Kinetic Modelling for Tar Evolution and Formation in a Downdraft Gasifier

Biomass gasification modeling is a powerful tool used to optimize the design of a gasifier. A detailed kinetic model was built by the current authors [1] to predict the behavior of air blown downdraft gasifier for a wide range of materials within the range of (38≤C≤52) %, (5.2≤H≤7) %, and (21.7≤O≤45) %. The model was verified and showed a good stability for a wide range of working parameters like equivalence ratio and moisture content. In the current research, 4 main tar species are added to the model to represent tar formation using detailed kinetic reactions. The yield of tar species is discussed for different zones of a gasifier based on temperature of each zone. Mass and energy balance are calculated. 18 different kinetic reactions are implemented in the kinetic code to predict the optimum working conditions that leads to the production of higher value producer gas. Results conclude that using ER of 0.3 with moisture content levels lower than 10% will lead to the production of higher yields of syngas with lower amounts of tar

Explicit evaluations of Ramanujan's remarkable product of theta-function.

On Page 259 of his second notebook [3], Ramanujan recorded many cubic modular equations of degree 2. In this paper we establish several cubic modular equations of degree 2 akin to those in Ramanujan’s work.As an application of our results, we also establish some new P − Q etafunction identities

Prevalence of Obesity and its Influencing Factors in Affluent School Children of Tumkur: Lessons from South India

Background:Obesity is defined by WHO “as a condition of abnormal or excessive fat accumulation in adipose tissue, to the extent that health may be impaired”. The problem of childhood obesity is quite high in rich and affluent countries. 1. To estimate the prevalence of obesity among school children aged 6-15 years in three affluent schools of Tumkur. 2. To study the influencing factors of obesity among school children. Methods: Study Design: Case Control study. Study Settings: Three affluent schools of Tumkur city, Karnataka, South India. Sample size was2000 Students of three affluent schools and duration of study was fromJune to August 2014. Each Child’s height and weight were measured by adopting standard procedure. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated using BMI charts based on NCHS (national center for health statistics) standards. A child was considered obese if the BMI was > 95th percentile cutoff point which is specific to the age and sex of the child. To determine the association of (life style) influencing factors of obesity in children, mothers were interviewed in presence of children to gather information’ about their child’s daily (24 hour) activity. Results:Out of 2000 children 66 were obese. The prevalence was 3.3% in school children in the age group of 6-15 years in three affluent schools of Tumkur. In our study, Prevalence of obesity was more in boys (3.47%) on comparison to girls (3.04%). There is increased prevalence of obesity in age group of six, eleven and twelve years. In this study 77.2% cases spent less than 2 hrs in a day and 22.7% cases spent more than 2 hrs in physical activities. Prevalence of obesity was more in children who spent less than 2 hrs in a day in physical activities. This was statistically significant. Conclusions:Prevalence of obesity in school children aged 6-15 yrs is 3.3% in three affluent schools of Tumkur. Prevalence of obesity was more in boys on comparison with girls. Physical activity was the significant influencing factor of obesity among school children

Graviton plus vector boson production to NLO in QCD at the LHC

We present the next-to-leading order QCD corrections to the associated production of the vector gauge boson ($Z/W^\pm$) and the graviton in the large extra dimension model at the LHC. We estimate the impact of the QCD corrections on the total cross sections as well as the differential distributions of the gauge bosons and find that they are significant. We also study the dependence of the cross sections on the arbitrary factorization scale and show the reduction in the scale uncertainties at NLO level. Further, we discuss the ultraviolet sensitivity of the theoretical predictions.Comment: 51 pages and 27 figure

Two new species of Camallanus (Nematoda: Camallanidae) from freshwater turtles in Queensland, Australia.

