A new approach to the design of time varying control systems with application to the space shuttle booster

A general approach toward the analysis and design of closed loop control for slowly time-varying linear systems was investigated. The approach is by the method of generalized multiple scales, in which slow and fast dynamics are systematically separated by employing different clocks which measure time at varying rates. The clocks, which are necessarily nonlinear functions of time, so that the system dynamics are asymptotically invariant with respect to the new time scale. A transfer function relating the output to the input for general linear slowly time-varying systems is developed and represents the actual system under certain conditions. The clock functions are shown to satisfy an algebraic characteristic equation and can be determined in general in terms of the coefficients

Amelioration of Heat Stress Induced Disturbances of Antioxidant Defense System in Chicken by Brahma Rasayana

Since the range of comfort zone or thermo neutral zone of domestic chickens is narrow, they become easily susceptible to heat and cold environmental stress. We evaluated Brahma Rasayana (BR) supplementation on concentrations of certain oxidative stress markers associated with heat stress. A total of 48 egg type male chickens of local strain were divided into six groups (n = 8) for the study. Three groups were fed with BR orally at the rate of 2 g/kg bw daily for 10 days prior to and during the period of experiment. Two of the four groups that were exposed to heat stress (HST i.e. to a temperature of 40 ± 1°C and relative humidity of 80 ± 5% in an environmental chamber) for 4 h daily for 5 or 10 days, received BR orally. The other two groups remained as BR treated and untreated non-heat stressed (NHST) controls. There was a significant (P < 0.05) increase in the activities of antioxidant enzymes in blood such as catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD), as well as liver CAT, glutathione peroxidase (GPX) and glutathione reductase (GR) in NHST-BR treated and HST-BR treated (both 5 and 10 days) chickens when compared with untreated controls. A great deal of significant (P < 0.05) variations were seen in serum and liver reduced glutathione (GSH) concentration in NHST-BR treated and HST-BR treated (both 5 and 10 days) chickens. Serum and liver lipid peroxidation levels were found to be significantly (P < 0.05) higher in HST-untreated (both 5 and 10 days) chickens when compared with other groups. Thus BR supplementation during HST brings about enhanced action of enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants, which nullified the undesired side effects of free radicals that are generated during HST

Regulation of Caspase-3 and Bcl-2 Expression in Dalton's Lymphoma Ascites Cells by Abrin

The role of abrin, a toxic lectin isolated from seeds of Abrus precatorius Linn in inducing apoptosis in murine Dalton's Lymphoma Ascites (DLA) cells was evaluated. Abrin when incubated at the concentration of 10 ng per million DLA cells could bring about cell death as typical morphological changes with apoptosis. However, necrotic cell death dominated when a higher dose of abrin was used. DNA samples, isolated from DLA cells treated with abrin showed fragmentation. Abrin brought about induction of apoptosis by stimulating the expression of pro-apoptotic Caspase-3, at the same time blocking the expression of Bcl-2, which is an anti apoptotic gene. However, the expression of tumor suppressor gene p53 has not been observed in control and abrin-treated DLA cells. Results suggested that abrin effectively induced apoptotic changes in the tumor cells that led to cellular death

Application of Value Stream Mapping for Reduction of Cycle Time in a Machining Process

AbstractLean manufacturing initiative is being followed by various organizations in the recent years which mainly focuses on improving the efficiency of operations by eliminating and reducing wastes. This paper aimed to explain the implementation of lean manufacturing techniques in the crankshaft manufacturing system at an automotive manufacturing plant located in south India.. A multi criteria decision making model, analytical hierarchy process is applied to analyze the decision making process in the manufacturing system. The objective of the case industry was to increase the export sales. Lean manufacturing system was selected to meet the company“s quality, cost and delivery targets. Crankshaft was manufactured in a single piece flow system with the low cost machines developed indigenously and the results are that the crankshafts have passed the testing, validation and approval by the customer to produce any variant in the company. After implementing lean manufacturing system, the manufacturing lead time reduced by forty percent, defects were reduced, higher process capability achieved, quick response to the customer demand in small lots were achieved

Non-specific interstitial pneumonia as the initial presentation of biphenotypic acute leukemia: a case report

Nonspecific interstitial pneumonia has been linked to numerous etiologies including, most recently, haematologic malignancy. We present a 46-year-old woman with recent-onset rheumatologic illness who developed pulmonary symptoms as the presenting feature of biphenotypic acute leukaemia. Chest radiology demonstrated bilateral infiltrates, and lung biopsy revealed nonspecific interstitial pneumonia. Corticosteroid therapy resulted in resolution of both her pulmonary and rheumatologic symptoms, and her pulmonary symptoms did not recur following treatment of her leukemia. The case highlights the importance of searching for an underlying etiology when confronted with nonspecific interstitial pneumonia

