Restaurant Hope: Engineering a Choice-Based Service Initiative to Address Hunger

The objective of this service-learning project was to humanize the face of hunger for volunteers by empowering patrons attending a soup kitchen with the choice of selecting their meal for dinner. This experience helped foster an emotional connection between patrons and volunteers. A traditional soup kitchen utilizes a single-option, inexpensive meal approach that is cooked and delivered by volunteers. However, this service project, entitled Restaurant Hope, addressed these issues by providing patrons with a diverse menu. In addition, patrons were given the opportunity to request more food (to try other options on the menu) and take home leftover food depending on availability. Choices patrons made in terms of menu preferences were tracked. Volunteers, soup kitchen administrators, and patrons were interviewed to obtain feedback on this service initiative and how it impacted their perceptions on the issue of hunger in their local community

Numerical simulation of internal channel cooling via jet impingement in fluent and its sensitivity study

Paper presented to the 10th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Florida, 14-16 July 2014.Impinging jets against surface provide effective heat transfer in various industrial applications. It includes vast applications such as gas turbine cooling, rocket launcher cooling, heat treatment, cooling of electronic components, heating of optical surfaces for defogging, cooling of turbine components, cooling of critical machinery structures, and many other industrial processes. In this work, the numerical analysis of various heat transfer configurations of jet impingement on a semi-circular surface was studied. These heat transfer configurations were compared on the basis of effective heat transfer by achieving higher Nusselt number as convection is becoming the dominant phenomenon. The internal channel, on which analysis is performed, is a curved surface with a uniform heat flux. The numerical result obtained is favorably comparable with the experiment results. Furthermore, sensitivity study for various materials, configuration (geometry) and conditions was carried out to gain more insight on the underlining physics of the flow. Finally, the favorable application of inner cooling to turbine blade is numerically demonstrated.dc201

Prevalence of Muscle Dysmorphia and Associated Health Activities in Male Medical Students in Karachi, Pakistan

Background: Muscle Dysmorphia (MD) is a subtype of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) and is currently classified under anxiety disorders (subheading: Obsessive-compulsive disorder) in DSM 5. MD is hypothesized to affect the self-esteem and social outlook of the younger generation. MD shows a higher rate in males and may influence their self-confidence rendering them more prone towards using steroids, supplementary proteins and other drugs to alter their physical outlooks as shown in previous studies. This problem has been on the rise lately due to revolutionary advancement in the media and film industry and the abrupt changes about the standards of physical good looks and body shapes. With the lack of studies done in our population, our study will be helpful to consider the prevalence of the disease in our setting and increase awareness in the general public and clinicians. We hope to help clinicians/ therapists find better options in managing the disease. Materials: We performed a cross-sectional study with a sample size of 246 medical school students in Karachi to collect data through self-administered questionnaires. We used the DSM 5 criteria for the diagnosis of BDD and additional questions on the presence of MD. Nutritional habits, exercise routines, use of supplements and drugs were also obtained for exploratory analysis. Results: Our study predicted the prevalence of MD to be 25%. Other main findings included statistical significant associations between MD and the thoughts and practice of steroid use for muscularity. Conclusion: MD is an underdiagnosed and often unrecognized disease that we believe has significant consequences for the young male population. Further work is needed on this in our part of the world. Our research, we believe, can be a stepping stone for further studies that would incorporate wider populations

Selective harmonic mitigation based two-scale frequency control of cascaded modified packed U-cell inverters

A new Modified Packed U-Cell (MPUC) converter architecture with cascading is proposed in this paper. To provide an output voltage of 25 levels, the proposed cascaded MPUC needs only twelve power switches and four power sources. The converter comprises two cascaded MPUCs with DC supply in a ratio of 5 : 1. One converter is operating at low frequency (LF) and the other at high frequency (HF) that leads to lower power losses and higher levels. Besides, a variable frequency method is anticipated to produce a 25-level output voltage which has low harmonic content (THD) with the help of Selective Harmonic Mitigation (SHM). The optimum switching angles for SHM are obtained through solving the SHM equations using the Genetic Algorithm (GA). The designed controller is efficient and suitable for applications that require low-frequency operation either in stand-alone or grid-tied. The proposed inverter and its operation procedure have been investigated using MATLAB®/Simulink software, and the findings demonstrate that the proposed inverter output voltage has reduced THD significantly. The simulation results are verified using the typhoon HIL-402 emulator. Also, the power loss analysis is done using PLECS. The maximum efficiency of the converter is found to be around 98.34 %. The simulation results justified the efficiency and viability of low 25-level THD voltages

Development and in-vitro Evaluation of Once Daily Tablet Dosage Form of Loxoprofen Sodium

