Qualitative sign stability of linear time invariant descriptor systems

This article discusses assessing the instability of a continuous linear homogeneous timeinvariant descriptor system. Some necessary conditions and sufficient conditions are derived to establish the stability of a matrix pair by the fundamentals of qualitative ecological principles. The proposed conditions are derived using only the qualitative (sign) information of the matrix pair elements. Based on these conditions, the instability of a matrix pair can easily be determined, without any magnitude information of the matrix pair elements and without numerical eigenvalues calculations. With the proposed theory, Magnitude Dependent Stable, Magnitude Dependent Unstable, and Qualitative Sign Stable matrix pairs can be distinguished. The consequences of the proposed conditions and some illustrative examples are discussed

Generalized observer design of index one for descriptor systems with unknown inputs

Generalized observers are proposed to relax the existing conditions required to design Luenberger observers for rectangular linear descriptor systems with unknown inputs. The current work is focused on designing index one generalized observers, which can be naturally extended to higher indexes. Sufficient conditions in terms of system operators for the existence of generalized observers are given and proved. Orthogonal transformations are used to derive the results. A physical model is presented to show the usefulness of the proposed theory

Synthesis and characterization of some heteroleptic copper(II) complexes based on meso-substituted dipyrrins

The syntheses and characterizations of meso-substituted dipyrrins, 5-(4-imidazol-1-yl-phenyl)-dipyrromethene (4-impdpm), 5-(4-nitro-imidazol-1-yl-phenyl)-dipyrromethene, (4-nimpdpm), 5-(4-benzimidazol-1-yl-phenyl)-dipyrromethene (4-bimp-dpm) and heteroleptic complexes [Cu3(4-impdpm)2(hfacac)4] 1, [Cu(4-nimpdpm)(acac)] 2, [Cu(4-nimpdpm)(hfacac)] 3, [{Cu(4-bimpdpm)(acac)}n] 4 and [{Cu(4-bimpdpm)-(hfacac)}n] 5, imparting acetylacetonato (acac) and hexafluoroacetylacetonato (hfacac) groups as co-ligand have been described. The dipyrrins and complexes 1-5 have been characterized by elemental analyses and spectral (IR ESI-MS, NMR, electronic absorption and emission) studies. Crystal structures of 1, 3 and 4 have been authenticated by X-ray single crystal analyses. The reaction between 4-impdpm and Cu(hfacac)2 gave a trimetallic complex, under analogous conditions 4-nimpdpm and 4-bimpdpm reacted with Cu(acac)2 and Cu(hfacac)2·2H2O to afford mononuclear (2, 3) and 1D polymeric (4, 5) complexes

Full- and reduced-order observer design for rectangular descriptor systems with unknown inputs

In this paper, methods are proposed to design Luenberger type full-and reduced-order observers for rectangular descriptor systems with unknown inputs. These methods are based on the effect of pre- and post-multiplicative operation of a linear transformation, derived here by means of simple matrix theory. Sufficient conditions for the existence of observers are given and proved. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method

To study fasting and post prandial lipid profile in type 2 diabetes mellitus in comparison to non diabetics

Background: Postprandial diabetic dyslipidemia creates proatherogenic conditions which are associated with microvascular and macrovascular complications. Its timely identification might help prevent complications. Aims and Objectives: The aims of this study were to assess the fasting and postprandial lipid abnormalities in type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) in comparison to non-diabetic patients attending SGMH, Rewa, M.P. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional case–control study done from April 2021 to March 2022 in SSMC and SGMH Rewa (M.P). 200 cases and 200 controls taken as per inclusion and exclusion criteria, age, and sex matched. Relevant examination and investigations including fasting and postprandial lipid profile were done. All data compiled and compared with the previous studies. Results: The comparative findings of fasting and postprandial lipid profile in type 2 DM compared to controls (non-diabetics) revealed the following observations. In fasting state, 56% cases and 30% controls had triglyceride levels of >150 mg/dL, while, in postprandial state, it was 82% cases and 32% controls. In fasting state, 28% cases and 8% controls had very low-density lipoproteins-cholesterol (VLDL-C) levels of >40 mg/dL, while, in postprandial state, it showed 46% cases and 14% of controls. In fasting state, 70% cases and 60% controls had high-density lipoproteins-cholesterol (HDL-C) levels of <35 mg/dL, while, in postprandial state, it was found in 80% cases and 58% controls. Conclusion: In the postprandial state, there was significant hyper-triglyceridemia, increased VLDL-C, and decreased HDL-C levels in cases than controls. In the fasting state, there was significant hyper-triglyceridemia and increased VLDL-C levels in cases than controls

