Energy management is a pivotal aspect of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) due to the restricted energy resources available for sensor nodes. Clustering protocols have proven to be effective for energy conservation. LEACH and C-LEACH are two of the many proven protocols that have been studied. However, these methods have certain limitations that need to be addressed. To overcome these limitations, a new approach called Distributed LEACH (D-LEACH) has been proposed, with the goal of improving energy efficiency and extending the lifespan of the network. D-LEACH provides several advantages over LEACH and C-LEACH, including balanced energy consumption among nodes. In this regard, D-LEACH's performance was evaluated by tracking network lifetime using Euclidean and Manhattan distance measures. This study focuses on energy optimization in WSNs through clustering approaches, particularly D-LEACH. In conclusion, D-LEACH outperforms LEACH by approximately 16% in Euclidean and 20% in Manhattan and C-LEACH by 10% in Euclidean and 11% in Manhattan. This research contributes to the sustainability and effectiveness of WSNs in various applications.

In this letter, we report our observation of an extraordinarily rich phase diagram of a LaScO$_3$/SrTiO$_3$ heterostructure. Close to the superconducting transition temperature, the system hosts a superconducting critical point of the Infinite-randomness type characterized by an effective dynamical exponent $\nu z$ that diverges logarithmically. At lower temperatures, we find the emergence of a magnetic field-tuned metallic phase that co-exists with a quantum Griffiths phase (QGP). Our study reveals a previously unobserved phenomenon in 2D superconductors -- an unanticipated suppression of the QGP below a crossover temperature in this system. This concealment is accompanied by the destruction of the superconducting quantum critical point signaled by a power-law divergence (in temperature) of the effective dynamical exponent. These observations are entirely at odds with the predictions of the infinite-randomness scenario and challenge the very concept of a vanishing energy scale associated with a quantum critical point. We develop and discuss possible scenarios like smearing of the phase transition that could plausibly explain our observations. Our findings challenge the notion that QGP is the ultimate ground state in two-dimensional superconductors.

Biocompatible nanogels are highly in demand and have the potential to be used in various applications, e.g., for the encapsulation of sensitive biomacromolecules. In the present study, we have developed water-in-oil microemulsions of sodium alginate sol/hexane/Span 20 as a template for controlled synthesis of alginate nanogels, cross-linked with 3d transition metal cations (Mn2+, Fe3+, and Co2+). The results suggest that the stable template of 110 nm dimensions can be obtained by microemulsion technique using Span 20 at concentrations of 10mM and above, showing a zeta potential of −57.3 mV. A comparison of the effects of the cross-links on the morphology, surface charge, protein (urease enzyme) encapsulation properties, and stability of the resulting nanogels were studied. Alginate nanogels, cross-linked with Mn2+, Fe3+, or Co2+ did not show any gradation in the hydrodynamic diameter. The shape of alginate nanogels, cross-linked with Mn2+ or Co2+, were spherical; whereas, nanogels cross-linked with Fe3+ (Fe–alginate) were non-spherical and rice-shaped. The zeta potential, enzyme loading efficiency, and enzyme activity of Fe–alginate was the highest among all the nanogels studied. It was found that the morphology of particles influenced the percent immobilization, loading capacity, and loading efficiency of encapsulated enzymes. These particles are promising candidates for biosensing and efficient drug delivery due to their relatively high loading capacity, biocompatibility, easy fabrication, and easy handling.

Objective: To determine sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of clinical examination and MRI in detecting ligamentous and meniscal knee injuries in relation to arthroscopy. Material and methods: It was a prospective, study conducted on 30 patients who presented to the department of Orthopaedics, with suspected ligamentous/ meniscal knee injuries, and underwent detailed clinical examination followed by MRI and arthroscopy of the knee. Patients with injuries less than 2 weeks, degenerative lesions of the knee and patients with contraindications to MRI were excluded. Results: Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and diagnostic accuracy of clinical examination for anterior cruciate ligament injuries was 91.6, 83.3, 95.6 71.4 and 90 percent respectively and of MRI was 95.8, 66.6, 92, 80 and 90 percent respectively. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and diagnostic accuracy of clinical examination for medial meniscal injuries was 61.5, 88.2, 80, 75 and 76.6 percent respectively and MRI was 92.3, 94.1, 92.3, 94.1 and 93.3 percent respectively. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and diagnostic accuracy of clinical examination for lateral meniscal injuries was 50, 95.8, 75, 88.5 and 86.6 percent respectively and of MRI was 83.3, 95.8, 83.3, 95.8 and 93.3 percent respectively. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and diagnostic accuracy of both clinical examination and MRI for posterior cruciate ligament injuries was 100 percent. Conclusion: In cases of suspected ACL injuries, carefully performed clinical examination can give equally reliable diagnosis as MRI. MRI is more sensitive than clinical examination in diagnosing meniscal injuries and reduces number of missed tears. Negative MRI scans in meniscal injuries is useful in ruling out an injury thus minimizing the number of unnecessary arthroscopies.

