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In the present study, lead-modified bismuth borovanadate glasses were synthesized using the conventional melt-quench technique, maintaining a fixed composition of (50 − x)V2O5–40B2O3–10Bi2O3–xPbO, where x ranged from 5 to 25 mol% in 5 mol% increments. To confirm the amorphous nature of the samples, X-ray diffraction was utilized. Several physical properties, including density (ρg) (3.55 to 4.41 g/cm3), molar volume (Vm) (47.21 to 39.83 cm3/mol), crystalline volume (Vc) (42.09 to 35.94 cm3/mol), and oxygen packing density (OPD) (80.49 to 75.32 g-atom/l), were examined and found to exhibit composition-dependent variations. Additionally, various other parameters were determined, including interionic distance (Ri) (1.16 to 0.65 cm−1), lead yield field (F) (0.38 to 1.21 cm−2), concentrations of Pb2+ ions (N) (ranging from 0.64 to 3.78 ions/cm3), and Polaron radius (Rp) (ranging from 4.68 to 2.60 cm−1). The analysis of DSC thermograms revealed a positive correlation between the concentration of lead oxide and the glass transition temperature (Tg), which varied from 254 to 295 ºC. This suggests an improvement in the thermal stability of the glass system with increasing lead oxide content. Structural investigations using infrared and Raman spectroscopy indicated that V2O5 served a dual role as a network former (with VO5 units) and as a modifier (with VO4 units). The presence of PbO and Bi2O3 as modifiers facilitated the transformation of BO3 units into BO4 units and the formation of diborovanadate ([B2V2O9]2−) groups and strong B–O–V linkages. The optical energy band gap (Eopt), determined through UV–visible spectroscopy, showed a consistent increase with the progressive incorporation of PbO. Both direct allowed (1.986 to 2.392 eV) and indirect allowed (1.582 to 2.087 eV) band gaps exhibited this rising trend. Furthermore, the prepared glasses demonstrated a high level of optical basicity (1.182 to 1.168), electronic polarizability (3.419 to 3.327) of oxide ions, third-order non-linear optical susceptibility (0.141 to 0.063 × 10–10 esu), and metallization criterion (0.281 to 0.323). These results suggest that the glasses prepared in this study have the potential for use in non-linear optical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autism, also known as Autism Spectrum Disorder (or ASD), is a neurological disorder. Its main symptoms include difficulty in verbal/non-verbal communication and rigid/repetitive behavior. These symptoms are often indistinguishable from a normal (control) individual due to which this disorder remains undiagnosed in early childhood, thus leading to a delayed treatment. Since the learning curve is steep during the initial years, an early diagnosis of autism would allow to make an early intervention, which in turn would positively affect the growth of an autistic child. Further, the traditional methods of autism diagnosis require multiple visits to a specialized doctor; however, this process is generally time-consuming. In this paper, we present a learning-based approach to automate autism diagnosis using simple and small action video clips of subjects. This task is particularly challenging because the amount of annotated data available is small, and the variations among samples from the two categories (ASD and control) are generally indistinguishable. This is also evident from poor performance of a baseline binary classifier on this task. To address this, we propose to adopt contrastive feature learning for the first time on this task and demonstrate a significant increase in the prediction accuracy. We further validate this by conducting thorough experimental analyses in both self-supervised and supervised setups on two publicly available datasets. We have also released our codes and pre-trained models for reproducibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate the generalized Hyers-Ulam-Stability of additive and quartic functional equations in modular spaces with and without the △2-condition using the direct method and also in 2-Banach Spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Breast cancer is a common form of cancer that impacts women all over the globe. It is a complex and heterogeneous disease with varying clinical presentations, molecular subtypes, and treatment responses. Significant progress has been made in the field of breast cancer research, leading to improved diagnosis, treatment strategies, and patient outcomes. This paper aims to give a thorough summary of the present knowledge of breast cancer. It will focus on significant developments, obstacles, and potential directions for the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Calcium bismuth borovanadate glasses were synthesized via melt quench technique. • Total AC conductivity exhibited a pattern consistent of almond wests power law. • Electrical conductivity increases upto x = 10 mol% and decreases for x = 15 & 20 mol%. • Dielectric studies reflect non-Debye type behaviour. This study explores various glass compositions within calcium bismuth borovanadate glass system, produced through melt quenching. The investigation focuses on AC conductivity, electric modulus formulation, and dielectric properties (ε ′ and ε ″). The AC conductivity and dielectric constants exhibit an increasing trend with rising CaO content until 10 mol%, followed by a decline for x = 15 and x = 20 mol%. Temperature and frequency-dependent conductivity reveal a dual plateau between 423 K and 523 K. The Almond west model is applied to fit AC conductivity data, extracting parameters such as direct current conductivity, crossover frequency, and frequency exponent. The glass samples demonstrate diverse conduction mechanisms, including small polaron quantum mechanical tunnelling and CBH conduction. The activation energy values for direct current conduction (E dc) ranging from 0.539 to 0.716 eV (at lower freq.) and electric modulus (E R) (0.531 to 0.707 eV) is nearly identical. Non-Debye type behaviour is reflected by dielectric studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Apple stem grooving virus (ASGV) is a highly variable RNA virus and recombination is one of the mechanisms that lead to variations in the viral genome. Here, we report the biological and molecular properties of two apple isolates of ASGV (p12 and MK) isolated from two different locations in India. Complete genome of both isolates consisted of 6493 nucleotides excluding the poly (A) tail and contained two open reading frames (ORFs). The isolates shared 97% sequence identity with each other. Phylogenetic analyses revealed neighbouring association of these isolates, but their infection on known herbaceous host, Phaseolus vulgaris, showed different phenotypes. Recombination analyses suggest isolate MK and p12 as non‐recombinants, but recombination events increased with increasing host diversity. Two recombination hotspots were identified in the ORF1 region spanning nucleotides 4500–4800 and 6200–6500, which were designated as recombination hot spots I and II, respectively. The findings here also suggest that this virus is emerging with expanding host range breadth and diversified host adaptability driven by recombination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extreme climatic conditions like drought are a major threat to global food production. Terminal drought stress causes severe yield losses in pearl millet. Development of climate-resilient varieties/hybrids can minimize the yield losses to the farmers caused due to climatic extremes. In the present study, marker-assisted selection (MAS) was employed with an aim to develop improved version of HHB 226 by introgression of QTLs for terminal drought stress tolerance into the male parent of the hybrid (HBL 11). HBL 11 (recurrent parent) was crossed with PRLT 2 (donor) to develop F1 and backcrossed four times to raise BC4F1 and further selfed twice to raise BC4F3. Four polymorphic SSR markers were used to track the QTL introgressed lines in each subsequent generation until BC4F2. The recurrent parent genome recovery was assessed using 25 polymorphic SSRs. Morpho-physiological analysis of BC4F3 generation at field-level under terminal drought stress conditions showed that the QTL introgressed lines showed higher, grain yield, 1000-seed weight, relative water content (%), and lower electrolyte leakage (%) than the recurrent