High-Performance and Tunable Stereo Reconstruction

Traditional stereo algorithms have focused their efforts on reconstruction quality and have largely avoided prioritizing for run time performance. Robots, on the other hand, require quick maneuverability and effective computation to observe its immediate environment and perform tasks within it. In this work, we propose a high-performance and tunable stereo disparity estimation method, with a peak frame-rate of 120Hz (VGA resolution, on a single CPU-thread), that can potentially enable robots to quickly reconstruct their immediate surroundings and maneuver at high-speeds. Our key contribution is a disparity estimation algorithm that iteratively approximates the scene depth via a piece-wise planar mesh from stereo imagery, with a fast depth validation step for semi-dense reconstruction. The mesh is initially seeded with sparsely matched keypoints, and is recursively tessellated and refined as needed (via a resampling stage), to provide the desired stereo disparity accuracy. The inherent simplicity and speed of our approach, with the ability to tune it to a desired reconstruction quality and runtime performance makes it a compelling solution for applications in high-speed vehicles.Comment: Accepted to International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) 2016; 8 pages, 5 figure

Production of export quality agar

The seaweeds are the renewable and economically valuable wealth of the sea. The phytochemicals agar and algin are produced from the seaweeds. The red algae Gelidiella. acerosa and Gracilaria edulis are the source of raw materials for agar industries and Sargassum and Turbinaria for algin industries. Annually 50 tons of agar and 500 tons of alginates are manufactured in India

CARBAPENEMASES AND GRAM-NEGATIVE BACTERIA: A REVIEW

ABSTRACTThe emergence of resistance in Gram-negative pathogens has alarmed many clinicians and health-care workers both in community and hospitalsettings. Antibiotics, such as carbapenems, are used as a last resort in the treatment of multi-drug resistant (MDR) Gram-negative pathogens.Carbapenemases are the enzymes that hydrolyze carbapenems. The global spread of these MDR organisms has posed a public health problem due toits difficulty in empirical treatment of hospital and community acquired infections.Keywords: Carbapenems, Carbapenemase, Gram-negative bacteria, Multi-drug resistant organisms

Photosynthetic pigment of marine algae from Mandapam coast

Thirty species of marine algae collected from different localities of Mandapam coast (Gulf of Mannar) were analyse!! for their photosynthetic pigments suct. as chlorophyll and carotenoids. The lowest value. of chlorophyll as well as carotenoids content were found in Rhodophyceae. The grouping and separation of algae based on coloration has been practiced for over 100 years (Harvey, 1841). Pigments such as chlorophyll and carotenoids play important roles in photosynthesis. Several studies have been conducted in the algal pigment by Ramus el al. (1976); Brody el al. (1959); Jones el at. (1965) and Waaland el al. (1974). As there is no detailed work in this line on India.l seaweeds, the present study.of thirty species of marine algae belonging to Chlorophyta, Phaeophyta and Rhodophyta from Mandapam coast has been carried out

Phytochemical, Toxicological and Pharmacological Studies of Asiasari Radix et Rhizoma: A Review

Herba Asari and Asiasari Radix (AR) have a centuries-old history as a folk medicine in China, Korea and Japan. AR has long been used in combination with other herbs to treat cough, toothache, headache, neuralgia, aphthous stomatitis, gingivitis, chronic bronchitis, asthma and allergies. AR from three species of the genus Asarum: A. heterotropoides Fr. Schmidt var. mandshuricum (Maxim.) Kitag., A. sieboldii Miq. var. seoulense Nakai and A. sieboldii Miq are recognized as original “Asiasari Radix et Rhizoma”. These species do not contain aristolochic acids (nephrotoxins present in the Asarum species) and therefore the roots of AR are recommended for use. Asiasari Radix is rich in volatile oils, phenylpropanoids, terpenoids, flavonoids, glycosides and lignins. The reported toxicological and pharmacological activities of AR, including antifungal, antimicrobial, antilisterial, antiallergic, acarcidal, larvicidal, anti-caries, anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective, neuroprotective, cytotoxic and anticancer activities suggest its therapeutic potentials in drug discovery.Keywords: Asarum; Asiasarum, Asiasarum heterotropoides var. mandshuricum, Asiasarum sieboldiiHerba Asari, Folk medicine, Pharmacological, Toxicologica

A prospective observational study on prescribing pattern of antimicrobial agents in the post-operative general surgery ward of a tertiary care teaching hospital

