A REVIEW OF DIABETES RISK AND SLEEP DURATION: TRENDS IN THE POPULATION AND POTENTIAL MECHANISMS.

Sleep plays a critical role in controlling a variety of metabolic-related physiological processes. As a result, there is strong evidence to support the link between sleep patterns and the risk of diabetes. The risk of diabetes has specifically been linked to inadequate sleep duration and/or sleep restriction in the lab, poor sleep quality, and sleep disorders such as insomnia and sleep apnea. Epidemiological and laboratory studies are included in this study. Diabetes and obesity are both predisposed to behavioral risk factors like increased food intake, impaired judgment, and a higher likelihood of other behavioral risk factors like smoking, sedentary behavior, and alcohol use as well as physiological risk factors like insulin resistance, decreased leptin, increased ghrelin, and inflammation. Obesity is also a significant diabetes risk factor. The evidence relating sleep to diabetes risk is discussed in this review at both the population and laboratory levels

Cooperative collision avoidance control and coordination for multiagent Lagrangian systems with disturbances

Multi-agent systems like a network of autonomous robots, have tremendous potential in many military and civilian applications. But, even viewed as a pure academic problem, designing controllers for such complex systems is a matter of much interest. Controller design for multi-agent system might focus on achieving several objectives, such as formation control, coverage control, consensus, target capture, pursuit evasion etc., while all at the same time aiming to be optimal in some sense, or following certain constraints imposed by the environment or communication limitations. Whatever is the objective, we always want to have a safety guarantee for the agents; the agents should avoid collisions with themselves and any static obstacles, while performing an objective. This thesis studies one such controller, which guarantees collision avoidance among the agents, in presence of bounded disturbances, while the agents carry out a coordination objective. The agents are assumed to follow a Lagrangian dynamics. The collision avoidance controller takes up the second part of the thesis. In the first part of this thesis, a particular Lagrangian system, the Raven II surgical robot, is studied in with the aim of highlighting the process of modelling and identifying such system. This is done for two reasons. One because Lagrangian dynamics is commonly used to model the agents in a multi-agent system. And second reason that motivates the modelling Raven II in part I, is to aid in future research direction pertaining to the control of Raven II

Business Research in the VUCA World

The purpose of this issue is to invite articles on the VUCA theme (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity), relevant to various crises. For example, the COVID-19 health crisis across the globe has affected many occupations leaving a double folded impact. VUCA is an opportunity for a few business organizations to realize their worthiness and an opportunity to revive their strategies to sustain themselves. VUCA is also an opportunity for business leaders to examine their abilities and leadership skills. Unpredictable environments give rise to more opportunities. Leadership skills can be mastered in the VUCA environment, as managers get ready to restructure and rethink the way of conducting business. This issue has accepted six articles from various fields of studies, which include Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Human Resource Management, Marketing, Consumer Behaviour, and Services Marketing. All the articles underwent a sequence of the review process and then were finalized for publication. This issue is rich in new ideas and gives opportunities for readers to access new information. All the articles have also contributed to a larger social impact, contributing to various stakeholders

Development Projects and Project-Affected Peoples: The Need to Advance Sustainable Development by Establishing an International Development Institutions Inspection Panel to Redress Grievances

Indigenous and tribal communities are frequently affected by development projects in an adverse manner. Often they do not have any effective way of redressing their grievances, particularly against noncompliance of environmental guidelines and rules by International Development Institutions. This thesis explores avenues open to affected peoples to redress their grievances regarding the negative impacts of development projects. The thesis begins by defining Project Affected Peoples, explores the concept of sustainable development, and suggests consequent principles for development projects. Then follows an examination of an existing grievance-redressal mechanism, the World Bank Inspection Panel, which has been mandated to redress complaints from peoples affected by Bank projects. Within this context, the reasons for the formation of the Panel and the Bank\u27s Operational Directives, Policies and Procedures are examined. An assessment of the effectiveness of the Panel\u27s decisions and the degree of the Panel\u27s independence from the Bank management is made. A number of suggestions that could strengthen the Panel\u27s functioning are listed. This thesis argues that the jurisdiction of the World Bank Inspection Panel might be expanded to encompass other International Development Institutions. These might include those that were identified as members of the Committee of International Development Institutions on the Environment formed in 1980 as one outcome of the 1972 Stockholm Declaration

A Software Controlled Polarization and Pattern Reconfigurable Microstrip Parasitic Array Antenna for a Market Mediated Software Defined Communications System