parent. Line number 63 performed best with all the four foreground markers, 97.20% recurrent parent genome recovery, 7.27 g 1000-seed weight, 73.27% relative water content, 65.06% electrolyte leakage, 0.58 (fv/fm) chlorophyll fluorescence, and 53.25 g grain yield per plant. Finally, the Improved version of HHB 226 was developed by using the Improved HBL 11 developed through MAS. Besides this, HBL 11 is the male parent of other commercial hybrids like HHB 223 and HHB 197 as well making Improved HBL 11 an asset to improve these pearl millet hybrids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Age-related cognitive impairments are associated with differentially expressed genes (DEGs) linked to defined neural systems; however, studies examining multiple regions of the hippocampus fail to find links between behavior and transcription in the dentate gyrus (DG). We hypothesized that use of a task requiring intact DG function would emphasize molecular signals in the DG associated with a decline in performance. We used a water maze beacon discrimination task to characterize young and middle-age male F344 rats, followed by a spatial reference memory probe trial test. Middle-age rats showed increased variability in discriminating two identical beacons. Use of an allocentric strategy and formation of a spatial reference memory were not different between age groups; however, older animals compensated for impaired beacon discrimination through greater reliance on spatial reference memory. mRNA sequencing of hippocampal subregions indicated DEGs in the DG of middle-age rats, linked to synaptic function and neurogenesis, correlated with beacon discrimination performance, suggesting that senescence of the DG underlies the impairment. Few genes correlated with spatial memory across age groups, with a greater number in region CA1. Age-related CA1 DEGs, correlated with spatial memory, were linked to regulation of neural activity. These results indicate that the beacon task is sensitive to impairment in middle age, and distinct gene profiles are observed in neural circuits that underlie beacon discrimination performance and allocentric memory. The use of different strategies in older animals and associated transcriptional profiles could provide an animal model for examining cognitive reserve and neural compensation of aging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antibiotic resistance including the emergence of multidrug resistant microbes has become a public health crisis. In this study, we analyzed the antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in the urinary metagenome of the kidney transplant and healthy subjects using metagenomic shotgun sequencing. Our data suggest an increased abundance of antibiotic resistance genes in the kidney transplant subjects. In addition, the antibiotic resistance genes identified in the transplant subjects were predominantly composed of multidrug efflux pumps (MDEPs) which are evolutionarily ancient, commonly encoded on chromosomes rather than plasmids, and have a low rate of mutation. Since the MDEPs had a low abundance in the healthy subjects, we speculate that the MDEPs may enhance the fitness of bacteria to survive in the high stress environment of transplantation that includes multiple stressors including surgery, antibiotics, and immunosuppressive agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hybrid gas sensors based on TiO2 functionalized gallium nitride nanowires have been prepared by nanofabrication and comprehensively studied for high-responsivity applications. The devices exhibited a high responsivity (25%) to 500 ppm NO2 assisted with ultraviolet illumination at room temperature. The thickness and doping concentration of TiO2 were engineered to improve the transducer function. The result indicated that an excellent n-type response can be stably obtained for a doping range from 1 × 1017 cm−3 to 1 × 1019 cm−3. The TiO2 thickness and doping concentration can be further fine-tuned to achieve optimal performance. In addition, a comprehensive device simulation was carried out to understand the device operation and gain insight for optimizing the device performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Doxorubicin (Dox), a widely used treatment for cancer, can result in chemotherapy‐induced cognitive impairments (chemobrain). Chemobrain is associated with inflammation and oxidative stress similar to aging. As such, Dox treatment has also been used as a model of aging. However, it is unclear if Dox induces brain changes similar to that observed during aging since Dox does not readily enter the brain. Rather, the mechanism for chemobrain likely involves the induction of peripheral cellular senescence and the release of senescence‐associated secretory phenotype (SASP) factors and these SASP factors can enter the brain to disrupt cognition. We examined the effect of Dox on peripheral and brain markers of aging and cognition. In addition, we employed the senolytic, ABT‐263, which also has limited access to the brain. The results indicate that plasma SASP factors enter the brain, activating microglia, increasing oxidative stress, and altering gene transcription. In turn, the synaptic function required for memory was reduced in response to altered redox signaling. ABT‐263 prevented or limited most of the Dox‐induced effects. The results emphasize a link between cognitive decline and the release of SASP factors from peripheral senescent cells and indicate some differences as well as similarities between advanced age and Dox treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comprehensive research into quaternary glass systems' structural, physical, and optical characteristics was conducted, specifically for glass series 60V 2 O 5 -20B 2 O 3 -(20-x)Bi 2 O 3 -xCaO, where x = 0-20 mol%. Using X-ray diffraction (XRD), their non-crystalline character was confirmed. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used for morphological study to confirm glass formation. Several techniques were employed to investigate the effects of incorporating CaO on the physical, optical, and structural characteristics of glasses composed of bismuth boro-vanadate. As-prepared glass samples have been analysed to determine how density (ρ g), crystalline volume (V c r y s t ), molar volume (V m), and oxygen packing density (OPD) changes with composition. Additional determined physical parameters include interionic distance (R i), Calcium yields field (F), ion concentration of Ca2+ (N), and polaron radius (R p). DSC thermograms reveal that glass transition temperature (T g) rises in tandem with the concentration of calcium oxide, demonstrating an improvement in the glass system's thermal stability. FTIR and Raman spectroscopy examination of all glass samples confirmed that V 2 O 5 forms a network with VO 5 units. After x = 10 mol%, the proportion of non-bridging oxygens in the glass matrix rises as VO 5 units are converted into VO 4 units along with the transformation of BO 3 units into BO 4 units. Bi 2 O 3 is found in glass matrix in BiO 6 and BiO 3 units. As concentrations of calcium oxide were increased, UV–Visible spectroscopy revealed nonlinear trends in various optical parameters such as optical energy (E o p t) , Urbach energy (E U), cut-off wavelength (λ C), molar refractivity (R M), metallization criterion, and refractive index (n). The glasses prepared in this study exhibit high-level optical basicity (ranging from 1.164 to 1.238), electronic oxide ion polarizability (3.304–3.869), and metallization criterion (0.249–0.304). These findings point to the possibility that the glasses can be suitable for non-linear optical applications. • SEM and TEM analysis were employed for morphological study of the prepared glasses. • FTIR and Raman spectroscopy confirmed that V 2 O 5 forms a network with VO 5 units. • Indirect allowed transitions were found most suitable in the present studied glass system. • Studied glasses can be suitable for non-linear optical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes Multi verse optimization (MVO) based MPPT controller to mitigate the possibility of losing tracking direction in solar photovoltaic system under variable irradiance. Generally conventional Perturb & Observe and hill climbing MPPT techniques are used due to effortless implementation. However, these techniques are not capable of handling oscillations in power at MPP and exhibit drift under variable irradiance conditions which leads to power loss. Therefore a hybrid of standard MVO and direct duty cycle control is proposed to minimize the inadequacies occurring in conventional controllers. Three cases i.e. constant irradiance, rapid and step changes in irradiance are considered for the analysis. The supremacy of proposed method is justified by comparing it with traditional P&O, Particle swarm optimization (PSO) based MPPT and Grey wolf optimization (GWO) based MPPT techniques. It is observed from the results that MVO based MPPT controller is capable of avoiding drift and offers fast convergence. Therefore proposed controller outperforms in terms of tracking efficiency, settling time, peak overshoot, and integral absolute error. