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The considerable amount of genetic variability on the basis of GCV and PCV estimates for the traits; days to 50% flowering, numbers of primary and secondary branches per plant, length of siliqua, 1000-seed weight, seed yield per plant, biological yield per plant and harvest index were found in thirty five genotypes of Indian mustard (Brassica juncea L. Czern and Coss). Heritability and genetic advance were higher for days to 50% flowering, plant height and biological yield per plant. Although, number of secondary branches per plant, seed yield per plant and harvest index had moderately high heritability with moderate genetic advance indicating additive gene effects and selection pressure could be applied on them for yield improvement leads to fast genetic improvement of the materials. Days to 75% maturity, length of siliqua, 1000-seed weight and oil content had low heritability indicating that these traits were under the influence of environmental factors and selection on the basis of these traits could not be effective.

This research paper presents a historical analysis of the unprecedented growth of dengue fever cases in Delhi (the capital city of India) during 2015 with an objective to identify factors responsible for its spread and suggest corrective measures to control the disease. The study was conducted based on secondary data with respect to dengue spread in Delhi from various sources, such as newspapers, published scientific research papers, internet, and news bulletins of the health organizations at the central and state governments in India. Data with respect to Ayurvedic treatment of dengue fever was from the selected employees of a private hospital in Faridabad (State of Haryana, India). As a result, two factors were identified to be responsible for the fast spread of dengue: climatic conditions and the delayed reaction of health organizations to control mosquitoes. Another unique finding in this study was that most patients go for Ayurvedic treatment at hospitals equipped with facilities for allopathy only. This study recommends that health organizations should invest in research about dengue, develop innovative methods for forecasting and reduce the treatment cost. In addition, health organizations must be proactive in educating citizens and controlling the disease.

The genetic diversity of 96 genotypes of lentil comprising 34 cultivars, 46 advanced breeding lines, and 16 germplasm lines were studied using 260 SSR markers. These markers generated a total of 749 alleles. The alleles/locus ranged from 2 to 16 with an average value of 2.87. Polymorphic information content varied from 0.02 to 0.91 with a mean of 0.30. Major allelic frequency ranged from 0.14 to 0.99 with a mean of 0.77. Studied genotypes were clustered into two groups according to their breeding history. Advanced breeding lines derived from exotic lines were clustered in one group, while another group accommodated most of the cultivars and advanced breeding lines with common cultivars in parentage. The germplasm lines were sub-clustered within first group. Cumulatively, first three principal components contributed 21.2% to the total variability. Advanced breeding lines showed higher number of alleles/locus and gene diversity (He) than other sets of genetic materials. In present study, no significant differences were observed between cultivars developed in different decadal groups for both NA and He. Moreover, genetic diversity changes between small and large seeded lentil cultivars were also found non-significant in this study. These findings showed that the use of alien genes can help to diversify active gene pool for developing improved new cultivars in lentil.

TB as the cause of uveitis varies from 0.5 to 10.5%; low sensitivity of confirmatory laboratory investigations and inconsistency of diagnostic criteria leads to paucity of data. Diagnosis requires a high level of suspicion and is often presumptive based on indirect evidences. Interferon gamma, Interleukin-2 and Neopterin are key biomarkers in immuno-regulation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. The relative shift from Interleukin-2 towards Interferon gamma (Interferon gamma/Interleukin-2) is more discriminatory for active tuberculosis. Protein carbonyl and Malondialdehyde, as oxidative stress markers, characterize active tuberculosis. A case of disseminated TB presenting with acute uveitis had a recurrent tubercular lymphadenitis after completing category I treatment under revised national tuberculosis control programme. The present study evaluates the potential utility of above mentioned biomarkers to predict atypical presentation in difficult cases of tuberculosis. Though tuberculous uveitis is amenable to treatment in early course of disease, the delay in diagnosis can have serious consequences for the patient.

The present work reports data of the radiation exposure to the patient in various diagnostic and therapeutic interventional radiological (IR) procedures. The study includes 260 diagnostic and 195 therapeutic exposure data in 455 IR procedures. All the IR procedures were performed on a biplane angiographic machine in a tertiary care hospital. The radiation exposure was estimated from dose-area product (DAP), fluoroscopy time (FT), number of fluoroscopic runs, number of images and cumulative dose (CD) value recorded during the procedure. The data reported in the present study show significant variability in DAP values in diagnostic and therapeutic IR procedures. In diagnostic procedures, the minimum median DAP value is 8.93 Gy cm2 for upper limb angiography with mean FT of 2.7 min and maximum DAP value is 108.8 Gy cm2 for inferior vena cava angiography with mean FT of 12.55 min. For therapeutic procedures, the median value of DAP ranges from 2.43 Gy cm2 for sclerotherapy with mean FT 0.65 min to 267.23 Gy cm2 for coiling of cerebral aneurysm with mean FT of 60.52 min. The DAP value for each procedure was also correlated with FT, number of fluoroscopic runs, number of images and CD. The reported DAP values in this study are within the range of earlier published results which suggest that our finding provides at least approximate applicability to other hospitals. The third quartile DAP values of the procedures having significant number of patient data (n ≥ 10) serves as provisional reference values for the optimization of procedure protocols.

