Online access to DRDO periodicals using open source software

Defence Scientific Information and Documentation Centre (DESIDOC) is a nodal centre for information communication and dissemination in the Defence Research & Development Organization (DRDO). As the publication wing of DRDO, DESIDOC brings out regular publications including Defence Science Journal, DESIDOC Bulletin of Information Technology, DRDO Newsletter, DRDO Samachar and Technology Focus. These periodicals cover a wide variety of topics in various subject areas targeting different user communities situated all over India. A pilot project was undertaken with an aim to provide online desktop access to the full text of these periodicals to the users including R&D scientists of more than 50 laboratories and establishments. The project also aimed at facilitating the Publications Division to directly upload the contents to the system. The open source software EPrints is used and customized according to the user requirements particularly on Intranet. Upon successful testing and evaluation, these periodicals will be hosted on Internet allowing subscription, access and downloading by users across the globe. This paper discusses the experience in using EPrints and customization at various levels for DRDO publications and explains various features of the model

Information technologies for libraries and information centres

For the past few years, the tremendous strides taken in the fields of information technologies have changed the society into an information conscious society. There is little doubt that the impact of these technologies on the day-to-day functions of information centres is an everlasting one. The innumerable advances in different fields such as computers, communi- cations, electronic mail, voice mail, teletext, videotext, telefax, videodisc, CD-ROM, electronic publishing, etc have left no area in the library, and information field immune for their application. And many areas still remain undiscovered. This paper, first in a series, makes an attempt to overview the impact of the information technologies on the library and information services. A brief discussion of electronic message and documentdelivery systems,and electronic mail are also presented

Eddy Current Testing of Zirconium Wires

FUEL bundles for Rajasthan Atomic Power Reactor, as per the design, consist of a cluster of 19 elements held together by zircaloy end plates and spaced by wire helices on the six elements of the inner ring and alte-rnate elements of the outer ring. Each element is a zircaloy-2 tube 495 min long,1524 mm in diameter and of 0.4 nom wall thickness containing the nuclear fuel in the form of sintered uranium dioxide pellets and sealed at both ends. In order to provide the required spacing between the elements, zircaloy wire of 1.25 mm dia. is spot-welded around the elements in the helix form. The wire helices serve to separate the elements to maintain the dimensions of the coolant sub-channels between them and to increase the mixing of coolant between inner and outer sub-channels. Zircaloy wire of 1.63 mm dia. is spot-welded on the outer elements so as to provide bearing surfaces for the bundle when it moves through the fuel channels in the coolant assemblies

MINERALOGY AND GEOCHEMISTRY OF RED AND BLACK SEDIMENTS OF THOOTHUKUDI DISTRICT, TAMILNADU, INDIA

ABSTRACT The coastal sedimentary belt between Kulathur and Surangudi villages of Thoothukudi district in South India, located within the latitudes 9 0 00' N -9 0 06' N and longitudes 78 0 16' E -78 0 18' E, is mainly covered by black soil sediments and detached outcrops of red (teri) sediments. The petrological and mineralogical study reveals that red (teri) sediments had originated within black sediments as in-situ deposits. The reddening may be due to leaching and oxidation under favourable climatic conditions of iron bearing heavy minerals like garnet, ilmenite, hypersthene etc., present in the sediments. The calcrete deposition by evapotranspiration of ground water process develops micritic calcite veins with nodular and mottled texture within the red sediments. The presence of angular, spherical and sub spherical quartz grains in compact red sandstone of bottom profile indicates fluvio-marine (coastal aeolian action) origin. The major element geochemistry of black and red sediments of the study area shows that both the sediment types have more or less similar distribution of major element oxides. The major SiO 2 , Al 2 O 3 , Fe 2 O 3 and TiO 2 oxides are in high concentrations (> 1%), whereas K 2 O, Na 2 O, MgO and P 2 O 5 oxides have low concentrations (< 1%). The correlation study between the sources of elements of the sediments indicates their geochemical affinities during sedimentation. Further, the study of major elements helps to interpret provenance, depositional environment, classification, chemical maturity index and climatic attributes of the sediments of the study area

Using Barkhausen Noise to Measure Coating Depth of Coated High-Speed Steel

Coated high-speed steel tools are widely used in machining processes as they offer an excellent tool life to cost ratio, but they quickly need replacing once the coated layer is worn away. It would be therefore useful to be able to measure the tool life remaining non-destructively and cheaply. To achieve this, the work presented here aims to measure the thickness of the coated layer of high-speed cutting tools by using Barkhausen noise (BHN) techniques. Coated high-speed steel specimens coated with two different materials (chromium nitride (CrN), titanium nitride (TiN)) were tested using a cost-effective measuring system developed for this study. Sensory features were extracted from the signal received from a pick-up coil and the signal features, Root mean square, peak count, and signal energy, were successfully correlated with the thickness of the coating layer on high-speed steel (HSS) specimens. The results suggest that the Barkhausen noise measuring system developed in this study can successfully indicate the different thickness of the coating layer on CrN/TiN coated HSS specimens

