Atypical presentation of visceral leishmaniasis from non-endemic region

A case of atypical and acute presentation of visceral leishmaniasis from non-endemic region, characterised by exudative pleural effusion and hepatitis is reporte

Crowd Behavior Analysis and Classification using Graph Theoretic Approach

Surveillance systems are commonly used for security and monitoring. The need to automate these systems is well understood. To address this issue we introduce the Graph theoretic approach based Crowd Behavior Analysis and Classification System (GCBACS). The crowd behavior is observed based on the motion trajectories of the personnel in the crowd. Optical flow methods are used to obtain the streak lines and path lines of the crowd personnel trajectories. The streak flow is constructed based on the path and streak lines. The personnel and their respective potential vectors obtained from the streak flows are used to represent each frame as a graph. The frames of the surveillance videos are analyzed using graph theoretic approaches. The cumulative variation in all the frames is computed and a threshold based mechanism is used for classification and activity recognition. The experimental results discussed in the paper prove the efficiency and robustness of the proposed GCBACS for crowd behavior analysis and classification

Damping Analysis of Composites Used in Drilling Machine Bed

Vibrations are generally occurs during the machining process as drilling, milling etc. which is the main cause of defects in the machine tools. So vibrational damping study is very necessary for minimizing the vibrational effect on the machines bed. At present work glass fiber epoxy and glass fiber polyester are the composites used as the drilling machine bed as a base of the work piece. The purpose of the paper is to analyze the damping of sandwich composites used in this work is calculating by the energy balance approach method

FK Comae Berenices, King of Spin: The COCOA-PUFS Project

COCOA-PUFS is an energy-diverse, time-domain study of the ultra-fast spinning, heavily spotted, yellow giant FK Com (HD117555; G4 III). This single star is thought to be a recent binary merger, and is exceptionally active by measure of its intense ultraviolet and X-ray emissions, and proclivity to flare. COCOA-PUFS was carried out with Hubble Space Telescope in the UV (120-300 nm), using mainly its high-performance Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, but also high-precision Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph; Chandra X-ray Observatory in the soft X-rays (0.5-10 keV), utilizing its High-Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer; together with supporting photometry and spectropolarimetry in the visible from the ground. This is an introductory report on the project. FK Com displayed variability on a wide range of time scales, over all wavelengths, during the week-long main campaign, including a large X-ray flare; "super-rotational broadening" of the far-ultraviolet "hot-lines" (e.g., Si IV 139 nm (T~80,000 K) together with chromospheric Mg II 280 nm and C II 133 nm (10,000-30,000 K); large Doppler swings suggestive of bright regions alternately on advancing and retreating limbs of the star; and substantial redshifts of the epoch-average emission profiles. These behaviors paint a picture of a highly extended, dynamic, hot (10 MK) coronal magnetosphere around the star, threaded by cooler structures perhaps analogous to solar prominences, and replenished continually by surface activity and flares. Suppression of angular momentum loss by the confining magnetosphere could temporarily postpone the inevitable stellar spindown, thereby lengthening this highly volatile stage of coronal evolution.Comment: to be published in ApJ

In-silico single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) mining of Sorghum bicolor genome

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) may be considered the ultimate genetic markers as they represent the finest resolution of a DNA sequence (a single nucleotide), and are generally abundant in populations with a low mutation rate. SNPs are important tools in studying complex genetic traits and genome evolution. SNP mining can be done by experimental and computational methods. Computational strategies for SNP discovery make use of a large number of sequences present in public databases [in most cases as expressed sequence tags (ESTs)] and are considered to be faster and more cost-effective than experimental procedures. A major challenge in computational SNP discovery is distinguishing allelic variation from sequence variation between paralogous sequences, in addition to recognizing sequencing errors. For the majority of the public EST sequences, trace or quality files are lacking which makes detection of reliable SNPs even more difficult because it has to rely on sequence comparisons only. In the present study, online SNP and allele detection tool HaploSNPer (based on QualitySNP pipeline) and Sorghum bicolor genome was used. As a result, 77094 potential SNPs and 40589 reliable SNPs were detected in S. bicolor. In the 77094 potential SNPs detectedtransitions, transversions and indels were 34398, 35871 and 6825, respectively. In the 40589 reliable SNPs detected transitions, transversions and indels were 17042, 20500 and 3047, respectively.Key words: Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP), expressed sequence tags (EST), HaploSNPer

X-Atlas: An Online Archive of Chandra's Stellar High Energy Transmission Gratings Observations

The high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy made possible by the 1999 deployment of the Chandra X-ray Observatory has revolutionized our understanding of stellar X-ray emission. Many puzzles remain, though, particularly regarding the mechanisms of X-ray emission from OB stars. Although numerous individual stars have been observed in high-resolution, realizing the full scientific potential of these observations will necessitate studying the high-resolution Chandra dataset as a whole. To facilitate the rapid comparison and characterization of stellar spectra, we have compiled a uniformly processed database of all stars observed with the Chandra High Energy Transmission Grating (HETG). This database, known as X-Atlas, is accessible through a web interface with searching, data retrieval, and interactive plotting capabilities. For each target, X-Atlas also features predictions of the low-resolution ACIS spectra convolved from the HETG data for comparison with stellar sources in archival ACIS images. Preliminary analyses of the hardness ratios, quantiles, and spectral fits derived from the predicted ACIS spectra reveal systematic differences between the high-mass and low-mass stars in the atlas and offer evidence for at least two distinct classes of high-mass stars. A high degree of X-ray variability is also seen in both high and low-mass stars, including Capella, long thought to exhibit minimal variability. X-Atlas contains over 130 observations of approximately 25 high-mass stars and 40 low-mass stars and will be updated as additional stellar HETG observations become public. The atlas has recently expanded to non-stellar point sources, and Low Energy Transmission Grating (LETG) observations are currently being added as well

Soft X-ray emission lines of Fe XV in solar flare observations and the Chandra spectrum of Capella

Recent calculations of atomic data for Fe XV have been used to generate theoretical line ratios involving n = 3-4 transitions in the soft X-ray spectral region (52-83 A), for a wide range of electron temperatures and densities applicable to solar and stellar coronal plasmas. A comparison of these with solar flare observations from a rocket-borne spectrograph (XSST) reveals generally good agreement between theory and experiment. In particular, the 82.76 A emission line in the XSST spectrum is identified, for the first time to our knowledge in an astrophysical source. Most of the Fe XV transitions which are blended have had the species responsible clearly identified, although there remain a few instances where this has not been possible. The line ratio calculations are also compared with a co-added spectrum of Capella obtained with the Chandra satellite, which is probably the highest signal-to-noise observation achieved for a stellar source in the 25-175 A soft X-ray region. Good agreement is found between theory and experiment, indicating that the Fe XV lines are reliably detected in Chandra spectra, and hence may be employed as diagnostics to determine the temperature and/or density of the emitting plasma. However the line blending in the Chandra data is such that individual emission lines are difficult to measure accurately, and fluxes may only be reliably determined via detailed profile fitting of the observations. The co-added Capella spectrum is made available to hopefully encourage further exploration of the soft X-ray region in astronomical sources.Comment: 27 pages, 10 figures, Astrophysical Journal, in pres