Indigofera oblongifolia Forssk. locally known as ‘Goilia or Jhil’, is an important underutilized leguminous browse shrub for small ruminants in hot arid region of India and traditionally utilized for its medicinal value. Its irregular patchy distribution was observed in depression of rocky areas, bunds of farmer fields and along the depression on the road sides in Jaisalmer and Pali district during collection. Soil samples collected from Pali district have high level of pH and electrical conductivity as compared to Jaisalmer which indicates its suitability to saline areas. It exhibited good plant growth under Jodhpur conditions with respect to plant height (171.5 cm), number of branches (47.9) and canopy diameter (100–210 and 115–180 cm in north-south and east-west direction, respectively) after 12 months of planting in fields under protected condition. Morphological characterization showed the presence of high coefficient of variation (%) in the number of raceme per branch (27.3) followed by raceme length (22.9), pod length (21.0) and least in pod width (8.1). Phytochemical results revealed that leaves of I. oblongifolia contained considerable amounts of total phenols (31.44 mg g−1), flavonoids (29.73 mg g−1) and antioxidant capacity (6.26 FRU g−1) which make its suitability as a browse species to ruminants in rangelands. Along with these finding, its traditional knowledge and utilization are detailed in this paper as to hasten further research on its various aspects for its sustainable utilization in rangelands or in alternate land use systems in the Indian hot arid region.

Large-eddy simulation is used to simulate the flow around a 6 : 1 prolate spheroid at $10^\circ$ and $20^\circ$ angles of attack, and Reynolds number $4.2 \times 10^6$. Flows with and without trip are compared to understand the relative effect of the trip on the state of the boundary layer and separation. For the tripped case, the geometry of the trip is resolved to better predict its effect on the downstream flow. The simulations employ overset grids that allow adequate resolution of the trips without significant increase in the overall computational cost. Results suggest that while the trip accelerates transition to turbulence at $10^\circ$, it does not induce a fully developed turbulent boundary layer as intended at $20^\circ$. Rather, the influence of the trip is localized, and the near-wall flow converges towards a solution similar to that of the non-tripped case upstream of separation. This is due to two distinct phenomena: directly downstream of the trip, favourable pressure gradient and streamline curvature effects suppress the disturbance on the windward side. Further along the spheroid, the boundary layer receives a small fraction of the initial perturbation due to spanwise and wall-normal streamline curvatures inducing a secondary flow that advects the low-momentum trip wake to the leeward side. The locations of transition and separation are insensitive to the presence of the trip. The simulation results are used to construct a regime map that identifies different regions characterized by distinct boundary layer properties and flow features. The present results underscore the difficulty associated with tripping smooth bodies at angle of attack, and the importance of accounting for transition in simulations of such flows, even on tripped geometries.

Background: Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are a major global threat to patient safety. Systematic surveillance is crucial for understanding HAI rates and antimicrobial resistance trends and to guide infection prevention and control (IPC) activities based on local epidemiology. In India, no standardized national HAI surveillance system was in place before 2017. Methods: Public and private hospitals from across 21 states in India were recruited to participate in an HAI surveillance network. Baseline assessments followed by trainings ensured that basic microbiology and IPC implementation capacity existed at all sites. Standardized surveillance protocols for central-line–associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) and catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) were modified from the NHSN for the Indian context. IPC nurses were trained to implement surveillance protocols. Data were reported through a locally developed web portal. Standardized external data quality checks were performed to assure data quality. Results: Between May 2017 and April 2019, 109 ICUs from 37 hospitals (29 public and 8 private) enrolled in the network, of which 33 were teaching hospitals with >500 beds. The network recorded 679,109 patient days, 212,081 central-line days, and 387,092 urinary catheter days. Overall, 4,301 bloodstream infection (BSI) events and 1,402 urinary tract infection (UTI) events were reported. The network CLABSI rate was 9.4 per 1,000 central-line days and the CAUTI rate was 3.4 per 1,000 catheter days. The central-line utilization ratio was 0.31 and the urinary catheter utilization ratio was 0.57. Moreover, 3,542 (73%) of 4,742 pathogens reported from BSIs and 868 (53%) of 1,644 pathogens reported from UTIs were gram negative. Also, 1,680 (26.3%) of all 6,386 pathogens reported were Enterobacteriaceae. Of 1,486 Enterobacteriaceae with complete antibiotic susceptibility testing data reported, 832 (57%) were carbapenem resistant. Of 951 Enterobacteriaceae subjected to colistin broth microdilution testing, 62 (7%) were colistin resistant. The surveillance platform identified 2 separate hospital-level HAI outbreaks; one caused by colistin-resistant K. pneumoniae and another due to Burkholderia cepacia. Phased expansion of surveillance to additional hospitals continues. Conclusions: HAI surveillance was successfully implemented across a national network of diverse hospitals using modified NHSN protocols. Surveillance data are being used to understand HAI burden and trends at the facility and national levels, to inform public policy, and to direct efforts to implement effective hospital IPC activities. This network approach to HAI surveillance may provide lessons to other countries or contexts with limited surveillance capacity.

