Hydrodynamic behaviour of coal and bottom ash mixtures in a fluidized bed gasifier

systems. One of the principal applications of such systems are in combustion and gasification of solid fuels (coal, pet coke, and biomass), wherein the fuel and the inorganic residue (“ash”) form a system of binary fluidization. Even though the fluid bed gasification of coal per se is a relatively well-known operation, however the technology for high ash coal (\u3e30% ash in the native coal) is still in its nascent stage. Existing knowhow on such operations cannot predict interactions of a constantly depleting coal inventory and constantly evolving ash inventory. With this backdrop we attempt here to study the dynamic behavior of coal and ash in a fluidized bed. In order to simulate a realistic bed composition of a gasifier, hydrodynamic characteristics were studied under various proportions of coal and ash on laboratory scale cold flow setup. A three-dimensional transient CFD model was set up to predict the dynamic and time-averaged profiles of coal and ash concentrations. The same were validated against chordal averaged solids holdup (coal and ash) characteristics measured using γ-ray densitometry, with a single collimated source (Cs-137) aligned with a scintillation NaI detector. The other part of the validation, involving the comparison of measured solids velocity profiles and CFD-predicted ones, is accomplished by implementing the Radioactive Particle Tracking (RPT) technique. In the latter technique, a single radioactive particle designed to mimic a single typical coal particle is tracked for a long time in the vessel using strategically placed scintillation detectors, and its position-time history is processed to yield the solids velocity field. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Water poverty in the northeastern hill region (India): potential alleviation through multiple-use water systems: cross-learnings from Nepal Hills

Water poverty index / Construction / Multiple use / Water storage / Farming systems / Villages / Social aspects / Drip irrigation / India / Nepal / Nagaland / Mon district / Lampong Sheanghah

Supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories:not quite the usual perspectivespective

In this paper, we take up an old thread of development concerning the characterization of supersymmetric theories without any use of anticommuting variables that goes back to one of the authors' very early work [1]. Our special focus here will be on the formulation of supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories, extending previous results beyond $D=4$ dimensions. This perspective is likely to provide new insights into these theories, and in particular the maximally extended $N=4$ theory. As a new result we present a novel derivation of the admissible dimensions for interacting (pure) super-Yang-Mills theories to exist. This article is dedicated to the memory of Peter Freund, amongst many other things an early contributor to supersymmetry, and an author of one of the very first papers on superconformal gauge theories [2]. The final section contains some personal reminiscences of H.N.'s encounters with Peter Freund

'Decision support system (DSS) for prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) among hypertensive (HTN) patients in Andhra Pradesh, India'--a cluster randomised community intervention trial.

RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are.BACKGROUND: Very few studies having decision support systems as an intervention report on patient outcomes for cardiovascular disease in the Western world. The potential role of decision support system for the management of blood pressure among Indian hypertensives remains unclear. We propose a cluster randomised trial that aims to test the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of DSS among Indian hypertensive patients. METHODS: The trial design is a cluster randomised community intervention trial, in which the participants would be adult male and female hypertensive patients, in the age group of 35 to 64 years, reporting to the Primary Health Care centres of Mahabubnagar district, Andhra Pradesh, India. The objective of the study is to test the effectiveness and compare the cost effectiveness and cost utility among hypertensive subjects randomized to receive either decision support system or a chart based algorithmic support system in urban and rural areas of a district in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India (baseline versus 12 months follow up). The primary outcome would be a comparison of the systolic blood pressure at 0 and 12 months among hypertensive patients randomized to receive the decision support system or the chart based algorithmic support system. Computer generated randomisation and an investigator and analyser blinded method would be followed. 1600 participants; 800 to each arm; each arm having eight clusters of hundred participants each have been recruited between 01 August 2011 - 01 March 2012. A twelve month follow up will be completed by March 2013 and results are expected by April 2013. DISCUSSION: This cluster randomized community intervention trial on DSS will enable policy makers to find out the effectiveness, cost effectiveness and cost utility of decision support system for management of blood pressure among hypertensive patients in India. Most of the previous studies on decision support system have focused on physician performance, adherence and on preventive care reminders. The uniqueness of the proposed study lies in finding out the effectiveness of a decision support system on patient related outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION: CTRI/2012/03/002476, Clinical Trial Registry - India

An improved block matching algorithm for motion estimation in video sequences and application in robotics

Block Matching is one of the most efficient techniques for motion estimation for video sequences. Metaheuristic algorithms have been used effectively for motion estimation. In this paper, we propose two hybrid algorithms: Artificial Bee Colony with Differential Evolution and Harmony Search with Differential Evolution based motion estimation algorithms. Extensive experiments are conducted using four standard video sequences. The video sequences utilized for experimentation have all essential features such as different formats, resolutions and number of frames which are generally required in input video sequences. We compare the performance of the proposed algorithms with other algorithms considering various parameters such as Structural Similarity, Peak Signal to Noise Ratio, Average Number of Search Points etc. The comparative results demonstrate that the proposed algorithms outperformed other algorithms

Supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory in D=6 without anti-commuting variables

Supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory is formulated in six dimensions, without the use of anti-commuting variables. This is achieved using a new Nicolai map, to third order in the coupling constant. This is the second such map in six dimensions and highlights a potential ambiguity in the formalism

COMPARATIVE PHYSICOCHEMICAL, PHYTOCHEMICAL AND HIGH PERFORMANCE THIN LAYER CHROMATOGRAPHY EVALUATION OF HEART WOOD AND SMALL BRANCHES OF AQUILARIA AGALLOCHA ROXB.

Aquilaria agallocha Roxb. commonly called as Agaru is a medicinal plant. Heartwood of this tree is widely used in Ayurveda for various diseases. Removal of heart wood from trunk of this tree may make this plant weak and susceptible to damage due to which availability of this plant may be difficult in near future. Present study outlines the concept of plant part substitution. Heart wood and small branches of A. agallocha are compared on the basis of physicochemical analysis, phytochemical analysis, total phenolic contents, total flavonoid contents and high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) to evaluate the possibilities of using small branches instead of heart wood. Physicochemical parameters of heartwood and small branches and phytochemical analysis of n-hexane, ethyl acetate and ethanol extract of both heart wood and small branches were carried out using standard methods. Total phenolics and total flavonoids were estimated spectrophotometrically using Folin-ciocalteu assayand aluminum chloride assaymethods, respectively. CAMAG HPTLC system equipped with semi-automatic applicator was used for HPTLC of n-hexane, ethyl acetate and ethanol extracts of stem bark and small braches using suitable mobile phases. Results of phytochemical analysis and HPTLC of n-hexane, ethyl acetate and ethanol extracts showed many similarities whichsuggest that small branches may have nearly similar active potency like heart wood and may be used as a substitute of heart wood after comparison and confirmation of same for pharmacological activities