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We consider single phase flow from an isolated fracture within a porous medium of finite vertical extent. The fracture is fully penetrating vertically and is of finite length in the horizontal direction. This problem is amenable to analysis with cylindrical elliptic coordinates in which the foci correspond to the ends of the fracture. With suitable boundary conditions, the solution is such that the gravity-adjusted pressure depends on only one of the elliptic coordinates, and the isobars in the horizontal plane are confocal ellipses. In this paper, we show that, contrary to the usual assumption made in transient testing, the material (fluid) fronts do not coincide with isobars. Rather, at early times the front exhibits a “dog-bone” appearance; at later times, the front shape is more oval, but is not an ellipse. To confirm the theoretical results, we present an experimental design capable of mapping material fronts. Tracer images of the displacing fluid agree with the theory, thus showing that injection test interpretation in fractured wells is not amenable to analysis with a single spatial coordinate, even for unit mobility ratio. The match with theory is also a partial validation of the continuum formulation of Darcy’s law.

Quantitative stereology translates three-dimensional statistics into areal and lineal size distributions. Conversely, cross-sectional data are used to infer volumetric properties. One may thus infer porosity from cross-sectional areal porosity or through segment intersections with void and solid. Cross sections of uniform and spherical-bead packs result in a size distribution of circles, the statistics of which enables us to evaluate packing randomness with multiple test planes. Here, we provide cross-sectional results obtained from micro-CT scans for unimodal and bimodal packs, both of which having a narrow distribution of bead sizes. For nearly uniformly sized beads, the theoretical distributions of circle diameters agree with high-resolution data above a demonstrable threshold. Therefore, the threshold allows us to ascertain the physical resolution of scans, regardless of the voxel resolution of the scanned image. For multimodal distribution of bead sizes within the pack, theory and experiments do not always agree. For example, when beads are premixed, and later packed within a tube, a discrepancy for the number distribution of circular sizes between theory and data is evident. Smaller beads are underrepresented. Reasons for these observations and methods to overcome the underrepresentation are presented in the paper. Estimates for the respective bead fractions are best obtained by direct image analysis and not weight fractions within the premixer.

Untreated and treated jute fiber and nano-clay in various ratios were used to fabricate jute/nano-clay/epoxy hybrid composites through compression molding method. The dynamic mechanical and free vibration behaviours were evaluated by varying the concentration of NaOH (2.5%, 5% and 7.5%) and wt.% of nano-clay (1, 3, 5 and 7 wt.%). Experimental outcomes disclosed that the storage and loss modulus, damping factor and natural frequency are influenced by concentration of NaOH solution and nano-clay content. A positive shift (towards higher temperature) in glass transition temperature and enhanced natural frequency of the composites after NaOH treatment and nano-clay addition confirmed that superior interfacial bonding exists between the jute fibers and epoxy matrix. Finally, the composites incorporated with 5% treated fiber and 5 wt.% of nano-clay is suggested for low strength structural applications in construction and automobile industries.

Metal oxide nanoparticles are currently as most encouraging as antimicrobial agents for diagnosis of diseases, in addition to pharmaceuticals. The antimicrobial activity of metal oxide nanoparticles currently exists due to the large surface area which ensures a broad range of reactions with bio-organics. Aluminum oxide (Al2O3) nanoparticles have massive commercial applications and were studied for their antimicrobial behavior. The conducting material polyaniline (PANI) currently exists as a product of polymer which, when added to metal oxide, reduces the particle size in addition to increasing the antimicrobial activity. Both conducting and metal oxide material are added and irradiate with gamma radiation of co60 sources to establish the study of microbial activity. This research attempts to elaborate the antimicrobial behavior of gamma-irradiated PANI–Al2O3 in addition to its potential applications.

Systematic studies with a sapphire bolometer test setup, made with indigenously made NTD Ge sensor, are carried out. A C++ and ROOT-based pulse analysis program implementing Savitzky–Golay filtering technique for analyzing the bolometer signal is discussed. Response of the bolometer subject to heater pulses of energy equivalent of 0.3–5 MeV is presented in the temperature range of 10–100 mK. The energy resolution is found to be 15 ± 3 keV in the temperature range of 15–25 mK. It is observed that the energy resolution of the bolometer is nearly constant $$\sim \,15\,\pm $$ 3 keV over the energy range of 0.3–5 MeV. Performance of the bolometer with the addition of a moderate-size tin sample ($$\sim $$ 0.6 g) to the sapphire substrate is presented. The impact of vibration on the bolometer is also discussed.