Many Internet of Things (IoT) scenarios require communication to and data acquisition from multiple devices with similar functionalities. For such scenarios, group communication in the form of multicasting and broadcasting has proven to be effective. Group Key Management (GKM) involves the handling, revocation, updation and distribution of cryptographic keys to members of various groups. Classical GKM schemes perform inefficiently in dynamic IoT environments, which are those wherein nodes frequently leave or join a network or migrate from one group to another over time. Recently, the `GroupIt' scheme has been proposed for GKM in dynamic IoT environments. However, this scheme has several limitations such as vulnerability to collusion attacks, the use of computationally expensive asymmetric encryption and threats to the backward secrecy of the system. In this paper, we present a highly efficient and secure GKM protocol for dynamic IoT settings, which maintains forward and backward secrecy at all times. Our proposed protocol uses only symmetric encryption, and is completely resistant to collusion attacks. Also, our protocol is highly flexible and can handle several new scenarios in which device or user dynamics may take place, e.g., allowing a device group to join or leave the network or creation or dissolution of a user group, which are not handled by schemes proposed in prior literature. We evaluate the performance of the proposed protocol via extensive mathematical analysis and numerical computations, and show that it outperforms the GroupIt scheme in terms of the communication and computation costs incurred by users and devices.

Interface roughness and interface diffusion are two very crucial parameters in determining the performances of thin film multilayer devices for applications in X-ray optics, neutron optics, giant magneto resistance devices etc. Preparation of these thin film multilayers with sharp interfaces is a technological challenge and researchers are using different methods to reduce the interface imperfections. It has been observed that by mixing nitrogen with argon in sputtering ambience during deposition of Ni layers, neutron reflectivity of Ni/Ti neutron supermirrors can be improved significantly.To elucidate the physical mechanism behind this observation, two sets of Ni/Ti periodic multilayers have been prepared using an indigenously built in-line magnetron sputtering system, in one set pure Ar has been used in sputtering ambience and in the other set a mixed ambience of Ar + N2 has been used for deposition of Ni layers. Both the sets of multilayers have been thoroughly characterized by specular and diffused Grazing Incidence X-ray Reflectivity, Nuclear Resonance Reaction, X-ray diffraction and Grazing Incidence Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure measurements using synchrotron radiation. All the above complementary measurements unambiguously establish that the reason for improved performance of the supermirror deposited with Ar + N2 ambience is the reduction of interface diffusion at Ti-on-Ni interfaces.

Introduction: Fracture of the neck of femur continues to be one of the major orthopaedic injuries. It occurs in elderly patients with osteoporosis or in young patients suffering high energy trauma. Aims and Objectives: To evaluate long term clinico-radiological outcome of osteosynthesis in patients with femoral neck fracture. Material and Methods: Fifty patients of femoral neck fracture who underwent osteosynthesis with lag screw fixation or with valgus intertrochanteric osteotomy were studied. The patients were divided into 2 groups; Group-I (n=16) comprised of patients in whom osteosynthesis with lag screws was done and Group-II (n=34) patients had undergone valgus intertrochanteric osteotomy. Results: In Group-I at an average follow up of 41.8 weeks no patient had non-union or AVN, all heads were viable, 6.25% had OA hip & intraarticular implant penetration, 93.7% had Harris hip score from good to excellent, d’Aubigne & Postel score from good to very good & SF-36 score below 10 whereas at an average follow up of 142.37 weeks 6.25% had non-union, 75% heads were viable, 25% had AVN & OA hip, 6.25% had intraarticular implant penetration, 75% had Harris hip score from good to excellent, d’Aubigne & Postel score from good to very good & SF-36 score below 10. In Group-II at an average follow up of 55.44 weeks 2.94% had non-union, 94.12% heads were viable, 5.88% had AVN, 8.82% had OA hip, no intraarticular implant penetration, 88.23% had Harris hip score from good to excellent, 91.17% had d’Aubigne & Postel score from good to very good & 79.41% had SF-36 score below 10 whereas at an average follow up of 159.3 weeks 2.94% had non-union, 82.36% heads were viable, 17.64% had AVN, 41.17% had OA hip, 2.94% had intraarticular implant penetration, 73.53% had Harris hip score from good to excellent, 72.22% had d’Aubigne & Postel score from good to very good & 70.58% had SF-36 score below 10. Conclusion: Rate of union was found to be better in patients managed with valgus intertrochanteric osteotomy than with lag screw osteosynthesis. The incidence of avascular necrosis seems to be higher in patients of group-I as compared to group-II patients. The overall clinical & radiological outcomes in both groups became worse on long term follow up.

