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Groundwater is an essential resource for sustaining human life and associated ecosystems such as rivers and springs. Springs, fed by groundwater on the surface, regulate ecosystem services, including drought mitigation and support for biodiversity. However, climate variability and groundwater extraction for domestic and industrial use in the Great Artesian Basin (GAB) are contributing to groundwater stress, limited surface water in springs, and slowing groundwater recharge processes. Thus, an improved understanding of surface-groundwater interactions in springs is required in the GAB region. This study demonstrates the potential of the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite observations to determine groundwater storage variation through validation with borewell monitoring data in the GAB. An important aspect of this study was to assess the surface-groundwater interactions to better explain the variability of spring extent in the GAB for the five spring supergroup sites: Springvale, Flinders, Eulo, Barcaldine, and Springsure. We used Partial Least Square Regression (PLSR) method to assess the response of groundwater storage to hydrological variables (e.g., surface water extent, rainfall, soil moisture storage, evapotranspiration, and surface water level) and vegetation greenness between 2002 and 2017 in the spring supergroups. The predicted and observed groundwater storage is well correlated with hydrological variables post La-Niña (2011-2017) compared to the pre La-Niña (2002-2010) period. This study revealed the importance of variations in climate in understanding how groundwater responds to predictors (vegetation greenness and soil moisture storage) in spring supergroups. Overall, groundwater responses to several predictors (NDVI, mNDWI, rainfall, SWL, ET, and SMS), even before the heavy rainfall season were the strongest in the Flinders spring supergroup. The preliminary results from this method provide information and directions that underpins sustainable groundwater management in the complex geological GAB region and associated ecosystem services such as nutrient recycling and sustaining biodiversity.

Objective Indian data on cancer patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection and its outcome are limited. Infectivity and outcome among cancer patients staying in large congregations are not known. We conducted this study to address this lacuna in literature.Methods This was a retrospective–prospective, observational study of hospitalized cancer patients with proven COVID-19 infection, conducted at tertiary care hospital in New Delhi after ethical approval. We analyzed clinical, laboratorial parameters, and outcomes in these patients.Results All 32 admitted male patients became COVID-19 positive and 10 (31%) patients were symptomatic. Median age was 37.5 years (range: 16–64). Sixteen health-care workers (HCWs) were working in the cancer ward (paramedical staff: 4, nurses: 6, residents: 4, and consultants: 2). Among HCWs, two nursing staff and three paramedical staff contracted asymptomatic COVID-19. Eighteen (56%) and 14 (44%) patients were on curative and palliative treatment, respectively. Leukopenia (total leukocyte count Conclusion Seventy percent of cancer patients were asymptomatic. Cancer patients living in congregation areas are susceptible to COVID-19 with 3% mortality rate. Recent chemotherapy and associated cytopenias may not increase the risk in cancer patients with COVID-19 treated with curative intent. Palliative intended patients are at increased risk of death. N-95, personal protective equipment, and adherence to infection control measures should be encouraged.

Techniques in polymer synthesis are taking different dimensions in the last few decades. Reversible-deactivation radical polymerization processes resulted in a wide range of polymeric architectures...

DevOps is a method used to automate the process between development team and the IT team through which they can develop, test and release their software in a reliable way. Bugs during this stage slows the entire release cycle. To overcome this, Machine Learning and Deep Learning Algorithms are used to analyze and arrive at the possible cause of the bug. This reduces the dependency on the developers and in turn speeds up the release cycle. The bug dataset is fed to various classification algorithms like CNN, Random Forest, Decision Tree, SVM and Naive Bayes for bug classification.

This study was carried out to compare the efficacy of different methods to activate buffalo A + B and C + D quality oocytes parthenogenetically and to study the in vitro developmental competence of oocytes and expression of some important genes at the different developmental stages of parthenotes. The percentage of A + B oocytes (62.16 ± 5.06%, range 53.8-71.3%) was significantly higher (P0.001) compared with that of C + D oocytes (37.8 ± 5.00%, range 28.6-46.1%) retrieved from slaughterhouse buffalo ovaries. Among all combinations, ethanol activation followed by culture in research vitro cleave medium gave the highest cleavage and blastocyst yields for both A + B and C + D grade oocytes. Total cell numbers, inner cell mass/trophectoderm ratio and apoptotic index of A + B group blastocysts were significantly different (P0.05) from their C + D counterpart. To determine the status of expression patterns of developmentally regulated genes, the expression of cumulus-oocyte complexes, fertilization, developmental competence and apoptotic-related genes were also studied in parthenogenetically produced buffalo embryos at different stages, and indicated that the differential expression patterns of the above genes had a role in early embryonic development.