Pulse Step Modulation (PSM) based High Voltage Power Supplies (HVPSs) are widely used in fusion research and other applications viz. broadcast transmitters, particle accelerators and neutral beam injectors because of inherent advantages of modular structure, high accuracy and efficiency, low ripple and fast dynamics. Typical Ion Cyclotron Radio Frequency (IC RF) system composed of cascaded connection of Driver stage (130 kW RF output) and End stage (1500 kW RF Output) would need two power supplies. A novel concept of tapping two outputs from single PSM based HVPS is attempted for the first time. PSM based 3 MW HVPS is developed with dual output to feed anode voltage of Driver (up to 18 kV) and Final Stage (up to 27 kV). Controller for the HVPS is designed to suit requirements during local operation and remote operation. In Local operation mode, protection interlocks with in the HVPS are integrated while remote mode has additional interlocks from IC RF Amplifiers system. Field integration of the controller is achieved through fiber optical links to avoid Electro-Magnetic interferences. Present article discusses initial experience of dual output HVPS with IC RF amplifiers, pre-integration validation campaigns including qualification for energy limits. The paper also presents the performance of HVPS at full rated capacity of 2800 kW continuous duty to support 1.5 MW IC RF system.

Method to measure canopy temperature depression (CTD) by employing thermal imaging system for crops like soybean, which is sensitive to low soil moisture has not been standardised/optimised. Hence, the present study was conducted to optimise the thermal imaging method and evaluated the CTD along with canopy greenness-based physiological traits in screening/selecting soybean genotypes suitable for semi-arid environment. The CTD and canopy greenness were measured six to eight times during different growth phases/stages using infrared (IR) and visible cameras mounted on a semi-automatic trolley that allowed rapid acquisition of high quality thermal and visible images, respectively. The CTD measured at the reproductive stage explained a major proportion of the variation in grain yield under both well-watered and water-stressed conditions. This could be attributed to close association between plant's capacity to keep its canopy cooler (low canopy temperature) and canopy greenness (higher chlorophyll content) as indicated by efficient photosynthesis which leads to grain yield. These results indicated that in addition to assess stay green features, CTD along with canopy greenness can also be used as a key trait of leaves in the selection of soybean genotypes for higher adaptability to low soil moisture stress conditions, a common feature exists under semi-arid regions.

Software Reliability Growth Models (SRGMs) are supporting software industries in expecting and scrutinizing quality of software. Numerous SRGMs have been proposed; majority of which concentrate on testing period of software. For testing, domain specific knowledge plays a very crucial role. Based on necessity condition, a set of programmes are in testing phase of software development. “Domain testing is a software technique in which small number of test cases is selected for trial. These sets of testing paths, all of which are to be eventually influenced by designed test cases are called the testing domain which expands with the progress of testing”. Keeping this concept in mind, we propose SRGMs with the concept of testing domain with exponential coverage. Utility of proposed framework has been emphasized in this paper through some models pertaining to different distribution i.e Exponential, Logistic, Weibull and Rayleigh. Moreover, the data analysis is performed to find the estimates of parameters by fitting the models on authentic data sets.

Introduction Extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) is one of the major diagnostic challenges in clinical practice. The aim of the study was to compare the utility of Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) with conventional techniques in the diagnosis of EPTB. Materials and methods Specimens from 150 patients with a presumptive diagnosis of EPTB were examined by Zeihl-Neelsen staining and mycobacterial culture on Lowenstein Jensen medium. Histopathology was done for lymph node aspirates and endometrial biopsies. DNA from all the samples was amplified by PCR targeting 123 bp and 240 bp fragments of IS6110 and MPT64 genes respectively. Results IS6110 PCR was more sensitive (82.1%) as compared to PCR for MPT64 gene (81%) though the difference was not found to be statistically significant. Four (2.6%) and 2 (1.3%) samples were positive by IS6110-PCR only and MPT64-PCR only respectively.Conclusion: PCR with multiple targets can have potentially important role in improving diagnostic accuracy of EPTB.