Many of the modern signal/ image processing applications use Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) as one of the core functional elements to process the input signal/image from one domain to another. Hardware design of the DFT is complex and many researchers have proposed variety of methods to implement it. Computational complexity of ID, N-point DFT is O(N-2). Distributed arithmetic is one of the promising and efficient technique to implement any discrete orthogonal transform. This paper proposes an efficient approach to implement DFT using distributed arithmetic. The proposed technique exploits the repetitive pattern of coefficients and stores efficiently in the memory and reduces the storage by 75% compared to the existing group distributed arithmetic for 8-point DFT. The proposed approach uses the property of group distributed arithmetic efficiently in the architecture.

The development of the nuclear industry has raised multiple questions about its impact on the biotope and humans. Proteins are key biomolecules in cell machinery and essential in deciphering toxicological processes. Phosvitin was chosen as a relevant model for phosphorylated proteins because of its important role as an iron, calcium, and magnesium storage protein in egg yolk. A multitechnique spectroscopic investigation was performed to reveal the coordination geometry of two oxocations of the actinide family (actinyl UVI , NpV ) in speciation with phosvitin. IR spectroscopy revealed phosphoryl groups as the main functional groups interacting with UVI . This was confirmed through laser luminescence spectroscopy (U) and UV/Vis absorption spectroscopy (Np). For UVI , X-ray absorption spectroscopy at the LIII edge revealed a small contribution of bidentate binding present, along with predominantly monodentate binding of phosphoryl groups; for NpV , uniquely bidentate binding was revealed. As a perspective to this work, X-ray absorption spectroscopy speciation of UVI and NpV in the extracted yolk of living eggs of the dogfish Scyliorhinus canicula was determined; this corroborated the binding of phosphorous together with a reduction of the actinyl moiety. Such data are essential to pinpoint the mechanisms of heavy metals (actinyls) accumulation and toxicity in oviparous organisms, and therefore, contribute to a shift from descriptive approaches to predictive toxicology.

A set of Co2FeAl (CFA) Heusler alloy thin films have been prepared at different substrate temperatures using the Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) technique and the effect of growth temperature on the structural and magnetic properties of the films have been studied in detail. Preliminary structural characterization of the films have been carried out by Grazing Incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD) measurements, while the thickness and roughness of the films have been estimated by Grazing incidence X-ray reflectivity (GIXR) measurements. The element specific X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) technique comprising of both Extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) and X-ray near edge structure (XANES) measurements have been carried out on the samples both at Fe and Co K edges and the results have been analysed to quantitatively determine the various bond lengths around both Fe and Co sites which ultimately gives information regarding relative strength of d-d hybridization over p-d hybridization in the samples. Finally the magnetic behavior of the samples have been measured thoroughly as a function of temperature and magnetic field and variation of the magnetization of the samples on the crystallite size and substrate temperature has been studied. The nature of the spin wave in the thermal demagnetization of spontaneous magnetization has also been explored. The structural information obtained from EXAFS measurements have been correlated with the magnetic properties of the samples.

Sugarcane planting is a very labour intensive job and involves considerable human drudgery.Planting creates the foundation for a crop and plays a crucial role in its growth and yield.Study was undertaken to evaluate the performance of two different models of sugarcane planters.One model was Khalsa PE-630 type cuter planter manufactured M/S Punjab engineers, Meerut and the other was ITI make cutter planter designed by Indian Institute of Sugarcane Research, and manufactured by Indian Telephone Industries, Rai Bareli.In addition to this two different experimental test set ups based on different principals were developed for measuring cutting forces for sugarcane cutting.It was observed that field capacity of Khallsa make planter was 0.20 ha/ hr with the field efficiency of 87.50% at effective working width of 1.34 m and a forward speed of 2.54 km / hr at 2 nd low gear.A set length of 32.96 cm with average.

