CovidConvLSTM: A fuzzy ensemble model for COVID-19 detection from chest X-rays.

The rapid outbreak of COVID-19 has affected the lives and livelihoods of a large part of the society. Hence, to confine the rapid spread of this virus, early detection of COVID-19 is extremely important. One of the most common ways of detecting COVID-19 is by using chest X-ray images.

Computer Based Diagnosis of Some Chronic Diseases: A Medical Journey of the Last Two Decades.

Disease prediction from diagnostic reports and pathological images using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) is one of the fastest emerging applications in recent days. Researchers are striving to achieve near-perfect results using advanced hardware technologies in amalgamation with AI and ML based approaches. As a result, a large number of AI and ML based methods are found in the literature.

Stochastic Learning in Kolkata Paise Restaurant Problem: Classical and Quantum Strategies.

We review the results for stochastic learning strategies, both classical (one-shot and iterative) and quantum (one-shot only), for optimizing the available many-choice resources among a large number of competing agents, developed over the last decade in the context of the Kolkata Paise Restaurant (KPR) Problem. Apart from few rigorous and approximate analytical results, both for classical and quantum strategies, most of the interesting results on the phase transition behavior (obtained so far for the classical model) uses classical Monte Carlo simulations. All these including the applications to computer science [job or resource allotments in Internet-of-Things (IoT)], transport engineering (online vehicle hire problems), operation research (optimizing efforts for delegated search problem, efficient solution of Traveling Salesman problem) will be discussed.

Lactic acid in alternative polarization and function of macrophages in tumor microenvironment.

In developing tumor, macrophages are one major immune infiltrate that not only contributes in shaping up of tumor microenvironment (TME) but also have the potential of determining the fate of tumor in terms of its progression. Phenotypic plasticity of macrophages primarily channelizes them to alternative (M2) form of tumor associated macrophages (TAM) in the TME. One of the key tumor derived components that plays a crucial role in TAM polarization from M1 to M2 form is lactic acid and has prominent role in progression of malignancy.

Capturing a Crucial 'Disorder-to-Order Transition' at the Heart of the Coronavirus Molecular Pathology-Triggered by Highly Persistent, Interchangeable Salt-Bridges.

The COVID-19 origin debate has greatly been influenced by genome comparison studies of late, revealing the emergence of the Furin-like cleavage site at the S1/S2 junction of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike (FLCS) containing its motif, absent in other related respiratory viruses. Being the rate-limiting (i.e.

Screening of breast cancer from thermogram images by edge detection aided deep transfer learning model.

Breast cancer, the most common invasive cancer, causes deaths of thousands of women in the world every year. Early detection of the same is a remedy to lessen the death rate. Hence, screening of breast cancer in its early stage is utmost required.

Rhizosphere impacts bacterial community structure in the tea (Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze.) estates of Darjeeling, India.

India contributes 28% of the world's tea production, and the Darjeeling tea of India is a world-famous tea variety known for its unique quality, flavour and aroma. This study analyzed the spatial distribution of bacterial communities in the tea rhizosphere of six different tea estates at different altitudes. The organic carbon, total nitrogen and available phosphate were higher in the rhizosphere soils than the bulk soils, irrespective of the sites.

Macrophages in tumor: An inflammatory perspective.

Inflammation is a part of carefully co-ordinated healing immune exercise to eliminate injurious stimuli. However, in substantial number of cancer types, it contributes in shaping up of robust tumor microenvironment (TME). Solid TME promotes infiltration of tumor associated macrophages (TAMs) that contributes to cancer promotion.

Special Issue on 'Coronavirus: Vaccines and Other Therapeutics' (2020-2021).

As is well known, the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 ever since late 2019 [...

Tracking Zone-wise perturbation during unfolding of some globular proteins using Eu(III) complex of Tetracycline as a probe exhibiting Stark splitting.