Fusarium wilt caused by F. oxysporum f. sp. ciceris causes extensive damage to chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) in many parts of the world. In the central part of India, pathogen race 2 (Foc 2) causes severe yield losses. We initiated molecular marker-assisted backcrossing (MABC) using desi cultivar, Vijay, as a donor to introgress resistance to this race (Foc2) in Pusa 256, another elite desi cultivar of chickpea. To confirm introgression of resistance for this race, foreground selection was undertaken using two SSR markers (TA 37 and TA110), with background selection to observe the recovery of recurrent parent genome using 45 SSRs accommodated in 8 multiplexes. F1 plants were confirmed with molecular markers and backcrossed with Pusa 256, followed by cycles of foreground and background selection at each stage to generate 161 plants in BC3F2 during the period 2009-2013. Similarly, 46 BC3F1 plants were also generated in another set during the same period. On the basis of foreground selection, 46 plants were found homozygotes in BC3F2. Among them, 17 plants recorded >91% background recovery with the highest recovery percentage of 96%. In BC3F1 also, 14 hybrid plants recorded a background recovery of >85% with the highest background recovery percentage of >94%. The identified plants were selfed to obtain 1341 BC3F3 and 2198 BC3F2 seeds which were screened phenotypically for resistance to fusarium wilt (race 2) besides doing marker analysis. Finally, 17 BC3F4 and 11 BC3F3 lines were obtained which led to identification of 5 highly resistant lines of Pusa 256 with Foc 2 gene introgressed in them. Development of these lines will help in horizontal as well as vertical expansion of chickpea in central part of India.

Climate change and pollution are the most vulnerable stressors that are anticipated increasingly to affect all living organisms including fishes. The aquatic ecosystems are the most affected ecosystem due to contamination and global increasing temperature. In view of the above, the present study delineates 96-h median lethal concentration of heavy metal, lead alone and in combination with high temperature (34 °C) by conducting static non-renewable acute toxicity bioassay in Pangasius hypophthalmus (average weight 3.65 ± 0.75 g). Further, the effect of different definitive doses (80, 82, 84, 86, 88 and 90 mg/L) of lead alone and high temperature on cellular metabolic response was probed. The LC50 of lead was found to be 84.93 mg/L, whereas in combination with high temperature it was 83.10 mg/L in P. hypophthalmus. Catalase, superoxide dismutase and glutathione-S-transferase were noticeably higher (p

Pre-stack seismic inversion utilizes as name suggest pre-stack seismic data along with well log data to estimate P-impedance, S-impedance, density and \({\text{V}}_{\text{P}} /{\text{V}}_{\text{S}}\) ratio away from the borehole. Pre-stack seismic inversion methods provides very high resolution subsurface images. This method provide more detail information as compared to the post-stack seismic data in which only P-impedance can be extracted but in this case one can extract simultaneously P-impedance, S-impedance, density and \({\text{V}}_{\text{P}} /{\text{V}}_{\text{S}}\) ratio. The chapter includes details of Simultaneous inversion and elastic impedance inversion. The application of these methods to the synthetic data as well as real data are also included in this chapter.

In this chapter, the details of Amplitude variation with offset has been discussed. The method utilizes CMP gathers to produce AVO attribute which is used as good indicators of the presence of gas formation. The chapter is divided into two parts, in the first part it discusses about fluid replacement modeling and in the second section, it discusses about AVO inversion. Initially, the details of these methods are provided and thereafter, synthetic as well as real data examples are discussed.

Post-stack seismic inversion utilizes post-stack seismic data along with well log data to estimate acoustic impedance. Post-stack seismic inversion is very fast compared to other pre-stack seismic inversion methods and provides a high-resolution subsurface image. This chapter discusses several types of post-stack seismic inversion methods namely model-based inversion, colored inversion, sparse spike inversion, and band-limited inversion. The chapter also includes the synthetic as well as real data examples of above seismic inversion methods.

Dry pea or field pea is one of the most important and highly productive cool season pulse crops grown worldwide. There are several biotic and abiotic stresses which are the key constraints in achieving potential production of dry pea. Among biotic stresses, fungal diseases such as powdery mildew, rust, root rots, wilt, common root rot and ascochyta blight are the most common and severely affecting the crop at different growth stages. In case of abiotic stresses, high temperature, drought and frost are frequently occurring and reduce quantity and quality of produces. Hence, genetic improvement for aforesaid traits is important globally and needs to be addressed using conventional and molecular breeding approaches together to accelerate the breeding programme. Genetic improvement of pea began with domestication and has been aid on by decades of research through incorporation of novel traits from wild germplasm and landraces as well as pyramiding multiple constructive alleles in well-adapted genetic backgrounds. Sincere efforts have been made during recent past in terms of improving plant type and tolerance/resistant to important biotic and abiotic stresses around the world. Several major and minor genes/QTLs have been dissected controlling the important biotic and abiotic stresses. The introgression of genes for these resistant sources is possible using marker-assisted selection to speed up dry pea breeding programme more efficiently and precisely due to the availability of comprehensive genetic maps and reliable DNA markers. This book chapter briefly elaborates about the research accomplishment made so far for improvement of major traits and future perspectives to enhance dry pea productivity through genetic improvement.

Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is one of the most important grain legumes for direct human consumption worldwide. However, several diseases limit its production and deteriorate quality of bean. Hence, breeding for disease resistance is of global importance in common bean which is addressed with emphasis on conventional and molecular breeding strategies. Disease resistance does not directly increase yield, but in the absence of adequate levels of resistance to diseases like viruses (bean common mosaic virus (BCMV), bean golden mosaic virus (BGMV)), similarly, fungal diseases like anthracnose (ANT), angular leaf spot (ALS), powdery mildew (PWM) and rust and bacterial diseases like common bacterial blight (CBB), halo blight and other major diseases, bean yields will fall below optimum. Adequate levels of disease resistance to a number of pathogens are needed to help stabilize dry bean yield. Therefore, breeders need to recognize the disease constraints within their production zones and restrict resistance breeding to these specific pathogens. Given this constraint, breeders attempt to choose parents that are genetically diverse based on measures such as the coefficient of parentage (CP) and could be have higher disease resistance level. On the other hand, conventional plant breeding relies on the discovery, phenotypic selection and introgression of disease-resistant gene to develop superior cultivars. This process usually takes 7–10 years and significant economic resources. However, the application of marker-assisted selection (MAS), for the detection of genes or genomic regions underlying a trait of interest, can increase the genetic gain over phenotypic selection in breeding programs by reducing time and costs. Till date, more than 30 individual genes for disease resistance and a similar number of genes for QTL underlying major traits with significant impact to common bean cultivation in the tropics have been successfully linked with markers. The current status of MAS in breeding for resistance to angular leaf spot, anthracnose, bean common mosaic and bean common mosaic necrosis viruses, common bacterial blight, halo blight and rust is discussed in this chapter. In addition to that, examples are given of gene tagging for major disease that are important for bean breeding for tropical environments and aspects considered that contribute to successful application of MAS. Subsequently, the use of markers for disease resistance traits in marker-assisted backcrossing and introgression across Andean and Mesoamerican gene pools is suggested.

Seismic inversion methods in geophysics is a technique used to transform seismic reflection data into quantitative subsurface rock properties. It is methods to integrate seismic reflection data along with well log data to extract a variety of petrophysical parameters. Geophysicists regularly perform seismic surveys to collect subsurface geological information in the exploration project. Such surveys record sound waves that have passed through the earth’s layers of rock and fluid in the form of amplitude and time. The recorded seismic data can be interpreted on its own but this does not provide sufficient information of the subsurface and can be inaccurate under certain circumstances. Because of its efficiency and quality, most oil and gas companies now using seismic inversion methods to increase data resolution and reliability and improve rock properties estimation including porosity and net pay. In this chapter, the basics of forward modeling, convolution model, seismic inversions and their kinds are discussed.

Seismic data interpretation is a very crucial step and hence needs special care to the data. If some ambiguity will remain in the data, the interpretation will be false and hence loss of time and money. This chapter describes some of the processing steps of the seismic data that is necessary before proceeding towards the interpretation of seismic data. The chapter also describes the technique of picking seismic horizons, wavelet extraction and low-frequency model generation which are a very important step for the seismic inversion process.

The Transient electromagnetic method (TEM) represents a class of relatively new electromagnetic (EM) methods, which are widely being used for ground water, mineral exploration and environmental and geotechnical problems. The present work describes a forward computation and an inversion schemes for the interpretation of large loop transient electromagnetic (TEM) data acquired using central loop, in-loop and offset-loop configurations over multi-layer earth models, which are still useful for getting an initial guess about the subsurface resistivity and are used as initial model for advanced inversion schemes. The inversion program makes use of non-linear least square approach to generate a smooth inverted model from the data on the basis of criteria of minimization of misfit function and/or convergence of residual in two successive iterations. The forward problem is first formulated in frequency domain, and then Fourier cosine or sine transform is used to transform it into the time domain. The accuracy and robustness of algorithms are tested by computing the forward TEM response and inverting the large loop TEM data acquired using central loop, in-loop and offset loop configurations with or without the addition of random noises over homogeneous, two layer, three layer and four layer earth models. Both the forward and inverse programs work satisfactorily for the TEM response of a large loop source over layered earth models. The programs in their present forms are meant for computation and inversion of voltage response data, but have option for forward computation and inversion of apparent resistivity data with small changes in constraints of the program and input parameters.

