Mango Surface Color Features Measurement Using Digital Image Processing

Summary Postharvest processing of agricultural produce is still done the conventional way in Bangladesh. Manual grading of agricultural produce, especially fruits and vegetables, is laborious and costly due to acute shortage of labor during the peak season, as well as difficulty maintaining the product quality. Machine vision system (MVS) applications are widely used nowadays as a non-destructive and cost-effective technology for automatically grading and sorting large volumes of produce in the packing house according to size, shape, color, texture, and surface defects. In this study, a simple MVS was constructed measuring different color features of mango fruit surface as a part of developing an automatic grading system. A CCD camera with a fluorescent lighting system was incorporated for acquiring images of mangos. Different color properties were extracted from the acquired images and analyzed. The best-suited color information (HSI model) was found so that the fruits can be separated from their background easily and differentiated. The measured color information will be further used for developing a grading algorithm based on different features of mango, further aimed to develop an automatic mango grading system. Implications In this study, it was determined that the developed image acquisition system was suitable to recognize the target objects (e.g., green and ripe mangos) from its background by using image color properties. Moreover, the HSI color threshold information was found more suitable than RGB to identify the green and ripe mangos. Therefore, the color information could be used for developing a mango grading algorithm. The color information can be combined with the physical dimension and defect information for more accurate grading of fruits which is a crucial need in the Bangladesh agriculture sector

A prospective study of antimicrobial drug utilization in infective diseases in pediatrics at Navodaya Medical College Hospital of Raichur, Karnataka, India

Background: There is increased concern regarding the inappropriate use of antimicrobials resulting in emergence of resistant strains, unnecessary adverse effects and poor therapeutic outcome. This present study has been taken up with a view to analyze the use of various antimicrobial agents alone and/or in combination to combat diseases of infective origin in a proposed manner.Methods: This was a prospective study carried out for a period of 1 year from January 2011 to December 2011. The prescriptions of all eligible patients were reviewed on daily basis and all the relevant data were retrieved to assess the utilization pattern of antimicrobials and also their safety and potential interactions.Results: A total of 500 patients were selected randomly who satisfied the inclusion criteria. Of the total selected patients with infectious diseases, 493 patients (98.6%) received one or more antimicrobials. Use of antimicrobials was high in the age group of ‘6 months to 3 years’, ‘rural patients’ constituted 62% and were mostly from ‘Lower Socio-economic status’ (46%). Respiratory diseases constituted 38% of the patients. Fever was the notable symptom in 68.4%. Cephalosporins (48.6%) were the most frequently prescribed class of antimicrobials. Combination of ‘Parenteral therapy followed by oral therapy’ was the preferred route in 92%, and a combination of two antimicrobials was seen in 34.4%. Majority of the patients (81%) were discharged on advice and most of the patients (37.6%) had duration of stay of 7-9 days. 25.8% reported ‘Adverse Drug Reactions’ including predictable and unpredictable reactions.Conclusions: Antimicrobial prescribing is common in pediatric infectious diseases. As inappropriate usage of systemic antimicrobials was observed, it is essential that appropriate guidelines on the use of systemic antimicrobials are implanted to ensure rational prescribing of antimicrobials

A Review on Energy Management of Community Microgrid with the use of Adaptable Renewable Energy Sources

The main objective of this paper is to review the energy management of a community microgrid using adaptable renewable energy sources. Community microgrids have grown up as a viable strategy to successfully integrate renewable energy sources (RES) into local energy distribution networks in response to the growing worldwide need for sustainable and dependable energy solutions. This study presents an in-depth examination of the energy management tactics employed in community microgrids using adaptive RES, covering power generation, storage, and consumption. Energy communities are an innovative yet successful prosumer idea for the development of local energy systems. It is based on decentralized energy sources and the flexibility of electrical users in the community. Local energy communities serve as testing grounds for innovative energy practices such as cooperative microgrids, energy independence, and a variety of other exciting experiments as they seek the most efficient ways to interact both internally and with the external energy system. We discuss several energy management tactics utilized in community microgrids with flexible RES, Which include various renewable energy sources (wind, solar power, mechanical vibration energy) and storage devices. Various energy harvesting techniques have also been discussed in this paper. It also includes information on various power producing technology. Given the social, environmental, and economic benefits of a particular site for such a community, this paper proposes an integrated technique for constructing and efficiently managing community microgrids with an internal market. The report also discusses the obstacles that community microgrids confront and proposed methods for overcoming them. This paper analyzes future developments in community microgrids with adaptive RES. The study discusses potential developments in community microgrids with flexible energy trading systems