Software Defined Radio (SDR) provides a platform for a reconfigurable communication system that is solely controlled by a software program with access to certain hardware modules. SDRs are typically connected to very minimalistic, and often, manually controlled reconfigurable antenna(s) with no software control over radiation parameters. Hence, on a wave propagation front, the radiator does not capitalize on the software infrastructure it is connected to. This thesis presents a software controlled pattern and polarization reconfigurable microstrip patch antenna, with reconfigurable parasitic elements, for reconfigurable wireless networks and applications. The antenna is designed to operate from 2.4 GHz to 2.5 GHz, covering all channels (channels 1 through 14) of the 2.4 GHz ISM band. This broadband behavior is achieved with a two-layer stacked annular ring patch antenna, separated by a layer of foam. This antenna is dual probe-fed to achieve vertical and horizontal linear polarizations as well as right-hand and left-hand circular polarizations. Pattern reconfiguration is achieved with a third layer composed of microstrip patch elements acting as parasitic radiators, either reflecting or directing a beam in a direction, which are controlled by RF PIN diodes. Elements are placed such that pattern reconfiguration is possible across all polarization modes. Various iterations of the design process are discussed along with their issues and solutions. Other reconfiguration techniques are also suggested as part of future work

LEAKING AGENT DETECTION AND EMAIL FILTERING

Leaking of confidential data to an unauthorized agent is a major concern for an organization. In this article we seek to detect the trusted node that leaks the confidential data to an unauthorized agent. Traditionally, leakage of data is handled by water marking technique which requires data modification. If the watermarked copy is found at some unauthorized site then distributor can claim his ownership. But one of the issues with watermarking method is data modification. To overcome the disadvantages of using watermark, data allocation strategies are used to improve the probability of identifying guilty third parties. The idea is to distribute the data intelligently to agents based on sample data request and explicit data request in order to improve the chance of detecting the guilty agents. Modern business activities also rely on extensive email exchange. Email leakages have become widespread, and the severe damage caused by such leakages constitutes a disturbing problem for organizations. Hence, filtering of E-mails is also necessary. This can be done by blocking E-mails which contains images, videos or sensitive data and filtering the text file of an organization

Melioidosis: a multiple disease imposter

Melioidosis, an endemic disease in South East Asia and Australia is emerging a potential infectious threat off late in India. Though not highly infectious it can be extremely fatal. It has various manifestations which can mimic a wide array of disease including tuberculosis, malignancy, etc., Though not an untreatable disease it can certainly worsen with treatment. An interesting fact is that the fast deteriorating and fatality has made Burkholderia pseudomaleii, the causative organism qualified for biological warfare

To Evaluate the effect of Ashwatha on Mutrakrichhra w.s.r. to E.coli

In Ayurvedic classics E.Coli infection is not mentioned, but Krimis and Mutrakrichhra are mentioned. Most of the symptoms of Mutrakrichhra are similar with Escherichia coli infection. Escherichia coli is the major cause of urinary tract infections. The disease Mutrakrichhra has been described by almost all Acharyas. UTI is a major problem in society which causes Mutravaha Srotas Vikriti. Modern medical science physicians are facing problem in the treatment of E.coli. Infection, due to its relapse and synthetic antibiotic hazards. Due to this reason present study was planned to evaluate the efficacy of Ashawath which have been used by ancient Acharyas in Mutravaha Srotas Vikriti. In view of above fact the present trial has been undertaken to understand the effect of Ashawatha having antibacterial and diuretic properties. The present research work has been carried out with a view to provide a scientific basis for the claims made in various Ayurvedic texts regarding the effect of Shigru Ashwatha Ghana on Mutrakrichhra (UTI)

Registration of Airborne Infrared Images using Platform Attitude Information

In current warfare scenario stealth and passive threat detection capabilities are considered as prime requirements to accomplish desired mission by the fighter aircrafts. To improve the stealth of an aircraft, the trend is towards detecting threats with the help of passive sensors (Electro Optic or Infrared). Current situation caters for systems like Infra-red Search and Track (IRST) and Passive Missile Warning Systems (PMWS). IRST system is a passive target detection system, used for detecting aerial & ground targets. PMWS is a threat detection system used for detecting missiles approaching towards aircraft. Both of these systems detect targets of interest by processing IR images acquired in mid-IR region. The prime challenge in IRST system or PMWS is detecting a moving target of size typically 1~2 pixels in acquired image sequences. The temporal change caused by moving target in consecutive frames can be considered as one important factor to detect them. The temporal change caused by moving target is identified through absolute frame differencing of successive frames. This principle has limitation in application to IRST & PMWS as the imaging sensor with the aircraft is moving. This motion also imparts temporal change in the acquired images. In this paper authors are proposing a method for removing the temporal change caused by the platform motion in two consequently acquired frames using registration process.  The proposed method uses the platform attitude information at frame sampling times. Authors have analyzed the sensitivity of registration process to noisy platform attitude information.Defence Science Journal, 2014, 64(2), pp. 130-135. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/dsj.64.546