The Predicament of The Vulnerable: Dalit Lives in Keeranur Hamlet, India

Dalit people and Dalit women especially experience deep prejudice and pressures in Indian society. This paper highlights these challenges in a specific region of India, the village of Keeranur. The authors explore how to eradicate inequality and how Dalits can live with dignity in society as human beings. Both researchers and Dalits themselves as victims also propose alternative conditions to their current lives. We have gathered first-hand information from 67 Dalit women who reside in the village of Keeranur. In India, four states account for 50% of the Dalit population, according to the 2011 census. Tamilnadu and the hamlet of Keeranur are part of those four states. We evaluated survey instruments for validity and reliability using a pilot test. Logistic regression and exploratory factor analysis were used for the data analysis to determine whether or not Dalits continue to experience crises based on their identities. According to the in-depth report, the researchers discovered that Dalit women still experience sexism, inequality, impoverishment, and difficulties stemming from their identity, in their daily lives. One of the important findings from the study is that urban migration of Dalit women can shield them from their vulnerable identities. As part of this study, we also developed a model that illustrates the various ways Dalits\u27 identity and standard of living might be enhanced

Ultra Thin White Topping

Paper consists of subsistence of highway road and improvement in low cost and increasing the strength and vitality of the pavement. Ultra-Thin White Topping may be defined as a concrete cover with closely spaced joints and bonded to an existing bituminous pavement. It consists of a fine layer of high durability, fibre-reinforced concrete laid over a clean, milled surface of distressed bituminous concrete pavement, to achieve full or partial bonding. From the degradation summary it is identified that even after 10 years, the riding quality of Ultra-Thin White Topping is the most admirable and the most desirable one without any mediation. Structural collapse emerges from the action that contrarily affects the traffic volume carrying capacity of the pavement. This structural collapse can be overcome by using Ultra-Thin White Topping pavement over bituminous pavement. Ultra-Thin White Topping achieves very low End User Cost values thus resulting in the maximization of Gross Economic Benefits than that of ordinary bitumen overlay

Circularly Polarised Hexagonal Patch Antenna With Polygonal Slot for RFID Applications

A compact single feed circularly polarized microstrip patch antenna for RFID applications is proposed. Antenna geometry includes a regular hexagon shaped patch with a polygonal slot embedded at the centre. The slot accounts for circular polarization and an area reduction of 22.5 %. It is fabricated on FR4 substrate with dielectric constant 4.4 and size 50 mm x 50 mm x 1.6 mm. The measured results include 10dB impedance bandwidth of 5.5 % at the center frequency of 2.42 GHz, a return loss of 32 dB, minimum axial ratio of 1.82 dB, axial ratio bandwidth of 7.5%, gain of 4.9 dBi with a broadside radiation characteristic for the RHCP antenna. These results are well in tune with the simulated results and the proposed design is suitable for RFID reader antenna applications

Induction of heat stress tolerance in barley (Hordeum vulgare) through thermopriming

Present study was carried during 2021–22 and 2022–23 at ICAR-Indian Institute Seed Science, Mau, Uttar Pradesh to evaluate the effect of thermopriming on inducing heat stress tolerance in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) grown under suboptimal conditions. The experimental material consisted of two location specific varieties of barley, DWRB 101 and DWRB 123, with two distinct lots, one of fresh seeds and the other of seeds aged for 1-year duration. Temperature regime between 30 to 45°C with 5°C increment and 6, 12, 24, 36 and 48 h duration, was selected as the treatment combinations along with the control (non-treated seeds). Results showed that the quantum of temperature exposure as well as the duration has significant impact on the germination and seedling growth of barley under lab conditions. The ANOVA and Dunken multiple range test enumerated that, the seeds primed at 30°C for 12 h, has positively improved the germination potential and seedling vigour index when compared to the respective lower and higher durations of exposure and revealed it as the best treatment combination. The subsequent year of evaluation of emergence potential of the treated seeds under an artificially induced high temperature stress revealed that the selected treatment was a good performer in inducing heat stress tolerance in barley, and can be chosen as solution to the high temperature stress induced through increasing atmospheric temperature at different stages of crop growth

Evaluation of selected South African ethnomedicinal plants as mosquito repellents against the Anopheles arabiensis mosquito in a rodent model

