PI Controller Based New Soft-Switching Boost Converter With A Coupled Inductor

Novel full bridge DC-DC boost converters is mainly used in research applications, where the output voltage is measurably higher than the source voltage. In this project designing of a new topology of a non isolated boost converter with zero voltage switching control technique is discussed. To achieve ZVS condition the auxiliary circuit has a coupled inductor and a diode. The advantages of the ZVS are reverse recovery problem of MOSFET anti parallel body diodes are resolved and also the voltage and current stress on the switch components are reduced. This topology has a light weight and cost less. This technique will reduce the switching losses and improve the efficiency by ZVS technique, but it does not improve the turn-off switching losses by a ZCS technique. In this topology have two operational conditions depending on the situation of the duty cycle. The detailed operating analysis of the proposed converter and the design method of the main circuit are presented. To improve the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed boost converter PI controller is used. Here microcontroller is used in the proposed topology

WxWindows Interface for CALE

wxWindows is an Open Source, platform independent, User Interface (UI) which has been in development for over eleven years (http://www.wxwindows.org). Currently wxWindows is actively supported for the Linux/Unix (X11, Motif and GTK+), Mac OS 9 and X, all Win32 OSes, MGL, and OS/2 operating systems. wxWindows is written in C++ using an object oriented programming framework; it is a reasonably lightweight API (called wxWidgets) sitting over the native graphics packages of the various platforms it supports. The original version of CALE was written for the basic target platform of Unix using X11 as the graphics package. There have been separate efforts to port the code to Mac OS 9, Mac OS X, Win32, Windows Services for Unix (SFU) and CygWin. Each of these used a variety of different graphical interface approaches and build/make systems. For instance Windows SFU and CygWin could still only use X11 graphics. So could the Win32 version, if a X11 server library and client software were installed. A native Win32 version of CALE was contemplated, but never started. The Macintosh versions were completed but never widely distributed to the users. Given the growing code version support issues, and the slow deviation from the portable code model CALE originally started with, it was desired to come up with a simple graphical UI that would be cross platform portable with only a single code base and build system. During the past two summers, two Laboratory summer students and a CALE team code physicist have worked on porting CALE to the wxWidgets UI. In the summer of 2003 Jeffery Hagelberg (formerly Purdue University, now at the University of California-Davis) started the project. During the spring & summer of 2004 Christopher Egner (Rochester Institute of Technology) completed the work. Paul Amala (A/X-Program at LLNL) supervised the students for their combined 30 weeks of effort. This poster session describes the wxWindows interface as it is implemented in CALE, the level of cross platform portable it actually affords, and the lessons learned during the porting of an existing X11 program to this open source software package. (U

Fish waste management: turning fish waste into healthy fertilizer

In recent decades there has been a constant increase in global population which generates the gigantic challenge of providing food and livelihoods to a population well of greater than 9 billion people by the middle of twenty-first century (FAO, 2018). Fisheries sector plays a key role in providing food safety and employment formany people. Global fish production has touched about 171 million tonnesby 2016 (FAO, 2018) and further increase in fish production through growing aquaculture industry is expected in coming decades. On contrast, of the overall worldwide fish production, almost 75% is only used for human consumption (FAO, 2007).The abandons from the world’s fisheries exceed 20 million tons annually(equivalent to 25% of total production) which include “non-target” species, fish processing wastes and by-products. Most of these are simply disposed off in landfills, by incineration, or dumping at sea or lands. Considering the high organic content fish waste is categorized as “certified waste” that is even more costly to dispose. Management of fish waste is coming under increased scrutiny to environmental issues (Jesperson et al., 2000) and is an emerging alarm and cost burden to whole fish industry (Anon, 2002). Considering the present and future intensity of fish production, the ultimate disposal of fish waste will turn out to be a serious problem for environment. Utilization of fish wastes help to eliminate harmful environmental aspects and improve the income for fish farmers, demanding the critical necessity to find ecologically acceptable means for reutilization of these wastes

Antimicrobial activity of Plectranthus amboinicus solvent extracts against Human Pathogenic Bacteria and Fungi

