Role of ocean initial conditions to diminish dry bias in the seasonal prediction of Indian summer monsoon rainfall: A case study using climate forecast system

Coupled models tend to underestimate Indian summer monsoon (ISM) rainfall over most of the Indian subcontinent. Present study demonstrates that a part of dry bias is arising from the discrepancies in Oceanic Initial Conditions (OICs). Two hindcast experiments are carried out using Climate Forecast System (CFSv2) for summer monsoons of 2012-2014 in which two different OICs are utilized. With respect to first experiment (CTRL), second experiment (AcSAL) differs by two aspects: usage of high-resolution atmospheric forcing and assimilation of only ARGO observed temperature and salinity profiles for OICs. Assessment of OICs indicates that the quality of OICs is enhanced due to assimilation of actual salinity profiles. Analysis reveals that AcSAL experiment showed 10 reduction in the dry bias over the Indian land region during the ISM compared to CTRL. This improvement is consistently apparent in each month and is highest for June. The better representation of upper ocean thermal structure of tropical oceans at initial stage supports realistic upper ocean stability and mixing. Which in fact reduced the dominant cold bias over the ocean, feedback to air-sea interactions and land sea thermal contrast resulting better representation of monsoon circulation and moisture transport. This reduced bias of tropospheric moisture and temperature over the Indian land mass and also produced better tropospheric temperature gradient over land as well as ocean. These feedback processes reduced the dry bias in the ISM rainfall. Study concludes that initializing the coupled models with realistic OICs can reduce the underestimation of ISM rainfall prediction. © 2018. The Authors

Evaluation of Ponseti method in correction of congenital talipes equinovarus

Background: Congenital idiopathic clubfoot is a complex foot deformity often requires many months of treatment and frequently resulted in incomplete or defective correction by older methods. Deformity can be corrected with serial manipulation and casting with minimal or no surgery as reported by Ponseti. This study is an attempt to evaluate the effectiveness of Ponseti technique in treatment of idiopathic congenital talipes equino varus.Methods: 30 patients between age group of 01 to 24 weeks with 48 feet having congenital idiopathic clubfoot were treated using Ponseti technique. The guidelines for treatment were followed as per the Ponseti method of serial manipulation and casting at weekly intervals.Results: 43 (89.58%) cases were treated successfully by using Ponseti technique without need of extensive surgery. 42 feet required tenotomy. 38 (79.16%) feet had an excellent outcome, 5 (10.42%) feet had a fair outcome and 05 feet (10.42%) had poor outcome as measured by the Pirani scoring system. 7 (14.58%) patients had cast related complications.Conclusions: The Ponseti method is a safe, effective and reproducible method for correction of idiopathic congenital talipes equinovarus which significantly reduces the rate of extensive corrective surgeries for correction of clubfoot

Salmonella in Indian ready-to-cook poultry: antibiotic resistance and molecular characterization

The availability and popularity of processed, ready-to-cook (RTC) poultry products are increasing in India. Though fresh poultry is known to be contaminated with Salmonella, the prevalence of this foodborne pathogen in RTC poultry products is not reported. Eighty-seven chilled and frozen RTC poultry samples of 4 different brands obtained from supermarkets and departmental stores in Mumbai were analyzed for the presence of Salmonella. The prevalence of Salmonella was higher (51%) in chilled RTC samples as compared to the frozen RTC samples (5%). The frozen RTC samples of one brand were free from Salmonella. S. Typhimurium (75.2%) was the most prevalent serovar, followed by S. Enteritidis (23%) and S. Weltevreden (1.7%). A high percentage (81.4%) of the isolates were found to be resistant to 5 or more antibiotics and class 1 integron, which has been shown to confer multi-drug resistance, was detected in 69.9% of the isolates. Multiple antibiotic resistance index of isolates was high (0.6) indicating the indiscriminate use of antibiotics during poultry farming. High genetic diversity was observed among the Salmonella serovars based on Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis profiles. Results showed the presence of multi-drug resistant Salmonella serovars in processed, chilled RTC poultry products marketed in Mumbai, India

FUZZY CONTROL FOR NONLINEAR CONTROL SYSTEM

The problem of solving nonlinearity is a current topic as it is involved in aerospace, vibration control, motor control, signal processing, robotic manipulators, etc. In control engineering, objects are often fuzzy and uncertain. These objects and processes are difficult to describe with the precise mathematical model. The Robotic Arm is a benchmark problem of nonlinear multivariable system with inherent instability. It is a highly nonlinear and open-loop unstable system. So, consider robotic arm as nonlinear control system and control it with fuzzy approach by designing fuzzy inference system. Also make it adaptive by connecting encoders to motor of robotic arm to give feedback and form closed loop system

