Time constrained fault tolerance and management framework for k-connected distributed wireless sensor networks based on composite event detection

Wireless sensor nodes themselves are exceptionally complex systems where a variety of components interact in a complex way. In enterprise scenarios it becomes highly important to hide the details of the underlying sensor networks from the applications and to guarantee a minimum level of reliability of the system. One of the challenges faced to achieve this level of reliability is to overcome the failures frequently faced by sensor networks due to their tight integration with the environment. Failures can generate false information, which may trigger incorrect business processes, resulting in additional costs. Sensor networks are inherently fault prone due to the shared wireless communication medium. Thus, sensor nodes can lose synchrony and their programs can reach arbitrary states. Since on-site maintenance is not feasible, sensor network applications should be local and communication-efficient self-healing. Also, as per my knowledge, no such general framework exist that addresses all the fault issues one may encounter in a WSN, based on the extensive, exhaustive and comprehensive literature survey in the related areas of research. As one of the main goals of enterprise applications is to reduce the costs of business processes, a complete and more general Fault Tolerance and management framework for a general WSN, irrespective of the node types and deployment conditions is proposed which would help to mitigate the propagation of failures in a business environment, reduce the installation and maintenance costs and to gain deployment flexibility to allow for unobtrusive installation

From Philanthropy to Mandatory CSR: A Journey towards Mandatory Corporate Social Responsibility in India

India is a country of myriad contradictions. On the one hand, it has grown to be one of the largest economies in the world, and an increasingly important player in the emerging global order, on the other hand, it is still home to the largest number of people living in absolute poverty (even if the proportion of poor people has decreased) and the largest number of undernourished children. What emerges is a picture of uneven distribution of the benefits of growth which many believe, is the root cause of social unrest. Companies too have been the target of those perturbed by this uneven development and as a result, their contributions to society are under severe scrutiny. With increasing awareness of this gap between the haves and the have-nots, this scrutiny will only increase over time and societal expectations will be on the rise. Many companies have been quick to sense this development, and have responded proactively while others have done so only when pushed. This paper attempts to present the picture of transformation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) from philanthropy to mandatory corporate social responsibility (MCSR) in India. It aims also at analyzing that why CSR spending must be regulatory in the country like India. Keywords: Philanthropy, CSR, MCSR, Company Act 2013, Indi

Respiratory index of severity in children score for assessment of severity in pediatric pneumonia- a hospital-based study

Background: This hospital-based study aimed to evaluate the respiratory index of severity in children (RISC) score’s performance in predicting severity and mortality risk in pediatric pneumonia patients in a developing nation. Methods: The study included 200 children under 5 years of age who were admitted to the ward and pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and did not have documented congenital heart disease, chronic respiratory illness, congenital lung problems, immunosuppressive conditions, or known neuromuscular disorder with respiratory system involvement. The RISC score was determined, and its correlation with chest x-ray score, mortality, and PICU admission was calculated for assessing the severity of pneumonia. Results: The study found that the RISC score is a potentially useful tool for predicting severity and mortality risk in pediatric pneumonia patients. Conclusions: The findings may contribute to the development of more accurate and reliable scoring systems to guide appropriate treatment and improve outcomes in pediatric pneumonia patients

Celiac disease and pregnancy in Indian scenario

Celiac disease is a chronic lifelong inflammatory condition of gastrointestinal tract specifically the small intestine. We report a case of pregnancy outcome in a patient with celiac disease (gluten sensitive enteropathy) diagnosed during the investigations of recurrent abortions and intermittent diarrhoea since childhood.  A 32 years old patient who had four abortions and loss of a premature baby was diagnosed as celiac disease during investigations of recurrent abortions and diarrhoea since childhood. After stabilisation of disease she conceived spontaneously. Patient had regular follow up in some private institute. She was referred to our hospital as a case of IUGR with color Doppler changes with breech presentation with sluggish fetal movements at 37 weeks and emergency caesarean section was performed. A male fetus with 2.25 kg AS 7, 9 at birth was delivered. The cause of her recurrent pregnancy losses and previous preterm birth was celiac disease. Celiac disease (CD) is an immune-mediated enteropathy caused by a permanent sensitivity to gluten in genetically susceptible individual. It may also lead to serious maternal and fetal complications because of systemic effects of disease however a successful pregnancy outcome is possible when pre-gestational diagnosis is made and proper management of disease during pregnancy is achieved

Perioperative Haemostatic Management in a Patient Undergoing Craniotomy for Excision of Meningioma: Role of Thromboelastography

Although there is a general predisposition towards hyper-coagulability during brain tumour surgery, hypocoagulability may exist in certain cases even before surgery, detectable only when the physical characteristics of clot formation are studied by viscoelastic point-of-care tests like thromboelastography (TEG). Herein we present a case of a 66-year old male patient with left frontal convexity meningioma, scheduled for craniotomy and excision of tumor. Patient’s preoperative coagulation profile (as assessed by conventional tests) was within normal limits but he was bleeding profusely from the beginning of the surgery and there was massive bleeding during tumour resection. Based on findings of TEG which revealed a severe hypocoagulable picture (low α angle, MA value and CI value with high K value), 10 units of cryoprecipitate and 4 units of random donor platelets were transfused intra-operatively in addition to 2 units of PRBCs.Haemodynamic stability was achieved and subsequent intra-operative course was better. One more unit of PRBC was transfused in the immediate post-operative period and a repeat TEG after 4 hours showed a trend towards normalization of TEG parameters suggesting a restoration of coagulation competency which also correlated with improved clinical condition of the patient

Tibialis anterior muscle hernia : a case of chronic, dull pain and swelling in leg diagnosed by dynamic ultrasonography