In this paper, a four element Conical Dielectric Resonator Antenna fed through coaxial probe is presented. This Low Profile and compact novel Antenna is designed for Wideband application and its input and radiation characteristics determined through the Ansoft High Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS) Software. The proposed antenna provides wide Bandwidth (45%) and high average gain (5.15 dBi) with Monopole type Radiation Pattern.

Fullerene C 70 thin films were deposited by resistive heating on glass substrates and the thickness were approximated to be 150 nm. The effect of energy deposition by 55 MeV Si ions on the optical and structural properties of the prepared thin film samples is investigated. The samples were irradiated with 55 MeV Si ions within fluence range from 1 × 10 12 to 3 × 10 13 ions/cm 2 . For optical studies, the pristine and the Si ion irradiated samples are examined by UV–visible absorption spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. UV–visible absorption studies reveal that the absorption peaks of irradiated samples decrease with a decrease in the band gap of the thin films. The damage cross-section ( σ ) and radius of damaged cylindrical zone ( r ) are determined as ∼0.6 × 10 −13 cm 2 and ∼1.41 nm, respectively from the Raman spectra. Raman studies also suggest that at higher fluence (up to 3 × 10 13 ions/cm 2 ), the damage caused by the SHI results in partial amorphization of fullerene C 70 thin film. Modification in the surface properties has been investigated by atomic force microscopy; it has revealed that the roughness decreases and average particle size increases with the increase in fluences.

Highlights • The estimates of heritability for body weight from birth to 12 months age ranged from 0.10 to 0.43. • The estimates of heritability for average daily gain (ADG) during various growth phase varied from 0.04 to 0.41. • The heritability estimates of survival potential for post-weaning period to 12 months of age varied from 0.18 to 0.39. • The genetic trend of body growth traits at 9 months of age and 12 months of age was positive., Goats are adaptable to varied farming environments and contribute significantly towards sustainable livestock production and food security. Selective breeding of goats for improved performance is an important component of sustainable production. The objectives of the present study were to determine the most appropriate models of analysis for growth traits, to estimate genetic parameters, survival potential of kids from birth to 12 months of age and to estimate genetic trends for growth traits of Jamunapari kids at different ages. Genetic parameter estimates were obtained from 6590 records generated between 1982 and 2012 from 5922 animals with a pedigree covering over 13 generations. The most parsimonious model for early growth traits included permanent environmental effects due to the dam (PE) and litter effects. Similarly, the most appropriate model for early average daily gain (ADG) between birth and 3 or 6 months also included PE and litter effects. The estimates of heritability for survival from birth to 12 months of age ranged from 0.10 to 0.43. The estimates of heritability for ADG varied from 0.04 to 0.41. In general, higher estimates of heritability were observed when a sire model was fitted in the random effect. There was no genetic variation observed for survival between birth and 3 months of age. However, heritability estimates of between 0.18 and 0.39 were observed for survivability during post-weaning period to 12 months of age. The genetic trend at 9 months of age and 12 months of age was 0.144 kg 0.189 kg per year respectively. The genetic trend at all the ages was positive during the study period.

