Achieving operational excellence for industrial baking ovens

A series of experiments were performed on industrial baking ovens across five confectionery manufacturing sites around the world. The impact of different operating parameters such as air and fuel flowrates, oven temperature, exhaust flowrates and ambient temperature etc., on the product quality and overall oven performance were investigated. The energy flows through the baking oven were modelled using experimentally determined inputs to estimate the reduction in heat losses. A step change in operational efficiency was achieved through the study delivering 8.5% improvement in the oven performance. On average, 92 tonnes/annum of CO2 were saved from each oven. An additional 7% efficiency improvement was observed by integrating the baking oven with a heat recovery technology saving circa £16k in fuel cost annually from a single oven. The observations and learnings from the work are not limited to baking ovens only, but can also be applied to other food manufacturing processes such as frying, broiling, roasting or grilling

Charge density studies of energetic material: RDX

Experimental charge density study has been carried out for Cyclotrimethylene-trinitramine (space group Pbca), an explosive material from a low temperature X-ray diffraction experiment. The electron density was modeled using the Hansen-Coppens multipole model and refined to R=0.032 for 6226 unique observed reflections. The electron density, laplacian and electrostatic potential distributions are reported and discussed, especially, the properties of the bond (3,-1) critical points, which are thought to play a key role in the decomposition of the molecule. From the bond topological analysis of all the bonds, it is observed that the N–N bond is the weakest. The dominating nature of the oxygen atoms was clearly well understood from isosurface electrostatic potential of isolated and symmetrically sitting molecules in the crystal

Effect of yoga and meditation on serum cortisol level in first-year medical students

Background: Yoga is a traditional technique to conserve and purify body, mind and soul. It is a mind-body bridge which involves relaxation, meditation and a set of physical exercises performed in association with breathing. In this new era of evolution, most of the population are depressed or in stress, irrespective of their age and gender.Methods: This study is performed on 1st yr. medical students whose stress level is in higher side due to academic burden. An 55 medical students were selected as participants through counseling and were divided into yoga group (n= 27) and control group (n=28). Their morning serum cortisol level was assessed, and yoga group were instructed to practice yoga (1hr/day for 12 weeks) under supervision of yoga instructor. No such instruction was given to control group.Results: Serum cortisol level is the marker of stress and inflammation. Higher cortisol level means high stress level. Yoga and meditation is documented to reduce stress level in regular practitioners.  Statistical analysis has shown decrease in morning serum cortisol level (572.18±168.03 to 544.98±139.89, 4.8% decrease, P value ˂0.05, significant) in yoga group after study. Control group have shown marked increase in cortisol level (558.89±162.69 to 577.26±254.5, 3.4% increase, P value = 0.74, not significant) after three months of study.Conclusions: This study concludes that practicing Yoga has a significant effect on the reduction of stress and anxiety level in medical students

Combustion Behaviour of Advanced Solid Propellants.

The study reports the effect of incorporation of Al and ammonium perchlorate (AP) individually and in combination with each other on combustion pattern and specific impulse (Isp) of minimum signature propellants. Incorporation of Al obviates the combustion instability problems; however, it has marginal effect on burning rates. The composition containing AP and zirconium silicate combination gives superior performance; however, its Isp is considerably lower than the composition incorporating 9 per cent AP. A combination of 6 per cent Al gave 20 per cent enhancement in burning rate and 12 s increase in Isp as compared to purely nitramine-based composition, cal-val results also reveal increase in energy output on incorporating AP and Al. Hot stage microscopic and propellant combustion studies indicate occurrence of intense decomposition reaction in case of AP-based compositions

Is yoga an effective modality of stress reduction within medical population; a qualitative study within MBBS students of BRD medical college, Gorakhpur

Background: Stress is very common in medical professionals. Stress begins in the first year of medical school and increases with subsequent years of medical life. Stress decreases overall performance and had a multitude of health-related adverse effect. Yoga has been tried as a stress reduction technique in different populations. In present study yoga was performed in the 1st year MBBS students and impact on stress reduction was studied using PSS-10 stress scale.Methods: Study groups, yoga and control contained 26 and 27 subjects respectively. The yoga group practiced selected yogic asana, pranayama, and yoga nidra 1hour daily 6days a week for 3months. Control group kept in touch and allowed their usual activity as before. The PSS-10 scale used to measure the level of stress in both groups pre and post study.Results: There was a highly significant reduction in the PSS-10 Score (stress level) in the yoga group (P Value <0.0001) but there was no significant change in the PSS-10 Score of control group (P Value = 0.2930).Conclusions: Yoga is an effective modality of stress reduction technique in 1st year medical students. Therefore, yoga should be introduced as a part of the curricula in the first year of medical school. This may be taken as the 1st step in implantation of healthy lifestyle in future health care providers

Effect of antihistaminics on amplitude of rabbit gut

Background: The small intestine, like the rest of the gastrointestinal tract, is an intelligent organ. It generates a wide variety of motor patterns to meet motility requirements in different situations. Its basic motor function after a meal is to mix the chyme with exocrine and intestinal secretions, agitate its contents too.Methods: In vitro study is done to explore the effect of 1st generation antihistaminic (chlorpheniramine maleate) and second generation antihistaminic (Fexofenadine) on amplitude of gut motility by isolated rabbit gut preparation on Dale’s Organ bath, part of terminal ileum is used for study. Eight rabbits weighing 2 to 4.5 kg were used for study. The effect of antihistaminic observed that both drugs reduce amplitude.Results: The effect of Chlorpheniramine malete and Fexofenadine on amplitude observed and it found that both decrease the amplitude significantly.Conclusions: This study establishes a correlation between amplitude of gut and effect of antihistaminic suggests that antihistaminic drug both first generation and second generation decreases the amplitude of gut motility with a significant response

