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Modeling and kinematic analysis are crucial jobs in robotics that entail identifying the position of the robot’s joints in order to accomplish particular tasks. This article uses an algebraic approach to model the kinematics of a serial link, 5 degrees of freedom (DOF) manipulator. The analytical method is compared to an optimization strategy known as sequential least squares programming (SLSQP). Using an Intel RealSense 3D camera, the colored object is picked up and placed using vision-based technology, and the pixel location of the object is translated into robot coordinates. The LOBOT LX15D serial bus servo controller was used to transmit these coordinates to the robotic arm. Python3 programming language was used throughout the entire analysis. The findings demonstrated that both analytical and optimized inverse kinematic solutions correctly identified colored objects and positioned them in their appropriate goal points.

OBJECTIVES Targeted deworming is the current strategy for control of morbidity associated with soil-transmitted helminths (STH) among at-risk populations: preschool-aged children, school-aged children and women of childbearing age. We report the prevalence and intensity of STH in a district after lymphatic filariasis (LF) mass drug administration (MDA) in southern India where albendazole was co-administered from 2001. METHODS Children aged 2 to 15 years and adults (defined as ≥15 years) in a rural administrative block of Tamil Nadu were recruited using a probability proportional to size method. Stool samples were screened and eggs per gram (EPG) determined by Kato-Katz method. Multilevel logistic regression (MLR) and multilevel negative binomial regression (MNBR) analyses were used to identify factors associated with infection and intensity, respectively. RESULTS Of 862 participants who provided samples, 60 (7.0%; 95% confidence interval (CI): 5.3-8.7) were positive for STH with a predominance of hookworm infections (n = 57, 6.6%; 95% CI: 5.0-8.3). Increasing age (odds ratio (OR): 1.09; 95% CI: 1.04-1.15) and regular usage of the toilet (OR: 0.32; 95% CI: 0.12-0.88) were independently associated with hookworm infection and age was significantly associated with increasing intensity of hookworm infection (infection intensity ratio (IIR): 1.28; 95% CI: 1.19-1.37). A brief review of STH prevalence in endemic settings before and after the stoppage of LF MDA indicated that, in most settings, a substantial reduction in STH prevalence is seen. CONCLUSION Community-wide MDA in all age groups in these post-LF MDA districts with low prevalence and light intensity infections could result in transmission interruption of STH.

Background Lack of robust data on economic burden due to enteric fever in India has made decision making on typhoid vaccination a challenge. Surveillance for Enteric Fever network was established to address gaps in typhoid disease and economic burden. Methods Patients hospitalized with blood culture-confirmed enteric fever and nontraumatic ileal perforation were identified at 14 hospitals. These sites represent urban referral hospitals (tier 3) and smaller hospitals in urban slums, remote rural, and tribal settings (tier 2). Cost of illness and productivity loss data from onset to 28 days after discharge from hospital were collected using a structured questionnaire. The direct and indirect costs of an illness episode were analyzed by type of setting. Results In total, 274 patients from tier 2 surveillance, 891 patients from tier 3 surveillance, and 110 ileal perforation patients provided the cost of illness data. The mean direct cost of severe enteric fever was US$119.1 (95% confidence interval [CI], US$85.8–152.4) in tier 2 and US$405.7 (95% CI, 366.9–444.4) in tier 3; 16.9% of patients in tier 3 experienced catastrophic expenditure. Conclusions The cost of treating enteric fever is considerable and likely to increase with emerging antimicrobial resistance. Equitable preventive strategies are urgently needed.

