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Solid Mechanics, as compared to Mechanics of Materials or Strength of Materials, is generally considered to be a higher-level course. It is usually taught in higher semesters to senior undergraduate students. However, there is no suitable textbook on this subject. The book is primarily aimed at this group of students and the text is an attempt to bridge the gap between complex formulations in the theory of elasticity and elementary strength of materials in a simplified manner. The book is intended to present the basics of Solid Mechanics in a simple and concise manner to the initial learners. A large number of solved problems on each topic have been included to illustrate the text materials. Because of the simpler approach adopted in solving difficult problems, the book will be useful for all student groups who wish to learn the basic solid mechanics without much difficulty.
To date, the bestmethodsfor estimating the growth of mean values of arithmetic functions rely on the Voronoï summation formula. By noticing a general pattern in the proof of his summation formula, Voronoï postulated that analogous summation formulas for $\sum a(n)f(n)$ can be obtained with ‘nice’ test functions f(n), provided a(n) is an ‘arithmetic function’. These arithmetic functions a(n) are called so because they are expected to appear as coefficients of some L-functions satisfying certain properties. It has been well-known that the functional equation for a general L-function can be used to derive a Voronoï-type summation identity for that L-function. In this article, we show that such a Voronoï-typesummation identity in fact endows the L-function with some structural properties, yielding in particular the functional equation. We do this by considering Dirichlet series satisfying functional equations involving multiple Gamma factors and show that a given arithmetic function appears as a coefficient of such a Dirichlet series if and only if it satisfies the aforementioned summation formulas.
To study the simplified sphericity index (SSI) of planning target volume (PTV) and correlate it with the gradient index (GI) for stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS)/stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT) treatment of brain metastasis.
Materials & Methods:
A collection of fifteen brain metastasis cases previously treated with SRS/SRT by volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT) technique was included in the analysis. All the previous plan data from Monaco 6.2.1.0 TPS were used for re-planning and computation of SSI and GI. Pearson’s correlation analysis was performed by using OriginPro 8.5 software, and the outcomes were tabulated.
Results:
The statistical analysis and linear fitting of data show a negative linear correlation between SSI and GI, taking SSI as the independent variable and GI as the dependent variable. Pearson’s correlation coefficient (r) was found to be -0.91563 with a p-value of 0.0000124 showing strong statistical significance.
Conclusion:
It is observed that the GI of the PTV improves as the SSI increases, that is, when the target volume approaches a perfect sphere. Calculating the SSI of the target before planning may help in predicting the GI which may guide making crucial decisions regarding PTV dose prescription and acceptance criteria for organs-at-risk dose tolerance.
We investigate the effect of women's political representation in the state legislative assembly and public administration on natural disaster mortality in 20 Indian states from 1981 to 2019. The paper combines two critical dimensions: political and administrative representation of women and disaster risk reduction. Results suggest that women's political representation reduces total disaster mortality after controlling socioeconomic and political covariates; however, the effects are statistically insignificant for the current and lag periods. We find that a one standard deviation increase in women's representation in public administration lowers total disaster mortality by 20.6 percentage points, which is 9.8 per cent of the sample mean. We observe the impacts of female administrative representation on gender-specific human development outcomes through reduced male and female disaster mortality, and we explain some mechanisms. Thus, women's political and administrative representation is crucial for addressing disaster mortality as it has major public health consequences.
We aimed to assess risk of COVID-19 infection & seroprotection status in healthcare workers (HCWs) in both hospital and community settings following an intensive vaccination drive in India.
Setting:
Tertiary Care Hospital
Methods:
We surveyed COVID-19 exposure risk, personal protective equipment (PPE) compliance, vaccination status, mental health & COVID-19 infection rate across different HCW cadres. Elecsys® test for COVID-19 spike (Anti-SARS-CoV-2S; ACOVs) and nucleocapsid (Anti-SARS-CoV-2; ACOV) responses following vaccination and/or COVID-19 infection were measured in a stratified sample of 386 HCW.