The spatial domain of interpretation in pressure transient and formation testing is constrained by its radius of investigation. A classical descriptor for this radius relies on the time derivative of pressure within a bounded domain becoming time independent. Another approach quantifies the radius of investigation based on the distance at which the pressure change is greater than the characteristic noise or resolution in the measurement system. In this paper, we postulate that the correct measure of radius of investigation is the distance at which the inversion of noisy test data is able to discern an anomaly within a given tolerance. This paper details the design requirements for a testing and measurement system suitable for a given investigation distance, measurement noise, and the confidence requirements for the inferred distance. The approach is demonstrated with two specific models. The first is a formation with a sealing fault in an infinite medium, and the second is a formation with a single-layer boundary vertically displaced from a production probe. With normally distributed random and correlated noise, computed results show that the measure of distance investigated is highly dependent upon the background over which the anomaly is imposed. Although the methodology is illustrated with particular models, the principles are applicable in general.

Drought is the major constraints limiting wheat productivity worldwide and is expected to increase under changing climate scenario. The present study was conducted to determine the genetic divergence of 35 wheat genotypes for drought tolerance based on multiple physiological traits which are of high relevance in determining tolerance ability of genotypes using multivariate analysis. Genotypes were evaluated using multivariate analysis viz., Ward’s method of hierarchical clusters analysis, discriminant analysis and principle component analysis and were categorized into three groups namely tolerant, intermediate and susceptible. Stay-green and drought tolerant genotypes namely; CBW 14, DBW 44, HW 2021, HW 2036, HW 4022 and HW 4024 performed physiologically better in terms of slow flag leaf senescence rate (LSR), chlorophyll, drought tolerance efficiency, TW, grain yield, photosynthesis (Pn) and harvest index under drought stress. Genotypes namely; HUW 541, HW 2013, HW 2021, HW 2022, HW 2034 and HW 4059 were found to be fast senescing and drought sensitive. Physiological traits like LSR, Pn, relative water content and test weight were found to be most important contributor in the clustering of genotypes. LSR, Pn and test weight showed high correlations (r) of − 0.51, 0.51 and 0.88 with grain yield respectively, which is significant at p

X-ray microtomography ( $$\upmu \hbox {CT}$$ ) scanning provides high-resolution images in applications ranging from medical to material sciences and failure analysis. In general, CT scanning relies on X-ray absorption to produce a 3D computed image of the material. In Earth Sciences, $$\upmu \hbox {CT}$$ scans are used to characterize porosity and pore size, shape and topology of rock samples. For sufficiently large pore systems, the resulting segmented images may be used for quantitative transport calculations. In this note, we infer the limitations of $$\upmu \hbox {CT}$$ images of rock samples, caused by attainable resolution for a representative sample size. To this end, (1) we perform a systematic analysis with the aid of a resolution chart, (2) we present example scans of an Indiana limestone and a Berea sandstone mini-cores, and (3) we process and analyze the images to extract pore structures using different segmentation algorithms. Porosity estimates inferred from $$\upmu \hbox {CT}$$ images tend to be lower than bulk measurements.

In this paper, cat optimization algorithm for feature extraction in satellite image has been proposed. In cat optimization, cost function computes the pixel in the satellite image to preserve the boundary shape and avoid non-convex part of the contour of the image. However, the existing feature extraction optimization algorithm measures the distinct data framework and thematic information to insight land cover such as waterbody, urban and vegetation. The land cover is obtained from different optimized feature extraction algorithms never provide proper boundary shape and land feature. Furthermore, the proposed cat optimized algorithm distinguishes the inner, outer and extended boundary along with the land cover. The cat-optimised algorithm for low and high-resolution satellite image shows the better result of 85%, with the preserved convex region when compared with the existing feature extraction algorithm such as fuzzy and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO).

Little Andaman, the fourth largest island in the Andaman group of islands of India, was severely affected by the December 26, 2004, Indian Ocean tsunami generated by massive earthquake of moment magnitude 9.3 Mw which devastated the Andaman and Nicobar group of islands causing heavy damage to life and property. Due to hostile terrain conditions not much information was available on the extent of inundation and run-up along the island except for Hut Bay region. In order to study the vulnerability of the island to tsunami hazard, the inundation in the island due to the 2004 tsunami was studied using TUNAMI N2 numerical model and ENVISAT ASAR datasets. The extent of inundation derived from the SAR imagery was compared using the RTK-GPS field survey points collected in the Hut Bay regions immediately after the 2004 tsunami. The extent of inundation obtained from SAR images for the entire island was compared with inundation obtained from model. It was observed that the inundation obtained from the model matched well with inundation extent from SAR imagery for nearshore regions, while for low-lying areas and creeks large deviations were observed. In the absence of field datasets, the inundation derived from SAR imagery would be effective in providing ground data to validate the numerical models which can then be run for multiple scenarios for disaster mitigation and planning operation in areas that have hostile terrain conditions.

