AgriOnBlock: Secured Data Harvesting for Agriculture Sector using Blockchain Technology

Hiren Patel,Bela Shrimali 한국통신학회 2023 ICT Express Vol.9 No.2

The existing agriculture system is having several components such as supply chain management, crop insurance, the shipment of goods, and it involves numerous untrusted stakeholders such as users (farmers, retailers, customers, wholesalers, etc.), agencies (bank, insurance company) and regulators (assessor, surveyors). Due to the active engrossment of the middle man (mostly human beings or agencies operated by human beings) some key issues are raised such as transparency, timeliness, traceability, security, and immutability resulting in financial loss, crop contamination, and spoilage. Secure distributed public ledger technology and decentralized computing paradigm make Blockchain an appropriate alternative to resolve these issues and to achieve profitability & trust for all its stakeholders. In this research, we intend to propose a Blockchain-based mechanism viz. AgriOnBlock which would address the issues mentioned in the agriculture sector by connecting various stakeholders through the usage of IoT devices and smart contracts in Ethereum. We further discuss implications, constraints (methodological, awareness related, regulatory, etc.), and potential for actual adoption of AgriOnBlock.

Psychiatric Comorbidities in Adults with DiGeorge Syndrome

Hiren Patel,Ramu Vadukapuram,Zeeshan Mansuri,Chintan Trivedi,Kanwarjeet Singh Brar,Uzma Beg,Jigar Patel,Aalamgeer Ibrahim,Muhammad Khalid Zafar 대한정신약물학회 2022 CLINICAL PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY AND NEUROSCIENCE Vol.20 No.3

Objective: DiGeorge Syndrome (DGS) is a common multisystem disorder associated with deletions on chromosome 22q11.2. Our objective is to evaluate the psychiatric comorbidities and demographics of patients suffering from DGS in a nationally representative dataset on inpatient hospitalizations. Methods: The Nationwide Inpatient Sample for the year 2005−2017 was used for this study. Data on patients with DiGeorge syndrome were collected by using the International Classification of Diseases code. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed. Results: In our study, the average age was 30.4 years (n = 6,563), with 59.9% male, and 61.8% of patients were white. There was a high prevalence of mood disorders (24.7%) and anxiety disorders (16.4%), followed by schizophrenia and other psychotic condition (14.0%). In patients with mood disorders, 8% had Major Depressive Disorder, and 7% had bipolar depression. Overall composite of psychiatric comorbidities was present in 2,959 (45.1%) of patients. The mean length of stay was 6.58 days, and 77% of patients had routine discharge to home. In the adjusted analysis, the average length of stay was 8.6 days vs. 6.7 days (p < 0.001) in patients with and without psychiatry comorbidities. In comparison to routine discharge, patients with psychiatry comorbidities were more likely to be discharged to other healthcare facilities (odds ratio [OR]: 1.28, p < 0.001) and discharged against medical advice (OR: 3.45, p < 0.001). Conclusion: Patients with DGS have worse outcomes with a higher rate of discharge to other healthcare facilities and a higher rate of being discharged against medical advice. Further large scale randomize studies are indicated.

Implantable Thin-film Porous Microelectrode Array (P-MEA) for Electrical Stimulation of Engineered Cardiac Tissues

Hiren V. Trada,Venkat Vendra,Joseph P. Tinney,Fangping Yuan,Douglas J. Jackson,Kevin M. Walsh,Bradley B. Keller 한국바이오칩학회 2015 BioChip Journal Vol.9 No.2

