Spatio‐temporal variability of contributions of stratiform and convective rainfall to Indian monsoon (June–September) rainfall have been investigated using hourly rainfall data of well distributed ...126 stations in India for the period 1969–2015. The criteria used for identifying stratiform rainfall are hourly rainfall ≤5 mm and spatial homogeneity. The study showed that Indian monsoon rainfall exhibits two distinctive features, viz. stratiform component dominating over peninsular (southern) India and convective component dominating over northern India. The diurnal variation shows domination of convective activity in the afternoon hours over the northern parts of India. Intra‐seasonal variability in the stratiform rainfall is the lowest over the West Coast stations through‐out the season. While it shows low values during the onset (June) and withdrawal (September) phases of monsoon and higher values during July–August in Peninsular India. Inter‐annual variations in the convective rainfall are larger than that of stratiform rainfall all over the country. Trend analysis indicates that both stratiform and convective rainfall are decreasing over the central parts of the country and increasing significantly along West Coast and western parts of the country. During excess monsoon year, convective rainfall activity is more than in deficit monsoon year, in Central India. The results brought out in the study will be useful as a proxy for understanding the spatial and temporal variability of the latent heating fields over India in the monsoon season and validation of model simulations of clouds and rainfall types.
Stratiform rainfall proportion is more in peninsular (southern) India, while convective component dominates over northern India. The diurnal variation shows domination of convective activity in the afternoon hours over the northern parts of India. Intra‐seasonal variability in the stratified rainfall is the lowest over the West Coast stations through‐out the season. Intra‐seasonal variation in the stratiform rainfall shows low values during the onset (June) and withdrawal (September) phases of monsoon and higher values during July–August in Peninsular India. Inter‐annual variations in the convective rainfall are larger than that of stratiform rainfall all over the country. Stratiform rainfall contributions are decreasing over central parts of the country. During excess monsoon year, convective rainfall activity shows substantial rise in Central India.
North–South‐oriented mountains (known as “The Western Ghats WG”) running parallel to the west coast of peninsular India separate the Maharashtra state (lying on the northwest of peninsular India) ...into two meteorological subdivisions (a) Konkan lying on the windward side of WG receiving high monsoon rainfall (2,390 mm) and (b) Madhya Maharashtra (MM) lying on the leeward side receiving low monsoon rainfall (579 mm). The state of Maharashtra has two more subdivisions on the leeward side of WG, viz. Marathwada and Vidarbha, which however do not lie on the immediate leeward side of WG. In this study, a subdivision of MM is further subdivided into (a) north–south strip of 80 km width on the immediate lee side (ILS) from the crest of WG and (b) area extending eastwards from ILS to 280 km, referred to as “distant lee side (DLS).” DLS contains some parts of the Marathwada subdivision also. The study indicates that the mean monsoon rainfall over ILS region is higher than DLS region (proportion is 1.4:1). Higher rainfall over ILS region has been shown due to the occurrence of the “hydraulic jump (HJ).” The dynamics of HJ are explained using Froude number and vertical velocities. The climatological high rainfall over ILS remained an unnoticed feature in the spatial monsoon variability over peninsular India. The study focuses on the unnoticed high rainfall in the ILS region and attributes it to HJ. The incorporation of HJ has the potential to impact on forecasting of monsoon rainfall over the region by numerical models.
Past studies indicate low‐rainfall areas prevail on the leeside of the Western Ghats (WG) mountains running parallel to the west coast of India. This study focuses on unrecognized feature of high monsoon rainfall on the immediate leeward side (ILS) of the WG and attributed it to the phenomenon “hydraulic jump (HJ).” Incorporation of HJ will impact on numerical forecasting of monsoon rainfall over the region.
