Development of turbulence models for shear flows by a double expansion technique

Turbulence models are developed by supplementing the renormalization group (RNG) approach of Yakhot and Orszag with scale expansions for the Reynolds stress and production of dissipation terms. The additional expansion parameter (eta) is the ratio of the turbulent to mean strain time scale. While low-order expansions appear to provide an adequate description of the Reynolds stress, no finite truncation of the expansion for the production of dissipation term in powers of eta suffices - terms of all orders must be retained. Based on these ideas, a new two-equation model and Reynolds stress transport model are developed for turbulent shear flows. The models are tested for homogeneous shear flow and flow over a backward facing step. Comparisons between the model predictions and experimental data are excellent

Studies on Fruit Development in Pink and White types of Wax Apple (Syzygium samarangense Merr. & Perry) in Goa, India

Fruit development studies were taken up in white and pink types of wax apple trees aging twelve years old at Goa, India. The study was initiated with the onset of flowering in November during the year 2018. After tagging the flowers on anthesis, samples were drawn periodically to record parameters like fruit weight, fruit volume, fruit length and diameter (upper, middle and lower), quality or biochemical parameters like total acids and sugars. Relative growth rate (RGR) was calculated for all parameters and graphs were generated. In both the types, fruit weight, fruit volume, fruit length and diameter increased in a sigmoidal pattern. The quality characters like TSS, total acids and total sugars also showed a sigmoidal pattern of increase whereas the increase in reducing sugars exhibited a double sigmoidal pattern of increase. It was evident from the curves that there was pronounced peak in growth rate between 21 and 28 days after anthesis for fruit weight, fruit volume, fruit length and diameter, in both pink and white types of wax apple

Evaluation of Different Cultivars of Tuberose (Polianthes tuberosa L.) under Humid agro Climatic conditions of Goa

Tuberose (Polianthes tuberosa L.) is one of the most important tropical bulbous-ornamental cultivated for production of long-lasting flowers spikes. Adaptation and acclimatization of different cultivars under humid agro-climatic conditions of Goa are to be confirmed for their better performance. The present investigation was conducted to evaluate the performance of tuberose cultivars under agro-climatic conditions of Goa during 2014- 2017. Five single and six double cultivars of tuberose were evaluated during the study period. All the cultivars differed in their growth and flowering behaviour. Among the single cultivars, evaluated, maximum number of florets per spike (47.00) was observed in Pune local whereas spike-length (75.59 cm) was maximum in Mexican Single. Among the double cultivars, evaluated, maximum plant height (52.21 cm) and maximum number of leaves per plant (59.63) were recorded with cultivar Arka Suvasini. Leaf length was significantly higher (52.93 cm) in Pearl double whereas leaf width (2.04 cm) was maximum in Calcutta Double. Days to appearance of flower spike were earlier in Arka Suvasini. Minimum days taken for opening of basal floret (84.88 days) were recorded with cultivar Arka Suvasini. Spike girth (0.68 cm), Spike fresh-weight (69.06 cm), floret stalk-length (3.6 cm), floret diameter (5.24 cm), weight of individual floret (3.49 g) and vase life (7.93 days) was significantly maximum in Cv. Arka Suvasini followed by Pearl Double. Based on the performance evaluation cv. Mexican Single among single types and cv. Arka Suvasini and Pearl Double among double types could be recommended for commercial cultivation under agro climatic conditions of Goa

Pregnancy outcome among gestational diabetes mellitus patients in a tertiary care centre

Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus poses numerous health problems for both mother and the fetus. Even though there are improved outcomes, complications of gestational diabetes still persists. Objectives of this study was to find out the maternal and perinatal outcomes in gestational diabetes mellitus.Methods: This study was done among pregnant women attending antenatal outpatient department at Sree Mookambika Institute of Medical Sciences, Kulasekharam. oral glucose tolerance test was done at between 24 to 28 weeks and the values more than their cutoff was labelled as gestational diabetes and their outcome was measured as complications during antenatal period, mode of delivery and perinatal outcome in view of neonatal intensive care unit admissions due to hyperbilirubinemia and respiratory distress syndrome.Results: Out of 500 antenatal mothers 65 were found to have gestational diabetes which is approximately 13%. Obstetric outcomes were 10% of them developed pregnancy induced hypertension, 12% of them ended in preterm labour and polyhydramnios in 2%. Delivery by caesarean section and vaginal route is almost similar. Maximum number of neonatal intensive care admissions are due to hyperbilirubinemia followed by respiratory distress.Conclusions: Screening for gestational diabetes and adequate glycemic control is necessary in preventing short term and long-term complications

