Dynamic Motion Planning for Aerial Surveillance on a Fixed-Wing UAV

We present an efficient path planning algorithm for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle surveying a cluttered urban landscape. A special emphasis is on maximizing area surveyed while adhering to constraints of the UAV and partially known and updating environment. A Voronoi bias is introduced in the probabilistic roadmap building phase to identify certain critical milestones for maximal surveillance of the search space. A kinematically feasible but coarse tour connecting these milestones is generated by the global path planner. A local path planner then generates smooth motion primitives between consecutive nodes of the global path based on UAV as a Dubins vehicle and taking into account any impending obstacles. A Markov Decision Process (MDP) models the control policy for the UAV and determines the optimal action to be undertaken for evading the obstacles in the vicinity with minimal deviation from current path. The efficacy of the proposed algorithm is evaluated in an updating simulation environment with dynamic and static obstacles.Comment: Accepted at International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems 201

Osteopetrosis in two siblings: two case reports

BACKGROUND: Osteopetrosis is a rare inherited metabolic bone disorder characterized by extensive sclerosis of skeletons, visual and hearing impairment, hepatosplenomegaly and anemia. It has two major clinical forms: the autosomal dominant adult (benign) form is associated with milder symptoms often appearing in later childhood and adulthood whereas the autosomal recessive infantile (malignant) form has severe presentations appearing in very early childhood, if untreated, is typically fatal during infancy or early childhood. A rare autosomal recessive (intermediate) form is present during childhood with some signs and symptoms of malignant osteopetrosis. Diagnosis is mainly based on clinical and typical generalized increase in bone density. CASE PRESENTATION: The two siblings of Indo-Aryan ethnicity, aged five and 8 years, were admitted with irregular low grade fever and gradually increasing abdominal mass for last 3 years. They also had history of hearing loss. On examination, the patients were found pale with poor nutritional status, short stature, frontal bossing and splenomegaly. We made a clinical diagnosis of hemolytic anemia and investigated accordingly. Peripheral Blood Smear was suggestive of leucoerythroblastic picture in both the siblings. We extended our investigations and radiological survey revealed generalized increase in bone density which was consistent with osteopetrosis. CONCLUSION: Osteopetrosis is a rare disease transmitted by autosomal dominant or recessive inheritance having variable penetrance. We report here milder form of disease in the two siblings having typical clinical features in the form of anemia, hepatosplenomegaly and hearing loss. Diagnosis was confirmed by typical generalized increase in bone density in both the patients

Masked facial recognition using ensemble convolutional neural network and grey-level co-occurrence matrix

The COVID-19 pandemic proved how face masks became necessary to stop the spread of infection. Due to this, effective identification of people wearing face mask became challenging. Masked facial recognition has significantly increased in accuracy because of developments in convolutional neural networks (CNNs). Small size of the dataset of masked facial images has been a problem in earlier research. As would be expected, this results in poorer accuracy when the model tries to identify faces. In this study, a novel model is proposed with textural feature extraction using grey-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) and an ensemble of two pre-trained CNNs DenseNet-121 and VGG-16. Using the minimum redundancy and maximum relevance, the model has improved accuracy by choosing the most important features of the image. The model was trained using in-house dataset that included 38,290 photos of 2,500 people with approximately equal distribution of properly masked, partially masked, and unmasked images. In this, we evaluated the performance of the model on different classifiers multi-class logistic regression (LR) and support vector machine (SVM) with one-vs-rest (OvR) classification and artificial neural network (ANN) and applied a soft voting scheme. The model achieved the highest accuracy of 98.56% at a learning rate of 0.001 on the ANN classifier

Exploring the Medicinal Importance of Kantakari: A Review

The use of therapeutic herbs for healing is as old as humanity itself. There is substantial proof that man and his hunt for natural remedies have a long history, including written records, surviving monuments, and even the first plant medicines. The knowledge of using medicinal plants came about as a result of man's long-standing battles with disease, which taught him to look for pharmaceuticals in the barks, seeds, fruit bodies, and other parts of plants. Modern pharmacology includes various plant-based medications that have been used for centuries and were known to ancient cultures. Modern science has recognized their active effect. Kantakari, also known as Yellow Berried Nightshade, is a medicinal plant that is mostly found in India's arid areas. This plant, which is a member of the Solanaceae family, has a range of pharmacological and phytochemical traits. Studies and research conducted over the years have revealed that the plant's medicinal benefit includes anti-inflammatory, bronchodilator, anti-microbial, wound-healing, anti-cancer, and insecticidal properties. The review that follows provides a critical analysis of the existing literature while integrating details on Kantakari, including a mention of its botanical description, chemical composition, and Ayurvedic medicine applications

Correlation of Serum Zinc, Alkaline phosphatase and Ascorbic acid levels in Diabetes Mellitus

