Tagore’s Idea of Pan-Asian Solidarity and Its Influence in East Asia

Globalization, Localization, and Japanese Studies in the Asia-Pacific Region : Past, Present, Future, シドニー大学, 2003年11月10日-13

Heat transfer and mixing studies in a mechanically agitated pilot-scale bioreactor

Intensive bioreaction processes are increasingly found to be rate-limited by inadequate heat transfer capability, a situation arising equally from the poor applicability of conventional heat transfer prediction methods in bioreaction environments and from the lack of a body of data covering the appropriate operating regimes. Here the modification of a pilot-scale bioreactor is described to allow heat transfer studies to be conducted in real and simulated bioreaction environments as well as the correlation of the data with relevant operating parameters including vessel and agitator geometry, fluid properties, power input, gas holdup and gas flowrate. A number of heat flux probes, modified to avoid boundary layer discontinuity effects have been mounted in an 800 litre fermenter equipped also with a range of temperature sensors to enable determination of local temperature gradients as well as both local and global transfer coefficients. The experimental programme has been conceived in three stages using; 1) un-aerated Newtonian (various concentrations of Glucose solutions) and non-Newtonian fluids (various concentration of Carboxymethyl Cellulose ), 2) the same fluids aerated, and 3) real multi-phase Penicillin fermentations, fungal broths exhibiting extreme rheological properties, followed by simulation using fibre suspension. Parallel experiments aimed to characterise both the reactor hydrodynamics and the morphology of the solid microbial phases, and these can be related to the heat transfer performance. Following application of regression smoothing techniques to raw heat flux and temperature data, the measured jacket heat transfer coefficients in unaerated Newtonian fluids agree very well with predictions from the literature. The heat transfer data for both single and dual impeller systems bear a good qualitative relationship with global hydrodynamics. However, in the absence of fundamental understanding of the local hydrodynamics, empirical correlations have been proposed describing the position dependence of heat transfer coefficients in both aerated and unaerated Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids for this geometry, (using a single impeller). Generally aeration leads to a drop in the heat transfer coefficient for the same impeller tip speed. Experiments with fermentation broth has shown that significant axial variations of heat transfer coefficient exist. Furthermore, the heat transfer coefficient is influenced not only by aeration rate (at least below the flooding rate), impeller speed and bulk flow but also by the morphology of the solid phase (i.e. the fungal mycelium). The introduction of this third phase adds a new dimension to the engineering challenge. The presence of mycelia modifies the heat transfer in two possible ways: its particulate nature modifies the thermal boundary layer by the brushing action, and on the other hand it also influences the rheology. Both the effects are further examined by simulating the fermentation broth using suspended fibres. The results suggests that the brushing action is position dependent with the maximum boundary layer modification near the impeller plane and that this influence decreases with axial distance away from the impeller. Different morphological states, i.e. filamentous or pelleted, have different effect on both the boundary layer and rheology

Fallopian Tube Recanalization (F.T.R): application of Interventional Radiology (I.R) post hysterosalpingography in management of female infertility at rural hospital

Background: Infertility is defined as inability to conceive even after 1 year of unprotected intercourse. Tubal blockage is one of the common causes of primary as well as secondary infertility in females. Fallopian tube recanalization (FTR) an interventional radiological procedure is one of the most promising, effective, minimally invasive and cost-effective technique in patients having infertility owing to tubal blockage. The aim is to study the cause, hysterosalpingography findings, and outcome of fallopian tube recanalization by interventional radiological procedure in patients with tubal-blockage presenting with infertility.Methods: This was a prospective observational study of women with primary or secondary infertility presenting to interventional radiology department. The patients either had already undergone hysterosalpingography (HSG) or came for HSG. Fallopian tube recanalization was done as per institutional protocol. Hysterosalpingography abnormalities, outcome and complications of fallopian tube recanalization procedure were studied.Results: In this study of 87 patients unilateral or bilateral tubal blockages were seen in 16 and 24 patients respectively. Majority of the patients had Segment I proximal block. Bilateral recanalization could be successfully done in 12 patients (24 tubes) with bilateral Proximal Tubal Blockage (PTO). Unilateral recanalization was possible in 12 patients (tubes) with unilateral proximal block and 8 tubes with bilateral proximal tubal block. 10 tubes with PTO could not be recanalized. 5 cases diagnosed with bilateral Distal Tubal Block (DTO), recanalization was not attempted and were referred for appropriate gynecological management. Minor complications were noted in 8 patients while no major procedure related complications were observed.Conclusions: Fallopian tube recanalization (by interventional radiology procedure) in patients with fallopian tube blockage diagnosed on HSG is found to be cost effective, minimally invasive and have low complication rate. It is associated with excellent outcome in terms of technical success and improved conception rate

