Design and Development of Prosthetic Legs

The purpose of this article is to describe the development in prosthetic legs. Artificial limbs may be needed for a variety of reasons including diseases, accidents and congenital defects. As the human body changes over time due to growth or change in body weight, the artificial limbs have to be changed and adjusted periodically. This constant need for change or adjustment may become costly if the material used is expensive. This study will emphasis the prosthetic legs by focusing on the socket part as it is often changed and replaced with natural-based bio composites. The results of this study are based on the compatibility of the properties of existing and proposed materials which contribute towards providing alternative materials that are more cost efficient, eco-friendly and yet maintaining the features required for artificial limbs. The findings are expected to help patients or wearers to live independently when they are young, who cannot afford to have this essentially

Hyperlop Transportation System

As we know that there are four modes of transportation are, rail, road, water, and air. These modes of transport tend to be either relatively slow (e.g., road and water), expensive (e.g., air), or a combination of relatively slow and expensive (i.e., rail). Hyper loop is a new mode of transport that seeks to change this paradigm by being both fast and inexpensive for people and goods. Hyperloop is also unique in that it is an open design concept, similar to Linux. Feedback is desired from the community that can help advance the Hyperloop design and bring it from concept to reality. Hyperloop consists of a low pressure tube with capsules that are transported at both low and high speeds throughout the length of the tube. The capsules are supported on a cushion of air, featuring pressurized air and aerodynamic lift. The capsules are accelerated via a magnetic linear accelerator affixed at various stations on the low pressure tube with rotors contained in each capsule. Passengers may enter and exit Hyperloop at stations located either at the ends of the tube, or branches along the tube length. In this study, the initial route, preliminary design, and logistics of the Hyperloop transportation system have been derived. The system consists of capsules that travel between Los Angeles, California and San Francisco, California. The total one-way trip time is 35 minutes from county line to county line. The capsules leave on average every 2 minutes from each terminal carrying 28 people each (as often as every 30 seconds during rush hour and less frequently at night). This gives a total of 7.4 million people per tube that can be transported each year on Hyperloop. The total cost of Hyperloop is under $6 billion USD for two one-way tubes and 40 capsules. Amortizing this capital cost over 20 years and adding daily operational costs gives a total of$20 USD plus operating costs per one-way ticket on the passenger Hyperloop

Electronic structure of spin 1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnetic systems: Ba_2Cu(PO_4)_2 and Sr_2Cu(PO_4)_2

We have employed first principles calculations to study the electronic structure and magnetic properties of the low-dimensional phosphates, Ba2Cu(PO4)2 and Sr2Cu(PO4)2. Using the self-consistent tight-binding lin- earized muffin-tin orbital method and the Nth order muffin-tin orbital method, we have calculated the various intrachain as well as the interchain hopping parameters between the magnetic ions Cu2+ for both the com- pounds. We find that the nearest-neighbor intrachain hopping t is the dominant interaction suggesting the compounds to be indeed one dimensional. Our analysis of the band dispersion, orbital projected band struc- tures, and the hopping parameters confirms that the Cu2+-Cu2+ super-super exchange interaction takes place along the crystallographic b direction mediated by O-P-O. We have also analyzed in detail the origin of short-range exchange interaction for these systems. Our ab initio estimate of the ratio of the exchange inter- action of Sr2Cu(PO4)2 to that of Ba2Cu(PO4)2 compares excellently with available experimental results.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Spin Dynamics near the Superconductor-to-Insulator Transition in Impurity-Doped YBa2Cu4O8

We studied low-frequency spin dynamics near the impurity-induced superconductor-to-insulator transition for underdoped high-Tc superconductor YBa2(Cu1-xMx)4O8 (M=Ni, Zn) using the Cu nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) spin-echo technique. We observed remarkable suppression of the normal-state pseudo spin-gap and a loss of Cu NQR spectrum intensity at low temperatures around the critical impurity concentration.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. To be published in J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. Vol.70, No.7 (2001

Incoherent Effect of Fe and Ni Substitutions in the Ferromagnetic-Insulator La0.6Bi0.4MnO3+d

A comparative study of the effect of Fe and Ni doping on the bismuth based perovskite La0.6Bi0.4MnO3.1, a projected spintronics magnetic semiconductor has been carried out. The doped systems show an expressive change in magnetic ordering temperature. However, the shifts in ferromagnetic transition (TC) of these doped phases are in opposite direction with respect to the parent phase TC of 115 K. The Ni-doped phase shows an increase in TC ~200 K, whereas the Fe-doped phase exhibits a downward shift to TC~95 K. Moreover, the Fe-doped is hard-type whereas the Ni-doped compound is soft-type ferromagnet. It is observed that the materials are semiconducting in the ferromagnetic phase with activation energies of 77 & 82 meV for Fe & Ni-doped phases respectively. In the presence of external magnetic field of 7 Tesla, they exhibit minor changes in the resistivity behaviours and the maximum isothermal magnetoresistance is around -20 % at 125 K for the Ni-phase. The results are explained on the basis of electronic phase separation and competing ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic interactions between the various mixed valence cations.Comment: 18 pages including figure

