Vigyan Prasar

Agricultural productivity is that thing on which Indian Economy highly depends. This is the one of the reasons that disease detection in plants plays an important role in agriculture field, as having disease in plants are quite natural. If proper care is not taken in this area then it causes serious effects on plants and due to which respective product quality, quantity or productivity is affected. Detection of plant disease through some automatic technique is beneficial as it reduces a large work of monitoring in big farms of crops, and at very early stage itself it detects the symptoms of diseases means when they appear on plant leaves. This paper presents an algorithm for image segmentation technique used for automatic detection as well as classification of plant leaf diseases and survey on different diseases classification techniques that can be used for plant leaf disease detection. Image segmentation, which is an important aspect for disease detection in plant leaf disease, is done by using genetic algorithm.

Free convection heat transfer due to the simultaneous action of buoyancy, radiation and transverse magnetic field is investigated for a semi‐infinite vertical plate. Solutions are derived by expanding the stream function and the temperature into a series in terms of the parameter ζ = x 1/2 L –1/2 , where L is the length of the plate. Velocity and temperature functions are shown on graphs and the numerical values of functions affecting the shear stress and the rate of heat transfer are entered in a table. The effects of the magnetic field parameter λ and the radiation parameter F on these functions are discussed.

Topical anesthetics are being widely used in numerous medical and surgical sub-specialties such as anesthesia, ophthalmology, otorhinolaryngology, dentistry, urology, and aesthetic surgery. They cause superficial loss of pain sensation after direct application. Their delivery and effectiveness can be enhanced by using free bases; by increasing the drug concentration, lowering the melting point; by using physical and chemical permeation enhancers and lipid delivery vesicles. Various topical anesthetic agents available for use are eutectic mixture of local anesthetics, ELA-max, lidocaine, epinephrine, tetracaine, bupivanor, 4% tetracaine, benzocaine, proparacaine, Betacaine-LA, topicaine, lidoderm, S-caine patch™ and local anesthetic peel. While using them, careful attention must be paid to their pharmacology, area and duration of application, age and weight of the patients and possible side-effects.

The paper discusses the effect of age and seasonal variations on leachate characteristics of leachate generated from municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill site of Ludhiana City, Punjab (India). Leachate samples were collected and analyzed for various physicochemical parameters to estimate its pollution potential. MSW landfill site is non-engineered low lying open dump. It has neither any bottom liner nor any leachate collection and treatment system. Therefore, all the leachate generated finds its paths into the surrounding environment. The landfill site is not equipped with any leachate collectors. Leachate samples were collected from the base of solid waste heaps where the leachate was drained out by gravity. It has been found that leachate contains high concentrations of organic and inorganic constituents beyond the permissible limits. While, heavy metals concentration was in trace amount as the waste is domestic in nature. The data presented in this study indicated that with the passage of time and with seasonal variations particularly during rainy season values of various parameters increased, reason being with time the solid waste material degraded and the waste constituents percolated down along with rainwater. Thus, the age and seasonal variations has a significant effect on leachate composition. Indiscriminate dumping of MSW without proper solid waste management practices should be stopped or some remedial measures were required to be adopted to prevent contamination.

In the past half dozen years, farmers and professionals working with them in several Asian and African countries have begun adapting and extrapolating what they have learned from and about the system of rice intensification (SRI) to a range of other crops - finger millet, wheat, sugarcane, tef, oilseeds such as mustard, legumes such as soya and kidney beans, and various vegetables - in what is being called the system of crop intensification (SCI). As with rice, the principles of early and healthy plant establishment, reducing competition between plants, increased soil organic matter, active soil aeration, and the careful application of water are proving able to raise the productivity and profitability of differently-managed crops. Recent reports from the World Bank in India and the Agricultural Transformation Agency in Ethiopia show such changes in crop management improving food security and being scaled up with hundreds of thousands of farmers. This review article reports on the productivity and other impacts being observed for many different crops in half a dozen countries for increasing food crop yields with lower cost and input requirements as well as more resilience to adverse effects of climate change. It also reports on mechanization innovations that reduce labor requirements for these methods.

With continually increasing demand for food accompanied by the constraints of climate change and the availability and quality of soil and water, the world’s farmers are challenged to produce more food per hectare with less water, and with fewer agrochemical inputs if possible. The ideas and methods of the system of rice intensification which is improving irrigated rice production are now being extended/adapted to many other crops: wheat, maize, finger millet, sugarcane, tef, mustard, legumes, vegetables, and even spices. Promoting better root growth and enhancing the soil’s fertility with organic materials are being found effective means for raising the yields of many crop plants with less water, less fertilizer, reduced seeds, fewer agrochemicals, and greater climate resilience. In this article, we review what is becoming known about various farmer-centred innovations for agroecological crop management that can contribute to agricultural sustainability. These changes represent the emerging system of crop intensification, which is being increasingly applied in Asian, African, and Latin American countries. More research will be needed to verify the efficacy and impact of these innovations and to clarify their conditions and limits. But as no negative effects for human or environmental health have been identified, making these agronomic options more widely known should prompt more investigation and, to the extent justified by results, utilization of these methodologies.

Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is a major cause of hospital morbidity and mortality despite recent advances in diagnosis and accuracy of management. However, as taught in medical science, prevention is better than cure is probably more appropriate as concerned to VAP because of the fact that it is a well preventable disease and a proper approach decreases the hospital stay, cost, morbidity and mortality. The aim of the study is to critically review the incidence and outcome, identify various risk factors and conclude specific measures that should be undertaken to prevent VAP. We studied 100 patients randomly, kept on ventilatory support for more than 48 h. After excluding those who developed pneumonia within 48 h, VAP was diagnosed when a score of ≥6 was obtained in the clinical pulmonary infection scoring system having six variables and a maximum score of 12. After evaluating, the data were subjected to univariate analysis using the chi-square test. The level of significance was set at P<0.05. It was found that 37 patients developed VAP. The risk factor significantly associated with VAP in our study was found to be duration of ventilator support, reintubation, supine position, advanced age and altered consciousness. Declining ratio of partial pressure to inspired fraction of oxygen (PaO(2)/FiO(2) ratio) was found to be the earliest indicator of VAP. The most common organism isolated in our institution was Pseudomonas. The incidence of early-onset VAP (within 96 h) was found to be 27% while the late-onset type (>96 h) was 73%. Late-onset VAP had poor prognosis in terms of mortality (66%) as compared to the early-onset type (20%). The mortality of patients of the non-VAP group was found to be 41% while that of VAP patients was 54%. Targeted strategies aimed at preventing VAP should be implemented to improve patient outcome and reduce length of intensive care unit stay and costs. Above all, everyone of the critical care unit should understand the factors that place the patients at risk of VAP and utmost importance must be given to prevent VAP.

Although several evidence-based guidelines for managing diabetes are available, few, if any, focus on the psychosocial aspects of this challenging condition. It is increasingly evident that psychosocial treatment is integral to a holistic approach of managing diabetes; it forms the key to realizing appropriate biomedical outcomes. Dearth of attention is as much due to lack of awareness as due to lack of guidelines. This lacuna results in diversity among the standards of clinical practice, which, in India, is also due to the size and complexity of psychosocial care itself. This article aims to highlight evidence- and experience-based Indian guidelines for the psychosocial management of diabetes. A systemic literature was conducted for peer-reviewed studies and publications covering psychosocial aspects in diabetes. Recommendations are classified into three domains: General, psychological and social, and graded by the weight they should have in clinical practice and by the degree of support from the literature. Ninety-four recommendations of varying strength are made to help professionals identify the psychosocial interventions needed to support patients and their families and explore their role in devising support strategies. They also aid in developing core skills needed for effective diabetes management. These recommendations provide practical guidelines to fulfill unmet needs in diabetes management, and help achieve a qualitative improvement in the way physicians manage patients. The guidelines, while maintaining an India-specific character, have global relevance, which is bound to grow as the diabetes pandemic throws up new challenges.

BACKGROUND: While the high burden of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) itself is a matter of great concern, the emergence and rise of advanced forms of drug-resistance such as extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) and extremely drug-resistant TB (XXDR-TB) is more troubling. The aim of this study was to investigate the trends over time of patterns of drug resistance in a sample of MDR-TB patients in greater metropolitan Mumbai, India. METHODS: This was a retrospective, observational study of drug susceptibility testing (DST) results among MDR-TB patients from eight health care facilities in greater Mumbai between 2005 and 2013. We classified resistance patterns into four categories: MDR-TB, pre-XDR-TB, XDR-TB and XXDR-TB. RESULTS: A total of 340 MDR-TB patients were included in the study. Pre-XDR-TB was the most common form of drug-resistant TB observed overall in this Mumbai population at 56.8% compared to 29.4% for MDR-TB. The proportion of patients with MDR-TB was 39.4% in the period 2005-2007 and 27.8% in 2011-2013, while the proportion of those with XDR-TB and XXDR-TB was changed from 6.1% and 0% respectively to 10.6% and 5.6% during the same time period. During the same periods, the proportions of patients with ofloxacin, moxifloxacin and ethionamide resistance significantly increased from 57.6% to 75.3%, from 60.0% to 69.5% and from 24.2% to 52.5% respectively (p<0.05). DISCUSSION: The observed trends in TB drug-resistance patterns in Mumbai highlight the need for individualized drug regimens, designed on the basis of DST results involving first- and second-line anti-TB drugs and treatment history of the patient. A drug-resistant TB case-finding strategy based on molecular techniques that identify only rifampicin resistance will lead to initiation of suboptimal treatment regimens for a significant number of patients, which may in turn contribute to amplification of resistance and transmission of strains with increasingly advanced resistance within the community.