This paper presents a novel medical image authentication system through wavelet decomposition and particle swarm optimization (PSO). First medical image is treated with wavelet transformation and another image is treated with tent map and a hash function to further protect the secret watermark. Tent map ensures the sensitivity towards changes in the initial value which, can better protect and encrypt the original watermark. The operations performed on the binary coded image are based on the encryption sequences generated from chaotic map. Particle swarm optimization (PSO) results in producing optimal balance between embedding capacity and imperceptibility by exploiting the image pixel correlation of neighboring pixels. The novelty of the proposed technique lies in its ability to create a model that can find optimal wavelet coefficients for embedding using PSO and also acts as an absolute feature for embedding the watermark. The proposed method is thus able to embed watermark with low distortion, take out the secret information and also recovers the original image. The proposed technique is valuable with respect to robustness, capacity and imperceptibility.

Video copyright is the technique for hiding sensitive data in digital video. This paper aims to introduce a new technique for video copyright namely Fibonacci based keyframe selection and scrambling for video watermarking in DWT---SVD. In this methodology, scene change detection technique is employed for identifying frequent changes in the scenes. In a specific frame, each scene is selected by using keyframes, which are generated by Fibonacci sequence. The initial seeds of the Fibonacci sequence are used as authentication key for generating keyframes. Based on the limitations of the scene changes the authentication keys are generated. The watermark is embedded only in specific frame of the changed scene in LH sub band. The secret image is scrambled using Fibonacci---Lucas transform. In embedding process, singular values (SVs) of the scrambled watermark block are added to the SVs of specific frames, produce the watermarked video collectively. In extraction phase, SVD is performed on the watermarked video to extract the scrambled watermark block from key frames. After that the extracted watermark blocks are collected together to yield the complete scrambled watermark. Later it is descrambled by using the secret keys to generate the original watermark. This method is blind since the host video is not required to extract the watermark. The experimental results show that the proposed methodology resists different image and video processing attacks. In addition, the proposed methodology improves the robustness and quality of both host video and watermark.

Wireless personal area networks (WPAN) has become a part of every home. Its easiness to install and accessibility has pulled in a lot of advantages to various technologies. Applications with low speed or high speed, WPAN can fit any kind into it. As we are heading towards high definition videos and other high end images and video communications, WPAN suffers in delivering quality output. Hence to resolve this challenge ultra wide band (UWB) technology is merged with WPAN to mould the existing loop holes and helps in resulting with great quality output with excellent speed and ease to access. UWB unique characteristics like high-speed data transmission, low cost, low power consumption and short-range made it a choice for delivering high end images and videos in WPAN topology. In this proposed research work we will be using UWB along with in-loop filtering technique to eradicate the blocking effect in the output. Probabilistic neural networks is infused along with in-loop filtering for the classification purpose called the IFPNN. The major purpose of this research is to experiment H.265 encoder and the application of ANFIS controller. The novel method consists of three important stages which include transmission module, control module and receiver module. The simulation results are derived from the Matlab with BER and MSE as evaluation metrics.

The arguments in Eqs. (16) and (18) have typographical errors in the original publication of the article.

Network intrusion detection system has wide range of disputes due to lack of security over the networks. The network intrusion detection system must be reliable to detect the emerging threats over the networks and perform effectively, efficiently to manage large amount of traffic. This paper proposes entropy-based feature selection to select the important features, layered fuzzy control language to generate fuzzy rules, and layered classifier to detect various network attacks namely neptune, smurf, back, and mailbomb. Layered classifier has improved the performances and reduces the computational time. KDD Dataset which consists of three components, namely “Corrected Dataset,” “10 % Dataset,” and “Full Dataset,” are employed to evaluate the performances of the proposed system. The experiments are carried out using an open source java library called jFuzzyLogic and the results show considerable improvement in the detection rate, reduce the false positive rate, significant improvement in recall value and reduces the computational time.

Neutron transmutation-doped (NTD) Ge sensors have been prepared by irradiating device-grade Ge with thermal neutrons at Dhruva reactor, BARC, Mumbai. These sensors are intended to be used for the study of neutrinoless double beta decay in $$^{124}$$ Sn with a superconducting Tin bolometer. Resistance measurements are performed on NTD Ge sensors in the temperature range 100–350 mK. The observed temperature dependence is found to be consistent with the variable-range hopping mechanism.

Data on blood pressure recorded by oscillometric method is limited. To develop simplified tables and charts of blood pressure recorded by oscillometric method in children. Cross-sectional. Ballabhgarh, Haryana. Healthy school-children. Blood pressure measured by oscillometric method. The study group included 7,761 children (58.4% males) with mean (SD) age of 10.5 (2.8) years. Age and gender were used to create simplified percentile tables and charts, as height was seen to explain very little variability of either systolic or diastolic blood pressure. Formulae for SBP and DBP thresholds for hypertension were derived as [110 + 1.6 x age] and [79 + 0.7 x age], respectively, with 1 mm Hg to be added for females. 95th percentile values suggest simple levels indicating hypertension to be 120/80, 125/85 and 135/90 at ages of 5, 10 and 15 years, respectively. Simplified reference tables and charts, formulae for SBP and DBP, and simple convenient thresholds may be useful for rapid screening of hypertension using oscillometric method.

