Sensor-based Safety Alarm System for Injury Prevention in Chaff cutter machine

Agricultural activities pose significant hazards, leading to high rates of fatal and non-fatal injuries, particularly with the increased use of farm mechanization. One common machine used in farming is the chaff cutter or chaff cutter, which can cause permanent upper limb (hand) injuries during operation. To address this critical issue, a microcontroller-based alarming system was developed to provide advance warning when a worker's hand enters the injury-prone zone of the chaff cutter machine. The system incorporated a passive infrared (PIR) sensor that detected infrared radiation emitted by the human body. Extensive testing was conducted under various conditions, including different distances between the sensor and the human hand, hand orientations, room temperature, and fodder temperature, using subjects of different age groups. The Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was employed to derive regression equations for these parameters. The optimal distance for sensor placement was found to be 125mm ahead of the identified danger zone on the feeding chute. The sensor system showed good response for pronated and supinated hand orientations, followed by the holding position, under different temperature conditions. A temperature range of 24 to 27°C was identified as ideal for optimal sensor performance. Additionally, the speed of hand movement or fodder pushing and the worker's response to the audible frequency were found to effectively alert them. The developed alarming system can significantly enhance safety measures in chaff cutter machines, mitigating the risk of upper limb injuries and improving the overall well-being, productivity, and economic status of farmworkers

Application of Numerical Modelling for wide stall Mining

In India over 2500 million tons of coal is locked in thick seams beyond open cast limit due to important features like township, river and rails etc (Singh & Dubey, 1993). The conventional bord and pillar method of mining with splitting and stoking has never exceed 35% production under such constraint. The basic concept of wide stall method of mining is widening of the galleries in two sections and reducing the parting thickness in between to maximize the coal recovery upto 50 to 55% with stable pillar and without any surface damage. Results obtained for a particular case of mine indicated that the pillar formed during wide stall mining is much safer than the conventional method of splitting and heightening. It showed a good scope to improve the production and productivity upto 52% recovery level without making pillar failure

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Not AvailableWhole genome sequencing (WGS) using next generation sequencing technologies paves the way to sequence the mitochondrial genomes with greater ease and lesser time. Here, we used the WGS data of Clarias batrachus, generated from Roche 454 and Ion Torrent sequencing platforms, to assemble the complete mitogenome using both de novo and reference based approaches. Both the methods yielded almost similar results and the best assembled mitogenome was of 16,510 bp size (GenBank Acc. No. KM259918). The mitogenome annotation resulted in 13 coding genes, 22 tRNA genes, 2 rRNA genes and one control region, and the gene order was found to be identical with other catfishes. Variation analyses between assembled and the reference (GenBank Acc. No. NC_023923) mitogenome revealed 51 variations. The phylogenetic analysis of coding DNA sequences and tRNA supports the monophyly of catfishes. Two SSRs were identified in C. batrachus mitogenome, out of which one was unique to this species. Based on the relative rate of gene evolution, protein coding mitochondrial genes were found to evolve at a much faster pace than the D-loop, which in turn are followed by the rRNAs; the tRNAs showed wide variability in the rate of sequence evolution, and on average evolve the slowest. Among the coding genes, ND2 evolves most rapidly. The variations present in the coding regions of the mitogenome and their comparative analyses with other catfish species may be useful in species conservation and management programs.Not Availabl