Quantitative PCR Evaluation of Cellular Immune Responses in Kenyan Children Vaccinated with a Candidate Malaria Vaccine

BACKGROUND: The T-cell mediated immune response plays a central role in the control of malaria after natural infection or vaccination. There is increasing evidence that T-cell responses are heterogeneous and that both the quality of the immune response and the balance between pro-inflammatory and regulatory T-cells determines the outcome of an infection. As Malaria parasites have been shown to induce immunosuppressive responses to the parasite and non-related antigens this study examined T-cell mediated pro-inflammatory and regulatory immune responses induced by malaria vaccination in children in an endemic area to determine if these responses were associated with vaccine immunogenicity. METHODS: Using real-time RT- PCR we profiled the expression of a panel of key markers of immunogenecity at different time points after vaccination with two viral vector vaccines expressing the malaria TRAP antigen (FP9-TRAP and MVA-TRAP) or following rabies vaccination as a control. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The vaccine induced modest levels of IFN-gamma mRNA one week after vaccination. There was also an increase in FoxP3 mRNA expression in both TRAP stimulated and media stimulated cells in the FFM ME-TRAP vaccine group; however, this may have been driven by natural exposure to parasite rather than by vaccination. CONCLUSION: Quantitative PCR is a useful method for evaluating vaccine induced cell mediated immune responses in frozen PBMC from children in a malaria endemic country. Future studies should seek to use vaccine vectors that increase the magnitude and quality of the IFN-gamma immune response in naturally exposed populations and should monitor the induction of a regulatory T cell response

Potential of enzymatically hydorlysed seaweed products as cost-effective nutrient media for growth and lipid enhancement in the marine microalga Nannochloropsis salina

Enzymatically hydrolysed seaweed products (EHSPs) prepared from the red seaweed, Gracilaria corticata (EHSP-1) and brown seaweed, Stoechospermum marginatum (EHSP-2) contained abundant levels of macro, micro and trace elements necessary to fulfil the nutritional requirement of the microalga Nannochloropsis salina. EHSP-1 had higher levels of N, P, K and Fe in comparison with EHSP-2. The growth performance of N. salina suggests that EHSP-1 was more efficient than EHSP-2. The growth rate of N. salina in EHSP-1 was 1.07 times higher than the control whereas in EHSP-2 the growth rate was 0.58 times lower than the control. The maximum biomass concentration of N. salina was achieved in EHSP-1 and EHSP-2 were 0.37 and 0.21 g l-1 with a biomass productivity of 0.027 and 0.0152 g l-1 d-1 respectively. The results of biochemical analyses also suggest that protein, pigment and lipid yield of N. salina was positively stimulated by EHSP. The findings suggest that the best concentration of EHSP-1 and EHSP-2 to achieve maximum biomass and lipid production of the marine microalga N. salina were 8 and 4% respectively. EHSP-1 enhanced the biomass and lipid production without affecting the nutritional properties of N. salina suggesting its potential applicability in aquaculture, biofuel and other related industrial sectors

Maternal immunization against Group B streptococcus: World Health Organization research and development technological roadmap and preferred product characteristics.

Group B streptococcus, found in the vagina or lower gastrointestinal tract of about 10-40% of women of reproductive age, is a leading cause of early life invasive bacterial disease, potentially amenable to prevention through maternal immunization during pregnancy. Following a consultation process with global stakeholders, the World Health Organization is herein proposing priority research and development pathways and preferred product characteristics for GBS vaccines, with the aim to facilitate and accelerate vaccine licensure, policy recommendation for wide scale use and implementation

Patient empowerment : Apni Jung (our fight) against rheumatoid arthritis for South Asian population

Covid-19 has affected many populations in the UK, and ethnic minority communities in particular. People from ethnic minority communities living with long-term chronic diseases have shown to be less engaging with self-management and report having poor medication adherence. The main reason to this problem is the way information is delivered to non-English speaking patients. This editorial discusses an innovation to over this barriers in rheumatology practice

Conscious monitoring and control (reinvestment) in surgical performance under pressure.

Research on intraoperative stressors has focused on external factors without considering individual differences in the ability to cope with stress. One individual difference that is implicated in adverse effects of stress on performance is "reinvestment," the propensity for conscious monitoring and control of movements. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of reinvestment on laparoscopic performance under time pressure