Respiratory health problems associated to infrastructural development among residents living near Special Economic Zone in India

A cross-sectional study was undertaken to assess the lung function status of residents living in areas adjacent to Noida Special Economic Zone (NSEZ). The survey included 161 subjects (Bhangal = 79, Bakhtiyarpur = 48, and Hazipur = 34) and 104 subjects from a non-industrial zone. The study showed a significantly high prevalence of lung function impairment (17.7%) amongst residents living adjacent to Special Economic Zone (Bhangal) compared with residents of non-industrial zone. Breathlessness and cough was more prevalent amongst residents of Bhangal. It was found that lung function deficits amongst residents and distance from NSEZ were inversely related. Lung function abnormalities were found to be at maximum in Bhangal at 1-km distance, moderate in Hazipur at 2-km distance and minimum in Bhaktiyarpur at 3-km distance. At all three locations adjacent to NSEZ, particulate matter (PM) concentration showed suspended particulate matter (SPM) and respirable suspended particulate matter (RSPM) above the prescribed limits of national ambient air quality standard; concentration of PM with an aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.5 μm (PM_2.5) and PM with an aerodynamic diameter ≤ 1 μm (PM₁) was also higher than the control area. Construction activities related to infrastructural development and increased vehicular traffic may be responsible for higher concentrations of PM_2.5, PM₁, RSPM and SPM in these areas.     

Effects of Blending a Nonionic and an Anionic Cellulose Ether Polymer on Drug Release from Hydrophilic Matrix Capsules

Blends of hydroxyethylcellulose (HEC) and sodium carboxymethylcellulose (NaCMC) were used to achieve zero order release of chlorpheniramine maleate (CM) from hydrophilic matrix capsules. Dynamic swelling/erosion and response surface measurements were made to provide an insight into the drug release behavior. The drug to total polymer and the HEC to NaCMC ratio influences the rate of drug release. NaCMC appears to influence water uptake and erosion of the matrix mixture. The factors by which zero-order drug release is achieved may include synchronization of the rates of water uptake and polymer erosion even though a constant diffusional pathlength may not be maintained. The combined mixture factorial design presented in this study allows for the characterization and optimization of the drug release profiles.     

Transient modeling of micro-grooved heat pipe

One-dimensional transient model for fluid flow and heat transfer is presented for a micro-grooved heat pipe of any polygonal shape utilizing a macroscopic approach. The coupled non-linear governing equations for the fluid flow, heat and mass transfer are developed based on first principles and are solved simultaneously. The transient behavior for various parameters, e.g. substrate temperature, radius of curvature, liquid velocity, etc. are studied. The effects of the groove dimensions, heat input and Q-profiles on the studied parameters have been evaluated. The steady state profiles for substrate temperature, radius of curvature, liquid velocity etc. have also been generated. The model predicted steady state substrate temperature profile is successfully compared with the experimental results from the previous study. The general nature of the model and the associated parametric study ensure the wide applicability of the model.     

Experimental and Numerical Study of Gas-Liquid Flow in a Sectionalized External-Loop Airlift Reactor

The external loop airlift reactor(EL-ALR) is widely used for gas-liquid reactions. It's advantage of good heat and mass transfer rates compared to conventional bubble column reactors. In the case of fermentation application where a medium is highly viscous and coalescing in nature, internal in riser helps in the improvement of the interfacial area as well as in the reduction of liquid-phase back mixing. The computational fluid dynamic(CFD) as a tool is used to design and scale-up of sectionalized external loop airlift reactor. The present work deals with computational fluid dynamics(CFD) techniques and experimental measurement of a gas hold-up, liquid circulation velocity, liquid axial velocity, Sauter mean bubble diameter over a broad range of superficial gas velocity 0.0024≤U_G≤0.0168 m·s~(-1). The correlation has been made for bubble size distribution with specific power consumption for different plate configurations. The effects of an internal on different mass transfer models have been completed to assess their suitability.The predicted local mass transfer coefficient has been found higher in the sectionalized external loop airlift reactor than the conventional EL-ALR.     

Chemical Properties and Fatty Acid Composition of Thunbergia fragrans Roxb. Seed Oil

The physicochemical and fatty acid compositions of seed oil extracted from Thunbergia fragrans were determined. The oil content, free fatty acids, peroxide value, saponification value and iodine value were 21.70 %, 2.25 % (as oleic acid), 9.6 (mequiv. O₂/kg), 191.71 (mg KOH/g) and 127.84 (g/100 g oil) respectively. The fatty acid profiles of the methyl esters showed the presence of 90.16 % unsaturated fatty acids and 9.84 % saturated fatty acids. Palmitoleic acid, which is usually found in marine foods and is unique in seed oils of botanical origin, was the major component (79.24 %). The oil can also be used in industries for the preparation of liquid soaps, shampoos and alkyd resin.     

Picosecond pulse generation and its simulation in a nonlinear optical mirror mode-locked laser

A nonlinear mirror composed of a lithium triborate crystal and a dichroic output coupler is used to passively mode lock an Nd:YVO4 laser that is pumped by a diode laser array. A mode-locked output power of 3.2 W, a repetition rate of 178 MHz, a pulse width of 8.4 ps, and a beam quality parameter (M2) of 1.27 are obtained at 1064 nm for a pump power of 10.0 W. The numerical simulation for the steady-state pulse width agrees well with the bandwidth-limited value. A double-pass average gain g(ave) is defined by considering the constancy of the output energy. In the simulation g(ave) is kept as a free parameter, and its value required for the bandwidth-limited pulse is found to be 0.047, whereas its calculated value, based on our definition, is 0.057.     

Simulated annealing-based multiobjective algorithms and their application for system reliability

The paper presents five simulated annealing based multiobjective algorithms - SMOSA, UMOSA, PSA, PDMOSA and WMOSA. All of these algorithms aim to find a Pareto set of solutions of a system reliability multiobjective optimization problem in a short time. In each algorithm the solution vector explores its neighborhood in a way similar to that of Classical Simulated Annealing. All the algorithms are problem-specific and if the true Pareto-optimal set has few solutions, UMOSA, SMOSA, PSA and WMOSA work better than PDMOSA. In some cases, PSA works the best. The computational cost is least in the case of the WMOSA algorithm since it does not need to use the penalty function approach to handle the constraints, and is the maximum with PDMOSA since it requires two sets of Pareto solutions.     

Noncausal predictive image codec

The paper describes a lossy image codec that uses a noncausal (or bilateral) prediction model coupled with vector quantization. The noncausal prediction model is an alternative to the causal (or unilateral) model that is commonly used in differential pulse code modulation (DPCM) and other codecs with a predictive component. We show how to obtain a recursive implementation of the noncausal image model without compromising its optimality and how to apply this in coding in much the same way as a causal predictor. We report experimental compression results that demonstrate the superiority of using a noncausal model based predictor over using traditional causal predictors. The codec is shown to produce high-quality compressed images at low bit rates such as 0.375 b/pixel. This quality is contrasted with the degraded images that are produced at the same bit rates by codecs using causal predictors or standard discrete cosine transform/Joint Photographic Experts Group-based (DCT/JPEG-based) algorithms.