The objective of this study was to assess the safety and efficacy of itolizumab with methotrexate in active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients who had inadequate response to methotrexate. In this open-label, phase 2 study, 70 patients fulfilling American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria and negative for latent tuberculosis were randomized to four arms: 0.2, 0.4, or 0.8 mg/kg itolizumab weekly combined with oral methotrexate, and methotrexate alone (2:2:2:1). Patients were treated for 12 weeks, followed by 12 weeks of methotrexate alone during follow-up. Twelve weeks of itolizumab therapy was well tolerated. Forty-four patients reported adverse events (AEs); except for six severe AEs, all others were mild or moderate. Infusion-related reactions mainly occurred after the first infusion, and none were reported after the 11th infusion. No serum anti-itolizumab antibodies were detected. In the full analysis set, all itolizumab doses showed evidence of efficacy. At 12 weeks, 50 % of the patients achieved ACR20, and 58.3 % moderate or good 28-joint count Disease Activity Score (DAS-28) response; at week 24, these responses were seen in 22 and 31 patients. Significant improvements were seen in Short Form-36 Health Survey and Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index scores. Overall, itolizumab in combination with methotrexate was well tolerated and efficacious in RA for 12 weeks, with efficacy persisting for the entire 24-week evaluation period. (Clinical Trial Registry of India, http://ctri.nic.in/Clinicaltrials/login.php , CTRI/2008/091/000295).

Drought is an important limiting factor for wheat production in most agricultural areas of the world. A study was conducted to analyze the effect of cytokinin [benzyl amino purine (BAP), 40 µM] on growth and yield vis-a-vis nitrogen metabolism in two contrasting wheat cultivars, viz., C-306 (drought tolerant) and PBW-343 (drought susceptible) under water deficit stress condition. Water deficit stress significantly decreased yield and total biomass, while cytokinin-treated wheat plants retained higher biomass and yield. Positive effect of cytokinin on yield and biomass was due to cytokinin induced N-metabolism under both water regimes. Water deficit stress decreases activity of two major enzymes of nitrogen assimilation pathway, viz, nitrate reductase (NR) and glutamine synthetase (GS) and increased total protease activity. Cytokinin enhanced the activity of NR and GS enzymes and reduced the protease activity in both the cultivars and water regimes, which also led to increase in level of total nitrogen and total protein content. Overall, cytokinin was able to delay senescence of leaves under water deficit stress conditions by enhancing N-metabolism in general and specifically at the reproductive stage, contributing to increase in grain yield of both the cultivars under both the water regimes.

Purpose: In this work, an attempt has been made to analyze surface electromyography (sEMG) signals in dynamic contractions using bispectrum features.Methods: Signals are recorded from the biceps brachii muscle of 50 healthy volunteers during curl exercise. Bispectrum and bicoherence are estimated from the recorded sEMG signals. Sum and variance of bispectrum and bicoherence are calculated. Further analysis is carried by dividing the entire duration of the exercise into six zones. Results obtained are verified using the subject�s feedback about first muscle discomfort time.Results: Bispectrum is observed with high amplitude peaks at zone where subjects reported first muscle discomfort. Maximum values for sum and variance of bispectrum are observed in the same zone. Similar patterns are not seen with bicoherence features. In bicoherence sum and bicoherence variance, distinctive peaks are observed in the zone when task failure occurs.Conclusions: First discomfort zone estimated using bispectrum variance is found to be in agreement with the subject�s feedback. It appears that, this method is useful in analyzing progressive changes associated with muscle mechanics in fatigue conditions using non-invasive sEMG recordings. � 2014, Korean Society of Medical and Biological Engineering and Springer.

A calorimeter set up with very low heat capacity ( $$\sim $$ 20 nJ/K at 100 mK) has been designed using commercial Carbon based resistors. This calorimeter is used to determine the heat capacity of small samples of superconducting bolometer absorbers. In particular, we present heat capacity studies of Tin, a bolometer candidate for Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay in $$^{124}$$ Sn, in the temperature range of 60–400 mK.

