PONDER - A Real time software backend for pulsar and IPS observations at the Ooty Radio Telescope

This paper describes a new real-time versatile backend, the Pulsar Ooty Radio Telescope New Digital Efficient Receiver (PONDER), which has been designed to operate along with the legacy analog system of the Ooty Radio Telescope (ORT). PONDER makes use of the current state of the art computing hardware, a Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) and sufficiently large disk storage to support high time resolution real-time data of pulsar observations, obtained by coherent dedispersion over a bandpass of 16 MHz. Four different modes for pulsar observations are implemented in PONDER to provide standard reduced data products, such as time-stamped integrated profiles and dedispersed time series, allowing faster avenues to scientific results for a variety of pulsar studies. Additionally, PONDER also supports general modes of interplanetary scintillation (IPS) measurements and very long baseline interferometry data recording. The IPS mode yields a single polarisation correlated time series of solar wind scintillation over a bandwidth of about four times larger (16 MHz) than that of the legacy system as well as its fluctuation spectrum with high temporal and frequency resolutions. The key point is that all the above modes operate in real time. This paper presents the design aspects of PONDER and outlines the design methodology for future similar backends. It also explains the principal operations of PONDER, illustrates its capabilities for a variety of pulsar and IPS observations and demonstrates its usefulness for a variety of astrophysical studies using the high sensitivity of the ORT.Comment: 25 pages, 14 figures, Accepted by Experimental Astronom

“Fresh meat”: First year female students negotiating sexual violence on campus residences

Abstract This article focuses on first-year black female students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal who were exposed to and experienced sexual violence. The aim of the study was, broadly, to determine how female students experience and negotiate gender, sexuality and violence in campus residences. Semi-structured individual interviews were utilised to generate data. The findings show that violence was shaped by gender and power dynamics. These students were first years, and predominantly from poor backgrounds, and therefore particularly vulnerable to sexual violence and unequal relationships. Alcohol, substance abuse and dangerous masculinised spaces further exacerbated their vulnerability. Poverty, scarce resources and gender intersect to produce vulnerability and constrained forms of their agency that translate into transactional relationships. The findings also suggest that being first year female students have implications for how these young women negotiated their newfound freedom away from the parental gaze. The study highlights the ways in which these first-year students are aware that sexual violence is prevalent on campus particularly in certain spaces such as Dark City and residence rooms. Members of the SRC and DSRA are cited as likely perpetrators of sexually predatory behaviours. We therefore propose that the Gender Based Violence Policy at UKZN should be introduced to first year students by way of induction courses, and that these courses should also include gender and sexuality education to help ensure that awareness around gender violence permeates the lives of all students

Implementation and Validation of Visual and Infrared Image Fusion Techniques in C# .NET Environment

This paper presents the implementation of image fusion techniques by means of an image fusion application “C#ImFuse”, developed in C#.NET. C# programming language is a simple, type-safe, object-oriented language that allows programmers to build a variety of applications. C#ImFuse application implements four fusion methods viz., Alpha Blending (AB), Principle Component Analysis (PCA), Laplacian Pyramid (LP), and Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) for a visual and a thermal image (still images) and for real-time images of the Enhanced Vision System (EVS). The performance of these fusion techniques is evaluated using fusion performance metrics. LP based image fusion technique proved to provide better fusion when compared to the other techniques. Source code is provided so that the reader can understand the techniques and use for his research work

Exchange Studies of Complexes of Co(II) with Oximes of 2-Hydroxyacetophenone, Resacetophenone & 5-Nitroresacetophenone

141-14

Planetary Bistatic Radar

Planetary radar observations offer the potential for probing the properties of characteristics of solid bodies throughout the inner solar system and at least as far as the orbit of Saturn. In addition to the direct scientific value, precise orbital determinations can be obtained from planetary radar observations, which are in turn valuable for mission planning or spacecraft navigation and planetary defense. The next-generation Very Large Array would not have to be equipped with a transmitter to be an important asset in the world's planetary radar infrastructure. Bistatic radar, in which one antenna transmits (e.g., Arecibo or Goldstone) and another receives, are used commonly today, with the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) serving as a receiver. The improved sensitivity of the ngVLA relative to the GBT would improve the signal-to-noise ratios on many targets and increase the accessible volume specifically for asteroids. Goldstone-ngVLA bistatic observations would have the potential of rivaling the sensitivity of Arecibo, but with much wider sky access.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, To be published in the ASP Monograph Series, "Science with a Next-Generation VLA", ed. E. J. Murphy (ASP, San Francisco, CA

Grama swarajya samithi - Visakhapatnam swachh bharath swachh Vidayala (SBSV) project

Grama Swarajya Samithi (GSS) is a non - governmental organization involved in various developmental activities in Visakhapatnam District and the focus groups are children, women, tribal, rural and urban disadvantaged communities for the last 20 years. The ‘Urban WASH - Swachh Bharat Swachh Vidyalaya’ project, a three-year project that aims to promote sanitation, effective use and ownership of school Water, Sanitation and Hygiene infrastructure in 20 GVMC schools in Vishakhapatnam city is implemented through GSS and the benefactors are Plan India, USAID and Coca Cola India Pvt. Ltd. Through this project, around 6,000 girls and boys from 20 Greater Visakha Municipal Corporation (GVMC) schools are getting access to potable water and safe sanitation. It will enhance the capacity of key stakeholders particularly the school children, teachers, School Management Committees (SMCs), functionaries and communities in performing their responsibilities for ensuring quality WASH in schools. The project interventions contribute to the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) through the Swachh Bharat Swachh Vidyalaya component. It will address school sanitation and importance of segregation waste into degradable and non-degradable wastes. The project will create replicable models for municipal corporation school improvement program

Case studies to enhance online student evaluation: Bond University – Surveying students online to improve learning and teaching

One of the most sensible ways of improving learning and teaching is to ask the students for feedback. At the end of each teaching period (i.e. semester or term) all universities and many schools survey their students. Usually these surveys are managed online. Questions ask for student perceptions about teaching, assessment and workload. The survey administrators report four common problems