Explore the vast range of titles available.

This study reports the advantage of a novel technique employing a motorised dental burr to assist laminectomy over the conventional manual technique at T10-T11 vertebra level in a rat model of spinal cord injury. Twenty-four female rats were randomly assigned to four groups: (1) conventionally laminectomised, (2) dental burr assisted laminectomised, (3) conventionally laminectomised with spinal cord contusion and (4) dental burr assisted laminectomised with spinal cord contusion. Basso Beattie Bresnahan (BBB) score, postoperative body weights, rat grimace scale (RGS), open cage activity and rearing was studied at 1, 7, 14, 21 and 28 days postoperatively, and area of spinal tissue affected was evaluated histologically. Laminectomised and spinal cord injured rats from dental burr groups showed significantly more weight gain and less weight loss respectively in comparison with respective conventionally laminectomised groups at various time points. Significantly higher RGS score was noticed in conventionally laminectomised animals on Day 1 in comparison to burr assisted laminectomy and presence of pain was evident until Day 7 in the conventionally spinal cord injured group. BBB score did not differ between techniques, whereas laminectomy groups showed more resting time than spinal injury groups. High rearing score was significantly higher in groups which underwent dental burr assisted technique at various time points with respect to their conventional counterparts. This study suggests that the use of dental burr assisted technique to perform laminectomy will bring refinement by producing less pain, aiding in better recovery, removing procedural artefacts without affecting the outcome of the model.

Over two decades since the Good Friday Agreement was signed, social spaces remain heavily contested in Northern Ireland. On the one hand, top-down approaches toward ushering in a new spatiality for a shared future have had limited success. On the other hand, there is increasing evidence that a ‘shared future’ disconnected from local historical and cultural contexts is unsustainable. By studying the debates surrounding three contemporary ‘shared spaces’ in East Belfast—the Titanic Quarter, the proposed Naíscoil na Seolta and East Belfast GAA Club—this paper studies why some spaces are more acceptable to the general public compared to others. At a time when recent elections suggest that the region is at the cusp of political change, this paper argues that a new spatiality with grassroots community initiatives at its core must be simultaneously imagined in Belfast.

In the last two decades, it is persistently emphasized to develop energy generation systems free from greenhouse gas emissions since these gases cause global warming, and it leads to unpredictable monsoons. Consequently, it might not be a conducive environment for human beings and animals to dwell. To ascertain the green environment for the next generations and reduce the use of fossil fuels, renewable energy sources are highly suggested to generate electrical energy. Solar photovoltaic is reckoned to be one of the promising methods to generate electricity; however, it has a lower conversion value due to various losses resulting from external and internal parameters. Among various losses that occurred in the solar photovoltaic system, mismatch loss is imperative, which causes the system to perform poorly. Solar photovoltaic systems have made topical advances in the use of highly effective solar cell materials to achieve high efficiency. In this analysis, performance parameters are influenced by the internal and external conditions of the solar photovoltaic systems and they lead to an increase in the loss of the system. The present review is focused to fetch fruitful information on the several studies that analyzed the effects on the solar photovoltaic systems of parasitic resistances, dust generated by tresses, clouds, solar radiation, temperature, relative humidity, different connection topologies, circuit implementation for partial shading, and remedies suggested by the potential authors.

Communism arrived in the south Indian state of Kerala in the early twentieth century at a time when the matrilineal systems that governed caste-Hindu relations were crumbling quickly. For a large part of the twentieth century, the Communist Party – specifically the Communist Party of India (Marxist) – played a major role in navigating Kerala society through a developmental path based on equality, justice and solidarity. Following Lefebvre’s conceptualisation of (social) space, this paper explores how informal social spaces played an important role in communicating ideas of communism and socialism to the masses. Early communists used rural libraries and reading rooms, tea-shops, public grounds and wall-art to engage with and communicate communism to the masses. What can the efforts of the early communists in Kerala tell us about the potential for communicative socialism? How can we adapt these experiences in the twenty-first century? Using autobiographies, memoirs, and personal interviews, this paper addresses these questions.

The research aimed to explore the thermal performance of a miniature hexagonal tube heat sink (MHTHS) by utilizing three different binary nanofluids. These nanofluids incorporated nanoparticles such as MgO, Al 2 O 3 , and CuO, dispersed in base fluids of de-ionized water (DIW) (80 %) and ethylene glycol (EG) (20 %) at different concentrations (0.5 vol %, 1.0 vol %, 1.5 vol %, and 2.0 vol %). Variations in volume flow rate (VFR) and temperature spanned from 10L/h to 50L/h and 10 °C to 50 °C, respectively. Throughout the study, nanofluids circulated through the hexagonal tube side (HTS) at VFR ranging from 10L/h to 50L/h, while hot DIW flowed through the mini passage (MPS) at a constant VFR of 30L/h. Notably, CuO–DIW/EG nanofluid exhibited an 8.7 % increase in density, and MgO–DIW/EG nanofluids demonstrated a 14 % increase in thermal conductivity at a particle concentration of 2.0 vol %. However, at a higher particle concentration of 2.0 vol %, MgO–DIW/EG nanofluids exhibited a 5.6 % decrease in specific heat. Furthermore, MgO–DIW/EG nanofluids displayed a 79.6 % increase in heat transfer coefficient and a 66.7 % increase in Nusselt number. Although the pumping power and friction factor showed 5.1 % to 20.4 % and 7.5 % increases in particle concentration and Reynolds number, this negative impact did not affect the overall thermal performance of the heat sink. Finally, the study determined that MgO–DIW/EG nanofluid stands out as the most suitable heat transfer fluid for the heat sink.

