Superconducting Bearing Design for Outer Rotor Flywheel Using Lumped Parameter Techniques

This paper describes the application of lumped parameter modeling techniques to designing high temperature superconducting bearings for outer-rotor flywheel energy storage systems. The lumped parameter models decrease computational time by 99% compared to Finite Element Analysis (FEM) without compromising fidelity needed to capture the non-linear and hysteretic force-displacement behavior between a levitated permanent magnet and bulk superconductor. The techniques formulated can be used to quickly evaluate lifting capacity and translational stiffness for a superconducting bearing design. The validity of the modeling approach has been verified by comparing results from FEM studies and experimental tests.Center for Electromechanic

Strengthening Pluralistic Agricultural Information Delivery Systems in India

The study on agricultural information flow has revealed that only 40 per cent farm households access information from one or the other source. The popular information sources among farmers have been reported to be fellow progressive farmers and input dealers, followed by mass media. The public extension system has been found to be accessed by only 5.7 per cent households. Only 4.8 per cent of the small farmers have access to public extension workers as compared to 12.4 per cent of large farmers. The sector-wise study on the type of information, sought has revealed that a majority of the farmers have sought information on seed (32-55%) in the cultivation sector; on health care (26-54 %) in animal husbandry; and on management and marketing (8-46 %) in fisheries. Regarding adoption of information by farmers, input dealers and other progressive farmers have depicted greater influence mainly due to easy and convenient access to these sources. The study has suggested promotion of farmers-led extension and strengthening of public extension services to improve coverage and efficiency of agricultural information delivery systems.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Disease Surveillance Networks Initiative Asia: Final Evaluation

The DSN Initiative was launched in 2007 under the new strategy of the Rockefeller Foundation. The initiative intends:[1] To improve human resources for disease surveillance in developing countries, thus bolstering national capacity to monitor, report, and respond to outbreaks;[2] To support regional networks to promote collaboration in disease surveillance and response across countries; and[3] To build bridges between regional and global monitoring effortsThe purpose of the DSN evaluation in the Mekong region was twofold:[1]To inform the work and strategy of the Foundation, its grantees, and the broader field of disease surveillance, based on the experience of DSN investments in the Mekong region. More specifically, the evaluation will inform future directions and strategies for current areas of DSN Initiative work, particularly in Asia, and will highlight potential new areas of work and strategy; and[2] To provide accountability to the Rockefeller Foundation's board, staff, and stakeholders for the DSN funds spent in the Mekong region

LETTER TO EDITOR: Role of Oxygen-Ozone (O2-O3) Injection in Discogenic Pain

Medical ozone is a mixture of oxygen-ozone (O2-O3) which can be used for several medical applications. Ozone chemonucleolysis by injecting mixture of oxygen-ozone is a minimally invasive technique to treat discogenic pain. Considering invasiveness and possible morbidity with surgery for discogenic pain, minimal invasive techniques are preferred. Ozone chemonucleolysis is currently available such technique which has shown promising result in recent years. It involves injection of ozone gas into the intervertebral disc under fluoroscopic guidance. This article deals with mechanism of action, indications, procedure and side effects of this technique in detail

Quantum phase transition in few-layer NbSe2_2 probed through quantized conductance fluctuations

We present the first observation of dynamically modulated quantum phase transition (QPT) between two distinct charge density wave (CDW) phases in 2-dimensional 2H-NbSe$_2$. There is recent spectroscopic evidence for the presence of these two quantum phases, but its evidence in bulk measurements remained elusive. We studied suspended, ultra-thin \nbse devices fabricated on piezoelectric substrates - with tunable flakes thickness, disorder level and strain. We find a surprising evolution of the conductance fluctuation spectra across the CDW temperature: the conductance fluctuates between two precise values, separated by a quantum of conductance. These quantized fluctuations disappear for disordered and on-substrate devices. With the help of mean-field calculations, these observations can be explained as to arise from dynamical phase transition between the two CDW states. To affirm this idea, we vary the lateral strain across the device via piezoelectric medium and map out the phase diagram near the quantum critical point (QCP). The results resolve a long-standing mystery of the anomalously large spectroscopic gap in NbSe$_2$

Dynamics of unvisited sites in presence of mutually repulsive random walkers

We have considered the persistence of unvisited sites of a lattice, i.e., the probability $S(t)$ that a site remains unvisited till time $t$ in presence of mutually repulsive random walkers. The dynamics of this system has direct correspondence to that of the domain walls in a certain system of Ising spins where the number of domain walls become fixed following a zero termperature quench. Here we get the result that $S(t) \propto \exp(-\alpha t^{\beta})$ where $\beta$ is close to 0.5 and $\alpha$ a function of the density of the walkers $\rho$. The number of persistent sites in presence of independent walkers of density $\rho^\prime$ is known to be $S^\prime (t) = \exp(-2 \sqrt{\frac{2}{\pi}} \rho^\prime t^{1/2})$. We show that a mapping of the interacting walkers' problem to the independent walkers' problem is possible with $\rho^\prime = \rho/(1-\rho)$ provided $\rho^\prime, \rho$ are small. We also discuss some other intricate results obtained in the interacting walkers' case.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figure

The electron electric dipole moment enhancement factors of Rubidium and Caesium atoms

The enhancement factors of the electric dipole moment (EDM) of the ground states of two paramagnetic atoms; rubidium (Rb) and caesium (Cs) which are sensitive to the electron EDM are computed using the relativistic coupled-cluster theory and our results are compared with the available calculations and measurements. The possibility of improving the limit for the electron EDM using the results of our present work is pointed out.Comment: AISAMP7 Conference paper, Accepted in Journal of Physics: Conference Series: 200