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study has examined fog computing global research output, as indexed in Scopus database during 2012-18 on a series of bibliometric measures, such as publications growth rate, global publications share, citation impact, the share of international collaborative papers, distribution of publications by broad subjects. In addition, the study discusses the citation profile of top organizations and authors in fog computing, and the preferred media for research communication and characteristics of highly cited papers. The study finds 1711 global research output registered (68.09%) annual growth rate. 81 countries participated in fog computing research, of which the top 10 countries accounted for 91.23% global publication share and more than 100% of global citation share during 2012-18. China and USA tops the list of top 10 most productive countries in fog computing research with 22.38% and 19.40% global publication share, followed by India (9.70%), Italy (7.36%), Australia (6.14%), etc. USA top the list (17.02% and 2.25%), followed by Australia (15.54% and 2.06%), UK (12.09% and 1.59%), Canada (11.03% and 1.46%), Spain (9.95% and 1.32%), etc. in terms of citation impact per paper and relative citation index. 401 organizations and 457 authors participated in global fog computing research, of which the top 10 organizations and authors contributed (15.02% and 7.48%) global publication share and (42.17% and 12.81%) global citations share during 2012-18. The world contributed (59.75%) share of output in fog computing research in top 20 most productive journals, and 19 of its papers have been rated as highly cited papers each with 100 to 1657 citations per paper, averaging 209.79 citations per paper [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Downy mildew (DM) caused by Sclerospora graminicola is the most calamitous disease of pearl millet. Therefore, for introgression of DM resistance (DMR) in HHB 197 (MH-1302), an elite pearl millet hybrid, a marker-assisted breeding was undertaken by targeting three DMR loci on linkage groups (LGs) 1, 2 and 4. Breeding programme was initiated by crossing HBL 11 (DM susceptible), male parent of HHB 197 hybrid with ICMP 451 (DM-resistant) to produce true F1 plants. By conducting three rounds of backcrossing and selection, BC3F1 lines were generated. Foreground selection was employed using six polymorphic simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers of the 18 total selected markers. Four of these markers were linked to LG 1, five to LG 2 and nine to LG 4. Background selection was performed in BC3F1 generation using 33 polymorphic SSR markers of a total of 56 evenly spread SSR markers in the pearl millet genome to check recovery of recurrent parent genome. On the basis of genotypic selection (foreground as well as background) using selected SSR markers, agronomic performance in field and DM screening in greenhouse; 10 improved HBL 11 lines were selected and crossed with ICMA 97111 to produce DM-resistant HHB 197 hybrid versions. Six putatively improved HHB 197 hybrids were successfully tested in first year trials at Hisar and Bawal locations of Haryana and two selected versions with higher yield and zero DM incidence will be further tested in multilocation trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well accepted that dysbiosis of microbiota is associated with disease; however, the biological mechanisms that promote susceptibility or resilience to disease remain elusive. One of the major limitations of previous microbiome studies has been the lack of complementary metatranscriptomic (functional) data to complement the interpretation of metagenomics (bacterial abundance). The purpose of this study was twofold, first to evaluate the bacterial diversity and differential gene expression of gut microbiota using complementary shotgun metagenomics (MG) and metatranscriptomics (MT) from same fecal sample. Second, to compare sequence data using different Illumina platforms and with different sequencing parameters as new sequencers are introduced, and to determine if the data are comparable on different platforms. In this study, we perform ultradeep metatranscriptomic shotgun sequencing for a sample that we previously analyzed with metagenomics shotgun sequencing. We performed sequencing analysis using different Illumina platforms, with different sequencing and analysis parameters. Our results suggest that use of different Illumina platform did not lead to detectable bias in the sequencing data. The analysis of the sample using MG and MT approach shows that some species genes are highly represented in the MT than in the MG, indicating that some species are highly metabolically active. Our analysis also shows that ~52% of the genes in the metagenome are in the metatranscriptome and therefore are robustly expressed. The functions of the low and rare abundance bacterial species remain poorly understood. Our observations indicate that among the low abundant species analyzed in this study some were found to be more metabolically active compared to others, and can contribute distinct profiles of biological functions that may modulate the host-microbiota and bacteria-bacteria interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fermented vegetables are highly popular internationally in part due to their enhanced nutritional properties, cultural history, and desirable sensorial properties. In some instances, fermented foods provide a rich source of the beneficial microbial communities that could promote gastrointestinal health. The indigenous microbiota that colonize fermentation facilities may impact food quality, food safety, and spoilage risks and maintain the nutritive value of the product. Here, microbiomes within sauerkraut production facilities were profiled to characterize variance across surfaces and to determine the sources of these bacteria. Accordingly, we used high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene in combination with wholegenome shotgun analyses to explore biogeographical patterns of microbial diversity and assembly within the production facility. Our results indicate that raw cabbage and vegetable handling surfaces exhibit more similar microbiomes relative to the fermentation room, processing area, and dry storage surfaces. We identified biomarker bacterial phyla and families that are likely to originate from the raw cabbage and vegetable handling surfaces. Raw cabbage was identified as the main source of bacteria to seed the facility, with human handling contributing a minor source of inoculation. Leuconostoc and Lactobacillaceae dominated all surfaces where spontaneous fermentation occurs, as these taxa are associated with the process. Wall, floor, ceiling, and barrel surfaces host unique microbial signatures. This study demonstrates that diverse bacterial communities are widely distributed within the production facility and that these communities assemble nonrandomly, depending on the surface type. IMPORTANCE Fermented vegetables play a major role in global food systems and are widely consumed by various global cultures. In this study, we investigated an industrial facility that produces spontaneous fermented sauerkraut without the aid of starter cultures. This provides a unique system to explore and track the origins of an "in-house" microbiome in an industrial environment. Raw vegetables and the surfaces on which they are handled were identified as the likely source of bacterial communities rather than human contamination. As fermented vegetables increase in popularity on a global scale, understanding