Results:
We enrolled 945 HCWs (60.6% male, age 35.9 ± 9.8 years, 352 nurses, 211 doctors, 248 paramedics & 134 support staff). Hospital PPE compliance was 90.8%. Vaccination coverage was 891/945 (94.3%). ACOVs neutralizing antibody was reactive in 381/386 (98.7%). ACOVs titer (U/ml) was higher in the post-COVID-19 infection group (N =269; 242.1 ± 35.7 U/ml) than in the post-vaccine or never infected subgroup (N = 115, 204.1 ± 81.3 U/ml). RT PCR + COVID-19 infections were documented in 224/945 (23.7%) and 6 HCWs had disease of moderate severity, with no deaths. However, 232/386 (60.1%) of HCWs tested positive for nucleocapsid ACOV antibody, suggesting undocumented or subclinical COVID-19 infection. On multivariate logistic regression, only female gender [aOR 1.79, 95% CI 1.07–3.0, P = .025] and COVID-19 family contact [aOR 5.1, 95% CI 3.84–9.5, P < .001] were predictors of risk of developing COVID-19 infection, independent of association with patient-related exposure.
Conclusion:
Our HCWs were PPE compliant and vaccine motivated, with immunization coverage of 94.3% and seroprotection rate of 98.7%. There was no relationship between HCW COVID-19 infection to exposure characteristics in the hospital. Vaccination reduced disease severity and prevented death in HCW.
The policy discourse relating to domestic violence in India was vastly strengthened by the enactment of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (2005), which not only provided an inclusive definition of domestic violence but also outlined the many care-seeking options it affords (Ministry of Law and Justice, 2005). Notably, domestic violence is defined to include perpetration or threatened perpetration of physical, emotional, verbal, sexual, and economic violence. The Act also appoints protection officers and calls for the establishment of crisis facilities to support those who experience violence. India is, moreover, a signatory to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), calling for the elimination ‘of all forms of violence against all women and girls in public and private spheres’ (SDG target 5.2) (United Nations, 2015). Despite these commitments, spousal violence against women and girls remains widespread, with 26 per cent of women aged 15–49 years experiencing physical, sexual, and/or emotional violence, and 24 per cent of women reporting the experience of physical and/or sexual violence perpetrated by their spouse in 2015–16. A reflection of women's powerlessness in marital relationships is the persistence of attitudes justifying the acceptability of marital violence, with as many as half of all women (51 per cent) and husbands (50 per cent) espousing that a husband is justified in beating his wife for at least one reason (International Institute for Population Sciences [IIPS] and ICF International, 2017).
The adverse effects of marital violence on the health and well-being of women and their children are well recognized. Injuries are, of course, the most direct effect and range from cuts, bruises, and aches to deep wounds, broken bones, sprains, dislocations, and even burns (see, for example, IIPS and ICF International, 2017). Adverse longer-term consequences have also been observed and persist even after a host of socio-demographic factors are controlled. As documented in a global review, consequences include low-birth-weight infants, induced abortions, sexually transmitted infections, and depression (World Health Organization [WHO], 2013).
We report the results of our analysis of six gravity-mode pulsating hot subdwarf stars observed in the short cadence mode by Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. We detected at least 10 pulsation periods in each star, searched for multiplets, and used an asymptotic period spacing to identify modes. We used a grid of evolutionary and pulsation models calculated with the MESA and GYRE, along with spectroscopic parameters and modal degree identification, to derive the physical properties of the stars. We checked the relation between the helium content and pulsations and found that no pulsator exists among the extremely helium-rich hot subdwarfs, while the number of detected pulsators in other helium groups increases as the helium content decreases. We found p- and g-mode hot subdwarfs pulsators in all Galactic populations.
A total of 110 cattle were examined in an area endemic for Bancroftian filariasis for the prevalence of infection of the bovine filarial parasite Setaria digitata. About 12.5% of cattle were found to harbour both adult worms in the peritoneum and microfilariae (mf) in circulation; 70% of the cattle were amicrofilaraemic but with an adult worm infection. A third group of cattle (16.5%) was free of detectable mf and adult worms. The presence of adult worms and/or mf did not influence the antibody levels to any of the four antigen preparations of S. digitata. However, there was a significant inverse relationship between the presence of antibodies to microfilarial sheaths and the absence of circulating mf as shown by the immunoperoxidase assay. Cattle immunoglobulin containing high titres of anti-sheath antibodies cleared circulating microfilariae very effectively in Mastomys coucha thus demonstrating the protective nature of anti-sheath antibodies in eliminating circulating microfilariae in vivo.
The significance of food is beyond its gastronomic value. Food symbolises a community's enriched past and holds cultural expressions and traditional knowledge. The linkage of food with religious beliefs, geo-climatic factors, social standards, and various health benefits builds the reputation of the food, which is essentially attributable to its geographic origin. Following the ratification of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), the contracting states that have enacted Geographical Indications (GI) legislation (particularly those in Asia) have come forward to protect foodstuffs as GI in order to safeguard their communities and their traditional knowledge associated with foodstuffs. Against this background, the present article attempts to compare foodstuff GIs in eight selected Asian countries with a sui generis system of GI protection as TRIPS compliance. The comparative analysis of the evolution and scope of foodstuff protection, pre-registration and post-registration impact, and quality maintenance provides important insights into convergence and divergence among the selected Asian countries. The study further identifies policy implications for the sustenance of GI.
