STRUCTURAL BEHAVIOR OF HYBRID FIBER REINFORCED CONCRETE BEAM USING STEEL AND POLYVINYL ALCOHOL FIBER

           Fiber reinforcement is commonly used to provide toughness and ductility to cementitious matrix which is brittle in nature. Reinforcement of concrete with a single type of fiber may improve the desired properties of a composites to a limited level, whereas hybrid fiber is a combination of two or more types of fibers which are rationally combined to produce a composite that derives high benefits and exhibits a synergetic response. The aim of this investigation is to determine the addition of optimum dosage level of fibre in concrete. By having the optimum dosage level, beams are casted to determine the structural behaviour of HFRC. The hybrid fibers used are Steel Fiber (Crimped) in shape and PolyVinyl Alcohol Fiber. HFRC specimens are casted for 1% volume fraction. As a result of this investigation the structural performance such as ductility factor, stiffness and energy absorption capacity has significant improvement compared to conventional concrete

Optimized cluster head selection using krill herd algorithm for wireless sensor network

Wireless Sensor Network (WSNs) can perform transmission within themselves and examination is performed based on their range of frequency. It is quite difficult to recharge devises under adverse conditions. The main limitations are area of coverage, network’s lifetime and aggregating and scheduling. If the lifetime of a network should be prolonged, then it can become a success along with reliability of the data transferred, conservation of sensor and scalability. Through many research works, this challenge can be overcome which are being proposed and the network’s lifespan improved which can preserve the sensor’s energy. By schemes of clustering, a low overhead is provided and the resources are efficiently allocated thus increasing the ultimate consumption of energy and reducing interfaces within the sensor nodes. Challenges such as node deployment and energy-aware clustering can be considered as issues of optimization with regards to WSNs, along with data collection. An optimal solution can be gotten through evolutionary and SI algorithm, pertaining to Non-deterministic Polynomial (NP)-complete along with a number of techniques. In this work, Krill Herd Algorithm based clustering is proposed

De-anonymizable location cloaking for privacy-controlled mobile systems

The rapid technology upgrades of mobile devices and the popularity of wireless networks significantly drive the emergence and development of Location-based Services (LBSs), thus greatly expanding the business of online services and enriching the user experience. However, the personal location data shared with the service providers also leave hidden risks on location privacy. Location anonymization techniques transform the exact location of a user into a cloaking area by including the locations of multiple users in the exposed area such that the exposed location is indistinguishable from that of the other users. However in such schemes, location information once perturbed cannot be recovered from the cloaking region and as a result, users of the location cannot obtain fine granular information even when they have access to it. In this paper, we propose Dynamic Reversible Cloaking (DRC) a new de-anonymziable location cloaking mechanism that allows to restore the actual location from the perturbed information through the use of an anonymization key. Extensive experiments using realistic road network traces show that the proposed scheme is efficient, effective and scalable

Effects of food quality on swimming activity and food utilization in the air-breathing fish Ophiocephalus striatus

In cylindrical aquaria, liver fed O. striatus increased surfacing from 1104 times at 2.5 cm depth to 1738 times/day at 40 cm depth. Due to the sustained surfacing. O. striatus "hung" to the surface 20 times for 1 h/day in the former and 27 times for 3.2 h/day in the latter. Feeding increased from 24 to 40 mg/g.day, assimilation 24 to 34 mg/g•day and metabolism 0.5 to.1.1 ml O2 uptake/g•h in these groups

Endometriosis fertility index at laparoscope: a ray of hope and lots of scope

Background: Endometriosis fertility index (EFI) is used to predict the fecundity in women with surgically and histologically confirmed endometriosis. Aim of the study is to evaluate the successful spontaneous pregnancy rates in patients with endometriosis after laparoscopic surgery in relation to EFI score.Methods: Observational cross-sectional study was conducted on 76 patients who desire to conceive with suspected endometriosis related infertility treated by laparoscopic surgery. EFI score was calculated and information on mode of conception (spontaneous or assisted reproductive technology-ART) was collected by contacting the patients.Results: In women who conceived spontaneously, mean age was 31.33+3.29 years. Factors found to be significant were age (pvalue-0.0001), time to achieve spontaneous pregnancy (median-9 months). Patients with higher EFI score (5-10) has good spontaneous conception rate (96.2%) compared to those with lower EFI score (0-4) that conceived better with ART (60%) women with lower least function score has better outcome for spontaneous pregnancy (p<0.001).Conclusions: EFI scoring system is effective in predicting postoperative successful spontaneous pregnancy rates in the patients with endometriosis. In our study patients with higher EFI score achieved successful spontaneous pregnancy

Analysis and design of a novel six-switch five-level active boost neutral point clamped inverter

