Using skewness and the first-digit phenomenon to identify dynamical transitions in cardiac models

Disruptions in the normal rhythmic functioning of the heart, termed as arrhythmia, often result from qualitative changes in the excitation dynamics of the organ. The transitions between different types of arrhythmia are accompanied by alterations in the spatiotemporal pattern of electrical activity that can be measured by observing the time-intervals between successive excitations of different regions of the cardiac tissue. Using biophysically detailed models of cardiac activity we show that the distribution of these time-intervals exhibit a systematic change in their skewness during such dynamical transitions. Further, the leading digits of the normalized intervals appear to fit Benford's law better at these transition points. This raises the possibility of using these observations to design a clinical indicator for identifying changes in the nature of arrhythmia. More importantly, our results reveal an intriguing relation between the changing skewness of a distribution and its agreement with Benford's law, both of which have been independently proposed earlier as indicators of regime shift in dynamical systems.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures; incorporating changes as in the published versio

Identification of a new eukaryotic phylum ‘Picozoa’ in the oceanic environment

Recent molecular phylogenetic analyses of picoeukaryotic (< 3 µm) 18S rDNA environmental sequences revealed a deep branching lineage formally described as ‘picobiliphytes’ with unknown affinity to other eukaryotes. Until now, no cultured representatives existed to enable further investigation regarding the biodiversity and morphology of this newly erected clade. This work, reports on a newly-discovered, free-living eukaryotic protist Picomonas judraskeda gen. et sp. nov., from European marine coastal habitats which has a ‘picobiliphyte’ 18S rDNA signature. Its morphological and ultra-structural characters clearly show that it contains, neither chlorophyll nor phycobilin autofluorescence, both of which are main attributes of ‘picobiliphytes’. The phycobilin was assumed to have been derived from a secondary endosymbiont; and the host of the ‘picobiliphytes’ was postulated to be a sister to cryptophytes/ katablepharids. The isolate Picomonas is slightly elongated and 2.5-5 µm in length with two unequal flagella. It exhibits unique cell movements (jump, drag, and skedaddle mode of locomotion). Light and electron microscopic studies reveal that the cells are naked, the flagella not covered by hairs or scales and that a plastid is lacking. The cells thus are heterotrophic, although their food source could not be determined and food vacuoles containing bacteria are never observed. The cells harbor several unique compartments that do not match those of any other known eukaryotes. This uniqueness is corroborated by phylogenetic analyses of the complete nuclear ribosomal operon placed them into a new phylum ‘Picozoa’

High temperature stress responses of Salvia splendens and Viola X wittrockiana

One of the greatest impediments affecting growth and development of bedding plants is high temperature stress. The deleterious effects of high temperature stress are the most pronounced during plug transplant and/or during the transition period from the nursery to the landscape. High temperature stress responses were investigated in Salvia splendens and Viola x wittrockiana to determine the morphological and physiological mechanism associated with the heat tolerance. Two genotypes for each species were used; a heat tolerant Vista and a heat sensitive Sizzler cultivar of salvia and Crystal Bowl Purple (CBP) a heat tolerant and Majestic Giant Red (MGR) a heat sensitive cultivar of pansy. Morphological traits such as short stature, greater total leaf area/plant, extensive root system; physiological traits like stomatal conductance, greater transpiration, and net photosynthesis were found to be characteristic traits of heat tolerant cultivars. Greater cell membrane thermostability (CMT) and expression of a heat shock protein of low molecular weight approximately 27kD may be responsible for heat tolerance in Vista and CBP. Primary soluble sugars sucrose and raffinose found in both the salvia cultivars, and greater concentrations in Vista at high temperatures, may be involved in stabilization of membrane lipid bilayer and/or acting as osmoprotectants under stress conditions. Short duration (3 h) heat preconditioning at 35 °C and 30 °C for salvia and pansy respectively during initial stages of growth helped to develop acquired thermotolerance. Heat sensitive cultivars acquired heat tolerance with heat preconditioning and acclimated to subsequent challenging temperatures. Preconditioning enhanced already existing traits of heat tolerant cultivars. Increased stomatal frequency and leaf thickness in salvia acquired during preconditioning. Cell membrane thermostability measured at a single temperature with increasing time of exposure was closely associated with increased gas exchange rates, leaf relative water content and overall marketable quality in salvia. These simple laboratory techniques to test heat tolerance have a greater advantage over time and space consuming field trials and may be an accurate and more efficient measure of heat tolerance