Extreme precipitation and flood episodes in the Himalayas are oftentimes traced to synoptic situations involving connections between equatorward advancing upper level extratropical circulations and ...moisture-laden tropical monsoon circulation. While previous studies have documented precipitation characteristics in the Himalayan region during severe storm cases, a comprehensive understanding of circulation dynamics of extreme precipitation mechanisms is still warranted. In this study, a detailed analysis is performed using rainfall observations and reanalysis circulation products to understand the evolution of monsoon-extratropical circulation features and their interactions based on 34 extreme precipitation events which occurred in the Western Himalayas (WEH) during the period 1979–2013. Our results provide evidence for a common large-scale circulation pattern connecting the extratropics and the South Asian monsoon region, which is favorable for extreme precipitation occurrences in the WEH region. This background upper level large-scale circulation pattern consists of a deep southward penetrating midlatitude westerly trough, a blocking high over western Eurasia and an intensifying Tibetan anticyclone. It is further seen from our analysis that the key elements of monsoon-midlatitude interactions, responsible for extreme precipitation events over the WEH region, are: (1) midlatitude Rossby wave breaking, (2) west-northwest propagation of monsoon low-pressure system from the Bay of Bengal across the Indian subcontinent, (3) eddy shedding of the Tibetan anticyclone, (4) ageostrophic motions and transverse circulation across the Himalayas, and (5) strong moist convection over the Himalayan foothills. Furthermore, high-resolution numerical simulations indicate that diabatic heating and mesoscale ageostrophic effects can additionally amplify the convective motions and precipitation in the WEH region.
The online shopping industry has exploded in recent years leading to many benefits. With extensive advertising on social media, electronic platforms bombard people with things to buy, by making ...suggestions based on the users’ purchases and market trends. Online shopping offers significant advantages, such as the convenience of browsing and ordering from various sites at any given time, but a notable drawback is customers cannot directly see the products while ordering them. While supermarkets allow customers to explore various products before buying them, they are large places and have an extensive product range, which makes it difficult for customers to find desired items and their discounts easily. Product recommendations based on other users’ shopping patterns help users buy items easily and decrease the time taken to look for related items. This feature is currently not available in offline stores. Therefore, a product recommendation system that uses Augmented Reality is proposed. The system also provides in-store navigation using Augmented Reality to help users go to different sections of the supermarket. This system would help customers locate products easily and makes the application more interactive and engaging.
•This research paper is related to improvement in performance of a mechanical machine (Belt weigh feeder) in actual running plant. A belt weigh feeder system is a flat belt conveyor designed for ...feeding bulk material into the process in a controlled fashion to achieve optimum process efficiency and product quality.•The problem of belt speed control is challenging as the dynamic response of system is nonlinear and there are frequent changes in belt load due to variation in bulk material characteristics. The control accuracy of belt weigh feeder is fully dependent on the controller performance in providing precise control of speed of motor/belt. In this study, a lot of operating data of an industrial BWF has been analysed to study the nonlinear response of BWF system friction and to establish prominence of Stribeck friction in BWF nonlinearity. Further, detailed modelling of the BWF system has been done to highlight the effects of nonlinearity on system response which has not been done in any previous research.•Subsequently, PI Fuzzy Logic with cascaded adaptive controller (Advanced BWF controller) is designed where the gains of PI controller obtained using Fuzzy Logics are further adapted (or compensated) considering the operating speed of the system to achieve loop stability and prevent overshoots at higher speeds.•The combined control strategy of PI Fuzzy Logic Control along with adaptive gain compensation has been implemented in plant Distributed (Digital) Control System (DCS) with an innovative use of calculation blocks available in the DCS software. The results obtained after implementing the Advanced BWF controller for an actual plant BWF indicate improved response of machine on all control parameters namely rise time, overshoot, set point tracking, belt load disturbance rejection and its control accuracy improves by around 34 % based on calculation of IAE.•To the best of knowledge of the authors, there is no previous reference available where the implementation of PI FLC in plant DCS is presented.
