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The complexity inherent in gene regulatory network models, as well as their nonlinear nature make them difficult to analyze or validate/invalidate using conventional tools. Combining ideas from robust control theory, real algebraic geometry, optimization and semidefinite programming, SOSTOOLS provides a promising framework to answer these robustness and model validation questions algorithmically. We adopt these tools in the study of the heat shock response in bacteria. For this purpose, we use a reduced order model of the bacterial heat stress response. We study the robust stability properties of this system to parametric uncertainty, and address the model validation/invalidation problem by proving the necessity for the existence of certain feedback loops to reproduce the known time behavior of the system.

Herbs/Botanical plants are considered as God's gift to human beings in the form of natural medicines, like the one well known "Sanjeevani booti" described in Hindu Mythology. The traditional and ethno-veterinary practices have been in use for centuries, transferring the knowledge from generation to generation and they are accessible, easy to prepare and administer, with little or no cost at all. Even though the modern developments in therapeutic field brought about a rapid decline in traditional medicine, the plant-based remedies are still having a crucial role as potential source of therapeutic aids in health systems all over the world for both humans and animals. Among the 21,000 medicinal plants listed by the World Health Organization (WHO), 2500 species are native to India, which stands first in the production of medicinal herbs. This innumerable treasure of medicinal herbs brings India the distinction of 'the botanical garden of the world'. Nowadays immune-based therapies are gaining more importance than monovalent approaches which are having limited benefits. Apart from the actions like treating diseases, control of ecto- and endo-parasites, fertility enhancement, bone setting and poor mothering management, an array of herbal medicines have been reported which are having immunomodulatory effects like modulation of cytokine secretion, histamine release, immunoglobulin secretion, class switching, cellular co-receptor expression, lymphocyte expression, phagocytosis and so on. The present article describes in brief few of these important ones viz., ashwagandha, amla, tulsi, arjuna, aloe vera, garlic, turmeric, ginger, shatavari, neem, guduchi, kiwifruit, tut, kamala, palashlata, kokilaksha etc. being used for human and animal health benefits.

Since the sensors collect personal medical data, security and privacy are important factors in wireless sensor networks. Due to small memory capacity, constrained power supply, limited computational capability and communications bandwidth of WSNs, applying key management in wireless sensor networks is hard to achieve. Energy is a central concern in the deployment of cryptographic techniques in WSNs. This paper has identified the most suitable key management technique among the popular techniques available to secure data in consideration of the application requirements and the WSN constraints. To achieve this objective, some common key management techniques are implemented, simulated and compared based on their energy cost and then best techniques for healthcare application will be suggested. Simulation results show that hybrid technique consumes the lowest amount of energy among the others for secure patient monitoring in wireless sensor network environment.

[1] Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements made in Sulawesi, Indonesia, from 1992 to 1999 detected coseismic and transient postseismic deformation related to the 1 January 1996, Mw = 7.9 earthquake on the North Sulawesi (Minahassa) trench. These motions are superimposed on the long-term secular motion (40 mm/yr) of the left-lateral Palu fault in central Sulawesi and continued for about 1.5–2 years. Following the earthquake, a string of earthquakes (of magnitude >6) migrated along the Minahassa trench, from west to east. Subsequently, two earthquakes of magnitude >6 occurred on or near the Palu fault migrating toward the south. Modeling the increase in Coulomb stress generated by the successive earthquakes agrees with the hypothesis of interacting events. An unclamping effect, possibly due to fluid migration in the Palu area, is also suggested by the stress computations and the detected (GPS) displacements.