Although multiple types of adsorption sites have long been observed in montmorillonite, a consistent explanation about the chemical structure of these adsorption sites has not yet been established. Identifying the cation interlayer adsorption sites based on the octahedral cation distribution on montmorillonite was investigated in this study by using a Density Functional Theory (DFT) simulation. A clay structural model (H[Al6MgFe]Si16O40(OH)8) with a similar composition to Wyoming SWy-1 montmorillonite was built, where two octahedral Al were respectively substituted by Fe and Mg, and H+ was the charge compensating cation. This model had twenty-one different possible configurations as a function of the distribution of octahedral Al, Fe, and Mg cations. The DFT simulations of 15 of these different configurations showed no preference for the formation of any configuration with a specific octahedral Fe-Mg distance. However, the H+ adsorption energy was separated into three distinct groups based on the number of octahedral jumps from Fe to Mg atoms. The H+ adsorption energy significantly decreased with increasing number of octahedral jumps from Fe to Mg. Assuming an even probability of occurrence of 21 octahedral structures in montmorillonite, the percentages of these three groups are 43, 43, and 14%, respectively, which are very close to the three major sites on montmorillonite from published cation adsorption data. These DFT simulations offer an entirely new explanation for the location and chemical structure of the three major adsorption sites on montmorillonite, namely, all three sites are in the interlayer, and their adsorption strengths are a function of the number of octahedral jumps from Fe to Mg atoms.
Assessment of clinical, functional and psychological outcome after 6 months of moderate and severe TBI
Participants and Methods:
Sixty consecutive participants aged 18 and above with moderate to severe TBI (GCS score of 3-12 at admission) attending the Outpatient Department of Neurosurgery Specialty, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India were recruited. The exclusion criteria were any pre-existing major psychiatric disorders, intellectual disability, current or past history of substance abuse, degenerative and/or progressive condition, terminal illness and past history of TBI. Ethical clearance was obtained from Institute Ethics Committee. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to inclusion in the study. Socio-demographic details (age, sex, marital status, family type, place of residence, education and occupation) and clinical details (mode of injury, injury severity, treatment, status on discharge, any previous co morbidities) were obtained from participant and hospital records. Functional outcome was assessed by Glasgow Outcome Scale and Barthel’s Index of Activities of Daily Living. Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) was used to assess cognitive status. Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale was used to assess symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Results:
Out of 60 patients, 40 had moderate head injury and 20 patients had suffered from severe head injury. There were 53 male (88.3%) and 7 (11.7%) female and the mean age was 34 years (SD=14.5). The mean duration of TBI was 11 months (SD=6.5). Fifty percent participants were married and majority was living in joint/extended families. Majorities were residing in rural localities 36 (60%). With regard to education level 11.7% were illiterate, 33% were educated up to 10th standard and 21.7% up to 12th standard. With regard to occupation, 11.7% were unemployed, 6.7% were housewives, 11.7% were students, 8.3% were retired and rest (61.6%) was engaged in varied occupations.
The most common mode of injury was road traffic accident (90%). Contusion was the most common CT abnormality noted (37 patients, 61.7%). Regarding treatment, 36 patients (60%) underwent surgical intervention and 24 (40%) were managed conservatively. With regard to surgical intervention, 28 (77.8 %) patients underwent decompressive hemicraniectomy and subsequent cranioplasty and rest 8 (22.2 %) underwent craniotomy and hematoma evacuation. As per Glasgow Outcome Scale, 50 (83%) had low disability and 10 (17%) had moderate to severe disability. The mean Barthel’s Index score was 19.6+1.07 (Range 15-20) which indicated that most of the patients had resumed independence in activities of daily living. Only 25% participants were observed to have cognitive impairment (MMSE). With regard to anxiety and depression 16.7% showed symptoms of anxiety whereas 30% showed symptoms of depression (HADS score >8).
Conclusions:
After 6 months of TBI, most participants had resumed independence in activities of daily living but cognitive impairment is persistent in 25% and symptoms of depression in 30% participants.
