A New Approach to 2-Asummability Testing

A relationship between 2-monotonicity and 2-asummability has been established and thereby a fast method for testing 2-asummability of switching functions derived. The approach is based on the fact that only a particular type of 2-sums need be examined for 2-asummability testing of 2-monotonic switching functions. These 2-sums are those which contain more than five 1's. 2-asummability testing for these 2-sums can be easily done by using the authors' technique.

Use of adult male bonnet monkeys (Macaca radiata) for testing the biological activity of gonadotropin releasing hormone and its analogues

The effect of injecting agonistic and antagonistic analogues of gonadotropin releasing hormone analogues on serum testosterone levels was checked in adult and immature male bonnet monkeys. Of the agonistic analogues Buserelin, Ovurelin and D-Phe6 Gln8 GnRH were found to be most potent in increasing serum testosterone levels in the adult male bonnet monkeys. While 27-month-old monkeys responded well to des Gly10 GnRH, only marginal response was observed in the case of 15-month-old monkeys. Studies carried out with Ovurelin indicated that it was not effective in causing desensitization in adult monkeys. The antagonistic analogue was effective in blocking nocturnal surge of serum testosterone. Based on these studies it is suggested the adult male bonnet monkeys can be effectively used for testing the activity of GnRH analogues.

Testing the efficacy of a chilli-tobacco rope fence as a deterrent against crop-raiding elephants

Chilli-based repellents have shown promise as deterrents against crop-raiding elephants in Africa. We experimented with ropes coated with chilli-based repellent as a cheap alternative to existing elephant cropraid deterrent methods in India. Three locations (Buxa Tiger Reserve, Wyanad Wildlife Sanctuary and Hosur Forest Division) representing varying rainfall regimes from high to low, and with histories of intense elephant-agriculture conflict, were selected for the experiments that were conducted over 2-3 months during the pre-harvest period of the kharif season in late 2006. Chilli and tobacco powder mixed with waste oil was applied to ropes strung around agricultural fields of 1.4-5.5 km perimeter and elephant approaches were monitored. Elephants breached the rope fences a few times at all three study sites. Female-led herds were far more deterred (practically 100% reduction) than were solitary males (c. 50%) by the chilli-tobacco rope. Efficacy of this method as a deterrent was significantly better in the low-rainfall regime relative to medium and high-rainfall regimes. The initial promising results present a case for more rigorous experimentation; these would help determine if the elephants avoiding the rope are responding physiologically to the chilli-tobacco smell or merely reacting cautiously to a novel substance in their environment.

Microtensile testing of a free-standing Pt-aluminide bond coat

A finite element method (FEM)-based study has been carried out for the design of flat microtensile samples to evaluate tensile properties of Pt-aluminide (PtAl) bond coats. The critical dimensions of the sample have been determined using a two-dimensional elastic stress analysis. In the present testing scheme, the ratio of the dimensions of the holding length to the fillet radius of the sample was found important to achieve failure within the gage length. The effect of gage length and grip head length also has been examined. The simulation predictions have been experimentally verified by conducting microtensile test of an actual PtAl bond coat at room temperature. The sample design and testing scheme suggested in this study have also been found suitable for evaluation of tensile properties at high temperature. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Influence of anvil supports and overhangs in dynamic analysis of three point bend testing

Optimum design of dynamic fracture test rigs demands a thorough appreciation of beam vibration under impact. Analyses invariably presume rigid anvils, and neglect overhang effects. The beam response predicted analytically and numerically in this paper highlights the significant role of anvil rigidity and beam overhangs on the impact dynamics of three point bend (3PB) specimens.

Open-source tools for enhancing full-text searching of OPACs Use of Koha, Greenstone and Fedora

Purpose - There are many library automation packages available as open-source software, comprising two modules: staff-client module and online public access catalogue (OPAC). Although the OPAC of these library automation packages provides advanced features of searching and retrieval of bibliographic records, none of them facilitate full-text searching. Most of the available open-source digital library software facilitates indexing and searching of full-text documents in different formats. This paper makes an effort to enable full-text search features in the widely used open-source library automation package Koha, by integrating it with two open-source digital library software packages, Greenstone Digital Library Software (GSDL) and Fedora Generic Search Service (FGSS), independently. Design/methodology/approach - The implementation is done by making use of the Search and Retrieval by URL (SRU) feature available in Koha, GSDL and FGSS. The full-text documents are indexed both in Koha and GSDL and FGSS. Findings - Full-text searching capability in Koha is achieved by integrating either GSDL or FGSS into Koha and by passing an SRU request to GSDL or FGSS from Koha. The full-text documents are indexed both in the library automation package (Koha) and digital library software (GSDL, FGSS) Originality/value - This is the first implementation enabling the full-text search feature in a library automation software by integrating it into digital library software.