Background: This prospective observational study was done to know the current prescription trend of antimicrobial agents in the post-operative ward. To evaluate the current pattern of antimicrobial agents in the post-operative surgical cases of a tertiary care teaching hospital.Methods: The study was carried out in collaboration with the Department of General Surgery and Department of Pharmacology during April 2013 to March 2014. All parameters like demographic data, antimicrobials agents prescribed by surgeons, dose, frequency, duration, route, formulation, brand or generic drugs, adverse events were collected in the specially structured case proforma. Descriptive statistics was applied using SPSS version 17.0.Results: During the study period, 513 patient case records were analysed in which males are higher than females. A total of 816 drugs were used in 484 patients during the study period. 162 were on a single drug, 190 were on two drugs, 42 were on three drugs and 90 were on fixed dose combination. Brand name of the drugs and parenteral route of administration were preferred in the study. Cephalosporins (52.32%) and metronidazole (34.38%) were the most commonly prescribed group of antimicrobials followed by penicillin (0.9%), aminoglycosides (6.58%), quinolones (5.23%), macrolides (0.45%) and tetracycline (0.14%). Totally 135 (27.89%) patients received drugs which are not included in the essential medicine list of WHO and 112 (23.14%) patients received drugs which are not from national EML.Conclusions: The maximum prescribed antimicrobial agent in the post-operative ward was third generation cephalosporins

Microelectromechnical Systems Inertial Measurement Unit Error Modelling and Error Analysis for Low-cost Strapdown Inertial Navigation System

This paper presents error modelling and error analysis of microelectromechnical systems (MEMS) inertial measurement unit (IMU) for a low-cost strapdown inertial navigation system (INS). The INS consists of IMU and navigation processor. The IMU provides acceleration and angular rate of the vehicle in all the three axes. In this paper, errors that affect the MEMS IMU, which is of low cost and less volume, are stochastically modelled and analysed using Allan variance. Wavelet decomposition has been introduced to remove the high frequency noise that affects the sensors to obtain the original values of angular rates and accelerations with less noise. This increases the accuracy of the strapdown INS. The results show the effect of errors in the output of sensors, easy interpretation of random errors by Allan variance, the increase in the accuracy when wavelet decomposition is used for denoising inertial sensor raw data.Defence Science Journal, 2009, 59(6), pp.650-658, DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/dsj.59.157

Simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers for assessing genetic diversity among the parental lines of hybrid rice (Oryza sativa L.)

The present scientific study was carried out at Tamil Nadu Rice Research Institute, Aduthurai with the objective of studying the genetic divergence among 51 restorer and five maintainer lines in terms of grain quality and fertility restorer genes (Rf3, Rf4 and Rf7) using 55 primers of simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Among them, 37 SSR markers were found to be polymorphic and the number of amplified fragments ranged from one to five. The highest polymorphic information content (PIC) value (more than 0.60) was observed for eight primers viz., AB 443, RM 3, RM 29, RM 226, RM 228, RM 304, RM 1812 and RM 3873 and average PIC value was 0.444. Cluster analysis using NTSYS generated dendrogram divided all the 56 parental lines into two distinct groups viz., maintainer line (Group I) and restorer line (Group II) at 76% coefficient of similarity. Maintainer line group consisted of five genotypes (COMS 23B, COMS 24B, COMS 25B, CRMS 31B and CRMS 32B) and restorer line group had 51 genotypes. Further, at 80% similarity, all fifty one restorer lines were again grouped into nine clusters. With higher polymorphism revealed by SSR markers, parental lines having the similar genetic background from pedigree information were grouped into different clusters. The combination of pedigree analysis and SSR markers could be a more reliable method to study the diversity and grouping of parental lines of hybrid rice. Hybridization between diverse restorer and CMS groups identified from this study would be expected to yield hybrid combinations with premium grain quality and good fertility restoration.Keywords: Simple sequence repeat (SSR), maintainer and restorer genetic diversity, grain quality, fertility restorationAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(33), pp. 5105-5116

Studies on the agar content in Gracilaria arcuata Var. Arcuata and G. Corticata Var. Cylindrica

Studies on the yield and physical properties of agar was made for one year from March 1982 to February 1983 in Gracilaria arcuata Var. Arcuta and G. Corticata Var. Cylindrica growing in the intertidal belt at Kilakarai. In G. arcUilta var arCUllla, the agar content varied from 38.8 to 52.2% and gel strength from 11 to 67 gm/cm'. In G. corticola var. cylindrica the yield of agar ranged from 33.1 to 48.6% and gel strength from 12 to 67 gm/cm'

Seaweeds-products, processing and utilization

Seaweeds-products, processing and utilization Marine macroalgae which are popularly termed as Seaweeds belong to the primitive group of nonflowering plants known as Thallophyta. They are autotrophic plants and grow in the intertidal and subtidal regions of the sea