We have designed, fabricated, and validated a novel porous, multielectrode array (P-MEA) device capable of low-voltage electrical stimulation of engineered cardiac tissues (ECTs). The primary advantage of this device is the ability to successfully function at a very low voltage thus minimizing any undesirable oxidative by-products in the culture environment or cell injury. Major features of our P-MEA include dimensions of 10 mm width and 82 mm length, four arms to allow movement of the individual pads within ECTs, each embedded electrode arm incorporates eight 100 μm×200 μm rectangular pores surrounding a 950 μm×340 μm exposed electrode, large pads on either side of the porous embedded device to function as current return electrodes, suture holes to aid in vivo suturing and stabilization, and an eight electrode connector pads. Average thickness of the Ni/Au electrodes was 20 nm of nickel and 400 nm of old, an average electrode film thickness of 0.4 μm, and a double polyimide layer thickness of 16 μm. Electrode resistance ranged from 69.45 Ω to 78.52 Ω. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy confirmed that the P-MEA operates in the 0.01 V to 1.0 V range with favorable charge transfer characteristics. Proof of principle experiments confirmed the ability of the P-MEA to effectively embed within ECT and electricallystimulate ECT during chronic, in vitro culture. Histology imaging shows that the embedding of the device has no adverse effects on the ECT and the cardiomyocytes are aligned within the tissue. Experiments are ongoing to evaluate the role of electrical stimulation on the maturation and function of ECTs. We have designed, fabricated, and validated a novel porous, multielectrode array (P-MEA) device capable of low-voltage electrical stimulation of engineered cardiac tissues (ECTs). The primary advantage of this device is the ability to successfully function at a very low voltage thus minimizing any undesirable oxidative by-products in the culture environment or cell injury. Major features of our P-MEA include dimensions of 10 mm width and 82 mm length, four arms to allow movement of the individual pads within ECTs, each embedded electrode arm incorporates eight 100 μm×200 μm rectangular pores surrounding a 950 μm×340 μm exposed electrode, large pads on either side of the porous embedded device to function as current return electrodes, suture holes to aid in vivo suturing and stabilization, and an eight electrode connector pads. Average thickness of the Ni/Au electrodes was 20 nm of nickel and 400 nm of gold, an average electrode film thickness of 0.4 μm, and a double polyimide layer thickness of 16 μm. Electrode resistance ranged from 69.45 Ω to 78.52 Ω. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy confirmed that the P-MEA operates in the 0.01 V to 1.0 V range with favorable charge transfer characteristics. Proof of principle experiments confirmed the ability of the P-MEA to effectively embed within ECT and electrically stimulate ECT during chronic, in vitro culture. Histology imaging shows that the embedding of the device has no adverse effects on the ECT and the cardiomyocytes are aligned within the tissue. Experiments are ongoing to evaluate the role of electrical stimulation on the maturation and function of ECTs.

Psychosocial Analysis of Cancer Survivors in Rural Australia: Focus on Demographics, Quality of Life and Financial Domains

Mandaliya, Hiren,Ansari, Zia,Evans, Tiffany,Oldmeadow, Christopher,George, Mathew Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2016 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.17 No.5

Background: Cancer treatments can have long-term physical, psychological, financial, sexual and cognitive effects that may influence the quality of life. These can vary from urban to rural areas, survival period and according to the type of cancer. We here aimed to describe demographics and psychosocial analysis of cancer survivors three to five years post-treatment in rural Australia and also assess relationships with financial stress and quality of life domains. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 65 participants visiting the outpatient oncology clinic were given a self-administered questionnaire. The inclusion criteria included three to five years post-treatment. Three domains were investigated using standardised and validated tools such as the Standard Quality of Life in Adult Cancer Survivors Scale (QLACS) and the Personal and Household Finances (HILDA) survey. Included were demographic parameters, quality of life, treatment information and well-being. Results: There was no evidence of associations between any demographic variable and either financial stress or cancer-specific quality of life domains. Financial stress was however significantly associated with the cancer-specific quality of life domains of appearance-related concerns, family related distress, and distress related to recurrence. Conclusions: This unique study effectively points to psychosocial aspects of cancer survivors in rural regions of Australia. Although the majority of demographic characteristics were not been found to be associated with financial stress, this latter itself is significantly associated with distress related to family and cancer recurrence. This finding may be of assistance in future studies and also considering plans to fulfil unmet needs.

