Design of an Integrated Cotton Picking System for Small-Scale Indian Agriculture

India, the world's largest producer of cotton, contains more than 4 million cotton farms that are less than 5 acres. These farms are incapable of large-scale mechanization due to small farm size and irregular farm shape. A previous team developed a handheld, roller-based picking device that demonstrated increased performance over similar products. However, a significant improvement in productivity requires increasing picking speed through mechanization as well as increasing worker cotton carrying capacity. We present a system that utilizes the roller-based picking device in tandem with a compressive storage bag and an efficient carrier. Through modeling and initial testing, the system demonstrates a two times (2X) improvement in worker productivity over current methods. This paper characterizes the cotton picking process, details the modules of the integrated system, and suggests further procedural improvements for greater increases in worker productivity

Neumotórax espontáneo idiopático secundario a neumotórax catamenial no asociado a endometriosis: reporte de caso

El neumotórax espontáneo idiopático constituye una causa poco frecuente de neumotórax, si se le atribuyen causas no pulmonares como el neumotórax catamenial y/o neumotórax catamenial no asociado a endometriosis, esta condición se hace aún más rara. El abordaje terapéutico está en estrecha relación al control de las complicaciones generadas por el neumotórax. Se presenta a continuación el caso de una paciente femenina de 34 años, quien debuta con su primer episodio de neumotórax espontáneo, el cual se presume a características catameniales por la coincidencia con el ciclo menstrual de la misma

Neumotórax espontáneo idiopático secundario a neumotórax catamenial no asociado a endometriosis: reporte de caso

Idiopathic spontaneous pneumothorax is a rare cause of pneumothorax, if non-pulmonary causes such as catamenial pneumothorax and/or catamenial pneumothorax not associated with endometriosis are attributed to it, this condition becomes even rarer. The therapeutic approach is closely related to the control of the complications generated by the pneumothorax. The following is the case of a 34-year-old female patient, who debuts with her first episode of spontaneous pneumothorax, which is presumed to have catamenial characteristics due to the coincidence with her menstrual cycle.El neumotórax espontáneo idiopático constituye una causa poco frecuente de neumotórax, si se le atribuyen causas no pulmonares como el neumotórax catamenial y/o neumotórax catamenial no asociado a endometriosis, esta condición se hace aún más rara. El abordaje terapéutico está en estrecha relación al control de las complicaciones generadas por el neumotórax. Se presenta a continuación el caso de una paciente femenina de 34 años, quien debuta con su primer episodio de neumotórax espontáneo, el cual se presume a características catameniales por la coincidencia con el ciclo menstrual de la misma

The Sensitivity of HAWC to High-Mass Dark Matter Annihilations

The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory is a wide field-of-view detector sensitive to gamma rays of 100 GeV to a few hundred TeV. Located in central Mexico at 19 degrees North latitude and 4100 m above sea level, HAWC will observe gamma rays and cosmic rays with an array of water Cherenkov detectors. The full HAWC array is scheduled to be operational in Spring 2015. In this paper, we study the HAWC sensitivity to the gamma-ray signatures of high-mass (multi- TeV) dark matter annihilation. The HAWC observatory will be sensitive to diverse searches for dark matter annihilation, including annihilation from extended dark matter sources, the diffuse gamma-ray emission from dark matter annihilation, and gamma-ray emission from non-luminous dark matter subhalos. Here we consider the HAWC sensitivity to a subset of these sources, including dwarf galaxies, the M31 galaxy, the Virgo cluster, and the Galactic center. We simulate the HAWC response to gamma rays from these sources in several well-motivated dark matter annihilation channels. If no gamma-ray excess is observed, we show the limits HAWC can place on the dark matter cross-section from these sources. In particular, in the case of dark matter annihilation into gauge bosons, HAWC will be able to detect a narrow range of dark matter masses to cross-sections below thermal. HAWC should also be sensitive to non-thermal cross-sections for masses up to nearly 1000 TeV. The constraints placed by HAWC on the dark matter cross-section from known sources should be competitive with current limits in the mass range where HAWC has similar sensitivity. HAWC can additionally explore higher dark matter masses than are currently constrained.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, version to be published in PR

VAMOS: a Pathfinder for the HAWC Gamma-Ray Observatory

VAMOS was a prototype detector built in 2011 at an altitude of 4100m a.s.l. in the state of Puebla, Mexico. The aim of VAMOS was to finalize the design, construction techniques and data acquisition system of the HAWC observatory. HAWC is an air-shower array currently under construction at the same site of VAMOS with the purpose to study the TeV sky. The VAMOS setup included six water Cherenkov detectors and two different data acquisition systems. It was in operation between October 2011 and May 2012 with an average live time of 30%. Besides the scientific verification purposes, the eight months of data were used to obtain the results presented in this paper: the detector response to the Forbush decrease of March 2012, and the analysis of possible emission, at energies above 30 GeV, for long gamma-ray bursts GRB111016B and GRB120328B.Comment: Accepted for pubblication in Astroparticle Physics Journal (20 pages, 10 figures). Corresponding authors: A.Marinelli and D.Zaboro

Sensitization of cervix cancer cells to Adriamycin by Pentoxifylline induces an increase in apoptosis and decrease senescence

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Chemotherapeutic drugs like Adriamycin (ADR) induces apoptosis or senescence in cancer cells but these cells often develop resistance and generate responses of short duration or complete failure. The methylxantine drug Pentoxifylline (PTX) used routinely in the clinics setting for circulatory diseases has been recently described to have antitumor properties. We evaluated whether pretreatment with PTX modifies apoptosis and senescence induced by ADR in cervix cancer cells.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>HeLa (HPV 18+), SiHa (HPV 16+) cervix cancer cells and non-tumorigenic immortalized HaCaT cells (control) were treated with PTX, ADR or PTX + ADR. The cellular toxicity of PTX and survival fraction were determinated by WST-1 and clonogenic assay respectively. Apoptosis, caspase activation and ADR efflux rate were measured by flow cytometry, senescence by microscopy. IκBα and DNA fragmentation were determinated by ELISA. Proapoptotic, antiapoptotic and senescence genes, as well as HPV-E6/E7 mRNA expression, were detected by time real RT-PCR. p53 protein levels were assayed by Western blot.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>PTX is toxic (WST-1), affects survival (clonogenic assay) and induces apoptosis in cervix cancer cells. Additionally, the combination of this drug with ADR diminished the survival fraction and significantly increased apoptosis of HeLa and SiHa cervix cancer cells. Treatments were less effective in HaCaT cells. We found caspase participation in the induction of apoptosis by PTX, ADR or its combination. Surprisingly, in spite of the antitumor activity displayed by PTX, our results indicate that methylxantine, <it>per se </it>does not induce senescence; however it inhibits senescence induced by ADR and at the same time increases apoptosis. PTX elevates IκBα levels. Such sensitization is achieved through the up-regulation of proapoptotic factors such as <it>caspase </it>and <it>bcl </it>family gene expression. PTX and PTX + ADR also decrease E6 and E7 expression in SiHa cells, but not in HeLa cells. p53 was detected only in SiHa cells treated with ADR.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>PTX is a good inducer of apoptosis but does not induce senescence. Furthermore, PTX reduced the ADR-induced senescence and increased apoptosis in cervix cancer cells.</p