This paper presents an analysis and design of a new boost type six-switch five-level Active Neutral Point Clamped (ANPC) inverter based on switched/flying capacitor technique with self-voltage balancing. Compared to major conventional 5-level inverter topologies, such as, Neutral Point Clamped (NPC), Flying Capacitor (FC), Cascaded Hbridge (CHB) and Active NPC (ANPC) topologies, the new topology reduces the dc-link voltage requirement by 50%. Whilst reducing the dc-link voltage requirement, the number and the size of the active and passive components are also reduced without compromising the reactive power capability. The analysis shows that the proposed topology is suitable for wide range of power conversion applications (for example, rolling mills, fans, pumps, marine appliances, mining, tractions, and most prominently grid-connected renewable energy systems). Experimental results from a 1.2- kVA prototype justifies the concept of the proposed inverter with a conversion efficiency of around 97.5% ± 1% for a wide load range

A transformerless three-level three-phase boost PWM inverter for PV applications

Abstract: Multilevel converters have seen rising demands in the past decades, due to their increased power ratings, enhanced power quality, low switching losses and reduced electromagnetic interference. Prominent among them are the three‐level (3L) neutral point clamped and the flying capacitor inverter topologies along with their derivatives. Nevertheless, the main drawback of these topologies is the requirement of a front‐end boost DC–DC converter to compensate the high dc‐link voltage demand, which is usually twice the grid peak voltage. This multi‐stage power conversion further pulls down the overall system efficiency. A single‐stage dc–ac power converter with boost capability offer an interesting alternative compared to the two stage approach. Considering this aspect, a novel three‐level three‐phase boost type inverter is introduced in this paper for general‐purpose applications (prominently grid‐connected renewable energy). The proposed inverter would reduce the DC‐link voltage requirement to half using the same or even less number of active and passive components, compared to the conventional three‐level neutral point clamped and flying capacitor family. The principle of operation and theoretical analysis are discussed in detail. The design methodology along with simulation and experimental waveforms for a 5 kVA inverter are presented to prove the concept of the proposed inverter topology for practical applications

TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION USING MEDICAL IMAGE PROCESSING TOOLS IN GLOBAL HEALTH SECTOR DEVELOPMENT

Medical Imaging is a major development in the field of medicine for past 100 years. The tool helps the physicians not only to detect the diseases but also the intensity of the disease can be captured. The paper discusses about the prevailing health system and insurance schemes, the treatment facilities for disease like cancer. The availability of medical imaging tools like x-ray, mammogram, ultrasound, CT and MRI scans and its innovations for the public health diagnosis the diseases in various methods with the aid of modern machines and techniques. The techniques vary in terms of cost, methodology in detecting the diseases and even the accuracy. The people could not continue the treatment because of high cost and sometimes scarcity of medicines. As the treatment are costlier irrespective of various classes of people approach the social security organizations and because of continuous usage the equipments worn out. Though these tools are considered as boon in the field of medical imaging each has its own drawback. The result of the paper states that the physicians can detect the early stage of disease with the aid of these tools and can come up with treatment that will avoid serious health issues or sometimes death. Also the government of concern country is responsible for all the public and seek opportunity for developing health sector often

Kinetics of thermal decomposition of some metal oxalates

The thermal decomposition kinetics of oxalates of ZnII, NiII and ThIV have been studied in air by isothermal and non-isothermal thermogravimetry. The isothermal kinetic results suggest that the mechanism of decomposition of the zinc compound involves rapid nucleation followed by two dimensional growth in the acceleratory region, while in the case of thorium oxalate, the initial nucleation occurs by a chain mechanism on the surface of the reactant followed by the growth of the product from the surface towards the interior. The results on nickel oxalate could not be interpreted in an unambiguous manner. The activation energy and the frequency factor obtained from TG curves compare well with those obtained from the isothermal method. The activation energies for the dehydration of these oxalates have also been evaluated from the thermogravimetric curves

Perspectives of Teachers at Medical Colleges Across India regarding the Competency based Medical Education Curriculum – A Qualitative, Manual, Theoretical Thematic Content Analysis

Background: Competency-based medical education (CBME) curriculum has been implemented in India since 2019 with a goal to create an “Indian Medical Graduate” (IMG) possessing requisite knowledge, skills, attitudes, values, and responsiveness. Objectives: To explore teachers’ perceptions across India at medical colleges on the newly implemented competency-based medical education curriculum. Methods: This was a qualitative cross?sectional study conducted among teachers working at medical colleges across India, between February and April 2022 (n = 192). The data collection was done using Google forms online survey platform on teachers’ perception regarding CBME, its specific components, and perceived bottlenecks. We analyzed this qualitative data using manual, theoretical thematic content analysis following the steps endorsed in Braun and Clarke’s six-phase framework. Results: The majority of the teachers (64.1%) have positively responded to the CBME curriculum’s implementation. However, it came with a caution that the curriculum should continuously evolve and adapt to regional demands. The foundation course, early clinical exposure, and the family adoption program were the specific components of CBME curriculum over which the teachers raised concerns. The need for additional teachers in each department (department-specific teacher or faculty per hundred students ratio to be worked out) and the need for enabling faculty preparedness through adequate training was highlighted. Concerns were also raised regarding implementing CBME with teachers without a medical background (especially in preclinical departments). Conclusion: It is the need of the hour for the curriculum to incorporate a systematic feedback mechanism built into the system, though which such critical appraisals can be meaning collated and acted upon, to ultimately evolve, thereby creating an “Indian Medical Graduate” for the needs of todays’ society