Counselling and predictive testing for familial adenomatous polyposis in a rural South Indian community

Background—Mutations of the APC gene cause familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP), a hereditary colorectal cancer predisposition syndrome.Aims—To conduct a cost comparison analysis of predictive genetic testing versus conventional clinical screening for individuals at risk of inheriting FAP, using the perspective of a third party payer. Methods—All direct health care costs for both screening strategies were measured according to time and motion, and the expected costs evaluated using a decision analysis model.Results—The baseline analysis predicted that screening a prototype FAP family would cost $4975/£3109 by molecular testingand $8031/£5019 by clinical screening strategy, when family members were monitored with the same frequency of clinical surveillance (every two to three years). Sensitivity analyses revealed that the genetic testing approach is cost saving for key variables including the kindred size, the age of screening onset, and the cost of mutation identification in a proband. However, if the APC mutation carriers were monitored at an increased (annual) frequency, the cost of the genetic screening strategy increased to $7483/ £4677 and was especially sensitive to variability in age of onset of screening, family size, and cost of genetic testing of at risk relatives. Conclusions—In FAP kindreds, a predictive genetic testing strategy costs less than conventional clinical screening, provided that the frequency of surveillance is identical using either strategy. An additional significant benefit is the elimination of unnecessary colonic examinations for those family members found to be noncarriers.

Rapid method of consolidation testing

The determination of consolidation characteristics forms an important aspect in the design of foundations and other earth-retaining structures. The conventional consolidation test as originally proposed by Teaaghi takes considerable time (more than 15 days in highly compressible soils with low coefficient of consolidation) and effort. Any effort to reduce the duration of testing will be desirable from several considerations. In this paper, an attempt has been made to propose a rapid method of consolidation testing. In the proposed method, the next load increment is applied as soon as the necessary time required to identify the percent consolidation is reached and to evaluate the coefficient of consolidation by one of the popular curve-fitting procedures. The rectangular hyperbola method has been used to identify the percent consolidation reached after any load increment, and to determine the coefficient of consolidation, before making the next load increment. The time required to complete the test using the rapid consolidation method could be as low as 4-5 h compared with 1 or 2 weeks in the case of the conventional consolidation test.

A Tutorial on Integrating CDS/ISIS Databases with the World Wide Web

With the emergence of Internet, the global connectivity of computers has become a reality. Internet has progressed to provide many user-friendly tools like Gopher, WAIS, WWW etc. for information publishing and access. The WWW, which integrates all other access tools, also provides a very convenient means for publishing and accessing multimedia and hypertext linked documents stored in computers spread across the world. With the emergence of WWW technology, most of the information activities are becoming Web-centric. Once the information is published on the Web, a user can access this information from any part of the world. A Web browser like Netscape or Internet Explorer is used as a common user interface for accessing information/databases. This will greatly relieve a user from learning the search syntax of individual information systems. Libraries are taking advantage of these developments to provide access to their resources on the Web. CDS/ISIS is a very popular bibliographic information management software used in India. In this tutorial we present details of integrating CDS/ISIS with the WWW. A number of tools are now available for making CDS/ISIS database accessible on the Internet/Web. Some of these are 1) the WAIS_ISIS Server. 2) the WWWISIS Server 3) the IQUERY Server. In this tutorial, we have explained in detail the steps involved in providing Web access to an existing CDS/ISIS database using the freely available software, WWWISIS. This software is developed, maintained and distributed by BIREME, the Latin American & Caribbean Centre on Health Sciences Information. WWWISIS acts as a server for CDS/ISIS databases in a WWW client/server environment. It supports functions for searching, formatting and data entry operations over CDS/ISIS databases. WWWISIS is available for various operating systems. We have tested this software on Windows '95, Windows NT and Red Hat Linux release 5.2 (Appolo) Kernel 2. 0. 36 on an i686. The testing was carried out using IISc's main library's OPAC containing more than 80,000 records and Current Contents issues (bibliographic data) containing more than 25,000 records. WWWISIS is fully compatible with CDS/ISIS 3.07 file structure. However, on a system running Unix or its variant, there is no guarantee of this compatibility. It is therefore safe to recreate the master and the inverted files, using utilities provided by BIREME, under Unix environment.

A Flexure-based Deployable Stereo Vision Mechanism and Temperature and Force Sensors for Laparoscopic Tools

This paper presents concepts, designs, and working prototypes of enhanced laparoscopic surgical tools. The enhancements are in equipping the tool with force and temperature sensing as well as image acquisition for stereo vision. Just as the pupils of our eyes are adequately spaced out and the distance between them is adjustable, two minute cameras mounted on a mechanism in our design can be moved closer or farther apart inside the inflated abdomen during the surgery. The cameras are fitted to a deployable mechanism consisting of flexural joints so that they can be inserted through a small incision and then deployed and moved as needed.A temperature sensor and a force sensor are mounted on either of the gripping faces of the surgical grasping tool to measure the temperature and gripping force, which need to be controlled for safe laparoscopic surgery. The sensors are small enough and hence they do not cause interference during surgery and insertion.Prototyping and working of the enhanced laparoscopic tool are presented with details

Study of Brittle-to-ductile-transition in Pt-aluminide bond coat using micro-tensile testing method

The Brittle-to-ductile-transition-temperature (BDTT) of free-standing Pt-aluminide (PtAl) coating specimens, i.e. stand-alone coating specimens without any substrate, was determined by micro-tensile testing technique. The effect of Pt content, expressed in terms of the thickness of initial electro-deposited Pt layer, on the BDTT of the coating has been evaluated and an empirical correlation drawn. Increase in the electrodeposited Pt layer thickness from nil to 10 mu m was found to cause an increase in the BDTT of the coating by about 100 degrees C.