Nutritional composition and amino acid profile of a sub-tropical red seaweed Gelidium pusillum collected from St. Martin’s Island, Bangladesh

Nutritional fact study has prime importance to make the species edible and commercially viable to the food consumers. The proximate chemical composition and amino acid profile of Gelidium pusillum were studied to understand the nutritional status. The red seaweed Gelidium pusillum was rich in dietary fibre (24.74 ± 1.05%), lipid (2.16 ± 0.61%) and ash content (21.15 ± 0.74%). The mean protein content (11.31 ± 1.02% DW) was within the range of 10-47% for green and red seaweeds and this range was higher than Gracilaria cornea (5.47% DW), Gracilaria changgi (6.90% DW) and Eucheuma cottonii (9.76% DW). Gelidium pusillum was found to contained all the essential amino acids, which accounted for 52.08% of the total amino acids. Tyrosine (26.2 mg g-1 protein), methionine (15.8 mg g-1 protein) and Lysine (48.3 mg g-1 protein) were the limiting amino acid of Gelidium pusillum. However, the levels of other essential amino acids were above the FAO/WHO requirement pattern (EAA score ranged from 1.14 to 1.62). Aspartic and glutamic acids constituted a substantial amount of the total amino acids (24.68% of total amino acid). The result from this study suggested that Gelidium pusillum could be utilized as a healthy food item for human consumption

DFT Based LDA Study on Tailoring the Optical and Electrical Properties of SnO and In-Doped SnO

In this paper, the structural, electronic and optical properties of tin-monoxide and the impact of Indium (In) doping into tin-monoxide are computed by Local Density Approximation (LDA) under density function theory (DFT) framework. The calculated bond length of Sn-O in tin-monoxide is 2.285 angstrom and that deviates greater than 3 percent from the experimental value. The Sn-O and In-O bond lengths in In-doped tin-monoxide are calculated to be 2.3094 and 2.266 angstrom, respectively. Interestingly, the band gap of pure tin-monoxide is calculated to be 2.61 eV whereas it is significantly dropped down to 2.00 eV in the case of In doped tin-monoxide. The Total Density of State (DOS), Partial DOS and electron density are depicted for tin-monoxide and In-doped tin-monoxide films. As a consequence of In-doping static value of the refractive index and real part of the dielectric function for tin-monoxide decrease from 1.9 to 1.4 and 3.6 to 1.97, respectively. Therefore, In-doping enhances the properties of the tin-monoxide film, which may lead the material to be applied in future to develop electronic and opto-electronic devices

Proximate chemical composition of sea grapes Caulerpa racemosa (J. Agardh, 1873) collected from a sub-tropical coast

Background: Nutritional fact study has prime importance to make the species edible and commercially viable to the consumers. Proximate chemical composition and amino acid profile were investigated to understand the nutritional value and protein quality of an edible algae Caulerpa racemosa. Methods: Samples were collected randomly by hand from the intertidal zone of the sub-tropical coastal Island St. Martin’s Island from February 2013 to May 2014. Samples were preserved using standard methods for chemical analysis. Proximate composition was determined using standard methods, Kjeldahl method for protein, Soxhlet method for crude lipid, H2SO4 (0.3 N) and NaOH (0.5 N) for dietary fibre, muffle furnace method for moisture content, ion-exchange chromatography for amino acid and statistical package used for validating the data. Results: The result of the study reveals that C. racemosa contains higher amount of proteins (19.72±0.77%), crude lipid (7.65±1.19%) and fibre (11.51±1.32%) compared to other green and brown algae. The higher concentration of aspartic acid (12.7±0.2%) and glutamic acid (9.2±0.7%) were observed in C. racemosa, while histidine (2.6±0.7%), methionine (1.4±0.4%) and tyrosine (3.8±0.2%) were the limiting amino acids. Lysine (6.6±0.2%), leusine (6.9±0.6%), glycine (6.5±0.4%), arginine (6.4±0.3%), alanine (7.6±0.6%) and threonine (6.2±0.5%) were obtained at a higher percentage of total amino acids. Conclusion: This study suggests that C. racemosa could be potentially used as a nutritious and functional food item for human consumption. Further studies on this edible species should be focused on fatty acid composition, vitamins, non-starch polysaccharide constituents, trace elements and sensory perceptions in order to depict safer and versatile utilization