Background Early childhood home environment is intricately linked to child development and later cognitive and academic skills. There is limited literature evaluating home environmental trends and predictors in the low- and middle-income country settings. Aims Determine the trends of early childhood home environment changes between 6 and 36 months of age, and the factors associated with these changes. Study design Longitudinal community-based birth cohort follow-up study in a semi-urban slum in Vellore, South India. Subjects Consecutive sampling of a birth cohort between March 2010 and February 2012. Outcome measures Home environment was objectively assessed using the 'Home Observation for the Measurement of the Environment' (HOME) scale. Predictors of change in the home environment over time also were analyzed. Multivariable linear regression models and linear mixed effect models were used to identify the factors associated with HOME score at individual time points and over-a-time period, respectively. Results The birth cohort enrolled 251 children with a follow-up of 235, 228 and 218 children at 6, 24 and 36 months, respectively. The socio-economic status (SES) was the single biggest predictor for the HOME score at each time point, with increasing strength over time. Maternal education predicted home environment at 24 months, while maternal depression was negatively associated at 6 and 24 months of age. SES and maternal factors contributed to the overall change in the HOME score. Maternal factors predicted relational home environmental change over time. Conclusion SES and maternal factors consistently predicted early childhood home environment at 6, 24 and 36 months of age and its change over time. It is important to support maternal education and wellbeing along with socio-economic measures to optimize early childhood environment.

Objective:Early childhood factors can have persisting effects on development and cognition in children. We propose to explore the trends of Fe deficiency and Pb toxicity in early childhood and their association with child development at 2 years of age and cognition at 5 years.Design:Longitudinal birth cohort study.Setting:Urban slum, Vellore, India.Participants:Children enrolled at birth were followed up regularly in the first 2 years with developmental and cognitive assessments at 2 and 5 years of age, respectively.Results:The birth cohort enrolled 251 children with 228 children followed up at 2 years and 212 at 5 years of age. Fe deficiency (ID) was highest at 15 months of age and improved subsequently at 24 months. Blood Pb levels (BLL) remained high at all age groups with an increasing trend with age; 97 % at 36 months having high BLL. Persistent high mean BLL at 15 and 24 months had negative association with both cognition and expressive language raw scores of 24 months, while high mean BLL at 15, 24 and 36 months had no significant association with any of the domains of cognition at 5 years of age. Early childhood cumulative body Fe status at 7, 15 and 24 months did not show any association with child development at 2 years, but was associated with verbal, performance and processing speed components of cognition at 5 years.Conclusions:Optimising body Fe status and limiting Pb exposure in early childhood can augment child development and school entry cognition.

Background Typhoid fever remains a major public health problem in India. Recently, the Surveillance for Enteric Fever in India program completed a multisite surveillance study. However, data on subnational variation in typhoid fever are needed to guide the introduction of the new typhoid conjugate vaccine in India. Methods We applied a geospatial statistical model to estimate typhoid fever incidence across India, using data from 4 cohort studies and 6 hybrid surveillance sites from October 2017 to March 2020. We collected geocoded data from the Demographic and Health Survey in India as predictors of typhoid fever incidence. We used a log linear regression model to predict a primary outcome of typhoid incidence. Results We estimated a national incidence of typhoid fever in India of 360 cases (95% confidence interval [CI], 297–494) per 100 000 person-years, with an annual estimate of 4.5 million cases (95% CI, 3.7–6.1 million) and 8930 deaths (95% CI, 7360–12 260), assuming a 0.2% case-fatality rate. We found substantial geographic variation of typhoid incidence across the country, with higher incidence in southwestern states and urban centers in the north. Conclusions There is a large burden of typhoid fever in India with substantial heterogeneity across the country, with higher burden in urban centers.

Background Lack of reliable data in India drove the “Surveillance of Enteric Fever in India” (SEFI) concept. Hybrid surveillance, combining facility-based surveillance for the crude incidence, and a community-based healthcare utilization survey (HCUS) to calculate the factor needed to arrive at the adjusted incidence, was used in 6 sites. The HCUS aimed to determine the percentage of utilization of study facilities by the catchment population for hospitalizations due to febrile illness. Methods Population proportional to size sampling and systematic random sampling, in 2 stages, were used to survey 5000 households per site. Healthcare utilization was assessed. Results Febrile illness accounted for 20% of admissions among 137 990 individuals from 30 308 households. Only 9.6%–38.3% of those admitted with febrile illness sought care in the study hospitals. The rate of rural utilization of the private sector for hospitalization was 67.6%. The rate of hospitalization for febrile illness, per 1000 population, ranged from 2.6 in Manali to 9.6 in Anantapur; for 25.8% of the deaths associated with febrile illness, no facility was used before death. Conclusions One in 5 hospitalizations were associated with fever. Rural utilization of the private sector for hospitalization due to febrile illness was more than that of the public sector. Healthcare utilization patterns for hospital admissions due to febrile illness varied across sites. A meticulously performed HCUS is pivotal for accurate incidence estimation in a hybrid surveillance. Clinical Trials Registration ISRCTN72938224.