The optimization method is a process of getting the maximum or minimum of the inverse problem. This concept is used in this chapter to find the solution to the geophysical problems. Nowadays these techniques are used frequently in the exploration field to estimate subsurface information using seismic and well log data. Although these methods are used in almost all branches of geophysics but here the explanation is focused in the field of exploration. Initially, some local optimization methods like Steepest Descent Method, Conjugate Gradient Method, Newton Methods are discussed. Thereafter, two types of global optimization methods namely Genetic algorithm and Simulated Annealing are discussed along with synthetic as well as real data examples.

Considerable progress has been achieved in chickpea through embryo rescue in wide hybridization in terms of recovery of hybrid plantlets, but development of introgressed donor lines and varietal release is yet to be achieved. The technical information generated relating to embryo culture of chickpea facilitated researches in somatic embryogenesis, which had immense role in development of plantlets from genetically transformed tissues. Biology of the developing somatic embryo in chickpea has been studied, and developmental stages have been identified. Regression-based models are also available in the literature to predict the stage of the developing embryo, and such information can be used in identification of the time of embryo rescue in different wide crosses. Embryo culture conditions have been standardized for culturing the mature and immature embryos in chickpea, and liquid media with filter paper bridge setup have been identified to be congenial to support the growth of the immature embryo. Karyotypes of different species of Cicer have been developed, and corresponding DNA contents have been reported. C-banding patterns of the chromosomes have been developed, and their fine structure during pachytene has been studied. Linkage groups have been identified on the basis of the location of the centromere, secondary constriction, and arms ratio in different species.

Device-to-Device (D2D) communication allows two mobile users to communicate straight way with each other. D2D communication that underlay conventional cellular networks has been recognized as a novel approach to alleviate the outage performance and ameliorate the throughput of the traditional cellular system. The co-channel interference is the major weakness of D2D communication in D2D based cellular system. The purpose of this paper is to derive the expression of D2D link outage probability (OP) for D2D based cellular system by utilizing stochastic geometry and to evaluate the achievement of existing cellular system. The Rayleigh fading, and Nakagami-m fading have been considered for the co-channel interference signals and desired signal, respectively. Expression of OP is derived and presented in terms of the Gauss hypergeometric function. This analysis acknowledge the influence of main system parameters on outage performance of the network. Results show the D2D outage probability is depends on SIR threshold, D2D pair distance, path-loss exponent, and fading parameter m. Finally, the results obtained from numerical analysis are corroborate through Monte-Carlo simulations which may gives the guidelines for network designer.

The present study is aimed at evaluating the reservoir potentials of South Tapti Basin of India with limitation to the available data. A number of petrophysical parameters, i.e., effective porosity (Φ), water saturation (Sw), formation water resistivity (Rw), hydrocarbon saturation (So), and true resistivity (Rt), are evaluated using the well log data, and the reservoir characterization is performed. The analysis shows a hydrocarbon-bearing zone in between 1866 and 1874 m, which contains gamma ray (GR) value of 34.4 API, resistivity of 117.3 Ω m, and average porosity of 35.7%. To know the fluid type in the reservoir zone, neutron porosity and density porosity are plotted together and a crossover has been noticed at 1866–1874 m depth which indicates that the reservoir is filled with gas. The analysis of petrophysical parameters and cross-plots shows that the reservoir is filled with sandstone with some clay content separated by shale markers, which act as seal rock for the reservoir.

In the present study, the CO2 storage potential of a subsurface sandstone layer of the Blackfoot field, Alberta, Canada, is evaluated. In this study, seismic reservoir monitoring has been performed to monitor fluid flow effects in seismic amplitudes. In order to monitor CO2 fluid viability, the Gassmann fluid substitution analysis is also performed to analyze the seismic amplitude response along with the seismic forward modeling which is used to generate seismic data from the geological model. From the seismic forward modeling, a significant variation in seismic amplitude is recognized due to fluid substitution. From the Gassmann approach, considerable changes in P-wave and S-wave velocities, densities, and impedances are observed with increasing CO2 saturation. From the results, it is observed that the sudden drop in acoustic impedance occurs between 0 and 20% CO2 saturation and that leads to the detectable time shift at the top of the CO2 plume. Further, amplitude versus offset (AVO) and Lambda-mu-rho (LMR) analyses have been performed to demonstrate the detectability capacity of these parameters due to the change in fluid saturation in the porous media. In addition, time delays at the injected reflector are also measured. The changes caused by the CO2 plume in the seismic section are also identified by subtracting the monitor model (CO2 saturated model) from the baseline model (0% CO2 saturated model) in time domain as well as in impedance domain. The proposed amount of CO2 injection is considered as 105 tonnes for one year of injection. The study demonstrates that the CO2 plume can be detected in a more detailed way with very high resolution by working in impedance domain rather than working in time domain.

