Perspectives of a Farmer Digital Expert Assistant System

Global positioning system (GPS) based farmer digital expert assistant systems (FDEAS) are capable of analyzing the agricultural field and environmental factors associated with the field. The agricultural yield to be harvested, depends on the liquidity content of the soil, the mineral content of the soil, the geographical position of the field, the microbial content of the soil and the temperature of the environment. Other parameters include irrigation, spraying of chemicals, animals or intruders getting into the field, etc. Such a system monitors all these parameters and provides the appropriate values and suggestions to the farmers. Several factors are monitored using different set of sensors. The location, specified by the GPS, can be compared to existing databases of soil maps and thus provide the nature and type of crop to be cultivated with all specifications to obtain maximum yield at that location. Cameras may be employed to continuously monitor the field and initiate alerts. All sensor outputs and systems can be integrated with a GSM modem which sends alert messages as SMS or recorded audio alerts when required. Such a system would ensure real time monitoring and should provide expert assistance for attaining maximum efficiency. It would act as a holistic system for analyzing, monitoring, alerting and assisting farmers at different stages of farming

Study on Crush Tube Geometric Cross sections and Topology for Axial Crashworthiness

Crush tubes are used as crash impact energy absorbing structure (EAS) and are located in the frontal compartment of road vehicles. Ideal crashworthiness of an EAS mandates that the equivalent decelerations due to impact forces should to be ≤ 20g; and crush force and stroke efficiencies should tend to unity. It is understood from the literature that no single geometric cross-section shape exhibits a near-ideal crashworthiness; and most EAS members exhibit a high initial peak crush force which is detrimental to the occupant safety, and moderate stroke and crush force efficiencies leading to a compromise in the total energy absorbed. In this paper, finite element analysis (FEA) methodology is formulated and experimentally validated for axial crush of a crush tube of SS304 material with circular cross section.  Subsequently, plastic deformation phenomenon and folding patterns in relation to crush force behaviour of crush tubes with various basic cross-sections of polygonal geometric shapes from triangle to octagon and circle are extensively studied through FEA. Further, two new geometric cross-section profiles with combination of basic shapes are proposed to combine the merits of different basic shapes. The crashworthiness of all basic cross-sections including the two proposed cross-section profiles is assessed based on standard parameters. The proposed new geometries may form a basis for the development of new EAS configurations for enhanced crashworthiness

Response of a Thin Flat Scored Metallic Disc Under Pressure Impulse

This paper presents the large deformation, and failure response of a thin flat scored metallic disc (FSMD) subjected to a pressure impulse as experienced in a break-away disc or an explosion vent. The response of this thin FSMD is numerically simulated for a loading rate and validated with an experiment, where a good agreement is found on plastic strains, burst pressure, and deformation pattern. The loading rate and several geometric parameters of FSMD significantly influence its response. Therefore, the influence of loading rate ( P& ), score depth and width-todisc thickness ratio (t 1 /t and b/t), diameter-to-disc thickness ratio (D/t), score length-to-disc radius ratio (l/R), score pattern, and score geometry on the deformation and failure response of the thin FSMD is thoroughly investigated. The studies demonstrate that 1) the failure initiation point shifts from disc centre to between 1/5th and 1/3rd radius for loading rates ≤ 25 MPa/s; 2) the responses such as burst pressure, burst time, central deflection, and equivalent strain are i) sensitive to the loading rates up to 100 MPa/s, ii) sensitive to score’s depth, only up to 0.6t and insensitive to score’s width, iii) significantly unaffected for the number of scores N > 8, iv) stabilised for l/R > 0.5 and D/t > 250, v) almost the same for semi-circular, rectangular and triangular score geometries, and vi) very minimal for the number of scores N = 3; and 3) the failure do not initiate and propagate along all scores for N > 4 in the disc

Performance of a Cantilever Energy Harvester under Harmonic and Random Excitations

The technique of harvesting the energy from base structural vibration through a piezoelectric transducer attached at an appropriate location on the vibrating structure is gaining popularity in recent years. Although the amount of energy harvested depends on the type and magnitude of base excitation, the energy harvest under random excitation as compared to equivalent harmonic excitations is not yet well understood and is investigated in this paper through a cantilever energy harvester. Initially, the energy harvested under harmonic excitations is numerically simulated and experimentally validated under increasing base accelerations with different load resistances. Subsequently, the performance of this energy harvester is experimentally studied under random excitations. The results demonstrate that the harvested energy (a) reaches maximum value when the base excitation matches the natural frequency of the harvester, (b) increases with the increase in base accelerations irrespective of the type of excitation, and (c) increases by 2-14 times under random excitations as compared to equivalent harmonic excitations i.e. under same energy input. It is recommended that the energy harvester be used in aerospace structures where random vibration amplitude is higher, to harvest more energy

Antidiabetic activity of Manomani chooranam aqueous extract on female wistar albino rats

