ABSTRACT The present study was carried out to investigate the effect of dietary supplementation with vitamin E and stocking density on the mortality, body weight gain, feed conversion ratio, European production efficiency factor, heterophil/lymphocyte (H/L) ratio and liver glutathione (GSH) and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels of broilers. In total, 570 one-day-old Vencobb 400 broiler chickens were randomly assigned to three treatments, with six replicates each. G1 served as normal control and birds were provided a normal floor space (0.0465 m2/bird from day 1 to 21 and 0.0929 m2/bird from day 22 to 42) and basal diet containing vitamin E at 70 g/ton feed (n=150). G2 and G3 birds were subjected to high stocking density (0.0279 m2/bird from day 1 to 21 and 0.0557 m2/bird from day 22 to 42). G2 served as the high stocking density (HSD) control, birds were offered a basal diet with no vitamin E (n=210), whereas G3 birds were fed a basal diet containing vitamin E at 70 g/ton feed (n=210). The birds were fed with feed and water ad libitum throughout the study period. The supplementation of vitamin E to the birds subjected to HSD had a positive effect on body weight gain, feed conversion ratio (FCR), European Production Efficiency Factor (EPEF), H/L ratio, and liver GSH and MDA levels with those subjected to HSD and not supplemented with vitamin E. The results of the present study indicate that the supplementation of vitamin E at 70g/ton of feed to broilers subjected to HSD could effectively reverse the negative effects of HSD, and improve broiler performance.

ABSTRACT A series of E-Glass fiber reinforced polyurethane (PU)/vinyl ester(VER) resin interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) composites were prepared. The Mechanical Properties like tensile, flexural and impact of IPN composite were studied. Results revealed that addition of PU increases the impact strength by 8.33%, 7.69%, 14.28%, 12.5%, 11.11% for the proportinate of 0%PU, 10%PU, 20%PU, 30%PU, 40%PU, 50%PU respectively, at the slight expense of decrease in flexural and tensile modulus. The obtained experimental results were compared with the Finite Element Analysis data's (ANSYS 10). The comparison shows good agreement with experimental data's.

The generation of electricity using wind power is significantly increasing and has received considerable attention in recent years. One important problem with the induction generator based wind farms is that they are vulnerable to voltage disturbances and short circuit faults. Any such disturbance may cause wind farm outages. Since wind power contribution is in considerable percentage, such outages may lead to power system stability issues and also violate the grid code requirements. Thus, improving the reliability of wind farms is essential to maintain the stability of the system. The proposed strategy is to use Dynamic Voltage Restorer (DVR), which is one of the promising devices to compensate the voltage disturbance and to improve the stability of the system. It provides the wind generator with the fault ride through capability and improves the reliability of the system. Extensive simulation results are included to illustrate the operation of DVR and fault compensation.

India was affected by a major outbreak of chikungunya fever caused by Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) during 2006-2007. Kerala was the worst affected state during 2007 with a contribution of 55.8% suspected cases in the country. However, except for clinically reported case records, no systematic information is available on infection status of CHIKV in the region. Hence, we carried out a post-epidemic survey to estimate seroprevalence status [immunoglobulin G (IgG)] in the community using commercially available indirect immunofluorescence test. This methodology had been reported to be highly specific and sensitive for CHIKV infection. The study area selected was the worst affected mid-highlands region of Kerala which harbour vast area of rubber plantations. The study evidenced 68% of the population to be seropositive for CHIKV IgG. Males were found more affected than females (χ2 = 9.86; p = 0.002). Among males, prevalence was significantly higher in the age classes 21-30 (χ2 = 5.46; p = 0.019) and 31-40 (χ2 = 5.84; p = 0.016) years. This may be due to high occupational risk of the male population engaged in plantation activities exposed to infective bites of Aedes albopictus. The current study provides an insight into the magnitude of CHIKV outbreak in Kerala.

A rare case of additional slip in the origin of the clavicular head of sternocleidomastoid muscle was found during our routine dissection, on both sides of the neck in an elderly male cadaver. However, on both side of the same muscle no such additional slip of origin was found at the sternal head of the sternocleidomastoid near its origin nor at its insertion of the muscle

Durante una disección de rutina, fue encontrado un raro caso de un fascículo adicional en el origen de la cabeza clavicular del músculo esternocleidomastoideo, en ambos lados del cuello, en un cadáver de un anciano de sexo masculino. Sin embargo, en ambos lados, no se encontró un fascículo adicional en el origen de la cabeza esternal ni en la inserción del músculo esternocleidomastoideo