To assess the impact of injury severity on disease specific quality of life after Traumatic Brain Injury
Participants and Methods:
The study was carried out in Department of Neurosurgery, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India after obtaining ethical clearance from Institute Ethics Committee. Sixty consecutive patients aged 18 and above with moderate to severe TBI (GCS score of 3-12 at admission) attending the Outpatient Department of Neurosurgery Specialty were screened. Out of 60 participants, 40 had moderate TBI (GCS 9-12) and 20 patients had severe TBI (GCS 3-8). The participants having any pre-existing major psychiatric disorders, intellectual disability, current or past history of substance abuse, degenerative and/or progressive condition, terminal illness and past history of TBI were excluded. Written informed consent was obtained from each participant. Socio-demographic details and information about clinical status at the time of admission and discharge were obtained from participant and hospital records. Disease specific quality of life was measured by QOLIBRI (Quality of life after brain injury). It is a self-reported measure comprising of 37 items. The first part assesses the subjects’ satisfaction with his HRQL in 4 domains (cognition, self, daily life and autonomy, and social relationships). The second part measures how much the subject is bothered after TBI in 2 domains (emotions and physical problems). The other tools administered were Glasgow Outcome Scale and Barthel’s Index of Activities of Daily Living (functional status); Mini Mental State Examination (cognitive status): Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (anxiety and depression).
Results:
The data was analyzed using statistical package for social sciences software version 21 (SPSS). There were no significant differences between both groups with regard to age, gender, education status, marital status, family type and place of residence. Both groups were similar with regard to mode of injury and duration of injury. With regard to treatment during admission both group had significant differences. Among severe TBI group 90% underwent surgical intervention whereas among moderate TBI group only 45% underwent surgical intervention. Significant difference was present in GCS score at discharge between both the groups. After 6 months of injury both group had no significant difference with regard to functional status, global cognitive functioning, anxiety and depression. With regard to quality of life significant difference emerged between the groups on QOLIBRI total score. On various subscales of QOLIBRI - significant differences were noted only in the domains of social relationship and emotions. There were no differences between them on domains of cognition, self, daily life and physical problems.
Conclusions:
After 6 months of TBI, the participants in both groups (Moderate TBI and severe TBI) had similar functioning with regard to daily activities and psychological functioning. With regard to quality of life both groups emerged to be significantly different on overall quality of life and domains of social relationship and emotions.
This paper considers three moments in the treatment of data about race and identity in India. Many elements go into the development of data imaginaries as these change over time. A complete history is beyond the scope of this paper, but I develop three key episodes to explore critical but changing features of interrelations between race, identity and statistical arguments historically. One aim is to explore key features of the argument developed by two significant individuals – Thomas Nelson Annadale and P.C. Mahalanobis – as they sought to develop databases that could answer questions about race formation and, in the case of Mahalanobis, might also be used to develop statistical methods on the one hand and aid governance on the other hand. A second aim is to use this historically based but highly selective investigation to uncover key features of the ideology with which the government of India has presented Aadhaar, its vast biometric identification system powered by authentication technologies afforded by artificial intelligence. This enables me to identify different forms of racial or ethnic identity that could be – and in one or two cases actually have been – implicated in the way Aadhaar has been used in practice.
To analyse the dosimetric benefit of the hybrid inverse planning optimisation (HIPO) planning method over the graphical optimisation (GrO) planning method for 3D volume-based intravaginal brachytherapy (IVBT) in a mono-centre patient cohort.
Material and methods:
Twenty-five patients surgically staged with endometrial cancer were considered for the study. All the patients had received adjuvant IVBT for three fractions with one-time computed tomography image-based planning. The data on the patient, tumour, plan, and treatment characteristics were retrieved from the database. All the plans were re-optimised with GrO and HIPO techniques for this comparison study. The different dosimetric parameters were compared between the two methods, and the collected data were tabulated and shown graphically. The statistical evaluation was performed with IBM SPSS version 26, and Origin Pro 8.5 was employed for plots.
Results:
HIPO plans show similar target coverage in terms of D 90(%), V 95(%) and conformity index with no significant statistical difference from the GrO plans with an acceptable increase in homogeneity index (0·087 ± 0·062%). It succeeds in achieving a statistically significant reduction of dose to organs at risk such as D0·1 cc, D1·0 cc and D2·0 cc for the bladder (11·59%, 4·8% and 3·99%), rectum (41·33%, 16·9% and 16·05%) and sigmoid (20·97%, 13·53% and 11·21%), respectively, in comparison with GrO optimisation.
Conclusion:
Considering the dosimetric outcome of 3D-based IVBT, it is suggested to adopt inverse optimisation techniques like HIPO over GrO to achieve higher quality treatment plan in terms of adequate target dose and lesser dose to OARs.
