Human activity recognition (HAR) targets the methodologies to recognize the different actions from a sequence of observations. Vision-based activity recognition is among the most popular unobtrusive technique for activity recognition. Caring for the elderly who are living alone from a remote location is one of the biggest challenges of modern human society and is an area of active research. The usage of smart homes with an increasing number of cameras in our daily environment provides the platform to use that technology for activity recognition also. The omnidirectional cameras can be utilized for fall detection activity which minimizes the requirement of multiple cameras for fall detection in an indoor living scenario. Consequently, two vision-based solutions have been proposed: one using convolutional neural networks in 3D-mode and another using a hybrid approach by combining convolutional neural networks and long short-term memory networks using 360-degree videos for human fall detection. An omnidirectional video dataset has been generated by recording a set of activities performed by different people as no such 360-degree video dataset is available in the public domain for human activity recognition. Both, the models provide fall detection accuracy of more than 90% for omnidirectional videos and can be used for developing a fall detection system for indoor health care.

Chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) is one of the important commercial crops of India. It is a crop of tropical and subtropical regions and requires a warm humid climate. Chilli is a highly perishable vegetable with a short shelf-life and commonly encounter postharvest problems; to deal such problems, drying was done using hot air oven. Three different temperatures (50, 60 and 70 °C) use in hot air oven. Before drying chillis were slitted and treated with Butylated Hydroxy Anisole and Potassium Carbonate solution. Overall drying rate increased with temperature in hot air oven. Drying of dipsol green chilli took place in falling rate period. Initial moisture content of the green chilli was an average of 84.20±1 % w. b.

Drying is an essential process in the preservation of agricultural products.Various drying methods are employed to dry different agricultural products.Each method has its own advantages and limitations.Choosing the right drying system is thus important in the process of drying agricultural products.Care must be taken in choosing the drying system.Study comparing traditional drying and other drying methods for the reduction of the drying time and to a significant improvement of the product quality in terms of color texture and taste.Drying reduces the possibilities of the contamination by insects and micro-organisms so that product is prevented.An experimental study was performed to determine the drying characteristics of pineapple slices subjected to drying in cabinet tray dryer at 50 0 C, 60 0 C and 70 0 C with osmotic treatment indicated that T 0 (Control), T 1 (50 0 Brix) and T 2 (60 0 Brix).The entire drying process took place in the falling rate period.Drying curves were constructed using non-dimensional moisture ratio (MR) and time.Drying is the most widely used and a primary method for preservation.The result indicated that the cabinet tray dryer at 70 o C was found better drying and rehydration characteristics compare to other drying temperatures.

AbstractLow genetic diversity acts as a major bottleneck in garden pea breeding, and diverse parents are required to generate new genetic material. The diversity of parents utilized in hybridization programme was ascertained following simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers. Thirty-six homozygous F7 progenies were isolated from three intervarietal crosses through shuttle breeding programme over a period of 6 years (2009–2014). Two experiments were conducted for two consecutive years 2014/15 and 2015/16, for evaluating the agronomic performance of progenies along with four commercial control cultivars. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that genotype, growing year and their interaction had significant effects on most of the traits. Line ‘DPP-SP-6’ recorded significantly higher pod yield/plant in comparison to all other genotypes in 2014/15, 2015/16 and for pooled over years. In addition, ‘DPP-SP-22’, ‘DPP-SP-7’ and ‘DPP-SP-17’ also performed statistically at par with best-performing check ‘Pb-89’ during both the years. These superior lines, in general, showed better pod filling, green pod colour, high shelling, sweetness and resistance to powdery mildew disease. These superior progenies could act as an alternative to the popular check varieties after their exhaustive evaluation over environments.