BACKGROUND: Cancer pervades many dimensions of an individual's life - demanding a holistic treatment approach. However, studies with combined medical and psychological interventions (MPIs) are sparse. High-level stress and poor quality of life (QoL) can hinder patients' prognosis. The study thus aimed to analyze the impact of combined medical and psychological (psychoeducation, relaxation technique-guided imagery, and cognitive therapy) interventions on stress and QoL of cancer patients - head and neck, breast, and lung cancers. METHODS: -test, Cohen's d, and bar graphs were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: Findings showed high impact of the combined MPIs in reducing both the overall stress as well as the various components of the stress scale-fear, psychosomatic complaints, information deficit, and everyday life restrictions. Significant changes were also seen in QoL and its domains - global health status, besides functional and symptom scales. Results showed a significant improvement in physical, role and emotional functioning scale, while decrement in fatigue, pain, insomnia, appetite loss, diarrhea, and constipation of symptoms scales. CONCLUSIONS: It can be concluded that combined MPI has a positive impact - decreasing stress and improving QoL in cancer patients, which can further enhance their prognosis.

The authors present a new, current feedback op-amp-based, implementation of Chua&apos;s chaotic circuit. The workability of the proposed implementation has been experimentally verified using AD844 type current feedback op amps. This implementation offers several advantages over an earlier one based upon traditional voltage-mode op-amps.

Technical Briefs Transient Free Convection Flow Past an Infinite Vertical Plate With Periodic Temperature Variation U. N. Das, U. N. Das Department of Mathematics, Gauhati University, Guwahati 781 014, India Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar R. K. Deka, R. K. Deka Department of Mathematics, Gauhati University, Guwahati 781 014, India Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar V. M. Soundalgekar V. M. Soundalgekar 31A-12 Brindavan Society, Thane 400 601, India Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Author and Article Information U. N. Das Department of Mathematics, Gauhati University, Guwahati 781 014, India R. K. Deka Department of Mathematics, Gauhati University, Guwahati 781 014, India V. M. Soundalgekar 31A-12 Brindavan Society, Thane 400 601, India J. Heat Transfer. Nov 1999, 121(4): 1091-1094 (4 pages) https://doi.org/10.1115/1.2826063 Published Online: November 1, 1999 Article history Received: June 9, 1998 Revised: July 23, 1999 Online: December 5, 2007

ABSTRACT In studying unique factorization of domains we encountered a property of ideals. Using that we define the notion of almost prime ideals and prove that in Noetherian domains almost prime ideals are primary. We also prove that in a regular domain almost primes are precisely primes. Further, we define strictly nonprime ideals and study some inter relations between almost prime ideals, strictly nonprime ideals and factorization of ideals.

In developing countries the mortality and morbidity due to reproductive tract infections/sexually transmitted infections (RTIs/STIs) are very high relative to those associated with other health problems. The consequences of RTIs which are numerous and potentially devastating include postabortal and puerperal sepsis, ectopic pregnancy, fetal and perinatal death, cervical cancer, infertility, chronic physical pain, emotional distress, and social rejection in women. The impact of RTIs on the transmission of HIV infection and the morbidity and mortality of HIV adds substantially to the total health impact of RTIs. This study has been conducted in an urban slum in the vicinity of Maulana Azad Medical College, of New Delhi, India, during August 1996 to November 2000. The slum settings are characterised by a migratory population living under overcrowded and stressful conditions, where loosened traditional and social constraints, a range of sociocultural factors, and economic compulsions limit access to health care and social support services, thereby providing an environment conducive to acquiring and transmitting RTIs/STIs. The slum area comprised 826 hutments with a total population of 3676. The area had adverse sex ratio, 635 females per 1000 males and there were 500 (13.6%) single men. The majority of residents were migrants from the neighbouring states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The present study was conducted with the objective of assessing the prevalence of various RTIs among married women in the urban slum setting using peripheral (field level) and confirmatory laboratory tests. The study population consisted of all 446 ever married women aged 15–45 years residing in the area. It was decided to include all women in the study to fulfil the obligation of not denying diagnosis and treatment to any. To enrol the eligible subjects, a demographic survey was conducted which included a house to house survey. A quantitative reproductive health schedule (RHS) developed …

Presents a finite‐difference solution to transient free convection flow past a semi‐infinite vertical plate in which the plate temperature T ¢ w ( x ) varies as the power of the axial co‐ordinate in the form T ¢ • + ax n . Gives numerical results for fluids with Prandtl numbers Pr = 0.7 (air) and Pr = 7 (water) for three representative exponent values under non‐uniform surface heating conditions. Finds that the time to reach the steady‐state increases as the value of n or Pr increases. The steady‐state local skin‐friction falls by increasing the exponent n and Pr ; however, the steady‐state local Nusselt number increases with n at a distance along the plate far away from the leading edge but decreases with increasing n near the leading edge of the plate. Also, the average Nusselt number increases and the average skin‐friction decreases as n increases because of enhanced heating of the plate.

