29 research outputs found
Summary of experimental verification of the flux and energy spectrum of secondary electrons at high altitudes in the atmosphere
No full text A brief summary of the measurement of the flux and energy spectrum of secondary electrons at balloon altitude over Fort Churchill is given. These measurements are compared with two calculations, one by Perola and Scarsi and the other by the author. A correction is made to an error of Beedle and Webber in plotting the results of the author's calculations. </jats:p
Energy Spectra of Splash & Re-entrant Albedo Electrons of Cosmic Radiations
No full text171-173The flux and energy spectra of the splash albedo electrons of cosmic rays moving upwords in the upper atmosphere, are calculated in the energy interval 0.1-10 000 MeV. These are compared with the experimental measurements of the splash albedo electrons in the energy interval 0.1-1100 MeV (The flux and energy spectra of re-entrant albedo electrons in the energy interval 0.1-10 MeV have yet to be measured.), observed in a high altitude balloon experiment carried over Palestine, Texas. These splash albedo electrons return back due to the earth’s dipole field and appear as re-entrant albedo electrons moving downward in the upper atmosphere, approximately having the same flux and energy spectra. Therefore these calculations are also compared with the various observed fluxes and energy spectra of re-entrant albedo electrons. The agreement is good. These low energy electrons will be a substantial source of ionization in the lower D-region of the ionosphere
Heart Attack as a Biological Effect of Geomagnetic Fluctuations
No full text119-120The number of heart patients, admitted everyday to the Intensive Cardiac Care Units (ICCU) of three hospitals in Bombay, has been found to increase with increase in the daily KP sum values (measure of geomagnetic activity) for the year 1976. The correlation coefficient is found to be 0·72 ±0·15
Sex trafficking of girls and women : Evidence from Anantapur district, Andhra Pradesh
No full textA crucial gap in the trafficking literature from India is the dearth of primary data and micro studies that could be used for vulnerability mapping of the source areas and addressing the identified risk factors. The present paper is a small attempt to contribute to plugging the gap in the context of Andhra Pradesh, identified as a hot spot in the trafficking literature. This paper is based on case studies of 78 women who had been trafficked from their places of origin in Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh to metropolitan cities across India and who have since returned to their homes. The paper attempted to identify the individual and family circumstances that contribute to the causes of trafficking, to highlight in particular the gendered vulnerabilities that set these women up for trafficking, and to capture the process of the trafficking experience. The findings of the study are located in the dynamic interplay of the social structural context and specificities of the district that contribute to causes of trafficking and the individual circumstances and agency of the women. The case studies reported in this paper are a pointer to the compelling urgency of interventions that will go beyond the forced / voluntary divide in trafficking and sex work.Andhra Pradesh, India, trafficking
Long term time variations of the primary cosmic ray electron component
No full textBalloon sounding data of primary cosmic ray electron component evaluated for long term time variation
Ensuring Safety of Model-based Generated Code for Pervasive Health Monitoring Systems
No full textabstract: Wireless technologies for health monitoring systems have seen considerable interest in recent years owing to it's potential to achieve vision of pervasive healthcare, that is healthcare to anyone, anywhere and anytime. Development of wearable wireless medical devices which have the capability to sense, compute, and send physiological information to a mobile gateway, forming a Body Sensor Network (BSN) is considered as a step towards achieving the vision of pervasive health monitoring systems (PHMS). PHMS consisting of wearable body sensors encourages unsupervised long-term monitoring, reducing frequent visit to hospital and nursing cost. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that operation of PHMS must be reliable, safe and have longer lifetime. A model-based automatic code generation provides a state-of-art code generation of sensor and smart phone code from high-level specification of a PHMS. Code generator intakes meta-model of PHMS specification, uses codebase containing code templates and algorithms, and generates platform specific code. Health-Dev, a framework for model-based development of PHMS, uses code generation to implement PHMS in sensor and smart phone. As a part of this thesis, model-based automatic code generation was evaluated and experimentally validated. The generated code was found to be safe in terms of ensuring no race condition, array, or pointer related errors in the generated code and more optimized as compared to hand-written BSN benchmark code in terms of lesser unreachable code.Dissertation/ThesisM.S. Electrical Engineering 201