Event Abstract Back to Event Neuronal network synchronization is mediated through astrocytic glutamate transporters Ravi Kumar1, 2*, Shun-Fen Tzeng3 and Chi-Keung Chan2, 4 1 Taiwan International Graduate Program in Interdisciplinary Neuroscience, National Cheng Kung University and Academia Sinica, Taiwan 2 Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica, Taiwan 3 Department of Life Sciences, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan 4 Graduate Institute of Biophysics, National Central University, Department of Physics, Taiwan Motivation Cognitive processes are related with orchestrated synchronization and propagation of firing activities among neuronal ensembles. The synchronized firings occur in the form of synchronized burst-firings, also referred as Network Spikes (NS), which is initiated by sequential activation of cell assemblies (1). NS are often observed in vivo as well as in vitro conditions. In vivo, NS have been seen in physiological; visual system development (2), memory formation, integration of sensory inputs, as well as in pathological brain conditions; epilepsy (3), tremors. The origin of such events is still limited to the plausible notion of balance between excitatory and inhibitory inputs among neurons in the circuit level. However, recent research on neuron-astrocyte tripartite interaction at the synaptic level (4) indicate that a neuro-glial networking could be the possible mechanism for the network level synchronization. Here, we show that pharmacological blocking of astrocytic GLT-1 glutamate transporters in cortical cultures disrupts network synchrony reversibly. Materials and methods Primary cortical cells were extracted from mice postnatal pups (P0) and plated (~2000 cells/mm2) on planar 4-well multi electrodes arrays (MEA60-4Well-PtB, Qwane Biosciences SA, Switzerland). The cultured cells were maintained in NeuroBasal-A medium (Invitrogen) inside humidified incubator with 5% CO2 at 37∘C. Half of their media were periodically replaced with fresh media in every 3 days. Electrical activities from the developed cortical networks were amplified and recorded using in vitro MEA-systems (MEA1060-Inv-BC, Multi Channel Systems MCS GmbH, Germany). For long duration recording, micro incubation chamber was constructed around the MEA system with temperature controller and CO2 supply. Pharmacological experiments were performed on mature samples (> 20 days in vitro) which showed stable array-wide synchronized burst events. All the drugs used in this study were purchased from Tocris Bioscience, United Kingdom. After the pharmacological experiments, few samples were fixed with 4% PFA for immunocytochemistry. Neuronal soma and dendrites were identified with microtubule- associated protein 2 (MAP2) primary antibody and astrocytes were labeled with Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) primary antibody. All cell nuclei were stained with DAPI. Fluorescence from the immuno-labeled cultures were imaged at 10X using inverted confocal microscope (Zeiss LSM 880 system, Germany). To increase reproducibility of drug experiments, the protocol from (5) was followed. Briefly, before every experiment a sample was washed with conditioned media three times. The sample was left to stabilize for the next 15 minutes followed by baseline activity recording for reference. Test drugs were then added and incubated with continuous recording. After recording the drug effects, the sample was washed again with the same conditioned media and its recovery was recorded similarly. Results Cortical cells growing on MEA develop into randomly organized neuroglial network. Like neurons, astrocytes develop their own astrocytic network blending with their neighboring neuronal network (Fig.1C). During their development, neuronal networks exhibit rich repertoire of bursting patterns (6). By the end of third week after plating, the networks become mature exhibiting more stable bursting patterns. At this stage, usually two types of firing activities are observed; spontaneous isolated spiking activities in few electrodes or array-wide synchronized bursts (Fig.1D). The onset of typical spontaneous NS is marked by rapid recruitment of several neurons firing simultaneously and the collective firing lasts between 0.3 - 3 sec long (Fig. 1E). NS then terminate with a quiescent phase within which no neuronal activity can be observed. After this quiescent phase the network returns back to its basal firing rate until the next NS occurs. A sample reference recording before addition of test drug shows typical spontaneous network responses (Fig. 2A). On adding low concentration (100 µM) of dihydrokainic acid (DHK), a selective astrocytic GLT-1 inhibitor, the isolated spiking activities in several electrodes become evident along with fall of NS frequency (Fig. 2B). The fall of NS frequency exhibited drug dosage dependency. At 200 µM of DHK, most of the networks displayed complete abolishment of NS along with appearance of tonic spiking activity in all the recording units (Fig. 2C). After washing, all the samples displayed NS recovery and reduction in isolated spiking similar to the reference (Fig. 2D). Discussion Astrocytic GLT-1 glutamate transporters are known for maintaining neurotransmitter homeostasis and avoiding excitotoxicity by clearing released glutamate at synapses (7). Pharmacological treatment of cortical networks with GLT-1 blocker drives network into random firing state abolishing network synchrony. Removing this blocker effect, reestablishes network synchrony. The putative mechanism behind this effect could be GLT-1 blockage results in increase of unbound synaptic glutamate concentration at synapses. This in turn may result in recurrent and random sensitization of the post-synaptic neurons manifesting as increased isolated firing activities which eventually becomes tonic. In principle, this random activation of neurons should essentially enhance network synchrony. However, the observed results lead us to a hypothesis that astrocytic glutamate transporters not only maintain neurotransmitter homeostasis at synapses, they may also be messengers for network synchrony. As indicated, astrocytic uptake of glutamate can also shape kinetics of glutamatergic synaptic activity (8) via release of gliotransmitters, blocking the glutamate uptake may hinder release of astrocyte-neuron signaling molecules that result in network synchrony. Conclusion Astrocyte glutamate transporters are important for the maintenance of synchronized bursting events. These events in neuronal ensembles may be mediated through astrocytic GLT-1 glutamate transporters. Figure 1 Figure 2 References [1] D. Eytan, S. Marom, Dynamics and effective topology underlying synchronization in networks of cortical neurons, J Neurosci, 26 (2006) 8465-8476. [2] R.O.L. Wong, M. Meister, C.J. Shatz, Transient Period of Correlated Bursting Activity during Development of the Mammalian Retina, Neuron, 11 (1993) 923-938. [3] G.F. Tian, H. Azmi, T. Takano, Q.W. Xu, W.G. Peng, J. Lin, N. Oberheim, N.H. Lou, X.H. Wang, H.R. Zielke, J. Kang, M. Nedergaard, An astrocytic basis of epilepsy, Nature Medicine, 11 (2005) 973-981. [4] K.E. Poskanzer, R. Yuste, Astrocytic regulation of cortical UP states, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108 (2011) 18453-18458. [5] S.I. Morefield, E.W. Keefer, K.D. Chapman, G.W. Gross, Drug evaluations using neuronal networks cultured on microelectrode arrays, Biosens Bioelectron, 15 (2000) 383-396. [6] D.A. Wagenaar, J. Pine, S.M. Potter, An extremely rich repertoire of bursting patterns during the development of cortical cultures, BMC Neuroscience, 7 (2006) 11-11. [7] S.K. Suchak, N.V. Baloyianni, M.S. Perkinton, R.J. Williams, B.S. Meldrum, M. Rattray, The ‘glial’ glutamate transporter, EAAT2 (Glt-1) accounts for high affinity glutamate uptake into adult rodent nerve endings, Journal of Neurochemistry, 84 (2003) 522-532. [8] C.M. Anderson, R.A. Swanson, Astrocyte glutamate transport: Review of properties, regulation, and physiological functions, Glia, 32 (2000) 1-14. Keywords: network spike, cortical network, astrocyte, Multi-electrode arrays, glutamate recycle Conference: MEA Meeting 2018 | 11th International Meeting on Substrate Integrated Microelectrode Arrays, Reutlingen, Germany, 4 Jul - 6 Jul, 2018. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Neural Networks Citation: Kumar R, Tzeng S and Chan C (2019). Neuronal network synchronization is mediated through astrocytic glutamate transporters . Conference Abstract: MEA Meeting 2018 | 11th International Meeting on Substrate Integrated Microelectrode Arrays. doi: 10.3389/conf.fncel.2018.38.00070 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 18 Mar 2018; Published Online: 17 Jan 2019. * Correspondence: Mr. Ravi Kumar, Taiwan International Graduate Program in Interdisciplinary Neuroscience, National Cheng Kung University and Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, ravikumar@gate.sinica.edu.tw Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Ravi Kumar Shun-Fen Tzeng Chi-Keung Chan Google Ravi Kumar Shun-Fen Tzeng Chi-Keung Chan Google Scholar Ravi Kumar Shun-Fen Tzeng Chi-Keung Chan PubMed Ravi Kumar Shun-Fen Tzeng Chi-Keung Chan Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.