their production environment may help maintain quality and safety goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A redox-mediated decrease in N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor function contributes to psychiatric diseases and impaired cognition during aging. Inflammation provides a potential source of reactive oxygen species for inducing NMDA receptor hypofunction. The present study tested the hypothesis that the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug indomethacin, which improves spatial episodic memory in aging rats, would enhance NMDA receptor function through a shift in the redox state. Male F344 young and aged rats were prescreened using a 1-day version of the water maze task. Animals were then treated with the indomethacin or vehicle, delivered in a frozen milk treat (orally, twice per day, 18 days), and retested on the water maze. Indomethacin treatment enhanced water maze performance. Hippocampal slices were prepared for examination of CA3-CA1 synaptic responses, long-term potentiation, and NMDA receptor-mediated synaptic responses. No effect of treatment was observed for the total synaptic response. Long-term potentiation magnitude and NMDA receptor input-output curves were enhanced for aged indomethacin-treated animals. To examine redox regulation of NMDA receptors, a second group of aged animals was treated with indomethacin or vehicle, and the effect of the reducing agent, dithiothreitol ([DTT], 0.5 mM) on NMDA receptor-mediated synaptic responses was evaluated. As expected, DTT increased the NMDA receptor response and the effect of DTT was reduced by indomethacin treatment. The results indicate that indomethacin acted to diminish the age-related and redox-mediated NMDA receptor hypofunction and suggest that inflammation contributes to cognitive impairment through an increase in redox stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concentration of trace metals was measured in groundwater samples collected from Malwa region of Punjab, India. The samples were analyzed by using high resolution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (HR-ICP-MS). The results were compared with permissible limits prescribed by various health and environmental protection agencies. The concentrations of trace metals such as Mn, Se, Mo, Cd, Sb and Pb were higher than their respective permissible limits at some sampling sites. The total hazard index (HItotal) (summing the hazard index through ingestion and dermal routes) at all the sampling sites exceeded or nearing unity, indicating the presence of non-carcinogenic health effects from ingestion of groundwater and dermal contact with groundwater. The results reveal that the total excess lifetime cancer risk (ELCRtotal) of metals exposure was in accordance with the acceptable lifetime risks for carcinogens in drinking water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of radionuclides is very important in our daily life as these impose health implications to the general public. In present study the estimation of radionuclides in Ganderbal and Budgam districts of Kashmir Province using NaI(Tl) gamma-ray spectrometer has been carried out. Radium, thorium, and potassium activity concentrations have been observed to range from 25±3 to 33±5 Bqkg−1, 3±2 to 11±3 Bqkg−1 and 415±63 to 601±80 Bqkg−1with average values of 29 Bqkg−1, 5 Bqkg−1 and 514 Bqkg−1, respectively. The radium equivalent activity (Raeq) for the soil samples has been evaluated and was found in the range of 107 to 128 Bqkg−1 with the mean value of 116 Bqkg−1. It has been inferred that the radium equivalent activity (Raeq) lies in the permissible limits of 370 Bqkg−1 set by United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation. Absorbed dose and annual effective dose (indoor and outdoor) values were found to vary from 34 to 43 nGyh−1, 0.17 to 0.21 mSv and 0.04 to 0.05 mSv, respectively. Also, hazard indices (external and internal) are calculated from the specific concentration of radium, thorium and potassium which are found less than unity as recommended by organization for economic cooperation and development (OECD). Therefore, it can be concluded that the present study area does not pose any health implication to the general public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study focuses on the analysis of trace metals in drinking water from the Ganderbal and Budgam districts of Jammu and Kashmir. We have used high-resolution inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (HR-ICP-MS) to measure the concentrations of 31 trace metals in the water samples. The measured concentrations were then compared with the permissible limits set by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), and World Health Organization (WHO). The results of the study indicate that arithmetic mean of several trace elements, including aluminum (Al = 781), chromium (Cr = 139), manganese (Mn = 41.86), nickel (Ni = 25.89), molybdenum (Mo = 1.30), cadmium (Cd = 36.86), and mercury (Hg = 67.65), in µg l−1 were found to have concentrations higher than their respective permissible limits. On the other hand, the arithmetic mean of elements, such as beryllium (Be = 0.14), boron (B = 32.72), iron (Fe = 233), cobalt (Co = 1.79), copper (Cu = 10.71), arsenic (As = 0.93), selenium (Se = 3.13), strontium (Sr = 257), zinc (Zn = 43), antimony (Sb = 1.44), barium (Ba = 28.56), gold (Au = 0.91), and lead (Pb = 0.91) in µg l−1, had concentrations below the permissible limits recommended by USEPA, BIS, and WHO. To assess the toxicity of the heavy metals in the study area, we calculated the Heavy Metal Toxicity Load (HMTL) for each metal. Based on these calculations, we concluded that only cadmium (Cd) and chromium (Cr) need to be removed from drinking water to ensure safety. The study also conducted a health risk assessment for children and adults based on the measured concentrations of heavy metals. The assessment considered the ingestion and dermal contact routes of exposure. The Hazard Index (HI), which indicates the non-carcinogenic health effects, exceeded unity for only one element, cadmium (Cd), in the children and adult groups. This suggests potential non-carcinogenic health risks associated with the ingestion of water and dermal contact. Additionally, the potential carcinogenic risk of cadmium (Cd) and arsenic (As) was identified and recommended for further attention. The study further evaluated the Heavy Metal Pollution Index (HPI) to assess the overall quality of drinking water in the study area. The HPI results indicated that the quality of drinking water was good, and the pollution levels in the study area were low. Overall, the findings of this study provide valuable information for water resource development and supply agencies. The results can be used as a baseline for future research and monitoring efforts in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, soil samples collected from 40 different locations of Jodhpur, Nagaur, Bikaner and Jhunjhunu districts of northern Rajasthan, India has been analyzed for 226Ra,232Th and 40K using gamma ray spectroscopy. The measured activity concentration ranges from 14±8 to 37±9 Bq kg-1, 42±10 to 84±11 Bq kg-1.and 304±125 to 734±141 Bq kg-1 with the mean value of 24±10 Bq kg-1, 55±11 Bq kg-1 and 549±145 Bq kg-1 for 226Ra, 232Th and 40K, respectively. The radium equivalent activity (Raeq) of all the soil samples ranges from 119 to 209 Bq kg-1 with an average value of 146 Bq kg-1, which is lower than the safe limit 370 Bq kg-1 set by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The total absorbed dose and annual effective dose of all the investigated samples has also been explored in the present manuscript. The corresponding values of external and internal hazard index of all the soil samples ranges from 0.31 to 0.58 and 0.35 to 0.68 with the average value of 0.39 and 0.46, respectively. It was observed that the soil of Jodhpur, Nagaur, Bikaner and Jhunjhunu districts is suitable for construction purpose without posing any health hazard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work focuses on the development of non-invasive blood glucose measurement device to revolutionize diabetes management and reduce severe complications associated with it. A low cost, painless and non-invasive blood glucose measurement system is designed using near-infrared (NIR) LED and four photodiodes