Regularized Jacobi iteration for decentralized convex optimization with separable constraints

We consider multi-agent, convex optimization programs subject to separable constraints, where the constraint function of each agent involves only its local decision vector, while the decision vectors of all agents are coupled via a common objective function. We focus on a regularized variant of the so called Jacobi algorithm for decentralized computation in such problems. We first consider the case where the objective function is quadratic, and provide a fixed-point theoretic analysis showing that the algorithm converges to a minimizer of the centralized problem. Moreover, we quantify the potential benefits of such an iterative scheme by comparing it against a scaled projected gradient algorithm. We then consider the general case and show that all limit points of the proposed iteration are optimal solutions of the centralized problem. The efficacy of the proposed algorithm is illustrated by applying it to the problem of optimal charging of electric vehicles, where, as opposed to earlier approaches, we show convergence to an optimal charging scheme for a finite, possibly large, number of vehicles

INDIGENOUS FOODWAYS OF THE GALOS: A CHALLENGE TO ARCHAEOLOGY

The Galos are one among many tribes inhabiting the mountainous terrain of Arunachal Pradesh, located in the foothills of the Himalayas in North-East India. The traditional subsistence practice of the Galos includes swidden cultivation popularly known as jhumming in North-East India, animal husbandry and gathering. The paper discusses in detail the indigenous foodways of the Galos and how it pose challenges to the archaeology of the food in the region.Keywords: Arunachal Pradesh, Galo tribe, indigenous, foodway

Identity Formation and Political Assertion Among the Deoris

Sub-regionalism or communalism, as we all know is a sentiment of similarity, amongst the people belonging to the same group. It means a sense of common consciousness or peoples under the same political organization. We know that there are different responsible causes for the resurgence amongst the tribal groups of North-East India and they have different natures, for example; aspiration for a separate identity, aspiration for establishing an autonomous council, development council, creation of a new state and many more. Assam is a part of the North-Eastern region of   India, a  district inhabited by aboriginal tribal communities in this state,  viz;  the Bodos, Karbis,  Dimasas,  Mishings,  Doris,  Rabhas,  Sonowal  Kacharis etc. They are distinguished from each-other societies by certain modes, behavior, character such as dress code, food habits, socio-cultural rituals, and religious belief. The Deoris are one of the major ethnic plain tribe of Assam. They have their own language to converse amongst themselves, own religious beliefs, living styles etc. Their present population is approximately two Lakhs According to the census report of Deori autonomous council (DAC). The Deories are settled mostly in the Districts of Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Sibsagar, Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Sonitpur and Tinsukia of Assam and some villages are also situated in the Districts of Changlang, Lohit, and Tirap of Arunachal Pradesh

Iron status in chronic kidney disease patients

Background: In developing countries, chronic kidney disease (CKD) associated with anaemia is one of the major public health problems. With the progression of the disease, development of haematological abnormalities including iron deficiency increases. Renal anaemia may further increase the morbidity in these patients. Therefore, earlier detection and correction of anaemia may be helpful in preventing the progression of the diseases and its other adverse outcomes.Methods: The present study was designed to observe the iron status in diagnosed CKD patients (pre-dialysis). For this purpose, 50 adult diagnosed CKD subjects who were not on any haematinics were randomly selected from the Departments of Medicine and Nephrology in a tertiary care hospital in Assam, India. 50 age and sex matched healthy controls were also included.  Haemoglobin concentration, serum iron, TIBC, transferrin saturation (TSAT) and serum creatinine were estimated by standard laboratory techniques. Statistical data were analyzed by using SPSS 21.Results: All the CKD subjects were anaemic with haemoglobin concentration below 11g/dl and 48% of them showed moderate degree of anaemia. Their serum creatinine level were >3mg/dl.  The primary aetiologies of CKD were diabetes (44%) and hypertension (36%). Serum creatinine and total iron binding capacity (TIBC) were significantly (P 3 mg/dl, iron deficiency anaemia may be present.

