Scrumban

To deliver a project of any magnitude successfully and on time, good project management is a necessity. This is especially true in software development. Project planning, scheduling and tracking are important activities of project management. [3] A critical part of project planning is to itemize the tasks, develop an initial schedule and assign team members as needed to accomplish those tasks. As development progresses, it is important to monitor the completion of those tasks, to review the associated products and to determine if changes, alternative plans, or reassignments are required. Effective tracking of projects and tasks helps software teams focus on priorities and allocate resources wisely. Scrumban is a project management application developed for project and task tracking. This report presents the design and assessment of this tool. The interface helps developers collaborate, plan projects and manage tasks. The main targeted user-group of this application is the department of Extension and Outreach at Iowa State University. The major theme of this application is to increase efficiency in developing, recording and tracking of projects with improved visibility and immediate access to information

A Web Services architecture for UMLS Knowledge Sources.

A web service is a collection of industry standards to enable reusability of services and interoperability of heterogeneous applications. The UMLS Knowledge Source (UMLSKS) Server provides remote access to the UMLSKS and related resources. We propose a Web Services Architecture that encapsulates UMLSKS-API and makes it available in distributed and heterogeneous environments. This is the first step towards intelligent and automatic UMLS services discovery and invocation by computer systems in distributed environments such as web

Growth and infrastructure investment in India: Achievements, challenges, and opportunities

The paper analyses the recent scenario of infrastructure investment in India, with the recognition that inadequate infrastructure is one of the major constraints on India’s ability to sustain high GDP growth. It conducts an overview of the trends in infrastructure investment from the 10th Five Year Plan onwards, and tries to examine the linkage between infrastructure and economic growth. The results exhibit a very high rate of return and also highlight that, since resource constraints will continue to limit public investment in infrastructure in other areas, Public Private Partnership (PPP) project-based development needs to be encouraged wherever feasible

Post-operative infections and obstacles to care for pediatric cardiac surgery patients in Hyderabad, India

BACKGROUND: In India, an estimated 200,000 congenital heart defects are diagnosed each year but only 50 pediatric cardiac health centers exist with capacity to perform pediatric cardiac surgeries (PCS). Majority of the centers are private and have high cost of care. Hrudaya Foundation, a non-profit, was started to cover in-hospital costs of pediatric cardiac surgery for poor families. For the study, risk factors of post-operative infection (major outcome of PCS) were evaluated and gaps in care faced by Hrudaya Foundation patients were identified. METHODS: To identify risk factors associated with POI, retrospective cohort study was conducted. Medical records and foundation notes of 1028 interventional CATH and open heart surgery patients were examined. Chisq tests and logistic regressions on socio-economic and clinical factors were run to identify risk factors of POI for open heart surgery patients. The study also tested associations of patients’ community characteristics with pre-operative conditions and POI, like lack of access to improved latrines, distance to hospital, under & unemployment rate, and maternal illiteracy rates. To identify gaps in care, the study collected and analyzed interviews with 11 staff and 27 parents. The semi-structured interviews focused on care pathway from birth to post-discharge follow-up, financial obstacles, and an asset assessment. RESULTS: Pediatric open heart surgery patients had a 19% post-operative infection rate and a 5% mortality rate. Post-operative infections were significantly associated with age of 12 months and under, severely underweight, history of prior cardiac intervention, high risk surgery (RACHS-1 score 3 & 4), delayed sternal closure, and re-operation within same admission when the other risk factors were kept constant. POI did not have a statistically significant correlation with community level characteristics. The study found several gaps in care. Parents had difficulty getting a referral to affordable specialty cardiac care after diagnosis. Even after a referral to Hrudaya Foundation, parents still had to borrow large sums of money due to travel, lodging, and follow-up expenses. Financial constraints created barriers to maintain wellness before and after intervention. Most parents did not have consistent income and they were not aware of many assets in their communities. CONCLUSION: Patients with significant risk factors for POI should have more aggressive infection management. Though close to 41% of the sample were severely underweight, the risk factor was not recognized as actionable. Patients should get nutrition supplementation prior to surgery admission and parents should be notified of their child’s malnutrition status at discharge. Additionally, BPL parents need additional resource and system navigation assistance to reduce financial constraints and maintain their child’s follow-up care and nutrition.2022-05-31T00:00:00