A ROBUST NON-BLIND HYBRID COLOR IMAGE WATERMARKING WITH ARNOLD TRANSFORM

Due to development of the internet technologies and other services, requirement of rightful ownership and copyright is highly required. Hence to protect the copyrighted data from unauthorized user, a robust non-blind hybrid color image watermarking scheme is presented. In this proposed scheme, we use color watermark instead of gray watermark which is generally used in most of the existing digital image watermarking techniques. YCbCr color space used to separate the R, G and B channel of images. Y channel of color watermark is embedded into corresponding Y channel of cover image using proposed scheme. Arnold transform are used to scramble the watermark image before embedding process in order to provide more security. The singular value of bands is going to embed with singular values of watermark by making use of variable scaling factor (a). As original image is required at the time of extraction of watermark hence propose scheme belong to non-blind technique group. The two-fidelity parameter namely Peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) and structural similarity (SSIM) index are used to measure the imperceptibility whereas similarity between original and extracted watermark is measured by using normalized correlation coefficient (NCC). We also compared the results of proposed scheme with other existing watermarking schemes. The experimental results prove effectiveness of the proposed image watermarking scheme in term of robustness and imperceptibility

Assessment of Nutritional Status and its Determinants among Under-five Children in Urban Slum Areas of Gwalior City, Central India

Introduction: Children living in urban slums are vulnerable to malnutrition due to lack of basic health facilities and poor environmental conditions. These make children susceptible to infectious diseases. Data on the correlates of stunting, underweight and wasting specifically among under-five children in central India remain limited, hence the need of this study. Aim: To study the prevalence of underweight, stunting, and wasting with its predictors in under-five children living in slum area. Materials and Methods: It was a community-based crosssectional study, carried out from March 1, 2018 to February 28, 2019, slum area of Gwalior City, using multistage sampling. Study subjects were under-five children residing in urban slums. Data collection was done by conducting house to house survey and information was recorded in pre-designed questionnaire. Mean, Standard Deviation (SD), frequency and percentage were calculated. Logistic regression was applied to calculate Odds Ratio (OR, 95% CI). Data was analysed using version Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) -16. Results: A total of 550 children (257 boys, 293 girls) under-five years of age were included in the study. The overall prevalence of underweight was 49.1%, stunting was 58.2% and wasting was 23.5%. The risk of underweight, stunting and wasting was less among others caste category (OR:0.42,0.27,0.49). The risk was higher among children living in nuclear family (OR:1.86,1.78,1.72), with illiterate mother (OR:6.47,4.87,3.53), with Illiterate father (OR:4.60,3.65,1.99) and also among people living in kuccha house and using wood as medium of cooking food. Duration of breastfeeding, complementary feeding only, timing of initiation of complementary feeding and birth weight emerged as other significant predictors for underweight, stunting and wasting. Conclusion: Children with low birth weight, belonging to lower socioeconomic class, living in nuclear families and having illiterate parents require special attention and focus. Parents should also be careful in reference to their children’s complementary feeding and duration of breastfeeding

High-performance field emission device utilizing vertically aligned carbon nanotubes-based pillar architectures