Two different azo molecules functionalized graphene oxide (GO) through an ester linkage have been synthesized for the first time. Chemical structure of the azo-GO hybrids was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and UV-visible spectroscopy. The GO functionalized with 5-((4-methoxyphenyl)azo)-salicylaldehyde was further characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The SEM studies demonstrated that the morphology of the azo-GO hybrid was found to be similar to the GO sheets but slightly more wrinkled. Further, TEM image of azo-GO indicates some dark spots on the GO sheets due to azo functionalization. AFM results also reveal that the azo functionalization increases the thickness of GO sheet to 4–5 nm from 1.2–1.8 nm. Both the azo-hybrids show absorption band around 379 nm due to the π–π* transition of the trans azo units. Photoluminescence spectra of azo-GO hybrids show a strong quenching compared with azo molecules due to the photoinduced electron or energy transfer from the azo chromophore to the GO sheets. It also reveals strong electronic interaction between azo and GO sheets.

The feasibility study for searching neutrinoless double beta decay in 124Sn using cryogenic bolometer has been initiated. For this purpose, a custom-built cryogen-free dilution refrigerator, having a large cooling power of 1.4 mW at 120 mK, has been installed at TIFR, India. This paper describes the design, installation and performance of a cryogen-free dilution refrigerator (CFDR-1200). The performance of CFDR-1200 has been analysed using Takano’s model developed for conventional (wet) dilution refrigerators.

Mechanical loading is essential for articular cartilage homeostasis and plays a central role in the cartilage pathology, yet the mechanotransduction processes that underlie these effects remain unclear. Previously we showed that lethal amounts of reactive oxygen species (ROS) were liberated from the mitochondria in response to mechanical insult, and that chondrocyte deformation may be a source of ROS. To this end, we hypothesized that mechanically-induced mitochondrial ROS is related to the magnitude of cartilage deformation. To test this, we measured axial tissue strains in cartilage explants subjected to semi-confined compressive stresses of 0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.25, 0.5, or 1.0 MPa. The presence of ROS was then determined by confocal imaging with dihydroethidium (DHE), an oxidant sensitive fluorescent probe. Our results indicated that ROS levels increased linearly relative to the magnitude of axial strains (r2 = 0.83, p < 0.05), and significant cell death was observed at strains > 40%. By contrast, hydrostatic stress, which causes minimal tissue strain, had no significant effect. Cell permeable superoxide dismutase mimetic Mn(III)tetrakis (1-methyl-4-pyridyl) porphyrin pentachloride (MnTMPyP) significantly decreased ROS levels at 0.5 and 0.25 MPa. Electron transport chain inhibitor, rotenone, and cytoskeletal inhibitor, cytochalasin B, significantly decreased ROS levels at 0.25 MPa. Our findings strongly suggest that ROS and mitochondrial oxidants contribute to cartilage mechanobiology.

Electrically conducting nanocomposites of polyaniline (PANI) with carbon-based fillers have evinced considerable interest for various applications such as rechargeable batteries, microelectronics, sensors, electrochromic displays and light-emitting and photovoltaic devices. The nature of both the carbon filler and the dopant acid can significantly influence the conductivity of these nanocomposites. This paper describes the effects of carbon fillers like carbon black (CB), graphite (GR) and muti-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) and of dopant acids like methane sulfonic acid (MSA), camphor sulfonic acid (CSA), hydrochloric acid (HCl) and sulfuric acid (H2SO4) on the electrical conductivity of PANI. The morphological, structural and electrical properties of neat PANI and carbon–PANI nanocomposites were studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT–IR), UV–Vis spectroscopy and the four-point probe technique, respectively. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies were also conducted for different PANI composites. The results show that PANI and carbon–PANI composites with organic acid dopants show good thermal stability and higher electrical conductivity than those with inorganic acid dopants. Also, carbon–PANI composites generally show higher electrical conductivity than neat PANI, with highest conductivities for PANI–CNT composites. Thus, in essence, PANI–CNT composites prepared using organic acid dopants are most suitable for conducting applications.

We present the structural and magnetic properties of Co(Cr1−y Al y )2O4 compounds prepared by the sol-gel technique for y=0.00,0.025,0.05,0.075,0.10,0.15 and 0.20. It has been observed that non-magnetic Al+3 substitution for Cr+3 enhances the magnetization at low temperatures compared to that of the parent compound. With increase in Al concentration spiral magnetic transition observed at around 24 K becomes less prominent, without affecting the ferrimagnetic transition temperature at around 97 K. The saturation magnetization values after subtracting the paramagnetic contribution vary from 0.036 μB/f.u to 0.376 μB/f.u. The enhanced ferromagnetic interaction and resultant magnetization could be explained in terms of decrease in Cr+3–O–Cr+3 bond angle with increase in doping concentration.