Sugarcane is a most important cash crop of India.It involves less risk and farmers are assured upto some extent about return even in adverse condition.In agriculture sector, sugarcane shared 7% of the total value of agriculture output and occupied 2.6% of India's gross cropped area during 2006-07.Sugarcane provides raw material for the second largest agro-based industry after textile.About 527 working sugar factories were located in the country during 2010-11 with total crushing capacity of about 242 lakh tonnes.The sugar industry is an instrumental in generating the sizable employment in the rural sector directly and through its ancillary units.It is estimated that about 50 million farmers and their dependents are engaged in the cultivation of sugarcane and about 0.5 million skilled and unskilled workers are engaged in sugar factories and its allied industries.Wheat-sugarcane-raton cropping system is followed in whole of western Uttar Pradesh and lower parts of Uttrakhand where sugarcane is the main cash crop and wheat is the major cereal.The system accounts for more than 60% of the total cultivated area in the region.However, lower average yield of planted cane (50 tonnes/ha) recorded in this.The reduction in cane yield owing to delayed planting cannot be compensated by additional inputs viz., frequent irrigations, extra fertilizers and inter culture operations.Planting of sugarcane involves a number of operations viz., cutting of canes into pieces called setts, opening of furrows, placement of fertilizer in the opened furrows, laying setts and covering these with a blanket of soil.The whole process of sugarcane planting is very labour and time intensive.In order to achieve uniform crop stand, correct seed rate, appropriate depth of setts placements and uniformity of setts with required overlapping are important.These, however can better be achieved by using tractor-drawn sugarcane cutter planter apart from economising labour and energy.Also there is a need to evolve proper tillage techniques for early planting of sugarcane in wheat-sugarcane crop sequence.In this paper study conducted on the performance of the effect of pre and post irrigation on different tillage treatments on soil's physical properties on the different types of sugarcane cutter planters.

The agricultural sector is at the heart of rural India and continues to be a major contributor to the local and national economy.Those at the centre of this industry are farm families who represent 97% of the farming population.Engineering and technology have had both positive and negative consequences on humankind and the environment.Agriculture is not a safe occupation.Agricultural workers face a large number of health problems in the form of physical factors like extreme weather conditions, sunrays, etc.; chemical, toxicological hazards in the form of pesticides/fertilizers, etc.Many of which arise from their work.Clinically well recognized group of occupationally acquired health problems may be respiratory, dermatological, traumatic, poisoning and neoplastic in nature.Prevalence of some specific zoonotic diseases and behavioural health problems are also found to be more among them.Farming is as much a job as it is a way of life, an identity and a social representation for many.This identity has, however, in recent years been constantly threatened by yearly rises in farm accidents and fluctuations in farm deaths which climaxed in 2015 with more than 3000 people losing their lives and thousands of farmers injured during farming daily on Indian farms.Not only did 3000 families lose loved ones, whole communities and regions have been adversely affected by these deaths which have far ranging negative influence on the sustainability of rural areas and use of technology.Unfortunately one does not have to go far from the farm gate to find a farmer who has been severely disabled or injured as a result of a farm accident and often at times less further to the place of a farm death as farm accidents are so frequently fatal.In this paper we are going to preliminary research on the study of occupational safety issues and hazards for the agricultural workers in farming sector in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India and proposed a research model to study on the effect of innovation in farm technology on the health of the farm workers, various hazardous sector of agriculture and their effect on the farm workers.

Prolactin (PRL) gene is an important lactogenic candidate gene, plays a crucial role in mammary gland development and in the initiation, maintenance of lactation and expression of milk protein genes. In the present study, characterization of PRL 5′ upstream region and investigation of status of intron 1 polymorphism was carried out in Indian cattle breeds. An 857 bp fragment of 5′ upstream region of PRL gene consisting of part of promoter, exon1 and partial intron 1 was amplified by PCR and subsequently sequenced in Indian breed of cattle. Nucleotide sequences of PRL 5′ upstream region exhibited a high degree (>98%) identity among Indian as well as exotic cattle breeds. HaeIII polymorphism screening in PRL intron 1 of Indian cattle breeds including Sahiwal (n = 154) and Hariana (n = 50) revealed monomorphic pattern, only, AA genotype (deletion homozygote) was found and confirmed by sequencing. The obtained sequences of PRL after aligning was revealed absence of HaeIII recognition site GGCC due to deletion of G and consequently, we could not perform the association study of this deletion with milk production traits.