for the purpose. NIR light emitted by LED passes through the skin and is detected by photodiodes after attenuation. The detector converts the attenuated light into a voltage signal. The interference due to background noise generated by human skin is removed by taking floating or internal reference. The voltage signal obtained from the photodiodes is calibrated using Levenberg-Marquardt-based Artificial Neural Network to obtain the glucose concentration. The accuracy of proposed prototype was examined by comparing non-invasively predicted data with invasively measured reference data. It is observed that all measurements lie in A and B zones of Clarke error grid and thus clinically accurate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crow search algorithm (CSA) is a recently proposed metaheuristic optimizer inspired by the intelligent behaviour of crows with attributes like simplicity and ease of implementation. CSA is claimed superior and more effective in optimizing a variety of constrained engineering design problems in comparison to other state-of-art algorithms. In the present work, CSA is applied to high dimensional optimization problems and it is found that CSA suffers from premature convergence which leads to lower precision and less accuracy in optimization or sometimes failure. Therefore an improvement in CSA (ICSA) is suggested to solve high-dimensional global optimization problems efficiently. The balance between exploitation and exploration capabilities of CSA is improved by introducing experience factor, adaptive adjustment operator and Lévy flight distribution in position updating mechanism of crows. Lévy flight distribution promotes continuous exploration of search space and prevents premature convergence by escaping from local optimum at any stage. The performance of ICSA is validated on high-dimensional nonlinear scalable benchmark test functions. The proposed improvement in CSA makes it highly competitive and less sensitive to function dimensions. ICSA is also found superior to other well established optimizers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of the present work is to stabilize and maintain the angular position of Double Inverted Pendulum (DIP) system at desired position in presence of disturbances and noise. The system is highly coupled, nonlinear, complex and unstable, thereby making it difficult to control. Genetic algorithm tuned Fuzzy Controller (GFC) and adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Controller (NFC) is proposed for the purpose, wherein the fuzzy parameters are optimized by genetic algorithm and artificial neural network respectively. The adaptive neuro-fuzzy control technique enjoys powerful learning capability of neural network, whereas genetic algorithm discovers the optimum solutions for the problem. Also a suitable function is proposed for modifying training data set of neuro-fuzzy inference system that leads to Modified Neuro-Fuzzy Controller (MNFC). Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) and Fuzzy Logic Controllers (FLC) are also designed for comparative analysis. Intensive simulation studies are carried out to critically examine the performance of designed controllers on the basis of Integral Absolute Error (IAE), settling time, overshoot and steady state error for set-point tracking, disturbance rejection, noise suppression and simultaneous noise & disturbance rejection. The rigorous comparative analysis shows that MNFC exhibits fast and robust control of DIP system in comparison to designed controllers for all cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, analysis of 238U concentration in 40 drinking water samples collected from different locations of Jodhpur, Nagaur, Bikaner and Jhunjhunu districts of Rajasthan, India has been carried out by using high resolution inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (HR-ICP-MS) technique. The water samples were taken from hand pumps and tube wells having depths ranging from 50 to 800 feet. The measured uranium concentration lies in the range from 0.89 to 166.89 μg l with the mean value of 31.72 μg l. The measured uranium content in twelve water samples was found to be higher than the safe limit of 30 μg l as recommended by World Health Organization (WHO, 2011) and US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA, 2011). Radiological risk calculated in the form of annual effective dose estimated from annual uranium intake ranges from 0.66 to 138.63 μSv y with the mean value of 26.28 μSv y. The annual effective dose in two drinking water samples was found to be greater than WHO (2004) recommended level of 100 μSv y. Chemical risk calculated in the form of lifetime average daily dose (LAAD) estimated from the water samples varies from 0.02 to 4.57 μg kg d with the mean value of 0.87 μg kg d. The lifetime average daily dose (LAAD) of ten drinking water samples was found to be greater than WHO (2011) recommended level of 1 μg kg d. The corresponding values of hazard quotient of 48% water samples were found to be greater than unity.A good positive correlation of uranium concentration with total dissolved solids (TDS) and conductance has been observed. However no correlation of uranium concentration with pH was observed. The results revels that uranium concentration in drinking water samples of the study area can cause radiological and chemical threat to the inhabitants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work aims to develop a minimally obtrusive simple system for the automatic detection and classification of sleep apnea (SA) events using the single-channel abdomen respiratory effort signal (Abd RES) taken from the ISRUC sleep database. The discrete wavelet transform energy, time domain respiratory rate variability and the Shannon entropy features are extracted from the Abd RES to build a classifier system. The performance of linear multi-class support vector machine (SVM) and random forest (RF) classifiers is compared for the application. Furthermore, an improved random forest (IRF) classifier is proposed, which is a combination of data re-sampling, RF algorithm and threshold moving method. It is designed to deal with the imbalance in the input dataset for better classification results. Various systems are designed using individual feature sets, but classification accuracy increases when feature sets are combined. A maximum accuracy of 89.66% is achieved with the IRF based system using reduced feature set obtained by principal component analysis. Thus, the proposed method can provide an effective, economical and accessible screening tool for SA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy-efficient electric transportation systems offer reduced power demand and also increase the runtime for a single charge. Efficiency of an electric vehicle can be enhanced up to certain extent by operating it with reduced flux level. However, straightforward minimization of flux level may lead to drive instability. Therefore, this paper presents a loss model control approach to minimize the losses by optimal weakening of the flux for the drive. Flux optimization is achieved with constraints and bounds on the key variables like stator current. The performance of an electric vehicle propelled by a poly-phase induction motor is analyzed with the proposed approach. The performance of the drive is also compared with rated rotor flux, differentially calculated rotor flux, copper loss, and core loss equalizing rotor flux estimator. The effectiveness of the proposed strategy is analyzed in terms of efficiency, transient behavior, power factor, and parameter sensitivity under various operating conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was conducted to investigate trace metal (Li, Be, B, Al, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As Se, Mo, Cd, Sb, Ba and Pb) concentrations of drinking water samples in northeast Rajasthan, India. Furthermore, the study aimed to ascertain carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risks of metals by ingestion and dermal absorption pathways to the local residents. Metal concentrations were analyzed by using high resolution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and compared with permissible limits set by the Bureau of Indian Standards, United States Environmental Protection Agency and World Health Organization. The results indicate that the concentrations of