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This study was initiated to establish whether any South African ethnomedicinal plants (indigenous or exotic), that have been reported to be used traditionally to repel or kill mosquitoes, exhibit effective mosquito repellent properties.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Extracts of a selection of South African taxa were tested for repellency properties in an applicable mosquito feeding-probing assay using unfed female <it>Anopheles arabiensis</it>.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Although a water extract of the roots of <it>Chenopodium opulifolium </it>was found to be 97% as effective as DEET after 2 mins, time lag studies revealed a substantial reduction in efficacy (to 30%) within two hours.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>None of the plant extracts investigated exhibited residual repellencies >60% after three hours.</p

Dolutegravir twice-daily dosing in children with HIV-associated tuberculosis: a pharmacokinetic and safety study within the open-label, multicentre, randomised, non-inferiority ODYSSEY trial

Background: Children with HIV-associated tuberculosis (TB) have few antiretroviral therapy (ART) options. We aimed to evaluate the safety and pharmacokinetics of dolutegravir twice-daily dosing in children receiving rifampicin for HIV-associated TB. Methods: We nested a two-period, fixed-order pharmacokinetic substudy within the open-label, multicentre, randomised, controlled, non-inferiority ODYSSEY trial at research centres in South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. Children (aged 4 weeks to <18 years) with HIV-associated TB who were receiving rifampicin and twice-daily dolutegravir were eligible for inclusion. We did a 12-h pharmacokinetic profile on rifampicin and twice-daily dolutegravir and a 24-h profile on once-daily dolutegravir. Geometric mean ratios for trough plasma concentration (Ctrough), area under the plasma concentration time curve from 0 h to 24 h after dosing (AUC0–24 h), and maximum plasma concentration (Cmax) were used to compare dolutegravir concentrations between substudy days. We assessed rifampicin Cmax on the first substudy day. All children within ODYSSEY with HIV-associated TB who received rifampicin and twice-daily dolutegravir were included in the safety analysis. We described adverse events reported from starting twice-daily dolutegravir to 30 days after returning to once-daily dolutegravir. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02259127), EudraCT (2014–002632-14), and the ISRCTN registry (ISRCTN91737921). Findings: Between Sept 20, 2016, and June 28, 2021, 37 children with HIV-associated TB (median age 11·9 years [range 0·4–17·6], 19 [51%] were female and 18 [49%] were male, 36 [97%] in Africa and one [3%] in Thailand) received rifampicin with twice-daily dolutegravir and were included in the safety analysis. 20 (54%) of 37 children enrolled in the pharmacokinetic substudy, 14 of whom contributed at least one evaluable pharmacokinetic curve for dolutegravir, including 12 who had within-participant comparisons. Geometric mean ratios for rifampicin and twice-daily dolutegravir versus once-daily dolutegravir were 1·51 (90% CI 1·08–2·11) for Ctrough, 1·23 (0·99–1·53) for AUC0–24 h, and 0·94 (0·76–1·16) for Cmax. Individual dolutegravir Ctrough concentrations were higher than the 90% effective concentration (ie, 0·32 mg/L) in all children receiving rifampicin and twice-daily dolutegravir. Of 18 children with evaluable rifampicin concentrations, 15 (83%) had a Cmax of less than the optimal target concentration of 8 mg/L. Rifampicin geometric mean Cmax was 5·1 mg/L (coefficient of variation 71%). During a median follow-up of 31 weeks (IQR 30–40), 15 grade 3 or higher adverse events occurred among 11 (30%) of 37 children, ten serious adverse events occurred among eight (22%) children, including two deaths (one tuberculosis-related death, one death due to traumatic injury); no adverse events, including deaths, were considered related to dolutegravir. Interpretation: Twice-daily dolutegravir was shown to be safe and sufficient to overcome the rifampicin enzyme-inducing effect in children, and could provide a practical ART option for children with HIV-associated TB

Neuropsychiatric manifestations and sleep disturbances with dolutegravir-based antiretroviral therapy versus standard of care in children and adolescents: a secondary analysis of the ODYSSEY trial

