James Annesley of Madras Medical Service (1800-1838) on cholera in Madras Presidency in 1825

James Annesley from Ireland spent nearly four decades in Madras, first as an assistant and later as a senior surgeon attached to the Madras Medical Establishment. During this span of service he published the book in 1825 on the most prevalent diseases of India comprising a treatise on the epidemic cholera of the East. This paper recounts the epidemiology of cholera and the efforts made to manage it in the Madras Presidency in the 1820s, keeping in view the life of Annesley and the contents of his book

PDF/A-3u as an archival format for Accessible mathematics

Including LaTeX source of mathematical expressions, within the PDF document of a text-book or research paper, has definite benefits regarding `Accessibility' considerations. Here we describe three ways in which this can be done, fully compatibly with international standards ISO 32000, ISO 19005-3, and the forthcoming ISO 32000-2 (PDF 2.0). Two methods use embedded files, also known as `attachments', holding information in either LaTeX or MathML formats, but use different PDF structures to relate these attachments to regions of the document window. One uses structure, so is applicable to a fully `Tagged PDF' context, while the other uses /AF tagging of the relevant content. The third method requires no tagging at all, instead including the source coding as the /ActualText replacement of a so-called `fake space'. Information provided this way is extracted via simple Select/Copy/Paste actions, and is available to existing screen-reading software and assistive technologies.Comment: This is a post-print version of original in volume: S.M. Watt et al. (Eds.): CICM 2014, LNAI 8543, pp.184-199, 2014; available at http://link.springer.com/search?query=LNAI+8543, along with supplementary PDF. This version, with supplement as attachment, is enriched to validate as PDF/A-3u modulo an error in white-space handling in the pdfTeX version used to generate i

A new Raman technique of superior spectral resolution

Raman-active vibrational modes are coherently excited by the transient stimulated Raman process. A subsequent delayed probe of relatively long duration interacts with the freely relaxing vibrations. Raman spectra are generated with higher resolution and more accurate peak positions than in conventional Raman spectroscopy. In liquid cyclohexane four new Raman lines were readily detected in the frequency range 2870–2920 cm−1

Horizon Tunneling Revisited: The Case of Higher Dimensional Black Holes

We study the tunneling of massless scalars across black hole horizons in any number of spacetime dimensions greater than three. Our analysis finds that corrections due to backreaction and the inverse dimensional expansion are naturally concomitant, and furnishes a simple proof of the classic relation between entropy and area in all spacetime dimensions, finite or infinite. We conclude with a discussion of the limit in which the the number of spacetime dimensions is taken to infinity, where we find that thermodynamic quantities are related to the "thickness" of the membrane on which all the curvature is localized.Comment: 22 page

Time-Encoded Raman: Fiber-based, hyperspectral, broadband stimulated Raman microscopy

Raman sensing and Raman microscopy are amongst the most specific optical technologies to identify the chemical compounds of unknown samples, and to enable label-free biomedical imaging with molecular contrast. However, the high cost and complexity, low speed, and incomplete spectral information provided by current technology are major challenges preventing more widespread application of Raman systems. To overcome these limitations, we developed a new method for stimulated Raman spectroscopy and Raman imaging using continuous wave (CW), rapidly wavelength swept lasers. Our all-fiber, time-encoded Raman (TICO-Raman) setup uses a Fourier Domain Mode Locked (FDML) laser source to achieve a unique combination of high speed, broad spectral coverage (750 cm-1 - 3150 cm-1) and high resolution (0.5 cm-1). The Raman information is directly encoded and acquired in time. We demonstrate quantitative chemical analysis of a solvent mixture and hyperspectral Raman microscopy with molecular contrast of plant cells.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure

Body Image Perception: Adolescent Boys and Avatar Depiction in Video Games

Research on mass media’s impact on body image has mostly been focused on females thus far. Of the little research that has been done on male body image, most of it has been focused on adult males, and therefore the effect of mass media on adolescent boys’ body image is still a relatively primitive field of knowledge. Through comparing the exposure of adolescent boys to muscular avatars in popular video games, a source of mass media that a majority of adolescent boys are exposed to, and relating it to research done on the effects of frequent ideal image exposure through other forms of mass media on males, the influence of video games on the body image of adolescent boys can be determined. This study consisted of several factors: (1) understanding the impact of constantly viewing ideal images in mass media on males’ perceptions of their own bodies, (2) reviewing the body types of the male avatars in several modern, popular video games played by adolescent boys, (3) relating the exposure of video game avatars on adolescent boys’ views of their own physiques, and (4) examining the implications of negative body image on adolescent boys’ eating and exercise strategies. Although video game avatars tend to have a slightly different body shape than those presented in most types of mass media, their unifying trait of naturally unattainable muscularity resulted a reaction among adolescent boys that was similar to that of adult males with regard to mesomorphic (muscular, V-shaped) body types in mass media. This resulting negative body image can lead to psychological disorders such as depression or such physical disorders as anabolic steroid usage, unnatural dieting, and excessive exercising

High index contrast photonic platforms for on-chip Raman spectroscopy

Nanophotonic waveguide enhanced Raman spectroscopy (NWERS) is a sensing technique that uses a highly confined waveguide mode to excite and collect the Raman scattered signal from molecules in close vicinity of the waveguide. The most important parameters defining the figure of merit of an NWERS sensor include its ability to collect the Raman signal from an analyte, i.e. "the Raman conversion efficiency" and the amount of "Raman background" generated from the guiding material. Here, we compare different photonic integrated circuit (PIC) platforms capable of on-chip Raman sensing in terms of the aforementioned parameters. Among the four photonic platforms under study, tantalum oxide and silicon nitride waveguides exhibit high signal collection efficiency and low Raman background. In contrast, the performance of titania and alumina waveguides suffers from a strong Raman background and a weak signal collection efficiency, respectively