Dynamic Potential Intensity: An improved representation of the ocean's impact on tropical cyclones

To incorporate the effects of tropical cyclone (TC)-induced upper ocean mixing and sea surface temperature (SST) cooling on TC intensification, a vertical average of temperature down to a fixed depth was proposed as a replacement for SST within the framework of air-sea coupled Potential Intensity (PI). However, the depth to which TC-induced mixing penetrates may vary substantially with ocean stratification and storm state. To account for these effects, here we develop a “Dynamic Potential Intensity” (DPI) based on considerations of stratified fluid turbulence. For the Argo period 2004–2013 and the three major TC basins of the Northern Hemisphere, we show that the DPI explains 11–32% of the variance in TC intensification, compared to 0–16% using previous methods. The improvement obtained using the DPI is particularly large in the eastern Pacific where the thermocline is shallow and ocean stratification effects are strong.United States. Department of Energy. Office of Science (part of the Regional and Global Climate Modeling Program)Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (base funds

Coronary arterial fistulas

ABSTRACT: A coronary arterial fistula is a connection between one or more of the coronary arteries and a cardiac chamber or great vessel. This is a rare defect and usually occurs in isolation. Its exact incidence is unknown. The majority of these fistulas are congenital in origin although they may occasionally be detected after cardiac surgery. They do not usually cause symptoms or complications in the first two decades, especially when small. After this age, the frequency of both symptoms and complications increases. Complications include 'steal' from the adjacent myocardium, thrombosis and embolism, cardiac failure, atrial fibrillation, rupture, endocarditis/endarteritis and arrhythmias. Thrombosis within the fistula is rare but may cause acute myocardial infarction, paroxysmal atrial fibrillation and ventricular arrhythmias. Spontaneous rupture of the aneurysmal fistula causing haemopericardium has also been reported. The main differential diagnosis is patent arterial duct, although other congenital arteriovenous shunts need to be excluded. Whilst two-dimensional echocardiography helps to differentiate between the different shunts, coronary angiography is the main diagnostic tool for the delineation of the anatomy. Surgery was the traditional method of treatment but nowadays catheter closure is recommended using a variety of closure devices, such as coils, or other devices. With the catheter technique, the results are excellent with infrequent complications. DISEASE NAME AND SYNONYMS: Coronary arterial fistulas Coronary arterial fistulas or malformation

Marine Dynamics and Productivity in the Bay of Bengal

The Bay of Bengal provides important ecosystem services to the Bangladesh delta. It is also subject to the consequences of climate change as monsoon atmospheric circulation and fresh water input from the major rivers are the dominating influences. Changes in marine circulation will affect patterns of biological production through alterations in the supply of nutrients to photosynthesising plankton. Productivity in the northern Bay will also be sensitive to changes in riverborne nutrients. In turn, these changes could influence potential fish catch. The Bay also affects the physical environment of Bangladesh: relative sea-level rise is expected to be in the range of 0.5–1.7 m by 2100, and changing climate could affect the development of tropical cyclones over the Bay

Self-organizing maps of typhoon tracks allow for flood forecasts up to two days in advance

[[abstract]]Typhoons are among the greatest natural hazards along East Asian coasts. Typhoon-related precipitation can produce flooding that is often only predictable a few hours in advance. Here, we present a machine-learning method comparing projected typhoon tracks with past trajectories, then using the information to predict flood hydrographs for a watershed on Taiwan. The hydrographs provide early warning of possible flooding prior to typhoon landfall, and then real-time updates of expected flooding along the typhoon’s path. The method associates different types of typhoon tracks with landscape topography and runoff data to estimate the water inflow into a reservoir, allowing prediction of flood hydrographs up to two days in advance with continual updates. Modelling involves identifying typhoon track vectors, clustering vectors using a self-organizing map, extracting flow characteristic curves, and predicting flood hydrographs. This machine learning approach can significantly improve existing flood warning systems and provide early warnings to reservoir management.[[notice]]補正完

Ethno-medico-botanical survey in the Malligainatham village, Kandarvakottai Taluk, Pudukottai district, Tamil Nadu

768-774The knowledge and usage of herbal medicine for the treatment of various ailments among the rural peoples is still a major part of their life and culture in Malligainatham village, Kandarvakottai taluk, Pudukottai district, Tamil Nadu. About 60 plant species were traditionally used against various diseases in human beings. The collected data showed majority of the remedies are taken orally. Most of the reported preparations are drawn from single plant and rare in mixture of plants. Generally, the people of the study area still have a strong belief in the efficacy and success of herbal medicine. The use of selected medicinal plants by the rural/local people is expected to open new avenues to scrutinize such a rich natural resource for further analysis in order to develop the potential of herbal medicine

Anomalous origin of left coronary artery from pulmonary artery - Duped by 2D; saved by color Doppler: Echocardiographic lesson from two cases

Echocardiography is an important first-line investigation for detection of anomalous origin of a coronary artery from the pulmonary artery (ALCAPA). We report two cases of ALCAPA that illustrate the importance of systematic performance of the echocardiogram, mindful of technical artifacts that may mislead the echocardiographer color Doppler imaging in diagnosis of this condition