BACKGROUND: Cohort studies in adults with HIV showed that dolutegravir was associated with neuropsychiatric adverse events and sleep problems, yet data are scarce in children and adolescents. We aimed to evaluate neuropsychiatric manifestations in children and adolescents treated with dolutegravir-based treatment versus alternative antiretroviral therapy. METHODS: This is a secondary analysis of ODYSSEY, an open-label, multicentre, randomised, non-inferiority trial, in which adolescents and children initiating first-line or second-line antiretroviral therapy were randomly assigned 1:1 to dolutegravir-based treatment or standard-of-care treatment. We assessed neuropsychiatric adverse events (reported by clinicians) and responses to the mood and sleep questionnaires (reported by the participant or their carer) in both groups. We compared the proportions of patients with neuropsychiatric adverse events (neurological, psychiatric, and total), time to first neuropsychiatric adverse event, and participant-reported responses to questionnaires capturing issues with mood, suicidal thoughts, and sleep problems. FINDINGS: Between Sept 20, 2016, and June 22, 2018, 707 participants were enrolled, of whom 345 (49%) were female and 362 (51%) were male, and 623 (88%) were Black-African. Of 707 participants, 350 (50%) were randomly assigned to dolutegravir-based antiretroviral therapy and 357 (50%) to non-dolutegravir-based standard-of-care. 311 (44%) of 707 participants started first-line antiretroviral therapy (ODYSSEY-A; 145 [92%] of 157 participants had efavirenz-based therapy in the standard-of-care group), and 396 (56%) of 707 started second-line therapy (ODYSSEY-B; 195 [98%] of 200 had protease inhibitor-based therapy in the standard-of-care group). During follow-up (median 142 weeks, IQR 124–159), 23 participants had 31 neuropsychiatric adverse events (15 in the dolutegravir group and eight in the standard-of-care group; difference in proportion of participants with ≥1 event p=0·13). 11 participants had one or more neurological events (six and five; p=0·74) and 14 participants had one or more psychiatric events (ten and four; p=0·097). Among 14 participants with psychiatric events, eight participants in the dolutegravir group and four in standard-of-care group had suicidal ideation or behaviour. More participants in the dolutegravir group than the standard-of-care group reported symptoms of self-harm (eight vs one; p=0·025), life not worth living (17 vs five; p=0·0091), or suicidal thoughts (13 vs none; p=0·0006) at one or more follow-up visits. Most reports were transient. There were no differences by treatment group in low mood or feeling sad, problems concentrating, feeling worried or feeling angry or aggressive, sleep problems, or sleep quality. INTERPRETATION: The numbers of neuropsychiatric adverse events and reported neuropsychiatric symptoms were low. However, numerically more participants had psychiatric events and reported suicidality ideation in the dolutegravir group than the standard-of-care group. These differences should be interpreted with caution in an open-label trial. Clinicians and policy makers should consider including suicidality screening of children or adolescents receiving dolutegravir

A novel cyclization product from the polyphosphoric acid catalyzed addition of propanal to limonene

The polyphosphoric acid catalyzed addition of propanal to limonene yielded a novel bicyclic ether 2,2,6-trimethyl-4-ethyl-3-oxabicyclo[3.3.1]non-6-ene (I). The yield of (I) was significantly increased by carrying out the reaction under nitrogen rather than in air

Virtual reality in construction industry : a requirement compatibility analysis approach - art. no. 60551S

Virtual Reality (VR) is regarded as a high-end user-computer interface that involves real-time simulation and interactions through multiple sensorial channels. It is assumed that VR will reshape the interaction interfaces between user and computer technology by offering new approaches for the communication of information, the visualisation of processes and the creative expression of ideas. The VR application in construction has a relatively long history but its successful stories are not heard quite often. In this paper, the authors have explored how much further the construction industry could be supported by new three dimensional (3D) VR technologies in different construction processes. The design information in the construction industry has been discussed first followed by a detail construction process analysis. A questionnaire survey has been conducted and the results of the survey are presented and discussed. As an investigation into the application of 3D VR technologies in the context of the construction processes, the benefits and challenges of current and potential applications of 3DVR in the construction industry have been identified. This study also reveals the strengths and weaknesses of 3D VR technology applications in the construction processes. Suggestions and future works are also provided in this paper

Multiprojector image distortion correction scheme for curved screens on the example of the Cybersphere - art. no. 60551P

One of the problems appearing in the virtual reality (VR) application is the image distortion and blending correction for curved screens with single or multiple projectors. There are ways to solve this problem via a special circuit implementation within the image projectors or via special image correction PC based boxes. In this study we proposed own algorithm for the image correction based on the back ray tracing approach. The algorithm is using reverse ray tracing and it was tested on the Cybersphere(1) setup. We propose the software implementation of the algorithm which allows using it for any programs not limited by a certain technology such as OpenGL for instance as in other image correction algorithms. The algorithm can be used for distributed image rendering and projection such as Chromium based sets