Studies on the Energy Mobilizing Hormones in Insects.

Chemical factors controlling the energy mobilization in three species of insects were identified, partially characterized and their role in the process of energy mobilization were studied. High performance liquid chromatographic fractions were isolated from methanolic extracts of the corpora cardiaca (CC) from the honeybee Apis mellifera, the paper wasp Polistes exclamans and the house cricket Acheta domesticus. Each species had a single active fraction that was able to elevate the lipid titer in Acheta. Pyroglutamate aminopeptidase digestion of isolated active fractions indicated that these molecules are all peptides with a terminal pyroglutamate. Methanolic extracts of CC from Apis, Polistes and Acheta elevated the total blood sugar titer in Periplaneta americana and the blood lipid titer in Locusta migratoria. Injections of native CC extracts resulted in an elevation of the trehalose titer in Polistes and an increase in the glucose titer in Apis. The adipokinetic neuropeptide from the CC of Acheta was sequenced and found to be identical to a previously described peptide Gryllus bimaculatus adipokinetic hormone (Grb-AKH). The Grb-AKH content in the CC did not change in the larval or adult stage, but its hyperlipemic effect greatly varied depending on the age of Acheta. Diel rhythms in the Grb-AKH content in the CC, fat body response, and the blood lipid and sugar levels of Acheta were described. There were two distinct peaks of total blood lipid concentration and of fat body response to Grb-AKH in Acheta. AKH increased the rate of fat body lipid secretion, and decreased the rate of fat body lipid synthesis in crickets. An inhibitory effect of Grb-AKH on the fat body protein synthesis in male crickets and on the protein uptake by the ovary in female crickets was also observed. The presence of a heat-labile factor in the mid-gut with a hypolipemic and hypotrehalosemic effect in Acheta was also demonstrated. This factor is probably an insulin-like molecule

Time dependent deformation behaviour of mulberry and tasar silk

Time dependent deformation has been observed for mulberry(Bombyx mori) and tasar (Antheraea mylitta) silk. In totalextension, the creep component for mulberry is found 5.5% andthat of tasar is 5%. Instantaneous extension and secondary creep isfound 5% and 7.5% for mulberry and 22.5% and 19% of tasarrespectively. Such a difference is ascribed to the intrinsic propertyof filament fineness and related structure of mulberry and tasar

Effect of drying on tensile properties and structure of tasar and muga silk

Tasar and muga silk yarns have been dried at 80ºC, 100ºC and 140ºC and the effect of temperature on tensile and structural properties is investigated. No significant effect of drying on tenacity of tasar and muga silk yarn is observed. However, elongation decreases with drying due to increase in moisture loss with temperature. Crystallinity has no effect even when dried up to 140˚C. Scanning electron micrograph study reveals that there is no significant change in surface structure with different temperature of drying

Time dependent deformation behaviour of mulberry and tasar silk

497-499Time dependent deformation has been observed for mulberry (Bombyx mori) and tasar (Antheraea mylitta) silk. In total extension, the creep component for mulberry is found 5.5% and that of tasar is 5%. Instantaneous extension and secondary creep is found 5% and 7.5% for mulberry and 22.5% and 19% of tasar respectively. Such a difference is ascribed to the intrinsic property of filament fineness and related structure of mulberry and tasar

Integrity constraints in deductive databases

A deductive database is a logic program that generalises the concept of a relational database. Integrity constraints are properties that the data of a database are required to satisfy and in the context of logic programming, they are expressed as closed formulae. It is desirable to check the integrity of a database at the end of each transaction which changes the database. The simplest approach to checking integrity in a database involves the evaluation of each constraint whenever the database is updated. However, such an approach is too inefficient, especially for large databases, and does not make use of the fact that the database satisfies the constraints prior to the update. A method, called the path finding method, is proposed for checking integrity in definite deductive databases by considering constraints as closed first order formulae. A comparative evaluation is made among previously described methods and the proposed one. Closed general formulae is used to express aggregate constraints and Lloyd et al. 's simplification method is generalised to cope with these constraints. A new definition of constraint satisfiability is introduced in the case of indefinite deductive databases and the path finding method is generalised to check integrity in the presence of static constraints only. To evaluate a constraint in an indefinite deductive database to take full advantage of the query evaluation mechanism underlying the database, a query evaluator is proposed which is based on a definition of semantics, called negation as possible failure, for inferring negative information from an indefinite deductive database. Transitional constraints are expressed using action relations and it is shown that transitional constraints can be handled in definite deductive databases in the same way as static constraints if the underlying database is suitably extended. The concept of irnplicit update is introduced and the path finding method is extended to compute facts which are present in action relations. The extended method is capable of checking integrity in definite deductive databases in the presence of transitional constraints. Combining different generalisations of the path finding method to check integrity in deductive databases in the presence of arbitrary constraints is discussed. An extension of the data manipulation language of SQL is proposed to express a wider range of integrity constraints. This class of constraints can be maintained in a database with the tools provided in this thesis

Application of jamun (Syzygium cumini Linn) seed extract on cotton fabric for antibacterial activity