BACKGROUND: Symptomatic muscle hernias are not uncommon in the lower extremities and are a rare cause of chronic leg pain. They are most commonly seen in the tibialis anterior muscle, occurring through fascial defects, usually after trauma. There are about 200 cases of muscle hernias described in the literature. The diagnosis is challenging as most of the patients present with non-specific chronic leg pain. Dynamic muscle ultrasonography at rest and at stress is often used for the diagnosis. CASE REPORT: We describe a case of tibialis anterior muscle hernia presenting with persistent dull pain and swelling along the anterior aspect of the leg on straining the leg muscles. Dynamic ultrasonography was performed, which showed a defect in the fascial sheath of the muscle through which the tibialis anterior muscle herniated and produced a focal bulge along the anterior aspect of the leg. Based upon physical examination and dynamic ultrasonographic findings, a diagnosis of tibialis anterior muscle hernia was made. CONCLUSIONS: Tibialis anterior muscle hernia is a rare diagnosis and should be included in the differential diagnosis in a patient with chronic leg pain and swelling. Dynamic ultrasound is crucial in confirming the diagnosis and should be done on straining the muscles of the affected limb

Disruption of Skin Stem Cell Homeostasis following Transplacental Arsenicosis; Alleviation by Combined Intake of Selenium and Curcumin

Of late, a consirable interest has grown in literature on early development of arsenicosis and untimely death in humans after exposure to iAs in drinking water in utero or during the childhood. The mechanism of this kind of intrauterine arsenic poisoning is not known; however it is often suggested to involve stem cells. We looked into this possibility by investigating in mice the influence of chronic in utero exposure to arsenical drinking water preliminarily on multipotent adult stem cell and progenitor cell counts at the beginning of neonatal age. We found that repeated intake of 42.5 or 85ppm iAs in drinking water by pregnant BALB/c mice substantially changed the counts of EpASCs, the progenitor cells, and the differentiated cells in epidermis of their zero day old neonates. EpASCs counts decreased considerably and the differentiated / apoptosed cell counts increased extensively whereas the counts of progenitor cell displayed a biphasic effect. The observed trend of response was dose-dependent and statistically significant. These observations signified a disruption in stem cell homeostasis. The disorder was in parallel with changes in expression of biomarkers of stem cell and progenitor (TA) cell besides changes in expression of pro-inflammatory and antioxidant molecules namely Nrf2, NFkB, TNF-α, and GSH. The biological monitoring of exposure to iAs and the ensuing transplacental toxicity was verifiable correspondingly by the increase in iAs burden in hair, kidney, skin, liver of nulliparous female mice and the onset of chromosomal aberrations in neonate bone marrow cells. The combined intake of selenite and curcumin in utero was found to prevent the disruption of homeostasis and associated biochemical changes to a great extent. The mechanism of prevention seemed possibly to involve (a) curcumin and Keap-1 interaction, (b) consequent escalated de novo GSH biosynthesis, and (c) the resultant toxicant disposition. These observations are important with respect to the development of vulnerability to arsenicosis and other morbidities later in life after repeated in utero or postnatal exposure to iAs in drinking water that may occur speculatively through impairment of adult stem cell dependent innate tissue repair mechanism

Characterization of sewage and design of a UASB reactor for its treatment

Wastewater treatment is becoming ever more critical due to fading water resources, increasing wastewater disposal expenses and firmer discharge regulations that have lowered permissible contaminant levels in waste streams. The ultimate goal of wastewater management is the protection of the environment in a manner commensurate with public health and socio-economic concerns. This project is devoted for the characterization of general parameters of domestic waste water collected from the campus of NIT Rourkela, and study and design of an anaerobic treatment plant, the Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket reactor (UASB). The UASB model showed promising results in removal of BOD, heavy metals, pH, turbidity and decrease in microbe content. A laboratory scale Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket reactor study was done with waste water generated from hostels in NIT Rourkela as substrate. The reactor was fed with waste water in the presence of sludge generated from the same waste water. The substrate was recirculated within the reactor to ensure a continuous steady upflow. Samples were collected from the reactor every week and were analyzed for concentration of various parameters and were plotted against time. Treated waste water found from UASB model reduces turbidity of water decreases from 57.1 to 37.6 NTU, pH of treated water increases s from 7.9 to 8.9,BOD of treated sample decreases with time from 6.6 to 1.5 mg/L, concentration of metals decreases with time as Potassium concentration decreases from 2.066 to 1.351 mg/L, Calcium concentration decreases from 2.391 to 1.075 mg/L, Zinc concentration decreases from 0.251 to 0.162 mg/L, Iron concentration decreases from 0.517 to 0.239 mg/L, Copper concentration decreases from 0.107 to 0.056 mg/L, Lead concentration decreases from 0.033 to 0.202 mg/L, Arsenic concentration decreases from 0.09 to 0.048 mg/L, magnesium concentration decreases from 6.439 to 6.145 mg/L

Diagnosis of Dry Eye

Dry eye is a multifactorial disease and hence single test cannot diagnose dry eye. Diagnosis of dry eye needs careful assessment of the symptoms along with battery of investigations. Many questionnaires have been developed to assess the symptoms of dry eye disease (DED). Some of the important questionnaires are Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI), Dry Eye Questionnaire (DEQ-5), Impact of Dry Eye on Everyday Living (IDEEL), National Eye Institute’s Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI VFQ-25) and Dry Eye-Related Quality-of-Life Score (DEQS). Investigations for dry eye mainly target on the tear secretion, tear clearance, tear volume, tear film stability, tear evaporation, ocular surface damage, lipid layer of the tear film, chemical properties of the tear film and inflammation of the ocular surface. There are many investigations that target on the above parameters and helps in accurate diagnosis of Dry eye disease (DED)