In vitro micropropagation of orchid, Oncidium sp. (Dancing Dolls)

A successful procedure was established for in vitro mass multiplication of orchid (Oncidium sp.). In vitro regeneration multiplication and rooting of plantlets were achieved from the immature seeds on Murashige and Skoog's medium supplemented with BAP (2.0 mg/l). Rooted plantlets were then transferred to perforated plastic pots and grown in the green house

Global phase synchronization in an array of time-delay systems

We report the identification of global phase synchronization (GPS) in a linear array of unidirectionally coupled Mackey-Glass time-delay systems exhibiting highly non-phase-coherent chaotic attractors with complex topological structure. In particular, we show that the dynamical organization of all the coupled time-delay systems in the array to form GPS is achieved by sequential synchronization as a function of the coupling strength. Further, the asynchronous ones in the array with respect to the main sequentially synchronized cluster organize themselves to form clusters before they achieve synchronization with the main cluster. We have confirmed these results by estimating instantaneous phases including phase difference, average phase, average frequency, frequency ratio and their differences from suitably transformed phase coherent attractors after using a nonlinear transformation of the original non-phase-coherent attractors. The results are further corroborated using two other independent approaches based on recurrence analysis and the concept of localized sets from the original non-phase-coherent attractors directly without explicitly introducing the measure of phase.Comment: 11 pages, 13 figures, Appear in Physical Review

Magnetoresistance sensor-based rotor fault detection in induction motor using non-decimated wavelet and streaming data

In this paper, the giant magnetoresistance broken rotor (GBR) method is used to diagnose the induction motor (IM) rotor bar fault at an early stage from outward magnetic flux developed by IM.The outward magnetic field signal has anti-clockwise radiation due to broken rotor bar current.In this paper, the outward magnetic signal is acquired using a giant magnetoresistance (GMR) sensor. In the GBR method, IM rotor fault is analysed with a non-decimated wavelet transform (NDWT)-based outward magnetic signal. Experimental result shows the difference in statistical features and energy levels of sub-bands of NDWT for healthy and faulty IM. Least square-support vector machine(LS-SVM)-based classification results are verified by confusion matrix based on 150 outward magnetic signals from a healthy and damaged rotor (broken rotor). The proposed method identifies IM rotor faults with 95% sensitivity, 90% specificity and 92.5% classification accuracy. Furthermore, run-time IM condition monitoring is performed through the ThinkSpeak internet of things (IoT) platform for collecting outer magnetic signal data. ThinkSpeak streaming data of outward magnetic field help detect rotor fault at the initial stage and understand the growth of rotor fault in the motor. The proposed GBR method overcomes sensitivity, translation-invariance limitations of existing IM rotor fault diagnosis methods

Clinical profile and the outcome of corrosive injury of GI tract

Background: Corrosive substances are common household substances that can be ingested either accidentally or intentionally with suicidal intent. The present study was conducted to analyse the clinical profile of 50 cases of corrosive injury of GI tract and to analyse the outcome of 50 cases of corrosive injury of GI tract.Methods: The Cross-sectional study was conducted on 50 cases admitted in the toxicology ward in Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, madras medical college, Chennai over a period of six months. Patients with history of corrosive ingestion presenting within 24 hours of ingestion subjected to Upper GI endoscopy within 24 hours of admission. Patients presenting after 24 hours, with respiratory distress, suspected perforation either radiologically clinically and normal findings in Upper GI endoscopy were excluded. The patients were serially followed and were subjected for a re-look upper GI endoscopy after 6 weeks and the findings were compared.Results: Corrosive ingestion was more common in the age group 20-30 years and more common in males. Acid ingestion was almost twice as common as alkali ingestion. Suicidal ingestion was the most common circumstance of consumption and associated with higher grade of injury. Patients with ingestion of more than 50 ml had higher grades of injury and also were at higher risk of strictures. The spectrum of injury to the GI tract revealed esophageal injury of grade II b to be the most common finding with the duodenum being spared in majority of the cases.Conclusions: In our study, Patients with ingestion of more than 50ml had higher grades of injury and also were at higher risk of strictures. While the lesser grade injuries (0, I, IIa) were associated with complete recovery with no sequelae, the more severe grades (IIb and IIIa) were associated with higher incidence of strictures especially the circumferential lesions.  Oesophageal strictures are commonly associated with suicidal corrosive ingestion. All patients with corrosive ingestion should be subjected to early UGIE and after 6 weeks to identify stricture formation