We developed a novel laser melting sampler (LMS) for ice cores to measure the stable water isotope ratios (δ18O and δD) as temperature proxies at sub-centimeter depth resolutions. In this LMS system, a 2 mm diameter movable evacuation nozzle holds an optical fiber through which a laser beam irradiates the ice core. The movable nozzle intrudes into the ice core, the laser radiation meanwhile melts the ice cylindrically, and the meltwater is pumped away simultaneously through the same nozzle and transferred to a vial for analysis. To avoid isotopic fractionation of the ice through vaporization, the laser power is adjusted to ensure that the temperature of the meltwater is always kept well below its boiling point. A segment of a Dome Fuji shallow ice core (Antarctica), using the LMS, was then demonstrated to have been discretely sampled with a depth resolution as small as 3 mm: subsequent analysis of δ18O, δD, and deuterium excess (d) was consistent with results obtained by hand segmentation within measurement uncertainties. With system software to control sampling resolution, the LMS will enable us to identify temperature variations that may be detectable only at sub-centimeter resolutions in ice cores.
Developed sequential order statistics (DSOS) are very useful in modeling the lifetimes of systems with dependent components, where the failure of one component affects the performance of remaining surviving components. We study some stochastic comparison results for DSOS in both one-sample and two-sample scenarios. Furthermore, we study various ageing properties of DSOS. We state many useful results for generalized order statistics as well as ordinary order statistics with dependent random variables. At the end, some numerical examples are given to illustrate the proposed results.
The present study explored the family caregivers’ perspectives and elicited their experience while managing dementia care during the COVID-19 pandemic in Odisha, India.
Background:
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has diverted the attention of health systems away from chronic disease management and health services delivery. Psychiatric care particularly for dementia and the elderly is found to be more compromised in such situation.
Methods:
We adopted an inductive phenomenological approach to garner key insights into the care continuity for people living with dementia in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Telephonic in-depth interviews (IDIs) were carried out with 17 immediate caregivers. All IDIs were digitally recorded, transcribed, and analysed using a thematic approach.
Findings:
Caregivers did not perceive dementia as an overwhelming challenge; instead viewed it as a part of the ageing process. Caring for dementia was being done by family members as a collective responsibility with task-sharing. The caregivers primarily relied on their usual physician for the continuity of dementia care and took utmost precautions to prevent exposure to COVID-19 risk. However, they found it more challenging to ensure adequate care for the multiple illnesses (multimorbidity) coexisting with dementia. Towards this, they adopted all possible measures to keep the chronic conditions under control, lest the vulnerability to COVID-19 infection might heighten. The fear of visiting a hospital, prevailing restrictions in mobility, and diverted attention of health systems to pandemic containment created impediments towards maintaining multimorbidity care. The support of local administration, neighbourhood pharmacy and diagnostic laboratories and teleconsultation with the physicians were vital for care continuity. Caregivers adapted by reducing or deferring physical consultation and seeking treatment via telephonic advice of the treating physicians. Our findings suggest leveraging digitally enabled health care technology and augmenting caregiver activation for home-based dementia care to cruise through any similar catastrophic situations.
The emergence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in childhood poses a serious risk to a healthy adult life. The present study aimed to estimate the prevalence of NCDs among children and adolescents in slums and non-slums areas of four metropolitan cities of India, and in rural areas of the respective states The study further, investigated the effect of the place residence as slum vs. non-slum and other risk factors of the NCDs. Nationally representative data from the Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (CNNS) was used.. Estimates were based on children (5-9 years) and adolescents (10-19 years) for whom biomarkers predicting diabetes, high total cholesterol, high triglycerides and hypertension were determined. Weight, height and age data were used to calculate z-scores of the body mass index. Overweight and obesity was higher in urban areas than in rural areas among children and adolescents. Regional differences in the prevalence of diseases were observed; children in Delhi and Chennai had a higher likelihood of being diabetic while children in Kolkata were at a greater risk of high total cholesterol and high triglycerides. The risk of hypertension was strikingly high among non-slum children in Delhi. Children from slums were at a higher risk of diabetes compared to the children from non-slums, while children and adolecents from non-slums were at a greater risk of high triglycerides and hypertension respectively than their counterparts from slums. Male children and adolecents had a higher risk of diabetes and high cholesterol. Screening of children for early detection of NCDs should be integrated with the already existing child and adolescent development schemes in schools and the community can help in prevention and control of NCDs in childhood.