Open Source Software Use in Indian Libraries: A Survey.

The term “Open Source” is a trending topic at present among LIS professionals in India. Open Source applications in libraries progressed as a matter of serious discussion among the library professionals. Stakeholders of Indian Library sector now a day’s realize the advantages of embracing Open Source softwares. This Paper attempts to find out the usage of Open Source software in Indian Libraries. It is found that there is a positive attitude from the part of library professionals towards the acceptance of Open Source softwares.The study also underscores the necessity of orientation Programmes for making Professionals more familiar for adoption of Open Source software in libraries

Diverse tick-borne microorganisms identified in free-living ungulates in Slovakia

Background: Free-living ungulates are hosts of ixodid ticks and reservoirs of tick-borne microorganisms in central Europe and many regions around the world. Tissue samples and engorged ticks were obtained from roe deer, red deer, fallow deer, mouflon, and wild boar hunted in deciduous forests of south-western Slovakia. DNA isolated from these samples was screened for the presence of tick-borne microorganisms by PCR-based methods. Results: Ticks were found to infest all examined ungulate species. The principal infesting tick was Ixodes ricinus, identified on 90.4% of wildlife, and included all developmental stages. Larvae and nymphs of Haemaphysalis concinna were feeding on 9.6% of wildlife. Two specimens of Dermacentor reticulatus were also identified. Ungulates were positive for A. phagocytophilum and Theileria spp. Anaplasma phagocytophilum was found to infect 96.1% of cervids, 88.9% of mouflon, and 28.2% of wild boar, whereas Theileria spp. was detected only in cervids (94.6%). Importantly, a high rate of cervids (89%) showed mixed infections with both these microorganisms. In addition to A. phagocytophilum and Theileria spp., Rickettsia helvetica, R. monacensis, unidentified Rickettsia sp., Coxiella burnetii, "Candidatus Neoehrlichia mikurensis", Borrelia burgdorferi (s.l.) and Babesia venatorum were identified in engorged I. ricinus. Furthermore, A. phagocytophilum, Babesia spp. and Theileria spp. were detected in engorged H. concinna. Analysis of 16S rRNA and groEL gene sequences revealed the presence of five and two A. phagocytophilum variants, respectively, among which sequences identified in wild boar showed identity to the sequence of the causative agent of human granulocytic anaplasmosis (HGA). Phylogenetic analysis of Theileria 18S rRNA gene sequences amplified from cervids and engorged I. ricinus ticks segregated jointly with sequences of T. capreoli isolates into a moderately supported monophyletic clade. Conclusions: The findings indicate that free-living ungulates are reservoirs for A. phagocytophilum and Theileria spp. and engorged ixodid ticks attached to ungulates are good sentinels for the presence of agents of public and veterinary concern. Further analyses of the A. phagocytophilum genetic variants and Theileria species and their associations with vector ticks and free-living ungulates are required.Fil: Kazimírová, Mária. Slovak Academy of Sciences. Institute of Zoology; EslovaquiaFil: Hamšíková, Zuzana. Slovak Academy of Sciences. Institute of Zoology; EslovaquiaFil: Spitalská, Eva. Slovak Academy of Sciences. Institute of Virology. Biomedical Research Center,; EslovaquiaFil: Minichová, Lenka. Slovak Academy of Sciences. Institute of Virology. Biomedical Research Center,; EslovaquiaFil: Mahríková, Lenka. Slovak Academy of Sciences. Institute of Zoology; EslovaquiaFil: Caban, Radoslav. Široká ; EslovaquiaFil: Sprong, Hein. National Institute for Public Health and Environment.Laboratory for Zoonoses and Environmental Microbiology; Países BajosFil: Fonville, Manoj. National Institute for Public Health and Environment.Laboratory for Zoonoses and Environmental Microbiology; Países BajosFil: Schnittger, Leonhard. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Patobiología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Kocianová, Elena. Slovak Academy of Sciences. Institute of Virology. Biomedical Research Center,; Eslovaqui

Open Source Software Use in Indian Libraries: A Survey.