Poultry farms in and around Namakkal with a history of tapeworm infection were surveyed for the presence of beetles which could act as intermediate host for the tapeworms. Beetles collected from different poultry farms with suspected tapeworm infection were examined for the presence of metacestode stage of the parasite. A total of 1,880 beetles were collected from 12 poultry farms with suspected tapeworm infection to study the vector potentiality. Out of these, 205 beetles (10.9 %) from nine farms were found to harbour cysticercoids. The percentage of cysticercoid infection in beetles was 8.24, 10.34 and 16.66 % respectively in three different surveys. The beetles harbouring the cysticercoids were identified as Opatroides frater, which may be a natural intermediate host for Raillietina cesticillus. Infection free young chicks (4 weeks old) were experimentally infected with specific number of cysticercoids and prepatent period of tapeworms was found to be between 12 and 13 days. Gravid segments were expelled between 3 and 4 p.m. consistently. The results of this study would help to formulate suitable control measures against the above tapeworm infection.

Terminal heat stress is one of the limiting factors in wheat production and it is expected to rise under present scenario of climate change. The present study was conducted to evaluate the performance of 40 wheat genotypes under terminal heat stress conditions based on eight physiological traits. The plants were sown late (i.e. on 5th January) to expose them terminal heat stress. The genotypes were evaluated using multivariate analysis viz. Ward’s method of hierarchical clusters analysis, discriminant analysis and principle component analysis. The genotypes were categorized into three groups namely tolerant, intermediate and sensitive. Tolerant genotypes like DBW 14, RAJ 3765, HD 2643 and HALNA performed physiologically better in terms of higher membrane stability index (MSI), chlorophyll content, photosynthesis rate (Pn), harvest index under heat stress conditions. Genotypes HD 2987, SHANGHAI, HD 2402 and WH 730 were found to be heat sensitive. Physiological traits like MSI, SPAD value, Fv/Fm ratio and Pn were found to be most important contributor in grouping of genotypes and showed positive correlations (r) of 0.73, 0.47, 0.41 and 0.39 with grain yield, respectively, which is significant at p

Automated analysis and differentiation of mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's condition using MR images is clinically significant in dementic disorder. Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is a fatal and common form of dementia that progressively affects the patients. Shape descriptors could better differentiate the morphological alterations of brain structures and aid in the development of prospective disease modifying therapies. Ventricle enlargement is considered as a significant biomarker in the AD diagnosis. In this work, a method has been proposed to differentiate MCI from the healthy normal and AD subjects using Laplace-Beltrami (LB) eigen value shape descriptors. Prior to this, Reaction Diffusion (RD) level set is used to segment the ventricles in MR images and the results are validated against the Ground Truth (GT). LB eigen values are infinite series of spectrum that describes the intrinsic geometry of objects. Most significant LB shape descriptors are identified and their performance is analysed using linear Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier. Results show that, the RD level set is able to segment the ventricles. The segmented ventricles are found to have high correlation with GT. The eigen values in the LB spectrum could show distinction in the feature space better than the geometric features. High accuracy is observed in the classification results of linear SVM. The proposed automated system is able to distinctly separate the MCI from normal and AD subjects. Thus this pipeline of work seems to be clinically significant in the automated analysis of dementic subjects.

Polymers that exhibit high electrical conductivity have successfully been synthesized in the last few decades. The early problems associated with the stability and solubility of such conducting polymers have largely been overcome using chemical intuition and experimentation. A fairly wide range of interesting applications based on these polymers is emerging; some of these are highlighted in this article.

In this paper, a new approach for classification of brain tissues into White Matter, Gray Matter, Cerebral Spinal Fluid, Glial Matter, Connective and MS lesion in multiple sclerosis is introduced. This work considers fuzzy multiwavelets, Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) and Weighted Probabilistic Neural Networks (WPNN) for the classification of the brain tissues. Multiwavelet packet transformation is employed on brain MR images. Since multiwavelet packet transformation yields larger number of subbands compared to multiwavelet and wavelet transformations, we have proposed a fuzzy-set based theory for selection of the subbands. In contrast to the standard method of subband selection, guided by the criteria of signal energy, our method is based on the discriminatory features from the multiwavelet packet transformation coefficients. Singular values are then computed from the selected subbands. The singular values of lower magnitudes are truncated for effective classification of brain tissues in the presence of noise. Probability density functions of the remaining singular values are modeled as GMM. Model parameters are estimated using stochastic EM (SEM). They are used as features for the classification. The classification is carried out using WPNN. Experiments have been carried out using the data sets composed of three modalities of brain MR images, namely T1 and T2 relaxation times and proton density weighted MR images. Experimental results prove that the proposed approach gives better classification rate at various noise levels compared to existing approaches.