Attempts have been made to use jamun (Syzygium cumini Linn)seed extract on cotton fabric to evaluate its antibacterial activityagainst some Gram positive and Gram negative bacterial strains.Different concentrations of jamun extract (125, 250, 500 and 1000 mg/ mL) have been used and zone of inhibition (ZOI) is measured. Thefindings indicate that jamun seed has an antibacterial effect onbleached cotton fabric at different bacterial strain of Staphylococcusaureus (NCIM 2079) and Streptococcus agalactiae (NCIM 2401).The antibacterial potential of jamun seed powder is due to the richbioactive compounds. High inhibition percentage is obtained for 1000mg/mL seed extract and minimum for 125 mg/mL. Streptococcusagalactiae (77% strain) shows the maximum 24 mm ZOI andStaphylococcus aureus (55% strain) shows 18 mm ZOI

Comminution - Theory and Plant Practice

Comminution is a major unit operation in iron ore processing. In terms of global quantities of material reduced in size, it has been estimated that the annual tonnage is of the order of several thousand million, and in terms of the energy expended the yearly megawatt hours total several hundred million

Randomized Reversible Gate-Based Obfuscation for Secured Compilation of Quantum Circuit

The success of quantum circuits in providing reliable outcomes for a given problem depends on the gate count and depth in near-term noisy quantum computers. Quantum circuit compilers that decompose high-level gates to native gates of the hardware and optimize the circuit play a key role in quantum computing. However, the quality and time complexity of the optimization process can vary significantly especially for practically relevant large-scale quantum circuits. As a result, third-party (often less-trusted/untrusted) compilers have emerged, claiming to provide better and faster optimization of complex quantum circuits than so-called trusted compilers. However, untrusted compilers can pose severe security risks, such as the theft of sensitive intellectual property (IP) embedded within the quantum circuit. We propose an obfuscation technique for quantum circuits using randomized reversible gates to protect them from such attacks during compilation. The idea is to insert a small random circuit into the original circuit and send it to the untrusted compiler. Since the circuit function is corrupted, the adversary may get incorrect IP. However, the user may also get incorrect output post-compilation. To circumvent this issue, we concatenate the inverse of the random circuit in the compiled circuit to recover the original functionality. We demonstrate the practicality of our method by conducting exhaustive experiments on a set of benchmark circuits and measuring the quality of obfuscation by calculating the Total Variation Distance (TVD) metric. Our method achieves TVD of up to 1.92 and performs at least 2X better than a previously reported obfuscation method. We also propose a novel adversarial reverse engineering (RE) approach and show that the proposed obfuscation is resilient against RE attacks. The proposed technique introduces minimal degradation in fidelity (~1% to ~3% on average).Comment: 11 pages, 12 figures, conferenc

TrojanNet: Detecting Trojans in Quantum Circuits using Machine Learning

Quantum computing holds tremendous potential for various applications, but its security remains a crucial concern. Quantum circuits need high-quality compilers to optimize the depth and gate count to boost the success probability on current noisy quantum computers. There is a rise of efficient but unreliable/untrusted compilers; however, they present a risk of tampering such as Trojan insertion. We propose TrojanNet, a novel approach to enhance the security of quantum circuits by detecting and classifying Trojan-inserted circuits. In particular, we focus on the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA) circuit that is popular in solving a wide range of optimization problems. We investigate the impact of Trojan insertion on QAOA circuits and develop a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) model, referred to as TrojanNet, to identify their presence accurately. Using the Qiskit framework, we generate 12 diverse datasets by introducing variations in Trojan gate types, the number of gates, insertion locations, and compiler backends. These datasets consist of both original Trojan-free QAOA circuits and their corresponding Trojan-inserted counterparts. The generated datasets are then utilized for training and evaluating the TrojanNet model. Experimental results showcase an average accuracy of 98.80% and an average F1-score of 98.53% in effectively detecting and classifying Trojan-inserted QAOA circuits. Finally, we conduct a performance comparison between TrojanNet and existing machine learning-based Trojan detection methods specifically designed for conventional netlists.Comment: 9 Pages, 6 Figures, 2 Tables, conferenc

I. V. Oxytocin versus oral Misoprostol for augmentation of labour, associated complications and effect on neonatal wellbeing

Background: The complications of prolonged labor are well recognized and the caesarean section has been used liberally. But even then, prolonged labor continues to be a problem. This could be due to weak uterine contractions or poor cervical dilatation. The problem can be overcome with the use of oxytocic drugs. The aim of the study was to compare the efficacy, adverse effects, safety, and feto-maternal outcome of the ARM and oral misoprostol with Artificial Rupture of Membrane (ARM) and oxytocin infusion for labor augmentation.Methods: This prospective study was conducted in the labor room of NRS Medical College and Hospital Kolkata and included 100 primigravidae women carrying singleton pregnancy at term with spontaneous onset of labor.Results: The result findings of the present study show that the prolonged labor was the major indication for LSCS in both the groups. There was a significantly higher subjects (P <0.05*) had fetal distress or fetal bradycardia, meconium staining of liquor, Tachysystole in the misoprostol group, compared to oxytocin group. No significant difference was observed among the groups with respect to neonatal wellbeing.Conclusions: Both the agents i.e. oral misoprostol and I.V. oxytocin shortens the duration of labor effectively and are effective for augmentation of labor. Apart from Tachysystole and meconium staining of liquor and fetal distress the incidence of any other complication was not significantly more in the oral misoprostol group when compared with oxytocin group. Status of the neonate was almost similar in both the groups