Practical realization of dual S arm antenna for beam steering applications

A dual S shaped micro strip antenna with a realistic feed is proposed for generation of tilted beam radiation pattern pertaining for beam steering applications. To achieve this, four feeding points are located at a distance of 5.6 mm from the antenna centre. These feeding points when excited one by one generate four tilted beams in four different space quadrants, thus yielding a beam steerable antenna. Importantly, since the proposed antenna is symmetrical in the structure, all the four tilted beams have the same radiation pattern characteristics. A further enhancement of the antenna bandwidth is also achieved using 100-μm capacitive coupling between the feed and the antenna strip.     

A Spiral Task as a Model for In-service Teacher Education

The spiral approach has long been used by curriculum designers to deepen students’ knowledge of scientific and mathematical concepts and to bring students to higher levels of abstraction. The benefits of a spiral approach, however, can also be extended to teacher education. This paper describes a spiral activity employed by the Kidumatica program not only to raise the level of teachers’ content knowledge, but also to promote discussion and collaboration among teachers teaching at different grade levels. The activity was designed to take a single problem situation and develop it in ways appropriate to the different grade levels. At each stage, the teachers are encouraged to discuss teaching approaches required by the students at each grade level and the relationships between the different stages of the development.     

The Globalization of Cricket: The Rise of the Non-West

The article argues that international cricket has not followed the path of other transnational sporting events which, typically, are dominated by developed countries. It is a game which the non-Western countries have begun to dominate not just on the field but, more importantly, in shaping the economics and politics of the game. The article suggests that this change, that is atypical of international sport, has come about because of processes within the globalization phenomenon particularly. These are the rise of a transnational community which can support its team across frontiers, the spread of technology that provides real time coverage of the sport; and the decline of the sport in its host country, thereby allowing alternative centres of power to emerge, especially in decision making.     

Notable and Emerging Variants of SARS-CoV-2 Virus: A Quick Glance

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), the etiological agent of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), is a highly contagious pathogenic coronavirus to emerge and spread in human populations. Although substantial exertions have been laid to avert spread of COVID-19 by therapeutic and preventive countermeasures, but emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants as a result of mutations make the infection more ominous. New viral confers a higher nasopharyngeal viral load, increased viral transmissibility, higher infectiousness, immune escape, increased resistance to monoclonal/polyclonal antibodies from convalescence sera/vaccine, and an enhanced virulence. Thus, it is pertinent to monitor evolving mutations and genetic diversity of SARS-CoV-2 as it is decisive for understanding the viral variants. In this review we provide an overview of colloquial nomenclature and the genetic characteristics of different SARS-CoV-2 variants in the context of mutational changes of the circulating strains, transmissibility potential, virulence and infectivity.     

Negation and Validation of Self via the Media: Israeli Gay Men s (Dis)Engagement Patterns with Their Representations

Forty-five Israeli gay men unfolded their life stories in order to delve into their media reception patterns. Overall, they prefer to disengage themselves from a discourse that symbolically annihilates them or negatively constructs their representations. Absence from the mediated reality as well as social invisibility are perceived to reduce ontologically the gay individual. On the other hand, these narrators exhibited intentional consumption of texts that refer to gay issues and figures. The gay individual who regularly senses that his self is being negated attributes great value to images that can validate his existence, and hence allocates resources in their consumption. Both patterns of reception complement each other and shed light on the complex dialectics between marginally situated, muted co-culture members and the public sphere.     

Comparison of Mass Versus Activity of Creatine Kinase MB and Its Utility in the Early Diagnosis of Re-infarction

Currently employed markers for the detection of acute coronary syndrome are Troponin T, CK (Creatine Kinase) and CKMB activity. CKMB activity measured by immunoinhibition method can give falsely elevated results due to the presence of atypical CK and CKBB and at times lead to the mis-diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome. Hence, CKMB mass (CKMB) measured by electrochemiluminence sandwich principle was employed. In this cross-sectional study 183 samples of 61 patients were analyzed within 6 h of diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome and followed up to 72 h. The correlation coefficient between CKMB activity and CKMBM at 4–6 h was 0.744, while at 12–24 h it was 0.909 and at 48–72 h it was 0.337. Thus there was good association between the two methods at 12–24 h but, statistically for method comparison studies and for replacing one method by another, the two methods need to be in agreement with one another. In this study the two methods are not in agreement with one another and thus analytically not replaceable. Another finding was obtained that CKMBM reached cut off levels prior to CKMB enzyme activity and hence, CKMBM is clinically better than CKMB activity to detect reinfarction.     

