Assesment of Water Quality Parameters of Ulhas River in Thane District

Globally water resources are becoming increasingly vulnerable as a result escalating demand arising from the population growth, the need foe increased food production, expanding industrialisation due to rising living standards, pilution due to various anthropogenic activities, and climate change impacts Due to the water scarcity and poor water quality, it has been predicted that by 2050, at least one in four people are likely to live in a country with a shortage of freshwater. Water quality is a complex subject which involves physical, chemical, hydrological and biologicl characteristics of water and their complex and delicate realations

Field Measurements of Terrestrial and Martian Dust Devils

Surface-based measurements of terrestrial and martian dust devils/convective vortices provided from mobile and stationary platforms are discussed. Imaging of terrestrial dust devils has quantified their rotational and vertical wind speeds, translation speeds, dimensions, dust load, and frequency of occurrence. Imaging of martian dust devils has provided translation speeds and constraints on dimensions, but only limited constraints on vertical motion within a vortex. The longer mission durations on Mars afforded by long operating robotic landers and rovers have provided statistical quantification of vortex occurrence (time-of-sol, and recently seasonal) that has until recently not been a primary outcome of more temporally limited terrestrial dust devil measurement campaigns. Terrestrial measurement campaigns have included a more extensive range of measured vortex parameters (pressure, wind, morphology, etc.) than have martian opportunities, with electric field and direct measure of dust abundance not yet obtained on Mars. No martian robotic mission has yet provided contemporaneous high frequency wind and pressure measurements. Comparison of measured terrestrial and martian dust devil characteristics suggests that martian dust devils are larger and possess faster maximum rotational wind speeds, that the absolute magnitude of the pressure deficit within a terrestrial dust devil is an order of magnitude greater than a martian dust devil, and that the time-of-day variation in vortex frequency is similar. Recent terrestrial investigations have demonstrated the presence of diagnostic dust devil signals within seismic and infrasound measurements; an upcoming Mars robotic mission will obtain similar measurement types

Dust Devil Tracks

Dust devils that leave dark- or light-toned tracks are common on Mars and they can also be found on the Earth’s surface. Dust devil tracks (hereinafter DDTs) are ephemeral surface features with mostly sub-annual lifetimes. Regarding their size, DDT widths can range between ∼1 m and ∼1 km, depending on the diameter of dust devil that created the track, and DDT lengths range from a few tens of meters to several kilometers, limited by the duration and horizontal ground speed of dust devils. DDTs can be classified into three main types based on their morphology and albedo in contrast to their surroundings; all are found on both planets: (a) dark continuous DDTs, (b) dark cycloidal DDTs, and (c) bright DDTs. Dark continuous DDTs are the most common type on Mars. They are characterized by their relatively homogenous and continuous low albedo surface tracks. Based on terrestrial and martian in situ studies, these DDTs most likely form when surficial dust layers are removed to expose larger-grained substrate material (coarse sands of ≥500 μm in diameter). The exposure of larger-grained materials changes the photometric properties of the surface; hence leading to lower albedo tracks because grain size is photometrically inversely proportional to the surface reflectance. However, although not observed so far, compositional differences (i.e., color differences) might also lead to albedo contrasts when dust is removed to expose substrate materials with mineralogical differences. For dark continuous DDTs, albedo drop measurements are around 2.5 % in the wavelength range of 550–850 nm on Mars and around 0.5 % in the wavelength range from 300–1100 nm on Earth. The removal of an equivalent layer thickness around 1 μm is sufficient for the formation of visible dark continuous DDTs on Mars and Earth. The next type of DDTs, dark cycloidal DDTs, are characterized by their low albedo pattern of overlapping scallops. Terrestrial in situ studies imply that they are formed when sand-sized material that is eroded from the outer vortex area of a dust devil is redeposited in annular patterns in the central vortex region. This type of DDT can also be found in on Mars in orbital image data, and although in situ studies are lacking, terrestrial analog studies, laboratory work, and numerical modeling suggest they have the same formation mechanism as those on Earth. Finally, bright DDTs are characterized by their continuous track pattern and high albedo compared to their undisturbed surroundings. They are found on both planets, but to date they have only been analyzed in situ on Earth. Here, the destruction of aggregates of dust, silt and sand by dust devils leads to smooth surfaces in contrast to the undisturbed rough surfaces surrounding the track. The resulting change in photometric properties occurs because the smoother surfaces have a higher reflectance compared to the surrounding rough surface, leading to bright DDTs. On Mars, the destruction of surficial dust-aggregates may also lead to bright DDTs. However, higher reflective surfaces may be produced by other formation mechanisms, such as dust compaction by passing dust devils, as this may also cause changes in photometric properties. On Mars, DDTs in general are found at all elevations and on a global scale, except on the permanent polar caps. DDT maximum areal densities occur during spring and summer in both hemispheres produced by an increase in dust devil activity caused by maximum insolation. Regionally, dust devil densities vary spatially likely controlled by changes in dust cover thicknesses and substrate materials. This variability makes it difficult to infer dust devil activity from DDT frequencies. Furthermore, only a fraction of dust devils leave tracks. However, DDTs can be used as proxies for dust devil lifetimes and wind directions and speeds, and they can also be used to predict lander or rover solar panel clearing events. Overall, the high DDT frequency in many areas on Mars leads to drastic albedo changes that affect large-scale weather patterns