Tweaking Internal Quality Controls for Cost Cutting in Resource Poor Settings

Commercial Internal Quality Control (IQC) materials are used regularly nowadays by most laboratories for ensuring that their test results are accurate, and the equipment used for analysis is functioning optimally. IQC may be procured from the company supplying reagents for a closed system or from an unrelated vendor who is not involved in supplying the equipment or reagents (third-party controls). Most IQC for Complete Blood Count have a short shelf life of up to three months and often the company further restricts the usage to 2-3 weeks after opening the pack or for few hours after reconstitution for coagulation-based assays. Some simple methods can go a long way in increasing the shelf life and enable substantial cost cutting, as we have succeeded in our laboratory for hematology and coagulation

Continuous-time integral dynamics for Aggregative Game equilibrium seeking

In this paper, we consider continuous-time semi-decentralized dynamics for the equilibrium computation in a class of aggregative games. Specifically, we propose a scheme where decentralized projected-gradient dynamics are driven by an integral control law. To prove global exponential convergence of the proposed dynamics to an aggregative equilibrium, we adopt a quadratic Lyapunov function argument. We derive a sufficient condition for global convergence that we position within the recent literature on aggregative games, and in particular we show that it improves on established results

Učinak prepartalne primjene vitamina E i selena na reprodukcijske funkcije indijskih jakova (Poephagus grunniens).

Yaks are the main source of livelihood for the highlanders in India as major agriculture is meager in yak inhibiting tracts due to adverse agro-climatic conditions. Under field condition, the reproduction in yak is seasonal which could be due to lack of feed and stress rather than inherent characteristics. The aim of the study was to check efficacy of vitamin E and selenium parenteral administration during late gestation period on postpartal fertility in yak. Altogether 21 yak cows were randomly divided into 3 groups (two treatment groups and controls) with 7 animals each. The animals within both treated group received a commercial preparation containing DL- alpha Tocopheryl Acetate equivalent to Tocopherol (vitamin E) 50 mg/mL and Sodium selenite 1.5 mg/mL intramuscularly. Treated groups received the drug twice in 7 days interval 30 to 40 days prior to calving in the amount of 5 mL and 10 mL in group I and II respectively. The study showed that administration of vitamin E and selenium during late gestation can significantly (P<0.05) improve fertility in group II animals..Jakovi su glavni izvor za preživljavanje stanovništva u brdovitim područjima koja su karakterizirana različitim agro-klimatskim uvjetima i slabom poljoprivrednom aktivnošću. U prirodnim uvjetima jakovi se razmnožavaju sezonski, što je više posljedica pomanjkanja hrane i djelovanja stresa nego nasljednih obilježja. Uvažavajući navedeno, ovo istraživanje je imalo za cilj utvrditi može li jednokratna intramuskularna injekcija antioksidanata (vitamin E i selen) u kasnom prepartalnom razdoblju imati učinke na reprodukcijske pokazatelje jakova. Životinjama je primijenjen komercijalni preparat koji je sadržavao 50 mg/mL DL-alfa tokoferil acetata, ekvivalentan tokoferolu (vitaminu E), i 1,5 mg/mL natrijeva selenita. Pripravak je bio primijenjen intramuskularno, dvokratno u dozi od 5 mL i 10 mL, u razmacima od tjedan dana. Prva aplikacija uslijedila je između 30 i 40 dana prije teljenja. Životinje koje su primile 10 mL pripravka pokazale su statistički značajno (P<0,05) poboljšanje reprodukcijskih pokazatelja. Na osnovi istraživanja može se zaključiti da primjena antioksidanata neposredno prije teljenja može pridonijeti unaprjeđenju reprodukcijskih funkcija u indijskih jakova

Perception of first year MBBS students on objective structured practical examination as an assessment tool in biochemistry