Background Blood culture, despite low sensitivity, is the gold standard for enteric fever diagnosis. Understanding predictors of blood culture positivity may help design strategies to optimize enteric fever diagnosis. Methods A cohort of 6760 children aged 0.5–15 years was followed for 3 years for enteric fever with blood cultures in an automated system, for fevers >3 days. Factors affecting test positivity in fevers and participant-level predictors for culture refusals were analyzed using regression models. Results Overall, 6097 suspected typhoid/paratyphoid fever (STF) episodes were reported, of which 5703 (93.5%) STFs had sampling for blood cultures, with 394 (6.5%) refusals. Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi/Paratyphi positivity was culture-confirmed in 3.8% (218/5703) of STF episodes. Older children (odds ratio [OR], 1.96 [95% CI, 1.39–2.77]), larger blood volume inoculated (OR, 2.82 [95% CI, 1.71–4.66]), higher temperatures during fever (OR, 3.77 [95% CI, 2.89–4.91]), and fevers diagnosed as suspected typhoid or acute undifferentiated fever (OR, 6.06 [95% CI, 3.11–11.78]) had a higher probability of culture positivity. Antibiotics before culture did not decrease culture positivity. Blood culture refusals were higher for children from wealthier households or with milder illness. Conclusions Performing blood cultures in older children with fever, especially those fevers with toxic presentation and increasing blood volume for inoculation are strategies to improve enteric fever detection in surveillance settings.

Background Environmental enteric dysfunction (EED) is thought to increase the risk of micronutrient deficiencies, but few studies adjust for dietary intakes and systemic inflammation. Objective We tested whether EED is associated with micronutrient deficiency risk independent of diet and systemic inflammation, and whether it mediates the relation between intake and micronutrient status. Methods Using data from 1283 children in the MAL-ED (Etiology, Risk Factors, and Interactions of Enteric Infections and Malnutrition and the Consequences for Child Health) birth cohort we evaluated the risk of anemia, low retinol, zinc, and ferritin, and high transferrin receptor (TfR) at 15 mo. We characterized gut inflammation and permeability by myeloperoxidase (MPO), neopterin (NEO), and α-1-antitrypsin (AAT) concentrations from asymptomatic fecal samples averaged from 9 to 15 mo, and averaged the lactulose:mannitol ratio z-score (LMZ) at 9 and 15 mo. Nutrient intakes from complementary foods were quantified monthly from 9 to 15 mo and densities were averaged for analyses. α-1-Acid glycoprotein at 15 mo characterized systemic inflammation. Relations between variables were modeled using a Bayesian network. Results A greater risk of anemia was associated with LMZ [1.15 (95% CI: 1.01, 1.31)] and MPO [1.16 (1.01, 1.34)]. A greater risk of low ferritin was associated with AAT [1.19 (1.03, 1.37)] and NEO [1.22 (1.04, 1.44)]. A greater risk of low retinol was associated with LMZ [1.24 (1.08, 1.45)]. However, MPO was associated with a lower risk of high transferrin receptor [0.86 (0.74, 0.98)], NEO with a lower risk of low retinol [0.75 (0.62, 0.89)], and AAT with a lower risk of low plasma zinc [0.83 (0.70, 0.99)]. Greater nutrient intake densities (vitamins A and B6, calcium, protein, and zinc) were negatively associated with EED. Inverse associations between nutrient densities and micronutrient deficiency largely disappeared after adjustment for EED, suggesting that EED mediates these associations. Conclusions EED is independently associated with an increased risk of low ferritin, low retinol, and anemia. Greater nutrient density from complementary foods may reduce EED, and the control of micronutrient deficiencies may require control of EED.