Recovering Observability via Active Sensing

Observability is a formal property of a system that ensures the ability to estimate the system’s states from output measurements and knowledge of the inputs. Even when state estimators are not employed, observability is a crucial property in the design of feedback control systems. Engineering sensors are typically designed to guarantee observability irrespective of the control input, thereby simplifying control systems design. Here, we introduce a class of nonlinear sensors that require ‘persistently exciting’ control inputs to maintain observability. This class of sensor models is motivated by biological sensing systems which ‘adapt’ to constant stimuli, giving them a very high dynamic range, but leading to a phenomenon known as perceptual fading. To prevent perceptual fading, animals employ active sensing behaviors in the form of time-varying motor commands that continually stimulate sensory receptors. To capture this phenomenon, we introduce a simplified sensor model that requires similar ‘active’ control inputs to maintain observability. Under certain assumptions, the input–output characteristics of the active sensing system is shown to be equivalent to an observable LTI system. Specifically, we apply three steps to the original (nonlinear) system—(1) modulating via sinusoidal active input, (2) demodulating, and (3) low-pass filtering. The equivalent system is identified by analyzing the Harmonic Transfer Function (HTF) of the modulated system and whose output is then demodulated and low pass filtered. Equivalence of the new observable LTI system and the active sensing system illustrates the potential effectiveness of this framework for active sensing and may pave the way for the design of adaptive sensory systems for engineering applications

A qualitative assessment of barriers to antiretroviral therapy adherence among adolescents in western Kenya

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) requires nearly perfect adherence to be effective. This study aims to identify key factors identified by HIV-infected adolescents on ART as contributing to medication adherence in western Kenya. Using a qualitative study design, three adolescent focus groups discussions were conducted at an urban and rural clinic site in western Kenya. The study population included HIV-infected adolescents receiving ART through the USAID-AMPATH HIV care system. A trained facilitator conducted groups in Kiswahili using a semi-structured interview guide probing multiple aspects of experience of taking medicines. Transcribed focus group dialogues were analyzed using constant comparison, progressive coding, and triangulation. The adolescents described a context of negative societal beliefs about HIV, necessitating a lifestyle of secrecy and minimizing the information shared about HIV or ART. Assessing and addressing adolescents' fears and behaviors regarding medication secrecy and disclosure may enable more accurate monitoring of adherence and development of intervention strategies

Determining transpiration efficiency of bmr sorghum genotypes for progressive drought tolerance

Food and energy security are fundamental to the economic development of nations and considering environmental issues, biomass-based energy is a promising option in India through lingo-cellulosic (2G) biofuel production. High biomass sorghum is a promising feedstock for 2G biofuels production. However, higher lignin content of the biomass and water-deficit stress are major issues in enhancing biomass sorghum based biofuels production. In sorghum, brown midrib (bmr) mutants with reduced lignin content were developed.The present glass house study summarizes a screening experiment of 14 bmr sorghum lines (Atlas, Atlas bmr-12, Early hegarisart, IS 18542, Kanas collier, N 592, N 593, N 594, N 595, N 596, N 597, N 598, Roxorange and R-16) for progressive drought tolerance. The results showed that among the various bmr lines tested, N 593 had the highest transpiration efficiency in water-stressed conditions, whereas N 592 had the highest in well-watered conditions. The lowest transpiration efficiency was observed in N 597 under water stressed treatment. However, for well watered treatments the lowest was observed in N 596. The genotypes having higher transpiration efficiency has more water holding capacity for longer time under water stressed conditions. This preliminary study helps to identify genotypes with more water-holding capacity to adapt well in drought conditions. The bmr genotypes used here showed reduced lignin content vis-à- vis white midrib sorghums. The identified lines with low-lignin, high biomass and higher water holding capacity can be used as feedstocks in 2G Biofuels production after appropriate testing in target environments

Global transcriptome changes in perennial ryegrass during early infection by pink snow mould

Lack of resistance to pink snow mould (Microdochium nivale) is a major constraint for adaptation of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) to continental regions with long-lasting snow cover at higher latitudes. Almost all investigations of genetic variation in resistance have been performed using cold acclimated plants. However, there may be variation in resistance mechanisms that are functioning independently of cold acclimation. In this study our aim was to identify candidate genes involved in such resistance mechanisms. We first characterized variation in resistance to M. nivale among non-acclimated genotypes from the Norwegian cultivar ‘Fagerlin’ based on relative regrowth and fungal quantification by real-time qPCR. One resistant and one susceptible genotype were selected for transcriptome analysis using paired-end sequencing by Illumina Hiseq 2000. Transcriptome profiles, GO enrichment and KEGG pathway analysis indicate that defense response related genes are differentially expressed between the resistant and the susceptible genotype. A significant up-regulation of defense related genes, as well as genes involved in cell wall cellulose metabolic processes and aryl-alcohol dehydrogenase (NADP+) activity, was observed in the resistant genotype. The candidate genes identified in this study might be potential molecular marker resources for breeding perennial ryegrass cultivars with improved resistance to pink snow mould.publishedVersio