We report on measurements of the magnetization up to 7 T, of the specific heat and electrical resistivity in fields up to 14 T, and of the magnetic susceptibility in fields up to 20 T of a polycrystalline sample of Rh 17 S 15 . Our data allow us to complement the superconducting phase diagram. The existence of narrow 4d-band states (and thus of strong electronic correlations that seem not to provide magnetic correlations) is supported by the moderately high electronic contribution to the specific heat of about 107 mJ/molK 2 , favoring the existence of a strong superconducting interaction. This fact, and the remarkably high upper critical field (exceeding the simple Pauli limit by a factor of two), give evidence of the uncommon nature of the superconductivity in Rh 17 S 15 .

Atrial septal defects of the ostium secundum variety are typically asymptomatic in infancy and early childhood. Congestive heart failure (CHF) may occur in the presence of significant mitral valve disease, pulmonary artery hypertension, or other diseases that lead to elevated filling pressures of the ventricles. Atrial standstill, a rare disease, was the probable cause of CHF in the 3-year-old child discussed in this report.

The term landslide includes a wide range of ground movements, such as slides, falls, flows etc. mainly based on gravity with the aid of several conditioning and triggering factors. Particularly in the last two decades, there has been an increasing international interest in the landslide susceptibility, hazard or risk assessments.

We consider networks where at each node there is a single exponential server with a service rate which is a non-decreasing function of the queue length. The asymptotic profile of a sequence of networks consists of the set of persistent service rates, the limiting customer-to-node ratio, and the limiting service-rate measure. For a sequence of cyclic networks whose asymptotic profile exists, we compute upper and lower bounds for the limit points of the sequence of throughputs as functions of the limiting customer-to-node ratio. We then find conditions under which the limiting throughput exists and is expressible in terms of the asymptotic profile. Under these conditions, we determine the limiting queue-length distributions for persistent service rates. In the absence of these conditions, the limiting throughput need not exist, even for increasing sequences of cyclic networks.

Two acceptor containing polyimides PDI and NDI carrying pyromellitic diimide units and 1,4,5,8-naphthalene tetracarboxy diimide units, respectively, along with hexa(oxyethylene) (EO6) segments as linkers, were prepared from the corresponding dianhydrides and diamines. These polyimides were made to fold by interaction with specifically designed folding agents containing a dialkoxynaphtha-lene (DAN) donor linked to a carboxylic acid group. The alkali-metal counter-ion of the donor carboxylic acid upon complexation with the EO6 segment brings the DAN unit in the right location to induce a charge-transfer complex formation with acceptor units in the polymer backbone. This two-point interaction between the folding agent and the polymer backbone leads to a folding of the polymer chain, which was readily monitored by NMR titrations. The effect of various parameters, such as structures of the folding agent and polymer, and the solvent composition, on the folding propensities of the polymer was studied.

Poly(2-methoxy-5-[2′-ethylhexyoxy]-1,4-phenylenevinylene) (MEHPPV) derivatives with polyacrylic acid (PAA) chains grafted onto their backbone were found to be water soluble, and they exhibited a dramatic increase in their fluorescence intensity in the presence of a variety of surfactants, even at concentrations far below their critical micelle concentrations (CMC). This increase was accompanied by a blue-shift in the emission maximum. These observations are rationalized based on the postulate that the backbone conformation of the conjugated polymer is modulated upon interaction of the surfactant molecules with the polyelectrolytic tethers, which in turn results in a significant depletion of intra-chain interchromophore interactions that are known to cause red-shifted emission bands with significantly lower emission yields.

We develop a semi-analytical model of transient fluid flow in a 2D layered permeable medium with cross-flow between adjacent layers. It is shown that the pressure satisfies a diffusion equation to leading order, even when the non-linear term and gravity are included in the mathematical model. The solution is based on an analytical expression in the transform domain for the fluid pressure in terms of interfacial flux functions; the algorithm to compute the flux functions accepts an arbitrary number of formation layers. We show some benchmark tests that validate the general model; the model is then applied to an example derived from experiments. Numerical experiments confirm the significance of the cross-flow in a particular scaling of the ratio of permeabilities and quantify the influence of the various physical parameters.

We have studied the peak effect (PE) phenomenon in single crystals of weakly pinned superconductors CeRu 2 and 2H-NbS 2 . 2H-NbS 2 is iso-structural and iso-electronic to 2H-NbSe 2 , whose similarity with CeRu 2 as regards the PE representing the order-to-disorder transformation of the flux line lattice was claimed some time ago. We report on the step change in equilibrium magnetization across the peak effect in CeRu 2 . We also present the vortex phase diagram of 2H-NbS 2 obtained from the magnetization data, and compare the PE phenomenon in 2H-NbS 2 and 2H-NbSe 2 .