Black gram (Vigna mungo) is a treasure trove legume in terms of nutritional efficiency and medicinal values and an important pulse that is cultivated throughout India in all three seasons. However, its production and productivity is constrained due to abiotic and biotic stresses.Though technology has aided in genetic improvement of the crop, the narrow genetic base remains a potential constraint. In vitro regeneration and genetic transformation have aided to its genetic improvement, yet a lot remains to be explored and harnessed for efficient and effective genetic improvement of the pulse. The review highlights the progress and achievements in context of in vitro regeneration and genetic transformation in blackgram.

The prime objective of this study is to find the suitable petrophysical parameters which depict the maximum change in seismic amplitude due to fluid substitution. Therefore, in the present study the petrophysical parameters are analysed to detect the most sensitive parameters due to fluid substitution. The analysis is performed in three steps: In the first step, the Gassmann fluid substitution is performed and a considerable change in velocity, density, impedance, lambda–mu–rho parameters and Shuey’s parameters is examined. The study shows that the most sensitive parameters are A (intercept), which shows the maximum drop of 22% with respect to CO2 injection, and B (gradient), which shows the maximum increase of 10% with CO2 injection in the formation. Thereafter, in the second step, the seismic forward modelling is performed to examine the changes in seismic amplitude by the fluid substitution in the formation. The analysis depicts that the seismic amplitude increases steadily with increasing CO2 saturation. The amplitude increases by 4% at 20% CO2 injection, by 8% at 50% CO2 injection and the seismic amplitude increases by 12% at 100% CO2 injection in the target zone. Finally, in the third step, the numerical modelling is performed to assess the ability of seismic methods to detect the CO2 plume accurately by injecting CO2 plume of cylindrical shape. The analysis shows that the CO2 plume can be detected more prominently by analysing the impedance volume rather than the seismic amplitude section. This study is helpful in deciding which parameters should be monitored carefully in fluid replacement modelling projects.

Despite efforts to limit the morbidity and mortality from tuberculosis (TB), it continues to be an important cause of death. There is an urgent need for a diagnostic test that accurately and quickly diagnoses TB, especially if it is also a near-point-of-care test. The GeneXpert polymerase chain reaction test (known in India as CBNAAT [cartridge-based nucleic acid amplification test] and is capable of diagnosing TB and rifampicin resistance within 2 h) is a promising tool. The duration of our study was two years and was carried out in the DOTS centre of a tertiary care hospital in India. A total of 5449 samples were processed using CBNAAT. Of the total samples tested, 2068 were extra-pulmonary. The following information was collected: number of extra-pulmonary samples processed; number of Mycobacterium tuberculosis ( M. tuberculosis)-positive samples; patterns of rifampicin sensitivity; number of people living with HIV (PLHIV); and number of children. Of the samples, 62.1% were from suspected pulmonary TB patients. Out of the total samples tested using CBNAAT, 21.8% were positive for M. tuberculosis. Rifampicin resistance was seen in 9.2%, 8.5% and 10.3% of the total, pulmonary and extra-pulmonary samples, respectively, in M. tuberculosis-positive samples. Overall, 36.9% samples were from the paediatric population and 5.7% belonged to PLHIV. Rifampicin resistance was seen in 8.8% and 8.3% of the M. tuberculosis-positive paediatric and PLHIV samples, respectively.

The study of micro-cracks, shear zone and redistribution of stress after excavation in the rockmass is required for a stability analysis of the underground structure. The powerhouse of the Tapovan Vishnugad Hydropower Project (TVHPP) of NTPC Ltd. is located in the seismic zone V of India and is positioned at the junction of the middle and higher Himalayan region under challenging geological conditions. The powerhouse cavern constructed by drill and blast method encountered a number of rockbursts of various intensities during and after construction. So, a real-time remote microseismic monitoring network was used to evaluate the stability of the powerhouse cavern rockmass. Strata condition, rockburst occurrence during construction and drilling feasibility for sensor installation were studied for an array of designs of the microseismic monitoring network. The primary monitoring period demarcated the micro-crack locations and probable failure zones in the powerhouse rockmass by processing and analysis of various temporal and spatial variations of microseismic parameters to evaluate the underground powerhouse structural stability. Although a large number of microseismic events occurred in the powerhouse which resulted in high displacement in a few areas, due to the low amount of energy released from the events occurring inside the powerhouse, the structure appears to be stable.

