Clinical profile and factors determining outcome of intramural very low birth weight babies in a tertiary care centre: a retrospective study

Background: Very low birth weight (VLBW) babies are at increased risk of a number of complications both immediate and late. Worldwide it has been observed that these babies contribute to a significant extent to neonatal mortality and morbidity. Aim of the study was to study the risk factors contributing to mortality in VLBW babies and to evaluate the morbidity pattern in these infants.Methods: A retrospective analysis of data retrieved from the case records of VLBW babies admitted in the NICU of Kilpauk Medical College between January 2015 to December 2015. Out of the 2360 intramural babies admitted during the study period, 99 babies were less than 1500 gms. The risk factors for these babies were analyzed for their association with the outcome. Data were statistically analyzed.Results: In present study, we found that sex of the baby, gestational age, obstetric score, birth asphyxia, pulmonary haemorrhage, ROP and presence of shock were found to be associated with increased mortality. By logistic regression analysis it was observed that birth weight of the baby (p value 0.002), duration of stay (p value 0.0006), presence of shock (p<0.0001), were the risk factors significantly associated with poor outcome.Conclusions: Among the maternal and neonatal factors analyzed in the study using logistic regression analysis, birth weight, duration of hospital stay and presence of shock were significantly related to poor outcome. Of these presence of shock was the single most important factor that predicted increased mortality

Extended Kalman filter based sliding mode control of parallel-connected two five-phase PMSM drive system

This paper presents sliding mode control of sensor-less parallel-connected two five-phase permanent magnet synchronous machines (PMSMs) fed by a single five-leg inverter. For both machines, the rotor speeds and rotor positions as well as load torques are estimated by using Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) scheme. Fully decoupled control of both machines is possible via an appropriate phase transposition while connecting the stator windings parallel and employing proposed speed sensor-less method. In the resulting parallel-connected two-machine drive, the independent control of each machine in the group is achieved by controlling the stator currents and speed of each machine under vector control consideration. The effectiveness of the proposed Extended Kalman Filter in conjunction with the sliding mode control is confirmed through application of different load torques for wide speed range operation. Comparison between sliding mode control and PI control of the proposed two-motor drive is provided. The speed response shows a short rise time, an overshoot during reverse operation and settling times is 0.075 s when PI control is used. The speed response obtained by SMC is without overshoot and follows its reference and settling time is 0.028 s. Simulation results confirm that, in transient periods, sliding mode controller remarkably outperforms its counterpart PI controller. 2018 by the authors.Scopu

Selective harmonic elimination in awide modulation range using modified Newton-raphson and pattern generation methods for a multilevel inverter

Considering the aim of having low switching losses, especially in medium-voltage and high-power converters, the pre-programmed pulse width modulation technique is very useful because the generated harmonic content can be known in advance and optimized. Among the different low switching frequency techniques, the Selective Harmonics Elimination (SHE) modulation method is most suitable because of its direct control over the harmonic spectrum. This paper proposes a method for obtaining multiple solutions for selectively eliminating specific harmonics in a wide range of modulation indices by using modified Newton-Raphson (NR) and pattern generation techniques. The different pattern generation and synthesis approach provide more degrees of freedom and a way to operate the converter in a wide range of modulation. The modified Newton-Raphson technique is not complex and ensures fast convergence on a solution. Moreover, multiple solutions are obtained by keeping a very small increase in the modulation index. In the previous methods, solutions were not obtainable at all modulation indices. In this paper, only exact solutions to the low-order harmonics elimination for Cascaded H-bridge inverter are reported for all modulation indices. Analytical and simulation results prove the robustness and correctness of the technique proposed in this paper. 2018 by the authors.Acknowledgments: This (publication, report, etc.) was made possible by NPRP grant # [X-033-2-007] from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation).Scopu

SCREENING AND CHARACTERIZATION OF DEVELOPING RESISTANT CULTIVAR AGAINST ODOIPORUS LONGICOLLIS (OLIVIER) (COLEOPTERA: CURCULIONIDAE) USING REFERENCE GENOTYPES IN INDIA

Objective: The objective of the research was to develop a screening method for weevil resistance by using selected genotypes. The selected reference genotypes were screened against stem weevil to deals with the different parts in India.Methods: The collected stem pieces of each cultivar were cut into 30 cm length and kept in an insect breeding chamber for two polypropylene cages is one into another. The bottom of the inner cage is made holes to drain the water from stem discs and the outer cage is without holes to collect it. Reproductively active and healthy weevils (4 females and 4 males) were selected and released into the breeding chamber for each commercial cultivar and screened against Odoiporus longicollis and observation was taken after 38 d. Based on the following method, different states of insect cultures were screened under in vitro conditions. This experiment was replicated four times for further statistical analysis.Results: The resistant genotype had significantly more (p&lt;0.05) mortality, and fewer than the susceptible genotypes. These results indicated that the genotypes can be used as reference genotypes in evaluating resistance or susceptibility against the banana stem weevil using Gas chromatography with antennogram detector. This implies that the infestation caused by the weevils varied in different genotypes and also this information will be further helpful in selecting the resistant cultivars for future in the field of Agriculture.Conclusion: In commercial cultivars, no one can report the divergent and screening of stem weevil under in vitro conditions. In field conditions, that are not accuracy because, Climate change, Adaptation of host, migration and etc. For this instance, we performed the in vitro screening study and it finally revealed the susceptible and resistant genotypes based on the percent of weevil infestation are the same as well as no significant differences between different banana growing areas in India.Keywords: Banana stem weevil (Odoiporus longicollis), Screening, Host-plant resistance, Resistant genotypes, Biodiversity, Gas chromatography with Electroantennogram detector (GC-EAD

