Measurement of environmental efficiency and productivity: A cross country analysis.

This paper measures environmental efficiency (EE) and environmental productivity (EP) and analyses differences in these across countries. It explores the macroeconomic factors that could explain these differences and whether these differences can be explained by income levels and by the degree of openness in these countries. The EE index is found to be almost steady over the period 1971-92 for the annex-I countries, while its value is declining for non-annex-I countries over this period. The EP index increased over this period in both groups of countries. In the annex-I countries, EE exhibits an inverted `U' shape with respect to per capita income while it is `U' shaped for the non-annex-I countries. This study also finds that while the EP index increases with income in annex-I countries it is decreasing in the non-annex-I countries. The degree of openness has a significant negative impact on EE and EP in both groups of countries.Environmental efficiency ; Environmental productivity ; Distance function ; Per capita income ; Openness

Bibliometric scoring of an individual’s research output in science and engineering

The relevance of various citation metrics used for parameterization of the research outputs of scientists is reviewed. The rationale of judging the performance of scientists on the basis of the total number of research papers published, the total citations received for these papers or the average citation reckoning per paper has often been criticized. The significance of impact factor of journals in which the papers have appeared has also been debated. The h-index introduced by Jorge E. Hirsch in 2005 has gained some acceptance in this regard but its value is highly dependent on the academic discipline concerned and also varies across sub-disciplines. Because citation practices exhibit wide variations among different fields, a scientist working in a particular discipline need not be disheartened with a low h-index as compared to fellow scientists of a different discipline. The h-index has been successful in assessing the performance of scientists of the same field and at the same stage of their careers. By appropriately scaling the discipline-dependence of h-index, it has also enabled comparison among those working in different disciplines, serving as a simplified, robust, intelligible measure. Several metrics proposed to overcome the flaws of h-index are briefly described

Hemangiopericytoma of the spleen: Unusual presentation as multiple abscess

BACKGROUND: Hemangiopericytoma is a soft tissue vascular neoplasm arising from capillary pericytes and is found throughout the body in soft tissues and bone. It was first described in 1942. Primary vascular neoplasm of the spleen constitutes the majority of nonhaematolymphoid splenic tumors like haemangioma, lymphangioma, hemangioendothelioma, hemangiopericytoma etc. Splenic hemangiopericytoma is a rare tumor and probably first case was described in 1989. Uptill now only eight cases are reported in the English literature. CASE PRESENTATION: A-35-year old male presented with fever and dull aching pain in left hypochondriac region. Radiological evaluation showed presence of multiple abscesses in spleen. Investigations were done to rule out common causes of abscess in spleen. After failure of medical management, he was subjected to elective splenectomy. There were dense adhesions between the spleen and the adjacent structures and the diaphragm. The histopathology of the resected specimen showed hemangiopericytoma of spleen. CONCLUSION: The present case illustrate that the hemangiopericytoma of spleen can mimic as multiple abscess. Splenectomy is the treatment of choice

A STUDY ON SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE OF ASHMARI VIS-A-VIS UROLITHIASIS PATIENTS IN A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL

Objective: To assess the socio-demographic profile of Ashmari vis-à-vis Urolithiasis patients in a tertiary care hospital. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. Patients suffering from silent features of Mutrashmari described in Ayurvedic and Modern texts attending the O.P.D. and I.P.D. of a tertiary care hospital were selected (age 21-60 years) for the study. The diagnosis was made by radiological (plain X-ray, intravenous urography) and sonological (ultrasonography). Results: More than one third of Ashmari patients were between 31-40 years (40%). More than half of Ashmari patients were males (53.3%). Desk work occupation was most common (36.7%). More than half of Ashmari patients were educated high school & above (63.3%). Majority of Ashmari patients were married (83.3%) and belonged to above poverty line (96.7%). Majority of Ashmari patients took routine food (80%) and were mixed type of diet (70%). Fluid intake was <3 liters per day among majority of Ashmari patients (73.3%). Conclusion: Males formed the majority of patient with Ashmari/urolithiasis with commonest age group of 31-40 years. Larger studies are however recommended to confirm this observation

Aggressive angiomyxoma presenting with huge abdominal lump: A case report

Agressive angiomyxoma is a rare mesenchymal neoplasm. It mainly presents in females. We here present a case of angiomyxoma presenting as huge abdominal lump along with gluteal swelling. Case note is described along with brief review of literature

Vibration Characteristics of Non-Homogeneous Visco-Elastic Square Plate

A mathematical model is presented for the use of engineers, technocrats and research workers in space technology, mechanical Sciences have to operate under elevated temperatures. Two dimensional thermal effects on frequency of free vibrations of a visco-elastic square plate is considered. In this paper, the thickness varies parabolic in X- direction and thermal effect is vary linearly in one direction and parabolic in another direction. Rayleigh Ritz method is used to evaluate the fundamental frequencies. Both the modes of the frequency are calculated by the latest computational technique, MATLAB, for the various values of taper parameters and temperature gradient. Copyright © www.iiste.org Keywords: visco-elastic, Square plate, vibration, Thermal gradient, Taper constant, non-homogeneous

Thermally Induced Vibration of Non-Homogeneous Visco-Elastic Plate of Variable Thickness

A mathematical model is presented for the use of engineers, technocrats and research workers in space technology, mechanical Sciences have to operate under elevated temperatures. Two dimensional thermal effects on frequency of free vibrations of a visco-elastic square plate is considered. In this paper, the thickness varies parabolic in X- direction and thermal effect is vary linearly in one direction and parabolic in another direction. Rayleigh Ritz method is used to evaluate the fundamental frequencies. Both the modes of the frequency are calculated by the latest computational technique, MATLAB, for the various values of taper parameters and temperature gradient. Keywords: Visco-elastic, Square plate, Parabolically, Thermal gradient, Taper constant

Vibration of Non-Homogeneous Visco-Elastic Square Plate of Variable Thickness In both directions With Thermal Effect

Plates are being increasingly used in the aeronautical and aerospace industry as well as in other fields of modern technology. Plates with variable thickness are of great importance in a wide variety of engineering applications i.e. nuclear reactor, aeronautical field, naval structure, submarine, earth-quake resistors etc. A mathematical model is presented for the use of engineers and research workers in space technology; have to operate under elevated temperatures. It is considered that the temperatures vary linearly in one direction and thickness of square plate varies linearly in two directions. An approximate but quite convenient frequency equation is derived for a square plate by using Rayleigh-Ritz technique. Both the modes of the frequency are calculated by the latest computational technique, MATLAB, for the various values of taper parameters and temperature gradient. All the results are presented in the form of table