A Belt Weigh Feeder (BWF) is a flat belt conveyor designed for feeding bulk material into a chemical process in a controlled fashion for better process control. The dynamic weight of bulk material is measured with a belt weigh bridge and the belt speed is controlled to compensate for any variation in the weight so that the mass feed rate is maintained as per the set feed rate. The problem of belt speed control is challenging as the dynamic response of system is non-linear and there are frequent changes in belt load due to variation in bulk material characteristics. The control accuracy of belt weigh feeder is fully dependent on the controller’s performance in providing precise control of speed of motor/belt. Any delay in achieving the set feed rate or frequent deviation between set and actual feed rate affects the quality and efficiency of downstream process. Conventional PI controller is unable to provide optimum control due to system non-linearity. To overcome this problem, in this paper first the operating data of the BWF system is analysed and the nature and cause for the nonlinearity is investigated. The system is then modelled using the design parameters of plant belt weigh feeder, which is then simulated to have a better insight into its non-linear response. Subsequently, based on simulation results, a PI Fuzzy Logic (PI-FL) controller is designed to improve the control accuracy of the system. Further, to ensure the stability of the system, an adaptive controller is introduced in cascade to fine tune the gains of PI-FL controller as per the operating speed of the BWF. Finally, an advanced PI-FL with cascade adaptive controller is implemented in the plant DCS (microprocessor based process control system). The actual test results indicate reduction in the Integral of Absolute Error (IAE) of the system by about 34% using this controller.
Background & objectives: India has been reporting the cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) since January 30, 2020. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) formulated and established ...laboratory surveillance for COVID-19. In this study, an analysis of the surveillance data was done to describe the testing performance and descriptive epidemiology of COVID-19 cases by time, place and person.
Methods: The data were extracted from January 22 to April 30, 2020. The frequencies of testing performance were described over time and by place. We described cases by time (epidemic curve by date of specimen collection; seven-day moving average), place (area map) and person (attack rate by age, sex and contact status), and trends were represented along with public health measures and events.
Results: Between January 22 and April 30, 2020, a total of 1,021,518 individuals were tested for severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). Testing increased from about 250 individuals per day in the beginning of March to 50,000 specimens per day by the end of April 2020. Overall, 40,184 (3.9%) tests were reported positive. The proportion of positive cases was highest among symptomatic and asymptomatic contacts, 2-3-fold higher than among those with severe acute respiratory infection, or those with an international travel history or healthcare workers. The attack rate (per million) by age was highest among those aged 50-69 yr (63.3) and was lowest among those under 10 yr (6.1). The attack rate was higher among males (41.6) than females (24.3). The secondary attack rate was 6.0 per cent. Overall, 99.0 per cent of 736 districts reported testing and 71.1 per cent reported COVID-19 cases.
Interpretation & conclusions: The coverage and frequency of ICMR's laboratory surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 improved over time. COVID-19 was reported from most parts of India, and the attack rate was more among men and the elderly and common among close contacts. Analysis of the data indicates that for further insight, additional surveillance tools and strategies at the national and sub-national levels are needed.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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Background: Posaconazole has been recommended as an antifungal of choice for IFI prophylaxis in AML during induction therapy. Very high incidence of possible and probable IFI (70%) during induction ...at our centre led to adoption of posaconazole prophylaxis. However, approximately 50% of patients still require change of antifungal due to suspected breakthrough IFI raising the possibility of inadequate plasma levels due to various factors (variable absorption, metabolism and drug interactions). To address this concern, we evaluated the role of therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) in AML patients receiving posaconazole prophylaxis to identify whether suboptimal plasma levels (<700 ng/mL) are associated with breakthrough IFI.
