Regge Trajectories of Tetraquarks and Pentaquarks with Massive Quarks in the Flux Tube Model

In recent years, many tetraquarks and pentaquarks have been discovered by various experimental groups and X(3872), Zc(3900), X(4430), P + c (4312), P + c (4457) are some of the interesting observed tetraquark and pentaquark states. The Regge trajectories of some such states are studied in view of the flux tube model of hadrons with finite quark masses. The effect of flux tube (or string) length variation on the Regge trajectories of these sates is analysed in detail. It is observed that for a fixed angular momentum, the string length has a constant value. Some other states are also proposed and the results obtained are then compared with the studies by others. Our findings correspond rather well with those of other researchers and with those of the experiment.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, Published in IJMP

STUDIES ON CROSS-LINKED CHITOSAN HYDROGEL FOR MATRIX TABLETS OF MONTELUKAST SODIUM

Objective: The aim of the present study was to prepare hydrogel matrix tablets for controlled release of an anti-asthma drug (Montelukast sodium) by modifying the applications of chitosan by crosslinking it with the different cross linking agent.Methods: The hydrogels were prepared by crosslinking chitosan using three different crosslinking agents namely, anhydrous dextrose (DXT), sodium tripolyphosphate (TPP) and glutaraldehyde (GL). Formulations were prepared by direct compression method and pre and post compression parameters were evaluated.Results: FTIR (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy) studies of tablet formulation indicated that there is no drug-excipient interaction in the prepared formulations. The matrix tablets were capable of releasing the drug for 11 h depending upon the formulation variables. The tablets prepared by plain chitosan discharged the drug quickly, while those prepared by using GL crosslinked-hydrogel released the drug more slowly in a controlled manner. In general, the order of drug release from the crosslinked hydrogel matrix tablets on the basis of crosslinking agents, was found to be DXT>TPP>GL. The type of cross-linking agents affected the drug release rate and in the case of the tablets prepared with CHTPP (95 % to 83 %) it was slower than for the tablets prepared with CHDX (96 % to 88 %) at the end of 11th h. CHGL tablets showed more prolonged drug release profiles (86 % to 74 %) as compared to CHDX and CHTPP at the end of 11th h. In vitro release data was fitted into various release kinetic models to study the release mechanism and showed zero order kinetics and n†value were found to be less than 0.5 indicated the release mechanism followed fickian diffusion due to swelling of gel matrix and high solubility of montelukast sodium.Conclusion: From the experimental results it can be concluded that hydrogels of chitosan were successfully prepared by using DXT, TPP and GL with different concentration

Supply Chain Infrastructure Restoration Calculator Software Tool -- Developer Guide and User Manual

This report describes a software tool that calculates costs associated with the reconstruction of supply chain interdependent critical infrastructure in the advent of a catastrophic failure by either outside forces (extreme events) or internal forces (fatigue). This tool fills a gap between search and recover strategies of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (or FEMA) and construction techniques under full recovery. In addition to overall construction costs, the tool calculates reconstruction needs in terms of personnel and their required support. From these estimates, total costs (or the cost of each element to be restored) can be calculated. Estimates are based upon historic reconstruction data, although decision managers do have the choice of entering their own input data to tailor the results to a local area

RP-HPLC METHOD DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF ASIATIC ACID ISOLATED FROM THE PLANT CENTELLA ASIATICA.

Objective: Asiatic acid is a triterpene saponin and the main constituent of the species Centellaasiatica. The current study aimed to isolate, characterize and develop an analytical method for asiatic acid in the shorter run time with good efficiency. Methods: In this study isolation of asiatic acid was achieved by TLC and thus isolated asiatic acid was characterized by 1HNMR spectral analysis and LCMS. An isocratic RP-HPLC method was established for the assessment of asiatic acid from the methanol extract of Centellaasiatica. The chromatographic separations were achieved by RP-C18 column 250x4.6 mm (5µ Particle size) Shimadzu UFLC pump LC 20AD and mobile phase composed of 0.1% orthophosphoric acid: acetonitrile (50:50). The analysis of column effluents was achieved using a PDA detector (Photo Diode Array) at 210 nm, and the flow rate was recorded 1 ml/min. Results: Soxhlet extraction process followed by fractional extraction using different solvents was performed. Methnol extract was taken to isolate asiatic acid by TLC (RF 0.97) and base peak from mass spectra was found to be 489M+which was confirmed successful isolation. Retention time of asiatic acid was found to be 9.6±0.22 min. This method obeyed linearity over the concentration range of 10-50µg/ml and regression coefficient was obtained from the alinearity plot for asiatic acid which was found to be 0.9987 LoD and LoQ were obtained to be 0.784507µg/ml and 2.615µg/ml respectively. RSD of mean assay values was found to be 1.02%. Since there were no marked changes in the performance characteristics of the method. Conclusion: Isolation, characterization and identification of asiatic acid were achieved significantly which will be useful for the standardization of herbal formulation containing asiatic acid

GeoBoids: A Mobile AR Application for Exergaming

“© © 2012 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.”We have designed a mobile Augmented Reality (AR) game which incorporates video see-through and spatialized audio AR techniques and encourages player movement in the real world. In the game, called GeoBoids, the player is surrounded by flocks of virtual creatures that are visible and audible through mobile AR application. The goal is for the player to run to the location of a GeoBoid swarm in the real world, capture all the creatures there, then run to the next swarm and repeat, before time runs out, encouraging the player to exercise during game play. The most novel elements of the game are the use of audio input and output for interacting with the creatures. The interface design of the game includes AR visualization, spatialized audio, touch gestures and whistle interaction. Feedback from users in a preliminary user study was mostly positive on overall game play and the design of the UI, while the results also revealed improvements were needed for whistle interaction and the visual design of the GeoBoids

Preliminary study on the length-weight relationship of Sacura boulengeri (Heemstra, 1973) from Indian waters

Sacura boulengeri (Heemstra, 1973) is a rare serranid fish (Subfamily: Anthiinae) having very distinct distribution in the western Indian Ocean. The rarity of the species is evident from earlier reports and, so far, no related studies on the species have been published except on taxonomy and distributional records. In the present investigation, the length-weight relationship of Sacura boulengeri was estimated to be W = 0.0777 × L2.690 (with 95% confidence intervals for b and r2). An analysis of the stomach contents revealed that sergestid shrimps and copepods were the major food items of the diet

First record of the Garman's lanternfish Diaphus garmani (Family: Myctophidae) from Indian waters

The myctophid Diaphus garmani is recorded for the first time from Indian waters. Three specimens (54-59 mm standard length) were collected from deep sea shrimp trawlers off Quilon, southwest coast of India, between 80 -110 N and 740-760 E, at depths from 250 to 450 m

Lanternfishes (Myctophids): by-catch of deepsea shrimp trawlers operated off Kollam, south-west coast of India

By-catch and discards have received a great deal of scientific attention, their minimisation being a goal of marine fisheries management (Powers, 2006). The Nordic workshop (Nordic Council of Ministers, 2003) defined by-catch as “the proportion of the catch which is taken on the board, or brought to the surface by the vessel and which is subsequently thrown back to sea, dead or dying or likely to die”. Most of the earlier studies deal with optimisation of fishing efficiency and minimisation of fishing impact, but by-catch and discards data have rarely been used to learn about the distribution, abundance and biology of the incidental species being caught, although several recent studies have indicated the informative value of by-catch concerning food habits (Koen Alonso et al., 2001), feeding ecology (Rheeder and Sauer, 1998) and recruitment indices (Payne et al., 2005)