A THREE-PHASE HIGH POWER FACTOR TWO-SWITCH BUCKTYPE CONVERTER

The paper proposes a three phase, two switch buck type converter with high power factor.The key feature of the proposed converter is that a switch in the converter has a lower peak voltage stress than a switch in a conventional threephase, single-switch buck-converter. A switch in the converter sees a line to neutral voltage across it rather than a line to line voltage which is the case for the switch in the conventional converter. The voltage stress in the proposed converter is limited to the peak value of the phase voltage of the input capacitors rather than the peak value of the line-to-line voltage, as is the case in the conventional converter. Since a switch in the proposed converter sees a line to neutral voltage instead of a line to line voltage the peak voltage stress is almost half than that of the switch in the conventional converter as this stress is reduced by a factor of sqrt(3). This reduces switching losses and allows lower rated standard devices to be used in converters. In the paper, the operation of the proposed converter is given and general considerations that should be taken into account when trying to design it are discussed. The feasibility of the converter is confirmed with results obtained from computer simulation and from an experimental prototype

Sperm recovery and IVF outcome after surgical sperm retrieval in azoospermia: our experience

Background: In the last decade, male factor infertility has been recognized as a significant global problem, which is on an increase. Till date, very few options are available for ameliorating male factor infertility. Development of intracytoplasmic sperm injection has revolutionized the treatment of males with very low sperm counts or with poor quality sperm. However, patients with a diagnosis of azoospermia had no option but to resort to adoption or use of donor sperm. The clinical management of men with azoospermia seeking fertility has been a challenge for andrologists, urologists, and reproductive medicine specialists alike. The older approaches denied such couple the possibility of having own genetic children. Surgical sperm retrieval and intracytoplasmic sperm injection have successfully transformed the treatment of male infertility so that now most of the men can father their own children. The aim of this study is to present the outcome of IVF with surgically retrieved sperm from azoospermic men.Methods: This study was a retrospective analysis of 100 cycles using surgically retrieved sperm. Outcome measures were fertilization rate (FR) and implantation rate (IR) per transfer.Results: Sperm retrieval rate in our study was 76% when Per cutaneous epididymal sperm aspiration (PESA) and Testicular sperm extraction (TESE) are combined. Our data demonstrated similar outcome between the use of epididymal or testicular sperm in men with azoospermic. There was no statistical difference concerning fertilization rate, embryo quality and pregnancy rate between ICSI with surgically retrieved sperm and ejaculated sperms.Conclusions: Surgical sperm retrieval is a feasible and successful procedure. Spermatozoa can be retrieved from the testis in up to 76% of patients, even in cases with severe disorders of spermatogenesis and deranged hormonal profile. Comprehensive genetic counseling is important for infertile couples deciding for surgical sperm retrieval, since genetic disorders, as yet undetected, may be passed on to the following generation with multiplying variety.

Role of modified biophysical profile in the management of post term pregnancy

Background: Prolonged gestation complicates 5% to 10% of all pregnancies and confers increased risk to both the fetus and mother. In the west about 18% of all singleton pregnancies persist beyond 41 weeks, 10% (range, 3% to 14%) continue beyond 42 weeks and 4% (range, 2% to 7%) continue beyond 43 completed weeks in the absence of an obstetric intervention. The risks for prolonged and post-term pregnancy include obesity, nulliparity, maternal age >30 years. Apart from these racial and ethnic differences have also been cited to be the reasons for higher risk of prolonged and post-term pregnancy. Post term pregnancies are associated with various maternal and neonatal complications.Methods: A prospective study was carried out at Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Command Hospital, Central Command, Lucknow. 100 patients were selected and divided into two groups and were followed up till the delivery.  Data so collected was subjected to analysis using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 15.0.Results: Majority of women enrolled in the study were aged above 25 years. Majority of women enrolled in the study were primigravida (67%). The Mean BMI of women enrolled in the study was 24.2±3.43 kg/m2 and the expectant and control groups were matched demographically and anthropometrically. The compromised modified biophysical profile was recorded in 33 (66%) of women in expectant group. Rate of caesarean delivery was 30% in expectant and 46% in control group. In the expectant group, AFD was the most common indication for caesarean section while control group had NPOL as the most common indication for caesarean section. In the expectant group, mean AFI showed a declining trend with increasing gestational age.Conclusions: It was concluded that expectant management using modified biophysical profile (MBPP) does not provide an additional value over prophylactically managed pregnancies. Although cesarean rate and NICU admission rates were lower in expectant group as compared to control group yet the utility of MBPP in expectant management could not be proven and needs further assessment in larger studies or pooled clinical trials

A novel approach for code smell detection : an empirical study

Code smells detection helps in improving understandability and maintainability of software while reducing the chances of system failure. In this study, six machine learning algorithms have been applied to predict code smells. For this purpose, four code smell datasets (God-class, Data-class, Feature-envy, and Long-method) are considered which are generated from 74 open-source systems. To evaluate the performance of machine learning algorithms on these code smell datasets, 10-fold cross validation technique is applied that predicts the model by partitioning the original dataset into a training set to train the model and test set to evaluate it. Two feature selection techniques are applied to enhance our prediction accuracy. The Chi-squared and Wrapper-based feature selection techniques are used to improve the accuracy of total six machine learning methods by choosing the top metrics in each dataset. Results obtained by applying these two feature selection techniques are compared. To improve the accuracy of these algorithms, grid search-based parameter optimization technique is applied. In this study, 100% accuracy was obtained for the Long-method dataset by using the Logistic Regression algorithm with all features while the worst performance 95.20 % was obtained by Naive Bayes algorithm for the Long-method dataset using the chi-square feature selection technique.publishedVersio