The Bio-efficacy of eleven plant extracts namely viz.Neem Kernel; Rhizome of Ginger; Leaves of Datura, Gajarghas, Harsingar, Oak and Latjeera; Bulb of Garlic and Onion; Flowers of Chrysenthemum and Fruits of Chilli in the concentration of 5 percent and imidacloprid @ 40 g ai/ha was tested against mustard aphid, Lipaphiserysimi and their effect on D. rapae and Coccinellid beetle were tested in the Department of Entomology, College of Agriculture, Gwalior (M.P.). All the tested plant materials and imidacloprid @ 40 g ai/ha were effective significanty in reducing the aphid population over control.The aphid population in treated plots ranged from 7.2 to 40.0 as against 85.4 aphid/twig in untreated control. Among the plant material, three sprays of Neem Kernel were found most effective followed by three sprays of chilli fruits.All the plant extracts were found significantly safer to D. rapae and coccinellid bettle in comparision to insecticide (imidacloprid).

In the present paper, a seismic inversion based on genetic algorithm (GA) is performed to characterise the reservoir using seismic data only from the Blackfoot field, Alberta, Canada. The algorithm is first tested on synthetically generated data to optimise the GA parameters. The error analysis between the inverted and the expected results suggested that the performance of algorithm is exceptionally satisfactory. Thereafter, the inversion is performed for real seismic data from the Blackfoot field. The seismic data is first inverted for acoustic impedance section and then it is transformed into the velocity and density sections using the relation derived from the well-log data. The interpretation of the inverted/derived results depicts a low-amplitude anomaly zone between 1055 and 1065 ms time interval, which is characterised as a reservoir. The results demonstrate the efficacy and applicability of the GA in reservoir characterisation from the seismic data alone. This study is very helpful for the offshore projects where the information about well logs are missing.

This paper presents an analysis of key points of Lenovo and Motorola deal such as approval of the deal by regulatory bodies in the United States and China, pricing and payment terms of the deals, positive and negative side of the deal for Google and Lenovo in the present context and in future, impact on the smartphone markets in China and world, possibilities of Lenovo making it a repeat of acquiring ThinkPad business of IBM during 2004 or will get rid of Motorola like Google. The analysis is based on qualitative and time series quantitative data compiled from different sources. The quantitative data are mainly consists of changes in different parameters of mobile phone business before and after the acquisition of Motorola Mobility by Lenovo. The quantitative data are analyzed with respect to different growth parameters of mobile phone business of major manufacturers. Research paper also attempts to find answers to few specific research questions with respect to impact on eco-systems of Google and Lenovo technologies. Based on analysis, it is inferred that becoming a successful organization in device manufacturing in an industry which is highly competitive, work with low margins, and maturing is becoming difficult with passing time.

The gram pod borer (Helicoverpa armigera Hubner) is the most serious insect pest of pigeonpea. It is highly susceptible to the insecticidal proteins of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). A codon-optimized chimeric Cry1Aabc gene of Bt driven by a constitutive promoter was introduced in pigeonpea (cv. Asha) to confer resistance against the insect. A total of eight transgenic plants could be established with transformation frequency of 0.06%. Two transgenic events were selected for advancement based on high insect mortality, single locus integration, protein expression and fertility status. Quantitative ELISA indicated high protein expression in different plant parts viz., leaves (pre and post flowering), flowers, pod walls and immature seeds. Analysis for the stable integration, expression and insect mortality (detached leaf and pod bioassay) led to identification of lines with high efficacy. These events were further advanced for the identification of a viable event by selfing to create homozygosity. The chimeric Cry1Aabc expressed in pigeonpea is effective against gram pod borer and can be utilized in transgenic variety development programme.

In the present study, seismic and well log information is incorporated with a multi-layer feed-forward neural network (MLFN) to predict porosity in the inter-well region. The aim of this study is to estimate a relationship between porosity and impedance to characterize the reservoir, if any, in the offshore F3 block, the Netherlands. MLFN is used to generate a connection between porosity logs and a set of seismic attributes, which are further used for porosity prediction. Modelbased inversion is employed to produce an acoustic impedance volume, which is a reliable technique for quantitative estimation of reservoir characteristics and acoustic impedance. The model-based inversion results indicate that the acoustic impedance (AI) in the region varies from 2500 to 6200 m/s*g/cm3, which is comparatively low and indicates loose formation. Thereafter, AI along with other attributes estimated from seismic data, is used as an input in MLFN, and porosity is predicted. The technique is first implemented on the traces close to well locations, and the findings are correlated with well log information, and after appropriate matching, the entire seismic segment is inverted for porosity. The results indicate that the porosity varies from 0.07 to 0.40. Further, a relationship between predicted porosity and inverted impedance is derived to represent the connection between these two parameters in the region. Moreover, based on this study, it is concluded that there is no significant reservoir in the region. However, as the analyses are performed for a specific range of data, it is possible that other parts of the area may have a different stratigraphy and possibility of the primary reservoir in the area.