The study presents the spatial and temporal variation of fine ambient aerosols (PM2.5) over National Capital Region (NCR), India, during January to June 2016. The investigation includes three sampling sites, one in Delhi and two in the adjoining states of Delhi (Uttar Pradesh and Haryana), across NCR, India. The average PM2.5 concentration was highest for Delhi (128.5 ± 51.5 μg m−3) and lowest for Mahendragarh, Haryana (74.5 ± 28.7 μg m−3), during the study period. Seasonal variation was similar for all the sites with highest concentration during winter and lowest in summer. PM2.5 samples were analysed for organic compounds using gas chromatograph (GC). The concentration of three organic compound classes, n-alkanes (C11–C35), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and phthalates, present in PM2.5 samples has been reported. Diagnostic ratios for n-alkanes demonstrated that biogenic emissions were dominant over Mahendragarh while major contributions were observed from petrogenic emissions over Delhi and Modinagar, Uttar Pradesh. Molecular diagnostic ratios were calculated to distinguish between different sources of PAHs, which revealed that the fossil fuel combustion (diesel and gasoline emissions), traffic emissions, and biomass burning are the major source contributors. Health risk associated with human exposure of phthalates and PAHs was also assessed as daily intake (DI, ng kg−1 day−1) and lung cancer risk, respectively. Backward trajectory analysis explained the local, regional, and long-range transport routes of PM2.5 for all sites. Principal component analysis (PCA) results summarized that the vehicular emissions, biomass burning, and plastic burning were the major sources of the PAHs and phthalates over the sampling sites.

