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

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

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

Assessment of sensory and nutritional attributes of foxtail millet-based food products

Millets are a rich source of many health-promoting nutrients as well as bioactive compounds such as dietary fibers, antioxidants, macro and micronutrients etc., compared to other staple cereals such as rice, wheat and maize. These nutrients play a central role in the world nutritional security. Despite the inbuilt nutritional benefits, the production of millets has witnessed sharp decline owing to taste preferences, keeping quality and challenges associated with food preparation from millets. To sensitize the consumers about the nutritional benefits of foxtail millet, the present study was planned to formulate and nutritionally evaluate eight diversified foxtail millet-based food products namely rusk, kheer, pinni, sattu, vegetable dalia, cookies, bar and papad by replacing commonly used cereals such as wheat and rice. The products prepared from Foxtail millet were found to have high acceptability with mean score of more than 8.00. These diversified food products showed higher protein content ranging from 10.98 to 16.10 g/100 g, with the highest protein found in Foxtail millet kheer (16.01 g/100 g). The resistant starch content and predicted glycemic index (PGI) of these products ranged between 13.67 to 22.61 g/100 g and 46.12 to 57.55, respectively, with the highest resistant starch (22.61 ± 0.69 g/100 g) and lowest PGI (48.42 ± 0.20) found in millet bar. The high resistant starch and low PGI in foxtail millet products suggest that they could serve as an excellent food source suitable for diabetics. The obtained results suggest that all the Foxtail millet-based value-added products have superior nutrient profile and are highly acceptable than the traditional products. Inclusion of these foods in the diets of the population may help in the prevention of malnutrition and type 2 diabetes

Dosimetric analysis of intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and three dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT) for treatment of non-small cell lung cancer: A comparative study

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze and compare the dosimetric parameters of three dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT) and intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) in selected non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cases. Methods: Ten patients with inoperable NSCLC were selected for this study. The 3DCRT and IMRT plans were generated for all patients following Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) guidelines. Generated plans were then compared on the basis of planning target volume (PTV) coverage, dose delivered to organs at risk, homogeneity index (HI), and conformity index (CI) for the prescribed dose (PD) of 50 Gy in 25 fractions.Results: The mean D95 and D99 (dose to the 95% and 99% volume) for the PTV were found better in the 3DCRT plans compared to the ones in the IMRT plans. On an average, the volume receiving 20 Gy (V20) of contralateral lung was 2.91% and 3.03% in the 3DCRT and IMRT plans, respectively. The Dmean of contralateral lung was 3.17 Gy (3DCRT) versus 4.2 Gy (IMRT), whereas the Dmean of ipsilateral lung was 12.69 Gy (3DCRT) and 13.82 Gy (IMRT). The V20 of ipsilateral lung was found to be slightly lower in the 3DCRT (25.67%) when compared to the IMRT (30.50%). The dose to the heart was comparable in the 3DCRT and IMRT plans (mean dose: 4.42 Gy versus 4.48 Gy; D33: 3.77 Gy versus and 4.02 Gy). For the spinal cord, the Dmax was found to be lower in the 3DCRT plans (18.40 Gy) when compared to the IMRT plans (25.49 Gy). The HI was 1.08 versus 1.41 in the 3DCRT and IMRT plans, respectively. The CI was identical (1.67) in both sets of plans.Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, the PTV coverage was found to be slightly better in the 3DCRT plans when compared to the one in the IMRT plans. On average, the dose to the organs at risk were found to be comparable