Be, B, Al, Cr, Fe, Cu, Zn, As, Mo, Sb and Ba were lower than their respective permissible limits, whereas the concentrations of Mn, Ni, Se, Cd and Pb in some samples were higher than their permissible limits.The total hazard index (summing the hazard index through ingestion and dermal routes) at all the sampling sites exceeded or nearing unity, indicating the presence of noncarcinogenic health effects from ingestion of water and dermal contact with water. The results indicate that the total excess lifetime cancer risk (considering both ingestion and dermal exposure pathways) of metals exposure was in accordance to the acceptable lifetime risks for carcinogens in drinking water (10-10). Both carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks were mainly attributed to the ingestion pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The product quality of a fermentation process depends on a number of factors such as temperature, pH, nutrient balance, dilution rate, dissolved oxygen and CO 2 concentration etc. The present work focuses on the precise temperature control of the process and to achieve desired product quality. Therefore a novel control algorithm, which is an amalgamation of fractional mathematics and IMC-PID, having less design parameters is proposed. A fractional order IMC-PID is designed and then modified (MFOIMC-PID) by incorporating an extra control loop with proportional gain to reduce the offset error. A nature inspired optimization technique i.e. water cycle algorithm is utilized for estimation of optimum design parameters of proposed controller which leads to WMFOIMC-PID controller. Fractional order PID (FOPID) and conventional PID are also designed for comparative study. Simulation results show that the proposed controller reduces integral absolute error (IAE) by 57% and 72% in comparison to FOPID and PID respectively for set-point tracking. Similar reduction of IAE is observed for disturbance rejection and noise suppression. Thus WMFOIMC-PID proves to be more robust and efficient in comparison to the other designed controllers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of the present work is to stabilize and maintain the angular position of Double Inverted Pendulum (DIP) system at desired position in presence of disturbances and noise. The system is highly coupled, nonlinear, complex and unstable, thereby making it difficult to control. Genetic algorithm tuned Fuzzy Controller (GFC) and adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Controller (NFC) is proposed for the purpose, wherein the fuzzy parameters are optimized by genetic algorithm and artificial neural network respectively. The adaptive neuro-fuzzy control technique enjoys powerful learning capability of neural network, whereas genetic algorithm discovers the optimum solutions for the problem. Also a suitable function is proposed for modifying training data set of neuro-fuzzy inference system that leads to Modified Neuro-Fuzzy Controller (MNFC). Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) and Fuzzy Logic Controllers (FLC) are also designed for comparative analysis. Intensive simulation studies are carried out to critically examine the performance of designed controllers on the basis of Integral Absolute Error (IAE), settling time, overshoot and steady state error for set-point tracking, disturbance rejection, noise suppression and simultaneous noise & disturbance rejection. The rigorous comparative analysis shows that MNFC exhibits fast and robust control of DIP system in comparison to designed controllers for all cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uranium traces were measured by laser fluorimeter in groundwater samples collected from four districts of Rajasthan state in India. The average values of uranium concentration in groundwater in Sri Ganganagar, Hanumangarh, Churu, and Sikar districts were determined to be: 57, 50, 40, and 21 µg L−1, respectively. These recorded values were compared with the maximum contamination levels recommended for drinking water by various health and environmental protection agencies. The associated age-dependent radiation dose is estimated by taking the prescribed water intake values of different age groups. The average cancer mortality and morbidity risks are calculated to be 5.6 × 10−5and 8.8 × 10−5respectively, indicate that the probability of carcinogenic risks is negligible. About half (49%) of the analyzed samples showed hazard quotient > 1.0, indicating significant risk due to chemical toxicity of uranium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present investigation was made to study the psychological (personality) correlates of criminal behaviour. The objectives of the study were to compare criminals and non-criminals on different personality variables / traits and to identify the discriminant variables of criminality. It was hypothesized that criminals would score higher on extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism and subsequently on all the personality traits (EPP-SV6) For the sudy of psychological correlates of criminal behaviour two group design was adopted group I (n = 100) consisting of criminals and group II (n=100) consisting of non-criminals (normal subjects). Criminals were inmates of District Jail, Rohtak under section 302 and 307 and non -criminals from general population. The two groups consisted of 25-35 years old, semi-literate from rural as well as urban background. They were matched on sociodemographic variables. Eysenck Personality Profiler Short (EPPS-V6) Hindi translation was used to measure the personality variables/traits. The data were analyzed by employing t-test and two group discriminant to identify the psychological personality correlates of criminality. It was found that criminals were significantly higher than non-criminals on all the personality traits as per EPP-SV6. The major discriminant factors of criminality were unhappiness, anxiety, inferiority, risk taking, irresponsibility, assertiveness and impulsiveness in that order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents Fuzzy-PID (FPID) control scheme for a blood glucose control of type 1 diabetic subjects. A new metaheuristic Cuckoo Search Algorithm (CSA) is utilized to optimize the gains of FPID controller. CSA provides fast convergence and is capable of handling global optimization of continuous nonlinear systems. The proposed controller is an amalgamation of fuzzy logic and optimization which may provide an efficient solution for complex problems like blood glucose control. The task is to maintain normal glucose levels in the shortest possible time with minimum insulin dose. The glucose control is achieved by tuning the PID (Proportional Integral Derivative) and FPID controller with the help of Genetic Algorithm and CSA for comparative analysis. The designed controllers are tested on Bergman minimal model to control the blood glucose level in the facets of parameter uncertainties, meal disturbances and sensor noise. The results reveal that the performance of CSA-FPID controller is superior as compared to other designed controllers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thin film oxides have attracted attention in implementations of gas sensors, notably NO 2 , owing to their unique physical, optical, and chemical properties. While the properties are presumed to be strongly dependent on the surface conditions of the thin films, it is not yet clear how surface properties of the thin film gas sensor affect its analyte sensing response. Here, we report the influence of surface carbon contamination and roughness on the NO 2 sensing properties of TiO 2 thin film sensors. The TiO 2 thin films were prepared by rf-sputtering. The surface of the films were intentionally contaminated and damaged with organic polymers (photolithography resist) and microwave plasma, respectively. The surface chemistry of the films was assessed by high resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy was exploited to obtain the morphology of the fabricated sensors. The work aims to improve the long-term efficacy of gas sensors by studying the reasons for degradation in performance. Our results indicate that the carbon residue and surface roughness of the TiO 2 based sensor prolong the NO 2 response time by roughly threefold and fivefold, respectively. The recovery rate of the sensor is deteriorated by the poor surface