Development of Polymer based Controlled Drug Delivery Systems of Selected Antibacterial Agents

This thesis deals with the investigations carried out by the objective of developing controlled release formulations for widely used antibiotics norfloxacin and ofloxacin for the evaluation of their controlled release potential. The first chapter of the thesis deals with a brief introduction to the conventional drug therapy, concept of sustained release drug delivery system, its relevance with respect to oral drug delivery, the anatomy and physiological considerations of the GIT, oral controlled release drug delivery system, significance and reasons for developing oral controlled release drug delivery system (CRDDS), ideal drug candidates for CRDDS, types of sustained/controlled release products, monolithic matrix system as oral CRDDS, mechanism of drug release from natural polymer matrix system and estimation of drugs in biological medium. Literature survey on the investigations that have been carried out so far on the development of controlled release drug delivery systems and current developments for the selected drug candidates is being mentioned. The aim and objectives along with the place of work is presented in the second chapter of the thesis. In particular, it explains the need for designing a suitable drug delivery system for the drug candidates selected in the present investigation. The third chapter of the thesis explains in detail the experimental procedures that were adopted, namely preformulation studies, formulation and evaluation of controlled release tablets, stability studies of the developed formulations. The fourth chapter describes in detail the experimental results obtained in the present study along with detailed discussion of the results supported by photographic plates, tables and figures. The following are some of the important findings of the present investigations; the developed matrix tablets have acceptable pharmacotechnical properties which indicate that the process can be used for the scale up studies and the drug release can be modulated significantly by varying the component of the matrix. The developed controlled release tablets of selected drug candidates have acceptable weight variation, friability and in vitro release profile. The effect of polymer concentration on the in vitro behavior was significant. In general an increase in the polymer concentration retarded the drug release significantly. The cumulative percentage drug release from the developed controlled release formulations for the optimized batches of norfloxacin and ofloxacin were 99.97 and 99.93 over a period of 12 hours respectively. The stability studies of the developed sustained release formulations of norfloxacin and ofloxacin were stable under accelerated conditions for six months. The formulated matrix tablets were capable of exhibiting sustained blood levels. The sustained and efficient drug delivery developed in the present study will maintain plasma drug levels, better, which will overcome the drawbacks associated with conventional therapy. And also, further studies involving fed state have to be carried out to establish the efficacy of the matrix tablets over conventional tablets. The pharmacokinetic parameters of the two different formulations of norfloxacin and ofloxacin were compared statistically by one way ANOVA (analysis of variance) by using SPSS version 13.0. The pharmacokinetic parameters like Cmax, Tmax, AUC0-t, t½, Kel and AUC0-∞ of the immediate release and sustained release formulations of norfloxacin and ofloxacin were found to be significantly different (p <0.05) by one way ANOVA. Based on these observations, it is concluded that the formulated matrix tablets containing Norfloxacin and Ofloxacin are capable of exhibiting sustained release properties, stable and feasible for industrial scale production. Thus they are capable of reducing the dose intake, minimize the blood level oscillations, dose related adverse effects, cost and ultimately improve the patient compliance in the therapeutic management of herpes simplex, herpes zoster for norfloxacin and nausea associated with vomiting in the radiation induced cancer therapy for ofloxacin. Further studies involving their suitability for long time application, shelf life determination, bioavailability and clinical investigations in large populations may, however, be necessary to further establish its potential and therapeutic efficacy. The formulation was optimized using response surface methodology by fitting a second-order model to the response data. The model was found to be satisfactory for describing the relationships between formulation variables and individual response variables, as well as the relationships between formulation variables and the overall desirability. The use of a desirability function appeared to be a useful approach for handling the problem of multiple responses in this case. The optimization method enabled us to predict the values of response variables and overall desirability within the experimental range with good agreement between the predicted and experimental values