Introduction:Diabetes mellitus is a dangerous disease with complications and prevalence of mortality accounting for at least 10% of total health care A few published reports of both in vitro and in vivo studies on the interactions among Zinc (Zn), Alkaline- phosphatase (AP) enzyme activity, Ascorbic acid (AA) and glucose drew attention to their alterations in diabetic statesThe present work was aimed at evaluating the serum Zinc, Alkaline phosphatase and Ascorbic acid levels in Diabetes Mellitus and to statistically correlate the serum values of blood glucose with serum zinc, alkaline phosphatase [ALP] & Ascorbic acid [AA] for finding significance which could help in clinical outcome. Methods:  The sample size taken was 94 having both males and females of 22-85 years of age. The study group was divided into the following six categories. Group A: - Control group of 20 normal subjects in the age group of 22-70 years,      Group B: -14 IDDM without complication subject in the age group of 22-43 years.Group C: -20 IDDM with nephropathy subject in the age group of 41-85 years. Group D: - 20 NIDDM without complication subject in age group of 37-72 years.Group E:-10 NIDDM with nephropathy subject in age group of 45-65 years.Group F:-10 NIDDM with retinopathy subject in age group of 49-66 years. Some parameters were taken from each individual of this study like estimation of blood glucose [fasting and post prandial] by Asatoor and King method, determination of serum Zn was carried out using atomic absorption spectrophotometry, Serum alkaline phosphatase (AP) activity was determined by the method of King and Armstrong as modified by Kind and King, plasma ascorbic acid is determined using formulae Results:The decrease in serum AA levels and the increase in serum DHA were highly significant. However, no correlations could be demonstrated statistically among the above said parameters in healthy and diabetic subjects.. It is being speculated that the raised serum AP activity may be due to the de-inhibition of activity by lowered serum AA concentrations. Serum Alkaline Phosphatase activity is eliminated in diabetics. It is an indicator of liver function that may be hampered in long term in diabetics. Serum Ascorbic acid is an antioxidant and its levels are decreased in diabetics. Its values can be assayed for monitoring oxidative reaction in diabetics. The estimation of serum zinc is not needed as there is no statistical difference. The need for right eating, exercise and right thinking needs to be stressed, particularly for diabetics. Keywords: NSAIDs, severe cutaneous adverse reactions (SCARs), cutaneous adverse drug reactions (CADRs), stevens johnson syndrome (SJS), fixed drug eruptions (FDEs), fixed dose combination (FDC), over the counter (OTC

Correlation of Body Age with anthropometric parameters in students

Obesity is becoming a pandemic these days. People are overweight and are losing the joy of self control. Lack of exercise, poor dietary habits lead to hypertension and diabetes mellitus. It is essential to make students aware of their faulty habits so they may correct it at an early age. We analyzed the BMI, Body age, Visceral Fat, Total and subcutaneous fat using an OMRON Machine by bioelectrical impedance for 52 students. About 60% of students whose body age was more than their actual age were counseled to eat rightly and exercise regularly

A comprehensive approach to Urine disorders in Ayurveda

Mutrakrichha comes under the disorders of Mutravaha Srotas and mainly deals with Shoola (pain) and Kricchrata (dysuria). Acharya Charaka has described eight types of Mutrakrichha. Charaka has also mentioned eight type of Mutragatha. In Mutrakrichha, the vitiated Pitta Dosha along with Vata (mainly Apana Vayu) on reaching Vasti (bladder) afflicts the Mutravaha Srotas due to which the patient feels difficulty in micturition. Materials and Methods: All the textbooks, classical texts and internet sources were explored for Mutrakrichha and urinary tract infection. Data obtained was compiled and presented in an organised manner. Result and Discussion: Mutrakrichha corresponds to the symptoms of urinary tract infection as per texts and the symptoms of UTI can be well managed as per the principles of Ayurveda

Early induction versus expectant management in prelabour rupture of membranes

Background: Prelabour rupture of membrane defined as spontaneous rupture of membrane prior to the onset of regular uterine contractions. The incidence of PROM varies from 6-18%. Management of term PROM is not having specific guidelines leading to management dilemma.Methods: This prospective study was conducted on 100 women with singleton pregnancy, cephalic presentation with spontaneous PROM at term. The aim to compare maternal and perinatal outcome of early induction with expectant management in women with PROM. The patients were divided into two group expectant group and early induction group. Induction of labour was done by PGE2 gel and expectant group patient were observed for 24 hours for spontaneous labour since leaking. Augmentation of labour was done with Oxytocin if required. Outcomes were measured as PROM to delivery interval, induction to delivery interval, mode of delivery, maternal and neonatal morbidity.Results: Eighty percent of women of expectant group went into active labour within 24 hours, and all patient of induction group went into active labour in 18 hours (p<0.001). ROM to active labour interval and ROM to delivery interval were significantly less in early induction group, (9.87 and 17.212 hour) compared to expectant group (19.118 and 23.34-hour, p<0.001). Fetal distress and LSCS were comparatively higher in induction group (16%vs 2% p=0.038). Neonatal Sepsis was seen more in expectant group but statistically insignificant (22% versus 16%, p=0.26).Conclusions: Women with term PROM can be given informed choice of expectant management and early induction explaining the merits and demerits of both options

