Relative abundance, habitat preference, and breeding ecology of Asian Black francolin, Francolinus francolinus asiae (Bonaparte, 1856) (Galliformes: Phasianidae) from North-Western Himalaya

Anand Kumar,Dinesh K. Sharma,Rajeev Lochan,Saurabh Dewan,Suman Negi 국립중앙과학관 2020 Journal of Asia-Pacific Biodiversity Vol.13 No.2

Asian black francolin (Francolinus francolinus asiae) is an important bird species in the northwestern Himalayanregion, inhabiting diverse subtropical to lower temperate habitat types. The relative abundance,habitat preference, and some aspects of breeding ecology are studied here at eleven sites in different habitattypes along elevation gradient. The abundance of species at different altitude was worked both throughtransect trails of different lengths and point counts at some spots. At each study site, maximum activityhabitats were marked and selected for breeding ecology study. Sighting of black francolin was minimal inApril (0.585 0.185 birds/Km) and maximum in May (2.339 0.015 birds/Km). Data on breeding timings,nest site selection, clutch size, incubation period, and hatching success were collected. Breeding period ofblack francolin extended from March up to late July with peak egg-laying between May to June. Twelvenests were monitored throughout the breeding season using binoculars from a distance and camera traps,wherever possible and without disturbing the species. The average size of nest was 20.063 1.452 cmranging from of 18.80 cm to 22.30 cm in width. Mean clutch size was 5.417 0.793 eggs/nest. The hatchingsuccess was 86.15% with 56 successfully hatched eggs, whereas the fledging success was 83.92%.

An improved sparsity-aware normalized least-mean-square scheme for underwater communication

Anand Kumar,Prashant Kumar 한국전자통신연구원 2023 ETRI Journal Vol.45 No.3

Underwater communication (UWC) is widely used in coastal surveillance and early warning systems. Precise channel estimation is vital for efficient and reliable UWC. The sparse direct-adaptive filtering algorithms have become popular in UWC. Herein, we present an improved adaptive convex-combination method for the identification of sparse structures using a reweighted normalized leastmean-square (RNLMS) algorithm. Moreover, to make RNLMS algorithm independent of the reweighted l1-norm parameter, a modified sparsity-aware adaptive zero-attracting RNLMS (AZA-RNLMS) algorithm is introduced to ensure accurate modeling. In addition, we present a quantitative analysis of this algorithm to evaluate the convergence speed and accuracy. Furthermore, we derive an excess mean-square-error expression that proves that the AZA-RNLMS algorithm performs better for the harsh underwater channel. The measured data from the experimental channel of SPACE08 is used for simulation, and results are presented to verify the performance of the proposed algorithm. The simulation results confirm that the proposed algorithm for underwater channel estimation performs better than the earlier schemes.

Molecular characterization and corrosion behavior of thermophilic (55 °C) SRB Desulfotomaculum kuznetsovii isolated from cooling tower in petroleum refinery

Anandkumar, B.,Choi, J.-H.,Venkatachari, G.,Maruthamuthu, S. WILEY-VCH Verlag 2009 Materials and corrosion Vol.60 No.9

<P>Desulfotomaculum kuznetsovii (D. kuznetsovii), a thermophilic sulfate-reducing bacterium (SRB), was identified in a cooling tower of a petroleum refinery by 16S rRNA gene sequencing and its functional gene encoding dissimilatory sulfite reductase (dsrAB). The thermophilic sulfate-reducing bacterial species have been reported for the first time in the cooling towers of an Indian petroleum refinery. The protein coded by dsrAB gene was cloned, expressed, and identified using recombinant DNA technology. Weight loss method, electrochemical and surface analysis showed the corrosion behavior of the isolate. In the presence of D. kuznetsovii, the corrosion rate was higher when compared to control at 55 °C. It suppresses the anodic reaction and enhances the cathodic reaction by the production of organic complex and iron sulfide, respectively. Numerous pitting were noticed on mild steel which is due to the presence of D. kuznetsovii and its role in the corrosion process has been discussed.</P>

High-Throughput, Quantitative Enzyme Kinetic Analysis in Microdroplets Using Stroboscopic Epifluorescence Imaging

Hess, David,Rane, Anandkumar,deMello, Andrew J.,Stavrakis, Stavros American Chemical Society 2015 ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY - Vol.87 No.9

<P>Droplet-based microfluidic systems offer a range of advantageous features for the investigation of enzyme kinetics, including high time resolution and the ability to probe extremely large numbers of discrete reactions while consuming low sample volumes. Kinetic measurements within droplet-based microfluidic systems are conventionally performed using single point detection schemes. Unfortunately, such an approach prohibits the measurement of an individual droplet over an extended period of time. Accordingly, we present a novel approach for the extensive characterization of enzyme–inhibitor reaction kinetics within a single experiment by tracking individual and rapidly moving droplets as they pass through an extended microfluidic channel. A series of heterogeneous and pL-volume droplets, containing varying concentrations of the fluorogenic substrate resorufin β-<SMALL>d</SMALL>-galactopyranoside and a constant amount of the enzyme β-galactosidase, is produced at frequencies in excess of 150 Hz. By stroboscopic manipulation of the excitation laser light and adoption of a dual view detection system, “blur-free” images containing up to 150 clearly distinguishable droplets per frame are extracted, which allow extraction of kinetic data from all formed droplets. The efficiency of this approach is demonstrated via a Michaelis–Menten analysis which yields a Michaelis constant, <I>K</I><SUB>m</SUB>, of 353 μM. Additionally, the dissociation constant for the competitive inhibitor isopropyl β-<SMALL>d</SMALL>-1-thiogalactopyranoside is extracted using the same method.</P><P><B>Graphic Abstract</B> <IMG SRC='http://pubs.acs.org/appl/literatum/publisher/achs/journals/content/ancham/2015/ancham.2015.87.issue-9/acs.analchem.5b00766/production/images/medium/ac-2015-00766c_0008.gif'></P><P><A href='http://pubs.acs.org/doi/suppl/10.1021/ac5b00766'>ACS Electronic Supporting Info</A></P>

