SCIENTOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF LITERATURE ON GRAVITY

The present study explores the quantitative analysis of literature on gravity from 2015 to 2019 based on INSPEC database. Scientometric is the study of quantitative analysis of scientific documents. For the present study data was collected from the INSPEC database published by Elsevier during the period from 2015 to 2019. The study evaluated the different dimensions of the scientometric analysis like, growth of literature, institution wise distribution, most prolific author, relative growth rate and doubling time etc. Highest number (7562) of articles published in the year 2018. The relating growth rate is decreasing and doubling time is increasing over the period. Majority of the articles are in the form of journals, China is the most productive country in global level, Sharif, M is the most prolific author in the field of gravity for the period of 2015 to 2019

PERCEPTION AND USAGE OF HEALTH INFORMATION SOURCES AND SERVICES AMONG THE URBAN COMMUNITY USERS OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES: A CASE STUDY OF BHADRAVATHI

The study examined the perception and usage of health information sources and services by the urban community users of public libraries. The study investigated 110 users from two public libraries in Bhadravathi. Findings revealed that majority of the users not enrolling library membership. 44.54% of users were visit library daily and large numbers of respondents were get health information through newspaper followed by television, advertisements and pamphlet/brochures. Education and sports were the most frequently preferred topics by the users. Arogya column published by Prajavani Kannada newspaper was most preferred newspaper column for getting health information by the users followed by VK Health column published by Vijaya Karnataka was stood in 2nd position to get health information by the users. Most of the users preferred Sudha, Gruhashobha and Taranga magazines to get health information. Stimulatingly, large number of the users frequently listen health related programs in Radio. The study also revealed that most of the users were aware about H1N1, DPT, Polio, BCG, TT, AIDS Control, 108 Arogya Kavacha, Malaria Cholera Dengue, Family Planning, Chicken Gunya district health programs of Karnataka state

APPLICATION FOR DESIGN OF STRUCTURAL ELEMENT USING VISUAL BASIC CODING

The increasing reliance of engineers on computer software in the performance of their tasks requires engineers, the future professional engineers, must be knowledgeable of sound engineering concepts, updated on the latest computer technology used in the industry and aware of the limitations and capabilities of the computer in solving engineering problems. Computer Methods in Civil Engineering to developed structural design program for design of structural element using Visual Basic. By creating my own software applications will demonstrate my creativity and integrate concepts, methods and skills in mathematics, basic engineering and specialized civil engineering subjects. This paper presents the learning objectives, requirements, methodology and outputs of my knowledge on Computer Methods in Civil Engineering

Transcriptomic approach to study salinity tolerance in euryhaline cichlid, Etroplus suratensis (Bloch, 1790)

Increasing levels of salinity in coastal and freshwater environments as a result of rise in sea level is linked to climate change and it impacts fish growth adversely. Etroplus suratensis (Pearlspot) is the largest species among the indigenous cichlid which is essentially brackishwater fish that has become naturally acclimated to freshwater. Understanding the basis of tolerance and acclimatization to increased environmental salinity and freshwater condition can help the regional aqua-farmers to mitigate predicted impacts of climate change in that region. Technically the last decade contributed many methodologies to understand the salinity adaptation mechanisms; suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) library generation being one of them. In this study we performed SSH technique to identify genes involved in salinity adaptation and osmoregulation in gills of E. suratensis, generating from fishes exposed to seawater (SW-36 ‰) as compared to freshwater (FW-0 ‰). Here, SSH was used to identify alterations in gene transcription of E. suratensis after exposure to 36‰. A random 105 clones were selected and sanger sequenced from the subtractive c-DNA libraries which gave a total of 80 gene fragment sequences

Design and Development of Cumin Destalker Machine

Cumin (Cuminum cyminum L.), a seed spice of family umbelliferae, is valued as aromatic, preservative, flavoring, and therapeutic agent in the food and pharmaceutical industry. The quality standards of cumin are closely associated with processing techniques. A tiny stalk attached to cuminis one of the major quality concerns in threshed and cleaned product. To remove this stalk, a centrifugal type mechanical cumin destalking unit was developed and evaluated. Developed unit consists of a frame, vibratory feeding assembly and discharge chute, horizontal plate type destalking assembly, and a drive unit. Feed rate (30, 50, and 70 kg/h), clearance between the plates (5, 8, and 11 mm), and speed of plate (550, 750, and 950 rpm) were taken as study variables and the performance of the destalker was evaluated in terms of destalking efficiency and broken percentage (damage). Performance was evaluated under single-pass and multi-pass conditions and also with and without pre-drying. Best performance was observed when cumin was destalked under multi-pass mode with pre-drying at a feed rate of 50 kg/h and plate speed of 750 rpm. At optimum operation conditions, the machine was found to have a destalking efficiency of 82.03% with 10.88% damage

Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding approach in fisheries research in India

Environmental DNA (eDNA) is defined as the genetic material obtained from a water sample containing no distinguishing signs of source macroorganisms. The method utilizes DNA which is continuously excreted by organisms into the surrounding environment through mucus, gamates, faeces, blood and other cells, and captures, analyses and obtains the nucleotide sequence of this DNA based on an environmental sample. eDNA analysis has emerged as a potentially powerful tool to access aquatic community structures. Analysis of eDNA can give us information on the organisms, their abundance and biomass through two approaches – eDNA barcoding and eDNA metabarcoding. In the former, specific species are targeted in samples using standard or quantitative PCR, and using traditional Sanger sequencing method

Wave forecasting and monitoring during very severe cyclone Phailin in the Bay of Bengal