conditions as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was undertaken to investigate the effect of α-chymotrypsin on methyl nitrosourea (MNU) induced mammary gland carcinoma in albino wistar rats. Animals were randomized into four groups (six animals in each). Group I (sham control 0.9 % normal saline p.o.); Group II (toxic control, MNU 47 mg/kg, i.v.); Group III (α-chymotrypsin, 5 mg/kg, p.o.); Group IV (α-chymotrypsin, 10 mg/kg p.o.). Toxicity was induced by single i.v. injection of MNU followed by α-chymotrypsin supplementation therapy for 100 days. MNU treatment was evident with increased alveolar bud count, differentiation score, upregulated inflammatory enzymes markers (COX, LOX and NO) antioxidative stress markers (TBARs, SOD, catalase and GSH).MNU associated toxicity was also ascertained by PGP 9.5 and NF-κB expression in the mammary gland tissue followed by FAME analysis for fatty acid profiling. α-chymotrypsin afforded significant protection against the deleterious effects of MNU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radon causes lung cancer when it is trapped inside the lungs. Therefore it is very important to analyze the radon concentration in water and soil samples. In the present investigation, water and soil samples collected from 20 different locations of Jodhpur and Nagaur districts of Northern Rajasthan, India have been studied by using RAD7. The measured radon concentration in water samples varies from 0.5 to 15 Bq l −1 . The observed values lie within the safe limit as set by UNSCEAR, 2008. The total annual effective dose due to radon in water corresponding to all studied locations has been found to be well within the safe limit of 0.1 mSv y −1 as recommended by World Health Organization ( WHO, 2004 ) and European Council ( EU, 1998 ). The measurements carried out on radon concentration in soil samples reveal a variation from 1750 to 9850 Bq m −3 . These results explore that the water of Jodhpur and Nagaur districts is suitable for drinking purpose without posing any health hazard but soil hazards depend upon its permeability and radon concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of the paper is to implement Savitzky Golay Smoothing Filter (SGSF) so as to apply in pre-processing of real time smart medical diagnostic systems. As very important information of EEG and ECG waveforms lies in the peak of the signal, hence it becomes absolutely necessary to filter noise and artifacts from the signal. The implemented filter should be able to reject the noise efficiently along with the least distortion from the original signal. The shape preserving characteristics of the filter are determined by introducing different noise levels in the signal. The designed filter is tested on synthetic signals of EEG and ECG by adding different types of noise and the performance is analysed on various parameters, i.e., SNR, SSNR, SNRI, MSE, COR and signal distortion of the final output. The smoothing performance comparison of SGSF with the most commonly used Moving Average Filter (MAF) proves that SGSF is more efficient. Hence it is suggested that MAF can be replaced by SGSF. For real time issues, it is further implemented on reconfigurable architectures so as to achieve high speed, low cost, low power consumption and less area. Therefore SGSF is realized on FPGA platform to combine the advantages of both. Real time EEG and ECG signals are also considered for experimentation. The experimental results show that the proposed methodology (FPGA-SGSF) significantly reduces the processing time and preserves the actual features of the signal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The human microbiome has emerged as a major player in regulating human health and disease. Translational studies of the microbiome have the potential to indicate clinical applications such as fecal transplants and probiotics. However, one major issue is accurate identification of microbes constituting the microbiota. Studies of the microbiome have frequently utilized sequencing of the conserved 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene. We present a comparative study of an alternative approach using whole genome shotgun sequencing (WGS). In the present study, we analyzed the human fecal microbiome compiling a total of 194.1 × 10 6 reads from a single sample using multiple sequencing methods and platforms. Specifically, after establishing the reproducibility of our methods with extensive multiplexing, we compared: 1) The 16S rRNA amplicon versus the WGS method, 2) the Illumina HiSeq versus MiSeq platforms, 3) the analysis of reads versus de novo assembled contigs, and 4) the effect of shorter versus longer reads. Our study demonstrates that whole genome shotgun sequencing has multiple advantages compared with the 16S amplicon method including enhanced detection of bacterial species, increased detection of diversity and increased prediction of genes. In addition, increased length, either due to longer reads or the assembly of contigs, improved the accuracy of species detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose a neural tree classifier, called the convex objective function neural tree (COF-NT), which has a specialized perceptron at each node. The specialized perceptron is a single layer feed-forward perceptron which calculates the errors before the neuron’s non-linear activation function instead of after them. Thus, the network parameters are independent of non-linear activation functions, and subsequently, the objective function is a convex objective function. The solution can be easily obtained by solving a system of linear equations which will require less computational power than conventional iterative methods. During the training, the proposed neural tree classifier divides the training set into smaller subsets by adding new levels to the tree. Each child perceptron takes forward the task of training done by its parent perceptron on the superset of this subset. Thus, the training is done by a number of single layer perceptrons (each perceptron carrying forward the work done by its ancestors) that reach the global minima in a finite number of steps. The proposed algorithm has been tested on available benchmark datasets and the results are promising in terms of classification accuracy and training time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A decrease in N -methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) function is associated with age-related cognitive impairments. However, NMDAR antagonists are prescribed for cognitive decline associated with age-related neurodegenerative disease, raising questions as to the role of NMDAR activity in cognitive function during aging. The current studies examined effects of NMDAR blockade on cognitive task that are sensitive to aging . Young and middle-age rats were trained on the five-choice serial reaction time task (5-CSRTT) and challenged with MK-801 (0.025, 0.05, and 0.1 mg/kg or vehicle). Attention deficits were apparent in middle-age and performance of young and middle-age rats was enhanced for low doses of MK-801 (0.025 and 0.05). The beneficial effects on attention were reversed by the highest dose of MK-801. Older animals exhibited a delay-dependent impairment of episodic spatial memory examined on a delayed-matching to place water maze task. Similarly, a low dose of MK-801 (0.05 mg/kg) impaired performance with increasing delay and aged animals were more susceptible to disruption by NMDAR blockade. Despite MK-801 impairment of episodic spatial memory, MK-801 had minimal effects on spatial reference memory. Our results confirm that NMDARs contribute to rapidly acquired and flexible spatial memory and support the idea that a decline in NMDAR function contributes to the age-related impairments in cognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) due to Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a viral disease that reduces the ability of a subject to defend the body against foreign substances. Many psychiatric and psychological syndromes accompanying HIV/AIDS may vary from one to another stage and every patient has to cope with both the disease and the accompanying stresses. This makes the patients doubly burdened, necessitating the positive coping and management among the HIV and AIDS patients. There are studies indicating that different coping strategies may influence the