Rehabilitation and Preservation of the St. Lourdes Church, Tiruchirappalli

This paper reports the rehabilitation of the historic St. Lourdes Church in Tiruchirappalli, India. The structure is a critical landmark and a significant representation of religious buildings in the area. Inspections of the Gothic style masonry church were completed in 1998, where distress and decay due to water damages were identified and repaired using lime-based materials. A subsequent inspection 10 years later indicated that remains a critical issue. This case study demonstrates the importance of rehabilitation of historic structures using appropriate construction techniques including possible alternative rehabilitation approaches to ensure the preservation of these structures.     

Knowledge base for the systematic design of wet cooling towers. Part I: Selection and tower characteristics

This paper describes part of the detailed methodology for the thermal design of wet, counterflow and crossflow types of mechanical and natural draught cooling towers. Starting with a brief introduction, an attempt is made here to present different steps of cooling tower design. The steps include: selection of a cooling tower; determination of tower characteristic ratio; computation of moist air properties; determination of the ratio of the water-to-air loading; integration procedure for the tower characteristic ratio. The design of a cooling tower needs the use of different logical decisions, empirical relations and assumptions. The choice of a proper tower and its proper design would increase its efficiency and help conserve energy.     

A multiplication-free multialphabet arithmetic code

A recursion for arithmetic codes used for data compression is described which requires no multiplication or division, even in the case of nonbinary alphabets. For this reason, such a code admits a simple and fast hardware implementation. The inputs to the code are, in addition to the symbols to be encoded, either the symbol probabilities or, more simply, the corresponding occurrence counts. Hence, the code is applicable in conjunction with stationary and nonstationary models alike. The code efficiency is typically in the range of 97-99%     

Globus sensation is associated with hypertensive upper esophageal sphincter but not with gastroesophageal reflux

Globus sensation (globus) is best described as a constant feeling of a lump or fullness in the throat. Although the etiology of globus remains unclear, it has been attributed to a hypertensive upper esophageal sphincter (UES) resting pressure and to gastroesophageal reflux (GER). The aim of this study was, therefore, to determine if significant associations existed among globus, UES resting pressure, and GER. We reviewed the records of all patients who had stationary esophageal manometry over a 21/2-year interval with specific attention to symptoms of globus, UES pressures, and ambulatory pH studies. Patients with hypotensive UES (<30 mm Hg) were excluded. Chi square (chi2) test was used to determine significant associations. Six hundred fifty patients had normal UES resting pressures and 101 patients had hypertensive UES (>118 mm Hg). Seventeen of the 650 (3%) (16 women/1 man; mean age: 48, range 32-81 years) with normal UES described globus. Conversely, 28 of the 101 (28%) (15 women/13 men; mean age: 43, range 23-61 years) patients with hypertensive UES described globus. There was a significant association between hypertonicity of the UES and globus (chi2=93.42, P < 0.0001). In patients with normal UES, globus occurred predominantly in females (chi2=6.33, P < 0.01). Twenty-three (16 women/7 men; mean age: 43, range 23-60 years) of the 45 patients with globus had prior ambulatory pH studies. Six of 23 (26%) had GER. Compared to an age-, sex-, and UES-pressure-matched group of 23 patients (16 women/7 men; mean age: 44, range 22-75 years) without globus, nine (39%) had GER, thus showing no significant association of globus with GER (P=0.35). There also was no significant association of GER with normal UES or with hypertensive UES in these patients. In conclusion, there is a significant association between hypertensive UES and globus. The data suggest two possible etiologies: female patients with normal UES pressure potentially having increased afferent sensation and a group with equal sex distribution but abnormally elevated UES resting pressure. This study does not support GER as an etiology of globus.     

Cost-minimization analysis of intravenous adenosine and dipyridamole in thallous chloride TI 201 SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging

This paper deals with two patients with acetaminophen-induced pneumonitis. A 64-year-old woman suffered from mastitis while being treated by corticosteroid therapy for phemphigoid. She was administered antibiotics and acetaminophen. However, her fever continued and she subsequently developed dyspnea and interstitial pneumonia. The other patient, a 70-year-old woman, was treated with corticosteroid for lower motor neuron disease. Anti-GM1-IgM antibodies were positive in her serum. She developed wet cough and mild fever. During treatment with antibiotics and acetaminophen, her illness was complicated by dyspnea and interstital pneumonia. As a result of histological findings of transbronchial lung biopsy specimens showing interstitial infiltration of mononuclear cells, as well as clinical courses in which cessation of acetaminophen directly lead to the improvement of interstitial pneumonia, both patients were diagnosed to have acetaminophen-induced pneumonitis. The peumonitis responded well to steroid therapy. In vitro culture of peripheral lymphocytes showed stimulated proliferation by acetaminophen in both patients. These findings suggest that allergic mechanism was involved in the pathogenesis of the pneumonitis. Underlying immunological disorders may have enhanced the occurrence. Although acetaminophen is one of the most popular drugs because of a very low incidence of side effects, this drug should be applied carefully, especially with patients who have such immunological disorders.     

