Grasping Strategies for a Dexterous Hand during Teleoperation

Telerobotics is an interdisciplinary branch of engineering that deals with the control of robots at a distance in a manner that entails the intuition and the physical involvement of the operator controlling the robot. The end of the robotic manipulator consists of a device called an end effector that is used to hold the tools. Most telerobotic systems employ a simple single degree of freedom end effector called a parallel jaw gripper. Since such end effectors have just one degree of freedom and hence limited dexterity, it is essential to develop special fixtures to be attached to the tool that is grasped. The current research attempts to employ a multi fingered end effector, which has multiple degrees of freedom in an attempt to reduce tool fixturing costs and ensure ease of operation. The research integrates the end effector into an existing telerobotic system, develops and implements grasping strategies based on human grasp observations and experimental grasp by demonstration validation for specific tool and objects in an attempt to find stable grasps. The strategies developed are further implemented by designing a master controller for the end effector and integrating it with a human machine interface and the overall system

Reproductive Patterns of Captive Lesser Bandicoot Rat (Bandicota Bengalensis Gray) in the Punjab

Author Institution: Department of Entomology, Punjab Agricultural UniversityDevelopment of the lesser bandicoot rats was studied under caged conditions. Early development of both sexes was similar. Walking started (14 days) at about the time sensory organs became functional. Body weight in males continued to increase for about 9 months. After about 5 months, weights of females fluctuated with pregnancies. Sexual maturity was attained by 60 days in females, slightly earlier in males (51 days). A female might produce 9 litters annually; mean litter size was 5.4 Sex ratio was 41% males

Role of Community Medicine during COVID-19 Pandemic

Pandemics have significantly affected economy of each country. Health & political system have been also drastically affected in each part of the country. To fight against pandemic, it demands multidimensional approaches comprising of various measures like surveillance, containment, isolation & quarantine, border restriction as well as various socio-political and community measures. Though the entire health workforce is involved at multiple levels, the role of a community medicine/public health expert is maximum in controlling the spread in the community and managing the situation. The community medicine specialists can contribute to the public health as well as health-care services in combating the pandemic. This review has been done for giving an insight of proper utilisation of public health services and existing manpower of community medicine. Also this will channelize our health system and give a direction for combating future public health crisis.  So Government should utilise the experiences and expertise to manage the pandemic very well

Biochemical Basis of Resistance in Small Grains to the Greenbug Aphid, Schizaphis Graminum

Biochemistr

Liquid-Phase Photochemical Halogenation of Isobutane and Its Monohalo Derivatives

Organic Chemistr

In-vitro evaluation of botanicals and fungicides against Bipolaris sorokiniana, causing spot blotch of wheat

Spot blotch disease of wheat caused by Bipolaris sorokiniana; is one of the most concerning disease in warm and humid regions of Nepal due to its widespread prevalence and increasing severity. An in-vitro experiment was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of different botanicals and fungicides against Bipolaris sorokiniana, in National Plant Pathology Research Centre’s laboratory at Khumaltar, Lalitpur in 2019. The experiment was done in completely randomized design with three replications by poison food technique. Five botanicals viz. neem, garlic, eucalyptus, bojho and asuro at three different concentrations (5%, 10% and 15%) and eight fungicides viz. sectin, curex, bavistin, vacomil plus, saaf, sajha, criptan and tilt at three concentration levels (25 ppm, 50 ppm and 100 ppm) except curex (50 ppm, 100 ppm and 200 ppm) were used to evaluate the effect on the radial mycelial growth and mycelial growth inhibition percentage of the pathogen. The different botanical extracts and fungicides in different concentrations inhibited the mycelial growth of fungus significantly (p<0.01). The highest mycelial growth inhibition percentage was found by the application of garlic clove extract (52.85%) at 15% which was followed by bojho (52.48%) at 15% concentration. While tilt was found effective fungicide which completely inhibits the mycelial growth at all concentrations. Also, fungicides viz. sajha (79.78%), saaf (73.59%) and sectin (70%), at 100 ppm were found effective in controlling the pathogen as compare to others. Mycelial growth inhibition of the fungus was found to be increased with the increase in concentrations of botanicals and fungicides

Design, development and demonstration of a Shallow solar tunnel dryer for non-electrified areas