Plectranthus amboinicus or locally known as bangun-bangun, is an indigenous vegetable which can be freshly eaten. However, the plant is unpopular among local people and being neglected. It has been reported to be traditionally used for medicine to cure common illnesses such as cough, stomachache, headache and skin infection. Based on the potential, a study was conducted to bioprospect the antimicrobial activity of the essential oil. Plectranthus amboinicus essential oil of methanol and chloroform extract was tested against nine bacteria and four fungi i.e., Escherichia coli, Proteus vulgaris, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Shigella flexneri, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterococcus faecal, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi, Bacillus cereus, Candida albicans, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus fumigatus and Aspergillus flavus. The methanol extract of Plectranthus amboinicus showed the maximum antibacterial activity against the bacteria Klebsiella pneumoniae and fungi Candida albicans. The antimicrobial activity of Plectranthus amboinicus was more at 100 mg/ml concentration when compared to 50 mg/ml concentration. Comparatively, the Methanol extract of Plectranthus amboinicus exhibited maximum antimicrobial activity when compared to Chloroform extract. The Plectranthus amboinicus has showed good antimicrobial activity against most of the bacteria and only one fungal yeast Candida albicans. No zone of inhibition was recorded against other fungal isolates like Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus fumigatus and Negative DMSO control. Keywords: Plectranthus amboinicus, Bacteria, Fungi, Antimicrobial activity and Well diffusion assay

Antioxidant Properties of Papayasayanam Extract of Carica papaya Stem Straw

Medicinal plants used in the traditional medicine are well-known significant sources of natural antioxidants. Antioxidants are compounds which inhibit the oxidation and in general prolong the life of the oxidizable matter. Majority of the diseases are predominantly linked to oxidative stress due to free radicals. The free radicals are species with very short half-life, high reactivity and damaging activity towards macromolecules like proteins, DNA and lipids. The present study was aimed to evaluate the antioxidant properties of Papayasayanam extract of Carica papaya stem straw. The results of the present research has showed that the Papayasayanam extract of Carica papaya stem straw has highest hydrogen peroxide scavenging activity and reducing power activity when compared to control Ascorbic acid. So, these results indicated that the Papayasayanam extract of Carica papaya stem straw exhibited free radical scavenging activity against hydrogen peroxide and reducing power. Therefore, the papayasayanam extract of Carica papaya stem straw could be a potential source of natural remediates that would have great importance as therapeutic agents. Keywords: Medicinal plants, Carica papaya, Therapeutic agents and Natural remediates

STOCK MARKET DEVELOPMENT AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN NIGERIA: AN EMPIRICAL EXAMINATION (1985-2014)

Abstract This study examined the effect of stock market development o

Antimicrobial resistance and virulence characteristics of Vibrio vulnificus, Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Vibrio harveyi from natural disease outbreaks of marine/estuarine fishes

Vibrio vulnificus, Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Vibrio harveyi are the causative agents of the most severe diseases of marine and brackish aquaculture systems. These are also associated with serious ailments in humans. The present paper unravels the virulence features/genes and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) phenotypes/genes of these Vibrio spp. isolated from natural disease outbreaks of marine/estuarine fishes of India for the first time. Results on virulence features showed that V. vulnificus infected fish can pose public health risk. While, it has been found clinically that V. parahaemolyticus without tdh and trh genes are pathogenic to fish, even though they are reported to be, not associated with human diseases. It was significant to note that virulence features of V. harveyi were induced at increased salinity. Analysis based on the percentage prevalence of susceptible isolates and variation coefficient of zone diameters categorized 17 antibiotics in terms of their efficiency against each fish pathogenic species. Multiple antibiotic resistance index (MARi) of the isolates ranged between 0.058 and 0.47. Results on MARi and percentage of multidrug resistance strains indicated that >50% of the isolates were from low antibiotic usage area. The study generated tetH sequence from V. parahaemolyticus for the first time, and the sequence revealed high identity to that of clinical strains. Presence of tetB/ tetH gene was identified as the predictor for the resistance against the first generation tetracycline, the most commonly used antibiotic against Vibrio spp. in aquaculture practices. The data on associations between AMR features predicted certain cross-resistance between antimicrobials within Vibrio spp. Altogether, the paper serves as the baseline for epizootic tracking of public health significant vibrios from diseased fishes, to devise practical guidelines for antibiotic use and to formulate efficient control measures against three Vibrio spp. in aquaculture, targeting final applications in the implementation of national green and healthy aquaculture practices