Background: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the antidiabetic potential of Manomani chooranam (MMC), an indigenous polyherbal siddha formulation in Streptozotocin (STZ) induced diabetic female Wistar albino rats.Methods: Aqueous extract of MMC was prepared. Wistar albino rats were divided into six groups (n=6). Group 1 was kept as normal control, Group 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 were induced diabetes. After induction, the group 2 was kept as diabetes control; Group 3 received the standard drug metformin (100 mg/kg), whereas Groups 4, 5 and 6 were treated with the aqueous extract of MMC at 500 mg/kg, 1000 mg/kg and 1250 mg/kg doses, respectively for the 21 days. Blood sugar was estimated at the end of each week. At the end of the study, rats were sacrificed and the pancreas was analyzed for histopathological changes. Data expressed as mean±standard error of the mean. Statistical analysis was done using one-way ANOVA followed by post hoc Tukey's test. p<0.05 considered statistically significant.Results: The groups which received aqueous extract of MMC at 500 mg/kg, 1000 mg/kg and 1250 mg/kg showed a significant decrease in the mean blood sugar level when compared to normal level. The groups which received MMC shows significant reduction in blood sugar level in comparison with standard drug metformin 100 mg/kg.Conclusions: The aqueous extract of MMC was able to decrease the elevated blood sugar levels in dose dependent manner

Microheater: Material, design, fabrication, temperature control, and applications—a role in COVID-19

Heating plays a vital role in science, engineering, mining, and space, where heating can be achieved via electrical, induction, infrared, or microwave radiation. For fast switching and continuous applications, hotplate or Peltier elements can be employed. However, due to bulkiness, they are ineffective for portable applications or operation at remote locations. Miniaturization of heaters reduces power consumption and bulkiness, enhances the thermal response, and integrates with several sensors or microfluidic chips. The microheater has a thickness of ~ 100 nm to ~ 100 μm and offers a temperature range up to 1900℃ with precise control. In recent years, due to the escalating demand for flexible electronics, thin-film microheaters have emerged as an imperative research area. This review provides an overview of recent advancements in microheater as well as analyses different microheater designs, materials, fabrication, and temperature control. In addition, the applications of microheaters in gas sensing, biological, and electrical and mechanical sectors are emphasized. Moreover, the maximum temperature, voltage, power consumption, response time, and heating rate of each microheater are tabulated. Finally, we addressed the specific key considerations for designing and fabricating a microheater as well as the importance of microheater integration in COVID-19 diagnostic kits. This review thereby provides general guidelines to researchers to integrate microheater in micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS), which may pave the way for developing rapid and large-scale SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic kits in resource-constrained clinical or home-based environments. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.

Modeling the Effect of Environmental Geometries on Grid Cell Representations

Grid cells are a special class of spatial cells found in the medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) characterized by their strikingly regular hexagonal firing fields. This spatially periodic firing pattern is originally considered to be independent of the geometric properties of the environment. However, this notion was contested by examining the grid cell periodicity in environments with different polarity (Krupic et al., 2015) and in connected environments (Carpenter et al., 2015). Aforementioned experimental results demonstrated the dependence of grid cell activity on environmental geometry. Analysis of grid cell periodicity on practically infinite variations of environmental geometry imposes a limitation on the experimental study. Hence we analyze the dependence of grid cell periodicity on the environmental geometry purely from a computational point of view. We use a hierarchical oscillatory network model where velocity inputs are presented to a layer of Head Direction cells, outputs of which are projected to a Path Integration layer. The Lateral Anti-Hebbian Network (LAHN) is used to perform feature extraction from the Path Integration neurons thereby producing a spectrum of spatial cell responses. We simulated the model in five types of environmental geometries such as: (1) connected environments, (2) convex shapes, (3) concave shapes, (4) regular polygons with varying number of sides, and (5) transforming environment. Simulation results point to a greater function for grid cells than what was believed hitherto. Grid cells in the model encode not just the local position but also more global information like the shape of the environment. Furthermore, the model is able to capture the invariant attributes of the physical space ingrained in its LAHN layer, thereby revealing its ability to classify an environment using this information. The proposed model is interesting not only because it is able to capture the experimental results but, more importantly, it is able to make many important predictions on the effect of the environmental geometry on the grid cell periodicity and suggesting the possibility of grid cells encoding the invariant properties of an environment

Low energy excitations in crystalline perovskite oxides: Evidence from noise experiments

In this paper we report measurements of 1/f noise in a crystalline metallic oxide with perovskite structure down to 4.2K. The results show existence of localized excitations with average activation energy $\approx$ 70-80 meV which produce peak in the noise at T $\approx$ 35-40K. In addition, it shows clear evidence of tunnelling type two-level-systems (as in glasses) which show up in noise measurements below 30K.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Phys Rev B, vol 58, 1st Dec issu

The management and outcome for patients with chronic subdural hematoma: a prospective, multicenter, observational cohort study in the United Kingdom

Symptomatic chronic subdural hematoma (CSDH) will become an increasingly common presentation in neurosurgical practice as the population ages, but quality evidence is still lacking to guide the optimal management for these patients. The British Neurosurgical Trainee Research Collaborative (BNTRC) was established by neurosurgical trainees in 2012 to improve research by combining the efforts of trainees in each of the United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland's neurosurgical units (NSUs). The authors present the first study by the BNTRC that describes current management and outcomes for patients with CSDH throughout the UK and Ireland. This provides a resource both for current clinical practice and future clinical research on CSDH