Impact of watershed development programme on farming system of micro watershed Dari of Tikamgarh district of Madhya Pradesh

The study was carried out in Dari micro watershed under the Integrated Watershed Development Programme in the Tikamgarh district, Madhya Pradesh during 2015 – 16. Study aimed to assess the impact of watershed development programme on change in natural resources, land use pattern, cropping pattern and crop productivity. An area under cultivable pasture land was increased by 233.33%, whereas the area under horticulture and vegetation was increased by 100%, respectively. The construction of soil and water conservation structures improves ground water level, which increases digging of number of wells (50%) and hand pumps (66.67%). As improvement in land and water resources, the livestock population under different categories were increased by 15 to 73 %. Whereas fodder availability was increased by 166.67%. An area under irrigation was increased by 333.33% and average cropping intensity was increased by 135%. Cultivation area under Urd was highly changed by 17.10 ha (88.60%) as compared to other crops in kharif season, whereas Wheat crop in rabi season was secured 41.56% change in cultivation area. Significant higher increase in crop productivity was recorded for Soybean crop (66.67%) in kharif season, whereas Mustard secured 40.00% increase in productivity in rabi season.&nbsp

Development of markers and crop improvement programmes

            The development of markers for genetic analysis of different plant species, for monitoring the variations in and among species, to create new source of genetic variations by introducing new and favorable traits from landraces and related species, to develop the evolutionary tree among plant species and more importantly to increase the production of crops is painstaking efforts of plant breeders started from initial years of last century. Improvement in marker detecting systems and in the techniques used to identify markers linked to useful traits -Marker assisted selection (MAS) and Quantitative trait loci (QTL) - has enabled great advancements in recent years and can be utilized for more advanced research in future. Identification of markers linked to useful traits is based on complete linkage maps which helped to understand the basics of epistasis, pleiotropy and heterosis. . While morphological markers have been the basics of most work in marker development system but presently the molecular markers like RFLP (restriction fragment length polymorphism), RAPD (random amplified polymorphic DNA), and AFLP (amplified fragment length polymorphism) has generated the valuable marker systems. SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) and SSR (simple sequence repeat) marker systems have been developed and is predicted to lead advance study by their implementation in breeding programmes. In this review emphasis has been laid on the current stage of marker development and to reveal the potential uses of supplementing the molecular and biochemical marker systems with morphological markers

Nonclassical Symmetry Analysis of Boundary Layer Equations

The nonclassical symmetries of boundary layer equations for two-dimensional and radial flows are considered. A number of exact solutions for problems under consideration were found in the literature, and here we find new similarity solution by implementing the SADE package for finding nonclassical symmetries

A review of the efficacy of the Milwaukee Protocol in the treatment of ketoacidosis in pediatric intensive care unit patients at Rebro Hospital between 2009-2014

Ketoacidosis is a condition of increased pathologic levels of ketone bodies in the body that results in the acidification of blood. The major types are alcoholic and diabetic ketoacidosis. DKA is defined as an arterial pH 11mmol/L (>200mg/dL) together with glucosuria and ketouria (Rosenbloom 2010) (Wolfsdorf et al. 2009). Paediatric patients reviewed at Rebro Hospital (University Hospital Centre Zagreb) were all treated for the latter condition. This thesis surmises the treatment methodology as devised by the Milwaukee Protocol and attempts to evaluate the efficacy of this treatment over the period of 01.01.2009 – 30.06.2014. Patient records were obtained from the Rebro Hospital archives and details on ICU treatment of diabetic ketoacidosis were evaluated. Personal identifying data was removed. During the period analysed patient archive records indicate that 21 patients were admitted into the paediatric ICU at University Hospital Centre Zagreb for treatment of DKA. 20 patient records were obtained, of which 19 patients were confirmed to have been treated according to the Milwaukee protocol. It was assumed that the other 2 cases were as well as it is the hospital policy to follow this protocol. Successful treatment was observed in 100% of cases. Success is defined here as the sufficient control of the metabolic derangement as indicated by meeting the following Milwaukee Protocol exit criteria: HCO3 > 15 mmol/l, pH 2 > 7.30, Na: 135-145 mmol/l with no emesis (Kliegman et al. 2011) and resulting in discharge of patient from ICU. Conclusions drawn include the need for a coordinated response based on a hospital wide policy with clear pro forma. Management of DKA condition should be under the supervision of centres that have experience dealing with the issue; at University hospital Zagreb (Rebro hospital) this should be the paediatric ICU centre. Vital signs, neurologic status and laboratory indices for DKA biomarkers should be monitored at timely intervals as to prevent further adverse effects. It is suggested that data be recorded electronically and on ICU forms designed to record DKA. In cases of cerebral oedema, Rebro hospital should develop protocols to be able to identify CE development early on and treat rapidly with mannitol or hypertonic IV saline. With respect to treatment fluid resuscitation should begin before intravenous insulin administration (0.1. U/Kg/hr), beginning with a bolus of 10-20mL/kg 0.9% saline, followed by a maintenance supply of 0.45% saline that should address 5-10% of fluid loss from dehydration (Rosenbloom 2010) (Kliegman et al. 2011)

