There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

https://caltcm.memberclicks.net/assets/documents/acc_aha_chf_2013_guidelines.pdf

2013 ACCF/AHA Guideline for the Management of Heart Failure: A Report of the American College of Cardiology Foundation/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines

The lion's share of bacteria in various environments cannot be cloned in the laboratory and thus cannot be sequenced using existing technologies. A major goal of single-cell genomics is to complement gene-centric metagenomic data with whole-genome assemblies of uncultivated organisms. Assembly of single-cell data is challenging because of highly non-uniform read coverage as well as elevated levels of sequencing errors and chimeric reads. We describe SPAdes, a new assembler for both single-cell and standard (multicell) assembly, and demonstrate that it improves on the recently released E+V-SC assembler (specialized for single-cell data) and on popular assemblers Velvet and SoapDeNovo (for multicell data). SPAdes generates single-cell assemblies, providing information about genomes of uncultivatable bacteria that vastly exceeds what may be obtained via traditional metagenomics studies. SPAdes is available online ( http://bioinf.spbau.ru/spades ). It is distributed as open source software.

SPAdes, a new genome assembly algorithm and its applications to single-cell sequencing ( 7th Annual SFAF Meeting, 2012)

Soil Chemical Analysis

Statistics for Spatial Data.

We present a method for embedding and detection of visual watermark patterns in printed images that use clustered-dot halftones in the printing process. The method allows two independent watermark patterns to be multiplexed, i.e. embedded in the same region of the printed image, thereby offering an improvement over prior techniques. The watermark patterns are embedded via phase modulation along the two periodicity directions of the halftone. Each embedded pattern can be visually detected, without interference from the other watermark, when the printed image, or a scan thereof, is overlaid with a decoder mask consisting of periodic lines oriented along the corresponding halftone periodicity direction. We experimentally demonstrate that our proposed multiplexing technique is effective. We also present analysis that demonstrates that the embedding has minimal visual impact and explains the pattern observed in the watermark detection process.

/pdf/multiplexed-clustered-dot-halftone-watermarks-using-bi-b98fqi8ivm.pdf

Multiplexed clustered-dot halftone watermarks using bi-directional phase modulation and detection

Summary

A systematic vaccination programme is ongoing in India to control the three prevailing serotypes (A, O, Asia1) of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) virus. Under the programme, more than 120 million bovine (term bovine applicable to both cattle and buffalo in this study) population of 221 of the 666 districts in the country are being bi-annually vaccinated with trivalent vaccine since 2010. Although clinical disease has reduced in these districts because of the systematic vaccinations, an abrupt increase in the number of FMD cases was recorded in 2013. Hence, a longitudinal field study was conducted in the year 2014 to estimate the serological herd immunity level in bovines, the impact of systematic vaccinations and field efficacy of the vaccines used. Serum samples (n = 115 963) collected from 295 districts of the 18 states of the country were analysed to estimate antibody titres against structural proteins of the three serotypes. The efficacy of the vaccine was demonstrated in the control group (group-D) where animals of the group were identified by ear tags for the purpose of repeated sampling after vaccination. Progressive building of the herd immunity in the field after systematic vaccination was demonstrated. The mean antibody titre against the serotypes O, A and Asia1 was estimated as log10 1.93 (95% CI 1.92–1.93), 2.02 (2.02–2.02) and 2.02 (2.02–2.02), respectively, in the states covered under the control programme. However, in other states herd immunity was significantly low [mean titre log10 1.68 (95% CI 1.67–1.69), 1.77 (1.76–1.78) and 1.85 (1.84–1.86) against the three serotypes]. Inverse relationship between the herd immunity and FMD incidences was observed the states following different vaccination practices. The study helped in demarcation of FMD risk zones in the country with low herd immunity. Estimation of herd immunity kinetics in the field helped in refining the vaccination schedule under the control programme.

Herd Immunity Against Foot-and-Mouth Disease Under Different Vaccination Practices in India.

Maternal, perinatal and neonatal mortality in South-East Asia Region

Biscuits are one of the popular convenience, ready-to-eat, easy-to-carry, easy-to-store bakery products consumed by all age groups and a better vehicle for fortification and enrichment with micro and macro nutrients. In the present study, buckwheat and chia seed flours were used to prepare composite wheat flour in order to improve the protein, fiber, fatty acids and mineral content in biscuits. Biscuits were prepared from refined wheat flour, buckwheat flour and chia flour blends in various ratios (of 100:0:0; 85:10:5; 70:20:10; 55:30:15 and 40:40:20, respectively). The incorporation of buckwheat and chia flour, resulted in darkening and hardening of biscuits. Sensory quality and acceptability scores were decreased with the increase in the level of buckwheat and chia seed flour. Biscuits containing 30:15 (Buckwheat: chia) were acceptable in relation to overall acceptability. The diameter of the biscuit decreased from 62.3 mm to 57.4 mm the spread ratio of biscuits decreased from 10.55 to 6.89 but thickness increased from 5.90 mm to 8.32 mm as the level of incorporation of composite flour increased. There was a considerable increase in protein, fiber and micronutrients in the biscuits by adding buckwheat and chia flour. The optimized biscuits had 9.15% protein, 1.48% ash, 5.65% fiber, 74.3mg calcium and 4.4mg iron corresponding to the control about 5.11%, 0.51% and 1.21%, 18.78mg and 0.93mg. These biscuits were chemically and sensorily accpeted upto 60 days of storage in poly proplyne pouches at room temperature.

Development and Storage Stability of Buckwheat - Chia Seeds Fortified Biscuits

Various glasses are synthesized by melt quench technique. The addition of transition metal (TM) oxides into glasses paves the light on their crystallization and sinterability. The formation of different crystalline phases and their microstructures significantly influenced the conduction mechanism in these glass-ceramics. ZnO seemed to act as glass modifier, while TiO2 appears to act as glass former in the present glasses. Other two TM oxides might have played a role as intermediate oxides. The present glass-ceramics are mixed conductors (ionic+electronic). MnO2-contained sample shows highest electrical conductivity while Fe2O3-contained sample show lowest conductivity. The observed results are interpreted on the basis of structural differences of the samples.

Gaurav Sharma

Papers

Multiplexed clustered-dot halftone watermarks using bi-directional phase modulation and detection

Herd Immunity Against Foot-and-Mouth Disease Under Different Vaccination Practices in India.

Maternal, perinatal and neonatal mortality in South-East Asia Region

Development and Storage Stability of Buckwheat - Chia Seeds Fortified Biscuits

Effect of transition metals (MO-TiO2, MnO2, Fe2O3, and ZnO) on crystallization and electrical conductivity of SiO2–CaO–Na2O–P2O5-based glass-ceramics