Analysing security risk of a cloud computing system to produce a model for secured business environment

These days, almost all the medium and big size of businesses is using the cloud computing system to run their business across the globe and around the clock. It becomes popular and of huge application due to its characteristics such as large scale computation and data storage, virtualization, high expansibility, high reliability and low price service. Cloud Computing is a flexible, cost-effective, and proven delivery platform for providing business or consumer IT services over the Internet. This is an affordable and effective place for businesses to sell and promote their goods and services. However the security problems for the cloud computing system are very significant. It can ruin the rapid development of cloud computing. In Business, cloud Computing presents an added level of risk because essential services are often outsourced to a third party, which makes it harder to maintain data security and privacy, support data and service availability, and demonstrate compliance. The data privacy and service availability in cloud computing are the key security problem. The internet also provides opportunities for fraudulent behaviour and unauthorized access to business and client data. Attacks on the computer system of a business can have immediate and ongoing effects, such as targeting customers for identity crimes or infecting website visitors with malicious software. Due to having combination of various types of models in the cloud computing, the single security method cannot solve its security problem. Various traditional and new technologies and strategies together need to consider for protecting a cloud computing system totally. The aim of this paper is to bring into the deep sight of the cloud computing systems working and then to analyse the cloud computing security problem and its strategy according to the cloud computing concepts and characters. In addition to that, we are identifying the higher vulnerabilities in this type of systems and the most important threats found in the literature study related to Cloud Computing and its environment as well as to identify and relate vulnerabilities and threats with the possible solutions

The leaf-feeding geometrid Isturgia disputaria (Guenee)-A potential biological control agent for prickly acacia, Vachellia nilotica subsp. indica (Benth.) Kyal. & Boatwr. (Mimosaceae) in Australia

Prickly acacia (Vachellia nilotica subsp. indica), a native multipurpose tree in India, is a weed of National significance, and a target for biological control in Australia. Based on plant genetic and climatic similarities, native range surveys for identifying potential biological control agents for prickly acacia were conducted in India during 2008-2011. In the survey leaf-feeding geometrid, Isturgia disputaria Guenee (syn. Tephrina pulinda), widespread in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka States, was prioritized as a potential biological control agent based on field host range, damage potential and no choice test on non target plant species. Though the field host range study exhibited that V. nilotica ssp. indica and V. nilotica ssp. tomentosa were the primary hosts for successful development of the insect, I. disputaria, replicated no - choice larval feeding and development tests conducted on cut foliage and live plants of nine non-target acacia test plant species in India revealed the larval feeding and development on three of the nine non-target acacia species, V. tortilis, V. planiferons and V. leucophloea in addition to the V. nilotica ssp. indica and V. nilotica ssp. tomentosa. However, the proportion of larvae developing into adults was higher on V. nilotica subsp. indica and V. nilotica subsp. tomentosa, with 90% and 80% of the larvae completing development, respectively. In contrast, the larval mortality was higher on V. tortilis (70%), V. leucophloea (90%) and V. planiferons (70%). The no-choice test results support the earlier host specificity test results of I. disputaria from Pakistan, Kenya and under quarantine in Australia. Contrasting results between field host range and host use pattern under no-choice conditions are discussed

The leaf-feeding geometrid Isturgia disputaria (Guenee)-A potential biological control agent for prickly acacia, Vachellia nilotica subsp. indica (Benth.) Kyal. & Boatwr. (Mimosaceae) in Australia

