Human antibody responses to the plamodium vivax duffy binding protein in Sri Lanka

Recombinant protein DBP, expressed in a bacculoviral vector, representing the native Plasmodium vivax Duffy Binding Protein (DBP) was used in an indirect ELISA to assay the total anti-DBP antibody (IgM + IgG) responses in Sri Lankan patients with acute vivax malaria.The test populations were selected from two malaria endemic areas, Anuradhapura (n=64) and Kataragama (n=93), and from an area non-endemic for malaria, Colombo (n=91). The prevalences of anti-DBP antibodies were 53%, 38% and 44% from Anuradhapura, Kataragama and Colombo, respectively. A significant difference (Chi-square test, p<0.05) was found between the proportions of responders and non-responders to DBP in Kataragama. Responding proportions of individuals previously exposed (PE) and previously not exposed (PNE) differed significantly only in Colombo (Chi-square test, p<0.05). Significant differences (Mann-Whitney U test, p<0.05) were evident between anti-DBP antibody magnitudes; (i) in Anuradhapura and Kataragama and (ii) of PNE individuals from Colombo and the total responders (both PNE + PE) from Anuradhapura.A significant difference (Mann-Whitney U test, p<0.01) in the end point titers (EPT) between PNE and PE individuals was limited to Colombo. Associations between host factors (age, parasitaemia, number of past infections, the duration between present and penultimate infections and the days of symptoms) and total antibody responses (antibody magnitudes and EPT) were examined (Spearman Correlation coefficient, p<0.05). The significant associations found were between (i) parasitaemia and then total antibody responses of residents in Anuradhapura, (ii) between the parasitaemia group <0.01% and the total antibody response of residents in Kataragama (a negative correlation), (iii) number of past infections in Colombo and (iv) the duration between the present and penultimate infections in Colombo and in Anuradhapura with EPT and the antibody magnitudes, respectively. In conclusion, results of the present study imply that naturally acquired anti-DBP antibodies may play a functional role in the immunity to vivax malaria in Sri Lank

The Persistence of Political Power: A Communist ‘Party Village’ in Kerala and the Paradox of Egalitarian Hierarchies

This article combines political analysis with ethnographic fieldwork to theorise Communist party’s construction of political allegiance and their persistence of power in the democratic context at a local village level in the state of Kerala in India. We provide an inaugural scholarly conceptualisation of an empirical phenomenon, known in Kerala popular parlance as ‘party gramam’ or the ‘party village’, as the focus of analysis. As we explain, a ‘party village’ is an administrative unit where a particular political party dominates not simply electorally but in all lived experience. We posit that the concept of ‘party village’ is of specific value in our understanding of various forms of current (Communist) politics. The original ascendancy of communism in the village (as in many regions of Kerala) during the twentieth century was due to its progressive ideological challenge to feudal structures of class and caste oppression. However, in democratic post-independence India, the overwhelming dominance of Communist Party in the 'party village' presents the paradox of a party with an egalitarian ideology having adapted to a persistent Hindu caste hierarchy. After situating our work within the conceptual problematisations of political party competition, and in conversation with wider communist studies literature, we provide a background to the politics of Kerala and explain the unique phenomenon of ‘party villages’ in Kerala. We then provide an insight into the social and economic structures of one such village, explaining the salience of these structures in relation to political allegiances. Next, we illustrate the paradox of continued caste hierarchies in a Communist Party village, and the multiple ways in which Hindu religion and caste structures are important to performing individual identity in social settings. We dissect the various means through which the grassroots Communist Party apparatus in the village maintains its dominance by adapting itself to regressive caste hierarchies for political profit at the same time as laying claim to having challenged them. In our concluding section, we place our village observations in the longer frame of historical north Kerala village politics, noting the changes over time and offering theoretical perspectives upon them. In this sense, through a mix of empirical observation with historical context and theorisation, we highlight the importance and the implications of unconventional democratic dynamics more generally

Studying Carbon Dioxide Solvent Properties by Microwave Spectroscopic Investigations of Vinyl Fluoride/Carbon Dioxide Clusters and Developing New Approaches to Decode Rotational Spectra

Supercritical carbon dioxide (sc-C02) is an excellent green solvent, but its properties are not thoroughly understood. For example, fluorinated compounds have higher than expected solubility in sc-C02. Microwave spectroscopy is one way to learn more about sc-C02 because it can be used to determine detailed structures of small clusters of molecules. The purpose of this investigation was to study weak hydrogen bonding interactions in complexes of fluorinated ethylene (solute) with carbon dioxide (C02, solvent). Investigations on dimers with one C02 molecule and fluorinated ethylene were carried out previously and found two different structures for vinyl fluoride (VF) ... C02, one structure for 1, l -difluoroethylene ... C02 and one structure for tritluoroethylene ... C02. In this study, the trimer VF ... C02 ... C02 has been studied using chirped-pulse Fourier-transform microwave (CP-FTMW) spectroscopy. Four structures were predicted using theoretical calculations and two of these possible structures were observed experimentally. Based on measured rotational constants, and comparing intensities with predicted dipole components, the actual structures were predicted well by theoretical calculations. Both observed trimer structures have CH ... O interactions that are similar to the observed dimers. Weakly bound tetramers were the next step in the series of complexes of C02 with fluorinated ethylene. But before going to the next step, we were able to observe 5 constant difference patterns from original scans which were not previously assigned. Then these 5 patterns were fully assigned and the experimental rotational constants for the spectra were found. But the cluster formulas and structures associated with them were unknown. Then to find the structures for these unknown molecular clusters we collected additional scans with different C02 concentrations. These data helped us to develop different analytical tools using MathCAD program for identifying the formulas for assigned spectra as well as extracting 5 more unknown molecular clusters. We were able to come up with some possible matches for the unknown clusters, ranging from trimers up to pentamers with the aid of Gaussian and ABCluster program. Future work will involve finding molecular structures for unknown cluster and finding ways to better mimic C02 salvation of VF

Complexity management of H.264/AVC video compression.

