulus of 3.93 GPa than non-hot pressed. Increased temperature caused better interface wettability between fibers and matrix. At 200 kPa pressure, the hot pressed composites showed the highest tensile strength of 100 MPa and modulus of 4.06 GPa than non-hot pressed. Further increased pressure resulted in lower tensile strength and modulus, as the material became stiffer pushing more matrix material to side leaving numerous fibers unbounded by the matrix. For 30 min withholding time, the hot pressed composites indicated the highest tensile strength of 106 MPa and modulus of 4.27 GPa than non-hot pressed. Increased time caused strongest interface bonding by removing the air gaps induced during printing between fibers and matrix. Results revealed that hot press significantly improved the mechanical properties of carbon fiber 3D printed composites.

A Comparative Study and Algorithmic Analysis of Workflow Decomposition in Distributed Systems

International Journal of Grid and High Performance Computing, 2019

Workflow is an essential mechanism for the automation of processes in distributed transactional s... more Workflow is an essential mechanism for the automation of processes in distributed transactional systems, including mobile distributed systems. The workflow modeling enables the composition of process activities along with respective conditions, data flow and control flow dependencies. The workflow partitioning methods are used to create sub-partitions by grouping processes on the basis of activities, data flow and control flow dependencies. Mobile distributed systems consisting of heterogeneous computing devices require optimal workflow decomposition. In general, the workflow partitioning is a NP-complete problem. This article presents a comparative study and detailed analysis of workflow decomposition techniques based on graphs, petri nets and topological methods. A complete taxonomy of the basic decomposition techniques is presented. A detailed qualitative and quantitative analysis of these decomposition techniques are explained. The comparative analysis presented in this article ...

Computer Aided Diagnosis of Acoustic Neuroma: A Neural Network Perspective

Journal of Medical Imaging and Health Informatics, 2017

Quantitative Behaviour of Guar (<i>Cymopsis tetragnolobus</i> L.) to Various Tillage Systems and Mulches and Soil Physical Properties

American Journal of Plant Sciences, 2016

A field study was conducted to evaluate the effect of organic mulches and tillage practices on gr... more A field study was conducted to evaluate the effect of organic mulches and tillage practices on growth, yield of cluster bean and soil physical properties. Experiment was comprised of two factors: A (Tillage), B (Mulches). Factor A was assigned to main plot and consisted of two treatments (Minimum tillage and Conventional tillage). Factor B was assigned to sub plot and consisted of four treatments (no mulch, wheat straw mulch, grass clipping mulch and saw dust mulch). The mulching materials were partially incorporated in the field after germination of crop. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with split plot arrangement having three replications. Control treatment was kept for comparison. All other agronomic practices were kept standardized and consistent for all the treatments. Data regarding growth and yield components were collected and analyzed statistically by fisher analysis of variance and treatment significance was measured by significant difference test at 5% probability level. The factors, tillage and mulches significantly affected growth, yield, yield parameters and soil physical properties. Maximum plant population (31.7 m 2), plant height (159 cm), branches per plant (18.9), cluster per plant (15.88), grains per pod (7.3), 1000-grain weight (34.6 g), grain yield (1.9 t•ha −1), biological yield (9.91 t•ha −1) and harvest index (19.15) was recorded in conventional tillage comparative to minimum tillage. Mulches also affected grain yield, and maximum grain yield was recorded in wheat straw mulch (1.88 t•ha −1) followed by grass clipping mulch (1.81 t•ha −1) and saw dust mulch (1.76 t•ha −1) while minimum grain yield was recorded in control without mulch application (1.67 t•ha −1). Tillage and mulches interactively affect pH, soil organic matter contents, * Corresponding author. M. S. Zamir et al. 1041 electrical conductivity and soil bulk density. Mulches and minimum tillage improved soil physical properties. Highest BCR was obtained from conventional tillage without mulch and lowest calculated from minimum tillage with saw dust application. The conclusion is that the mulching and conventional tillage improves cluster bean yield about 1%.

Evaluating the Impact of Different Tillage Regimes and Nitrogen Levels on Yield and Yield Components of Maize (<i>Zea mays</i> L.)

American Journal of Plant Sciences, 2016

A field study to evaluate the impact of different tillage regimes and nitrogen levels on yield an... more A field study to evaluate the impact of different tillage regimes and nitrogen levels on yield and yield components of maize (Zea mays L.), was conducted during autumn 2014 at Students Farm, Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. The experiment was laid out in RCBD (Randomized Complete Block Design), with split plot arrangement having three replications. The experiment was comprised of three tillage regimes (Minimum, Conventional and Deep) and three nitrogen levels viz: 100, 200 and 300 kg•ha −1. Urea was used as a source of nitrogen, sulphate of potash as a source of potassium and triple super phosphate as a source of phosphorous. The amount of phosphorous and potash was constant in all the treatments i.e. 125 kg•ha −1 and 100 kg•ha −1 respectively. Results of present study are summarized as yield parameters are significantly affected by different nitrogen levels and tillage regimes. Maximum number of plants at harvest (7.93), number of grain rows per cob (17.70), number of grains per row (34.31), number of grains per cob (678.58), and cob weight (187.50 g) were observed in deep tillage at 200 kg•ha −1 nitrogen application. 1000grain weight (275.52 g), biological yield (15.66 t•ha −1), grain yield (6.16 t•ha −1) and dried stalk yield (9.91 t•ha −1) were observed maximum in deep tillage at 200 kg•ha −1 nitrogen application. Harvest index significantly affected by tillage regimes and maximum harvest index (39.58%) were recorded in deep tillage which was statistically at par with conventional tillage (38.83%). It was concluded that higher grain yield of maize can be obtained by deep tillage with the application of 200 kg•ha −1 nitrogen application under the prevailing conditions of Faisalabad.