Pathological investigations of Vibrio vulnificus infection in Genetically Improved Farmed Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus L.) cultured at a floating cage farm of India

An outbreak of skin ulcers with morbidity and mortality rate of 80% and 20% respectively, among Genetically Improved Farmed Tilapia (GIFT) sub-adults reared in a brackish water floating cage farm of Kochi, Kerala, India was reported. Bacterial isolation attempts from various internal organs (blood, kidney, liver, spleen and brain) of different diseased fish indicated a common bacterial etiology. Organisms were identified as Vibrio vulnificus based on conventional microbiological methods followed by molecular confirmation. Additionally, V. vulnificus marker specific for fish virulence was present in the isolates. Fish pathogenicity was confirmed by challenge tests. LD50 was calculated as 2.1 × 105.13 CFU/fish and 2.1 × 106.12 CFU/mL in injection and immersion route respectively. pilF polymorphism-based PCR and vvhA gene sequence indicated potential danger for humans. The strain was positive for siderophore, hemolysin, capsule, polar and lateral flagella. The strain could multiply rapidly in healthy fish serum. All these results indicated that the isolate could act as a primary pathogen for tilapia fish. Interestingly, serum survival ratio of the pathogen was significantly larger at higher temperatures (p ≤ .05); which may explain the increase in infective capacity of V. vulnificus at higher temperature. Multiple antibiotic resistance index of the strain was ≤0.2. In conclusion, the paper provides detailed descriptions of clinical signs, microscopic and macroscopic lesions of a natural disease outbreak among tilapia raised in brackish water cage farms of India. The concurrent attempts to identify and characterize the etiology fetches the basis for future development of effective control and preventive measures against V. vulnificus, the most infectious and lethal of all zoonotic vibrios

Pump it Up workshop report

Workshop held 28-29 September 2017, Cape Cod, MAA two-day workshop was conducted to trade ideas and brainstorm about how to advance our understanding of the ocean’s biological pump. The goal was to identify the most important scientific issues that are unresolved but might be addressed with new and future technological advances

All India Co-ordinated Research Project on Biological Control of Crop Pests

Not AvailableSurveys were undertaken to document the fauna of insects, spiders and entomopathogenic nematodesacross India despite the travel restrictions due to COVID-19. The expeditions undertaken yielded several species of natural enemies viz.,Chalcididae (66.32%), Eulophidae (19.94%), Pteromalidae (4.14%) and Encyrtidae (3.37%) of Hymenoptera and 14 species of trichogrammatids representing 7 genera. The predominant genera of hymenopteran insect parasitoids were identified as Dirhinus Dalman (30.47%) followed by Brachymeria Westwood (27.73%), Hockeria Walker (22.27%) and Antrocephalus Kirby (18.75%). Revisionary studies of the braconid parasitoid, Apanteles sp. ater-group including subgroup eublemmae of the genus (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) of the Oriental region was carried out with an illustrated key, in which a total of 97 species were recorded and illustrated. Three species of tachinid flies, Peribaea orbata on larva of Spodoptera litura, Halidaia luteicornis on larva of Parnara sp., Sturmiopsis inferens on larva of Sesamia inferens and Carcelia sp. from the larvae of Helicoverpa armigera (Noctuidae) were identified and described. The spider fauna of rice ecosystem was documented, where six species of long jawed orb weaver, Tetragnatha species have been described of which T. keyserlingi was the predominant species across the surveyed locations in Tamil Nadu. The species, Tetragnathanitens collected from Tamil Nadu and Telangana was the first report from India. The spitting spider, Scytodes fusca Walckenaer of family Scyotidae was redescribed with documentation of variations in the vulval pattern of the female and theory about the introduction of this Pantropical species to India.Not Availabl