PONDER - A Real time software backend for pulsar and IPS observations at the Ooty Radio Telescope

This paper describes a new real-time versatile backend, the Pulsar Ooty Radio Telescope New Digital Efficient Receiver (PONDER), which has been designed to operate along with the legacy analog system of the Ooty Radio Telescope (ORT). PONDER makes use of the current state of the art computing hardware, a Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) and sufficiently large disk storage to support high time resolution real-time data of pulsar observations, obtained by coherent dedispersion over a bandpass of 16 MHz. Four different modes for pulsar observations are implemented in PONDER to provide standard reduced data products, such as time-stamped integrated profiles and dedispersed time series, allowing faster avenues to scientific results for a variety of pulsar studies. Additionally, PONDER also supports general modes of interplanetary scintillation (IPS) measurements and very long baseline interferometry data recording. The IPS mode yields a single polarisation correlated time series of solar wind scintillation over a bandwidth of about four times larger (16 MHz) than that of the legacy system as well as its fluctuation spectrum with high temporal and frequency resolutions. The key point is that all the above modes operate in real time. This paper presents the design aspects of PONDER and outlines the design methodology for future similar backends. It also explains the principal operations of PONDER, illustrates its capabilities for a variety of pulsar and IPS observations and demonstrates its usefulness for a variety of astrophysical studies using the high sensitivity of the ORT.Comment: 25 pages, 14 figures, Accepted by Experimental Astronom

A questionnaire-based study to assess the knowledge, attitude and behaviour about leprosy among paramedical staff in a tertiary care hospital in Chennai

Background: The paramedical staff has an important part in the management of leprosy patients. They have a role in counselling, wound management, performing investigations etc. This study aimed at assessing the knowledge, attitude and behaviour of paramedical workers in a tertiary care hospital in Chennai.Methods: This cross-sectional study comprised of 100 paramedical workers of which 41 were males and 59 were females. Following classes of workers were included: nursing staff, auxiliary nursing midwives, ASHA workers, laboratory technicians, pharmacists and allied medical workers. Of these, the nursing staff comprised of the highest proportion (44%). The paramedical workers were given a questionnaire consisting of their demographic profile and further 32 questions to assess knowledge, attitude and behaviour towards leprosy. The data hence obtained over a period of 1 month was later systematically analysed.Results: The knowledge of paramedical workers was considered sufficient in the nursing staff, ANM and ASHA workers. It was consistently found that those workers who had some experience in the field of leprosy (39%) showed good level of knowledge, while others had a scope for improvement. The paramedical workers’ attitudes and behaviour were deemed to be overall appropriate, while there is a clear need to improve outreach initiatives in order to properly train them.Conclusions: The training of paramedical workers in leprosy should be prioritised. They are the initial point of contact for patients. There should be a greater emphasis on raising awareness and providing accurate information about the disease

Scanning optical homodyne detection of high-frequency picoscale resonances in cantilever and tuning fork sensors

Higher harmonic modes in nanoscale silicon cantilevers and microscale quartz tuning forks are detected and characterized using a custom scanning optical homodyne interferometer. Capable of both mass and force sensing, these resonators exhibit high-frequency harmonic motion content with picometer-scale amplitudes detected in a 2.5 MHz bandwidth, driven by ambient thermal radiation. Quartz tuning forks additionally display both in-plane and out-of-plane harmonics. The first six electronically detected resonances are matched to optically detected and mapped fork eigenmodes. Mass sensing experiments utilizing higher tuning fork modes indicate >6x sensitivity enhancement over fundamental mode operation.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Applied Physics Letter