Variability and Genetic Divergence in Vegetable Cowpea Germplasm of Goa

Vegetable cowpea or Yard long bean [Vigna unguiculata var. sesquipedalis L. (Walp)] is a warm season leguminous crops grown especially for vegetable purpose along the west coast of India. In Goa, pole type varieties are preferred over bushy types as they offer multiple harvests with comparatively longer pods. There is wide variability found for different morphological and other traits in the local types cultivated in the state of Goa. Exploration of genetic variability in the available germplasm is a prerequisite for initiation of any successful breeding programme. Twenty nine genotypes of vegetable cowpea including three improved varieties collected from different parts of Goa state were evaluated for twelve quantitative characters including yield. High variability was observed for pod yield/plant, number of pods/plant and pod length. The high variability for pod yield per plant is apparent as the pod yield ranged from 315.25 to 2070.45 g/plant with an average of 827.48 g per plant. Pod yield depends on number of pods per plant, pod length and pod weight. Number of pods per plant ranged from 36.65 to 147.80. Pod weight depends on pod length, number of seeds per pod and hundred seeds weight. Wide variation was observed for all these characters in the present study. The GCV value was maximum for pod yield per plant (g) followed by pod weight (g) and number of pods per plant. Low values of GCV were observed for days to first flowering, days to first harvest and number of seeds per pod. In the present study, the twenty nine genotypes could be grouped into fourteen clusters based on genetic distance. High coefficient of variation was observed for pod yield per plant, pod weight, number of pods per plant and pod length indicating their significant contribution in determining the inter cluster distances

Rapid isolation of high molecular weight DNA from single dry preserved adult beetle of Cryptolaemus montrouzieri for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification

For studying genetic diversity in populations of predatory coccinellid, Cryptolaemus montrouzieri Mulsant (Coccinellidae: Coleoptera), our attempts to isolate high quality DNA from individual adult beetle using several previously reported protocols and even modifications were quite unsuccessful as the insect size was small and was preserved at -20°C as dry specimen. Here we describe a simple, rapid and efficient method of isolating high-quality intact genomic DNA with reduced protein contamination for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification from a single, dry preserved specimen of adult Cryptolaemus. The procedure features macerating and mixing the single adult specimen of Cryptoalemus with cationic detergent cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) in the homogenization buffer, two chloroform-isoamylalcohol extractions and an alcohol precipitation. RNA contamination was eliminated with RNAse treatment. The purity of DNA was high since the A260/A280 ratio ranged from 1.78 to 1.97. The isolated DNA was used as template for PCR, and the results were evaluated by comparing with different preserved samples.Key words: Rapid isolation, quality DNA, dry preserved specimens, Cryptolaemus montrouzieri

Sonification of Flow Instabilities in CFD Aneurysm Models

Paper presented at 2018 Canadian Society of Mechanical Engineers International Congress, 27-30 May 2018.Recent investigations using image-based computational flow dynamics (CFD) have revealed turbulent-like blood flow instabilities (hemodynamics) within intracranial cerebral aneurysms and surrounding vasculature, which may contribute to aneurysm initiation, growth, and rupture. We describe a method derived from spectral decomposition of flow for inspecting and characterizing these “turbulent-like” hemodynamic structures in intracranial aneurysms by sonification of CFD generated data. Motivated by auscultation techniques, the current research seeks to address the limitations of conventional CFD animations by allowing the user to listen to complex flow patterns that are often difficult to discern visually. In the process, the proposed method of sonification is successfully applied to a series of datasets resulting from highfidelity numerical simulations of intracranial aneurysms. The resulting framework is shown to be highly efficient in performing parametric sonification in real time

A Retrospective Seroprevalence Study of Dengue, Chikungunya and Co-Infection virus: a Hospital Based Study from Theni, Tamil Nadu

Viral-borne diseases have recently gained significant public health importance in the current world. The Viral Research and Diagnostic Laboratory (VRDL) located at Government Theni Medical College (GTMC), Theni, Tamil Nadu, conducts the diagnosis of common virus infections. The purpose of this study is to investigate the seroprevalence of dengue (DENV) and chikungunya (CHIKV) virus infections, as well as their co-infection, in people who have clinical symptoms. From January 2018 to June 2023, serum samples were collected from clinically suspected patients at the tertiary care hospital in Theni, Tamil Nadu. DENV and CHIKV were detected using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in all of the samples. A total of 16,997 cases were enrolled, out of which 11264/2971(26.3%) tested positive for Dengue IgM, 1395/288 (20.6%) for Dengue NS1 Ag, 19/3(15.7%) for IgG, followed by 4319/3388(8.9%) of CHIKV IgM. Fever (n = 16598, 97.6%) was the most prevalent clinical characteristic in all probable dengue and chikungunya patients. Other symptoms were chills (n = 11252, 66.1%), arthralgia (n = 10245, 60.2%), headache (n = 11354, 66.8%), and joint pain (n = 11256, 66.2%). The findings showed a lesser likelihood of acquiring both DENV and CHIKV infections at the same time; however, the risk is still not trivial. This study investigates the clinical presentation of Dengue-Chikungunya patients. The rising prevalence of dengue and chikungunya, as well as their co-infection, need thorough monitoring of endemic areas and good patient care management