Independent Component Analysis

A fundamental problem in neural network research, as well as in many other disciplines, is finding a suitable representation of multivariate data, i.e. random vectors. For reasons of computational and conceptual simplicity, the representation is often sought as a linear transformation of the original data. In other words, each component of the representation is a linear combination of the original variables. Well-known linear transformation methods include principal component analysis, factor analysis, and projection pursuit. Independent component analysis (ICA) is a recently developed method in which the goal is to find a linear representation of nongaussian data so that the components are statistically independent, or as independent as possible. Such a representation seems to capture the essential structure of the data in many applications, including feature extraction and signal separation

Build up of soil phosphorus in coffee plantations of Karnataka overthree decades

Karnataka is the largest coffee producing State in India contributing 72.3 per cent of the total production of the country. ArabicaCoffee is being cultivated in Karnatakain an area of 1.1 lakh ha and Robusta coffee in 1.2 lakh ha. Coffee growing soils are deep,friable, rich in organic matter, high in potassium content, well drained and slightly acidic in reaction. These soils contain largequantities of aluminium and iron oxides. Hence, phosphorus (P) availability in the Indian coffee growing soils is a constraint asthe aluminium and iron oxides fix the appliedphosphorus. Soil testing laboratories(STLs) of Coffee Board are rendering advisoryservice to the growers based on soil analysis and classify the data into low, medium and high category. In order to know the impactof the lime and fertilizer management on the soil available P status of the coffee growing soils of Karnataka, the soil-P data werecompiled and classified into different categories for the 3 districts, viz., Chikmagalur, Hassan and Kodagu for a period from 1980-81 to 2015-16. The decade-wise data set on soil available phosphorus so obtained was analyzed and the changes occurred over aperiod of time were assessed.The results indicated that over a period of thirty six years clear cut shift has taken place from low tohigh category in the available P status of soils cropped to coffee. About 50per cent of the samples were low during 1980s whilethis has reduced to 42 per cent during 1990s and further reduced to 23per cent during 2016. On the other hand the percentage ofsamples under high category has gradually increased from 24 to 51

ASSESSMENT OF SOCIAL VULNERABILITY TO THE IMPACT OF FLOOD HAZARD: A CASE STUDY OF KOPILI RIVER BASIN, ASSAM, INDIA

In the present study, an attempt is made to understand the impact on Social Vulnerability of the Kopili basin due to various severities of flood hazard. The flood hazard is generated using multi-temporal historical satellite based analysis and integration of annual flood inundation layers. The census of India data of 2001 and 2011 is spatially joined with village database to study the impact at village level. Using 5 Census variables from both Census 2001 & 2011 as vulnerability indicators, the Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) is derived and classified into various vulnerable zones namely Low, Moderate and High Vulnerable zones. The findings of the study show that the number of villages falling in Low and High Vulnerable zones had decreased during Census 2011 when compared to 2001 and a rise of 6% in villages falling in moderate vulnerable zones during 2011 is observed. The spatial database generated is useful to understand the impact of floods on the Social Vulnerability status of the basin and can be a useful input to further study the Physical, Economic and Environmental Vulnerabilities of the basin

QUASISPECIES FEATURE IN SARS-CoV-2

Since the identification of the SARS-CoV-2, genus Beta- Coronavirus, in January 2020, the virus quickly spread in less than 3 months to all continents with a susceptible human population of about a 7.9billion, and still in active circulation. In the process, it has accumulated mutations leading to genetic diversity. Regular emergence of variants of concern/significance in different ecology shows genetic heterogeneity in the base population of SARS-CoV-2 that is continuously expanding with the passage of the virus in the vast susceptible human population. Natural selection of mutant occurs frequently in a positive sense (+) single-stranded (ss) RNA virus upon replication in the host.  The Pressure of sub-optimal levels of virus-neutralizing antibodies and also innate immunity influence the process of genetic/ antigenic selection. The fittest of the mutants, that could be more than one, propagate and emerge as variants. The existence of different lineages, clades, and strains, as well as genetic heterogeneity of plaque purified virus population, justifies SARS-CoV-2 as ‘Quasispecies’ that refers to swarms of mutant sequences generated during replication of the viral genome, and all mutant sequences may not lead to virion. Viruses having a quasispecies nature may end up with progressive antigenic changes leading to antigenic plurality that is driven by ecology, and this phenomenon challenges vaccination-based control programs

