ENDOSCOPIC TYPMPANOMASTOID EXPLORATION [FUNCTIONAL ENDOSCOPIC EAR SURGERY-FEES]

Tympano mastoidectomy is usually performed using operating microscope. This study reports a case series of tympanomastoidectomy which was performed using an endoscope.Endoscopic Tympanomastoidectomy for atticoantral type of CSOM is an excellent technique for complete removal of cholesteatoma especially from inaccessible areas of middle ear cleft including facial recess, sinustympani Transmeatal removal of disease from mastoid antrum and even tip cells is possible withendoscopes. Preservation of as much of normal mucosa of the middle ear cleft is possible with thistechnique, which promotes early reaeration of the mastoid cavity leading to better hearing outcome.Soft wall reconstruction has distinctive advantage of short additional time for reconstruction procedures, restoration of self cleaning EAC, early post operative epithelisation of tympanicmembrane and the EAC. Limitation of endoscopic technique: The endoscopic technique of tympanomastoidectomy with softwall reconstruction is not possible in cases with large mastoid cavity and in ears where a thin lateral rim of bony meatal wall (that can support soft wall) is retained, because of extensive disease.Like Functional Endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) for nose, Endoscopes have changed thetreatment concept of atticoantral disease, with complete removal of the disease andpreservation of normal mucosa, that restores the normal physiology of middle ear cleft. Thishas led to the development of new concept of Functional Endoscopic Ear Surgery (FEES) foratticoantral type of CSOM.

R-charged AdS bubble

We construct R-charged adS bubbles in $D =5$, ${\cal N} =8$ supergravity. These bubbles are charecterised by four parameters. The asymptotic boundary of these solutions are deSitter times a circle. By comparing boundary energies, we study the possibility of a transition from certain class of black holes to these bubbles below a critical radius of the boundary circle. We argue that this may occur when four parameters of the bubble satisfy a constraint among themselves.Comment: 7 pages, LaTex, 2 figures, discussed stability of the soln., references added, Journal versio

Employment, Income and Labour Supply Decision of Rural Households : An Economic Analysis of MGNREGS in Tamil Nadu

In India, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGMGNREGS) is one of the major rural development programmes. It provides guaranteed employment to the rural households for 100 days in a year. This paper has attempted to find out the employment status, income and labour supply decision of the participants and non-participants of MGNREGS in Tamil Nadu. It has also studied the household nutritional security of these households. The study has revealed that the number of migrants in the family, number of livestock units owned, and number of person-days employed in agriculture, nonagriculture and MGNREGS are significantly influenced by the household income of the participants and non-participants of MGNREGS. The analysis of household food-security has shown that the expenditure for all commodities, viz. leisure, cereals, pulses, oils, fruits & vegetables, milk, chicken and fish are positive and significant in the case of MGNREGS participants, whereas the expenditure variable is significant only for two commodities, viz. cereals and oils in case of MGNREGS non-participants. It shows that the MGNREGS participants consume more high-value commodities like milk, chicken and fish, as compared to MGNREGS non-participants. The labour supply decision of sample respondents has shown that the elasticity of labour supply with respect to wage rate is more than one in both participants and non-participants of MGNREGS, indicating that an one per cent increase in wage rate increases labour supply by 1.92 per cent and 2.36 per cent, respectively. In addition, as the number of dependents increases, the household increases labour supply to derive additional income to meet the increased household expenditures. An interesting and encouraging observation is that the scheme has reduced the migration of people from rural to urban areas.MGNREGS, employment, income, labour supply, Agricultural and Food Policy, J21, J22, H23, I31,

Efficient nitrogen-vacancy centers' fluorescence excitation and collection from micrometer-sized diamond by a tapered optical fiber

Efficiently excite nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond and collect their fluorescence significantly benefit the fiber-optic-based NV sensors. Here, using a tapered optical fiber (TOF) tip, we significantly improve the efficiency of the laser excitation and fluorescence collection of the NV, thus enhance the sensitivity of the fiber-optic based micron-sized diamond magnetic sensor. Numerical calculation shows that the TOF tip delivers a high numerical aperture (NA) and has a high fluorescence excitation and collection efficiency. Experiments demonstrate that using such TOF tip can obtain up to over 7-fold the fluorescence excitation efficiency and over15-fold the fluorescence collection efficiency of a flat-ended (non-TOF) fiber. Such fluorescence collection enhances the sensitivity of the optical fiber-based diamond NV magnetometer, thus extending its potential application region.Comment: 11 pages, 13 figure

Enhancing fluorescence excitation and collection from the nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond through a micro-concave mirror