Adaptive smith predictor controller for total intravenous anesthesia automation

Bhavina Patel,Hiren Patel,Pragna Vachhrajani,Divyang Shah,Alpesh Sarvaia 대한의용생체공학회 2019 Biomedical Engineering Letters (BMEL) Vol.9 No.1

Anesthetic agent propofol needs to be administered at an appropriate rate to prevent hypotension and postoperative adversereactions. To comprehend more suitable anesthetic drug rate during surgery is a crucial aspect. The main objective of thisproposal is to design robust automated control system that work effi ciently in most of the patients with smooth BIS andminimum variations of propofol during surgery to avoid adverse post reactions and instability of anesthetic parameters. And also, to design advanced computer control system that improves the health of patient with short recovery time and lessclinical expenditures. Unlike existing research work, this system administrates propofol as a hypnotic drug to regulate BIS,with fast bolus infusion in induction phase and slow continuous infusion in maintenance phase of anesthesia. The novelty ofthe paper lies in possibility to simplify the drug sensitivity-based adaption with infusion delay approach to achieve closedloopcontrol of hypnosis during surgery. Proposed work uses a brain concentration as a feedback signal in place of the BISsignal. Regression model based estimated sensitivity parameters are used for adaption to avoid BIS signal based frequentadaption procedure and large off set error. Adaptive smith predictor with lead–lag fi lter approach is applied on 22 diff erentpatients’ model identifi ed by actual clinical data. The actual BIS and propofol infusion signals recorded during clinical trialswere used to estimate patient’s sensitivity parameters EC 50 and λ . Simulation results indicate that patient’s drug sensitivityparameters based adaptive strategy facilitates optimal controller performance in most of the patients. Results are obtainedwith proposed scheme having less settling time, BIS oscillations and small off set error leads to adequate depth of anesthesia. A comparison with manual control mode and previously reported system shows that proposed system achieves reductionin the total variations of the propofol dose. Proposed adaptive scheme provides better performance with less oscillation inspite of computation delay, surgical stimulations and patient variability. Proposed scheme also provides improvement inrobustness and may be suitable for clinical practices.

Symbolic indicators and user perception performance in Indian industries and Public places

Rauf Iqbal,Hiren Shah,Amitabha De,Suman Mukhopadhyay 대한인간공학회 2014 대한인간공학회 학술대회논문집 Vol.2014 No.5

During the past two decades, the body of empirical research on warning design and evaluation has grown steadily. Consequently, there are now basic principles and guidelines addressing warning design and how to enhance the usability of designs by considering factors internal to the user e.g., beliefs, perceptions of risk and stress. Industrial & public safety icons need to be more recognizable due to globalisation and liberalisation of economies and due necessity to communicate message effectively and effortlessly. Many a times industrial & public safety icons are not recognized, which result in accident, injury and loss. A study was carried out to investigate the recognition rate of symbolic indicators by select industrial workforce and to evaluate whether the icons encountered in “every-day activities” met the comprehension criteria of ISO Standards. The study was conducted on 37 males and 53 females belonging to various age groups and qualification level. The study included 60 icons used in industry (n=30) and public places (n=30). A paper-based icon recognition questionnaire was prepared and used to examine icon recognition and perception performance over different groups. Each icon was given a unique code for its identification which the participant needed to search out from the codes given below the corresponding icon and fill it in their response sheet. Results show that failure rate to recognize icons used in industrial operations are much higher than the icons used in public places. Recognition rate of 50% industrial icons have been found below the recognition rate as stated in ISO standard (>67%). Results of ANOVA for industrial icons show that recognition rate varies with educational background (p<0.008), educational back ground and gender (p<0.04), gender and age group (p<0.03). But is case of public icons there were no significant difference among gender, age and educational background in comprehension of icons. Safety icons are designed to increase customer and worker safety, problems occur if the icons are failed to click human recognition. An effective symbol must be easily distinguishable compared with others. The challenge during design is to foreseeing cognition ability of the users’ across age, sex and social background. In industrial situation, workers should be exposed to training - especially when they work in environments that expose them to hazards of various kinds.