Transition Metal Carbohydrazide Nitrates: Burn-rate Modifiers for Propellants

This paper discusses the synthesis and characterisation of cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni) andcopper (Cu) carbohydrazide nitrates. In differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), the complexesexhibited exothermic decomposition indicating their energetic nature. The commencement ofdecomposition was observed at 220 °C for Ni complex, and at 160 °C for Co complex whereasthat of Cu complex occurred at 75 °C. In view of the better thermal stability, Ni and Co complexeswere selected for further study. The activation energy of decomposition of Ni and Co complexeswere found to be 47 kcal/mol and 60 kcal/mol respectively. Impact and friction sensitivity testresults revealed relatively lower vulnerability of carbohydrazide cobalt nitrate. Its incorporationin an ammonium perchlorate (AP)-based composite propellant led to 9-19 per cent enhancementwhereas that of carbohydrazide nickel nitrate resulted in 28-74 per cent enhancement in burningrates in the pressure range 1.9 MPa to 8.8 MPa. Exothermic decomposition of the coordinationcomplexes on propellant surface and involvement of metal at molecular level formed ondecomposition of the complexes in combustion environment of composite propellant may beattributed to the catalytic effect of this class of compounds on the lines of reported literature

On Radiative Weak Annihilation Decays

We discuss a little-studied class of weak decay modes sensitive to only one quark topology at leading order in G_F: M --> m gamma, where M,m are mesons with completely distinct flavor quantum numbers. Specifically, they proceed via the annihilation of the valence quarks through a W and the emission of a single hard photon, and thus provide a clear separation between CKM and strong interaction physics. We survey relevant calculations performed to date, discuss experimental discovery potential, and indicate interesting future directions.Comment: 10 pages LaTeX, includes macros file and 9 .eps figures. Invited talk at RADCOR 2000 (5th Int. Symp. on Radiative Corrections), Carmel, CA, Sept. 200

Risk-Averse Matchings over Uncertain Graph Databases

A large number of applications such as querying sensor networks, and analyzing protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks, rely on mining uncertain graph and hypergraph databases. In this work we study the following problem: given an uncertain, weighted (hyper)graph, how can we efficiently find a (hyper)matching with high expected reward, and low risk? This problem naturally arises in the context of several important applications, such as online dating, kidney exchanges, and team formation. We introduce a novel formulation for finding matchings with maximum expected reward and bounded risk under a general model of uncertain weighted (hyper)graphs that we introduce in this work. Our model generalizes probabilistic models used in prior work, and captures both continuous and discrete probability distributions, thus allowing to handle privacy related applications that inject appropriately distributed noise to (hyper)edge weights. Given that our optimization problem is NP-hard, we turn our attention to designing efficient approximation algorithms. For the case of uncertain weighted graphs, we provide a $\frac{1}{3}$-approximation algorithm, and a $\frac{1}{5}$-approximation algorithm with near optimal run time. For the case of uncertain weighted hypergraphs, we provide a $\Omega(\frac{1}{k})$-approximation algorithm, where $k$ is the rank of the hypergraph (i.e., any hyperedge includes at most $k$ nodes), that runs in almost (modulo log factors) linear time. We complement our theoretical results by testing our approximation algorithms on a wide variety of synthetic experiments, where we observe in a controlled setting interesting findings on the trade-off between reward, and risk. We also provide an application of our formulation for providing recommendations of teams that are likely to collaborate, and have high impact.Comment: 25 page

Low HDL Cholesterol is Associated with Lower Gray Matter Volume in Cognitively Healthy Adults

Dyslipidemia is common in adults and contributes to high rates of cardiovascular disease and may be linked to subsequent neurodegenerative and neurovascular diseases. This study examined whether lower brain volumes and cognition associated with dyslipidemia could be observed in cognitively healthy adults, and whether apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype or family history of Alzheimer's disease (FHAD) alters this effect. T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging was used to examine regional brain gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) in 183 individuals (58.4 ± 8.0 years) using voxel-based morphometry. A non-parametric multiple linear regression model was used to assess the effect of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and non-HDL cholesterol, APOE, and FHAD on regional GM and WM volume. A post hoc analysis was used to assess whether any significant correlations found within the volumetric analysis had an effect on cognition. HDL was positively correlated with GM volume in the bilateral temporal poles, middle temporal gyri, temporo-occipital gyri, and left superior temporal gyrus and parahippocampal region. This effect was independent of APOE and FHAD. A significant association between HDL and the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test was found. Additionally, GM volume within the right middle temporal gyrus, the region most affected by HDL, was significantly associated with the Controlled Oral Word Association Test and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale. These findings suggest that adults with decreased levels of HDL cholesterol may be experiencing cognitive changes and GM reductions in regions associated with neurodegenerative disease and therefore, may be at greater risk for future cognitive decline