Spot and color tests for detection ofArgemone mexicana seed oil

The presence of sanguinarine and dihydrosanguinarine alkaloids imparts toxic properties to argemone oil. Since it has been reported to be a common adulterant in mustard and gingili oils, its detection is important. Spot tests have been developed for the detection of adulteration of edible oils with argemone oil. Some inorganic ions and organic substances have been found to be suitable spotting agents. Acidified ceric ammonium nitrate and sodium nitrite solutions develop bright orange color with argemone oil.     

Use of rectal cancer position as a prognostic indicator

The hypothesis of this study was that the position of rectal cancer within the circumference of the rectum influences mortality. Tumor position was prospectively documented in 181 patients with rectal carcinoma by two examiners. The results were analyzed for correlation to survival using the Lifetest model and for multivariate correlation using the Cox regression model. An anterior tumor location was present in 43 patients and was found to have a significantly higher survival rate than other positions. Two-thirds of anterior tumors were of pathologically favorable Dukes' stages. Fifty-five patients had posterior tumors with decreased survival rates, two-thirds of which were of unfavorable stages. Circumferential position in 61 patients was most predictive of poorer outcome, with a relative risk of death being increased by 4.6 times (P = 0.014) and a 5-year survival rate of 68.8 per cent; 85 per cent of these tumors were of pathologically unfavorable stages. The 5-year survival rate for the whole group, which included 181 patients with all histopathological stages except those with distant metastases at presentation, was 78.5 per cent. This ranking of survival rates was found to be consistent in each category with the postoperatively determined Dukes' stage, which carried a prognostic significance of P = 0.0001. We conclude that tumor position is a significant indicator of prognosis available before surgery for rectal cancer.     

Nanoscale heat transfer investigation of an array of impinging jet systems with different working fluids under crossflow with and without pin fins

In the current numerical study, the thermal and flow field performance of an array of confined multiple jets with air, water, and water‐Al₂O₃ nanofluid in the maximum crossflow configuration over the target plate with and without pin fins is investigated. The numerical results are validated with the experimental data; it is found that a reasonable prediction related to heat transfer can be made. For this study, steady‐state Reynolds‐averaged Navier‐Stokes simulations with the shear‐stress transport $k‐\omega$ turbulence model in ANSYS Fluent were performed. The simulations are performed with volumetric concentration $?=0.2\%$ to 3% and the jet's Reynolds number Re = 15 000 to 35 000. In all cases, the jet outlet‐to‐target plate distance $Z/D$ is 3. It is found that the increase in values of the volumetric concentration of nanoparticles results in a decrease of the Nusselt number and an increase of the convective heat transfer coefficient. This is because there is an increase in thermal conductivity of the working fluid with the increase in the volumetric concentration of nanoparticles for the same Reynolds number. About 81.5% and 89.1% enhancement in the average heat transfer flux values is observed for flat and pin fin‐roughened target plates, respectively, for $?=3\%$.     

Chemical Vapor Deposition Growth of Composite Silicon-Silica Nanowires from Silicon Monoxide Vapor

Si/SiO₂ nanowires were synthesized directly by and on silicon substrate surface without the use of a metal catalyst. Since these nanowires grow directly from the silicon substrate, they do not need to be manipulated or aligned for subsequent applications. The obtained nanowires are amorphous with diameters ranging between 50 to 200 nm and few micrometers in length. Parameters like heating temperature, deposition time, and carrier gas flow-rate were found critical in determining the size, structure, growth yield and morphology of the obtained nanowires. FTIR absorption spectra showed high intensity Si–O asymmetric stretching mode and no absorption for Si-Si backbone vibration mode at 620 cm^?1which indicates the non-crystalline nature of grown wires.     

Kinematics and nonlinear control of an electromagnetic actuated CVT system for passenger vehicle

An electromagnetic actuated continuously variable transmission (EMA-CVT) system is developed by two sets of electromagnetic actuators (solenoid) located on primary and secondary pulley. A set of solenoids are attached to the primary and secondary pulley to develop the attraction and repulsive forces. The relationships between the speed ratio and electromagnetic actuation and clamping force and output torque of the CVT are established based on the kinematics of the EMA-CVT system. A fuzzy logic controller (FLC) is developed to control the EMA precisely based on the feedback of the RPM sensor and slope sensor. The EMA-CVT performance with controller has found 28% more than the performance of the EMA-CVT without controller. The solenoids of the EMA were activated by varying the current supply with the Fuzzy-Proportional-Derivative-Integrator (FPID) to maintain the non-linearity of the CVT in response of the vehicle traction torque demand. Result shows that the solenoid is able to pull the plunger in the desired distance with supply current of 12.5 amp while push the plunger to the desired distance with 14.00 amp current supply to the windings when the vehicle is considered in 10% grade. The acceleration time of the ? scale car has been recorded as 5.5 s with the response of drive wheels torque.