Background In randomised double-blind studies in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and psoriasis (PsO), ABP 501, an approved adalimumab biosimilar, had significantly lower injection site pain (ISP) perception compared with the citrate-containing formulation (CCF) of adalimumab reference product (RP) (40 mg/0.8 mL); however, there have been no direct or indirect comparisons of ISP perception between ABP 501 and the CFF of the RP (40 mg/0.4 mL). Objectives To demonstrate that pain perception after injection of both the ABP 501 formulation and the CFF-RP formulation was lower than after CCF-RP. Methods We analysed ISP perception data after injection from two ABP 501 phase 3 studies, one in patients with RA (NCT01970475) and another in patients with PsO (NCT01970488) and 2 citrate-free RP formulation studies (NCT01561313, NCT01502423) where the “control” group received the CCF-RP. In all studies, patients were equally randomised between the 2 treatment arms. Patients were asked to rate the ISP perception on a visual analogue scale (VAS) on which the current pain level was marked from 0 cm (no pain) to 10 cm (worst possible pain). We calculated Cohen’s d-statistic for difference in ISP perception with ABP 501 compared with CCF-RP for the 2 ABP 501 studies. Similar comparisons were performed between the ISP perception associated with CFF-RF and CCF-RF. These measures were subsequently compared in a descriptive manner. Results Both ABP 501 and CFF-RF were associated with lower ISP perception after injection with maximum reduction observed immediately post-injection. The 95% confidence intervals of relative reduction in ISP perception for ABP 501 formulation and the CFF-RP (table 1) were provided descriptively. Conclusions Compared with CCF-RP, both ABP 501 and CFF-RP were associated with lower injection site pain perception. Reference [1] Nash P, et al. Rheumatol Ther2016;3(2):257–270. Disclosure of Interest E. Krishnan Shareholder of: Amgen Inc., Employee of: Amgen Inc., N. Zhang Shareholder of: Amgen Inc., Employee of: Amgen Inc., H. Wang Shareholder of: Amgen Inc., Employee of: Amgen Inc., R. Kaushik Shareholder of: Amgen Inc., Employee of: Amgen Inc.

The effect of energy deposition in fullerene C70 (∼150 nm) thin film deposited by resistive heating method on glass, quartz and silicon substrates was investigated. The samples were irradiated with 90 MeV Ni ion beam at the fluences ranging from 1 × 1012 to 3 × 1013 ions/cm2. The pristine and Ni ion irradiated samples were examined for morphological and optical changes by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), UV–visible absorption spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. After ion irradiation, bigger grains are shown on surface as revealed by SEM analysis indicating the agglomeration of the smaller particles into bigger particles at the surface. UV–visible absorption studies reflect that the direct band gap of the film decreases with increase in ion fluence. At higher fluence, fullerene C70 is transformed into amorphous carbon (a-C) which is confirmed by Raman spectroscopy. The damage cross-section (σ) and radius of the damaged cylindrical zone (r) are approximated to be ∼1.72 × 10−13 cm2 and ∼2.3 nm, respectively using Raman active vibrational modes.

Biliary enteric anastomosis for relief of biliary obstruction caused by malignancy at the confluence of the bile ducts can be difficult due to non availability of an adequate length of duct for anastomosis. This paper describes an approach to the left hepatic duct to decompress the biliary tree and its successful application in 11 of 12 patients who presented with malignant hilar obstruction.

An efficient synthetic platform for the preparation of a new class of polyimide based high performance thermosets (HPTs) based on the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of a functionalized sydnone with bis-maleimides is reported. It is worth mentioning that this report is the first to deal with the physico-chemical properties of HPTs obtained by double cycloaddition reaction and effect of gamma irradiation. The polymers synthesized by this unique technique were irradiated with gamma doses in the range 10–300kGy. The consequential effect of gamma radiation and the structural modifications induced on HPTs samples have been studied as a function of dose using different characterization techniques such as Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Differential Scanning Calorimetry- Thermogravimetric Analysis (DSC-TGA), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) and UV-Visible Spectroscopy.

Electronic waste, or e-waste in common parlance, is increasingly becoming a cause of concern in developing countries like India, due to environmental and human health hazards associated with it. Ironically, constituents of e-waste can be valuable, at the same time being toxic. The practices involved in managing and treating the electronic waste in India have limitations that need to be identified and resolved. The waste management can be properly executed if there are proper collection and disposing methods adopted. This can be possible only if there is proper awareness related to the ill-effects of e-waste among common people. This paper highlights the status of e-waste in India and the various techniques used for recycling and their limitations. The indicators assessing e-waste can be utilised as basic parameters for analysis in any nation. The valuable constituents present in e-waste can be used in creating business opportunities if properly treated and recycled.