Wavelet based spectral approach for solving surface coverage model in an electrochemical arsenic sensor - An operational matrix approach

Surface coverage parameter of an electrochemical sensor plays a vital role in enhancing the figure of merits of the sensor. Developing a theoretical model for the surface coverage will help to standardize the fabrication of working electrodes used in electrochemical sensors. In this background, a wavelet based spectral algorithm has been developed to model the surface coverage of an arsenic sensor. For the model, Michaelis-Menten constant of fluorine doped cadmium oxide (F-doped CdO) working electrode based arsenic sensor was used as the seed fount. Theoretical analysis for the estimation of surface coverage based on Michaelis-Menten constant with nonlinear reaction-diffusion equation is considered. In order to estimate the Michaelis-Menten constant and maximum current response, the measured current values are linearized with the help of Hanes-woolf plot. Using the Legendre wavelet spectral approach, the nonlinear reaction-diffusion equation is converted into a system of algebraic equations through operational matrix of derivatives. The surface coverage was determined using Legendre wavelets and this method can be determined the desired surface coverage for detecting arsenic in water of specific rang

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Not AvailableIt is often said that we are afraid of dreaming considering it as a fancy, hence avoidable. In fact dream we must, otherwise how else we shall think of going ahead, how shall we chalk out the best strategies and devise the implementation plan ? So, we went ahead with our dream which was to take the Academy – which has served National Agricultural Research System over more than three decades rather well and is recognized, to another level which it has not achieved and the path it had not walked. At the Academy, we are happy that it is happening already. We have been able to launch two One Year PG Diploma Courses, one on Information Technology Management and the other on Intellectual Property & Technology Management. We believe that both these courses will be well taken by the prospective employers. Actually more than these courses, the new path has given our Academy a definite launch pad for bigger things to come in future. One of these is the launch of a Two Year PG Diploma in Management (Agriculture) Course in July this year. I am sure this will instill a great amount of self confidence in our faculty which is already known for its multi-tasking skills. Prior to commencement of these courses, a number of brainstorming were organized for eliciting valuable advice and suggestions from the best experts drawn from reputed institutions / organizations in public and private sector regarding curriculum design, internship etc. Two FOCARS – the flagship course of the Academy were organized and another initiated. This was done to pump in as many bright young scientists into our system as early as possible. Other training courses, both on and off – Campus programmes, were organized by the Academy and its partnering institutions like IIM, Lucknow; MANAGE, Hyderabad and NIRD, Hyderabad especially under L&CB Sub-Project of NAIP. The demand for our off-Campus programmes is large, but as we wish to do them, due to our limited human resource, we could do only few, fully realizing their potential to benefit a large number of participants who all cannot be trained at the Campus. The Academy has six NAIP Sub-Projects in Consortia mode – two as Leader and four as Partner. I must thank NAIP for its considerable financial assistance for these sub-projects which will go a long way in sharpening our training skill, strengthen our research capabilities and further improve already good infrastructure. In order to develop higher capabilities in teaching, training and research, a number of our faculty were sent for varying periods to USA, especially Cornell University and IFPRI which gave them very valuable exposure, contact with the leading exports, learning resources and also identifying Guest faculty for our courses. This effort has been very useful. More of our faculty will visit USA in next financial year. The approval of XI Plan SFC was a watershed for us as it allowed us to initiate teaching course, proceed with our long cherished desire to have a Deemed-to be- University status for NAARM. The relentless quest for excellence and moving ahead with the times It is often said that we are afraid of dreaming considering it as a fancy, hence avoidable. In fact dream we must, otherwise how else we shall think of going ahead, how shall we chalk out the best strategies and devise the implementation plan ? So, we went ahead with our dream which was to take the Academy – which has served National Agricultural Research System over more than three decades rather well and is recognized, to another level which it has not achieved and the path it had not walked. At the Academy, we are happy that it is happening already. We have been able to launch two One Year PG Diploma Courses, one on Information Technology Management and the other on Intellectual Property & Technology Management. We believe that both these courses will be well taken by the prospective employers. Actually more than these courses, the new path has given our Academy a definite launch pad for bigger things to come in future. One of these is the launch of a Two Year PG Diploma in Management (Agriculture) Course in July this year. I am sure this will instill a great amount of self confidence in our faculty which is already known for its multi-tasking skills. Prior to commencement of these courses, a number of brainstorming were organized for eliciting valuable advice and suggestions from the best experts drawn from reputed institutions / organizations in public and private sector regarding curriculum design, internship etc. Two FOCARS – the flagship course of the Academy were organized and another initiated. This was done to pump in as many bright young scientists into our system as early as possible. Other training courses, both on and off – Campus programmes, were organized by the Academy and its partnering institutions like IIM, Lucknow; MANAGE, Hyderabad and NIRD, Hyderabad especially under L&CB Sub-Project of NAIP. The demand for our off-Campus programmes is large, but as we wish to do them, due to our limited human resource, we could do only few, fully realizing their potential to benefit a large number of participants who all cannot be trained at the Campus. The Academy has six NAIP Sub-Projects in Consortia mode – two as Leader and four as Partner. I must thank NAIP for its considerable financial assistance for these sub-projects which will go a long way in sharpening our training skill, strengthen our research capabilities and further improve already good infrastructure. In order to develop higher capabilities in teaching, training and research, a number of our faculty were sent for varying periods to USA, especially Cornell University and IFPRI which gave them very valuable exposure, contact with the leading exports, learning resources and also identifying Guest faculty for our courses. This effort has been very useful. More of our faculty will visit USA in next financial year. The approval of XI Plan SFC was a watershed for us as it allowed us to initiate teaching course, proceed with our long cherished desire to have a Deemed-to be- University status for NAARM. The relentless quest for excellence and moving ahead with the times has kept fire in our stomachs burning which I am happy to share. In this Plan , a big boost to our infrastructure is envisaged like PG and Sports Complexes which were badly needed. All necessary work has been undertaken and we hope to lay their Foundation Stones also in July. A Language Lab is under final stages of establishment, it is hoped to provide a valuable support for training in communication and virtually in developing skills in foreign languages. Besides the training programmes, a number of researches are being conducted here. One such important project is on the rating of AUs – a project which if receives sufficient support from Aus, will come out with scientifically tested parameters which will be immensely helpful in attracting top students both from India and abroad and boost our export of education which we need to do more and more, besides of course getting better resources and funding from donor agencies. Another project which is assessing manpower requirement in agriculture , which is expected to provided valuable information which may become a basis for manpower planning in ICAR institutes and AUs. Other research projects are also expected to provide valuable information on agricultural research management .Not Availabl