In conventional modern vehicles, the Internet of Things-based automotive embedded systems are used to collect various data from real-time sensors and store it in the cloud platform to perform visualization and analytics. The proposed work is to implement computer vision-aided vehicle intercommunication V2V (vehicle-to-vehicle) implemented using the Internet of Things for an autonomous vehicle. Computer vision-based driver assistance supports the vehicle to perform efficiently in critical transitions such as lane change or collision avoidance during the autonomous driving mode. In addition to this, the main work emphasizes observing multiple parameters of the In-Vehicle system such as speed, distance covered, idle time, and fuel economy by the electronic control unit are evaluated in this process. Electronic control unit through brake control module, powertrain control module, transmission control module, suspension control module, and battery management system helps to predict the nature of drive-in different terrains and also can suggest effective custom driving modes for advanced driver assistance systems. These features are implemented with the help of the vehicle-to-infrastructure protocol, which collects data through gateway nodes that can be visualized in the IoT data frame. The proposed work involves the process of analyzing and visualizing the driver-influencing factors of a modern vehicle that is in connection with the IoT cloud platform. The custom drive mode suggestion and improvisation had been completed with help of computational analytics that leads to the deployment of an over-the-air update to the vehicle embedded system upgradation for betterment in drivability. These operations are progressed through a cloud server which is the prime factor proposed in this work.

This paper investigates the thermal performance of a newly prepared Nano-enhanced phase change material (NEPCM), constituting SiO 2 Nanoparticles (NPs) in myristic acid. SiO 2 NPs with mass fractions of 0.2 wt%, 0.5 wt%, 0.8 wt% and 1.0 wt% were suspended in myristic acid, which serves as the base Phase change material (PCM) separately, to determine the maximum enhancement of thermal conductivity. The size and morphology of the as synthesized SiO 2 NPs were studied by Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The phase change properties of NEPCMs were assessed with the help of Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The thermal conductivity enhancement of NEPCMs was measured using a Laser flash analyzer (LFA). Results clearly indicate that the duration of the melting and solidification processes of NEPCMs decreased compared to that of the base PCM. Thus, the newly prepared NEPCM is a potential candidate for harvesting solar energy for low-temperature heating systems.

Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) is a leading cause of death and disability in Kerala, India. Metabolic syndrome (MS) is a constellation of established risk factors for CAD. We aimed to estimate the prevalence of MS and evaluate the association between MS and CAD using a community-based sample population. A cross-sectional community based survey was conducted in urban and rural areas of Kerala in 2011. We included 5063 individuals for analysis. Age standardized prevalence of MS, associated diagnoses (hypertension, diabetes and hypercholesterolemia) and other potential risk factors were assessed for men and women in both urban and rural locations. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression models were developed to identify participant characteristics that are associated with MS. After standardization for age and adjustment for sex and urban-rural distribution, the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in Kerala was 24%, 29% and 33% for the NCEP ATP III, IDF and AHA/NHLBI Harmonization definitions, respectively. The mean (SD) age of the participants was 51 (14) years, and 60% were women. Women had a higher prevalence of MS than men (28% versus 20% for ATP III, p<0.001). Similarly, participants living in urban areas had higher prevalence of MS than their rural counterparts (26% versus 22%, p<0.001). Elevated body mass index, older age, and female sex were associated with MS in an adjusted multivariate model. The propensity for definite CAD was 1.7 times higher in individuals with MS defined based on ATP III criteria compared to those without MS (Adjusted OR = 1.69; 95% CI: 1.3-2.2, p<0.001). One of four to one of three adult individuals in Kerala have MS based on different criteria. Higher propensity for CAD in individuals with MS in Kerala calls for urgent steps to prevent and control the burden of metabolic conditions.

Background Biofilms disperse in response to specific environmental cues, such as reduced oxygen concentration, changes in nutrient concentration and exposure to nitric oxide. Interestingly, biofilms do not completely disperse under these conditions, which is generally attributed to physiological heterogeneity of the biofilm. However, our results suggest that genetic heterogeneity also plays an important role in the non-dispersing population of P. aeruginosa in biofilms after nutrient starvation. Results In this study, 12.2% of the biofilm failed to disperse after 4 d of continuous starvation-induced dispersal. Cells were recovered from the dispersal phase as well as the remaining biofilm. For 96 h starved biofilms, rugose small colony variants (RSCV) were found to be present in the biofilm, but were not observed in the dispersal effluent. In contrast, wild type and small colony variants (SCV) were found in high numbers in the dispersal phase. Genome sequencing of these variants showed that most had single nucleotide mutations in genes associated with biofilm formation, e.g. in wspF, pilT , fha1 and aguR . Complementation of those mutations restored starvation-induced dispersal from the biofilms. Because c-di-GMP is linked to biofilm formation and dispersal, we introduced a c-di-GMP reporter into the wild-type P. aeruginosa and monitored green fluorescent protein (GFP) expression before and after starvation-induced dispersal. Post dispersal, the microcolonies were smaller and significantly brighter in GFP intensity, suggesting the relative concentration of c-di-GMP per cell within the microcolonies was also increased. Furthermore, only the RSCV showed increased c-di-GMP, while wild type and SCV were no different from the parental strain. Conclusions This suggests that while starvation can induce dispersal from the biofilm, it also results in strong selection for mutants that overproduce c-di-GMP and that fail to disperse in response to the dispersal cue, starvation.