ACORN (A Clinically-Oriented Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network) II: protocol for case based antimicrobial resistance surveillance

Background: Antimicrobial resistance surveillance is essential for empiric antibiotic prescribing, infection prevention and control policies and to drive novel antibiotic discovery. However, most existing surveillance systems are isolate-based without supporting patient-based clinical data, and not widely implemented especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Methods: A Clinically-Oriented Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network (ACORN) II is a large-scale multicentre protocol which builds on the WHO Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System to estimate syndromic and pathogen outcomes along with associated health economic costs. ACORN-healthcare associated infection (ACORN-HAI) is an extension study which focuses on healthcare-associated bloodstream infections and ventilator-associated pneumonia. Our main aim is to implement an efficient clinically-oriented antimicrobial resistance surveillance system, which can be incorporated as part of routine workflow in hospitals in LMICs. These surveillance systems include hospitalised patients of any age with clinically compatible acute community-acquired or healthcare-associated bacterial infection syndromes, and who were prescribed parenteral antibiotics. Diagnostic stewardship activities will be implemented to optimise microbiology culture specimen collection practices. Basic patient characteristics, clinician diagnosis, empiric treatment, infection severity and risk factors for HAI are recorded on enrolment and during 28-day follow-up. An R Shiny application can be used offline and online for merging clinical and microbiology data, and generating collated reports to inform local antibiotic stewardship and infection control policies. Discussion: ACORN II is a comprehensive antimicrobial resistance surveillance activity which advocates pragmatic implementation and prioritises improving local diagnostic and antibiotic prescribing practices through patient-centred data collection. These data can be rapidly communicated to local physicians and infection prevention and control teams. Relative ease of data collection promotes sustainability and maximises participation and scalability. With ACORN-HAI as an example, ACORN II has the capacity to accommodate extensions to investigate further specific questions of interest

Global respiratory syncytial virus–related infant community deaths

Background Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a leading cause of pediatric death, with >99% of mortality occurring in low- and lower middle-income countries. At least half of RSV-related deaths are estimated to occur in the community, but clinical characteristics of this group of children remain poorly characterized. Methods The RSV Global Online Mortality Database (RSV GOLD), a global registry of under-5 children who have died with RSV-related illness, describes clinical characteristics of children dying of RSV through global data sharing. RSV GOLD acts as a collaborative platform for global deaths, including community mortality studies described in this supplement. We aimed to compare the age distribution of infant deaths <6 months occurring in the community with in-hospital. Results We studied 829 RSV-related deaths <1 year of age from 38 developing countries, including 166 community deaths from 12 countries. There were 629 deaths that occurred <6 months, of which 156 (25%) occurred in the community. Among infants who died before 6 months of age, median age at death in the community (1.5 months; IQR: 0.8−3.3) was lower than in-hospital (2.4 months; IQR: 1.5−4.0; P < .0001). The proportion of neonatal deaths was higher in the community (29%, 46/156) than in-hospital (12%, 57/473, P < 0.0001). Conclusions We observed that children in the community die at a younger age. We expect that maternal vaccination or immunoprophylaxis against RSV will have a larger impact on RSV-related mortality in the community than in-hospital. This case series of RSV-related community deaths, made possible through global data sharing, allowed us to assess the potential impact of future RSV vaccines

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries