Seismic Response Analysis of Forebay Structure for CW Pump House of a Nuclear Power Project

The paper reviews the current state-of-the-art on the seismic response analysis of complex RCC structure like forebay which is usually connected with CW Pump House frame at its rear end for fulfilling circulating water requirement in power plant - nuclear or thermal. The need to include in such analysis and design effects of 3-Dimensional mathematical model and soil-structure interaction for studying overall behaviour of the structure are highlighted. The paper also discusses the usefulness, if any, of such rigorous analysis and identifies some problem areas in finalising realistic design data and adopting suitable models to represent the structural system

Dynamic Response and Static Analysis of RCC Space Frames Supporting High Speed Centrifugal Machines with Coupled Soil-Structure Interaction

The paper reviews the current state of the art on the dynamic and static analyses of RCC space frames supporting high speed centrifugal machines e.g. large turbogenerators and compressors. The need to include the effects of soil-structure interaction formulations on overall behaviour of various analytical models are highlighted, At the same time, the uncertainties involved in evaluating essential geotechnical parameters and paucity of reliable and elaborate information from the machine manufacturers are discussed. The analysis and design aspects of this inter-disciplinary problem are illustrated with two typical design case studies selected from authors’ own experience in this specialised field. The paper also discusses the usefulness, if any, of such rigorous analysis and identifies various shortcomings which still persist in finalising realistic design data and adopting suitable models to represent machine foundation-soil system

Carbon quantum dots in bioimaging and biomedicines

Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) are gaining a lot more attention than traditional semiconductor quantum dots owing to their intrinsic fluorescence property, chemical inertness, biocompatibility, non-toxicity, and simple and inexpensive synthetic route of preparation. These properties allow CQDs to be utilized for a broad range of applications in various fields of scientific research including biomedical sciences, particularly in bioimaging and biomedicines. CQDs are a promising choice for advanced nanomaterials research for bioimaging and biomedicines owing to their unique chemical, physical, and optical properties. CQDs doped with hetero atom, or polymer composite materials are extremely advantageous for biochemical, biological, and biomedical applications since they are easy to prepare, biocompatible, and have beneficial properties. This type of CQD is highly useful in phototherapy, gene therapy, medication delivery, and bioimaging. This review explores the applications of CQDs in bioimaging and biomedicine, highlighting recent advancements and future possibilities to increase interest in their numerous advantages for therapeutic applications

Effect of breed and season on rabbit production under subtropical climate

[EN] The productive and reproductive performances of New Zealand White and Soviet Chinchilla breeds of rabbit were studied in the sub-tropical climate of Tripura, India. Data from 317 litters were collected and studied. The only signifi cant differences between the two breeds involved the number of services per conception and the inter-kindling interval which were signifi cantly (P<0.01) higher in the New Zealand White than in the Soviet Chinchilla breed. Neither breed nor gender had any signifi cant effect on individual body weight at weaning (42 d) or at day of slaughter (90 d). The season of kindling exerted a highly signifi cant (P<0.01) effect on the service period, kindling interval, and individual weight at weaning and at slaughtering age. Winter (November-March) was the most favourable season for kindling, whereas summer (April-June) proved to be the most unfavourable season in terms of both productive and reproductive effi ciency. The season of kindling did not affect age at the fi rst fertile service, age at fi rst kindling, the gestation period or the litter size at birth.Ghosh, S.; Das, A.; Bujarbaruah, K.; Das, A.; Dhiman, K.; Singh, N. (2010). Effect of breed and season on rabbit production under subtropical climate. World Rabbit Science. 16(1). doi:10.4995/wrs.2008.63816

Simple Vs Vectorial: Exploiting Structural Symmetry to Beat the ZeroSum Distinguisher Applications to SHA3, Xoodyak and Bash