An effective virus-based gene silencing method for functional genomics studies in common bean

BACKGROUND: Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is a crop of economic and nutritious importance in many parts of the world. The lack of genomic resources have impeded the advancement of common bean genomics and thereby crop improvement. Although concerted efforts from the "Phaseomics" consortium have resulted in the development of several genomic resources, functional studies have continued to lag due to the recalcitrance of this crop for genetic transformation. RESULTS: Here we describe the use of a bean pod mottle virus (BPMV)-based vector for silencing of endogenous genes in common bean as well as for protein expression. This BPMV-based vector was originally developed for use in soybean. It has been successfully employed for both protein expression and gene silencing in this species. We tested this vector for applications in common bean by targeting common bean genes encoding nodulin 22 and stearoyl-acyl carrier protein desaturase for silencing. Our results indicate that the BPMV vector can indeed be employed for reverse genetics studies of diverse biological processes in common bean. We also used the BPMV-based vector for expressing the green fluorescent protein (GFP) in common bean and demonstrate stable GFP expression in all common bean tissues where BPMV was detected. CONCLUSIONS: The availability of this vector is an important advance for the common bean research community not only because it provides a rapid means for functional studies in common bean, but also because it does so without generating genetically modified plants. Here we describe the detailed methodology and provide essential guidelines for the use of this vector for both gene silencing and protein expression in common bean. The entire VIGS procedure can be completed in 4-5 weeks

Three-phase series resonant DC-DC boost converter with double LLC resonant tanks and variable frequency control

This paper proposes a three-phase inverter combined with two LLC resonant tanks series resonant DC-DC boost converter with variable frequency control. The three-phase inverter side of the proposed circuit is connected to identical two-level LLC tanks to ensure balanced resonant currents. The proposed converter requires less switching devices and transformers as compared to the conventional interleaved LLC resonant converter, which competitively offers higher efficiency and reduced size and cost. Furthermore, the proposed converter works above the resonant frequency to achieve zero voltage switching (ZVS) for the entire operating frequency range {(42.5kHz < }{f}{s}{ < 50kHz)} for all switches. Variable frequency controller is considered in order to obtain better stability for diverse loads. Therefore, the proposed converter will have the ability to respond to the load changes by varying the switching frequency to the value that fulfils the requirement. In order to verify the improvement of the proposed converter, the converter performance is compared to conventional interleaved LLC resonant converter. The theoretical outcomes are confirmed through simulation studies using MATLAB/SIMULINK and validated experimentally using a laboratory prototype. Selected results are presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed converter

A High Gain DC-DC Converter with Grey Wolf Optimizer Based MPPT Algorithm for PV Fed BLDC Motor Drive

Photovoltaic (PV) water pumping systems are becoming popular these days. In PV water pumping, the role of the converter is most important, especially in the renewable energy-based PV systems case. This study focuses on one such application. In this proposed work, direct current (DC) based intermediate DC-DC power converter, i.e., a modified LUO (M-LUO) converter is used to extricate the availability of power in the high range from the PV array. The M-LUO converter is controlled efficiently by utilizing the Grey Wolf Optimizer (GWO)-based maximum power point tracking algorithm, which aids the smooth starting of a brushless DC (BLDC) motor. The voltage source inverter&rsquo;s (VSI) fundamental switching frequency is achieved in the BLDC motor by electronic commutation. Hence, the occurrence of VSI losses due to a high switching frequency is eliminated. The GWO optimized algorithm is compared with the perturb and observe (P&amp;O) and fuzzy logic based maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithms. However, by sensing the position of the rotor and comparing the reference speed with the actual speed, the speed of the BLDC motor is controlled by the proportional-integral (PI) controller. The recent advancement in motor drives based on distributed sources generates more demand for highly efficient permanent magnet (PM) motor drives, and this was the beginning of interest in BLDC motors. Thus, in this paper, the design of a high-gain boost converter optimized by a GWO algorithm is proposed to drive the BLDC-based pumping motor. The proposed work is simulated in MATLAB-SIMULINK, and the experimental results are verified using the dsPIC30F2010 controller