Funding: None

Disclosures: None

The catostylid jellyfish, Crambionella annandalei was originally described by Rao (1932) based on a preserved specimen collected from the Andaman Sea. Since then, no detailed taxonomic studies have been conducted and the species is often misidentified. Here, we provide a detailed morphological re-description of C. annandalei from fresh material collected at a variety of locations along the east coast of India. The species can be distinguished from its congeners by a combination of morphological characters, the most important of which are the proportion of terminal club length to oral arm length (0.48 ± 0.031), the proportion of the distal portion of the oral arm to naked proximal portion (7.25 ± 0.268) and the body colour. The occurrence of intra-specific colour variation in fresh specimens was also observed in the present study.

Grewia tenax locally known as ‘Gangerun’, is an important multipurpose underutilized shrub and potentially threaten species of the Thar Desert of India. Owing to its importance, naturally available germplasm was collected and evaluated for its sustainable utilization in future. Data on individual mother plant, seed characters and soil profile were investigated. Habitat occurrence of G. tenax was found in patches with dominant association of Euphorbia caducifolia across the four districts of western Rajasthan. Individual plant on unprotected area portrayed far lower average height (0.95 m) and canopy area (1.75 m2) than protected area (2.63 m and 13.89 m2) signifying level of browsing pressure on this species in Jaisalmer. Soil samples belonging to Pali region have high organic carbon and low electrical conductivity content than Jaisalmer and Jodhpur. The statistical analysis of seed characters revealed the presence of high coefficient of variation (%) in 100-seed weight (HSW; 27.36) followed by seed length (SL; 8.06) and least in seed breadth (SB; 5.85). The range and mean values of HSW, SL, SB and length:breadth ratio (LBR) were (2.02–7.00 and 3.34 g), (4.36–6.15 and 5.36 mm), (3.73–4.68 and 4.25 mm) and (1.11–1.44 and 1.27), respectively. Significantly positive correlation was observed between SL and LBR (0.73) followed by HSW and SL (0.66). Along with these findings, its economic importance, utilization and conservation are detailed in this paper as to hasten further research on its various aspects for its successful conservation and utilization.

Wall-resolved large-eddy simulation (LES) is used to simulate flow over an axisymmetric body of revolution at a Reynolds number, $Re=1.1\times 10^{6}$, based on the free-stream velocity and the length of the body. The geometry used in the present work is an idealized submarine hull (DARPA SUBOFF without appendages) at zero angle of pitch and yaw. The computational domain is chosen to avoid confinement effects and capture the wake up to fifteen diameters downstream of the body. The unstructured computational grid is designed to capture the fine near-wall flow structures as well as the wake evolution. LES results show good agreement with the available experimental data. The axisymmetric turbulent boundary layer has higher skin friction and higher radial decay of turbulence away from the wall, compared to a planar turbulent boundary layer under similar conditions. The mean streamwise velocity exhibits self-similarity, but the turbulent intensities are not self-similar over the length of the simulated wake, consistent with previous studies reported in the literature. The axisymmetric wake shifts from high-$Re$ to low-$Re$ equilibrium self-similar solutions, which were only observed for axisymmetric wakes of bluff bodies in the past.

Axisymmetric boundary layers are studied using integral analysis of the governing equations for axial flow over a circular cylinder. The analysis includes the effect of pressure gradient and focuses on the effect of transverse curvature on boundary layer parameters such as shape factor ($H$) and skin-friction coefficient ($C_{f}$), defined as $H=\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}^{\ast }/\unicode[STIX]{x1D703}$ and $C_{f}=\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}_{w}/(0.5\unicode[STIX]{x1D70C}U_{e}^{2})$ respectively, where $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}^{\ast }$ is displacement thickness, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D703}$ is momentum thickness, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}_{w}$ is the shear stress at the wall, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70C}$ is density and $U_{e}$ is the streamwise velocity at the edge of the boundary layer. Relations are obtained relating the mean wall-normal velocity at the edge of the boundary layer ($V_{e}$) and $C_{f}$ to the boundary layer and pressure gradient parameters. The analytical relations reduce to established results for planar boundary layers in the limit of infinite radius of curvature. The relations are used to obtain $C_{f}$ which shows good agreement with the data reported in the literature. The analytical results are used to discuss different flow regimes of axisymmetric boundary layers in the presence of pressure gradients.