Artificial Neural Network Models for Forecasting Stock Price Index in Bombay Stock Exchange

Artificial Neural Network (ANN) has been shown to be an efficient tool for non-parametric modeling of data in a variety of different contexts where the output is a non-linear function of the inputs. These include business forecasting, credit scoring, bond rating, business failure prediction, medicine, pattern recognition, and image processing. A large number of studies have been reported in the literature with reference to use of ANN in modeling stock prices in the western countries However, not much work along these lines has been reported in the Indian context. In this paper we discuss modeling of Indian stock market (price index) data using ANN. We study the efficacy of ANN in modeling the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) SENSEX weekly closing values. We develop two networks with three hidden layers for the purpose of this study which are denoted as ANN1 and ANN2. ANN1 takes as its inputs the weekly closing value, 52-week Moving Average of the weekly closing SENSEX values, 5-week Moving Average of the same, and the 10-week Oscillator for the past 200 weeks. ANN2 takes as its inputs the weekly closing value, 52-week Moving Average of the weekly closing SENSEX values, 5-week Moving Average of the same, and the 5-week volatility for the past 200 weeks. Both the neural networks are trained using data for 250 weeks starting January, 1997. To assess the performance of the networks we used them to predict the weekly closing SENSEX values for the two year period beginning January, 2002 The root mean square error (RMSE) and mean absolute error (MAE) are chosen as indicators of performance of the networks. ANN1 achieved an RMSE of 4.82% and MAE of 3.93% while ANN2 achieved an RMSE of 6.87% and MAE of 5.52%.

Synthesis, Characterization, and Magnetic Studies of α

Very fine nanosized metal oxide, namely, iron oxide (α-Fe2O3) has been synthesized by precipitation method using ammonia as precipitating agent and characterized by using XRD (X-ray diffraction), TGA/DTA, surface area measurement, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and magnetic measurements techniques. XRD studies show that iron oxide was formed as α-Fe2O3 instead of the commonly formed magnetite nanoparticles (Fe3O4) or a mixture of magnetite (Fe3O4) and maghemite (γ-Fe2O3, cubic), and it has rhombohedral structure. Magnetic measurements showed that iron oxide has five unpaired electrons and is ferromagnetic in nature, Ms value being 1.7 emu/g. The particle size of the synthesized iron oxide was determined by TEM. TEM images show that the size of particles of Fe2O3 varied from 15 nm to 49 nm with average crystallite size 35 nm

Effect of Prophylactic and Therapeutic Mitomycin C on Corneal Apoptosis, Cellular Proliferation, Haze, and Long-Term Keratocyte Density in Rabbits

PURPOSE—To determine the mechanism through which topical mitomycin C prevents and treats corneal haze after photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) and to examine the effects of dosage and duration of exposure. METHODS—In 224 New Zealand rabbits, −9.0 diopter PRK with mitomycin C or balanced salt solution was performed. Haze level was graded at the slit-lamp. Rabbits were sacrificed at 4 hours, 24 hours, 4 weeks, or 6 months after surgery and immunohistochemistry was performed with TUNEL assay, Ki67 and α-SMA. RESULTS—TUNEL-positive apoptotic cells marginally increased in all mitomycin C groups whereas Ki67-positive mitotic cells decreased significantly following mitomycin C application. A greater decrease in myofibroblasts was noted with prophylactic mitomycin C treatment than therapeutic mitomycin C treatment. There was, however, an anterior stromal acellular zone (approximately 20% of the total stroma) in eyes treated with mitomycin C, which persisted to the maximum follow-up of 6 months. CONCLUSIONS—Mitomycin C treatment induces apoptosis of keratocytes and myofibroblasts, but the predominate effect in inhibiting or treating haze appears to be at the level of blocked replication of keratocytes or other progenitor cells of myofibroblasts. Treatment with 0.002% mitomycin C for 12 seconds to 1 minute appears to be just as effective as higher concentrations for longer duration in the rabbit model. However, a persistent decrease in keratocyte density in the anterior stroma could be a warning sign for future complications and treatment should be reserved for patients with significant risk of developing haze after PRK