Este artículo apunta a revisitar las presunciones a priori del paradigma estadocéntrico, alternativamente resignificadas como realpolitik, realismo o el sistema de equilibrio de poder. Aunque este abordaje provee las normas del comportamiento de los estados desde la creación del sistema estatal moderno, está sujeto a un criticismo severo por parte de sus teóricos clásicos, como E. H. Carr, Hans J. Morgenthau, entre otros, así como por parte de las relaciones internacionales críticas que se desarrollan en el norte global, que ven el dilema de seguridad como amenaza a la paz internacional. No obstante, las críticas de estos críticos del Norte son incapaces de proveer una alternativa a las políticas de poder. En la atmósfera del debate pospositivista, emergieron ambas teorías, a saber, el realismo subalterno, y el periférico, como voces de disenso radicado en experiencias del Sur global que proveen una revisión para basar las presunciones del abordaje realista. Los teóricos Mohammed Ayoob y Carlos Escudé extendieron las presunciones paradigmáticas de los estudios subalternos del Sudeste Asiático y de la escuela latinoamericana del ECLA y Rául Prebisch -de la dependencia- en el dominio de las relaciones internacionales. Este artículo provee un resumen del dilema de la seguridad experimentado por los Estados del Sur global, basado en la valoración crítica de las dos teorías, al mismo tiempo que contextualiza el realismo periférico-subalterno dentro de los principales abordajes realistas sobre el realismo estructural defensivo u ofensivo.

Objective: In the present study, synthesized alumina (Al2O3) nanoparticles were characterized and their antibacterial activity against gram positive and gram negative organisms were studied.Methods: The synthesis was carried out by coprecipitation method using aluminium sulfate and NaOH as precursors. The synthesized aluminium oxide nanoparticles were characterized by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) with Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis (EDX) techniques. Besides, this study determines the antibacterial activity and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of Al2O3 nanoparticles against gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus mutans) and gram-negative (E. coli and Proteus vulgaris) bacteria. Results: The average crystallite size of Al2O3 nanoparticles was found to be 35 nm by X-ray diffraction. FT-IR spectrum exhibited the peaks at 615 and 636 were assigned to the aluminium oxide stretching. The EDX measurements indicated the presence of Al along with O peaks. It indicates the purity of the sample. The antimicrobial assay revealed that E. coli showed a maximum zone of inhibition (39 mm) at 50 mg/ml concentration of Al2O3 nanoparticles.Conclusion: In conclusion, aluminium oxide is a good antibacterial agent against both gram positive and gram-negative organisms.

Experiments were conducted for development, quality evaluation and storage stability of multigrain flour biscuits made of different flours i.e, wheat flour, maize flour, barley flour, pearl millet flour and gram flour. The biscuits were formulated by taking different treatments and at different proportion of multigrain flours in the ratio of (C) 100:0:0:0:0, (S) 90:2.5:2.5:2.5:2.5, (S,) 80:5.0:5.0:5.0:5.0 and (Sƒ) 70:7.5:7.5:7.5:7.5, respectively. Biscuits were packaged in Low density polyethylene after preparation. All the samples were stored at room temperature for 30 and 60 days for quality evaluation. Sensory evaluation results were determined on the basis of the hedonic table. Results of the study revealed that the control sample were awarded overall score of 7.00 (like slightly) and biscuits prepared in the various flour ratio (S) 2.5%, (S‚) 5% and (Sƒ) 7.5% were rated as 7.45 (like moderately), 7.80 (like very much) and 8.00 (like very much) respectively just after baking.

Snake bites are important medical emergencies in clinical practice. Viper bite envenomation classically comprise of local cellulitis, coagulopathy and nephrotoxicity. Cardiovascular manifestations are rarely reported which usually include non-specific ECG changes.We report 12 year old boy who developed shock and myocarditis following viper envenomation along with coagulopathy and kidney injury.

Chilli is a highly perishable vegetable with a short shelf-life and commonly encountered postharvest problems; to deal such problems, drying was done using tray dryer and hot air oven. Three different temperatures (50, 60 & 70 °C) use in both dryers. Overall drying rate increased with temperature in both dyers. Drying of green chilli took place in falling rate period. Initial moisture content of the green chilli was an average of 84.20±1 % w.b.

