Runaway Electrons (REs) generated during plasma disruptions in fusion grade tokamaks have the potential to severely damage the plasma-facing components. Designing optimal plasma discharge scenarios ...for RE suppression in future experiments requires interpretative modeling of current experiments. Multiple experiments have been carried out on ADITYA-U tokamak to design optimal plasma discharge scenarios for RE avoidance and suppression. In this article, we have numerically studied two representative pairs of ADITYA-U plasma discharges. In the first pair of discharges, plasma density was increased by gas puffs during the flap-top phase which is shown to suppress RE generation. In the second pair of the representative discharges, the effect of a lower ratio of peak electric field during breakdown to the pre-fill pressure is shown on RE generation. We simulate these plasma discharges using the PREDICT code to study the dynamics of Res. The results are consistent with the experimental Hard X-Ray diagnostic observations for both the pair of representative discharges. Additionally, the lowest RE-current is obtained in the discharges with a low ratio of the peak electric field during breakdown to the pre-fill pressure and high plasma density during the flap-top phase due to gas puffs. The suppression of REs is demonstrated by showing the effect of increasing plasma density on the separatrix in momentum space between thermal electrons and REs.
Recently, we identified Insulinoma-Glucagonoma clone 20 (IG20) that can render cells more susceptible to tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha)-induced apoptosis. In addition, it can slow cell ...proliferation, and enhance drug- and radiation-induced cell death. TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) can selectively induce apoptosis in some cancer cells and render others susceptible to cotreatment with drugs and irradiation, with little or no effect on most normal cells. In this study, we investigated the potential of IG20 to enhance TRAIL-induced apoptosis and found that it can render cells more susceptible to TRAIL treatment through enhanced activation of caspases. Further, we showed that this effect can be suppressed by caspase inhibitors, p35 and CrmA, and a dominant-negative Fas-associated death domain-containing protein (DN-FADD). Results from colocalization and immunoprecipitation studies showed that IG20 can interact with TRAIL death receptors (DR), DR4 and DR5 and increase recruitment of FADD and caspase-8 into the TRAIL death-inducing signaling complex (DISC). These results indicate that IG20 is a novel protein that can enhance TRAIL-induced apoptosis by facilitating DISC formation.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major public health problem in India. Although several International guidelines for diagnosis and management of COPD are available, yet there are lot ...of gaps in recognition and management of COPD in India due to vast differences in availability and affordability of healthcare facilities across the country. The Indian Chest Society (ICS) and the National College of Chest Physicians (NCCP) of India have joined hands to come out with these evidence-based guidelines to help the physicians at all levels of healthcare to diagnose and manage COPD in a scientific manner. Besides the International literature, the Indian studies were specifically analyzed to arrive at simple and practical recommendations. The evidence is presented under these five headings: (a) definitions, epidemiology, and disease burden; (b) disease assessment and diagnosis; (c) pharmacologic management of stable COPD; (d) management of acute exacerbations; and (e) nonpharmacologic and preventive measures. The modified grade system was used for classifying the quality of evidence as 1, 2, 3, or usual practice point (UPP). The strength of recommendation was graded as A or B depending upon the level of evidence.
Evaluation of balance, gait changes, sexual functions, and activities of daily living in patients with total hip replacement in comparison with healthy subjects.
A total of 30 patients were included ...in the study after total hip replacement. Balance was examined using dynamic posturography, and gait evaluation was done clinically. Sexual functions and activities of daily living were also assessed. A total of 30 healthy subjects of comparable age and sex served as a control group.
Dynamic balance and gait differed significantly in both the groups. Despite capsulectomy, no significant difference was observed on testing proprioception. In the sensory organization tests with difficult tasks, patients needed more sensory input from vision and vestibular sense, despite normal proprioceptive sense. Significant difference was observed for limits of stability, rhythmic weight shifts, and for gait variables other than walking base. Some of the patients had major difficulties with sexual functions and activities of daily living.
Compared with the healthy age- and sex-matched controls, patients with total hip replacement did not have any proprioceptive deficit. Patients required extrasensory input, and there was a delayed motor response. Gait and dynamic balance results also indicated the motor deficit and required a compensatory strategy. Restoration of the postural control in these patients is thus essential. Necessary training is required for balance, gait, and activities of daily living, and proper sexual counseling is necessary in postoperative care.
