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The primary objective was to evaluate if batch staining of malaria blood films results in false positive smears. False positive smears (>1%) may cause a serious underestimate of a drug’s or vaccine’s protective efficacy, as well as affect evaluation of diagnostics, estimates of malaria prevalence, and clinical management. Thick blood films may float from a glass slide during staining and adhere to other films if batch staining is used resulting in false positive readings. Venous blood in EDTA anticoagulant from malaria positive samples of ? 20 parasites per high power field and a true negative sample was utilized to make thick and thin smears. Two true negative smears were stained with Giemsa stain with eight positive smears in batch in Coplin jars for 10 minutes or overnight. Two control negatives were stained alone with the same batch of stain. Blinded microscopists read these slides using a rereading paradigm. Thick film loss was graded by gross appearance ranging from 0 (none) to 4+ (> ¾ loss). A total of 602 slides were evaluated in this study, of which 392 were true positives (65%) and 210 (35%) were true negatives. Of the true negatives, 110 were batch stained with true positives, and 100 were true negative controls stained alone. Of the initial readings, 11-20% were reported falsely positive. “Fishing” or cross-contamination was infrequently noted by one of the microscopists, but was uniformly present in these smears on reexamination. Of the true positive smears (high density), 1-3% were read falsely negative. On reexamination of these slides, the cause was found to be reporting of results from very poor quality smears. Thick film loss was clearly more severe for the positive slides with 10 minute versus overnight drying (means score 0.97 vs 1.97, p <0.001). This experiment confirmed that false positive smears result from cross-contamination during batch staining using methods employed today. Since low frequencies of false positive smears can adversely impact research and product development results, single slide staining should become the norm in this setting. Reporting of false negative results occurred in malaria smears with high densities of parasites. Microscopists should be trained not to report results when smear quality is not adequate.

In RFID protocols, random numbers are mainly required to analyze tag answers in order to guarantee the privacy of the owner of the transponder. Our analysis looks at the feasibility of RFID tags for supporting Cryptographically Secure Pseudorandom Number Generators on their limited chip. Here we discuss about the cryptographic approach which we have used to improve the security of RFID credit card. Also we discuss about the random bit generator used in this cryptographic approach.

Accumulation of neutrophils in the connective tissues and junctional epithelium of the periodontium is a characteristic feature of periodontal disease. The migration of neutrophils into the area may be in response to chemotactic substances elaborated directly by bacteria or by complement-derived chemotactic factors. The function of the neutrophil is thought to be clearance of infecting microorganisms and other noxious substances. It is, therefore, not surprising that a decrease in neutrophil number and function might result in more severe periodontal disease. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the chemotactic response of the neutrophils in a group of patients suffering from generalized aggressive periodontitis. Neutrophils from 10 normal subjects and 10 generalized aggressive patients were isolated from peripheral venous blood and chemotactic response was measured using casein as the chemoattractant. Of the 10 patients analyzed 5 patients showed depressed chemotaxis to casein. Elevated chemotactic responses were seen in remaining patients. Thus all patients recruited in the study showed abnormal neutrophil chemotaxis. The results obtained were not statistically significant. Based on these results it can be concluded that patients of generalized aggressive periodontitis show abnormal chemotactic response.

In this study, the solid phase FT-IR and FT-Raman spectra of the 2-hydroxy-4-methyl-5-nitropyridine (HM5NP) was recorded in the range 4000–400 cm^–1 and 3500–100 cm^–1, respectively. Theoretical information on the optimized geometry, harmonic vibrational frequencies, Infrared and Raman intensities were obtained by means of density functional theory (DFT) using standard B3LYP/6-311++G** level. This information was used in the assignment of the various fundamentals. Comparison of the simulated spectra with the experimental spectra provides important information about the ability of the computational method to describe the vibrational modes.

The FT-IR and FT-Raman spectra of the N, N-Dimethylaniline (NNDMA) was recorded in the range 4000–400 cm^–1 and 3500–100 cm^–1, respectively. Theoretical information on the optimized geometry, harmonic vibrational frequencies, Infrared and Raman intensities were obtained by means of density functional theory (DFT) using standard B3LYP/6-311++G** level. This information was used in the assignment of the various fundamentals. Comparison of the simulated spectra with the experimental spectra provides important information about the ability of the computational method to describe the vibrational modes.