This paper presents the design, construction and performance evaluation of a shallow solar tunnel dryer for agro and industrial products. In the shallow solar tunnel dryer, there are three separate units viz.: an air heating unit, drying unit and air diversion unit. Total area of the solar tunnel dryer was 21 m². The heated air from a separate solar air heating zone is passed through a product bed, and at the same time, the drying tunnel bed absorbs solar energy directly through the transparent UV stabilized plastic sheet used as covering material. This dryer was not required any external sources of the power to operate the electrical fan. The system was designed to operate at a temperature of 50 to 60oC. The system was installed at the institute and initial testing was conducted. After that the system was also demonstrated at the actual potential user’s site. The results obtained during the test period revealed that the temperatures inside the tunnel drying zone and solar air heating zone were much higher than the ambient air temperature during most hours of the day-light. The temperature rise inside the drying tunnel was up to 67.4°C at peak hour’s period (noon). The drying rat e and thermal efficiency of the collector were 1.73 kg/h and 26.0% respectively. The high outlet temperature indicated the scope of loading the dryer further

Awareness regarding Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK) among mothers: a community based cross-sectional study in rural area of Raipur district, Chhattisgarh

Background: In order to increase accessibility of health care services for pregnant women and sick infants and to reduce out-of-pocket expenditure, Ministry of Health and Family welfare, Government of India has launched a nationwide initiative- Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram on June 01, 2011. The objective of the study was to find out the awareness level about the entitlements of JSSK among mothers with child less than one year and its association with different socio-demographic variables.Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted in rural block of Raipur district, Chhattisgarh, India, among 352 mothers having child less than one year using multistage random sampling using predesigned, pretested proforma from July 2015 to June 2016. Chi-square test was applied to find out the association between awareness level and different socio-demographic variables. P <0.05 was considered significant.Results: Among 352 mothers, good awareness were found in only 207 mothers (58.80%). Maximum awareness (89.20%) regarding entitlements among mothers was seen for free transport services from home to health institution followed by the drop back transport facility from hospital to home (85.22%). None of the mothers know about free diagnostic services for mothers and for sick infants and for free provision of blood for sick infants. Increasing parity was significantly associated with good awareness regarding JSSK.Conclusions: Level of awareness regarding JSSK entitlements for pregnant mothers and sick infants was found to be low. Extensive IEC needed to further increase the awareness regarding JSSK entitlements to increase utilization among beneficiaries

Prevalence, awareness, treatment and control of hypertension among adults of Raipur city, Chhattisgarh, India: a cross sectional study

Background: Hypertension is prevalent all over the world. Usually it is readily detectable, easily treatable condition and if left untreated may leads to serious complications. In considerable proportion of cases the disease tends to be asymptomatic for prolonged time, hence also labelled as ‘Silent killer’. High blood pressure (BP) is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease and better control can lead to prevention of 300,000 of the 1.5 million annual deaths from cardiovascular diseases in India. The objective of the study was to find the prevalence, awareness, treatment and control status of hypertension among adults of Raipur city.Methods: A community based cross sectional study was carried out in 768 subjects of age 25-59 years residing in Raipur city, Chhattisgarh, India. A predesigned, pretested questionnaire was used for data collection. To classify blood pressure JNC VII criteria was used.Results: The prevalence of hypertension was 29.0 %. Out of 223 hypertensive (223/768), 59.2% were aware about their hypertensive status, in them 76.9% were on treatment and 49.5% were under control.Conclusions: There was striking lack of awareness of the condition and a suboptimal rate of control among those treated. These finding emphasize public health importance of hypertension in Raipur city and there is urgent need to address this through targeted intervention

Pinch Point Singularities of Tensor Spin Liquids

Recently, a new class of three-dimensional spin liquid models have been theoretically discovered, which feature generalized Coulomb phases of emergent symmetric tensor $U(1)$ gauge theories. These "higher rank" tensor models are particularly intriguing due to the presence of quasi-particles with restricted mobility, such as fractons. We investigate universal experimental signatures of tensor Coulomb phases. Most notably, we show that tensor Coulomb spin liquids (both quantum and classical) feature characteristic pinch-point singularities in their spin-spin correlation functions, accessible via neutron scattering, which can be readily distinguished from pinch points in conventional $U(1)$ spin liquids. These pinch points can thus serve as a crisp experimental diagnostic for such phases. We also tabulate the low-temperature heat capacity of various tensor Coulomb phases, which serves as a useful additional diagnostic in certain cases.Comment: 5.5 pages, 1 figur