Wave fields, both measured and forecast during the very severe cyclone Phailin, are discussed in this communication. Waves having maximum height of 13.54 m were recorded at Gopalpur, the landfall point of the cyclone. The forecast and observed significant wave heights matched well at Gopalpur with correlation coefficient of 0.98, RMS error of 0.35 m and scatter index of 14%. Forecasts were also validated in the open ocean and found to be reliable (scatter index < 15%). The study also revealed the presence of Southern Ocean swells with a peak period of 20-22 sec hitting Gopalpur coast along with the cyclone-generated waves

Quantum cobwebs: Universal entangling of quantum states

Entangling an unknown qubit with one type of reference state is generally impossible. However, entangling an unknown qubit with two types of reference states is possible. To achieve this, we introduce a new class of states called zero sum amplitude (ZSA) multipartite, pure entangled states for qubits and study their salient features. Using shared-ZSA state, local operation and classical communication we give a protocol for creating multipartite entangled states of an unknown quantum state with two types of reference states at remote places. This provides a way of encoding an unknown pure qubit state into a multiqubit entangled state. We quantify the amount of classical and quantum resources required to create universal entangled states. This is possibly a strongest form of quantum bit hiding with multiparties.Comment: Invited talk in II Winter Institute on FQTQO: Quantum Information Processing, held at S. N. Bose Center for Basic Science, Kolkata, during Jan 2-11, 2002. (To appear in Pramana-J. of Physics, 2002.

Chronic renal insufficiency among Asian Indians with type 2 diabetes: I. Role of RAAS gene polymorphisms

BACKGROUND: Renal failure in diabetes is mediated by multiple pathways. Experimental and clinical evidences suggest that renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) has a crucial role in diabetic kidney disease. A relationship between the RAAS genotypes and chronic renal insufficiency (CRI) among type 2 diabetes subjects has therefore been speculated. We investigated the contribution of selected RAAS gene polymorphisms to CRI among type 2 diabetic Asian Indian subjects. METHODS: Twelve single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from six genes namely-renin (REN), angiotensinogen (ATG), angiotensin converting enzyme I (ACE), angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT1) and aldosterone synthase (CYP11B2) gene from the RAAS pathway and one from chymase pathway were genotyped using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method and tested for their association with diabetic CRI using a case-control approach. Successive cases presenting to study centres with type 2 diabetes of ≥2 years duration and moderate CRI diagnosed by serum creatinine ≥3 mg/dl after exclusion of non-diabetic causes of CRI (n = 196) were compared with diabetes subjects with no evidence of renal disease (n = 225). Logistic regression analysis was carried out to correlate various clinical parameters with genotypes, and to study pair wise interactions between SNPs of different genes. RESULTS: Of the 12 SNPs genotyped, Glu53Stop in AGT and A>T (-777) in AT1 genes, were monomorphic and not included for further analysis. We observed a highly significant association of Met235Thr SNP in angiotensinogen gene with CRI (O.R. 2.68, 95%CI: 2.01–3.57 for Thr allele, O.R. 2.94, 95%CI: 1.88–4.59 for Thr/Thr genotype and O.R. 2.68, 95%CI: 1.97–3.64 for ACC haplotype). A significant allelic and genotypic association of T>C (-344) SNP in aldosterone synthase gene (O.R. 1.57, 95%CI: 1.16–2.14 and O.R. 1.81, 95%CI: 1.21–2.71 respectively), and genotypic association of GA genotype of G>A (-1903) in chymase gene (O.R. 2.06, 95%CI: 1.34–3.17) were also observed. CONCLUSION: SNPs Met235Thr in angiotensinogen, T>C (-344) in aldosterone synthase, and G>A (-1903) in chymase genes are significantly associated with diabetic chronic renal insufficiency in Indian patients and warrant replication in larger sample sets. Use of such markers for prediction of susceptibility to diabetes specific renal disease in the ethnically Indian population appears promising

Thymoquinone inhibits growth of human medulloblastoma cells by inducing oxidative stress and caspase-dependent apoptosis while suppressing NF-jB signaling and IL-8 expression

Medulloblastoma (MB) is the most common malignant brain tumor of childhood. The transcription factor NF-κB is overexpressed in human MB and is a critical factor for MB tumor growth. NF-κB is known to regulate the expression of interleukin-8 (IL-8), the chemokine that enhances cancer cell growth and resistance to chemotherapy. We have recently shown that thymoquinone (TQ) suppresses growth of hepatocellular carcinoma cells in part by inhibiting NF-κB signaling. Here we sought to extend these studies in MB cells and show that TQ suppresses growth of MB cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner, causes G2M cell cycle arrest, and induces apoptosis. TQ significantly increased generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), while pretreatment of MB cells with the ROS scavenger N-acetylcysteine (NAC) abrogated TQ-induced cell death and apoptosis, suggesting that TQ-induced cell death and apoptosis are oxidative stress-mediated. TQ inhibitory effects were associated with inhibition of NF-κB and altered expression of its downstream effectors IL-8 and its receptors, the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2, Bcl-xL, X-IAP, and FLIP, as well as the pro-apoptotic TRAIL-R1, caspase-8, caspase-9, Bcl-xS, and cytochrome c. TQ-triggered apoptosis was substantiated by up-regulation of the executioner caspase-3 and caspase-7, as well as cleavage of the death substrate poly(ADP-ribose)polymerase. Interestingly, pretreatment of MB cells with NAC or the pan-caspase inhibitor zVAD-fmk abrogated TQ-induced apoptosis, loss of cyclin B1 and NF-κB activity, suggesting that these TQ-mediated effects are oxidative stress- and caspase-dependent. These findings reveal that TQ induces both extrinsic and intrinsic pathways of apoptosis in MB cells, and suggest its potential usefulness in the treatment of MB