Purpose: To formulate and characterize once daily controlled release tablet of loxoprofen sodium.Methods: Eudragit RS-100, hydroxylpropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) and pectin were used as release retarding polymers. All the formulations were prepared by direct compression method. Various precompression studies were carried out to determine Hausner’s ratio, Carr’s index, angle of repose, bulk density and tapped density Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) studies and also post-compression studies to evaluate hardness, friability, weight variation, drug content, in-vitro drug release were conducted on the tablets. The drug release data were subjected to kinetic models, including zero order, first order, Hixon Crowell, Higuchi and Korsmeyer-Peppas.Results: Compressibility index (7.6 ± 1.32 - 12.5 ± 1.43%), Hausner’s ratio (1.08 ± 0.04 - 1.14 ± 0.03), angle of repose (27.78 ± 0.47 - 30.49 ± 0.46°), hardness (6.25 ± 0.27 - 7.21±0.21 kg/cm2), friability (0.14 ± 0.06 - 0.28 ± 0.0 %), weight variation (249.5 ± 2.09 - 251.35 ± 2.41 mg) and drug content  (97.30 ± 0.28 - 103.70 ± 0.31 %) were within generally accepted limits for the pre-and post-compression formulations, respectively. The tablets having the maximum amount of among the three polymers tested as matrix materials, HPMC, represented by F3 tablets, exerted better sustained release properties after 12 h. Release pattern was more of Fickian diffusion followed by Higuchi mechanism.Conclusion: The release of the loxoprofen sodium was optimized up to 12 h.Keywords: Loxoprofen, Sustained release, hydroxypropyl methylcelluose, Pectin, Eudragit, Matrix tablet

Internal cracks and non-metallic inclusions as root causes of casting failure in sugar mill roller shafts

The sugar mill roller shaft is one of the critical parts of the sugar industry. It requires careful manufacturing and testing in order to meet the stringent specification when it is used for applications under continuous fatigue and wear environments. For heavy industry, the manufacturing of such heavy parts (>600 mm diameter) is a challenge, owing to ease of occurrence of surface/subsurface cracks and inclusions that lead to the rejection of the final product. Therefore, the identification and continuous reduction of defects are inevitable tasks. If the defect activity is controlled, this offers the possibility to extend the component (sugar mill roller) life cycle and resistance to failure. The current study aims to explore the benefits of using ultrasonic testing (UT) to avoid the rejection of the shaft in heavy industry. This study performed a rigorous evaluation of defects through destructive and nondestructive quality checks in order to detect the causes and effects of rejection. The results gathered in this study depict macro-surface cracks and sub-surface microcracks. The results also found alumina and oxide type non-metallic inclusions, which led to surface/subsurface cracks and ultimately the rejection of the mill roller shaft. A root cause analysis (RCA) approach highlighted the refractory lining, the hot-top of the furnace and the ladle as significant causes of inclusions. The low-quality flux and refractory lining material of the furnace and the hot-top, which were possible causes of rejection, were replaced by standard materials with better quality, applied by their standardized procedure, to prevent this problem in future production. The feedback statistics, evaluated over more than one year, indicated that the rejection rate was reduced for defective production by up to 7.6%

Promising antifungal potential of selective botanical extracts, fungicides and Trichoderma isolates against Alternaria Solani

In vitro antifungal potential of Trichoderma isolates, selective botanical extracts and fungicides against A. solani was evaluated. Trichoderma isolates, i.e. T. harzianum, T. viride and T. hamatum, were tested for their antifungal effect by dual culture technique at 48, 96, 144 and 172 hrs. T. hamatum produced the highest inhibition of A. solani in vitro, followed by T. hazianum and T. viride after 172 hrs. Methanolic leaf extracts of Elettaria cardamomum, Syzygium aromaticum, Curcuma longa and root extract of Parthenium hysterophorus showed up to 100% inhibition of A. solani, compared to control, while methanolic stem and leaf extracts of P. hysterophorus produced up to 90% inhibition of the pathogen. In vitro, six different systemic fungicides Triger 25% EC (Tebuconazole), Solex (Carbendazim 40% + Triadimefon 10%), Dew (Difenoconazole), Amistor Top SC (Azoxystrobin + Difenoconazole), Corel 25% EC (Difenoconazole), Reflex (Difenoconazole + Propiconazole) were tested against A. solani at 5, 10 and 15 ppm concentrations after 48, 96, 144 and 172 hrs. Corel and reflex at all concentrations produced best growth inhibition of A. solani. The inhibition was maximum by all fungicides at 15 ppm after 172 hrs. All fungicides had a promising inhibitory effect on A. solani, except Solex. It can be concluded from the present investigation that a combination of these strategies can be used in integrated disease management of A. solani on potato

Osthole: A Multifunctional Natural Compound with Potential Anticancer, Antioxidant and Anti-inflammatory Activities

Nature has always proved to be a significant reservoir of bioactive scaffolds that have been used for the discovery of drugs since times. Medicinal plants continue to be a solid niche for biologically active and therapeutically effective chemical entities, opening up new avenues for the successful treatment of several human diseases. The contribution of plant-derived compounds to drug discovery, either in their original or in the semi-synthetic derivative form, extends far back in time. This review aims to focus on the sources, biological, and pharmacological profile of a pharmacologically active plant-derived coumarin, osthole, which is an important component of numerous remedial plants such as Cnidium monnieri. Several studies have revealed that osthole possess pharmacological properties such as anticancer, antioxidant, anti-hyperglycemic, neuroprotective, and antiplatelet. Osthole has been reported to regulate various signaling pathways, which in turn modulate several apoptosis-related pro-teins, cell cycle regulators, protein kinases, transcriptional factors, cytokines, and growth receptors affiliated with inflammation, proliferation and several other ailments. Osthole is known to halt proliferation and metastasis of cancerous cells by arresting the cell cycle and inducing apoptosis. The data in this review paper supports the pharmacological potential of osthole but further experimentation, biosafety profiling and synergistic effects of this compound need to be focused by the researchers to understand the full spectrum of pharmacological potential of this therapeutically potent compound