Background Typhoid is known to be heterogenous in time and space, with documented spatiotemporal clustering and hotspots associated with environmental factors. This analysis evaluated spatial clustering of typhoid and modeled incidence rates of typhoid from active surveillance at 4 sites with child cohorts in India. Methods Among approximately 24 000 children aged 0.5–15 years followed for 2 years, typhoid was confirmed by blood culture in all children with fever >3 days. Local hotspots for incident typhoid cases were assessed using SaTScan spatial cluster detection. Incidence of typhoid was modeled with sociodemographic and water, sanitation, and hygiene–related factors in smaller grids using nonspatial and spatial regression analyses. Results Hotspot households for typhoid were identified at Vellore and Kolkata. There were 4 significant SaTScan clusters (P < .05) for typhoid in Vellore. Mean incidence of typhoid was 0.004 per child-year with the highest incidence (0.526 per child-year) in Kolkata. Unsafe water and poor sanitation were positively associated with typhoid in Kolkata and Delhi, whereas drinking untreated water was significantly associated in Vellore (P = .0342) and Delhi (P = .0188). Conclusions Despite decades of efforts to improve water and sanitation by the Indian government, environmental factors continue to influence the incidence of typhoid. Hence, administration of the conjugate vaccine may be essential even as efforts to improve water and sanitation continue.

Table S7. Comparison of baseline characteristics of the children who completed the two-year follow-up with those who were lost-to-follow up. (DOCX 19 kb)

Background Globally, 5.82 million deaths occurred among children under the age of five years in 2015 and injury specific mortality rate was 73 per 100,000 population. In India, injury specific mortality rate is around 2.1 per 1000 live births contributing to 4% of the total under 5 mortality rate. This study aims to estimate the burden and understand factors associated with unintentional injuries among children aged 1–5 years residing in urban slums of Vellore, southern India. We also attempted to assess the hazards posed by the living environment of these children and study their association with unintentional injury patterns. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted in eight urban slums of Vellore, southern India and primary caregivers of children aged 1–5 years were interviewed with a questionnaire to obtain the details of injuries sustained in the past three months. Environmental hazard risk assessment was conducted at places frequented by these children and their scores calculated. Baseline prevalence and incidence rates of unintentional injuries were estimated. Multivariate logistic regression and poisson regression analysis were performed to examine factors associated with unintentional injuries and repeated injuries respectively. Association between environmental hazard risk and unintentional injuries was estimated. Results Prevalence of unintentional injuries was 39.1% (95% CI 35.4–42.9%) and incidence rate was 16.5 (95% CI 14.7–18.3) per 100 child months (N = 662). Bivariate analysis revealed that children of working mothers (OR 1.48; 1.01–2.18) and children from overcrowded families (OR 1.78; 1.22–2.60) had increased odds of sustaining unintentional injuries. Multivariate regression analysis revealed that children from overcrowded families had increased odds of sustaining unintentional injuries (AOR 1.66, 95% CI 1.14–2.41). Boys (IRR 1.33, 95% CI 1.07–1.66) and children from overcrowded families (IRR 1.50; 1.14–1.98) were at increased risk of having repeated injuries. There is an increase in incidence rate of injuries with an increased environmental hazard risk, although not statistically significant. Conclusions The burden of unintentional injuries was very high among study children when compared to studies in other urban slums in India. Environment plays an important role in the epidemiology of unintentional injuries; providing safe play environment and adequate supervision of children is important to reduce its burden. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s40621-018-0170-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

In recent years, there has been an increased prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and depression across the world. This growing public health problem has produced an increasing socioeconomic burden to the populations of all affected countries. Despite an awareness by public health officials and medical researchers of the costs associated with these diseases, there still remain many aspects of how they develop that are not understood. In this article, we propose that the circadian clock could be a factor that coordinates both the neurobehavioral and metabolic processes that underlie depression and T2DM. We propose further that this perspective, one which emphasizes the regulatory effects of clock gene activity, may provide insights into how T2DM and depression interact with one another, and may thus open a new pathway for managing and treating these disorders.