The cryptic nature and lack of consistent biological control of the stem fly, Melanagromyza sojae Zehntner, an emerging pest of soybean, Glycine max (L.) Merrill, necessitated the monitoring and assessment of the impact of the parasitoid complex on seasonal regulation of the pest population. In this paper, we measure and relate, using the host density as a predictor variable, the seasonal density dependence of M. sojae parasitoids and the level of parasitism in soybean fields. The results revealed density dependence of parasitioids. The populations built up concomitant with the host insect, reached their peak during the mid-season, and declined towards the end of the crop season. A complex of 10 species of hymenopteran parasitoids comprising six species from Pteromalidae and one species each from the families Eurytomitidae, Eucoilidae, Braconidae and Eulopidae had a significant impact on M. sojae populations with a peak parasitism of ~50%. The seasonality and relative abundance of parasitoids were explored. Eurytoma sp. (Eurytomitidae) and Gronotoma sp. (Eucoilidae) were the most prevalent parasitoids throughout the season, whereas the pteromalid Sphegigaster sp. was dominant during the mid-season. The modulation of management practices aimed at conservation of these bioagents could improve the biological control of M. sojae populations. We discuss the practicality of several management options aimed at achieving this goal.

Catheter closure of membranous ventricular septal defects is generally not considered feasible in small infants. We report the successful closure of a membranous ventricular septal defect in a 1.8-kg infant with bilateral femoral artery occlusion using Amplatzer Duct Occluder II additional size device. The ventricular septal defect was crossed from the right ventricle, and the device was deployed using transthoracic echocardiographic guidance.

The wake of a five-bladed marine propeller at design operating condition is studied using large eddy simulation (LES). The mean loads and phase-averaged flow field show good agreement with experiments. Phase-averaged and azimuthal-averaged flow fields are analysed in detail to examine the mechanisms of wake instability. The propeller wake consisting of tip and hub vortices undergoes streamtube contraction, which is followed by the onset of instabilities as evident from the oscillations of the tip vortices. Simulation results reveal a mutual-induction mechanism of instability where, instead of the tip vortices interacting among themselves, they interact with the smaller vortices generated by the roll-up of the blade trailing edge wake in the near wake. It is argued that although the mutual-inductance mode is the dominant mode of instability in propellers, the actual mechanism depends on the propeller geometry and the operating conditions. The axial evolution of the propeller wake from near to far field is discussed. Once the propeller wake becomes unstable, the coherent vortical structures break up and evolve into the far wake, composed of a fluid mass swirling around an oscillating hub vortex. The hub vortex remains coherent over the length of the computational domain.

Trials in farmers' field(s) were conducted to study the usefulness of vermicompost (VC) produced from distillation waste of menthol mint (Mentha arvensis L. cv. Kushal) using earthworms (Eisenia foetida) in reducing the inputs of chemical fertilizers and improving soil health in menthol mint-based cropping systems. Results of the first trial conducted on menthol mint (sole crop) in the fields of 45 farmers clearly indicated that 75% of the chemical fertilizer inputs can be reduced by supplementing the fields with 5tha−1 of menthol mint VC leading to higher levels of profits to the farmers by significantly improving herb and oil yield (6.7 and 8.4%, respectively) compared to the full recommended dose of chemical fertilizers (NPK 75:60:60kgha−1). The second trial was conducted in the fields of six farmers adopting a menthol mint cropping system (mint–rice–wheat–mint) where significantly higher yields were recorded in plots supplemented with 5tha−1 of menthol mint VC+25% of the recommended dose of chemical fertilizers; an increase of 5.6–7.2% in mint oil and 6.6% in wheat yield over the plots receiving the full recommended dose of chemical fertilizers (NPK 75:60:60kgha−1). However, in the case of rice, the highest grain yield was observed within plots receiving the full recommended dose of chemical fertilizers. Data obtained on soil properties clearly showed that apart from enhancing the yields of crops, the integration of VC with chemical fertilizers considerably improved the soil fertility/sustainability status in terms of organic carbon, available N, P and K.

Comparative studies have been carried out on the performance of the photovoltaic devices with dissimilar shapes of the InN nanostructures fabricated on p-Si (100). The devices fabricated with the nanodots show a superior performance compared to the devices fabricated with the nanorods. The discussions have been carried out on the superior junction property, larger effective junction area and inherent random pyramidal topographical texture of the cell fabricated with nanodots. Such single junction devices exhibit a promising fill factor and external quantum efficiency of 38% and 27%, respectively, under concentrated AM1.5 illumination.