Conversion of Waste Marble Powder into a Binding Material

In the marble industry, a lot of marble is wasted in the form of odd blocks of various sizes and slurry consisting of water and micro-fine particles. The slurry on drying converts into powder. Both slurry and powder have adverse effects on the environment. This research is focused on the gainful utilization of waste marble powder (WMP) by converting it into a valuable binding material. For this purpose, WMP and clay were collected, and their physical and chemical properties were determined. A mix of WMP and clay was prepared and burnt at a temperature around 1300 oC. The burnt mix was ground to powder form to get marble cement (MC). The MC was then used in mortar. The compressive and flexural strengths of mortar cubes and prisms were determined. Apart from this, X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) and scanning electron microscopic (SEM) analysis were also carried out. The chemical composition showed that the MC has 52.5% di-calcium silicate (C2S) and 3.5% tri-calcium silicate (C3S).The  compressive strength of MC mortar after 28 days curing is 6.03 MPa, which is higher than M1 mortar of building code of Pakistan (5 MPa). The compressive strength of MC mortar after one year is 20.67 MPa, which is only 17% less than OPC mortar

Association of Type D personality with cardiovascular disease and its prognosis

Objective: To evaluate the association of Type D personality with cardiovascular disease and its prognosis. Methodology: This cross sectional study study was conducted in cardiology department of MBBS medical college Mirpur, from February 2019 to February 2020 in a period of one year. A total of 281 patients with cardiovascular diseases were included. Demographic information and risk factors were noted. Screening for metabolic syndrome was done using international diabetes federation criteria based upon central obesity. The assessment of type D personality was made through DS-14, type D scale, which is the most widely used instrument for type D personality measurement. In which all the 14 items are score on a 5-point Likert scale. Results: There were 77 (27.40%) patients having type D personality, with significantly less mean age (45.36 ± 6.2 vs. 53.45 ± 9.6) in comparison to patients without type D personality. No significant (p-value > 0.05) difference was noted in gender, education, occupation and marital status of the patients having type D personality. The rate of diabetes mellitus (44.46% vs. 37.25%), hypertension (59.74% vs. 47.06%), smoking status (62.34% vs. 53.43%) and metabolic syndrome (48.05% vs. 40.69%) were similar in both groups. The mean values of systolic (124.53 ± 12.35 vs. 116.28 ± 14.30, p-value = 0.000) and diastolic (78.44 ± 6.92 vs. 74.62 ± 7.48, p-value = 0.0001) blood pressure were significantly higher in patients having type D personality. Conclusions: A considerable number of cardiac patients in our study had type D personality trait. This trait was more common in younger age and male patients showing raised levels of blood pressure and HDL cholesterol. Key words: Cardiovascular disease, Type D personality, low HDL cholesterol, Prognosi

Chatbot Design Challenges and the Effect on User Behavior

Chatbots are efficient artificial intelligence tools employed frequently across various industries such as healthcare, tourism, entertainment, and education, to assist in performing repetitive activities requiring a conversation, thereby facilitating humans to focus on more innovative tasks. This chapter reviews the design challenges of two types of chatbots classified based on their interaction modes: dyadic chatbots interacting with one individual at a time; and polyadic chatbots interacting with multiple individuals simultaneously. Further, the chapter identified the associated challenges in the chatbots, namely: engagement, trust, and human likeliness based on personality types - at a higher level in the chatbot design, together with the impact of each challenge on the user behavior. The authors review the literature in the relevant areas to pinpoint the research gaps requiring more focus within each area of challenge. The research community can address these identified research areas, which will eventually promote a more efficient human-machine collaboration

Cloudlet computing : recent advances, taxonomy, and challenges

A cloudlet is an emerging computing paradigm that is designed to meet the requirements and expectations of the Internet of things (IoT) and tackle the conventional limitations of a cloud (e.g., high latency). The idea is to bring computing resources (i.e., storage and processing) to the edge of a network. This article presents a taxonomy of cloudlet applications, outlines cloudlet utilities, and describes recent advances, challenges, and future research directions. Based on the literature, a unique taxonomy of cloudlet applications is designed. Moreover, a cloudlet computation offloading application for augmenting resource-constrained IoT devices, handling compute-intensive tasks, and minimizing the energy consumption of related devices is explored. This study also highlights the viability of cloudlets to support smart systems and applications, such as augmented reality, virtual reality, and applications that require high-quality service. Finally, the role of cloudlets in emergency situations, hostile conditions, and in the technological integration of future applications and services is elaborated in detail. © 2013 IEEE

Effect of Zinc on Serum Testosterone Level in Albino Rats

Objective: To study the effect of zinc on serum testosterone levels in Albino rats. Material and Methods: This study was conducted in the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics BMSI JPMC Karachi. In this study 60 albino rats were divided into four groups, 15 rats in each group. Group one was control group (normal diet was given to this group), group two was given indomethacin, group three was given zinc and group four was given combination of Zinc and indomethacin. All the drugs were given for 12 weeks. Serum testosterone level was checked at the end of study and finally data was analyzed statistically using SPSS version 18. Results: In group 2, serum testosterone level (3.12±0.63) was low as compared with control (6.26±0.15). In group 3, mean testosterone was high (6.97±0.63) when it was compared with control (6.26±0.15). In group 4, mean testosterone was low (5.15±0.73) but not significant when compared with control (6.26±0.15). Conclusion: Zinc has a protective role on testes and it increases testosterone and fertility.&nbsp