Background: It is an undeniable fact that assessment drives learning. It is documented that traditional practical examination has several drawbacks. Further, the subjectivity also affects the correlation negatively between marks awarded by different examiners and therefore on the performance of an equivalent candidate. The objective of objective structured practical examination (OSPE) is to reduce the chances of examiner bias and assess the students’ skills. Aim was to introduce objective structured practical examination (OSPE) as a method of assessment of practical skills in Biochemistry and to determine the perception of students’ regarding OSPE. Methods: It is a qualitative, observational study conducted at Department of Biochemistry, Assam Medical College, Assam, India. The first Professional MBBS students were evaluated by using OSPE to assess their practical perspective in Biochemistry. A pre-validated questionnaire-based on a 5-point Likert scale and descriptive type on various components of the OSPE was administered to get the feedback. Statistical analysis used: Microsoft Excel and GraphPad Prism 8 software were applied. Results: Most of the students favoured OSPE as an assessment tool. About 82% of students agreed that OSPE helps to score better; 62.3% stated that OSPE eliminates bias in exams; 91.6% supported OSPE to be incorporated as a formative assessment. Conclusions: The study favours OSPE as a reliable assessment tool for practical examination in biochemistry. OSPE is more objective and eliminates examiner bias and helps to evaluate all three learning domains - cognitive, psychomotor and affective domains

Effect of tissue glue versus suture in pterygium surgery in a tertiary care center of North-East India

Background: Pterygium is a triangular fibrovascular tissue of conjunctiva encroaching on to the cornea. Currently, conjunctival autograft technique after excision is reported as the most suitable and safest method. The autograft transplantation can be done either with the help of suture or tissue adhesives. Objective of the study was to evaluate the effects of tissue glue versus suture in limbal conjunctival autograft transplantation among the patients undergoing pterygium excision.Methods: A prospective study was carried out in a tertiary eye care hospital. 60 patients with primary pterygium underwent limbal conjunctival autograft transplantation. They were enrolled into two groups, group-A (tissue glue, N=30) and group-B (suture group, N=30). Operative time, postoperative patient comfort and recurrence of pterygium were assessed. The patients were followed-up for 6 months.Results: The mean surgical time in fibrin glue group (23.56±2.80) was significantly less compared to suture (30.78±2.20) group with p0.005).Conclusions: The use of fibrin glue for securing the limbal conjunctival autograft in pterygium surgery significantly reduces the operating time and postoperative discomfort

Role of Emblica officinalis (amla) in the prophylaxis of hepatic injury by carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) in albino rats

Background: The objective of the study was to evaluate the hepatoprotective activity of fruits extract of Emblica officinalis on carbon tetrachloride induced hepatotoxicity in Albino rats. Liver is vulnerable to wide variety of metabolic, toxic, microbial, circulatory and neoplastic insults. The dominant primary diseases of the liver are viral hepatitis, alcoholic liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma. Due to absence of reliable drugs management of liver ailments in the modern medicine, plants and natural products are providing to be good hepatoprotectants as evident from voluminous published work on their hepatoprotective potentials.Methods: The required amount of fresh fruits of Emblica officinalis was collected and dried at room temperature. The dried fruit ground into powdered and was prepared by percolation method using 95% ethanol. Acute oral toxicity test of the fruits extract was performed as per OECD 423 guidelines. Carbon tetrachloride was used as the hepatotoxin. Silymarin suspension 100mg was used as a standard drug in this study.Results: The study was carried out with an attempt to evaluate the hepatoprotective activity of Emblica officinalis in carbon tetrachloride induced hepatic injury in albino rats. The results were analysed by using one way ANOVA followed by Dunnett’s test and (p <0.05) was considered significant.Conclusions: The present study shows that the Emblica officinalis has significant hepatoprotective activity in rats with carbon tetrachloride induced liver injury. Emblica officinalis is a commonly used traditional herb, which is safe, cost effective and grows widely in India and used by different ethnic groups for various diseases. That is why Emblica officinalis, a commonly used natural herb, deserve further consideration in order to establish its potential as safe economical hepatoprotective agent