237 research outputs found
Development of a Household Coconut Punch-cum-Splitter
A power operated coconut punch-cum-splitter was developed for extracting coconut water and coconut meat. The equipment mainly consists of screw rod, channel section, tapered roller bearing, pulleys, movable tray, and supporting frame, cutting blade, punch and electric motor. The nut of the screw rod was rotated with an electric motor and the drive was transmitted with a belt and pulley system. The tender coconut was placed on the top of the screw rod in natural rest position and was raised to press against either the punch or the blade fixed above the screw rod. The average energy requirement for punching and splitting of the selected range were found to be 11.74 kJ and 12.13 kJ
Curing Acute Prostatitis by means of Ayurveda - A Case Report
Bacterial prostatitis (BP) is a bacterial infection of the prostate gland occurring in a bimodal distribution in younger and older men. It can be acute (ABP) or chronic (CBP) in nature and if not treated appropriately, can result in significant morbidity. Ayurveda is a traditional system of medicine, in which herbal medicines are mainly used for restoring the health. This case report deals with the way of curing acute prostatitis using Ayurveda treatment modalities
Physico-chemical Characterization of Biochar from Selected Ligno-cellulosic Biomass for The Sustainable Utilization
Biochar is a thermal decomposition product known to mitigate climate change and a supplement to enhance soil fertility. The fine-grained, highly porous structure of biochar makes it a popular choice in environmental research. This study aims to assess the Physico-chemical properties and morphological changes in the biochar prepared from feedstocks: sawdust, sugarcane bagasse, and soapnut pith of Sapindus trifoliatus, native to the foothills of Western Ghats, Kerala, at a temperature of 300 oC and 600oC with 30 minutes residence time. The pyrolytic temperature and feedstock type may affect the yield, ash content, volatile matter (VM), fixed carbon (FC), and nutrient composition of biochar. The selection of these two factors is critical before proceeding with charring. The efficiency of biochar was determined through proximate, ultimate, and morphological characterizations. The pH of high-temperature biochar (sawdust biochar, sugarcane bagasse biochar, and soapnut pith biochar prepared at 600oC) was more alkaline (≥7) compared with low-temperature ones. The char yield was highest at 300oC, whereas the fixed carbon was limited. The VM/FC ratio of SDB600 at 1.09±2.3 represents the highest aromaticity and long-term stability. Therefore, SDB600 can be recommended for soil supplementation purposes. The macrospores were uniformly distributed throughout the biochar surface. Sugarcane bagasse pyrolyzed at 600oC (SBB600) possessed the minimum pore diameter (0.87-9.17µm), with the highest surface area; so that it could be an optimum habitat for soil microbiota as well as a suitable adsorbent for environmental remediation applications. The study suggests that biochar made from these ligno-cellulosic feedstocks is a sustainable tool and a value-added product for environmental management
Contribution towards the development of a DNA barcode reference library for West African mammals
DNA barcoding is a widely used molecular approach for species cataloging for unambiguous identification and conservation. In the present study, DNA barcoding of some West African mammals were performed with six new mitochondrial CO1 sequences for Civettictis civetta, Tadarida nigeriae, Orycteropus afer, Heliosciurus gambianus, Equus africanus asinus and Funisciurus anerythrus which are absent in public databases such as BLAST/NCBI and BOLD. Sequence identifications were made by comparing unknown sequences against the DNA barcodes of known species through distance-based tree construction and alignment probing. The sequences have been deposited to GenBank/NCBI.Keywords: mtDNA, West African mammals, conservation, biodiversity
Effectiveness of Ayurvedic intervention in Primary Open Angle Glaucoma (Kaphaja Adhimantha) - A Case Study
Glaucoma is a diverse group of disorders affecting the eye with a common characteristic potentially progressive optic neuropathy that is determined by both structural changes and functional deficit in which IOP is a key modifiable factor. In Primary Open Angle Glaucoma (POAG), IOP independent mechanisms of glaucomatous nerve damage and visual field loss with unobstructed angle of anterior chamber is observed. The patient has reported gradual diminution of peripheral aspect of visual field (Rt. eye - 6/12 and Lt. eye - 6/12 on Snellen’s distant vision chart) in both eyes for 2 years. There was marked peripheral field defect on both confrontation test and perimetry visual field analysis test. The disease shows clinical similarity with Kaphaja Adhimantha, a disease affecting the whole eye mentioned in Susruta Samhita and Ashtanga Hrudaya. It is a chronic disease comes under life style related disorder. Dukhena Roopam Pasyathi (distorted image or constricted visual field), Sirodukha (headache), Srava (watering), Kandu (itching), Pamsupoornatha (foreign body sensation), Aviladarsana (diminished vision) and Gourava (heaviness of eye and head) are the clinical findings explained in the context of Kaphaja Adhimantha. These clinical findings mentioned in classical literature show resemblance with POAG. The meticulous deployment of kaphaja AbhisyandhaAdhimantha treatment protocol can be used to prevent the progression of ganglionic damage and preservation of eye sight. The logical interpretation on the basis of both subjective and objective clinical findings concluded the diagnosis as Kaphaja Adhimantha and treatment principle adopted was Apatharpana, Kaphahara, Abhisyandhahara and Srothovisodhana. After treatment his vision has improved as 6/6 in both eyes and remarkable change in visual field analysis. The study discusses about the effectiveness of Ayurvedic management in POAG
Handling the Background in IXPE Polarimetric Data
Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) is a Small Explorer mission by NASA and Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, launched on 2021 December 9, dedicated to investigating X-ray polarimetry allowing angular-, time-, and energy-resolved observations in the 2-8 keV energy band. IXPE is in the science observation phase since 2022 January; it is comprised of three identical telescopes with grazing-incidence mirrors, each one having in the focal plane a gas pixel detector. In this paper, we present a possible guideline to obtain an optimal background selection in polarimetric analysis, and a rejection strategy to remove instrumental background. This work is based on the analysis of IXPE observations, aiming to improve as much as possible the polarimetric sensitivity. In particular, the developed strategies have been applied as a case study to the IXPE observation of the 4U 0142+61 magnetar
Design, construction, and test of the Gas Pixel Detectors for the IXPE mission
Due to be launched in late 2021, the Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer
(IXPE) is a NASA Small Explorer mission designed to perform polarization
measurements in the 2-8 keV band, complemented with imaging, spectroscopy and
timing capabilities. At the heart of the focal plane is a set of three
polarization-sensitive Gas Pixel Detectors (GPD), each based on a custom ASIC
acting as a charge-collecting anode. In this paper we shall review the design,
manufacturing, and test of the IXPE focal-plane detectors, with particular
emphasis on the connection between the science drivers, the performance metrics
and the operational aspects. We shall present a thorough characterization of
the GPDs in terms of effective noise, trigger efficiency, dead time, uniformity
of response, and spectral and polarimetric performance. In addition, we shall
discuss in detail a number of instrumental effects that are relevant for
high-level science analysis -- particularly as far as the response to
unpolarized radiation and the stability in time are concerned.Comment: To be published in Astroparticle Physic
Accretion geometry of the neutron star low mass X-ray binary Cyg X-2 from X-ray polarization measurements
We report spectro-polarimetric results of an observational campaign of the
bright neutron star low-mass X-ray binary Cyg X-2 simultaneously observed by
IXPE, NICER and INTEGRAL. Consistently with previous results, the broad-band
spectrum is characterized by a lower-energy component, attributed to the
accretion disc with 1 keV, plus unsaturated
Comptonization in thermal plasma with temperature keV and
optical depth , assuming a slab geometry. We measure the
polarization degree in the 2-8 keV band per cent and
polarization angle , consistent with the
previous X-ray polarimetric measurements by OSO-8 as well as with the direction
of the radio jet which was earlier observed from the source. While polarization
of the disc spectral component is poorly constrained with the IXPE data, the
Comptonized emission has a polarization degree per cent and a
polarization angle aligned with the radio jet. Our results strongly favour a
spreading layer at the neutron star surface as the main source of the
polarization signal. However, we cannot exclude a significant contribution from
reflection off the accretion disc, as indicated by the presence of the iron
fluorescence line.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Polarization constraints on the X-ray corona in Seyfert Galaxies: MCG-05-23-16
We report on the first observation of a radio-quiet Active Galactic Nucleus
(AGN) using polarized X-rays: the Seyfert 1.9 galaxy MCG-05-23-16. This source
was pointed with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) starting on May
14, 2022 for a net observing time of 486 ks, simultaneously with XMM-Newton (58
ks) and NuSTAR (83 ks). A polarization degree smaller than (at the
99% c.l.) is derived in the 2-8 keV energy range, where emission is dominated
by the primary component ascribed to the hot corona. The broad-band spectrum,
inferred from a simultaneous fit to the IXPE, NuSTAR, and XMM-Newton data, is
well reproduced by a power law with photon index and a
high-energy cutoff keV. A comparison with Monte Carlo
simulations shows that a lamp-post and a conical geometry of the corona are
consistent with the observed upper limit, a slab geometry is allowed only if
the inclination angle of the system is less than 50.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, 1 table. Submitted to MNRAS Letter
Complex variations of X-ray polarization in the X-ray pulsar LS V +44 17/RX J0440.9+4431
We report on \ixpe observations of the Be-transient X-ray pulsar LS V +44
17/RX J0440.9+4431 at two luminosity levels during the giant outburst in
January--February 2023. Considering the observed spectral variability and
changes in the pulse profiles, the source was likely caught in super- and
sub-critical states with significantly different emission region geometry,
associated with the presence of accretion columns and hot spots, respectively.
We focus here on the pulse-phase resolved polarimetric analysis and find that
the observed dependencies of the polarization degree and polarization angle
(PA) on pulse phase are indeed drastically different for the two observations.
The observed differences, if interpreted within the framework of the rotating
vector model (RVM), imply dramatic variations of the spin axis inclination and
the position angle and the magnetic colatitude by tens of degrees within just a
few days separating the observations. We suggest that the apparent changes in
the observed PA phase dependence are predominantly related to the presence of a
polarized unpulsed component in addition to the polarized radiation associated
with the pulsar itself. We show that the observed PA phase dependence in both
observations can then be explained with a single set of RVM parameters defining
the pulsar's geometry. We also suggest that the additional polarized component
is likely produced by scattering of the pulsar radiation off the equatorial
disk wind.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, submitted to A&
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