Studies on DNA barcoding of sacred plant - Ficus religiosa L.

In the present investigation, DNA barcoding were made for the sacred trees of Main (Big) Temples in Cuddalore district, namely Ficus religiosa, to document their reliable identification, discrimination, similarities and evolutionary trend among them and with their related taxa for future use.  DNA isolation from leaf samples of present study species was carried out by using a modified CTAB method and good isolation was got for the species studied. Gradient PCR amplification was performed for the isolated DNA using matK gene and the primers matK472F & matK1248R.  The amplification success was 90-95%. PCR amplification was tested with 1 % agarose gel electrophoresis using ethidium bromide and the products were confirmed.  The PCR products were sent to Xcelris Labs Ltd. Sydney House, Premchand Nagar Road, Bodakdev, Ahmedabad 380054, India, for DNA sequencing and sequences were got for the species with the success rate of 95 %.  Pairwise sequence alignments were made with BLAST and multiple sequence alignments are made with ClustalW, and based on the sequence alignments, dentrograms were constructed using software Mega 5 and Neighbor joining method to study the phylogenetic aspects of the species studied and with their related taxa

Effect of exercise intervention on vestibular related impairments in hearing-impaired children

Objective: To analyze the methodological quality and compile the evidence from studies, which examined the efficacy of exercise interventions in the treatment of vestibular-related deficits in hearing-impaired children.Sources: Extensive search of computerized bibliographic databases (MEDLINE, CINHAL, EMBASE, SCOPUS, ISI of web science, Cochrane Library, and AMED) was performed from earliest to February 7, 2011.Data extraction: Potential articles were retained and analyzed by a single investigator to ensure the eligibility criteria. Methodological quality was analyzed using the PEDro scale.Results: Our search yielded 8326 articles. Finally, two potential citations were retained for inclusion after removing duplicates, and excluding articles that do not fulfill the criteria.Conclusion: Exercise programs that enhances the visual–motor and somatosensory abilities that enable substitution are more effective in improving the vestibular related deficits in children with hearing-impairment.Keywords: Vestibular impairment/hypofunction; Exercise/rehabilitation; Hearing impairment; Children; Review (publication type

Investigation on the Mechanical and Tribological Properties of Aluminium-Tin Based Plain Bearing Material

The purpose of this study is to investigate the Mechanical and Tribological properties of plain bearing alloys used especially in internal combustion engines. The mechanical properties namely Tensile strength and Hardness were investigated according to standard procedure. The sliding friction and wear properties of aluminium-tin alloy against high carbon high chromium steel were investigated at different normal loads as (29.43 N, 33.35 N and 36.25 N). Tests were carried in oil lubricated conditions with a sliding speed of 1 m/s. Prior to experimentation, the circulating engine oil 20w40 was heated to temperature of 800C using heater. The frictional behavior and wear property of aluminium-tin alloy were studied by means of pin-on-disk tribometer. The weight loss of the specimen was measured and wear and friction characteristics were calculated with respect to time, depth of wear track, sliding speed and bearing load. To determine the wear mechanism, the worn surfaces of the samples were examined using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The optimum wear reduction was obtained at different normal loads and at same sliding speed

Ablation and Plasma Formation Due to Laser Irradiance

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/77222/1/AIAA-2007-4378-428.pd

Traditional Phytotherapy for Diabetes Used by the People of Perambalur District, Tamilnadu, South India

Diabetes is caused due to deficiency in production of insulin by the pancreas, or by the ineffectiveness of the insulin produced. It is a global problem and the numbers of people affected are increasing day by day. Plants provide a potential source of antidiabetic drugs. In India, most of the people, especially in rural areas use traditional medicine of plants to treat many diseases including diabetes. The aim of the present study was to document medicinal plants, traditionally used to treat diabetes by the people of Perambalur district. Traditional health practitioners were interviewed with standardized questionnaires in order to obtain information on medicinal plants traditionally used for the management of diabetes. Thirty species of 29 genera and 22 families were encountered during this study

Theoretical Bounds on Control-Plane Self-Monitoring in Routing Protocols

Routing protocols rely on the cooperation of nodes in the network to both forward packets and to select the forwarding routes. There have been several instances in which an entire network's routing collapsed simply because a seemingly insignificant set of nodes reported erroneous routing information to their neighbors. It may have been possible for other nodes to trigger an automated response and prevent the problem by analyzing received routing information for inconsistencies that revealed the errors. Our theoretical study seeks to understand when nodes can detect the existence of errors in the implementation of route selection elsewhere in the network through monitoring their own routing states for inconsistencies. We start by constructing a methodology, called Strong-Detection, that helps answer the question. We then apply Strong-Detection to three classes of routing protocols: distance-vector, path-vector, and link-state. For each class, we derive low-complexity, self-monitoring algorithms that use the routing state created by these routing protocols to identify any detectable anomalies. These algorithms are then used to compare and contrast the self-monitoring power these various classes of protocols possess. We also study the trade-off between their state-information complexity and ability to identify routing anomalies

Assisted Living: Domestic Power Monitoring utilising Home Automation Products and Cloud Storage

This paper describes the development of a system for taking measurements of electrical power consumption in a domestic situation and using a web service to store the measurements in a cloud hosted database. This is part of a larger project to evaluate the potential for using power monitoring as a proxy for wellness as part of the assisted living projects at Wintec