Anthropometric, metabolic, and dietary fatty acids characteristics in lean and obese dyslipidemic Asian Indian women in Calcutta

BACKGROUND: The precise etiology and mechanisms leading to the development of increasing incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD) in Asian Indians remains incompletely understood. There is evidence that women in this population may have comparatively greater risk factors (e.g., dyslipidemia) for CHD than men. OBJECTIVE: To determine how dietary fatty acids composition could be used to identify Asian Indian women who are at greater risk of obesity and dyslipidemia. METHODS: The present cross-sectional study comprised of 130 (Group I: lean control, n=40; Group II: lean dyslipidemic, n=45; and Group III: obese dyslipidemic, n=45) Asian Indian women (> or =30 years) living in Calcutta, India and the surrounding suburbs. Anthropometric measures, lipoproteins, plasma glucose, and intake of dietary fatty acids were obtained from each participant. Obesity measures were subsequently calculated from anthropometric measures. Conversion of foods into nutrients was done according to standard nutritive values of Indian foods. RESULTS: ANOVA with Duncan's post-hoc test revealed significant group differences for anthropometric measures, lipids profiles, blood glucose, and dietary fatty acids. Pearson's partial correlations (controlling for age) also revealed that central obesity measure had a significant association with dietary fatty acids and their ratios. Discriminant function analysis revealed that overall, 80% of all entries were positively (correctly) classified in three groups using fatty acids and their ratios. CONCLUSIONS: Dietary fatty acids composition is related to indicators of obesity. The recent shift in dietary habits may have caused an increase in the prevalence of obesity and dyslipidemia in this region.     

Subcooled boiling oscillations in natural circulation boiling loop at low pressure

Flow instabilities in a natural circulation boiling loop at a low pressure are reported. The oscillations at boiling incipience are primarily chaotic and bifurcate to quasiperiodic ones depending on inlet subcooling ΔT_sub and heater power Q. They also strongly depend on water volume Φ in the loop. We have presented power spectrums, attractor reconstructions, and Hurst exponents for the analysis of the experimental data. The analysis shows that the primary oscillations are very similar to geysering instability. Chaotic oscillations occur at low ΔT_sub or high Q, whereas quasiperiodic oscillations occur at high ΔT_sub or low Q. Our experiments also suggest that wall superheat exceeding a critical value triggers the instability. © 2013 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 60: 375–386, 2014     

Error propagation of the track model and track fitting strategy for the Iron CALorimeter detector in India-based neutrino observatory

A Kalman filter package has been developed for reconstructing muon (μ^±)$\left({\mu }^{\pm }\right)$ tracks (coming from the neutrino interactions) in ICAL detector. Here, we describe the algorithm of muon track fitting, with emphasis on the error propagation of the elements of Kalman state vector along the muon trajectory through dense materials and inhomogeneous magnetic field. The higher order correction terms are included for reconstructing muon tracks at large zenith angle θ$\theta$ (measured from the perpendicular to the detector planes). The performances of this algorithm and its limitations are discussed.     

Numerical Study of Compressible Mixing Layers Using High-Order WENO Schemes

This paper reports high resolution simulations using fifth-order weighted essentially non-oscillatory (WENO) schemes with a third-order TVD Runge-Kutta method to examine the features of turbulent mixing layers. The implementation of high-order WENO schemes for multi-species non-reacting Navier-Stokes (NS) solver has been validated through selective test problems. A comparative study of performance behavior of different WENO schemes has been made on a 2D spatially-evolving mixing layer interacting with oblique shock. The Bandwidth-optimized WENO scheme with total variation relative limiters is found to be less dissipative than the classical WENO scheme, but prone to exhibit some dispersion errors in relatively coarse meshes. Based on its accuracy and minimum dissipation error, the choice of this scheme has been made for the DNS studies of temporally-evolving mixing layers. The results are found in excellent agreement with the previous experimental and DNS data. The effect of density ratio is further investigated, reflecting earlier findings of the mixing growth-rate reduction.     

Wide Voltage Input Receiver with Hysteresis Characteristic to Reduce Input Signal Noise Effect

In this paper, an input receiver with a hysteresis characteristic that can work at voltage levels between 0.9 V and 5 V is proposed. The input receiver can be used as a wide voltage range Schmitt trigger also. At the same time, reliable circuit operation is ensured. According to the research findings, this is the first time a wide voltage range Schmitt trigger is being reported. The proposed circuit is compared with previously reported input receivers, and it is shown that the circuit has better noise immunity. The proposed input receiver ends the need for a separate Schmitt trigger and input buffer. The frequency of operation is also higher than that of the previously reported receiver. The circuit is simulated using HSPICE at 0.35‐μm standard thin oxide technology. Monte Carlo analysis is conducted at different process conditions, showing that the proposed circuit works well for different process conditions at different voltage levels of operation. A noise impulse of (V_CC/2) magnitude is added to the input voltage to show that the receiver receives the correct logic level even in the presence of noise. Here, V_CC is the fixed voltage supply of 3.3 V.     

Volume holographic imaging in transmission geometry

We address the performance of transmission geometry volume holograms as depth-selective imaging elements. We consider two simple implementations using holograms recorded with spherical and plane beams. We derive the point-spread function (PSF) of these systems using volume diffraction theory and use the PSF to estimate depth resolution. Furthermore, we show that appropriately designed objective optics can significantly improve the depth resolution or the working distance of plane-wave reference holographic imaging systems. These results are confirmed experimentally and demonstrated for objects with millimeter axial features, imaged from the 5- to 50-cm range.