This moisture level detector has two alternative power sources (3W, 11.5V solar panel and 9V battery) which supply voltages to the system and then regulated by a 7805IC voltage regulator to 5V required by a programmable hardware (microcontroller) with embedded analog digital converter (ADC). The microcontroller receives information from the probe (sensor) inserted into the soil, processes the information and displays the output on a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) within few seconds. The moisture contents of four soil samples A, B, C and D (respectively clay soil, loamy soil, sandy soil and silt soil) obtained from different locations were determined using this detector. Samples A, B, C and D respectively showed moisture percentages of 85%, 71%, 43% and 21%. From the obtained results, sample A showed that the moisture level is above average, sample B showed that the moisture level is just average, sample C and D showed that the moisture levels are respectively below average and poor. From the obtained result, clay soil retained more water than other soil samples due to its high water holding capacity. The moisture level detector performed at an efficiency of 85%.

Traditional Rapid Prototyping (RP) is referred to as layered manufacturing free form fabrication. It is used for the physical modelling of a new product design directly from CAD data without the use of any special tooling or significant process engineering. This reduces the lead time required to produce a prototype of product. This paper is related to designing and manufacturing of modified bench vise on rapid prototyping machining process. We have designed the conventional and modified bench vise in Pro-e CAD software and manufactured it on Dimension 1200esRPT machine and analysis is carried out in ANSYS CAE software.

This paper presents a Diode Clamped Inverter for Static Compensator (STATCOM) using Space Vector Pulse Width Modulation (SVPWM) technique. Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM), a Flexible Alternating Current Transmission Systems (FACTS) controller .For a given dc bus voltage the maximum inverter line-to-line voltage generated by the SVPWM scheme is 15.5% higher than that by the SPWM scheme. SVPWM scheme is used to reduce the switching losses, by changing switching states such that only single phase voltage changes every time. SVPWM strategy enables balancing voltages of the dc capacitors without using additional devices multilevel (three level) inverter is used to reduce THD in its ac output voltages in comparison to the two-level inverter. In order to achieve reactive power control, by maintaining unity power factor at the source end feeding reactive load by three level diode clamped SVPWM Inverter which is adapted as STATCOM is employed in this paper. The control strategy for the compensation is based on the instantaneous active and reactive power theory The STATCOM is modelled and simulated in MATLAB Simulink environment. The simulation results of STATCOM under balance voltage condition are presented.

Phthalates are toxic for human beings and their toxicity can be expressed in various forms like teratogenic, mutagenic, estrogenic and carcinogenic effects as well as by endocrine disturbances. The most commonly encountered phthalate molecules in the environment are: DMP, DEP, DnBP, BBP, DisoDP, DALP, DNP), DEHP, and DnOP. In order to assess the health and environmental impacts of phthalates, it is necessary to access these compounds at the molecular level in natural systems, including water. Therefore, our study was devoted to setting up a protocol including phthalate extraction step, followed with a development of a HPLC/DAD analysis methodology, using artificial mixtures of different standard phthalate compounds and water standard reference material we made in our laboratory. As results, we obtained good performance characteristics such as detection limits (ranging 1.1 - 40.0 ng/L), limits of quantification (from 3.75 to 134 ng /L), coefficients of variation (CV) lower than 10 %, and quality control cards showing that the HPLC/DAD methodology we developed was under statistical control and suitable for phthalate determination in water.

We are very happy to announce that from 21st April 2017, Dr. Ashish Tyagi has joined the team of Elixir Editorial Advisory Board. He/She will carry a special responsibility for dealing with manuscripts based on Medical Sciences. Dr. Ashish Tyagi working as Assistant Professor (Forensic Medicine & Toxicology), Shahed Hasan Khan Mewati Govt. Mediacl College, Nuh (Haryana). The appointment of Dr. Ashish Tyagi as member Editorial Advisory Board strengthens the links and will make it easier for prospective authors to establish contact with the journal.