Women Empowerment in Tamil Nadu Emerging Trends and State Initiatives

Women have had a long history in asserting their rights It is a commonly accepted view that the male-dominated patriarchal society and power structure would usually keep the position of women low This powerless situation of women has itself made them to look for a way out and liberation Reformation thinking feminist movements freedom struggle have all contributed in awakening their consciousness Women empowerment refers to strengthening women s position in social economic and political power structure of the society It also implies capacity building with the leading role plagued by the State and non-state organization

CStream: Neighborhood Bandwidth Aggregation For Better Video Streaming

Video streaming is an increasingly popular Internet application. However, despite its popularity, real-time video streaming still remains a challenge in many scenarios. Limited home broadband bandwidth and mobile phone 3G bandwidth means many users stream videos at low quality and compromise on their user experience. To overcome this problem, we propose CStream, a system that aggregates bandwidth from multiple co-operating users in a neighborhood environment for better video streaming. CStream exploits the fact that wireless devices have multiple network interfaces and connects co-operating users with a wireless ad-hoc network to aggregate their unused downlink Internet bandwidth to improve video quality. CStream dynamically generates a streaming plan to stream a single video using multiple connections and continuously adapts to changes in the neighborhood and variations in the available bandwidth. We have built CStream and evaluated it on a controlled test-bed of computers with various performance measures. The results show linear increase in throughput and improved video streaming quality as the number of cooperating users in a neighborhood increase

Component Approach to Software Development for Distributed Multi-Database System

The paper deals with a component based approach for software development in a distributed environment for the database retrieval operations. A Core Component for a distributed multi-database system has been proposed. The core Component is modeled using three interfaces User, Administrator and Databases Handler. The User Interface is the starting point of access for the Core Component. The Administrator interface deals with access control privileges for users and local databases. The Database Handler facilitates global schema management and site management.Assertion, Core Component, Component Based Software Development, Multi-Database, Schema

Application of m- polar soft fuzzy bi- partite graph in residence selection process

An $m-$polar fuzzy set and soft sets are two different tools for representing uncertainty and vagueness. An $m-$polar soft fuzzy set is a mapping from parameter set to the $m-$polar fuzzy subsets of the universe. An $m-$polar soft fuzzy set theory provides a parameterized point of view for uncertainty modeling and soft computing model. In this paper, we have introduced the notions of $m-$polar soft fuzzy bipartite graph, size and degree of $m-$polar soft fuzzy bi-partite graph as well as an investigation on buying of residence by considering various parameters. People, while buying residence, have many options. So, to choose the best one, they have to consider many parameters. $m-$polar soft fuzzy graph is one of the major areas of graph theory, which finds a solution to this proble

Gravity-induced entanglement as a probe of spacetime curvature

It is now widely believed that if the gravitational field is (perturbatively) quantum, it would entangle two massive objects (in spatial superpositions) which were otherwise unentangled to begin with. Recently, actual table-top experiments have been proposed to test this idea in what would be the first detection of perturbative quantum gravity. In this essay, we devise a thought experiment to prove that such gravity-induced entanglement depends on the spacetime curvature and can, in principle, act as an alternate signature of the expanding background. This will open up new and complementary directions to search for such entanglement in curved spacetime and reveal fresh perspectives on it.Comment: Honorable Mention in the 2023 Essay Competition of the Gravity Research Foundation; comments welcom