Impact of upper ocean processes and air-sea fluxes on seasonal SST biases over the tropical Indian Ocean in the NCEP Climate Forecasting System

The present study aims to examine the role of air–sea interactions and upper ocean processes in determining the tropical Indian Ocean (TIO) seasonal sea surface temperature (SST) bias in Climate Forecast System version 1 (CFSv1) and version 2 (CFSv2) free runs. CFSv1 displayed dipole like east–west SST bias over the equatorial Indian Ocean from boreal summer to winter and is consistent with errors (bias) in surface winds and upper ocean advection. Large zonal gradients in sea level pressure (SLP) bias and the associated surface wind biases are primarily responsible for the upper ocean current bias. However, over the southern Indian Ocean and parts of Arabian Sea, strong bias in heat flux and mixed layer depth (MLD) have mainly contributed for the SST biases in CFSv1. Equatorial current system is better represented in CFSv2 compared to CFSv1. Improvement in the representation of land-surface processes appears to be contributing towards improving atmospheric circulation and SLP gradients in CFSv2, which may be responsible for the improved ocean circulation. Importantly, east–west dipole like SST bias prevalent in CFSv1 is absent in CFSv2. However, there is a prominent systematic basin-wide TIO cold SST bias in CFSv2. Large biases in surface heat flux (net negative bias) and MLD (deeper) are mainly responsible for SST biases in CFSv2. Negative net heat flux bias in CFSv2 is primarily due to specific humidity bias-induced excess latent heat flux (LHF). Deepening of MLD is mainly due to strong convective mixing, a resultant of anomalous LHF release, which in turn leads to negative SST bias. Models comparison reveals that although representation of SST in CFSv2 is better than in CFSv1, it is essential to improve further the equatorial ocean dynamics and off-equatorial thermodynamics in the form of moist processes and radiative parameterization in order to reduce SST bias in CFSv2

The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on perceptions of teledermatology

There is limited information of the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the general population's perceptions towards teledermatology. This study aims to assess the pandemic's impact on people's willingness to use teledermatology as well as to investigate influencing factors. We recruited 544 participants through Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) and surveyed them using REDCap. Participants' willingness to use teledermatology before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic was measured via a 5-point Likert scale. The survey also included questions regarding factors influencing participants' attitudes towards teledermatology and their sociodemographic characteristics. Of the 185 participants who reported unwillingness to use teledermatology prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, 79.2% and 66.5% became either neutral or willing to use teledermatology during and after the pandemic, respectively. Less than half of prior satisfactory telemedicine users reported willingness to use teledermatology before the pandemic; willingness to use teledermatology increased to 80.1% and 63.8% during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, respectively. The top reason for lack of interest in teledermatology was concern for security and privacy (24.4%). Although a useful tool, teledermatology has been met with reluctance by the public. However, the unique circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic have improved the public's perceptions and readiness to use teledermatology

Evaluation of Ponseti method in correction of congenital talipes equinovarus

Background: Congenital idiopathic clubfoot is a complex foot deformity often requires many months of treatment and frequently resulted in incomplete or defective correction by older methods. Deformity can be corrected with serial manipulation and casting with minimal or no surgery as reported by Ponseti. This study is an attempt to evaluate the effectiveness of Ponseti technique in treatment of idiopathic congenital talipes equino varus.Methods: 30 patients between age group of 01 to 24 weeks with 48 feet having congenital idiopathic clubfoot were treated using Ponseti technique. The guidelines for treatment were followed as per the Ponseti method of serial manipulation and casting at weekly intervals.Results: 43 (89.58%) cases were treated successfully by using Ponseti technique without need of extensive surgery. 42 feet required tenotomy. 38 (79.16%) feet had an excellent outcome, 5 (10.42%) feet had a fair outcome and 05 feet (10.42%) had poor outcome as measured by the Pirani scoring system. 7 (14.58%) patients had cast related complications.Conclusions: The Ponseti method is a safe, effective and reproducible method for correction of idiopathic congenital talipes equinovarus which significantly reduces the rate of extensive corrective surgeries for correction of clubfoot