A new species of the genus Gomphomastax Brunner von Wattenwyl (Orthoptera: Eumastacidae: Gomphomastacinae) from Indian Kashmir

A new species, Gomphomastax nigrovittata Usmani, from Kashmir is described and illustrated. In addition to conventional morphological characters, genitalic structures are also studied. A key to known species of Gomphomastax from Indian Kashmir is given

Field programmable gate array (FPGA) implementation of novel complex PN-code-generator- based data scrambler and descrambler

A novel technique for the generation of complex and lengthy code sequences using low- length linear feedback shift registers (LFSRs) for data scrambling and descrambling is proposed. The scheme has been implemented using VHSIC hardware description language (VHDL) approach which allows the reconfigurability of the proposed system such that the length of the generated sequences can be changed as per the security requirements. In the present design consideration the power consumption and chip area requirements are small and the operating speed is high compared to conventional discrete I.C. design, which is a pre-requisite for any system designer. The design has been synthesised on device EP2S15F484C3 of Straitx II FPGA family, using Quarts Altera version 8.1. The simulation results have been found satisfactory and are in conformity with the theoretical observations

How to do social distancing in a shack: COVID-19 in the South African context.

No Abstract

Evaluation and prioritization of rice production practices and constraints under temperate climatic conditions using Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP)

Due to overwhelming complex and vague nature of interactions between multiple factors describing agriculture, Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methods are widely used from farm to fork to facilitate systematic and transparent decision support, figure out multiple decision outcomes and equip decision maker with confident decision choices in order to choose best alternative. This research proposes a Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP) based decision support to evaluate and prioritize important factors of rice production practices and constraints under temperate climatic conditions and provides estimate of weightings, which measure relative importance of critical factors of the crop under biotic, abiotic, socio-economic and technological settings. The results envisage that flood, drought, water logging, late sali, temperature and rainfall are important constraints. However, regulating transplantation time; maintaining planting density; providing training to the educated farmers; introducing high productive varieties like Shalimar Rice-1 and Jhelum; better management of nutrients, weeds and diseases are most important opportunities to enhance rice production in the region. Therefore, the proposed system supplements farmers with precise decision information about important rice production practices, opportunities and constraints

Rare case of heterotopic pregnancy: a case report

Heterotopic pregnancy refers to condition where two pregnancies are present simultaneously at different implantation sites mostly manifested as intrauterine and ectopic pregnancies. First heterotopic pregnancy after in vitro fertilization was reported in 1972. Mostly it is a sporadic condition. The most common ectopic site is the fallopian tube, both in spontaneous and assisted reproductive technology (ART) heterotopic pregnancies. Almost 60-70% of heterotopic cases result in live childbirth with outcomes similar to that of singleton pregnancies. Spontaneous heterotopic pregnancy is a rare and potentially dangerous condition in which intrauterine (IU) and extrauterine pregnancies occur at the same time. It can be a life-threatening condition and can be missed, with the diagnosis being overlooked. A high suspicion is needed in women with risk factors for an ectopic pregnancy and in low-risk women with an intrauterine gestation who have free fluid with or without an adnexal mass or in those presenting acute abdominal pain and shock. The ectopic component is usually treated surgically and the intrauterine one is expected to continue normally

Sources of variability in cytosolic calcium transients triggered by stimulation of homogeneous uro-epithelial cell monolayers

Epithelial tissue structure is the emergent outcome of the interactions between large numbers of individual cells. Experimental cell biology offers an important tool to unravel these complex interactions, but current methods of analysis tend to be limited to mean field approaches or representation by selected subsets of cells. This may result in bias towards cells that respond in a particular way and/or neglect local, context-specific cell responses. Here, an automated algorithm was applied to examine in detail the individual calcium transients evoked in genetically homogeneous, but asynchronous populations of cultured non-immortalized normal human urothelial cells when subjected to either the global application of an external agonist or a localized scratch wound. The recorded calcium transients were classified automatically according to a set of defined metrics and distinct sub-populations of cells that responded in qualitatively different ways were observed. The nature of this variability in the homogeneous cell population was apportioned to two sources: intrinsic variation in individual cell responses and extrinsic variability due to context-specific factors of the environment, such as spatial heterogeneity. Statistically significant variation in the features of the calcium transients evoked by scratch wounding according to proximity to the wound edge was identified. The manifestation of distinct sub-populations of cells is considered central to the coordination of population-level response resulting in wound closure