The vertical aligned carbon nanotubes (CNTs)-based pillar architectures were created on laminated silicon oxide/silicon (SiO2/Si) wafer substrate at 775 degrees C by using water-assisted chemical vapor deposition under low pressure process condition. The lamination was carried out by aluminum (Al, 10.0 nm thickness) as a barrier layer and iron (Fe, 1.5 nm thickness) as a catalyst precursor layer sequentially on a silicon wafer substrate. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images show that synthesized CNTs are vertically aligned and uniformly distributed with a high density. The CNTs have approximately 2-30 walls with an inner diameter of 3-8 nm. Raman spectrum analysis shows G-band at 1580 cm(-1) and D-band at 1340 cm(-1). The G-band is higher than D-band, which indicates that CNTs are highly graphitized. The field emission analysis of the CNTs revealed high field emission current density (4mA/cm(2) at 1.2V/mu m), low turn-on field (0.6 V/mu m) and field enhancement factor (6917) with better stability and longer lifetime. Emitter morphology resulting in improved promising field emission performances, which is a crucial factor for the fabrication of pillared shaped vertical aligned CNTs bundles as practical electron source

Facilitators and barriers to the uptake of COVID-19 vaccine precaution dose among adult population: qualitative analysis across six different states of India

IntroductionIndia launched the COVID-19 vaccination drive on 16th January 2021 by vaccinating the adult population above 18 years of age. This was followed by the introduction of an additional precaution dose. As on 18th October 2022, 1,02,66,96,808 (1.02 Billion) first dose and 94, 95, 39,516 (949 Million) second doses of COVID-19 vaccine were administered. However, when compared to the uptake of the primary doses, the precaution dose uptake lagged behind with only 21,75, 12,721 (217 million) doses administered. Even though, the uptake of the primary doses remained optimal, irrespective of different interventions by the Government of India, the uptake of the precaution dose remained poor. In this context, the Ministry of Health &amp; Family Welfare wanted to understand the facilitators and Barriers for precaution dose uptake among adults so that future immunization campaigns could address these issues.MethodsAn exploratory qualitative study was conducted to assess the facilitators and barriers for COVID-19 precaution dose uptake at community level across 6 different states in India. From each of the states, two districts with the highest and lowest rates of COVID-19 vaccine precaution dose uptake were selected. In each of these districts, 2 block Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs), one with high and one with low uptake were identified. Within these block PHCs, a PHC field area with high and low precaution dose uptakes was identified. From the identified sites a minimum of four IDIs, four FGDs were conducted among the community members. KIIs of the State Immunization Officers, District Immunisation Officers, PHC Medical Officers, healthcare workers like Accredited Social Health Activist/Auxiliary Nurse Midwife were also conducted. The data was audio recorded and it was transcribed, translated and analysed using framework approach.ResultsIt was observed that rise in COVID-19 cases prompted the community to take the precaution dose, this along with the cost of hospitalization and the number of productive days being lost as a result of being infected resulted in vaccine uptake. The fear of non-availability of COVID-19 vaccines latter on also prompted people for vaccine uptake. While the barriers were, poor accessibility to vaccination centers, long hours of travel, poor road connectivity and lack of transportation facilities. However, the most prominent barriers observed across all study sites was that a sense of pandemic fatigue and complacency had developed both among the providers as well as the beneficiaries. Other barriers include differences in vaccination schedules and longer duration between the primary doses of some vaccines. Media was identified to be both a barrier and facilitator for Covid-19 Precaution dose uptake. Even though media played an important role in disseminating information in the beginning of the campaign, it was soon followed by the circulation of both misinformation and disinformation.DiscussionThe study identified that dissemination of accurate information and community involvement at each stage of planning and implementation are crucial for the success of any campaign. Efforts should be constantly made to address and re-invent strategies that will be most suitable for the needs of the community. Therefore, in order to ensure successful vaccination campaigns, it is crucial that along with political will it is also important to have a decentralized approach with inter-sectoral coordination with different stakeholders such as healthcare workers, community members and the different departments such as the local self-governments, education department, law &amp; order department etc. These lessons learnt from COVID-19 vaccination campaigns must not be forgotten and must be applied in future vaccination campaigns and while framing public health policies