Recent advances in the field of nanotechnology led several groups to recognize the promise of recruiting nanocomposities to the ongoing battle against pathogenic gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria and metal-polymer nanocomposites are a typical example. On the basis of recent literature, the nanocomposities are synthesized mainly by two techniques i.e. in-situ and ex-situ technique and these nanocomposities have great biomedical applications in terms of their antibacterial activity. A large battery of newly developed and discovered nanocomposities has been accumulating during the last decade. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jmcjms.v2i1.11422 Janaki Medical College Journal of Medical Sciences (2014) Vol. 2 (1):52-58

Edges are boundaries between different textures. Edge also can be defined as discontinuities in image intensity from one pixel to another. Modem image processing applications demonstrate an increasing demand for computational power and memories space. Typically, edge detection algorithms are implemented using software. With advances in Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) technology, their hardware implementation has become an attractive alternative, especially for real-time applications. The Canny algorithm computes the higher and lower thresholds for edge detection based on the entire image statistics, which prevents the processing of blocks independent of each other. The Canny edge detector has remained a standard for many years and has best performance. Direct implementation of the canny algorithm has high latency and cannot be employed in real-time applications. To overcome these, an adaptive threshold selection algorithm is proposed, which computes the high and low threshold for each block based on the type of block and the local distribution of pixel gradients in the block. Distributed Canny Edge Detection using FPGA reduces the latency significantly; also this allows the block-based canny edge detector to be pipelined very easily with existing block-based codec.

Brick kilns in the suburban areas in developing countries pose a big threat to the environment and hence the health of their workers and people residing around them. The present study was planned to assess the lung functions, oxidative stress parameters and DNA damage in brick kiln workers. A total of 31 male subjects working in brick kiln, and 32 age, sex and socioeconomic status matched controls were included in the study. The lung volumes, capacities and flow rates, namely, forced expiratory volume in first second (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC), FEV1/FVC, expiratory reserve volume, inspiratory capacity (IC), maximal expiratory flow when 50% of FVC is remaining to be expired, maximum voluntary ventilation, peak expiratory flow rate and vital capacity were significantly decreased in the brick kiln workers. Increased oxidative stress as evidenced by increased malonedialdehyde levels and reduced glutathione content, glutathione S-transferase activity and ferric reducing ability of plasma were observed in the study group when compared with controls. Our results indicate a significant correlation between oxidative stress parameters and pulmonary dysfunction, which may be due to silica-induced oxidative stress and resulting lung damage.

In the present work, a computational fluid dynamic simulation has been performed to investigate core annular flow through sudden contraction and expansion. Core annular flow of lubricating oil and water has been simulated using VOF technique and a satisfactory match between simulated data and experimental results has been obtained. A detailed study has been performed to generate the profiles of velocity, pressure and volume fraction over a wide range of oil and water velocities for an abrupt expansion and contraction. Asymmetric nature of velocity across the radial plane is observed for both the cases. The fouling characteristic of lubricating oil at sudden expansion is also analyzed. The model predicts that fouling can be minimized by increasing the water intake or the pipe diameter.

In Pasir mine, coal seams and host rocks of varying thickness have been uniquely deposited with an average dip angle of 85°. The host rocks are weak and mainly composed of mudstone and sandstone comprising of 90–95% of the total pit volume. The thickness of coal seams and host rocks ranges from sub-metric to few tenths of meter. The overall safe pit slope angle was evaluated to be 27° for mining depth of 50–150 m. Several slopes failure incidents have occurred in the mine causing considerable disruption in production and monetary loss. It is envisaged that slope failures may be triggered due to blasting conducted in steeply dipping stratified deposit. In order to investigate the causes of slope failures, peak particle velocity (PPV) and accelerations at various locations from the blast site have been measured. In addition, finite element models of pit slope have been analyzed by applying static or gravity loading as well as blasting or dynamic loading. This paper elaborates the results of in situ measurements of ground vibration and numerical investigation and suggests possible causes of slope failures in Pasir mine.

ZnO nanostructures were deposited on flexible polymer sheet and cotton fabrics at room temperature by activated reactive evaporation. Room-temperature photoluminescence spectrum of ZnO nanostructured film exhibited a week intrinsic UV emission and a strong broad yellow-orange visible emission. TEM and HRTEM studies show that the grown nanostructures are crystalline in nature and their growth direction was identified to be along [002]. ZnO nanostructures grown on the copper-coated flexible polymer sheets exhibited stable field-emission characteristics with a threshold voltage of 2.74 V/mum (250 muA) and a very large field enhancement factor (beta) of 23,213. Cotton fabric coated with ZnO nanostructures show an excellent antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus bacteria (Gram positive), and approximately 73% reduction in the bacterial population is achieved compared to uncoated fabrics after 4 h in viability. Using a shadow mask technique, we also selectively deposited the nanostructures at room temperature on polymer substrates.

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