Nonpolar a-plane InN/GaN heterostructures were grown by plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The growth of nonpolar a- plane InN / GaN heterostructures were confirmed by high resolution x-ray diffraction study. Reflection high energy electron diffraction patterns show the reasonably smooth surface of a-plane GaN and island-like growth for nonpolar a-plane InN film, which is further confirmed by scanning electron micrographs. An absorption edge in the optical spectra has the energy of 0.74 eV, showing blueshifts from the fundamental band gap of 0.7 eV. The rectifying behavior of the I-V curve indicates the existence of Schottky barrier at the InN and GaN interface. The Schottky barrier height (φb) and the ideality factor (η) for the InN/GaN heterostructures found to be 0.58 eV and 2.05 respectively.

Fe-50 wt% Co alloy powders with average particle size of 10 μm were compacted by spark plasma sintering (SPS) at 700, 800, 900 and 950oC by applying 40, 80, 100 MPa uniaxial pressures for 2, 5, 10 minutes. The densities of the samples were found to increase with temperature from 700 to 900oC for constant sintering pressure and time and to decrease for the material sintered at 950oC. The effects of sintering time on density were more significant in samples sintered at 700oC and 800oC than those densified at 900oC. The consequences of small increases in mechanical pressure during sintering on density values were significant for samples sintered at 700oC. The coercivity (Hc) of the compacts decreased significantly with increasing sintering temperature, and with increasing dwell time at sintering temperatures lower than 700oC. The sample sintered at 950oC, which contains the largest grains among the prepared samples and porous microstructure, exhibited the minimum coercivity. Unlike Hc, the remanence (Br) and saturation induction (Bsat) values were more strongly affected by the specimen density than by grain size. Br and Bsat values were found to vary linearly with sintering temperature and pressure owing to increasing density. An increase in soaking time at 800 and 900 oC, although enabling higher density, exhibited contradicting effects on Bsat values. The SPS parameters to obtain maximum density and optimum magnetic properties for Fe-50% Co alloy were found to be 900oC, 80 MPa and 2-5 minutes.

GaN and related nitride semiconductors have attracted great attention in view of their wide applications in photonics and high temperature & high power electronic devices. Among other issues, reduction of defect densities by forming these interfaces at lower temperature and on novel substrates has been the motivation for several researchers. In the present study ion-induced conversion of Si (111) surface into silicon nitride at room temperature is optimized and used as substrate for the growth of Ga films. These Ga films are again nitrided by optimal N+ ion bombardment. Experiments have been performed in-situ in an ultra high vacuum chamber equipped with a Ga source and X-ray photoelectron spectrometer (XPS) at base pressure of 2×10-10 torr. The energy dependence of the nitridation is carefully performed at constant flux. The results clearly demonstrate the Si-N bond formation after a energy of 2 keV and the formation of GaN layer after 800eV of ion bombardment on Si (111) 7×7 surface and Ga adsorbed silicon nitride surface, respectively. The FWHM and chemical shifts in the core-level spectra of Si(2p), Ga(2p) and N(1s) have been analyzed to probe the interface reactions. The results demonstrate a possible novel and low temperature approach towards the integration of III-nitride & silicon technologies, since silicon nitride bonds can act as barriers to dislocation propagation.

The adsorption of Sb on the high index Si (5 5 12) has been studied at higher substrate temperature (HT) (800°C), using in situ surface characterization techniques like Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES), Low Energy Electron Diffraction (LEED), and Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (EELS). The surface morphology of this high index Si (5 5 12) surface has row like trenches along (110) direction. We have performed the study of Sb adsorption and desorption on the Si (5 5 12) substrate held at different temperatures. The different pathways adopted during adsorption and desorption have suggested the dominant role of kinetics I forming various surface phases on the Si (5 5 12) substrate. The adsorption at room temperature resulted in the formation of (225) surface phase, while the adsorption at 680°C resulted in the (337) phase. The sequential thermal desorption of the room temperature and high temperature adsorbed surface resulted in the formation of (337) phases at 800°C, with anisotropic growth along one direction. While the adsorption at 800°C resulted in the formation of anisotropic (337) like phases, the further increase in the coverage formed a 2x Si (225) phase. Annealing this 2x Si (225) phase again resulted in the formation of anisotropic (337) phase. Thus formation of interface by controlling the growth kinetics can result in the formation of various tailored structures with desired properties.