The H. 264/AVC video coding standard offers significantly improved compression efficiency and flexibility compared to previous standards. However, the high computational complexity of H. 264/AVC is a problem for codecs running on low-power hand held devices and general purpose computers. This thesis presents new techniques to reduce, control and manage the computational complexity of an H. 264/AVC codec. A new complexity reduction algorithm for H. 264/AVC is developed. This algorithm predicts "skipped" macroblocks prior to motion estimation by estimating a Lagrange ratedistortion cost function. Complexity savings are achieved by not processing the macroblocks that are predicted as "skipped". The Lagrange multiplier is adaptively modelled as a function of the quantisation parameter and video sequence statistics. Simulation results show that this algorithm achieves significant complexity savings with a negligible loss in rate-distortion performance. The complexity reduction algorithm is further developed to achieve complexity-scalable control of the encoding process. The Lagrangian cost estimation is extended to incorporate computational complexity. A target level of complexity is maintained by using a feedback algorithm to update the Lagrange multiplier associated with complexity. Results indicate that scalable complexity control of the encoding process can be achieved whilst maintaining near optimal complexity-rate-distortion performance. A complexity management framework is proposed for maximising the perceptual quality of coded video in a real-time processing-power constrained environment. A real-time frame-level control algorithm and a per-frame complexity control algorithm are combined in order to manage the encoding process such that a high frame rate is maintained without significantly losing frame quality. Subjective evaluations show that the managed complexity approach results in higher perceptual quality compared to a reference encoder that drops frames in computationally constrained situations. These novel algorithms are likely to be useful in implementing real-time H. 264/AVC standard encoders in computationally constrained environments such as low-power mobile devices and general purpose computers

AROGYA Intelligent Health Care Application

People of today pay less attention to their daily diet due to their busy lifestyles. Therefore, there is a great tendency to contract chronic non-communicable diseases. Furthermore, the lack of nutritious meals and daily exercise causes chronic non-communicable diseases in people with no age difference. In our first part, we developed to predict specialization in cardiology using symptoms. However, when we refer to a doctor, we must at least know what specialist should know based on their symptoms. In addition, there is a problem with the recipe. If the pharmacist has misread the prescription given by the doctor, patients can receive bad medications, leading to terrible side effects and even death due to careless writing by the doctor. As a solution, an application function can be proposed that will be developed in the project and the function should be able to improve the readability and intelligibility of the patient with prescription drugs. Therefore, the patient always knows the prescribed medications through the application to avoid the problem mentioned above. According to the 2016 pharmaceutical magazine, there are cholesterol and diabetic patients suffering mainly from chronic non-communicable diseases in Sri Lanka

The Development of the Ceylon Civil Service 1802-1833.

The development of the Civil Service of Ceylon is closely interconnected with that of the Headman system. This thesis is partly a study of the interrelation between the offices and institutions established by the British and the Headman system. Chapter One deals with the growth of the central and departmental administrative machinery. A chief feature in this growth was a conflict between liberal and authoritarian trends. Chapter Two deals with the provincial and local administrative machinery. Besides displaying the above conflict the European part of this structure as well as the policy of the Government brought about a partial transformation of the office of Headman. Chapter Three deals with administrative development in the Kandyan provinces. Here the disarrangement of the Sinhalese feudal organization was the chief result of the establishment of European offices. Chapters Four and Five examine the internal organization of the Civil Service. The chief factor in the growth of this organization was the need that was felt to satisfy the aspirations of those setting out from England as Civil Servants. Chapter Six examines the forces that were behind the movement for reform and states the problems of reform. The social and political problems associated with an exclusive Civil Service were the chief among them. Chapter Seven examines the nature of the Colebrooke-Cameron reform proposals. The liberalization of the administrative machinery that was recommended by them was the natural corollary to a desire to create a more individualistic and competitive economy and society

Geotechnical Assessment of Soil Permeability in Land Development Areas

Infiltration is identified as one of the best operational and sustainable methods to handle urban storm water. Until recently, in stormwater management designs and selection of best stormwater management strategies, permeability value of different soils were not been considered as major factor. Due to the increasing housing density local land development authorities requires storm water runoff from developing lots to be retained/detained within the property. Due to lack of information on local soil properties, specifically permeability rates within the soil predominant in land development areas, it is difficult to assess storm water retention/detention requirement. This case study was carried out within the new development areas in Gosnells in Western Australia mainly focusing on identification of different soil types with respect to their infiltration capacities in selection of best stormwater management strategies. The Guelph Permeameter have been used to investigate the saturated permeability of different soil types. Based on the above tests, the results have been categorized in to four main types of permeability groups; Very Rapid (> 1.56 m/day), Rapid (0.48<1.56 m/day), Moderate (0.12<0.48 m/day) and Slow (<0.12 m/day). Finally, with the help of the existing soil map, the point represent permeability data were been generalized logically. These results have been used to develop permeability maps representing the areal average. The soil types and their observed permeability values compared with the literature; soil classification data of Department Agriculture. The comparison shows that field test data has a higher agreement with literature based soil classification. These field tests will be extended to identify the best stormwater management practices for the selected land development areas. The result will be useful for land developers as well as authorities, decision makers and policy makers to come up with sustainable land development strategies