Inducible expression of RANKL in transgenic pigs under the control of the Tet-On system
No full textBecause of the tremendous need for transgenic large animal models for human diseases, the process of SCNT is a crucial step in transgenic pig production. In our study, we evaluated the particular steps during the production for their impact on the efficiency of cloning transgenic pigs. For this purpose, statistical analysis was performed for all SCNT data from the years 2006 until June 2010. The RANKL transgenic osteoporosis model was chosen for an example for the production steps needed to finally achieve a disease model, to elucidate pitfalls and chances of SCNT procedure. In total 151 in vivo SCNT experiments using different transgenic cell lines were carried out, resulting in 243 piglets and fetuses. Statistical analysis revealed that donor cells treated exclusively in our laboratory had a significant better birth rate than donor cell originated of other laboratories. Furthermore, there was a significant relation between number of transferred NT embryos and later pregnancy checks, birth rate and abortion rate. The more NT embryos were transferred, the more pregnancies finished to terms. It was also elucidated that in our studies a different in vitro culture time of 24 or 48 hours had no significant impact on the outcome like pregnancy or birth rate. Seasonal changes during the years had no significant influence on pregnancy rate, birth or abortion. But there was a strong tendency that autumn showed best performance of all seasons, and most pregnancies were lost after embryo transfers during the summer. All these findings will be integrated in future in vivo SCNT experiments and embryo transfers. For the production of a transgenic osteoporosis model 17 in vivo experiments took place so far, with an outcome of 4 fetuses and 25 piglets. For gaining a controllable expression of RANKL, it was necessary to establish double transgenic pigs to sidestep harmful effects of RANKL overexpression during the fetal development. First attempts to integrate both genes, tetracycline controlled transactivator (Tet-On) and RANKL, in a single step of cell transfection and SCNT, had no satisfying result. We obtained 4 fetuses and stillborn recloned piglets carrying both genes, but they showed only expression of Tet-On and it was impossible to induce RANKL overexpression. Therefore the strategy was changed in favor to two rounds of transfection and nuclear transfer. First Tet-On transgenic piglets were established and screened for integration and expression. Piglet 9894 showed the best expression and severed as donor for next cell transfection step. These Tet-On + TARE RANKL cells were in vitro tested for their inducibility. Thereafter SCNT and embryo transfer of the best candidate were performed and they resulted in 4 pregnancies which all finished to term. One double transgenic piglet could be raised and will be kept until adulthood to establish a line of Tet-On +TARE RANKL transgenic pigs. Importantly, this founder animal showed inducible RANKL overexpression. Other constructs might be based on the existing Tet-On cell line in the future, offering an inducible system for a broad variety of different transgenes. Thus a functional Tet-On system in the pig is reported for the first time.Da es einen enormen Bedarf an transgenen Großtieren als Modelltiere für humane Erkrankungen gibt, wie zum Beispiel für Osteoporose, wurde die Generierung von transgenen Schweinen mittels somatischen Kerntransfers genauer untersucht. Dabei war das Ziel herauszufinden, welchen Einfluss die einzelnen Arbeitsschritte auf die Produktionseffizienz haben. Aus diesem Grund wurde eine statistische Analyse aller in vivo Kerntransfers von Anfang 2006 bis zum Juni 2010 durchgeführt. An dem Beispiel eines RANKL transgenen Osteoporose-Models wurden alle nötigen Produktionsschritte dargestellt und die Schwierigkeiten und Vorteile des somatischen Kerntransfers beschrieben. Die insgesamt 151 in vivo Experimente, wobei unterschiedliche transgene Zelllinien genutzt wurden, resultierten in 243 Ferkeln und Feten. Statistische Analysen zeigten, dass Spenderzellen, die ausschließlich in unserem Labor behandelt wurden, nach Kerntransfer zu einer signifikant höheren Geburtsrate der trächtigen Empfänger führten als Spenderzellen aus anderen Laboren. Weiterhin ergab