Bedside ultrasonographic evaluation of optic nerve sheath diameter for monitoring of intracranial pressure in traumatic brain injury patients: a cross sectional study in level II trauma care center in India

Sujit J. Kshirsagar,Anandkumar H,Sanyogita V. Naik,Alok Yadav,Ruchira M. Sakhala,Sangharsh M. Salve,Aysath Nuhaimah,Priyanka Desai 대한중환자의학회 2024 Acute and Critical Care Vol.39 No.1

Background: Optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD) is an emerging non-invasive, easily accessible, and possibly useful measurement for evaluating changes in intracranial pressure (ICP). The utilization of bedside ultrasonography (USG) to measure ONSD has garnered increased attention due to its portability, real-time capability, and lack of ionizing radiation. The primary aim of the study was to assess whether bedside USG-guided ONSD measurement can reliably predict increased ICP in traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients.Methods: A total of 95 patients admitted to the trauma intensive care unit was included in this cross sectional study. Patient brain computed tomography (CT) scans and Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) scores were assessed at the time of admission. Bedside USG-guided binocular ONSD was measured and the mean ONSD was noted. Microsoft Excel ) was used for statistical analysis.Results: Patients with low GCS had higher mean ONSD values (6.4±1.0 mm). A highly significant association was found among the GCS, CT results, and ONSD measurements (p < 0.001). Compared to CT scans, the bedside USG ONSD had 86.42% sensitivity and 64.29% specificity for detecting elevated ICP. The positive predictive value of ONSD to identify elevated ICP was 93.33%, and its negative predictive value was 45.00%. ONSD measurement accuracy was 83.16%.Conclusions: Increased ICP can be accurately predicted by bedside USG measurement of ONSD and can be a valuable adjunctive tool in the management of TBI patients.

Esterification of acrylic acid with ethanol using pervaporation membrane reactor

Ghoshna Jyoti,Amit Keshav,Jayapal Anandkumar 한국화학공학회 2017 Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering Vol.34 No.6

Esterification of acrylic acid with ethanol was carried out using an in-situ reactor with an integrated pervaporation assembly (IPAE) made of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) membrane and was compared with a non-integrated (NIE) system. Effect of reaction temperature (Tr), catalyst loading (CC), molar ratios of reactants (MR) and ratio of effective membrane area to unit volume of reaction mixture (S/Vo) on kinetics of esterification reaction were studied. Conversions achieved in IPAE were found to be distinctly higher than the NIE. The highest conversion of acrylic acid was obtained as 83.3% at Tr=60 oC, MR=3 : 1, CC=2% and S/Vo=14.1m−1. Equilibrium conversion of acrylic acid in NIE was obtained as 55.1% at 60 oC, 1 : 1 in 7 h, while using IPAE conversion enhances to 67.6%. Esterification of acrylic acid and ethanol with presently studied operating parameters provides a new approach to existing literature reported esterification-pervaporation system.

Deep Sequencing of the <i>Medicago truncatula</i> Root Transcriptome Reveals a Massive and Early Interaction between Nodulation Factor and Ethylene Signals

Larrainzar, Estí,baliz,Riely, Brendan K.,Kim, Sang Cheol,Carrasquilla-Garcia, Noelia,Yu, Hee-Ju,Hwang, Hyun-Ju,Oh, Mijin,Kim, Goon Bo,Surendrarao, Anandkumar K.,Chasman, Deborah,Siahpirani, Alir American Society of Plant Biologists 2015 Plant Physiology Vol.169 No.1

<P><I>Transcriptional reprogramming is regulated by Nod factor-induced ethylene signaling.</I></P><P>The legume-rhizobium symbiosis is initiated through the activation of the Nodulation (Nod) factor-signaling cascade, leading to a rapid reprogramming of host cell developmental pathways. In this work, we combine transcriptome sequencing with molecular genetics and network analysis to quantify and categorize the transcriptional changes occurring in roots of <I>Medicago truncatula</I> from minutes to days after inoculation with <I>Sinorhizobium medicae</I>. To identify the nature of the inductive and regulatory cues, we employed mutants with absent or decreased Nod factor sensitivities (i.e. <I>Nodulation factor perception</I> and <I>Lysine motif domain-containing receptor-like kinase3</I>, respectively) and an ethylene (ET)-insensitive, Nod factor-hypersensitive mutant (<I>sickle</I>). This unique data set encompasses nine time points, allowing observation of the symbiotic regulation of diverse biological processes with high temporal resolution. Among the many outputs of the study is the early Nod factor-induced, ET-regulated expression of ET signaling and biosynthesis genes. Coupled with the observation of massive transcriptional derepression in the ET-insensitive background, these results suggest that Nod factor signaling activates ET production to attenuate its own signal. Promoter:β-glucuronidase fusions report ET biosynthesis both in root hairs responding to rhizobium as well as in meristematic tissue during nodule organogenesis and growth, indicating that ET signaling functions at multiple developmental stages during symbiosis. In addition, we identified thousands of novel candidate genes undergoing Nod factor-dependent, ET-regulated expression. We leveraged the power of this large data set to model Nod factor- and ET-regulated signaling networks using MERLIN, a regulatory network inference algorithm. These analyses predict key nodes regulating the biological process impacted by Nod factor perception. We have made these results available to the research community through a searchable online resource.</P>