Enhanced 'Antenna effect' of a suitably designed ternary complex of Eu(III), Tetracycline hydrochloride (TC) and globular proteins viz bovine serum albumin (BSA), human serum albumin (HSA) and β-lactoglobulin A (BLGA) in aqueous medium is employed to characterize the different partially unfolded states along with investigation of the micro- heterogeneous environment of the proteins during their stepwise unfolding. The zone-wise perturbation for the proteins upon denaturation by Urea and Guanidine hydrochloride (Gdn. HCl) is followed by the emission of Eu(III) through 'Antenna Effect' and that of the tryptophan (Trp) residues of the proteins as a function of denaturants both by steady state and time resolved emission study.

Hough Transform-Based Angular Features for Learning-Free Handwritten Keyword Spotting.

Handwritten keyword spotting (KWS) is of great interest to the document image research community. In this work, we propose a learning-free keyword spotting method following query by example (QBE) setting for handwritten documents. It consists of four key processes: pre-processing, vertical zone division, feature extraction, and feature matching.

Choquet fuzzy integral-based classifier ensemble technique for COVID-19 detection.

The COVID-19 outbreak has resulted in a global pandemic and led to more than a million deaths to date. COVID-19 early detection is essential for its mitigation by controlling its spread from infected patients in communities through quarantine. Although vaccination has started, it will take time to reach everyone, especially in developing nations, and computer scientists are striving to come up with competent methods using image analysis.

The healthier healthcare management models for COVID-19.

The worldwide pandemic situation of COVID-19 generates a situation in which healthcare resources such as diagnostic kits, drugs and basic healthcare infrastructure were on shortage throughout the period, along with negative impact on socio-economic system. Standardized public healthcare models were missing in pandemic situation, covering from hospitalized patient care to local resident's healthcare managements in terms of monitoring, assess to diagnosis and medicines. This exploratory and intervention-based study with the objective of proposing COVID-19 Care Management Model representing comprehensive care of society including patients (COVID-19 and other diseases) and healthy subjects under integrated framework of healthier management model.

Plausible blockers of Spike RBD in SARS-CoV2-molecular design and underlying interaction dynamics from high-level structural descriptors.

COVID-19 is characterized by an unprecedented abrupt increase in the viral transmission rate (SARS-CoV-2) relative to its pandemic evolutionary ancestor, SARS-CoV (2003). The complex molecular cascade of events related to the viral pathogenicity is triggered by the Spike protein upon interacting with the ACE2 receptor on human lung cells through its receptor binding domain (RBD). One potential therapeutic strategy to combat COVID-19 could thus be limiting the infection by blocking this key interaction.

Enhanced antibacterial activity of a novel biocompatible triarylmethane based ionic liquid-graphene oxide nanocomposite.

Biofilm formation on medical implants and devices has been a severe concern that results in their impaired performance and life-threatening complications. Thus, development of novel functional coatings for infection prone surfaces with biofilm inhibiting characteristics is of prime significance considering the rapid emergence of multidrug resistant bacteria. Herein we present a novel nanocomposite derived from Graphene Oxide (GO) and a newly developed functional Ionic liquid (IL) obtained through a metathesis reaction between a triarylmethane dye hexamethyl pararosaniline chloride or crystal violet (CV) and sodium dodeceyl sulfate (SDS) to yield [CV][DS] (hexamethyl pararosaniline dodecyl sulfate).

Development of Econophysics: A Biased Account and Perspective from Kolkata.

We present here a somewhat personalized account of the emergence of econophysics as an attractive research topic in physical, as well as social, sciences. After a rather detailed storytelling about our endeavors from Kolkata, we give a brief description of the main research achievements in a simple and non-technical language. We also briefly present, in technical language, a piece of our recent research result.

CH⋯O H-bond mediated tautomerization of 2-methyl-1,3-cyclohexanedione: A combined IR spectroscopic and theoretical study.

Molecular association and its impact on the keto-enol tautomerization of 2-methyl-1,3-cyclohexanedione (MCHD) have been investigated in low temperature argon matrix and thin solid film. The system exists exclusively in diketo tautomeric form in argon matrix. The CH⋯O H-bonded homodimers of the diketo tautomer are produced by annealing the matrix at 28 K.

Biologically active polysaccharide from edible mushrooms: A review.