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Not AvailableWhile presenting the Annual Report 2007-08, I feel extremely happy as it gives us the opportunity to give the account for entire year’s accomplishments in training, research, consultancy and policy support. It also gives us occasion to see where we stood last year and what efforts would be needed to achieve ever more. The last year was, in real sense, a watershed period when the Academy started making earnest efforts to do some out of box thinking which was given spurt by the Academy’s Quinquennial Review Team (QRT). As we gained confidence in our own capabilities, we thought it would be worth making the paradigm shift from a training institution since last more than three decades to a global learning institution with an aim to produce global thought leaders. But our quest for excellence in capacity building programmes for individuals and institutions of India National Agricultural Research System ( NARS )and others will go unabated. So, it has been a truly exciting period for all of us at the Academy. Our Vision-2025 and XI Plan SFC documents were prepared after much deliberation and reflect our aspirations for the future. The Academy was entrusted with the responsibility of Consortium Leader of NAIP sub-project in ‘Learning and Capacity Building’ in partnership with Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow; National Institute of Rural Development, Hyderabad and National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management, Hyderabad as Consortium Partners. A number of programmes were organized, mainly by the Academy but also by the partnering institutions. The Academy is also a partner in three NAIP Consortia led by ICRISAT, Hyderabad; NCAP, New Delhi and NBPGR, New Delhi. A Help Desk was created at the Academy for providing support to prospective institutions in preparing their concept notes and full proposals of approved concept notes and their on-line submission and through a number of workshops with proposed Lead institutions and their partners under Components 2 and 3 of NAIP. Our support to PIU of NAIP has been strong and well recognized. On the training front, three FOCARS courses – the flagship programme of the Academy, were organized, one of the batches was quite large. There have been some innovations in the FET Programme for the FOCARS trainees, for instance we tried theme based FET this time, the theme being GI. Other programmes included EDPs, MDPs, Summer and Winter Schools in which research managers and different levels of scientists and teachers participated. Besides our regular client institutions under NARS, we also had participants from other organizations as well. The Council has been laying much emphasis on sensitization about the IP and technology management issues. First training-cum-workshop on this theme was organized at the Academy which dealt with important issues. The Academy also organized a number of off-Campus programmes for the benefit of larger number of scientists, teachers, technical and administrative staff of SAUs and ICAR institutes who otherwise could not come to NAARM at a time in such number. These courses have been well appreciated. Besides our national level programmes, international programmes for foreign nationals were also organized. An Expert Consultation on Agricultural Research Networks and Consortia in Asia-Pacific – a joint ICAR-ICRISAT-APAARI programme organized at the Academy had the participation of delegates from a large number of countries of the Region. Besides providing logistics for the Meet, we saw it as an opportunity to showcase the Academy to the participating countries / institutions with whom there could be future collaborations. The ICAR South Zone Sports Tournament, organized by the Academy had a record number of participants from 21 institutes. The redeeming feature of this Tournament was that NAARM bagged the Overall Team Championship, Best Woman All Rounder and Best Woman Athlete, Second Best Man All Rounder Awards and the Champions’ Trophy. All the officials including our FOCARS Probationers, who brought laurels to the Academy, deserve my highest praise.Not Availabl