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Background & objectives: Recently there were reports from all over India about changing spectrumof clinical presentation of severe malaria. The present study was planned to study the same in thenorthwest India.Methods: This prospective study was conducted on patients of severe malaria admitted in a classifiedmalaria ward of a tertiary care hospital in Bikaner, Rajasthan (northwest India) during 1994 and 2001.It included adult patients of both sexes belonging to all age groups. The diagnosis of Plasmodiumfalciparum was confirmed by demonstrating asexual form of parasites in peripheral blood smear. Allpatients were treated with i.v./oral quinine. The specific complications were treated by standard WHOprotocol. The data for individual complications for both the years were analysed by applying chisquaretest.Results: In a prospective study in 1994 the spectrum of complication was dominated by cerebralmalaria (25.75%) followed by jaundice (11.47%), bleeding tendencies (9.59%), severe anaemia(5.83%), shock (5.26%), Acute respiratory distress syndrome—ARDS (3.01%), renal failure (2.07%)and hypoglycemia (2.07%) whereas in 2001 it was dominated by jaundice (58.85%) followed bysevere anaemia (26.04%), bleeding tendencies (25.52%), shock (10.94%), cerebral malaria (10.94%),renal failure (6.25%), ARDS (2.08%) and hypoglycemia (1.56%). The sharp difference for presence ofjaundice and severe anaemia in 2001 and cerebral malaria in 1994 was statistically significant. Similarly,the important cause of mortality in 2001 was multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (71.10%) withpredominant presentation of jaundice and renal failure, whereas in 1994, it was cerebral malaria (77.96%).Interpretation & conclusion: The observation of changing spectrum of severe malaria in this studyand a significant increase in presentation with jaundice as an important manifestation is highly essentialfor primary, secondary and tertiary level health care providers for proper diagnosis and management.

A computer-aided method, based on the concept of distance, has been developed for identifying planar kinematic chains with fractionated freedom. Algorithms have also been developed for detecting the presence of any k-bar independent loop, and any f-degree-of-freedom sub-chain in a multi-degree-of-freedom planar kinematic chain, leading to the characterization of partial freedom of two- and three-degree-of-freedom kinematic chains.

A new matrix, called the joint-joint relation matrix, is defined for representing the structure of a kinematic chain. An algorithm has been developed for deriving the joint-joint distance matrix of a kinematic chain from its joint-joint relation matrix with the help of the computer. A new structural invariant, called the Arranged Sequence of Total Distance Ranks of all the Joints, and based on the concept of distance, has been developed for a kinematic chain, leading to the development of a simple methodology for detecting isomorphism among planar kinematic chains with simple joints.

System structure is important for analyzing wear of a system. In this paper, this aspect is considered at the component level and is modeled using digraph and matrix methods. Contributing wear factors and the degree of influence among these factors, which determine wear independence and wear process between mating components, are identified. This along with the wear measure of subsystems determines the system wear. The procedure develops wear functions for characterization and comparison of subsystems of different types. These are also useful for wear analysis and evaluation leading to an optimum selection of subsystems based on the wear. The procedure is also shown to be useful at the operating state of a system and subsystems. Step-by-step procedure for system wear evaluation is presented. Methodology is also demonstrated by an example.

Byline: Sandeep Grover, V.P. Agrawal, I.A. Khan The unarguable benefits of Total Quality Management (TQM) are realised through the synergistic, systematic and successful implementation of all the factors affecting it. Extensive literature suggest an infinite number of factors responsible for TQM. The role of people working in and for an organisation has a long-term effect on continuous improvement. The present study is focused on the identification, enumeration and measurement of human resources' contribution to TQM. An attempt has been made to develop a mathematical model for measuring the performance of human resources using a graph theoretic approach. The method is quite flexible as it considers all the factors and the interactions among them. It represents the total contribution of human resources in an organisation in terms of a single numerical index, which can be used to improve, compare and rank organisations in terms of TQM culture. This methodology would equally be useful for HRD departments for carrying out SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis of human resources.

The paper presents a methodology (suitable for flexible manufacturing systems) for the evaluation and selection of an optimum gripper, either at the time of changing over from one job to another in the completely automated industry, or at the time of purchase of grippers and robots from the world market. The method is based on a multiple attribute decision-making approach called 'TOPSIS' which is suitable for computer programming. Pertinent attributes have been identified. A comprehensive classification and coding scheme for grippers is developed. The selection procedure has been illustrated with the help of an example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]