COVID-19 PANDEMIC: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW ON THE CORONAVIRUSES OF ANIMALS AND SARS-CoV-2

Coronaviruses (CoVs), classified into four genera, viz., alpha-, beta-, gamma-, and Delta- CoV, represent an important group of diverse transboundary pathogens that can infect a variety of mammalian and avian species including humans, animals, poultry, and non-poultry birds. CoVs primarily infect lung and gut epithelial cells, besides monocytes and macrophages. CoVs have high mutation rates causing changes in host specificity, tissue tropism, and mode of virus excretion and transmissions. The recent CoV zoonoses are SARS, MERS, and COVID-19 that are caused by the transmission of beta-CoVs of bats to humans.  Recently, reverse zoonoses of the COVID-19 virus have been detected in dogs, tigers, and minks. Beta-CoV strains also infect bovine (BCoV) and canine species (CRCoV); both these beta-CoVs might have originated from a common ancestor. Despite the high genetic similarity between BCoV, CRCoV, and HCoV-OC43, these differ in species specificity. Alpha-CoV strains infect canine (CCoV), feline (FIPV), swine (TGEV and PEDV), and humans (HCoV229E and NL63). Six coronavirus species are known to infect and cause disease in pigs, seven in human beings, and two in dogs. The high mutation rate in CoVs is attributed to error-prone 3′-5′ exoribonuclease (NSP 14), and genetic recombination to template shift by the polymerase. The present compilation describes the important features of the CoVs and diseases caused in humans, animals, and birds that are essential in surveillance of diverse pool of CoVs circulating in nature, and monitoring interspecies transmission, zoonoses, and reverse zoonoses

Studies on soil fertility status of coffee growing regions in Wayanad district

Top soil in Wayanad region is prone to disturbance and erosion, as the coffee growers’ practice scraping, scuffling and cover digging. It isnecessary to conserve the inherent fertility of top soil by minimum disturbance during farming operations. Otherwise soil deterioration can become one of the major constraints for crop production in the present day exploitative cultivation of plantation crops. It is well known that nutrient availability is influenced by their distribution in the soil as well as other soil characteristics. Soil fertility is the key to meet the nutrient requirement of the crops. Soil test based nutrient management will increase the crop productivity there by helping to save the fertility. The study, carried out to understand the fertility status of the coffee soils, revealed a higher acidity (98%) with deficiencies of calcium (32%), magnesium (96%) and boron (31%) limiting the coffee productivity in the district. The coffee area in the district is strongly acidic (69%) due to lack of liming and continuous use of acid producing fertilizers. Fifty per cent of soil sampleswere high in phosphorus which in turn impair the nutrient balance and affects micronutrient absorption by plants. Deficiency of calcium and magnesium affects uptake of other nutrients which upsets cellular functions. In coffee, boron deficiency will reduce the productivity by affecting flowering and fruit set. Amelioration of soil acidity and optimal use of major, secondary and micronutrients are must to enhance coffee productivity in the district. Application of manures and fertilizers based on soil test values will save the fertilizers and also sustain the soil health. Integrated management of plant nutrients is essential to achieve sustainable coffee crop production