We describe 2 new species of Camallanus (Nematoda: Camallanidae) from freshwater turtles collected in Queensland, Australia: Camallanus nithoggi n. sp. from Elseya latisternum (Gray) and Camallanus waelhreow n. sp. from Emydura krefftii (Gray), Emydura macquarrii (Gray), and Em. macquarrii dharra Cann. The only Camallanus sp. previously reported from turtles is C. chelonius Baker, 1983 (all other species in the family have been transferred to Serpinema). The 2 new species described here differ from C. chelonius in the number of male preanal papillae (7 vs. 6 in C. chelonius), the number of male postanal papillae (5 vs. 4 in C. chelonius), and the number of buccal capsule ridges. Additionally, we removed the tissues overlying the buccal capsule and used scanning electron micrographs (SEM) to show that the peribuccal shields extend laterally from the buccal capsule, the basal ring is separated from the buccal capsule by a narrow isthmus, and there is a buttress along the lateral margin of the buccal capsule that has not previously been observed in species of Camallanus

Wavy stripes and squares in zero P number convection

A simple model to explain numerically observed behaviour of chaotically varying stripes and square patterns in zero Prandtl number convection in Boussinesq fluid is presented. The nonlinear interaction of mutually perpendicular sets of wavy rolls, via higher mode, may lead to a competition between the two sets of wavy rolls. The appearance of square patterns is due to the secondary forward Hopf bifurcation of a set of wavy rolls.Comment: 8 pages and 3 figures, late

Scarred Patterns in Surface Waves

Surface wave patterns are investigated experimentally in a system geometry that has become a paradigm of quantum chaos: the stadium billiard. Linear waves in bounded geometries for which classical ray trajectories are chaotic are known to give rise to scarred patterns. Here, we utilize parametrically forced surface waves (Faraday waves), which become progressively nonlinear beyond the wave instability threshold, to investigate the subtle interplay between boundaries and nonlinearity. Only a subset (three main types) of the computed linear modes of the stadium are observed in a systematic scan. These correspond to modes in which the wave amplitudes are strongly enhanced along paths corresponding to certain periodic ray orbits. Many other modes are found to be suppressed, in general agreement with a prediction by Agam and Altshuler based on boundary dissipation and the Lyapunov exponent of the associated orbit. Spatially asymmetric or disordered (but time-independent) patterns are also found even near onset. As the driving acceleration is increased, the time-independent scarred patterns persist, but in some cases transitions between modes are noted. The onset of spatiotemporal chaos at higher forcing amplitude often involves a nonperiodic oscillation between spatially ordered and disordered states. We characterize this phenomenon using the concept of pattern entropy. The rate of change of the patterns is found to be reduced as the state passes temporarily near the ordered configurations of lower entropy. We also report complex but highly symmetric (time-independent) patterns far above onset in the regime that is normally chaotic.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures (low resolution gif files). Updated and added references and text. For high resolution images: http://physics.clarku.edu/~akudrolli/stadium.htm

In planta transformation strategy to generate transgenic plants in chickpea: proof of concept with a cry gene

The paper presents a non-​tissue culture-​based transformation of chickpea using cry1AcF gene with 5'UTR. The protocol involves raising of plant transformants (T0 plants) directly from Agrobacterium-​infected young seedlings. The apical meristem of the seedling axes were targeted for transformation. The resulting chimeric plants were allowed to grow in the greenhouse and the transgenics were analyzed in the T1 generation. The T1 generation plants were raised in the greenhouse and initial screening was carried out in 109 plants using ELISA for the expression of the cry1AcF protein. On the basis of this, the plants were grouped as non-​transformants and transformants, expressing low and high level of the cry protein. The plants expressing the cry1AcF protein in the range of 2.06-​9.70 μg​/g fr wt were selected for further anal. Bioefficacy of these 44 plants against Helicoverpa armigera allowed identification of 14 plants that not only accumulated good amt. of protein but were also effective against Helicoverpa. Mol. anal. by PCR for the amplification of both the cry1AcF and nptII genes confirmed the transgenic nature of the selected plants. The protocol ensured generation of transgenic chickpea plants with considerable ease in a short time and might be applicable across different genotypes​/cultivars of the crop and offers immense potential as a supplemental or an alternate protocol for generating transgenic plants of difficult-​to-​regenerate crops

A SURVEY ON PUBLISHED PAPERS ON OPTIMIZATION IN THE ASSEMBLY LINE BALANCING PROBLEMS IN A HEAVY ENGINEERING INDUSTRY

This paper gives a survey report on different optimization techniques used by different authors on assembly line balancing problems . The author gives a new technique which is different from them on minimization of number of work stations of a ALBP-1

DESIGNING FORMS AND FORMATS FOR QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM APPLIED TO INDUSTRY

The author designs the important forms and formats which are used in implementing quality management system as per ISO 9000 series of standards. Forms and formats are used to keep records of the findings resulting from measurements and tests