Ride Dynamics of a Tracked Vehicle with a Finite Element Vehicle Model

Research on tracked vehicle dynamics is by and large limited to multi-rigid body simulation. For realistic prediction of vehicle dynamics, it is better to model the vehicle as multi-flexible body. In this paper, tracked vehicle is modelled as a mass-spring system with sprung and unsprung masses of the physical tracked vehicle by Finite element method. Using the equivalent vehicle model, dynamic studies are carried out by imparting vertical displacement inputs to the road wheels. Ride characteristics of the vehicle are captured by modelling the road wheel arms as flexible elements using Finite element method. In this work, a typical tracked vehicle test terrain viz., Trapezoidal blocks terrain (APG terrain) is considered. Through the simulations, the effect of the road wheel arm flexibility is monitored. Result of the analysis of equivalent vehicle model with flexible road wheel arms, is compared with the equivalent vehicle model with rigid road wheel arms and also with the experimental results of physical tracked vehicle. Though there is no major difference in the vertical bounce response between the flexible model and the rigid model, but there is a visible difference in the roll condition. Result of the flexible vehicle model is also reasonably matches with the experimental result.

Glimpses of Tribal Botanical Knowledge of Tirunelveli Hills, Western Ghats, India

In the present paper, 46 plant species of angiosperms belonging to 19 genera of Euphorbiaceae that occur naturally in the Tirunelveli Hills of western Ghats, India, were chosen for study. It was found that the uses of Euphorbiaceous plants by the inhabitants of this region cover a number of broad categories including food, various kinds of poisons, medicines, sundry types of oils, waxes, rubbers, varnishes, compounds for paints and other industrial products

Assessment of Risk Factors Favouring Deep Vein Thrombosis in Patients Undergoing Surgery

BACKGROUND: DEEP VEIN THROMBOSIS is a serious complication that is frequently encountered in medical and surgical practice. Approximately 2 million people each year suffer from deep vein thrombosis and approximately 6 lakhs of these individual will suffer pulmonary embolism which is fatal in 2 lakhs patients annually. Our data is simplification of process by risk levels based on operation, duration of surgery, age, varicose vein, family history of thrombosis and cancer patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Our study included 224 patients who underwent the surgery under regional or general anaesthesia with monitoring of risk factors favouring to development of the post operative DEEP VEIN THROMBOSIS without preoperative thromboembolism prophylaxis. RESULTS: In our study we have derived 47 patients developed DEEP VEIN THROMBOSIS post operatively among the 224 patients underwent surgery without preoperative thromboembolism prophylaxis. CONCLUSIONS: In our study DVT RISK ASSESSMENT TOOLS showed moderate and high risk group patients underwent surgery definitely needed thromboprophylaxis preoperatively to prevent the post-operative DVT

Prognostic Importance of Hyponatremia in Acute ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Hyponatremia is the most common electrolyte disorder in clinical settings and in hospitalized patients, and is found to be the most important predisposing factor of cardiovascular mortality among patients with heart failure. The fact is that the neuro humoral activation is similar to both acute myocardial infarction and heart failure. So our aim is to investigate the prognostic importance of hyponatremia in acute ST elevation MI and to establish its usefulness in predicting short term survival. MATERIAL: From June 2013 to June 2014, around 100 patients who presented with acute ST-elevation MI admitted in ICCU of Coimbatore Medical College Hospital, Coimbatore was studied. METHOD: 100 consecutive patients who were selected underwent detailed history and clinical examination. Their Plasma sodium concentrations were obtained on admission and at 24, 48 and 72 hours after that. The end point was to find the cause which caused mortality within 30 days following myocardial infarction. RESULTS: The result of this study was found to be that, the proportion of patients who presented with acute ST elevation MI were hyponatremic at the time of admission or developed hyponatremia after admission. The 30 days mortality ratio was found to be high in hyponatremic group than normal group. There was also evidence that the severity of hyponatremia and mortality were having significant linear relationship. Multivariate analysis performed also showed that the significant independent predictor of 30 days mortality was identified as hyponatremia on admission or early development of hyponatremia. CONCLUSION: By this study we conclude that hyponatremia at the time of admission or shortly after that in patient with acute ST elevation MI is an independent predictor of 30days mortality. A simple marker to find patients at risk is Plasma Sodium Levels

Development of Slide Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (SELISA) for Detection of Trypanosoma evansi Infection in Bovines

The slide enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (SELISA) was standardized for detection of antibodies specific to Trypanosoma evansi and subsequently used for the screening of naturally infected bovine sera. A novel SELISA, a modification of the standard ELISA technique was used for the detection of antibodies against Trypanosoma evansi in bovines using positive and negative control sera. The test is based on immunostaining of the fixed whole Trypanosoma evansi organisms on microscopic glass slide, incubation with sera, antibovine IgG-HRPO conjugate and substrate Diaminobenzidine tetrahydrochloride (DAB). Finally the reaction was read under oil immersion of microscope. A total of 702 sera samples from bovines in Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh were examined by SELISA and 192 were found positive for Trypanosoma evansi antibodies