Results of an investigation of the path dependence of the critical current density J c due to the plastic deformation of the flux line lattice in a weakly pinned YBa2Cu3O7-δ (YBCO) crystal for H‖c are reported. The procedure of minor hysteresis loops has been used to explore the path dependence of J c and the metastability effects. Contrary to the behavior observed in low T c systems. in YBCO it is found that at low temperatures, the multivaluedness in J c(H) could persist beyond the notional peak field H p, at which the anomalous variation in J c(H) reaches its maximum value.

The weakly pinned single crystals of the hexagonal 2H-NbSe2 compound have emerged as prototypes for determining and characterizing the phase boundaries of the possible order-disorder transformations in the vortex matter. We present here a status report based on the ac and dc magnetization measurements of the peak effect phenomenon in three crystals of 2H-NbSe2, in which the critical current densities vary over two orders of magnitude. We sketch the generic vortex phase diagram of a weakly pinned superconductor, which also utilizes theoretical proposals. We also establish the connection between the metastability effects and pinning.

The results of an extensive study on the microstructure, microhardness, corrosion, and tensile properties of continuously borided and interrupted borided specimens of medium-carbon steel are compared. Carbon repartitioning away from the surface is one of the principal modes to accommodate the high strains introduced on boron diffusion into the case. However, this is a kinetically constrained process and is more predominant on interrupted boriding. The effect of such a carbon redistribution is to result in microstructural modifications including (1) blunting of boride needle tips, (2) precipitation of nearly spherical and fine borocarbides, and (3) enhanced carbon segregation at the boride needle/steel matrix interface on interrupted boriding. The mechanisms aiding the change in the morphology of the boride needles are discussed. The improvements in the mechanical and corrosion properties of the interrupted borided specimens over continuously borided specimens are described.

We review the observation of novel charge density wave (CDW) transitions in ternary R5Ir4Si10 compounds. A high quality single crystal of Lu5Ir4Si10 shows the formation of a commensurate CDW along c-axis below 80 K in the (h, 0, l) plane that coexists with BCS type superconductivity below 3.9 K. However, in a single crystal of Er5Ir4Si10, one observes the development of a 1D-incommensurate CDW at 155 K, which then locks into a purely commensurate state below 55 K. The well-localized Er3 moments are antiferromagnetically ordered below 2.8 K which results in the coexistence of strongly coupled CDW with local moment antiferromagnetism in Er5Ir4Si10. Unlike conventional CDW systems, extremely sharp transition (width ∼ 1.5 K) in all bulk properties along with huge heat capacity anomalies in these compounds makes this CDW transition an interesting one.

For closed, cyclic, discrete-time networks with one server per node and with independent, geometric service times, in equilibrium, the joint queue-length distribution can be realized as the joint distribution of independent random variables, conditionally given their sum. This tool helps establish monotonicity properties of performance measures and also helps show that the queue-length random variables are negatively associated. The queue length at a node is asymptotically analyzed through a family of networks with a fixed number of node types, where the number of nodes approaches infinity, the ratio of jobs to nodes has a positive limit, and each node type has a limiting density. The queue-length distribution at any node is shown to converge, in a strong sense, to a distribution that is conditionally geometric. As a by-product, this approach settles open issues regarding occupancy proportion and average queue length at a node type.

In the context of over-consumption of natural resources in the name of development and rapid industrialization by a small section of the human population that is rapidly growing, the world is currently faced with a variety of environmental uncertainties. 'Global change' covering a whole variety of ecological issues, and 'globalization' in an economic sense, are two major phenomena that are responsible for these uncertainties. There is increasing evidence to suggest that the developing countries more than the developed, particularly the marginalized traditional (those living close to nature and natural resources) societies would be the worst sufferers. In order to cope with this problem in a situation where the traditional societies have to cope with rapidly depleting biodiversity on which they are dependant for their livelihood, there is an urgent need to explore additional pathways for sustainable management of natural resources and societal development. Such pathways should be based on a landscape management strategy, that takes into consideration the rich traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) that these societies have. This is critical because TEK is the connecting link between conservation and sustainable development. This paper explores the possibilities in this direction through a balanced approach to development, that links the 'traditional' with the 'modern', in a location-specific way.

Accounting measures such as levels and changes in residual earnings are widely used for performance evaluation and executive compensation (Healy, 1985). Quite often, these compensation contracts are of the linear form. In a multiperiod agency setting with hidden actions, where the agent's effort influences the random evolution of a general model of residual earnings, we show that linear compensation contracts based on weighted sum of the levels and changes of residual earnings are indeed optimal. We characterize the contract explicitly and show that the weights are determined by the earnings persistence parameter. Residual earnings are known to be important for valuation too (Ohlson, 1995; Easton and Harris, 1991). In our setting, we demonstrate that residual earnings are also sufficient for valuation. This implies that residual earnings can be used to align incentive goals with valuation objectives. In essence, our paper provides the theoretical underpinnings for linear contracts based on residual earnings and their implications for valuation.