Prickly acacia (Vachellia nilotica subsp. indica), a native multipurpose tree in India, is a weed of National significance, and a target for biological control in Australia. Based on plant genetic and climatic similarities, native range surveys for identifying potential biological control agents for prickly acacia were conducted in India during 2008-2011. In the survey leaf-feeding geometrid, Isturgia disputaria Guenee (syn. Tephrina pulinda), widespread in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka States, was prioritized as a potential biological control agent based on field host range, damage potential and no choice test on non target plant species. Though the field host range study exhibited that V. nilotica ssp. indica and V. nilotica ssp. tomentosa were the primary hosts for successful development of the insect, I. disputaria, replicated no - choice larval feeding and development tests conducted on cut foliage and live plants of nine non-target acacia test plant species in India revealed the larval feeding and development on three of the nine non-target acacia species, V. tortilis, V. planiferons and V. leucophloea in addition to the V. nilotica ssp. indica and V. nilotica ssp. tomentosa. However, the proportion of larvae developing into adults was higher on V. nilotica subsp. indica and V. nilotica subsp. tomentosa, with 90% and 80% of the larvae completing development, respectively. In contrast, the larval mortality was higher on V. tortilis (70%), V. leucophloea (90%) and V. planiferons (70%). The no-choice test results support the earlier host specificity test results of I. disputaria from Pakistan, Kenya and under quarantine in Australia. Contrasting results between field host range and host use pattern under no-choice conditions are discussed

A Concept of a Probable Autoinjector for Bio-threat Agents

Chemical and biological weapons can be used during conflicts and by terrorists to injure or kill humans and animals. Chemical weapons contain toxic chemicals and biological weapons contain pathogenic organisms. With proper protective equipments and training, the lethal effects of chemical and biological warfare agents can be minimised. First aid kit is available that contain detection, decontamination and medical protection for chemical warfare agents including autoinjectors, for rapid administration and faster absorption of drugs. The autoinjectors are safe and available for life saving drugs like atropine sulphate and pralidoxime chloride (nerve agent poisoning), epinephrine (anaphylaxis), diazepam (seizures) and sumatriptan (migraine). For bio-threat agents doxycycline alone is available as a broad spectrum antibiotic in the first aid kit. Majority of the bacterial agents are gram negative and hence amikacin drug cartridge was developed for the existing autoinjector. The advantage of amikacin is its safety, stability, can be given prophylactically and supplemented with other antibiotics when medical attention arrives. The usability and tolerability of amikacin administered repeatedly through autoinjector was studied using various haematological, biochemical and oxidative stress parameters in animal models. The results are promising and as there is no antibiotic autoinjector available, amikacin autoinjector can be considered for bio-threat agents

Assessment of seasonal groundwater quality using CHIDAM software in Virudhunagar district of Tamil Nadu.

Hard rock aquifer is the most predominant in the southern peninsula exclusively in Tamil Nadu, India. Virudhunagar district is situated in the South west part of Tamil Nadu, mostly of hard rock topography. Groundwater plays a major role in this area contributing to domestic, irrigation and industrial practices. Running down of groundwater by extreme consumption and less recharge in the study area has reduced the level of groundwater. On the other hand, intensive domestic, agriculture and industrial practices impacts the quality of quality of groundwater as well. Hydro geochemistry plays an important role in evaluation of suitability of groundwater for its usage in several purposes. A total of 72 samples from North East Monsoon (NEM) and Post Monsoon (POM) has been analyzed hydrochemically. The irrigation quality parameters such as sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), %Na, Residual Sodium Carbonate (RSC), Kelley’s index and Magnesium hazard were calculated using CHIDAM software 2020 in conjunction with USSL and Doneen diagrams. During NEM, EC and TDS ranges from 273 to 5869 mg/L and 194 to 4159 mg/L and during POM is from 235 to 6850 mg/L and 233.8 to 6916 mg/L. The hydrogeochemical facies represents that Ca-HCO3 and mixed Ca-Mg-Cl facies are predominant during NEM and Na-Cl and mixed Ca-Mg-Cl are predominant during POM. The higher concentration of TDS and EC in the samples reflects the unsuitability of groundwater in both seasons