Reducing early neonatal heat loss in low resourced context an Indian exemplar

Background: Although there has been a favorable trend in the Infant Mortality Rate in India in the last decade, the country is still unlikely to meet the Millennium Development Goal #4. Of significance, there has been minimal improvement in the early neonatal mortality rate, which is an indicator of quality of perinatal care. In the efforts to address this aspect, a range of efforts and interventions have been considered. One such effort is in addressing and reducing hypothermia in neonates. Two low tech strategies, professional mummying/swaddling (PM/S) and ‘Kangaroo mother care’ (KMC), are seen as critical in the continuum of neonatal care. Objective: This study compared the effects of KMC and professional mummying/swaddling (PM/S) on select neonatal outcomes (temperature and weight) in a postnatal hospital unit in Chennai India. Methodology: This quasi-experimental study used a repeat measures time series approach monitoring weight and temperatures for neonates across the two interventions. Results: Significant findings were found in the retention of temperature which indicated that the KMC intervention aligned with higher neonatal temperatures than the PM/S interventions. Further, neither maternal or neonate indicators were found to impact significantly on weight or temperature changes in either group. Conclusions: KMC was found to provide a viable and meritous alternative to PM/S as a thermoregulatory strategy for full term neonates in a low resource setting. The study suggest that ongoing research will be necessary to ascertain the optimal approaches and potentials in both methods with such culturally diverse populations

O prostornoj razdiobi normiranog diferencijalnog vegetacijskog indeksa nad Indijom i njegova veza s oborinom, temperaturom zraka, dostatnošću vlažnosti tla i ENSO pojavom

The changes in spatial distribution of Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) are stud¬ied for different seasons in India for the period 1982 to 2000. The inter-annual variability of All India NDVI (AINDVI) has been studied and related to rainfall, air temperature, soil moisture adequacy, Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) and Nino 3 Sea Surface Temperature (Nino 3 SST) to understand the influence of these variables on vegetal cover. The results show that the NDVI is high during the south-west (June to September) monsoon and retreat (October and November) seasons where in major crop seasons Kharif and Rabi take place over India. The trend of AINDVI is increasing and displayed higher values during La Niña and lower in El Niño episodes. The correlation between rainfall and NDVI of All India is not significant on monthly basis (+0.13) but it is more prominent when the cumulative annual amounts of rainfall are involved (+0.61). NDVI responded very well to the variations of soil moisture adequacy (SAD) which enumerates the strongest correlation (+0.73) of crop performance with NDVI. This significant strong correlation inferred that SAD can be taken as the indicator for the NDVI variations rather rainfall. The linear regression analysis of AINDVI and the ENSO indices revealed the strong impact of sea surface temperatures than SOI on vegetation pattern over India.Promjene prostorne raspodjele normiranog diferencijalnog vegetacijskog indeksa (NDVI) dobivenog na temelju mjerenja radiometrom vrlo visoke rezolucije (AVHRR) proučavane su za različite sezone na području Indije tijekom razdoblja od 1982. do 2000. godine. Promatrana je međugodišnja promjenjivost NDVI-a izračunatog za cijelo područje Indije (AINDVI) te njegova povezanost s oborinom, temperaturom zraka, dostatnošću vlažnosti tla, indeksom Južne oscilacije (SOI) te Niño 3 površinskom temperaturom mora (Niño 3 SST) kako bi se utvrdila povezanost tih varijabli i vegetacijskog pokrova. Rezultati pokazuju da NDVI poprima visoke vrijednosti tijekom sezone jugozapadnih monsuna (od lipnja do rujna) te tijekom prijelazne sezone povlačenja monsuna (listopad i studeni) što se uglavnom podudara sa žetvenim sezonama Kharif i Rabi. NDVI ima pozitivan trend te poprima više vrijednosti tijekom La Niña, a niže vrijednosti tijekom El Niño događaja. Iako korelacija između mjesečnih vrijednosti oborine i NDVI-a za cijelo područje Indije nije signifikantna (+0,13), ona je značajno veća ukoliko se promatraju kumulativne godišnje vrijednosti oborine (+0,61). Varijabilnost NDVI-a je u skladu s promjenama dostatnosti vlažnosti tla (SAD) što rezultira značajnim koeficijentom korelacije između indeksa NDVI i prinosa usjeva (+0,73). Ova signifikantna i jaka povezanost ukazuje da se SAD može koristiti kao uspješniji pokazatelj promjenjivosti NDVI-a nego sama oborina. Linearna regresija između AINDVI i ENSO indeksa pokazala je da su površinske temperature mora (Niño 3 SST) bolje korelirane s vegetacijskim pokrovom Indije nego indeks SOI

Viable mass production method for cotton pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders)

AbstractCotton seed based artificial diet has been standardized for continuous rearing of pink bollworm Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders) at the Central Institute for Cotton Research, Regional Station, Coimbatore. The ingredients of the diet are easily available and are cost effective. Basic ingredients of the diet are cotton seed flour (processed) and chick pea flour, Carbohydrate, Protein, Fat sources, multi vitamin, antimicrobial agents and agar as thickening agent are used as other ingredients. Micro centrifuge tubes with lid were used as rearing containers. Individual neonate larvae were released on each piece of the diet inside the micro centrifuge tube and the lids were closed. This prevented larval escape, retaining them inside the tubes and also prevented diet dehydration. The recovery of insect reared on diet was recorded as 95.56%. Egg hatchability and adult emergence were 100% while pupal malformation was nil. Eggs, larval and pupal periods were recorded as 4.8±0.632, 25.10±0.994 and 7.9±0.88days, respectively. Larval and pupal weights were recorded as 21.40mg±3.63, 18.00mg±2.73, respectively