sich ein Zusammenhang zwischen der Anzahl übertragener Kerntransfer-Embryonen und der späteren Trächtigkeitsrate, Geburtsrate und der Abortrate. Je mehr Embryonen übertragen wurden, desto mehr Trächtigkeiten wurden erfolgreich beendet. Es wurde auch sichtbar, dass in unseren Versuchen eine unterschiedliche in vitro-Kulturdauer der Kerntransfer-Embryonen von 24 bzw. 48 Stunden keinen signifikanten Unterschied in der Trächtigkeits- oder Geburtsrate verursachte. Auch für die verschiedenen Jahreszeiten konnte kein signifikanter Einfluss auf Trächtigkeit oder Geburt nachgewiesen werden. Es zeigte sich aber die Tendenz, dass im Herbst die besten Bedingungen für einen positiven Verlauf der Trächtigkeit herrschen und nach Embryotransfers im Sommer die höchste Abortrate auftritt. All diese Untersuchungsergebnisse werden zukünftig in unseren Arbeitsalltag integriert und der Kerntransfer und Embryotransferablauf optimiert. Zur Erstellung eines transgenen Osteoporosemodells wurden 17 Embryotransfers durchgeführt, die in 4 gewonnenen Feten und 25 geborenen Ferkeln resultierten. Um eine regulierbare RANKL Expression zu erhalten war es notwendig, doppelt transgene Schweine zu erstellen, so dass negative Nebeneffekte der RANKL Überexpression während der Fetalentwicklung vermieden wurden. Die ersten Versuche, Tetrazyklin Transaktivator (Tet-On) und RANKL in einem einzigen Schritt der Zelltransfektion und des in vivo Kerntransfers zu integrieren, führte zu wenig befriedigenden Ergebnissen. Es wurden 4 doppelt transgene Feten und 2 totgeborene Ferkel gewonnen, doch es konnte nur die Expression von Tet-On nachgewiesen werden, da die RANKL Expression nicht induzierbar war. Deswegen wurde die Strategie zu Gunsten von zwei Einzelschritten der Zelltransfektion und in vivo Kerntransfers gewechselt. Zuerst wurden Tet-On transgene Ferkel erstellt und auf Integration und Expression hin untersucht. Das Ferkel 8994 zeigte die beste Expression und seine Zellen wurden für den nächsten Zelltransfektionsschritt verwendet. Die daraus resultierenden Tet-On + TARE RANKL-Zellen wurden in vitro auf ihre Induzierbarkeit getestet. Als Spenderzellen für weitere in vivo Kerntransfers diente der beste Kandidat aus diesen Tests. Alle 4 Embryotransfers resultierten in Trächtigkeiten, die alle auch ausgetragen wurden. Ein doppelt transgenes Ferkel konnte aufgezogen werden, das zum einen nach Erreichen der Geschlechtsreife als Gründer einer transgenen Schweinelinie dienen wird, und im in vivo-Test eine induzierbare Expression von RANKL zeigte. Die regulierbaren Tet-On Zelllinien können auch für weitere zukünftige Konstrukte Verwendung finden, was die Möglichkeit mannigfaltiger genetischer Manipulation durch ein induzierbares System eröffnet. Hiermit wird das erste Mal von einem funktionalen und kontrollierbaren Tet-On System im Schwein berichtet
RURAL NON-AGRICULTURAL EMPLOYMENT IN INDIA - The Residual Sector Hypothesis Revisited
No full textThe literature on Rural Non-Agricultural Employment (RNAE) in India is replete with references as to its nature - whether or not it is residual. Vaidyanathan (1986) advanced the view that for the sector to be termed residual in nature two conditions should be satisfied : (1) the unemployment rate should be positively related to the RNAE and (2) the unemployment rate again should be negatively related to the wage ratio between the non-agricultural and agricultural sectors. These two propositions have become the corner stones of what has come to be termed as the Residual Sector Hypothesis (RSH). While the hypothesis as such seems to be theoretically sound, empirical evidence is rarely, if ever, consistent with the theoretical postulates. The present paper examines whether the propositions find validity in the NSS data at five different points of time with different statistical tools. The conclusion emerging from the statistical exercises is that the second of the two propositions is not always valid. It is argued that the absence of validity of the second proposition may have to do with the fact that the labour market does not function perfectly and therefore, even if the proposition is not valid one cannot dismiss the possibility that the sector is residual in nature. By way of conclusion it is noted that RNAS does perform the safety-net function admirably by absorbing those who could not find employment in agriculture in the service sector and, to a lesser extent, in the manufacturing sector. Insofar as this is true, the sector needs to be promoted. While rural non-agricultural activities of highproductive nature demand attention because they are a root out of poverty, the lowproductive ones count, for they make critical contribution to the livelihoods of the poor and prevent further destitution.rural, Employment, India, Residual Sector Hypothesis