Load Balanced Demand Distribution under Overload Penalties

Input to the Load Balanced Demand Distribution (LBDD) consists of the following: (a) a set of public service centers (e.g., schools); (b) a set of demand (people) units and; (c) a cost matrix containing the cost of assignment for all demand unit-service center pairs. In addition, each service center is also associated with a notion of capacity and a penalty which is incurred if it gets overloaded. Given the input, the LBDD problem determines a mapping from the set of demand units to the set of service centers. The objective is to determine a mapping that minimizes the sum of the following two terms: (i) the total assignment cost between demand units and their allotted service centers and, (ii) total of penalties incurred. The problem of LBDD finds its application in the domain of urban planning. An instance of the LBDD problem can be reduced to an instance of the min-cost bi-partite matching problem. However, this approach cannot scale up to the real world large problem instances. The current state of the art related to LBDD makes simplifying assumptions such as infinite capacity or total capacity being equal to the total demand. This paper proposes a novel allotment subspace re-adjustment based approach (ASRAL) for the LBDD problem. We analyze ASRAL theoretically and present its asymptotic time complexity. We also evaluate ASRAL experimentally on large problem instances and compare with alternative approaches. Our results indicate that ASRAL is able to scale-up while maintaining significantly better solution quality over the alternative approaches. In addition, we also extend ASRAL to para-ASRAL which uses the GPU and CPU cores to speed-up the execution while maintaining the same solution quality as ASRAL.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2009.0176

Reactive Oxygen Species Modulate the Barrier Function of the Human Glomerular Endothelial Glycocalyx

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) play a key role in the pathogenesis of proteinuria in glomerular diseases like diabetic nephropathy. Glomerular endothelial cell (GEnC) glycocalyx covers the luminal aspect of the glomerular capillary wall and makes an important contribution to the glomerular barrier. ROS are known to depolymerise glycosaminoglycan (GAG) chains of proteoglycans, which are crucial for the barrier function of GEnC glycocalyx. The aim of this study is to investigate the direct effects of ROS on the structure and function of GEnC glycocalyx using conditionally immortalised human GEnC. ROS were generated by exogenous hydrogen peroxide. Biosynthesis and cleavage of GAG chains was analyzed by radiolabelling (S35 and 3H-glucosamine). GAG chains were quantified on GEnC surface and in the cell supernatant using liquid chromatography and immunofluorescence techniques. Barrier properties were estimated by measuring trans-endothelial passage of albumin. ROS caused a significant loss of WGA lectin and heparan sulphate staining from the surface of GEnC. This lead to an increase in trans-endothelial albumin passage. The latter could be inhibited by catalase and superoxide dismutase. The effect of ROS on GEnC was not mediated via the GAG biosynthetic pathway. Quantification of radiolabelled GAG fractions in the supernatant confirmed that ROS directly caused shedding of HS GAG. This finding is clinically relevant and suggests a mechanism by which ROS may cause proteinuria in clinical conditions associated with high oxidative stress. © 2013 Singh et al.published_or_final_versio

Analysis of differential expression of microRNA, bta-miR-93 in lipopolysaccharide challenged peripheral blood mononuclear cells of cattle

The present study was undertaken to analyse the differences in the microRNA (miRNA) expression in lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenged and unchallenged peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of cattle. The research work was carried out in adult apparently healthy female crossbred cattle maintained at the University Livestock Farm and Fodder Research and Development Scheme, Mannuthy. The expression of miRNA and bta-miR-93 was profiled in the present study by qRT-PCR assay. In silico analysis was done using various online bioinformatic tools for the prediction of target genes, gene ontology analysis and also to study the cellular pathways associated to the target genes of bta-miR-93. The expression analysis of bta-miR- 93 showed decrease in its expression in LPS treated PBMCs when compared to control cells. Besides, significant enrichment of target genes of bta-miR-93 was noticed in many immune-related GO terms and in critical immune-associated cellular pathways. The findings of the current study will help in understanding the regulatory role of bta-miR-93 in LPS-mediated immune responses in cattle

Evaluation of oxidative stress and efficacy of antioxidant therapy in dogs with haemorrhagic gastroenteritis

The present study was conducted to evaluate the alterations in oxidative stress parameters in dogs suffering from haemorrhagic gastroenteritis (HGE). Dogs presented with vomiting and diarrhoea were screened and fifteen animals with signs suggestive of HGE were included in the study. The oxidative stress parameters, serummalondialdehyde (MDA) level, total antioxidant status (TAS) and plasma glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity were studied. The values were compared with the values from six apparently healthy dogs. A significant increase was noticed in the mean values of serum MDA and TAS of diseased animals at the time of presentation when compared to healthy animals whereas the activity of plasma GSH-Px was found to be lower than in healthy dogs. Supplementation with N-acetyl cysteine @ 70 mg/kg or five days was found effective in managing the oxidative injury in the affected animals

The Inclination of Library Professionals to Modern Tools in the Knowledge Era

The edited volume of the book consists of ten articles covering the innovative practices of libraries in the digital environment. It includes the areas such as library network, e-resources, scholarly publishing, digital libraries, knowledge management, Web 2.0, and blockchain technology etc., that can influence the work-life of the library professionals and the academic community