Evaluation of Low Blood Lead Levels and Its Association with Oxidative Stress in Pregnant Anemic Women: A Comparative Prospective Study

To correlate blood lead levels (BLLs) and oxidative stress parameters in pregnant anemic women. A total of 175 pregnant women were found suitable and included for this study. Following WHO criteria, 50 each were identified as non-anemic, mild anemic and moderate anemic and 25 were severe anemic. The age of all study subjects ranged from 24–41 years. At admission, BLLs and oxidative stress parameters were estimated as per standard protocols and subjected with ANOVA, Pearson correlation analysis and cluster analysis. Results showed significantly (p < 0.01) high BLLs, zinc protoporphyrin (ZPP), oxidized glutathione (GSSG), lipid peroxide (LPO) levels while low delta aminolevulinic acid dehydratase (δ-ALAD), iron (Fe), selenium (Se), zinc (Zn), haemoglobin (Hb), haematocrit (Hct), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC), red blood cell (RBC) count, reduced glutathione (GSH), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) in all groups of anemic pregnant women as compared with non anemic pregnant women. In all groups of pregnant women, BLLs showed significant (p < 0.01) and direct association with ZPP, GSSG and LPO while inverse relation with δ-ALAD, Fe, Se, Zn, Hb, Hct, MCV, MCH, MCHC, RBC, GSH, SOD, CAT and TAC. Study concluded that low BLLs perturb oxidant-antioxidant balance and negatively affected hematological parameters which may eventually Pb to Fe deficiency anemia during pregnancy.     

Identification of a Rare Hemoglobin Variant HbJ-Rajappen [alpha90 (FG2) Lys?→?Thr] Using Mass Spectrometry

Hemoglobin J-Rajappen (alpha)90 Lys → Thr is an alpha chain variant found in heterozygous state and presents normal hematological blood picture. Due to the ambiguity in results obtained while analyzing by HPLC and alkaline gel electrophoresis, we report this rare case of HbJ-Rajappen using non denaturing gel electrophoresis and matrix assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry. Though HbJ-Rajappen has earlier been reported using different techniques, this is the first report being validated using mass spectrometry technique.     

Biochemical changes during exchange transfusion in hyperbilirubinemia in term newborn babies

Double volume (170 ml/kg body weight) exchange transfusion was done in 52 term infants in the first week of life for neonatal hyperbilirubinemia. The M:F ratio was 1.08:1 and 37 (71.1%) babies were of low birth weight. Causes of jaundice were hemolytic in 46.2% and non-hemolytic in 41.3% cases; in 13.5% babies no cause of jaundice could be found. After exchange transfusion a fall of 14.6% and 47.4% was observed in the hemoglobin and serum bilirubin levels respectively. There was significant (p=0.0414) rise in the mean mid exchange and post-exchange serum sodium levels as compared to pre-exchange values and it was found to be due to higher donor's serum sodium levels (p=0.007). There was no effect on the serum potassium levels during or after ET. In general serum calcium levels significantly increased at mid-exchange period (p=0.0029) but post-exchange levels were same as pre-exchange. Donor's serum calcium level had no effect on the infant's serum calcium level (p=0.993). There was no change in the serum phosphate and blood urea levels during and after exchange-transfusion. The plasma glucose was significantly raised during and after ET and plasma glucose of the donors had significant effect on the infant's plasma glucose levels (p=0.043). Similarly plasma osmolality also showed significant increase during and after ET which was due to the effect of donor's plasma osmolality (p=0.007).