Parametric analysis of Asymmetric Spur Gear Tooth

Abstract Gear is a machine element used to transmit motion and power between rotating shafts by means of progressive engagement of projections called teeth. Gears are classified according to the relative position of the axes of the shaft, type of gearing, peripheral velocity of the gears and position of teeth on gear surface. Presently gears are suffered by backlash the amount by which the width of a tooth space exceeds the thickness of the engaging tooth on the pitch circles, undercut a condition in generated gear teeth when any part of the fillet curve lies inside of a line drawn tangent to the working profile at its lowest point and interference is an important aspect of kinematics of gearing. When the gear tooth tries to dig below the base circle of mating gear then the gear tooth action shall be non conjugate and violate the fundamental law of gearing this non conjugate action is called the interference . These defects can be eliminated by increasing the pressure angle, by increasing the addendum of mating gear and another way of increasing the load capacity of transmissions is to modify the involute geometry. This has been a standard practice in sophisticated gear design for many years. The nomenclature describing these types of gear modifications can be quite confusing with reference to addendum modification or profile shift. An additional alteration that is very rarely used is to make the gears asymmetric with different pressure angles for each side of the tooth. An asymmetric spur gear drive means that larger and smaller pressure angles are applied for the driving and coast sides. The two profiles of a gear tooth are functionally different for most gear drives. The workload on one side of profile is significantly higher than the other Gears. The main objective of this paper is to generate asymmetric spur gear tooth geometry for different pressure angles on drive and coast side using computer programme. Developed programme is used to create a finite element model of gear tooth to study the effect of bending stress at the critical section for different pressure angles, different number of teeth and module. To study the effect of above asymmetric spur tooth parameters Finite Element Analysis software ANSYS was used

Prevalence and Predictors of Loss of Wild Type BRCA1 in Estrogen Receptor Positive and Negative BRCA1-Associated Breast Cancers

Introduction: The majority of breast cancers that occur in BRCA1 mutation carriers (BRCA1 carriers) are estrogen receptor-negative (ER-). Therefore, it has been suggested that ER negativity is intrinsic to BRCA1 cancers and reflects the cell of origin of these tumors. However, approximately 20% of breast cancers that develop in BRCA1 carriers are ER-positive (ER+); these cancers are more likely to develop as BRCA1 carriers age, suggesting that they may be incidental and unrelated to BRCA1 deficiency. The purpose of this study was to compare the prevalence of loss of heterozygosity due to loss of wild type (wt) BRCA1 in ER+ and ER- breast cancers that have occurred in BRCA1 carriers and to determine whether age at diagnosis or any pathologic features or biomarkers predict for loss of wt BRCA1 in these breast cancers. Methods: Relative amounts of mutated and wt BRCA1 DNA were measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction performed on laser capture microdissected cancer cells from 42 ER+ and 35 ER- invasive breast cancers that developed in BRCA1 carriers. BRCA1 gene methylation was determined on all cancers in which sufficient DNA was available. Immunostains for cytokeratins (CK) 5/6, 14, 8 and 18, epidermal growth factor receptor and p53 were performed on paraffin sections from tissue microarrays containing these cancers. Results: Loss of wt BRCA1 was equally frequent in ER+ and ER- BRCA1-associated cancers (81.0% vs 88.6%, respectively; P = 0.53). One of nine cancers tested that retained wt BRCA1 demonstrated BRCA1 gene methylation. Age at diagnosis was not significantly different between first invasive ER+ BRCA1 breast cancers with and without loss of wt BRCA1 (mean age 45.2 years vs 50.1 years, respectively; P = 0.51). ER+ BRCA1 cancers that retained wt BRCA1 were significantly more likely than those that lost wt BRCA1 to have a low mitotic rate (odds ratio (OR), 5.16; 95% CI, 1.91 to ∞). BRCA1 cancers with loss of wt BRCA1 were more likely to express basal cytokeratins CK 5/6 or 14 (OR 4.7; 95% CI, 1.85 to ∞). Conclusions: We found no difference in the prevalence of loss of wt BRCA1 between ER+ and ER- invasive BRCA1-associated breast cancers. Our findings suggest that many of the newer therapies for BRCA1 breast cancers designed to exploit the BRCA1 deficiency in these cancers may also be effective in ER+ cancers that develop in this population