The term “Open Source” is a trending topic at present among LIS professionals in India. Open Source applications in libraries progressed as a matter of serious discussion among the library professionals. Stakeholders of Indian Library sector now a day’s realize the advantages of embracing Open Source softwares. This Paper attempts to find out the usage of Open Source software in Indian Libraries. It is found that there is a positive attitude from the part of library professionals towards the acceptance of Open Source softwares.The study also underscores the necessity of orientation Programmes for making Professionals more familiar for adoption of Open Source software in libraries

Galactic and Extragalactic Samples of Supernova Remnants: How They Are Identified and What They Tell Us

Supernova remnants (SNRs) arise from the interaction between the ejecta of a supernova (SN) explosion and the surrounding circumstellar and interstellar medium. Some SNRs, mostly nearby SNRs, can be studied in great detail. However, to understand SNRs as a whole, large samples of SNRs must be assembled and studied. Here, we describe the radio, optical, and X-ray techniques which have been used to identify and characterize almost 300 Galactic SNRs and more than 1200 extragalactic SNRs. We then discuss which types of SNRs are being found and which are not. We examine the degree to which the luminosity functions, surface-brightness distributions and multi-wavelength comparisons of the samples can be interpreted to determine the class properties of SNRs and describe efforts to establish the type of SN explosion associated with a SNR. We conclude that in order to better understand the class properties of SNRs, it is more important to study (and obtain additional data on) the SNRs in galaxies with extant samples at multiple wavelength bands than it is to obtain samples of SNRs in other galaxiesComment: Final 2016 draft of a chapter in "Handbook of Supernovae" edited by Athem W. Alsabti and Paul Murdin. Final version available at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20794-0_90-

F-theory on Genus-One Fibrations

We argue that M-theory compactified on an arbitrary genus-one fibration, that is, an elliptic fibration which need not have a section, always has an F-theory limit when the area of the genus-one fiber approaches zero. Such genus-one fibrations can be easily constructed as toric hypersurfaces, and various $SU(5)\times U(1)^n$ and $E_6$ models are presented as examples. To each genus-one fibration one can associate a $\tau$-function on the base as well as an $SL(2,\mathbb{Z})$ representation which together define the IIB axio-dilaton and 7-brane content of the theory. The set of genus-one fibrations with the same $\tau$-function and $SL(2,\mathbb{Z})$ representation, known as the Tate-Shafarevich group, supplies an important degree of freedom in the corresponding F-theory model which has not been studied carefully until now. Six-dimensional anomaly cancellation as well as Witten's zero-mode count on wrapped branes both imply corrections to the usual F-theory dictionary for some of these models. In particular, neutral hypermultiplets which are localized at codimension-two fibers can arise. (All previous known examples of localized hypermultiplets were charged under the gauge group of the theory.) Finally, in the absence of a section some novel monodromies of Kodaira fibers are allowed which lead to new breaking patterns of non-Abelian gauge groups.Comment: 53 pages, 9 figures, 6 tables. v2: references adde

Differential expression of collectins in human placenta and role in inflammation during spontaneous Labor.

© 2014 Yadav et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Collectins, collagen-containing Ca2+ dependent C-type lectins and a class of secretory proteins including SP-A, SP-D and MBL, are integral to immunomodulation and innate immune defense. In the present study, we aimed to investigate their placental transcript synthesis, labor associated differential expression and localization at feto-maternal interface, and their functional implication in spontaneous labor. The study involved using feto-maternal interface (placental/decidual tissues) from two groups of healthy pregnant women at term (≥37 weeks of gestation), undergoing either elective C-section with no labor ('NLc' group, n = 5), or normal vaginal delivery with spontaneous labor ('SLv' group, n = 5). The immune function of SP-D, on term placental explants, was analyzed for cytokine profile using multiplexed cytokine array. SP-A, SP-D and MBL transcripts were observed in the term placenta. The 'SLv' group showed significant up-regulation of SP-D (p = 0.001), and down-regulation of SP-A (p = 0.005), transcripts and protein compared to the 'NLc' group. Significant increase in 43 kDa and 50 kDa SP-D forms in placental and decidual tissues was associated with the spontaneous labor (p<0.05). In addition, the MMP-9-cleaved form of SP-D (25 kDa) was significantly higher in the placentae of 'SLv' group compared to the 'NLc' group (p = 0.002). Labor associated cytokines IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, TNF-α and MCP-1 showed significant increase (p<0.05) in a dose dependent manner in the placental explants treated with nSP-D and rhSP-D. In conclusion, the study emphasizes that SP-A and SP-D proteins associate with the spontaneous labor and SP-D plausibly contributes to the pro-inflammatory immune milieu of feto-maternal tissues.Funding provided by BT/PR15227/BRB/10/906/2011) Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India http://dbtindia.nic.in/index.asp (TM) and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Junior Research Fellowship (JRF)/Senior Research Fellowship (SRF), Government of India, www.icmr.nic.in (AKY)

