Mobile GIS for construction quality managers and surveyors

In any mega construction project, quality survey managers play a vital role in judging quality of work done by different contractors and sub-contractors. Usually a quality survey manager uses a hard copy form to records the survey information and for reporting to the client. Typically, this entire process takes a week’s time or even more, there is no workflow in place for recording information and analyzing trends in irregularity by the quality managers. The requirement to capture and report quality survey observations in real time evoked a need to research on mechanism for recording the observations using smart phone and existing GIS infrastructure without any development on smart phone and mobile devices. An integrated solution using an editable ArcGIS Server feature service and ArcGIS online web maps was developed in order to perform the quality survey. The paper describes the mobile GIS solution for construction projects. The solution allows recording observations in a real time environment through a user-friendly interface and workflow driven process. It also allows users to capture the picture and attach it to an editable feature service. The client can view this information in real time using ArcGIS online or in the enterprise geodatabase. The use of the Esri online ensures restrictions on accessibility of the content and takes advantage over other application because no programming or development is required. In addition, the information is stored in Oracle database and used for analysis in future, based on the changing reporting requirements. The developed solution saved on time, money and is easy to use and deploy

Invigorating Libraries with Application of Artificial Intelligence

“Survival of the Fittest” as quoted by Charles Darwin fits and suits in all walks of life. As on date, big debate is on regarding the existence and survival of libraries. Libraries need to adopt emerging tools and technologies to provide best services to the users on time with precision. Artificial intelligence has placed itself everywhere in everyday life. This paper is an attempt to expedite AI applications in libraries, not only for providing services to the existing users but also finding innovative ways to attract new users. The paper discusses AI, basic requisites, its applications in libraries, and barriers in its implementations. The paper concludes that AI is the need of today for libraries

Invigorating Libraries with Application of Artificial Intelligence

“Survival of the Fittest” as quoted by Charles Darwin fits and suits in all walks of life. As on date, big debate is on regarding the existence and survival of libraries. Libraries need to adopt emerging tools and technologies to provide best services to the users on time with precision. Artificial intelligence has placed itself everywhere in everyday life. This paper is an attempt to expedite AI applications in libraries, not only for providing services to the existing users but also finding innovative ways to attract new users. The paper discusses AI, basic requisites, its applications in libraries, and barriers in its implementations. The paper concludes that AI is the need of today for libraries

Air Quality Prediction - A Study Using Neural Network Based Approach

India is the 7th largest country by area and 2nd most populated country in the world. The reports prepared by IQAir revels that India is 3rd most polluted country after Bangladesh and Pakistan, on the basis of fine particulates (PM2.5) concentration for the year 2020. In this article, the quality of air in six Indian cities is predicted using data-driven Artificial Neural Network. The data was taken from the 'Kaggle' online source. For six Indian cities, 6139 data sets for ten contaminants (PM2.5, PM10, NO, NO2, NH3, CO, SO2, O3, C6H6 and C7H8) were chosen. The datasets were collected throughout the last five years, from 2016 to 2020, and were used to develop the predictive model. Two machine learning model are proposing in this study namely Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Gaussian Process Regression (GPR) The R-value of ANN and GPR models are 0.9611 and 0.9843 sequentially. The other performance indices such as RMSE, MAPE, MAE of the GPR model are 21.4079, 7.8945% and 13.5884, respectively. The developed model is quite useful to update citizens about the predicted air quality of the urban spaces and protect them from getting affected by the poor ambient air quality. It can also be used to find the proper abatement strategies as well as operational measures

Meiotic Recombination Hotspots of Fission Yeast Are Directed to Loci that Express Non-Coding RNA

Polyadenylated, mRNA-like transcripts with no coding potential are abundant in eukaryotes, but the functions of these long non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are enigmatic. In meiosis, Rec12 (Spo11) catalyzes the formation of dsDNA breaks (DSBs) that initiate homologous recombination. Most meiotic recombination is positioned at hotspots, but knowledge of the mechanisms is nebulous. In the fission yeast genome DSBs are located within 194 prominent peaks separated on average by 65-kbp intervals of DNA that are largely free of DSBs.). Furthermore, we tested and rejected the hypothesis that the ncRNA loci and DSB peaks localize preferentially, but independently, to a third entity on the chromosomes.Meiotic DSB hotspots are directed to loci that express polyadenylated ncRNAs. This reveals an unexpected, possibly unitary mechanism for what directs meiotic recombination to hotspots. It also reveals a likely biological function for enigmatic ncRNAs. We propose specific mechanisms by which ncRNA molecules, or some aspect of RNA metabolism associated with ncRNA loci, help to position recombination protein complexes at DSB hotspots within chromosomes