An Overview On Web Scraping Techniques And Tools

From the evolution of WWW, the scenario of internet user and data exchange is fastly changes. As common people join the internet and start to use it, lots of new techniques are promoted to boost up the network. At the same time, to enhance computers and network facility new technologies were introduces which results into automatically decreasing in cost of hardware and website�s related costs. Due to all these changes, large number of users are joined and use the internet facilities. Daily use of internet cose in to a tremendous data is available on internet. Business, academician, researchers all are share their advertisements, information on internet so that they can be connected to people fastly and easily. As a result of exchange, share and store data on internet, a new problem is arise that how to handle such data overload and how the user will get or access the best information in least efforts. To solve this issues, researcher spotout new technique called Web Scraping. Web scraping is very imperative technique which is used to generate structured data on the basis of available unstructured data on the web. Scaping generated structured data then stored in central database and analyze in spreadsheets. Traditional copy-and-paste, Text grapping and regular expression matching, HTTP programming, HTML parsing, DOM parsing, Webscraping software, Vertical aggregation platforms, Semantic annotation recognizing and Computer vision web-page analyzers are some of the common techniques used for data scraping. Previously most user uses the common copy-pest technique for gathering and analyzing data on the internet, but it is a tedious technique where lot of data copied by the user and store on computer files. As compared to this technique web scraping software is easiest scraping technique. Now a days, there are lots of software are available in the market for web scraping. Our paper is focused on the overview on the information extraction technique i.e. web scraping, different techniques of web scraping and some of the recent tools used for a web scraping

Harvesting Image Databases from The Web

The research work presented here includes data mining needs and study of their algorithm for various extraction purpose. It also includes work that has been done in the field of harvesting images from web. Here the proposed method is to harvest image databases from web. We can automatically generate a large number of images for a specified object. By applying concept of data mining and the algorithm from data mining which is used for extraction of data or harvesting images. A multimodal approach employing text ,metadata and visual  features is used to gather many high-quality images from the web. The modules can be made to find query images by selecting images where nearby text is top ranked by the topic i.e., formation of image clusters then download associate images by using approaches like web search, image search and Google images. Apply re-ranking algorithm and then filtering process to harvest the images.Currently, image search gives a very low precision (only about 4%) and is not used for the harvesting experiments. Since the movements of the technologies are growing rapidly the kinds of work also need to be grown up. This work shows an approach to harvest a large number of images of a particular class automatically and to achieve this with high precision by providing training databases so that a new object model can be learned effortlessly. Many other tools also are available for harvesting images from web .An approach in this paper is original and up to the mark. Keywords: Legacy code, re-engineering, class diagrams, Aggregation, Association, Attribute

EVALUATION OF IN VITRO ANTI-UROLITHIATIC ACTIVITY OF SOLANUM TUBEROSUM ON CALCIUM OXALATE CRYSTALS

Objective: Present study was designed to evaluate the anti-urolithiatic activity of Indian species of Solanun tuberosum on calcium oxalate crystal In vitro model. Methods: Potato powder was prepared by cutting, grinding and dried in hot air oven at 60-65 ℃. In vitro model of Calcium oxalate crystal was used. Results: It was observed that the sample prepared from Solanumtuberosum, both potato ash as well as potato powder, had ability to act as anti-urolithical drug due to the presence of saponin and potassium. Conclusion: From the present study, we can conclude that the sample prepared from Solanumtuberosum, had the ability to act as anti-urolithical drug and in vivo study can be carried out for further investigation

Higher-Order Assembly of BRCC36-KIAA0157 Is Required for DUB Activity and Biological Function