A study of dengue fever in pregnancy and its maternal and fetal prognosis

Background: Dengue is a vector borne viral disease. Female Anopheles mosquito is the vector for the disease. Recently, there is an increase in the incidence of dengue fever in adult population in South Asian countries. With increasing rate of adult dengue fever victims, the number of infected pregnant women has also been increased. Dengue, during pregnancy may be associated with various complications, including abortions, preterm delivery, maternal mortality, low birth weight, neonatal admissions and fetal anomalies. Timely intervention can improve the maternal as well as fetal outcome. This study was aimed to assess the clinical profile, maternal and fetal outcome of dengue fever during pregnancy.Methods: The study was carried out on 25 pregnant females diagnosed and serologically confirmed to have dengue fever and were admitted in Umaid hospital, associated to Dr. S. N. Medical College Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India. Patients were included irrespective of the period of gestation of contracting the disease. Serological testing for dengue virus specific antigen and antibody was done for the diagnosis of dengue fever. The World Health Organization (WHO) classification and case definitions 2009 were used to categorize the dengue patients. A predesigned proforma was used to collect data related to maternal and fetal consequences both during pregnancy and at birth, as well as the effect on the newborn. Informed and written consent was taken from all those who participated in the study.Results: Thrombocytopenia (platelet count <1.5lakh/mm3) was found in 22 (88%) patients out of which 6 (24%) of them had platelet count below 20,000 cells/mm3 and 3(12%) patients required platelet transfusion. Other complications observed were spontaneous abortions (4%); preterm birth (16%), oligohydramnios (8%) and antepartum hemorrhage (4%). One patient was admitted to Intensive Care Unit. Fetal distress and meconium stained amniotic fluid was observed in 16% and 12% patients respectively. Adverse fetal outcome was observed in form of low birth weight, prematurity. 8% of the babies required NICU admission and 4% were Intra Uterine Fetal Death (IUFD).Conclusions: Maternal infection with the dengue virus during antenatal period represents a real risk of premature birth. Early onset or late onset in pregnancy appeared to have a bad prognosis.  A high index of clinical suspicion is essential in any pregnant woman with fever during the epidemic. The treatment of dengue in pregnancy is mainly conservative as in non-pregnant adults. In case of high risk cases early referral to well-equipped health centres where technical, transfusion and intensive care facilities are available may prove lifesaving

On the Critical Role of Ferroelectric Thickness for Negative Capacitance Device-Circuit Interaction

This paper demonstrates the critical role that Ferroelectric (FE) layer thickness (tFE) plays in Negative Capacitance (NC) transistors connecting device and circuit levels together. The study is done through fully-calibrated TCAD simulations for a 14nm FDSOI technology node, exploring the impact of tFE on the figures of merit of n-type and p-type devices, voltage transfer characteristic (VTC) and noise margin of inverter as well as the speed of buffer circuits. First, we analyze the device electrical parameters (e.g., ION, SS, ION/IOFF and Cgg) by varying tFE up to the maximum level at which hysteresis in the I-V characteristic starts. Then, we analyze the deleterious impact of Negative Differential Resistance (NDR), due to the drain to gate coupling, demonstrating how it imposes an additional constraint limiting the maximum tFE. We show the consequences of NDR effects on the VTC and noise margin of inverter, which are essential components for constructing robust clock trees in any chip. We demonstrate how the considerable increase in the gate’s capacitance due to FE seriously degrades the circuit’s performance imposing further constraints limiting the maximum tFE. Further, we analyze the impact of tFE on the SRAM cell static performance metrics such hold noise margin (HNM), read noise margin (RNM) and write noise margin (WNM) at supply voltages of 0.7V and 0.4V. We demonstrate that the HNM and RNM in a NC-FDSOI FET based SRAM cell are higher then those of the baseline FDSOI FET based SRAM cell noise margin and further increase with tFE. However, the WNM in general follows a non monotonic trend w.r.t tFE, and the trend also depends on the supply voltage. Finally, we optimize the design of the SRAM cell considering overall performance metrics. All in all, our analysis provides guidance for device and circuit designers to select the optimal FE thickness for NCFETs in which hysteresis-free operations, reliability, and performance are optimized