Bio-inspired algorithms (BIA) have emerged in recent times as a means of optimizing traditional computing methods. They have been derived based on events happening in nature. This study of bionics ...connects the functions, biological structures and organizational patterns and principles found in nature with the our current day technologies, mathematical and metaheuristic algorithms have been derived 1. Algorithms such as particle swarm optimization, differential evolution, cuckoo search and firefly algorithms all have both global search and intensive local search capabilities, which may be partly why they are so efficient2 . Detecting and preventing software defects is a very significant and important need in the software industry. There are many standard models using different techniques for implementation for software defect detection. Software defect detection dataset uses attributes of a software which indicates the presence of a defect. Models such as classifiers learn patterns in these attributes that are used to represent the presence or absence of a defect4. There have already been works related to using bio-inspired algorithms for feature selection to improve the efficiency of standard classifiers. The main goal of this paper is to develop a model which implements Harris’ hawks optimization method to further optimize the features selected by bat algorithm and create hyperparameters for XGB classifier. The paper also includes to develop and compare the above model with three other models; one model without any optimization, feature selection or feature extraction methods, a model using a standard feature selection method, a model incorporating bio- inspired algorithm for feature selection. Then the metrics for the model is calculated and presented. The models are trained over a software defect detection dataset. The models are then compared to draw conclusions.
Bronchial asthma is an important public health problem in India with significant morbidity. Several international guidelines for diagnosis and management of asthma are available, however there is a ...need for country-specific guidelines due to vast differences in availability and affordability of health-care facilities across the globe. The Indian Chest Society (ICS) and the National College of Chest Physicians (NCCP) of India have collaborated to develop evidence-based guidelines with an aim to assist physicians at all levels of health-care in diagnosis and management of asthma in a scientific manner. Besides a systematic review of the literature, Indian studies were specifically analysed to arrive at simple and practical recommendations. The evidence is presented under these five headings: (1) definitions, epidemiology and impact, (2) diagnosis, (3) pharmacologic management of stable disease, (4) management of acute exacerbations, and (5) non-pharmacologic management and special situations. The modified grade system was used for classifying the quality of evidence as 1, 2, 3, or usual practice point (UPP). The strength of recommendation was graded as A or B depending upon the level of evidence.
Genetic control of root development in rice is complex and the underlying mechanisms (constitutive and adaptive) are poorly understood. Lowland and upland varieties of indica and japonica rice with ...contrasting root development characteristics have been crossed, mapping populations developed and a number of QTLs in different chromosomes were identified. As these studies have used different sets of markers and many of the QTLs identified are long, it is difficult to exploit the varietal difference for improved root traits by marker assisted selection and for identification of concerned alleles. Intensive data mining of literature resulted in the identification 861 root development QTLs and associated microsatellite markers located on different chromosomes. The QTL and marker data generated and the genome sequence of rice were used for construction of a relational database, Rootbrowse, using MySQL relational database management system and Bio::DB::GFF schema. The data is viewed using GBrowse visualization tool. It graphically displays a section of the genome and all features annotated on it including the QTLs. The QTLs can be displayed along with SSR markers, protein coding genes and/or known root development genes for prediction of probable candidate genes.
Rootbrowse is freely available at http://www.ricebrowse.org.
We report on the effect of the strong spin orbit coupling and the Lorentz force on the efficiency of TiO2 based dye sensitized solar cells. Upon inclusion of Ho2O3, due to the strong spin orbit ...coupling of the rare earth Ho3+ ion, we do see 13 percent enhancement in the efficiency. We attribute such an enhancement in power conversion efficiency to the increased lifetime of the photo-excited excitons. Essentially, a Ho3+ ion accelerates the phenomenon of the spin rephasing or the intersystem crossing of the excitons in a photosensitizer. Increase in the absorbance and decrease in the photoluminescence intensity suggests a decrease in the recombination rate, hinting an enhanced charge transport and is in accordance with our electrochemical impedance spectra and the J V characteristics. From the above we strongly believe that enhanced efficiency of the device is due to increased intersystem crossing which would accelerate the exciton dissociation. On top of spin orbit interaction, a configuration where the electric and magnetic fields are perpendicular to each other helped in enhancing the efficiency by 16 percent, suggesting that the Lorentz force also plays a dominant role in controlling the charge transport of the photo-generated charge carriers. We strongly believe that this simple and novel strategy of improving the efficiency may pave the way for realizing higher efficiency dye sensitized solar cells.
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