BRCC36 is a Zn²⁺-dependent deubiquitinating enzyme (DUB) that hydrolyzes lysine-63-linked ubiquitin chains as part of distinct macromolecular complexes that participate in either interferon signaling or DNA-damage recognition. The MPN⁺ domain protein BRCC36 associates with pseudo DUB MPN⁻ proteins KIAA0157 or Abraxas, which are essential for BRCC36 enzymatic activity. To understand the basis for BRCC36 regulation, we have solved the structure of an active BRCC36-KIAA0157 heterodimer and an inactive BRCC36 homodimer. Structural and functional characterizations show how BRCC36 is switched to an active conformation by contacts with KIAA0157. Higher-order association of BRCC36 and KIAA0157 into a dimer of heterodimers (super dimers) was required for DUB activity and interaction with targeting proteins SHMT2 and RAP80. These data provide an explanation of how an inactive pseudo DUB allosterically activates a cognate DUB partner and implicates super dimerization as a new regulatory mechanism underlying BRCC36 DUB activity, subcellular localization, and biological function

Towards sustainable farming: Feasibility study into energy recovery from bio-wastes on a small-scale dairy farm

Anaerobic digestion (AD) of farm biomass is growing importance as it offers environmental benefits and the biogas produced from AD which can be used as fuel for co-generation of heat and electricity. The study aimed to explore the viability of energy recovery from bio-wastes on a small-scale dairy farm to produce biogas using AD and the gas used as biofuel to fuel a combined heat and power (CHP) which generated electrical power and heat for the farm. The AD and the CHP system was designed and simulated using ECLIPSE software. Various ages of cow manure were sampled, analysed and used as an AD feedstock and it was found that as cow manure aged the amount biogas produced from anaerobic digestion was decreased; a reduction in biogas production of 5.76% was found over two months, and in the subsequent two months the reduction rate was found to accelerate, leading to a 16.92% reduction after four months. That means cow manure should be used as an AD feedstock as soon as possible, as carbon lost in the form of methane (CH4) occurs naturally in the atmosphere, accelerating over time. Early insertion of fresh manure into an anaerobic digester can significantly increase biogas production and subsequently reduce emissions of CH4, which has a global warming potential (GWP) of twenty-five times that of carbon dioxide (CO2). The simulation results indicated that enough energy can be recovered from the quantity of cow manure available on the farm to provide the electrical and heating energy demands of the farmyard and the attached dwellings, thus creating a sustainable farming system. In combination with the environmental benefits, it was determined that a substantial annual revenue could be generated from utility bill savings and current favourable incentive rates available to promote renewable energy technologies in farming industry in the UK

THE USE OF HPLC AS A TOOL FOR NEONATAL CORD BLOOD SCREENING OF HAEMOGLOBINOPATHY - A VALIDATION STUDY

Background: Newborn cord blood screening identifies infants with underlying haemoglobinopathies before they develop the characteristic symptoms or sequelae.  Aims: This study was performed to validate the interpretation high-performance chromatography (HPLC) along with complete blood count (CBC) results as a tool for universal neonatal screening of hemoglobin disorders in Oman.  Methods: HPLC and CBC data on subjects who participated in the National Neonatal screening program at birth were obtained from archival records. The results recorded at birth were compared with a second study performed on the same subjects, after approval from the local medical research and ethics committee. Results: Only 290 subjects from amongst the original cohort of 3740 newborns could be recalled between April 2010 to March 2011, to repeat HPLC and CBC, as well as perform confirmatory DNA studies, wherever necessary. All these subjects had been documented to show an initial abnormal result. 31 cases who had no HbA at birth on HPLC were confirmed as either homozygous β-thalassaemia major (n=5 subjects) or homozygous sickle cell anemia (n=26 subjects) by appropriate DNA analysis. Additionally, amongst 151 subjects, 72 subjects were studied in the initial study by Hb Bart’s quantitation using aalpha thalassaemia short program at birth. In this cohort, 42 subjects with Hb Bart’s >1% at birth could be confirmed as having either deletional or non-deletional thalassaemia by GAP PCR studies. No case of HbH was detected in this cohort. Further, carrier status for structural hemoglobin variants (HbS, HbC, HbD, HbE) (n=67) and beta thalassaemia allele with low HbA at birth (n=29 out of 41) were confirmed by relevant molecular studies. Conclusions: The study validated the earlier observation by 100% concordance with results of CBC and HPLC. Presence of Hb Bart’s at birth does not always mean the presence of alpha thalassemia, as subjects with Hb Bart’s was below 1% by quantitation, were shown to be normal by molecular studies.   Key Words: Neonatal, screening, HPLC validation, haemoglobinopathy, sickle cell disease, thalassaemi