Rapidity and Centrality Dependence of Proton and Anti-proton Production from Au+Au Collisions at sqrt(sNN) = 130GeV

We report on the rapidity and centrality dependence of proton and anti-proton transverse mass distributions from Au+Au collisions at sqrt(sNN) = 130GeV as measured by the STAR experiment at RHIC. Our results are from the rapidity and transverse momentum range of |y|<0.5 and 0.35 <p_t<1.00GeV/c. For both protons and anti-protons, transverse mass distributions become more convex from peripheral to central collisions demonstrating characteristics of collective expansion. The measured rapidity distributions and the mean transverse momenta versus rapidity are flat within |y|<0.5. Comparisons of our data with results from model calculations indicate that in order to obtain a consistent picture of the proton(anti-proton) yields and transverse mass distributions the possibility of pre-hadronic collective expansion may have to be taken into account.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, submitted to PR

Application of phycoremediation technology in the treatment of wastewater from a leather-processing chemical manufacturing facility

Phycoremediation is the use of algae for the removal or biotransformation of pollutants from wastewater. Employing this technology in the treatment of industrial effluents presents an alternative to the current practice of using conventional methods, including physical and chemical methods. In the present study, the effluent from a leather-processing chemical manufacturing facility, situated at Ranipet, Tamil Nadu, India, was treated using the microalga, Chlorella vulgaris, which was isolated from the effluent itself. The objective of this study was to treat the effluent as well as ETP (effluent treatment plant) solid waste by phycoremediation (pilot-scale field study as well as laboratory study) and to analyse the physico-chemical parameters before and after treatment. The results obtained showed that Chlorella  vulgaris exhibited appreciable nutrient scavenging properties under both laboratory and field conditions, although phycoremediation carried out in sunlight (field study) gave better results. Moreover, the growth of Chlorella vulgaris was faster under field conditions.Keywords: Phycoremediation, microalgae, Chlorella vulgaris, effluent, ETP soli

Liver Type Fatty Acid Binding Protein (L-FABP): A Marker of Contrast Induced -Acute Kidney Injury

Background: Urinary Liver type fatty acid binding protein (L-FABP) is an early biomarker for renal damage. A few studies have been published analyzing the potential use of urinary Liver type fatty acid binding protein (L-FABP) as a biomarker for acute kidney injury. However no study has been done related to Acute Kidney Injury associated with contrast administration. Aim: To search for new markers to identify Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) associated with contrast administration earlier than serum creatinine. Material and Methods: We studied 100 consecutive patients with normal serum creatinine undergoing angiographic procedure. We assessed urinary liver type fatty acid binding protein (L-FABP) levels at basal, 2h 4h, 12h, 24 h and 48 hours after the angiographic procedure. Serum creatinine was measured at basal, 24h and 48 hours after the procedure. Results: There was a significant rise in urinary L-FABP levels at 12 hours after the angiographic procedure. The presence of contrast induced nephropathy associated with acute Kidney Injury was 9%. Conclusion: The present study highlighted the importance of urinary L-FABP in detecting Acute Kidney Injury associated with contrast administration earlier than Serum creatinine. Keywords: Liver type fatty acid binding protein (L-FABP).   Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR), Contrast induced acute kidney injury (CI-AKI)

Performance of the CMS Cathode Strip Chambers with Cosmic Rays

The Cathode Strip Chambers (CSCs) constitute the primary muon tracking device in the CMS endcaps. Their performance has been evaluated using data taken during a cosmic ray run in fall 2008. Measured noise levels are low, with the number of noisy channels well below 1%. Coordinate resolution was measured for all types of chambers, and fall in the range 47 microns to 243 microns. The efficiencies for local charged track triggers, for hit and for segments reconstruction were measured, and are above 99%. The timing resolution per layer is approximately 5 ns