Table S1. Example of calculating environmental hazard score for a subject at one location. Table S2. Distribution of different types of injuries as per gender (DOCX 14Â kb)

TheIndianEtiology,RiskFactorsandInteractionsofEntericInfectionsandMalnutrition andtheConsequenc-es for Child Health and Development (MAL-ED) site is in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, in south India and is coordi-nated by the Christian Medical College, Vellore, which has many years of experience in establishing andfollowingcohorts.Indiaisadiversecountry,andnosingleareacanberepresentativewithregardtomanyhealthand socioeconomic indicators. The site in Vellore is an urban semiorganized settlement or slum. In the studysite, the average family size is 5.7, adults who are gainfully employed are mostly unskilled laborers, and 51% ofthepopulationusesthefieldastheirtoiletfacility.PreviousstudiesfromVelloreslumshavereportedstuntinginwell over a third of children, comparable to national estimates. The infant mortality rate is 38 per 1000 livebirths, with deaths due mainly to perinatal and infectious causes. Rigorous staff training, monitoring, super-vision and refinement of tools have been essential to maintaining the quality of the significantly large quantityof data collected. Establishing a field clinic within the site has minimized inconvenience to participants andresearchers and enabled better rapport with the community and better follow-up. These factors contribute tothe wealth of information that will be generated from the MAL-ED multisite cohort, which will improve ourunderstanding of enteric infections and its interactions with malnutrition and development of young children.Keywords. birth cohort; India; malnutrition; MAL-ED.The Etiology, Risk Factors and Interactions of EntericInfections and Malnutrition and the Consequencesfor Child Health and Development (MAL-ED) Net-work is conducting a multicountry, longitudinal pro-spective cohort study on the etiology, risk factors, andinteractions of enteric infections and malnutrition andthe effects of these factors on child growth, cognitivedevelopment, and vaccine response. The 8 MAL-EDcohort sites are epidemiologically and geographicallydiverse and comprise low-income populations; theyarelocatedinBangladesh,Brazil,India,Nepal,Pakistan,Peru, South Africa, and Tanzania.The strengths of longitudinal studies lie in their abil-ity to document the natural history of outcomes overtime and to elucidate temporal and possibly causal re-lationships among variables. Although expensive, long,and difficult, cohort studies largely overcome the prob-lemsofrecallandcanbeusedtoinvestigatemultipleex-posures and determinants with a low possibility ofselection bias, recall bias, and confounding [1,2].MATERIALS AND METHODSThe2005–2006IndianNationalFamilyHealthSurvey3(NFHS 3), a nationally representative survey, showedthat 48% of Indian children

Fluid power transmission has caught the eye in recent times, in the field of wind turbine technology. The turbine rotor blades tend to yield an aerodynamic torque, which is transformed into a high pressure fluid through a pump. This fluid is utilized to generate speed and torque yet again at the distant end of the circuit. The paramount objective of this research is to obtain a virtually operating dynamic model of a hydraulic powered transmission in a wind turbine, in order to understand its dynamic behaviour and also, to obtain knowledge about the influence of the prime parameters on the wind turbine. To accomplish this task, a virtual hydraulic powered wind turbine system is designed with a power rating of 23KW. The process is virtually simulated on the AUTOMATION STUDIO software (version 6.2). The intelligent control strategy used in the present work is based on fuzzy logic that uses human intelligence for a particular desired outcome. The effectiveness of the recommended controller is contrasted with that of a conventional PID controller in the following paper.