Plasmablastic lymphoma of the oral cavity in a immunocompetent patient: A case report

Plasmablastic lymphoma is a rare and diffuse large B cell lymphoma . It is rarely presents as  oral cavity tumour, normally seen in HIV or immunocompromised patients . Here we report a case of plasmablastic lymphoma  in a 82 year old  immunocompetent patient . The  patient’s chief complaint was swelling in the left lower mandible for last few months  . Prior to the swelling , the patient had backache problems which was investigated and undiagnosed . The  oral lesion responded well to chemotherapy and got regressed . The following presentation discusses clinical , radiological , histological , immunological features and its management and prognosis  

The Policy and Practice of Public Primary Curriculum in India - A study of textbooks in public primary schools of District Morigaon (Assam) and District Medak (Andhra Pradesh)

The passing of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (2009) provides a new policy context and a new series of opportunities to strengthening the quality dimensions of primary education in India. The Act further reinforces the suggestions made by the National Curriculum Framework of 2005. Given the recent developments where new provisions are put into place for revision of textbooks, teacher recruitment and training, student assessment and tracking, and so on, we hope that this study contributes to the understanding of district-level concerns pertaining to public primary textbooks and the wider curriculum approach. This working paper is second in the series of three research studies conducted under MDEP’s first year’s commitment to understand and analyze the primary education scenario in the two districts. The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of empirical research to study the key gaps and challenges in the policies and practices pertaining to curriculum in public primary schools in our two districts of Morigaon, Assam and Medak, Andhra Pradesh. The paper concludes with a list of recommendations to the local governments and education authorities that it has derived from an assimilation of findings from different sources. It encourages the local departments of education to view educational needs of their region through an integrated approach. It encourages the local offices to partner with other actors in the field to better understand educational quality and achievement and its determining factors: student health and nutrition, textbook design, teacher training, school participation, district level education and budget planning, school environment, and monitoring and evaluation

In-service Teacher Training for Public Primary Schools in Rural India Findings from District Morigaon (Assam) and District Medak (Andhra Pradesh)

India has witnessed several monumental changes in the field of Elementary education in the last decade. The ratification of the Right of Child to Free and Compulsory Education Act in 2009 changed the policy landscape and opened up avenues for different stakeholders to have a series of opportunities to strengthen the quality dimensions of primary education in India. However, given the enormity of the task much remains to be done to improve the quality of in-service teacher training in rural India. The paper represents an amalgamation of different viewpoints of teachers, cluster resource coordinators, resource persons, and staff members from district and state level offices of SSA, DIET, Department of Education and SCERT, on the challenges and opportunities usually associated with the in-service teacher trainings in public primary schools. The research methodology employed for this papers follows the mixed-method design, combining qualitative data from individual interviews (n=16) and focus group discussions (n=20), and observations with a cross-sectional survey of a random sample of primary school teachers (n=789) in the two districts. To guide this research, the following research objectives were identified: 1. To understand the role of teacher training in the existing pedagogic practices present in schools 2. To analyze the co-relation between the textbooks, and teacher training, and student learning in Assam and Andhra Pradesh 3. To explore ways to revamp the existing in-service teacher training programs in Assam and Andhra Pradesh so as to better support the teaching learning processes at schools

On Performance Evaluation of a New Liquid Propellant

A blend of 3-carene and cardanol in 70:30 weight proportion exhibits synergistic hypergolic ignition with red fuming nitric acid (RFNA) as oxidizer. Attempts have been made to evaluate this new propellant by theoretical calculationof performance parameters and verification of the results by static firing of a 10 kg thrust rocket motor around 20 atmosphers of chamber pressure. At an oxidizer-to-fuel weight ratio (O/F) of 3.34 (RFNA used had 21% N204 and 5% by weight of concentrated sulphuric acid as catalyst), the propellant produced a reasonably smooth pressure-time curve with an ignition delay of 35 milliseconds. The theoretical characteristic velocity value matched well with the experimental. No carbon residue was left in the rocket motor after firing. Specific impulse (theoretical) of the propellant has been found to be 223.8 seconds at chamber pressure, 20 atmos and exist pressure, 1 atmos

ANTIOXIDANT AND ANTIPROLIFERATIVE POTENTIALS OF MARINE ACTINOMYCETES

Objective: The aim of present studyis to isolate and characterize a novel actinomycetes strain from marine sediments collected at Kakinada coast. To evaluate antioxidant and antiproliferative activities of the crude methanolic extract of isolated actinomycetes.Methods: Actinomycetes was isolated from marine sediments collected at Kakinada coast using starch casein agar. Morphological, biochemical and molecular characterization was performed and the crude methanolic extract was used for determination of in vitro antioxidant activity and antiproliferative activity against MDA-MB 231 breast cancer cells.Results: The crude methanolic extract exhibited significant antioxidant activity with IC­50­ value in the range of 30-46 µg/ml in different radical scavenging assays. Moreover, the extract showed concentration dependent cytotoxicity against triple negative breast cancer cell line, MDA-MB 231 with IC50 of 42.5µg/ml. The extract also inhibited cell proliferation with IC50 value 44.1 µg/ml probably by arresting cell cycle at S phase. The antioxidant activity of the extract was strongly correlated with cytotoxic and antiproliferative activity.Conclusion: The isolated marine actinomycetes can be the potential source of antioxidants with the anticancer property