Method: This prospective observational study included all patients, 18 years or more, undergoing induction chemotherapy for de novo AML with no evidence of IFI (normal CT chest, and galactomannan assay) and on posaconazole prophylaxis between May2015 to February 2016 at our centre. Posaconazole oral suspension 200 mg three times daily was given for antifungal prophylaxis from day 1 of induction until neutrophil recovery to more than 500 cells/μL, occurrence of a confirmed or suspected IFI or development of drug related toxicity or intolerance. The details regarding demography, weight, BMI at diagnosis were recorded. During therapy all adverse events including vomiting and diarrhea were recorded as per CTCAE version 4.03. Concomitant drug history and use of proton pump inhibitors, antacids, metoclopramide and domperidone during treatment period were noted. Blood samples (7 am) for detecting posaconazole trough levels were collected daily from day 4 till day 12 of induction. If patient developed symptoms and signs suggestive of IFI during induction after day 12, then blood sample was drawn for posaconazole trough levels. Plasma posaconazole levels were estimated at by HPLC method. The diagnosis of IFI was in accordance with the revised European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer /Mycoses Study Group definitions published in 2008. Breakthrough invasive fungal infection was also diagnosed if there was failure to respond to intravenous antibiotics along with negative cultures and fever defervescence with change in antifungal therapy. The primary objective of the study was to assess the percentage of patients achieving target posaconazole plasma levels. The secondary objectives included i) impact of achieving target drug concentration in preventing breakthrough fungal infections. ii) identification of factors associated with subtoptimal posaconazole levels. iii) Time to achieve steady state concentration or target trough concentrations of posaconazole.
Results: A total of 366 samples were collected from 45 patients with median number of 8 samples (range 1-9) per patient. Median age of patients was 36 years (range 18-45 years). Thirty two were males. Thirty-nine patients received 3+7 regimen and 6 were treated with cladribine along with daunomycin and cytarabine. Eleven patients (24%) did not achieve target plasma levels (≥700 ng/mL) even once till day 12. Median time to achieve steady state concentration was 5 days (range 4-10). At steady state 20 (44% ) patients had suboptimal plasma levels. On serial monitoring, a declining trend in plasma levels was observed after day 8 in 31 patients. Twenty three patients (51%) developed possible/ probable IFI on posaconazole prophylaxis. The median time to develop IFI was 13 days (range 4-24 days). Twenty out of 23 patients (87%) who developed IFI had suboptimal plasma levels as compared to 13 out of 22 patients (60%) who did not develop IFI (p-0.04). In all but 3 patients, the plasma levels declined before breakthrough IFI. On logistic regression analysis, both the steady state concentration and plasma posaconazole levels before breakthrough were strong predictors of occurrence of breakthrough IFI. Presence of mucositis, vomiting, diarrhea, use of antacid was associated with low plasma levels on univariate analysis. On multivariate analysis presence of mucositis and antacids remained significantly associated with low plasma levels.
Conclusion: TDM has a role in patients receiving posaconazole prophylaxis, however it still needs to be seen if dose adjustments based on plasma levels can reduce the risk of breakthrough IFI.
No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
A belt weigh feeder system is an electro-mechanical system consisting of variable speed flat belt conveyor designed for feeding bulk material in the process in a controlled fashion. The dynamic ...weight of bulk material on the belt is measured with a belt weigh bridge and the belt speed is controlled to compensate for the variation in weight so that the feed rate is maintained constant. The problem of belt speed control is challenging as the dynamic response of system is nonlinear and there are frequent changes in belt load due to variation in bulk material characteristics. The control accuracy of belt weigh feeder is fully dependent on the controller performance in providing precise control of speed of motor/belt. Any delay in achieving the set feed rate or frequent deviation between set and actual feed rate affects the quality and efficiency of downstream process. Conventional PI controller is unable to provide optimum control due to system nonlinearity. To tackle these problems, first the system is modeled and rigorously simulated in open and closed loop to have a better insight into its nonlinear response. Subsequently, PI Fuzzy Logic controller is designed for control of belt weigh feeder. The results indicate substantial improvement in control accuracy of the system with PI Fuzzy Logic controller.
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