Acute viral bronchiolitis: Dawn of a new era for the prevention of respiratory syncytial virus infection through vaccination

Many cases of bronchiolitis are caused by the respiratory syncytialvirus (RSV), which was first identified in 1956 as causing illness inhumans. Despite ongoing efforts since the 1960s to develop an RSVvaccine, it has remained elusive. The RSV vaccine research agendaexperienced a major setback after the increased susceptibility tosevere RSV disease and death in children who received the firstformalin-inactivated vaccine in the 1960s. Only in the mid-1980swas the search for an RSV vaccine re-ignited. Alternative approachesto developing this vaccine included attempts at attenuation of RSV,which generally resulted in vaccine candidates that were either tooreactogenic or too attenuated. Furthermore, the targeted approachof using the conserved fusion protein (F-protein), although showingsome promise in older persons with underlying medical conditions,was not developed into a potential candidate for young children, forwhom the need is greatest

Childhood pneumonia - progress and challenges

No Abstract. South African Medical Journal Vol. 96(9) (Part 2) 2006: 890-89

Rekomendasi Pembelian Personal Komputer dengan Metode Ranked Clustering

Perkembangan teknologi berdampak pada persaingan Perusahaan yang cukup ketat, produksi yang beragam dan variatif membuat produk komputer memiliki banyak spesifikasi yang berbeda, tentu hal itu akan semakin menyulitkan bagian pemasaran dalam mempromosikan produk komputer. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk merekomendasikan komputer dengan spesifikasi yang diinginkan oleh calon pembeli, dengan cara menganalisa basis data produk komputer untuk kemudian di klasifikasi berdasarkan karakteristik tertentu. Implementasi Recommendation system ini menggunakan algoritma AHP dan algoritma K-means, dimana metode untuk proses ranking menggunakan AHP dengan menganalisa basis data produk komputer dan analisis kluster untuk mengelompokkan individu atau objek menjadi beberapa kelompok yang sama mempunyai kemiripan satu dengan yang lain di bandingkan dengan anggota cluster lain. Hasil dari kombinasi algoritma AHP dan K-Means yaitu rekomendasi produk komputer lebih variatif. Pengolahan data menggunakan kombinasi algoritma AHP dan K-Means menghasilkan rekomendasi produk kepada pengguna yang lebih heterogen dibandingkan dengan rekomendasi produk dari data yang diolah hanya menggunakan algoritma AHP tanpa di-cluster K-Means. Sehingga dapat ditarik kesimpulan bahwa proses clustering akan menghasilkan kaidah-kaidah asosiasi dengan kualitas yang lebih baik

High Capacity Data Embedding using joint Intermediate Significant Bit (ISB) and Least Significant Bit (LSB) Technique

The success of the Internet, coupled with availability of relatively inexpensive digital devices has created an environment in which it has become very easy to obtain, replicate and distribute digital content without any loss in quality. In such a scenario, data hiding has received significant attention from the research community round the globe, as it has been found useful in various areas like copyright protection, copy control, fingerprinting, content authentication and information security. Least Significant Bit based data hiding techniques have been used as effective means to hide the data to be secured, but they are less robust in nature. This paper presents a high capacity data hiding technique in which the data to be secured is embedded in Intermediate Significant Bits in addition to Least Significant Bits of cover image. The data to be embedded is broken down in data blocks of variable length and each block is embedded in the cover media in such a way that highest length data vector is embedded in lower order bit plane and vice-versa. This work shows attractive results with respect to imperceptibility and capacity when compared with a few reported techniques. Key Words: Intermediate Significant Bit, Embedding, Imperceptibility, Least Significant Bit.