The aim of this research paper is to identify best model to classify a data set with target variable as mode of delivery of pregnant women and a set of predictors (Mother’s weight, height, age, baby’s weight, and baby’s gender). The analysis is carried out using different algorithms of classification taking one at time which are part of Weka and R-Programming library. In addition, ensemble technique having different base classifiers is also applied to the same data set. The base classifiers used for ensemble techniques are Simple Cart, C4.5, Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP), Radial Bias Function (RBF), and Reduced Error Pruning Tree (Reptree). The results with respect to performance of the new models are compared with the performance of logistic regression, discriminant function, and standalone decision tree algorithms based on values of accuracy, precision and recall [1]. It is concluded that data small or big should be subjected to many algorithms and their combinations using either hybrid or ensemble and other existing approaches, to get a more reliable output.

Climate change is thevariation in the statistical distribution of weather patterns when that change lasts for an extended period of time.The relationship between climate change and agriculture is complex, both ecologically and politically. Climate variability is inherently linked to the productive capacity of agricultural production systems worldwide. In India population depends highly on agriculture and they created excessive pressure on natural resources with poor coping mechanisms.The significant negative impacts have been noticed with respect toclimate change, predicted to reduce yield by 4.5 to 9 per cent, roughly up to 1.5 per cent of GDP per year. India is more challenged withimpacts of looming climate change, and agricultural production in the country isbecoming increasingly vulnerable to climatevariability and change characterized by alteredfrequency, timing and magnitude of precipitation and temperature. Therefore, it is need of the hour to enhance resilience of agriculture to climate change through planned adaptation and mitigation strategies.

The present work reports data of radiation exposure to the patients during head, chest, pelvis and abdomen CT examinations performed on a third-generation 16-slice CT machine. Radiation exposure was estimated using size specific dose estimates (SSDE) method, which takes into account patient’s physical dimensions in phantom measured computed tomography dose index (CTDI) value. The reported median CT dose volume index CTDIvol values in head, chest, pelvis and abdomen examinations were 26.76, 16.27, 29.81 and 14.74 mGy, respectively. The median doses evaluated using SSDE methodology for the above mentioned procedure were 54.1, 23.1, 42.8 and 20.1 mGy, respectively. Our results showed variation in dose values estimated using CTDI and SSDE methods in all examinations. The evaluated SSDE values were also compared to the values derived from data reported by the American Association of Physicist in Medicine (AAPM). SSDE values in present measurements are 4–8% lower than AAPM values. The present results show that CTDI parameters recorded on CT console should not be used to specify patient dose during CT procedures.

The core assets of HTC are people, innovations, and technology. But in the recent quarters, HTC has started retrenching people even from R&D divisions which are responsible for innovation and developing new technologies. It means HTC's core assets are depleting. HTC was known for its cutting edge technology of 16mp camera and high speed '4G' technology but performing badly in the last two and half year. Why is it so? Paper objectives are to identify reasons for its downfall of HTC, distress signals for HTC downfall, and possible revival strategies for survival of HTC in Bipolar world (Samsung and Apple) of smartphones makers. In addition, research paper present eight research proposition/ questions with respect to present state of HTC and its future and possible answers to these research propositions/ questions. Research paper ends with concluding remarks in the context of HTC future.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of various types of domestic violence and to find out the impact of intimate partner violence (IPV) on adoption of contraceptive measures among the women who are victim to this. Materials and Methods: This questionnaire-based, cross-sectional study was conducted in the department of obstetrics and gynecology of a tertiary care hospital in Delhi. Four hundred and one postpartum females were randomly selected over a period of 5 months and were questioned about their age, parity, educational status, occupation, husband's education, monthly family income, and, if present, IPV in detail. These study participants were enquired about their contraceptive knowledge and use. Results: Sexual violence was seen in 38.4% of the cases, physical violence in 22.4% of the cases, and verbal abuse was seen in nearly 32.7% of the cases. In response to any of the three violence faced, only 23 women (11.79%) reacted by discussing with parents and friends. In 4.61% of the cases, the violence was so severe that she had to inform police. This study showed that higher percentage of women without IPV accepted immediate postpartum contraception methods as compared to those with IPV (35.9% vs. 25%, P = 0.023), but the overall frequency of using contraceptive methods was higher in those with IPV as compared to those without IPV (49% vs. 47%, P = 0.690). Conclusion: IPV is associated with increased contraceptive adoption.