patients differently in managing the disease and mental health of the patients. It is important to study the differences in the ways of coping being adopted by these patients before designing interventions to train these patients about positive ways of coping. Gender is one of the important factors affecting how these coping strategies are mobilized. Therefore, the present study aimed to assess gender difference in adopting emotion and problem focused ways of coping by the HIV and AIDS patients. The investigation was carried out in Haryana on 500 patients suffering from this disease in age group of25-50 years with mean age 37.5 years. An equal number of males and females, i.e., 250 male (HIV positive: 125 &AIDS: 125) and 250 female (HIV positive: 125 &AIDS: 125) patients were selected. The selected subjects were tested using the ways of coping questionnaire suggested by Folkman and Lazarus (1988). Frequency wise and amount/extent wise analysis was done. The Chisquare, means, SD's and 't' values were computed to interpret the data. The use of emotion-focused ways was more prevalent amongst both the male and female patients of HIV and AIDS. Simultaneously, the ways of coping were adopted by both males and females suffering from HIV or AIDS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a low dimensional edge descriptor, based on local diagonal and non-diagonal maxima-minima pattern for medical images. The methods utilize local relationship of a middle pixel to its diagonal/non-diagonal maxima-minima. The scheme reduces the length of feature vector to a great extent without compromising the quality of edge map. The designed methods are validated on digital X-ray for bone fracture detection, dental images and ultrasound images. Improved depth local binary pattern, anisotropic diffusion & Canny edge detection, Canny and Sobel methods are also used for a comparative analysis. The local diagonal maxima-minima pattern and local non-diagonal maxima-minima pattern methods are robust to noise, while preserving the useful edge information. The experimental results reveal the superiority of proposed methods as compared to the state-of-the-art methods in terms of accuracy, Jaccard similarity index, specificity, sensitivity and dice similarity coefficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine similar and differential effects of two senolytic treatments, ABT‐263 and dasatinib + quercetin (D + Q), in preserving cognition, markers of peripheral senescence, and markers of brain aging thought to underlie cognitive decline. Male F344 rats were treated from 12 to 18 months of age with D + Q, ABT‐263, or vehicle, and were compared to young (6 months). Both senolytic treatments rescued memory, preserved the blood–brain barrier (BBB) integrity, and prevented the age‐related decline in hippocampal N‐methyl‐D‐aspartate receptor (NMDAR) function associated with impaired cognition. Senolytic treatments decreased senescence‐associated secretory phenotype (SASP) and inflammatory cytokines/chemokines in the plasma (IL‐1β, IP‐10, and RANTES), with some markers more responsive to D + Q (TNFα) or ABT‐263 (IFNγ, leptin, EGF). ABT‐263 was more effective in decreasing senescence genes in the spleen. Both senolytic treatments decreased the expression of immune response and oxidative stress genes and increased the expression of synaptic genes in the dentate gyrus (DG). However, D + Q influenced twice as many genes as ABT‐263. Relative to D + Q, the ABT‐263 group exhibited increased expression of DG genes linked to cell death and negative regulation of apoptosis and microglial cell activation. Furthermore, D + Q was more effective at decreasing morphological markers of microglial activation. The results indicate that preserved cognition was associated with the removal of peripheral senescent cells, decreasing systemic inflammation that normally drives neuroinflammation, BBB breakdown, and impaired synaptic function. Dissimilarities associated with brain transcription indicate divergence in central mechanisms, possibly due to differential access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present investigation, 226 Ra, 232 Th and 40 K analysis has been carried out in the soil samples collected from different locations of Jodhpur and Nagaur districts of Northern Rajasthan, India using gamma ray spectroscopy. The measured activity concentration ranges from 13±8 to 36±9 Bq kg −1 , 40±9 to 71±11 Bq kg −1 and 294±125 to 781±159 Bq kg −1 with the mean value of 24±9 Bq kg −1 , 55±11 Bq kg −1 and 549±141 Bq kg −1 for 226 Ra, 232 Th and 40 K, respectively. The radium equivalent activity of all the soil samples ranges from 114 to 157 Bq kg −1 with an average value of 141 Bq kg −1 , which is lower than the safe limit 370 Bq kg −1 as set by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The total absorbed dose of all the investigated samples varies from 56 to 77 nGy h −1 with an average value of 68 nGy h −1 . The overall annual effective dose ranges from 0.34 to 0.47 mSv with the average value of 0.41 mSv. The corresponding values of external and internal hazard index of all the soil samples ranges from 0.32 to 0.43 and 0.37 to 0.53 with an average value of 0.39 and 0.45 respectively. It was observed that the soil of Jodhpur and Nagaur districts is suitable for construction purpose without posing any health hazard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Each disease brings with it lot of additionally associated problems that the patient requires to cope with this additional burden and stress. Therefore, every patient has to cope with both the disease and the accompanying stresses in the form of biological, psychological and social problems. HIV/AIDS is also a disorder with high incidence and prevalence. It is a viral disease, which reduces the ability of immune system to defend the body against the introduction of foreign substances (antigens). Its negative impact on the individual and society itself is in alarming stage, as the disease is highly associated with a variety of loss, grief and stress. Each individual suffering from HIV/AIDS adopts a different style and strategy to cope with the disease. However, these patients can be enabled to cope with the disease related stress and worries by training them on appropriate ways of coping. The existing literature indicating about various methods categorized as better ways of coping with specific diseases but it is important to know what type of ways are being adopted by the patients and need to be changed for the success of interventions to teach appropriate ways of coping. Therefore, study aimed at assessing the patterns of emotion focused and problem focused ways of coping among HIV and AIDS patients. The present study was carried out in Haryana on 500 patients with HIV/AIDS having the age from 25 to 50 years (mean age 37.5 years). To assess and compare the coping styles adopted by HIV/AIDS patients, the selected subjects were tested with the ways of coping questionnaire by Folkman and Lazarus (1988). Frequencies of individual high on one type of coping (quartile based) and the mean of coping scores were calculated and analyzed. The Chi-square and *t* values reveal that most of the HIV/AIDS patients were going more with emotion focused coping than with problem focused coping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gamma-rays interaction parameters with six polymer and plastic materials have been computed and investigated for their shielding behaviours in the experimental energy range 10–1400 keV. Low mass-density and ability to transform into thin-sheets of H-containing plastic and polymer materials generate the curiosity for present study. Gamma Ray Interaction Coefficients (GRIC)-toolkit: a computer program designed in MS-Excel, 2007 for the investigation. The toolkit has the capability to compute different parameters linked to shielding properties of the sample-material such that; mass attenuation coefficients ( μ / ρ ), mass energy absorption coefficients ( μ en / ρ ), equivalent atomic number ( Z eq ), KERMA (kinetic energy released per unit mass). Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) seems to be the best shield for gamma radiations in energy range 10–110 keV. The interaction parameters for selected samples have been computed and provided in the extended energy range 0.015–15 MeV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]