Fluid power transmission for wind turbines is quietly gaining more interest. The aerodynamic torque of the rotor blades is converted into a pressurized fluid flow by means of a positive displacement pump. At the other end of the fluid power circuit, the pressurized flow is converted back to torque and speed by a hydraulic motor. The goal of this paper is to develop a general dynamic model of a fluid power transmission for wind turbines, in order to gain better insight on the dynamic behavior and to explore the influence of the main design parameters. A fluid power transmission is modeled for a wind turbine with 1MW rated power capacity. This mathematical model can be used for simulation of the process using AUTOMATION STUDIO 5.2. Further the model has been approximated as a transfer function model using system identification toolbox available in MATLAB software. Neural network based predictive control (NPC) is applied to the mid-sized hydrostatic wind turbine model for maximizing power capture. The effectiveness of NPC is compared with PI controller.Copyright © 2014 by ASME

Aerodynamics of wind turbine blade is an important field of research. In the present study, a multi stage optimization process has been evaluated on a baseline wind turbine blade. Genetic Algorithms (GAs) are applied as a generative and search procedure to look for optimized design solutions in terms of aerodynamic performance of the airfoil selected for the study. The MatLab Genetic Algorithm toolbox interfaced with Xfoil, an interactive program for the design and analysis of airfoils, was implemented for the profile design optimisation. To analyse the performance of the optimized profile, the ANSYS Fluent toolbox was used to conduct the 3D computational fluid dynamics analysis of a section of the wind turbine blade before and after optimization. The total deformation and Von-Mises stress of the wind turbine blade caused due to Fluid-Structure Interaction is analysed using the ANSYS simulation software.Copyright © 2014 by ASME

To study the burden and associated risk factors for elevated blood lead levels among pre-school children (15–24 months) in urban Vellore, and to study its effects on child cognition and anemia. An investigative study through Mal-ED cohort. Eight adjacent urban slums in Vellore, Tamil Nadu. 251 babies recruited through Mal-ED Network. Blood lead levels using Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry method at 15 and 24 mo; hemoglobin estimation by azidemethemoglobin method; cognitive levels using Bayley Scales of Infant Development III. Around 45% of children at 15 months and 46.4% at 24 months had elevated blood lead levels (>10 μg/dL). Among children who had elevated blood lead levels at 15 months, 69.2% (45/65) continued to have elevated levels at 24 months. After adjusting for potential confounders, children from houses having a piped drinking water supply and houses with mud or clay floors were at significantly higher risk of having elevated blood lead levels at 15 months. Thirty one percent (21/67) of the children with elevated blood lead levels had poor cognitive scores. Children with elevated blood lead levels at 15 months had higher risk (Adjusted OR 1.80; 95% CI 0.80–3.99) of having poorer cognitive scores at 24 months. More than half of the children (57%) were anemic at 15 months of age, and elevated blood lead levels were not significantly associated with anemia. Elevated blood lead levels are common among preschool children living in urban slums of Vellore. Poorer conditions of the living environment are associated with elevated lead levels.

Background Cohort studies conducted in low-income countries generally use trained fieldworkers for collecting data on home visits. In industrialised countries, researchers use less resource intensive methods, such as self-administered structured questionnaires or symptom diaries. This study compared and assessed the reliability of the data on diarrhoea, fever and cough/cold in children as obtained by a pictorial diary maintained by the mother and collected separately by a fieldworker. Methods A sample of 205 children was randomly selected from an ongoing birth cohort study. Pictorial diaries were distributed weekly to mothers of study children who were asked to maintain a record of morbidity for four weeks. We compared the reliability and completeness of the data on diarrhoea, fever and cough/cold obtained by the two methods. Results Of 205 participants, 186 (91%) ever made a record in the diary and 62 (30%) mothers maintained the diary for all 28 days. The prevalence-adjusted bias-adjusted kappa statistics for diarrhoea, fever, cough/cold and for a healthy child were 92%, 79%, 35% and 35% respectively. Conclusion Diary recording was incomplete in the majority of households. When recorded, the morbidity data by the pictorial diary method for acute illnesses were reliable. Strategies are needed to address behavioural factors affecting maternal recording such that field studies can obtain accurate morbidity measurements with limited resources.