SUMMARY The effect of various temperature and light conditions on the germination of freshly harvetesd and 1‐year‐old seeds of obovate leaf and narrowly obovate leaf ecotypes of Portulaca oleracea L. is reported. These plants are common weeds of moist cultivated fields in the Upper Gangetic Plain. Freshly harvested seeds showed insignificant germination in darkness at any temperature between 10–40° C, and required specific photoperiodic and thermoperiodic conditions for germination. In contrast 1‐year‐old seeds showed significant temperature‐dependent dark germination, and almost complete germination with a single light exposure given at high temperatures; they thereby exhibited the loss of photo‐thermoperiodic requirement. In general the seeds of the narrowly obovate leaf ecotype were more sensitive to light than those of the obovate leaf ecotype. The possible significance of the germination requirements in relation to the success of the plant in Nature and to its essentially tropical distribution is discussed.

Abstract A checklist of the Chironomidae (Diptera) of the Indian subcontinent is presented. It incldes 313 species under 59 genera and four subfamilies.

Most commonly prescribed drugs in pediatric dentistry are "Antibiotics." Among Dentists, there is a trend toward overuse of antibiotics for nonindicated clinical conditions. This insufficient knowledge of the appropriate clinical indications for antibiotic prescriptions promotes the overuse of antibiotics and contributes to the emergence of antibiotic resistance among children. According to the various surveys done on the dental students, dentists and pediatric dentists on the antibiotic prescribing practices, overall, adherence to the professional clinical guidelines was low. There was a wide variation in dosages for all the antibiotics prescribed and for prolonged periods which were inconsistent with the recommendations. This paper reviews the current literature from the year 2000 to 2019. An electronic literature search was conducted in MEDLINE/PubMed, EBSCO host, and Google Scholar databases. The data was also collected manually from comprehensive textbooks. Some recommendations were also based on the opinion of experienced researchers and clinicians. Thus, this review aims at highlighting clinical indications, dosages, and duration of therapeutic antibiotic prescriptions for orofacial infections in the pediatric outpatients and at the same time creating an awareness, regarding the necessity of strictly adhering to the clinical guidelines for antibiotic prescriptions.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: To establish the efficacy of two-port appendectomy as an alternative to standard laparoscopic and open appendectomy in the management of acute appendicitis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Of the 151 patients included in the study, 47 patients were in the open group, 61 in two-port and 43 patients were included in the three-port group. Only patients with uncomplicated acute appendicitis were included in the study. Patients with complicated appendicitis like perforated appendix, appendicular lump and appendicular abscess were excluded from the study. Patients converted to open procedure after initial diagnosis and patients with other pathology in addition to appendicitis were also excluded. Patients with recurrent appendicitis and chronic appendicitis were excluded. The total number of excluded cases was 50. Data were compared with cases of open and three-port appendectomy. RESULTS: The mean operative time was 43.94, 35.74, and 59.65 min (SD: 18.91, 11.06, 19.29) for open, two-port, and three-port appendectomy groups respectively. Mean length of stay in days was 3.02, 1.93, and 2.26 (SD: 1.27, 1.04, 1.09) for open, two-port, and three-port appendectomy groups respectively. Surgical site infection was significantly lower (P = 0.03) in laparoscopy group as compared to that in open appendectomy group. Seven patients (4.63%) developed surgical site infection, 5 (10.63%) in the open and 2 (1.92%) in the laparoscopy group. Surgical site infection was 1.63% and 2.32% in two-port and three-port appendectomy groups respectively. CONCLUSIONS: For uncomplicated appendicitis, the two-port appendectomy technique significantly reduces operative time as well as length of hospital stay. It also reduces surgical site infection as compared to open appendectomy group.

Numerical results generated by a highly efficient finite‐difference method (originated by Keller for aerodynamical flows at the California Institute of Technology in 1970), and a robust double shooting Runge‐Kutta‐Merson scheme are presented for the boundary layer equations representing the convection flow of a viscous incompressible fluid past a hot vertical flat plate embedded in a non‐Darcy porous medium. Viscous dissipation due to mechanical work is included in the temperature field equation. The computations for both solution techniques are compared at the leading edge ( ξ = 0.0) and found to be in excellent agreement. The effects of the viscous heating parameter (Ec), thermal conductivity ratio ( λ ) and a Darcy porous parameter (Re/GrDa) on the fluid velocities, temperatures, local shear stress and wall heat transfer rate are discussed with applications to geothermal and industrial flows.