Aromatherapy: The Power of Scent

An alternative (in medicine) is a substance that speeds up the renewal of the tissues so that they can carry out their functions more efficiently. Aromatherapy is one such method of healing, using volatile oils. This article was prepared to give the reader more information on the usage of essential oils

Studies on Some Pharmacognostic Profiles of \u3cem\u3eBauhinia purpurea\u3c/em\u3e Linn. Leaves (Caesalpinaceae)

The leaves of Bauhinia purpurea Linn. were studied with the aim of determining the following pharmacognostical parameters for this species: Macroscopical characters; Leaf constants; Physico-chemical constants; Extractive values; Colour; Consistency; Extractive values with different solvents; Micro chemical tests; Fluorescence characters of liquid extracts and leaf powder after treatment with different chemical reagents under visible and UV light at 254 nm & 366 nm; Measurement of cells and tissues; Bulk density angle of repose; and, Powder microscopy. Hopefully, the determination of these characteristics will aid future investigators in their pharmacological analyses of this species. Preliminary pytochemical studies on different extracts of the leaves were also performed

Locomotor Activity of Leaf Extracts of \u3cem\u3ePithecellobium dulce\u3c/em\u3e Benth.

Objective: To study Locomotor activity of aqueous and alcoholic extracts of leaves of Pithecellobium dulce Benth. Materials and methods: CNS depressant activity of leaf extracts of P. dulce was evaluated using actophotometer in albino mice. The potency of alcoholic and aqueous extracts of leaf was compared with that of chlorpromazine at a dose of 100 mg/kg. The acute toxicity was determined using albino mice. Results: Both extracts caused significant CNS depression action in albino mice. The activity of alcoholic extract was more, when compared to chlorpromazine. Conclusion: CNS depression action of extracts may be due to increase in the concentration of GABA in brain

Free Radical Scavenging Activity of Folklore: \u3cem\u3ePithecellobium dulce\u3c/em\u3e Benth. Leaves

In the present study, the aqueous and alcoholic extract of Pithecellobium dulce leaves were evaluated for radical scavenging activity using reducing power assay method. Aqueous extract showed potent free radical scavenging activity, than alcohol extract. The observed activity could be due to higher phenolic content in the extracts (0.2171& 0.2042 mg/g in aqueous and alcohol extract respectively). HPTLC fingerprint profile of the ethanol and aqueous extracts were developed which would serve as reference standard for quality control of these extract

A web-based learning system for software test professionals

Fierce competition, globalization, and technology innovation have forced software companies to search for new ways to improve competitive advantage. Web-based learning is increasingly being used by software companies as an emergent approach for enhancing the skills of knowledge workers. However, the current practice of Web-based learning is perceived as being less goal-effective due to a lack of alignment of learning with work performance. To solve this problem, a performance-oriented approach is presented in this study. Using this approach, a Web-based learning system has been developed for software testing professionals. An empirical study was conducted by inviting employees working in the software testing sector to use and evaluate the system. The results showed the effectiveness of the proposed approach. © 2011 IEEE.published_or_final_versio

Fault diagnosis of antifriction bearings through sound signals using support vector machine

Bearings constitute a crucial part of machinery that need to be continuously monitored. Major breakdowns can be prevented if bearing defects are identified at the earlier stage. Sound signals of the bearings can be used to continuously monitor bearing life. This paper uses sound signals acquired in bearings under healthy and simulated faulty conditions for the purpose of fault diagnosis through machine learning approach. The statistical features were extracted from the sound signals. Significantly important features were selected using J48 decision tree algorithm. Support Vector Machine (SVM) is used as a classifier. The selected features were given as inputs for the c-SVM and ν-SVM (nu – SVM) model of SVM and their classification accuracies were compare

Large-scale nonlinear dimensionality reduction for network intrusion detection

International audienceNetwork intrusion detection (NID) is a complex classification problem. In this paper, we combine classification with recent and scalable nonlinear dimensionality reduction (NLDR) methods. Classification and DR are not necessarily adversarial, provided adequate cluster magnification occurring in NLDR methods like $t$-SNE: DR mitigates the curse of dimensionality, while cluster magnification can maintain class separability. We demonstrate experimentally the effectiveness of the approach by analyzing and comparing results on the big KDD99 dataset, using both NLDR quality assessment and classification rate for SVMs and random forests. Since data involves features of mixed types (numerical and categorical), the use of Gower's similarity coefficient as metric further improves the results over the classical similarity metric

Landscape, demographic, entomological, and climatic associations with human disease incidence of West Nile virus in the state of Iowa, USA

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>West Nile virus (WNV) emerged as a threat to public and veterinary health in the Midwest United States in 2001 and continues to cause significant morbidity and mortality annually. To investigate biotic and abiotic factors associated with disease incidence, cases of reported human disease caused by West Nile virus (WNV) in the state of Iowa were aggregated by census block groups in Iowa for the years 2002–2006. Spatially explicit data on landscape, demographic, and climatic conditions were collated and analyzed by census block groups. Statistical tests of differences between means and distributions of landscape, demographic, and climatic variables for census block groups with and without WNV disease incidence were carried out. Entomological data from Iowa were considered at the state level to add context to the potential ecological events taking place.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Numerous statistically significant differences were shown in the means and distributions of various landscape and demographic variables for census block groups with and without WNV disease incidence. Census block groups with WNV disease incidence had significantly lower population densities than those without. Landscape variables showing differences included stream density, road density, land cover compositions, presence of irrigation, and presence of animal feeding operations. Statistically significant differences in the annual means of precipitations, dew point, and minimum temperature for both the year of WNV disease incidence and the prior year, were detected in at least one year of the analysis for each parameter. However, the differences were not consistent between years.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The analysis of human WNV disease incidence by census block groups in Iowa demonstrated unique landscape, demographic, and climatic associations. Our results indicate that multiple ecological WNV transmission dynamics are most likely taking place in Iowa. In 2003 and 2006, drier conditions were associated with WNV disease incidence. In a significant novel finding, rural agricultural settings were shown to be strongly associated with human WNV disease incidence in Iowa.</p