Higher order differential properties constitute a very insightful tool at the hands of a cryptanalyst allowing for probing a cryptographic primitive from an algebraic perspective. In FSE 2017, Saha et al. reported SymSum (referred to as SymSum_Vec in this paper), a new distinguisher based on higher order vectorial Boolean derivatives of SHA-3, constituting one of the best distinguishers on the latest cryptographic hash standard. SymSum_Vec exploits the difference in the algebraic degree of highest degree monomials in the algebraic normal form of SHA-3 with regards to their dependence on round constants. Later in Africacrypt 2020, Suryawanshi et al. extended SymSum_Vec using linearization techniques and in SSS 2023 also applied it to NIST-LWC finalist Xoodyak. However, a major limitation of SymSum_Vec is the maximum attainable derivative (MAD) which is less than half of the widely studied ZeroSum distinguisher. This is attributed to SymSum_Vec being dependent on m−fold vectorial derivatives while ZeroSum relies on m−fold simple derivatives. In this work we overcome this limitation of SymSum_Vec by developing and validating the theory of computing SymSum_Vec with simple derivatives. This gives us a close to 100% improvement in the MAD that can be computed. The new distinguisher reported in this work can also be combined with one/two-round linearization to penetrate more rounds. Moreover, we identify an issue with the two-round linearization claim made by Suryawanshi et al. which renders it invalid and also furnish an algebraic fix at the cost of some additional constraints. Combining all results we report SymSum_Sim , a new variant of the SymSum_Vec distinguisher based on m−fold simple derivatives that outperforms ZeroSum by a factor of $2^{257}$, $2^{129}$ for 10-round SHA-3-384 and 9-round SHA-3-512 respectively while enjoying the same MAD as ZeroSum. For every other SHA-3 variant, SymSum_Sim maintains an advantage of factor 2. Combined with one/two-round linearization, SymSum_Sim improves upon all existing ZeroSum and SymSum_Vec distinguishers on both SHA-3 and Xoodyak. As regards Keccak-p, the internal permutation of SHA-3, we report the best 15-round distinguisher with a complexity of $2^{256}$ and the first better than birthday-bound 16-round distinguisher with a complexity of $2^{512}$ (improving upon the 15/16-round results by Guo et al. in Asiacrypt 2016). We also devise the best full-round distinguisher on the Xoodoo internal permutation of Xoodyak with a practically verifiable complexity of $2^{32}$ and furnish the first third-party distinguishers on the Belarushian hash function Bash. All distinguishers furnished in this work have been verified through implementations whenever practically viable. Overall, with the MAD barrier broken, SymSum_Sim emerges as a better distinguisher than ZeroSum on all fronts and adds to the state-of-the-art of cryptanalytic tools investigating non-randomness of crypto primitives

Divide and Rule: DiFA - Division Property Based Fault Attacks on PRESENT and GIFT

The division property introduced by Todo in Crypto 2015 is one of the most versatile tools in the arsenal of a cryptanalyst which has given new insights into many ciphers primarily from an algebraic perspective. On the other end of the spectrum we have fault attacks which have evolved into the deadliest of all physical attacks on cryptosystems. The current work aims to combine these seemingly distant tools to come up with a new type of fault attack. We show how fault invariants are formed under special input division multi-sets and are independent of the fault injection location. It is further shown that the same division trail can be exploited as a multi-round Zero-Sum distinguisher to reduce the key-space to practical limits. As a proof of concept division trails of PRESENT and GIFT are exploited to mount practical key-recovery attacks based on the random nibble fault model. For GIFT-64, we are able to recover the unique master-key with 30 nibble faults with faults injected at rounds 21 and 19. For PRESENT-80, DiFA reduces the key-space from $2^{80}$ to $2^{16}$ with 15 faults in round 25 while for PRESENT-128, the unique key is recovered with 30 faults in rounds 25 and 24. This constitutes the best fault attacks on these ciphers in terms of fault injection rounds. We also report an interesting property pertaining to fault induced division trails which shows its inapplicability to attack GIFT-128. Overall, the usage of division trails in fault based cryptanalysis showcases new possibilities and reiterates the applicability of classical cryptanalytic tools in physical attacks

AN LC-MS/MS BASED BIOANALYTICAL APPROACH TO RESOLVE PHARMACOKINETIC INVESTIGATION OF ACOTIAMIDE HYDROCHLORIDE AND ITS APPLICATION TO BIOEQUIVALENCE STUDY

Objective: Acotiamide, a prokinetic drug used to treat Functional Dyspepsia, which acts by modulating gastric motility. However, in this present study, a simple and accurate bioanalytical method was developed for the estimation of Acotiamide in human plasma using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and validated according to US-FDA guideline. Methods: The method was developed in blank human blood plasma; propranolol was used as internal standard (IS). Protein Precipitation technique was followed for the extraction of the drug from the plasma sample. In liquid chromatography, the C18 analytical column (50 x 3 mm, particle size-5 μm) was used; as a mobile phase, 0.1% formic acid in Mili Q water, and ACN with methanol (1:1) used, at 0.50 ml/min flow rate. Detection was done by positive electrospray ionization (ESI) with a run time of 7 min in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. Eight calibration concentrations were taken, ranging from 1.5625-200 ng/ml for Acotiamide. Different stability studies were performed and obtained results found within the acceptable range. Moreover, a comparative pharmacokinetic analysis was done in 24 healthy human volunteers in a single dose, randomized, crossover study. Results: The precursor to production reaction was; m/z 451.200 → 271.200 for Acotiamide and m/z 260.300 → 116.100 m/z for IS. The obtained calibration curve was linear, with a mean r2value 0.9953. Among the pharmacokinetic parameters, Cmax and Tmax were 25.71±2.31,23.61±2.32 ng/ml; 2.54±0.12, 2.43±0.21 h for reference and test samples, respectively. Conclusion: No major adverse events were noted in the clinical phase, the developed method was accurate and linear; obtained pharmacokinetic parameters hence represented

Dosimetric and clinical outcomes of CT based HRCTV delineation for HDR intracavitary brachytherapy in carcinoma cervix — a retrospective study

Background: Brachytherapy for carcinoma cervix has moved from Point A based planning to optimization of dose based on HR-CTV. Guidelines have been published by GEC ESTRO on HR-CTV delineation based on clinical gynecological examination and MR sequences. These have given significant clinical results in terms of local control. However, many centers around the country and worldwide still use CT based planning, which restricts HR-CTV delineation, as disease and cervix can rarely be differentiated on a planning CT. Various studies have been done to develop CT based contouring guidelines from the available data, but enough evidence is not available on the clinical outcome when treatment is optimized to HR-CTV contoured on CT images. The purpose of this study is to find out the relation between local control and dosimetry of HR-CTV as delineated on CT images. Materials and methods: Patients of locally advanced carcinoma cervix treated radically with EBRT of 50 Gy in 25# and at least 4 cycles of concurrent weekly Cisplatin having a complete or partial response to EBRT were taken for study. All patients had  completed CT based Intracavitary brachytherapy to 21 Gy in 3# of 7 Gy per # with dose prescription at point A and optimizing dose to reduce bladder and rectal toxicity. Follow up data on locoregional recurrence was obtained. HR-CTV delineation was done retrospectively on the treatment plan following guidelines by Viswanathan et al. EQD2 doses for EBRT+BT were calculated for point A and HR-CTV D90. The dosimetric data to HR-CTV and to Point A were then compared with patients with locoregional control and with local recurrence. Results: 48 patients were taken, all had squamous cell carcinoma. The median age was 48 years. 33.33% were stage IIA, the rest were stage IIB. Median follow-up was 30 months with 25% developing recurrence of the disease. HR-CTV D90 EQD2 dose was significantly higher in patients with locoregionally controlled disease than in patients with local recurrence (83.97 Gy10 vs. 77.96 Gy10, p = 0.002). Patients with HR-CTV D90 EQD2 dose greater than or equal to 79.75 Gy10 had better locoregional control than patients receiving dose less than 79.75 Gy10 (p = 0.015). Kaplan Meier plot for PFS showed significantly improved PFS for patients receiving HR-CTV D90 dose of at least 79.75 Gy10 (log-rank p-value = 0.007). Three year progression free survival was 87.1% in patients receiving HR-CTV D90 dose of at least 79.75 Gy10. Conclusion: CT based HR -CTV volume delineation with the help of pre brachytherapy clinical diagrams and MRI imaging may be feasible in a select subgroup of patients with complete or near-complete response to external beam radiation

Comparison of twice weekly palliative RT versus continuous hypofractionated palliative RT for painful bone metastases

Background: Palliative hypofractionated radiotherapy (RT) is an effective mode of treating painful bone metastasis. While 8 Gy single fraction radiation is often effective for the same, for complicated bone metastases a protracted fractionated regimen is preferred, of which 30 Gy/10#/2weeks or 20 Gy/5#/1 week are the most common worldwide. However such schedules add to the burden of already overburdened radiation treatment facilities in a busy center, wherein alternative logistic favourable schedules with treatment on weekends are preferred. Here we compare the efficacy of a twice weekly schedule to that of standard continuous 20 Gy/5 #/1 week schedule in terms of pain relief, response and quality of life. Materials and methods: A prospective non randomized study was undertaken from Jan 2018 to May 2019, wherein eligible patients of complicated bone metastases received palliative radiotherapy of 20 Gy/5#, either continuously for 5 fractions from Monday to Saturday or twice weekly, Saturday and Wednesday, starting on a Saturday over about 2 weeks. Pain relief was assessed by the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and FACES pain scale recorded prior to starting palliative RT and at 4, 12 and 16 weeks. Results: Thirteen patients received continuous Hypofractionated RT while 16 received it in a twice weekly schedule. Spine was the most common site receiving palliative Radiation (27/29), while breast cancer was the most common primary (16/29). The demographic and the baseline characteristics were comparable. The mean pain score decline at 4 weeks was 2.56 ±1.1 and 2.71 ± 0.52 in the 5-day and the two-week schedule, respectively (p = 0.67). Conclusion: A twice weekly schedule over about two weeks was found to be equivalent in pain control and response to the standard fractionated palliative radiation and, thus, can be safely employed in resource constrained, busy radiotherapy centers