Various fall-detection solutions have been previously proposed to create a reliable surveillance system for elderly people with high requirements on accuracy, sensitivity and specificity. In this paper, an enhanced fall detection system is proposed for elderly person monitoring that is based on smart sensors worn on the body and operating through consumer home networks. With treble thresholds, accidental falls can be detected in the home healthcare environment. By utilizing information gathered from an accelerometer, cardiotachometer and smart sensors, the impacts of falls can be logged and distinguished from normal daily activities. The proposed system have to be analyzed in a prototype system as detailed in this paper. From a test group of 30 healthy participants, it was found that the proposed fall detection system can achieve a high detection accuracy of 97.5%, while the sensitivity and specificity are 96.8% and 98.1% respectively. Therefore, this system can reliably be developed and deployed into a consumer product for use as an elderly person monitoring device with high accuracy and a low false positive rate. Index Terms — Wireless Sensor Networks, Fall Detection System, Elderly Monitoring, Heart Rate Fluctuation, Sensitivity.

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Ficus religiosa L. is one of the most relevant members of the family of Moraceae. It is the most sacred tree of South Asia, and it is used in traditional Ayurvedic and Unani medicine to cure respiratory disorders like cough, wheezing and asthma. Some studies were performed to investigate the anti-asthmatic potential of F. religiosa bark, leaves and fruit extracts but none of them tested their antiviral activity against viruses responsible for the exacerbation of wheezing and asthma.Aim of the study: The present study was undertaken to investigate the antiviral activity of F. religiosa L. extracts against respiratory viruses such as human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and human rhinovirus (HRV).Materials and methods: The antiviral activity of F. religiosa L. was tested in vitro by plaque reduction and virus yield assays and the major mechanism of action was investigated by virus inactivation and time-of-addition assays.Results: F. religiosa L methanol bark extract was the most active against HRV with an EC50 of 5.52 mu g/mL. This extract likely inhibited late steps of replicative cycle. Water bark extract was the most active against RSV with an EC50 between 2.23 and 4.37 mu g/mL. Partial virus inactivation and interference with virus attachment were both found to contribute to the anti-RSV activity. Replication of both viruses was inhibited in viral yield reduction assays.Conclusions: The results of the present study demonstrate that F. religiosa L is endowed with antiviral activity against RSV and HRV in vitro. Further work remains to be done to identify the active components and to assess the therapeutic potential in vivo. (c) 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

A superconducting quadrupole doublet magnet with cold superferric iron cover for the Hybrid Recoil Mass Analyzer (HYRA) beam line has been commissioned. The total cold mass of the helium vessel with iron yoke and pole is 2 ton. A set of two Sumitomo cryocoolers take care of various heat loads to the cryostat. The first successful cool down of the cryostat has been completed recently, magnets have been powered and magnetic field profiling has been done inside theroom temperature beam tube. This paper will highlight the cryostat details along with the cool down and operational test results obtained from the first cool down.

Now a day’s we see that vehicles stolen are on the rise and police has registered so many cases of vehicle stolen every day. Ironically, most of the stolen vehicles are not recovered. Hence it has become a serious issue over years. Besides this world has facing a very serious problem due to accidents of vehicles on roads, it causes loss of life and property. Therefore I have come up with a concept of developing a wireless technology based vehicle theft information system to provide security to vehicles from theft. In this concept if someone tries to steal the vehicle then a SMS is send to the owner mobile through GSM technology that your vehicle has been stolen. An added advantage of this system is that the owner can disable the ignition of the vehicle and prevent theft of the vehicle. Also it protects the vehicle from accidents due to glare of eyes of driver by high beam headlights on roads. Since this system contain automatic head light system which can automatically judge when the headlight beam needs to be lowered when some vehicle approaching in front of our vehicle and prevent accidents.

The presence of Dibenzyl disulphide (DBDS) in transformer oil is one of the causes for copper corrosion and consequent copper sulphide formation. This Study has been carried out on paper oil insulation after thermal ageing in transformer oil containing different concentrations of DBDS. The studies have been repeated on laboratory model transformer after thermal ageing. Effect of copper corrosion is studied in terms of subtle changes in Frequency Domain Spectroscopy (FDS), Polarization Depolarization Current (PDC) and variations in real and imaginary permittivity with frequency.

Fracture shaft of humerus is a relatively common long bone fracture accounting for 10 percent of long bone fractures. But unlike other long bone fractures, the uniqueness of this fracture is that most fractures are managed conservatively rather than operatively. Excellent functional outcomes and high rates of bony union have been reported by numerous studies for conservatively managed fractures. Nevertheless, in the subset of fractures that require open reduction and internal fixation, plating is the gold standard among surgeries with 92 to 96 percent success rate. Implant backing out after plating is rare and causes can be mechanical, biological, poor surgical technique, excessive/insufficient construct stiffness etc. But backing out of a plate usually appears after repeated cycles of mechanical loading and is a gradual process. Presented here is a rare case in which the plate backed out within 3 days after surgery and a discussion regarding the causes of this drastic complication.