One of the major environmental issues of concern in an urban ecosystem is the sustainability of ground water for future generations. To ensure this, one needs to understand the impacts of present and future utilization practices, and to adopt the most appropriate one. This paper proposes to explore the needs and methodology of ground water management, pertaining to qualitative, quantitative, environmental, nutritional, and economic aspects. While ground water storage is vast, its rate of replenishment is finite and mainly limited to shallower aquifers, whose quality can be seriously and even irreversibly degraded. Rapid urbanization, leading to high rates of deforestation and industrialization has resulted into degradation of these aquifers. The ground water recharge system has got disrupted. Further, lowering of the water table has led to ecological and economical imbalances. Food security and health of individuals have been subjected to potential threats. Rain water harvesting and afforestation are among the traditional water management strategies. Individual pumpings may be replaced by social pumping to avoid over-exploitation of ground water. Common drainage system treading the sewage water to recycling plants may be brought up. Use of chemicals and synthetic additives may be minimized. Use of concrete in pavements should be replaced with interlocking fly-ash pavers to support water recharge system. Building bye-laws should be followed so that enough area is open for water recharge. Remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) may be used to monitor the quality and quantity of ground water. There is an urgent need for community monitoring and bringing up water management solutions from efforts toward increasing water availability, and not from demand management. Sustainable ground water development can bring major benefits such as food security, safe drinking water, high value agricultural produce, and inland fisheries, and must be pursued through technical and management approaches.

ATP-binding cassette superfamily G member 2 transporter (ABCG2) is located in membrane of mammary glands alveolar epithelial cells in cows that actively extrudes xenotoxins and drugs into milk from blood. Polymorphism of the ABCG2 gene have been found to be associated with milk yield and composition in cattle. In the present investigation, Sahiwal and Hariana cattle were studied for polymorphism of ABCG2 gene by PstI/PCR-RFLP assay. The RE digestion of the 292 bp PCR product showed the presence of AA genotype with a genotypic frequency of 1.0. AC and CC genotype were not observed in screened samples. The allelic frequency of ABCG2-A allele was calculated as 1.0 and that of ABCG2-C allele was zero. The present study revealed monomorphic nature of ABCG2 gene in the screened samples of Sahiwal and Hariana cattle breed.

In the present study, identification of PIT-1 gene polymorphism and its association with milk production traits was undertaken in 77 Sahiwal cattle maintained at NDRI, Karnal using PCR-RFLP. Amplification of DNA sample revealed 600 bp product and restriction digestion with HinfI showed three types of genotypes, namely, AA (600bp), AB (600, 343 and 257 bp) and BB (343 and 257 bp) genotypes. The frequency of BB genotypes was highest (64.98%) in all screened samples, followed by AB genotype (31.16%) and AA genotype (3.89%). The allelic frequency of PIT-1 A and B alleles were 19.48% and 80.51%, respectively. Association studies of PIT-1 gene with milk production traits showed that age at first calving, gestation period and lactation period had non-significant variation among all the 3 genotypes up to fourth lactation. However, a significant difference was found among the 3 genotypes for total milk yield and milk yield at 300 days with AA genotype showing higher value than AB and BB genotypes in the first lactation. From present investigation, the HinfI /PCR-RFLP revealed polymorphic pattern of PIT-1 gene in Sahiwal cattle and association studies showed significant effect of A allele on milk production.

sensor network is a network of many smart devices, called nodes, which are spatially distributed in order to perform an application-oriented global task. The field of wireless sensing holds the potential to greatly change the way we live. Pushing these devices to smaller, cheaper, and more functional implementations greatly increases the scope of their application. WSNs will proliferate in a vast range of potential applications including academic, industrial, agricultural, domestic, military. In typical sensor network applications, the sensors are left unattended for a long period of time once they have been deployed. Keep in mind that improving QoS communication and energy efficiency is a system-wide task over WSNs. Many wireless sensor network MAC and routing protocols have been proposed and implemented yet. Efficient data dissemination is big challenges for WSNs. There are plenty of MAC and routing protocols have been specifically designed for WSNs where energy awareness is an essential design issue. There are some sensor MAC and routing protocols that rectifies many problems of efficient data dissemination; reducing the energy consumption of WSNs nodes, robust and reliable communication thus increasing the overall network lifetime. Managing uncertainty in such a resource-limited system in order to attain high-quality results will be an important issue. In this paper, we tries to investigate the problem of achieving high quality probabilistic results over uncertain data in sensor networks.