Genome-Wide Analysis of Heteroduplex DNA in Mismatch Repair–Deficient Yeast Cells Reveals Novel Properties of Meiotic Recombination Pathways

Meiotic DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) initiate crossover (CO) recombination, which is necessary for accurate chromosome segregation, but DSBs may also repair as non-crossovers (NCOs). Multiple recombination pathways with specific intermediates are expected to lead to COs and NCOs. We revisited the mechanisms of meiotic DSB repair and the regulation of CO formation, by conducting a genome-wide analysis of strand-transfer intermediates associated with recombination events. We performed this analysis in a SK1 × S288C Saccharomyces cerevisiae hybrid lacking the mismatch repair (MMR) protein Msh2, to allow efficient detection of heteroduplex DNAs (hDNAs). First, we observed that the anti-recombinogenic activity of MMR is responsible for a 20% drop in CO number, suggesting that in MMR–proficient cells some DSBs are repaired using the sister chromatid as a template when polymorphisms are present. Second, we observed that a large fraction of NCOs were associated with trans–hDNA tracts constrained to a single chromatid. This unexpected finding is compatible with dissolution of double Holliday junctions (dHJs) during repair, and it suggests the existence of a novel control point for CO formation at the level of the dHJ intermediate, in addition to the previously described control point before the dHJ formation step. Finally, we observed that COs are associated with complex hDNA patterns, confirming that the canonical double-strand break repair model is not sufficient to explain the formation of most COs. We propose that multiple factors contribute to the complexity of recombination intermediates. These factors include repair of nicks and double-stranded gaps, template switches between non-sister and sister chromatids, and HJ branch migration. Finally, the good correlation between the strand transfer properties observed in the absence of and in the presence of Msh2 suggests that the intermediates detected in the absence of Msh2 reflect normal intermediates

Omecamtiv mecarbil in chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, GALACTIC‐HF: baseline characteristics and comparison with contemporary clinical trials

Aims: The safety and efficacy of the novel selective cardiac myosin activator, omecamtiv mecarbil, in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) is tested in the Global Approach to Lowering Adverse Cardiac outcomes Through Improving Contractility in Heart Failure (GALACTIC‐HF) trial. Here we describe the baseline characteristics of participants in GALACTIC‐HF and how these compare with other contemporary trials. Methods and Results: Adults with established HFrEF, New York Heart Association functional class (NYHA) ≥ II, EF ≤35%, elevated natriuretic peptides and either current hospitalization for HF or history of hospitalization/ emergency department visit for HF within a year were randomized to either placebo or omecamtiv mecarbil (pharmacokinetic‐guided dosing: 25, 37.5 or 50 mg bid). 8256 patients [male (79%), non‐white (22%), mean age 65 years] were enrolled with a mean EF 27%, ischemic etiology in 54%, NYHA II 53% and III/IV 47%, and median NT‐proBNP 1971 pg/mL. HF therapies at baseline were among the most effectively employed in contemporary HF trials. GALACTIC‐HF randomized patients representative of recent HF registries and trials with substantial numbers of patients also having characteristics understudied in previous trials including more from North America (n = 1386), enrolled as inpatients (n = 2084), systolic blood pressure < 100 mmHg (n = 1127), estimated glomerular filtration rate < 30 mL/min/1.73 m2 (n = 528), and treated with sacubitril‐valsartan at baseline (n = 1594). Conclusions: GALACTIC‐HF enrolled a well‐treated, high‐risk population from both inpatient and outpatient settings, which will provide a definitive evaluation of the efficacy and safety of this novel therapy, as well as informing its potential future implementation

Interrogation of superior vena cava by deep transgastric transesophageal echocardiography imaging: Clinical applications

The advantages of intraoperative deep transgastric interrogation by transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) of the superior vena cava (SVC) in comparison to the standard bicaval view was studied in pediatric cardiac surgical cases. The view was found to be helpful in obtaining additional data in pediatric cardiac surgical patients

Giant Occipitocervical Encephalocele

Encephaloceles are cranial defects in which sac contains herniating brain, which is often gliotic. Congenitally, this defect may extend into posterior elements of cervical vertebrae and leads to occipitocervical encephalocele. When the size of this sac is larger than head size, they are termed as giant. Very young age and associated congenital anomalies in these patients pose significant challenges in diagnostic, anesthetic, and surgical techniques. We share a case of giant occipitocervical encephalocele managed at our institute and discuss about its management issues with review of literature