Symbolic Indicators and User Perception Performance in Indian Industries and Public Places

( Rauf Iqbal ),( Hiren Shah ),( Amitabha De ),( Suman Mukhopadhyay ) 한국감성과학회 2014 춘계학술대회 Vol.2014 No.-

During the past two decades, the body of empirical research on warning design and evaluation has grown steadily. Consequently, there are now basic principles and guidelines addressing warning design and how to enhance the usability of designs by considering factors internal to the user e.g., beliefs, perceptions of risk and stress. Industrial & public safety icons need to be more recognizable due to globalisation and liberalisation of economies and due necessity to communicate message effectively and effortlessly. Many a times industrial & public safety icons are not recognized, which result in accident, injury and loss. A study was carried out to investigate the recognition rate of symbolic indicators by select industrial workforce and to evaluate whether the icons encountered in every-day activities met the comprehension criteria of ISO Standards. The study was conducted on 37 males and 53 females belonging to various age groups and qualification level. The study included 60 icons used in industry (n=30) and public places (n=30). A paper-based icon recognition questionnaire was prepared and used to examine icon recognition and perception performance over different groups. Each icon was given a unique code for its identification which the participant needed to search out from the codes given below the corresponding icon and fill it in their response sheet. Results show that failure rate to recognize icons used in industrial operations are much higher than the icons used in public places.

The National Programme for Health Care of the Elderly: A Review of its Achievements and Challenges in India

Lokesh Mukut Vaishnav,Shiv Hiren Joshi,Abhishek Upendra Joshi,Ashok Madhukar Mehendale 대한노인병학회 2022 Annals of geriatric medicine and research Vol.26 No.3

Aging care is critical. Projections for 2020 indicate that India’s older population will comprise 6.57% of the overall population. The best-known newly developed technologies must be provided to the older population. Non-governmental organizations and private institutions are increasingly providing more door-to-door guidance and help. This study evaluated the impact of the National Programme for Health Care of the Elderly (NPHCE) in India and analyzed its achievements and challenges. The program’s key strategies include providing preventive and promotional care and sickness management, empowering geriatric services, and guaranteeing optimal rehabilitation. The NPHCE is an excellent project for caring for a rapidly aging population. This study described the existing programs and schemes related to older people in India, with a focus on the NPHCE and an analysis of the program’s achievements and challenges.

Modified droop control scheme for load sharing amongst inverters in a micro grid

Patel, Urvi N.,Gondalia, Dipakkumar,Patel, Hiren H. Techno-Press 2015 Advances in energy research Vol.3 No.2

Microgrid, which can be considered as an integration of various dispersed resources (DRs), is characterized by number of DRs interfaced through the power electronics converters. The microgrid comprising these DRs is often operated in an islanded mode. To minimize the cost, reduce complexity and increase reliability, it is preferred to avoid any communication channel between them. Consequently, the droop control method is traditionally adopted to distribute active and reactive power among the DRs operating in parallel. However, the accuracy of distribution of active and reactive power among the DRs controlled by the conventional droop control approach is highly dependent on the value of line impedance, R/X i.e., resistance to reactance ratio of the line, voltage setting of inverters etc. The limitations of the conventional droop control approach are demonstrated and a modified droop control approach to reduce the effect of impedance mis-match and improve the time response is proposed. The error in reactive power sharing is minimized by inserting virtual impedance in line with the inverters to remove the mis-match in impedance. The improved time response is achieved by modifying the real-power frequency droop using arctan function. Simulations results are presented to validate the effectiveness of the control approach.

Regeneration and selection of root resistant Coleus forskohlii A threatened medicinal plant

George, Manju M.,Ssubramanian, R.B.,Prajapati, Hiren A. The Plant Resources Society of Korea 2001 Plant Resources Vol.4 No.2

Coleus forskohlii Briq, of the family Lamiaceae yields a valuable secondary metabolity known as forskolin which is a labdane diterpenoid.. Coleus forskohlii is the only known source of this compound. Forskolin is used in medicine for the treatment of glaucoma, congestive cardiomyopathy and asthma. Morphogenic callus was induced from young leaves on MS medium augmented with NAA and BA. These calli, when subcultured on MS with KN alone gave rise to shoots. The regenerated shoot developed good root system on MS medium fortified with NAA. The fully grown plantlets were transferred to soil for acclimatization. Coleus plant is mainly infected by a fungi Lasiodiplodia theobromae which causes root rot disease. The fungal culture filterate (ECE) of Lasiodiplodia theobromae, has been used in regeneration media to find the MIC and further to select resistant plants to the pathogen. In the present study 40% ECF in the medium showed maximum inhibition and is there fore considered as the MIC level of Coleus forshohlii. This data could prove to be useful for the future for selecting a resistant C.forskohlii plant against the root disease caused by L. theobromae.