We experimentally demonstrate a simple and robust optical fibers based method to achieve simultaneously efficient excitation and fluorescence collection from Nitrogen-Vacancy (NV) defects containing micro-crystalline diamond. We fabricate a suitable micro-concave (MC) mirror that focuses scattered excitation laser light into the diamond located at the focal point of the mirror. At the same instance, the mirror also couples the fluorescence light exiting out of the diamond crystal in the opposite direction of the optical fiber back into the optical fiber within its light acceptance cone. This part of fluorescence would have been otherwise lost from reaching the detector. Our proof-of-principle demonstration achieves a 25 times improvement in fluorescence collection compared to the case of not using any mirrors. The increase in light collection favors getting high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) signals hence offers a practical advantage in fiber-based NV quantum sensors. Additionally, we compacted the NV sensor system by replacing some bulky optical elements in the optical path with a 1x2 fiber optical coupler in our optical system. This reduces the complexity of the system and provides portability and robustness needed for applications like magnetic endoscopy and remote-magnetic sensing.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figure

Supersymmetry Enhancement of D-p-branes and M-branes

We examine the supersymmetry of classical D-brane and M-brane configurations and explain the dependence of Killing spinors on coordinates. We find that one half supersymmetry is broken in the bulk and that supersymmetry near the D-brane horizon is restored for $p\leq 3$, for solutions in the stringy frame, but only for $p=3$ in the10d canonical frame. We study the enhancement for the case of four intersecting D-3-branes in 10 dimensions and the implication of this for the size of the infinite throat of the near horizon geometry in non-compactified theory. We found some indications of universality of near horizon geometries of various intersecting brane configurations.Comment: 18 pages, late

A Rapid Testing Framework for a Mobile Cloud Infrastructure

Abstract—Mobile clouds such as network-connected vehicles and satellite clusters are an emerging class of systems that are extensions to traditional real-time embedded systems: they provide long-term mission platforms made up of dynamic clusters of heterogeneous hardware nodes communicating over ad hoc wireless networks. Besides the inherent complexities entailed by a distributed architecture, developing software and testing these systems is difficult due to a number of other reasons, including the mobile nature of such systems, which can require a model of the physical dynamics of the system for accurate simulation and testing. This paper describes a rapid development and testing framework for a distributed satellite system. Our solutions include a modeling language for configuring and specifying an application’s interaction with the middleware layer, a physics simulator integrated with hardware in the loop to provide the system’s physical dynamics and the integration of a network traffic tool to dynamically vary the network bandwidth based on the physical dynamics. I

Electronic structure of Pr2MnNiO6 from x-ray photoemission, absorption and density functional theory

The electronic structure of double perovskite Pr2MnNiO6 is studied using core x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and x-ray absorption spectroscopy. The 2p x-ray absorption spectra show that Mn and Ni are in 2+ and 4+ states respectively. Using charge transfer multiplet analysis of Ni and Mn 2p XPS spectra, we find charge transfer energies {\Delta} of 3.5 and 2.5 eV for Ni and Mn respectively. The ground state of Ni2+ and Mn4+ reveal a higher d electron count of 8.21 and 3.38 respectively as compared to the atomic values of 8.00 and 3.00 respectively thereby indicating the covalent nature of the system. The O 1s edge absorption spectra reveal a band gap of 0.9 eV which is comparable to the value obtained from first principle calculations for U-J >= 2 eV. The density of states clearly reveal a strong p-d type charge transfer character of the system, with band gap proportional to average charge transfer energy of Ni2+ and Mn4+ ions.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figure

An unusual presentation of morel- lavallee lesion in the arm: a case report

Morel-lavallee lesions (MLL) are post traumatic closed internal de-gloving injury with abrupt separation of skin and subcutaneous tissue from the underlying fascia. The shearing force damages the blood vessels and lymphatics, resulting in collection of the serosanguinous fluid and necrotized fat. Early diagnosis and management minimize complications like infections or extensive skin necrosis. MLLs commonly described in pelvic and lower extremity trauma, and there are limited reports in other locations. A 28-year-old male presented with pain and swelling over the left elbow for 6 days with multiple deep bruises over the skin extending from mid arm to proximal forearm.  Ultrasound of the arm revealed a large encapsulated collection consistent with MLL. An open debridement with excision of all necrotic skin and necrotic tissue was performed followed by skin grafting. Intra-operative cultures were negative and pathology was consistent with MLL. Morel-lavallee lesions should always be considered as early diagnosis of previous trauma regardless the location. The key to recognize this injury depends on suspicious mechanism involving significant shear forces. Aggressive surgical debridement remains the key to prevent significant morbidity and mortality