Mushrooms are renewable natural gift for humankind, furnished with unique taste, flavor and medicinal properties. For the last few decades study of mushroom polysaccharides has become a matter of great interest to the researchers for their immunomodulating, antimicrobial, antioxidant, anticancer, and antitumor properties. Molecular mass, branching configuration, conformation of polysaccharides and chemical modification are the major factors influencing their biological activities.

Structural features and antioxidant activity of a new galactoglucan from edible mushroom Pleurotus djamor.

A new water soluble galactoglucan with apparent molecular weight ~1.61 × 10 Da, was isolated from the edible mushroom Pleurotus djamor by hot water extraction followed by purification through dialysis tubing cellulose membrane and sepharose 6B column chromatography. The sugar analysis showed the presence of glucose and galactose in a molar ratio of nearly 3:1 respectively.

Air quality assessment among populous sites of major metropolitan cities in India during COVID-19 pandemic confinement.

The present study aims to determine the impact of COVID-19 pandemic confinement on air quality among populous sites of four major metropolitan cities in India (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai) from January 1, 2020 to May 31, 2020 by analyzing particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), nitrogen dioxide (NO), ammonia (NH), sulfur dioxide (SO), carbon monoxide (CO), and ozone levels. The most prominent pollutant concerning air quality index (AQI) was determined by Pearson's correlation analysis and unpaired Welch's two-sample t test was carried out to measure the statistically significant reduction in average AQI for all the four sites.

Evaluation of plant growth promotion properties and induction of antioxidative defense mechanism by tea rhizobacteria of Darjeeling, India.

A total of 120 rhizobacteria were isolated from seven different tea estates of Darjeeling, West Bengal, India. Based on a functional screening of in vitro plant growth-promoting (PGP) activities, thirty potential rhizobacterial isolates were selected for in-planta evaluation of PGP activities in rice and maize crops. All the thirty rhizobacterial isolates were identified using partial 16S rRNA gene sequencing.

Phase transition in the Kolkata Paise Restaurant problem.

A novel phase transition behavior is observed in the Kolkata Paise Restaurant problem where a large number (N) of agents or customers collectively (and iteratively) learn to choose among the N restaurants where she would expect to be alone that evening and would get the only dish available there (or may get randomly picked up if more than one agent arrive there that evening). The players are expected to evolve their strategy such that the publicly available information about past crowds in different restaurants can be utilized and each of them is able to make the best minority choice. For equally ranked restaurants, we follow two crowd-avoiding strategies: strategy I, where each of the n(t) number of agents arriving at the ith restaurant on the tth evening goes back to the same restaurant the next evening with probability [n(t)], and strategy II, with probability p, when n(t)>1.

Changing epidemiology of SARS-CoV in the context of COVID-19 pandemic.

SARS-CoV-2 is a new form of β-coronavirus that has been recently discovered and is responsible for COVID 19 pandemic. The earliest infection can be traced back to Wuhan, China. From there it has spread all over the world.

Structural Characterization of an Exopolysaccharide Isolated from Enterococcus faecalis, and Study on its Antioxidant Activity, and Cytotoxicity Against HeLa Cells.

An exopolysaccharide (EPS-I) having the molecular weight ~ 2.6 × 10 Da, was isolated from a Zinc resistant strain of Enterococcus faecalis from costal area. The exopolysaccharide consists of D-mannose, D-glucose, and L-fucose in molar ratio of 9:4:1.

Self-assembly of carbon nanotube/graphitic-like flake/BiOBr nanocomposite with 1D/2D/3D heterojunctions for enhanced photocatalytic activity.

A self-assembled nanocomposite of lamellar BiOBr covalently bonded with conductive network of dispersive one-dimensional carbon nanotubes (1D CNT) and two-dimensional reduced graphitic-like flakes (2D GF) had been in situ constructed using one-pot facile solvothermal technique. Through self-assembly, BiOBr/CNT/GF (BiOBr/CG) displayed three-dimensional architectures in which a strong interfacial contact interaction and covalent banding between BiOBr nanostructures and CNT/GF network appeared. Furthermore, visible-light-driven catalytic activity of BiOBr/CG for RhB dye degradation was superior to that of pure BiOBr or BiOBr/C.