EFFICACY OF SHIVA GUTIKA WITH SARASWATARISHTA IN THE MANAGEMENT OF AGE ASSOCIATED MILD COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT (AAMCI)

Objective: To find the efficacy of Shiva gutika with Saraswatarishta in management of Age Associated Mild Cognitive Impairment (AAMCI). To review the literature of mild cognitive impairment, Jara, and aging as per modern science and Ayurveda. To observe side effects of the drug if any. To access effect of drug on other signs and symptoms of Jara.Method: Open Trial study was conducted on 25 patients having AAMCI and were selected for the study randomly. The patients received 1gm Shiva gutika once a day with 40ml Saraswatarista as Anupan for 3 months.Assessment Criteria: Improvement in all the six cerebral higher functions on the basis of various tests such as MMSE, CAMCOG (CAMDEX), ADL/IADL, GDS.Follow up: 0, 15th, 30th, 45th, 60th, 75th, 90th day.Duration: Total duration study was 90 Days. This study was carried out in Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University College of Ayurved & Hospital Pune in Year 2010 and 2011.Results: Comparing all the symptoms before and after treatment had significant action in age associated mild cognitive impairment (AAMCI). No side effects of the drug during clinical trial were seen.Statistical Analysis: The Statistical Analysis reveals that Shiva gutika with Saraswatarista as Anupan effective in age associated mild cognitive impairment (AAMCI).Conclusion: Shiva gutika with Saraswatarista shared significant results in AAMCI. The overall effect of drug on ADL & IADL showed significant result

Analysis of genetic diversity among tropical and subtropical maize inbred lines using SSR markers

Genetic diversity of 24 tropical and subtropical elite maize lines was assessed at molecular level employ-ing 42 Simple Sequence Repeats. A total of 107 alleles with an average of 2.55 alleles per locus were detected. The Polymorphism Information Content (PIC) values of 42 SSR loci ranged from 0.08 (UMC1428) to 0.68 (UMC2189 and UMC2332) with the overall calculated PIC mean value of 0.44, whereas the Discrimination Rate (DR) value for SSR markers ranged from 0.09 (UMC2089) to 0.42 (UMC1311) with the average DR value of 0.26. Pair-wise genet-ic similarity (GS) values, calculated by Jaccard’s coefficients, ranged between 0.25 and 0.78 with a mean genetic similarity of 0.63, indicating the existence of adequate amount of genetic divergence among the genotypes selected for the study. The cluster dendrogram separated all the inbred lines into six main clusters with sub clusters based on genetic similarity. Factorial analysis also confirmed a nearly similar pattern for grouping these inbred lines as pre-sented by cluster dendrogram. In this study, SSR markers were found to be powerful tool for detection of genetic diversity in maize inbred lines. These findings could provide information for effective utilization of these materials for development of maize hybrids as well as for genetic improvement of inbred lines

Doping effects in the coupled, two-leg spin ladder BiCu2PO6

We report preparation, x-ray diffraction, magnetic susceptibility chi(T) and heat capacity Cp(T) measurements on the undoped samples as also samples with Zn-doped (S = 0) at Cu site, Ni doped (S = 1) at Cu site, and Ca-doped (holes) at Bi site in the coupled two-leg spin ladder system BiCu2PO6. While, Zn shows complete solid solubility, Ni could be doped to about 20% and Ca to about 15%. Magnetization and heat capacity data in the undoped compound point towards the existence of frustration effects. In all the samples, the chi(T) at low temperature increases with doping content. The Zn-induced susceptibility is smaller than that due to effective S=1/2 moments possibly due to frustrating next-nearest-neighbor interactions along the leg. For Zn content x > 0.01, chi(T) deviates from the Curie-law at low temperatures. The magnetic specific heat data Cm(T) for the Zn-doped samples show weak anomalies at low temperature in agreement with chi(T) behavior. The anomalies are suggestive of spin freezing at low-T. In contrast, prominent effects are observed in chi(T) and Cm(T) on Ni-doped samples. The zero-field-cooled (ZFC) and field-cooled (FC) chi(T) data are different from each other at low temperature unlike that for Zn doped samples, clearly indicating a transition to a spin-glass like phase. No anomalies were found in Ca- or Pb-doped samples.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, Submitted to J. Phy. Cond. Matte