Higher College of Technology

About: Higher College of Technology is a based out in . It is known for research contribution in the topics: Computer science & Higher education. The organization has 369 authors who have published 379 publications receiving 729 citations.

uTHCD: A New Benchmarking for Tamil Handwritten OCR

Abstract: The robustness of a typical Handwritten character recognition system relies on the availability of comprehensive supervised data samples. There has been considerable work reported in the literature about creating the database for several Indic scripts, but the Tamil script has only one standardized database up to date. This paper presents the work done to create an exhaustive and extensive unconstrained Tamil Handwritten Character Database (uTHCD). The samples were generated from around 850 native Tamil volunteers including school-going kids, homemakers, university students, and faculty. The database consists of about 91000 samples with nearly 600 samples in each of 156 classes. This isolated character database is made publicly available as raw images and Hierarchical Data File (HDF) compressed file. The paper also presents several possible use cases of the proposed uTHCD database using Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) to classify handwritten Tamil characters. Several experiments demonstrate that training on the proposed database helps traditional and contemporary classifiers perform on par or better than the existing dataset when tested with unseen data. With this database, we expect to set a new benchmark in Tamil handwritten character recognition and serve as a launchpad for developing robust language technologies for the Tamil script.

Are used face masks handled as infectious waste? Novel pollution driven by the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract: The extensive use of face masks has raised concerns about environmental pollution through improper disposal of used face masks after the emergence of COVID-19. The increasing use of PPEs to preventing the spread of COVID-19 has resulted in several environmental hazards, creating a new environmental barrier for solid waste management and worsened plastic pollution. This study aimed at assessing the occurrence and distribution of face masks in a metropolitan (Adum – Kumasi), municipal (Ejisu), community (Abenase) and an institution (KNUST) in Ghana. The study showed that a total of 535 face masks were numerated along a stretch of 1,720 m with a density ranging from 0.04 m to 0.42 m. A no significant relationship (P = 0.602) was established between the observation distances and the number of waste face masks numerated. The study also showed that for a 1% increase in the number of face masks on working days, there would be a 0.775% increase in non-working days. The disposal of used face masks results in the release of micro- and nano-plastics, Pb, Cu, Sb, Zn, Mn, Ti, Fe and Ca into environmental media. Plastic pollution may be a concern to ecosystems due to its persistence in the environment, lack of environmental awareness, sensitization and education, and poor waste management systems. To ensure a sustainable management of waste face masks, significant efforts are needed. These may include proper disposal, redesigning and producing masks from biodegradable materials, incorporating waste face masks into construction materials, and recycling PPE by pyrolyzing are suggested options for the effective management of face masks.

Solitons and modulation instability of the perturbed Gerdjikov–Ivanov equation with spatio-temporal dispersion

Abstract: This paper is exploring the optical solitons to perturbed Gerdjikov–Ivanov (GI) equation in optical fibers. Using traveling wave transformation, the complex form of perturbed GI equation is reduced to a nonlinear ordinary differential equation (ODE). Then, the improved projective Riccati equations method has been implemented to solve the ODE analytically. Different types of solutions such as bright, kink and singular optical soliton structures are obtained. In addition, W-shaped, kink-dark and singular-kink waves are obtained under specific values for the physical parameters in the model. The existence conditions of all optical solitons are given. Also, the behaviors of some optical solitons are illustrated graphically in this paper by selecting appropriate values for the physical parameters. Besides, the modulation instability of the perturbed GI equation is reported.