Synthesis and Structural Characterization of Niobium Doped Lead-Telluride Glass-Ceramics

The basic glasses with composition (70-x) TeO2-30PbO-xNb2O5 (where x=0.1 mol % and 0.2 mol %) were prepared by melt quenching method and heat treated at 2800C for 30 min. The samples becoming glass ceramics was confirmed by SEM. The XRD parameters such as crystallite size of these glass ceramics decreases as increase the impurity and is the order of 184-109A0 . However, micro strain (ε) and dislocation density (δ) increases. Glass transition and thermal stability estimated from DSC measurements and it has been found that both increase with increasing of impurity. Infrared Absorption spectra were measured for TeO2 glass and glass ceramic doped with Nb2O5. The recorded bands attributed to the different modes of vibration and stretching of Te-O band. Optical Absorption spectra of TeO2-PbONb2O5 system shows that the absorption edge has a tail extending towards the lower energies and shifts towards for higher energies for rare earths-doped glass-ceramics. The degree of the edge shift was found to depend on the structural rearrangement and the relative concentrations of the glass basic units. The general appearance of the absorption spectra of these rare earth doped TeO2 glasses are similar to the spectra observed for other glasses doped with the same kind of rare earth oxides

Analysis of fixed dose combinations of expectorants, antitussives, decongestants, antihistamines and mucolytics available in the Indian market for rationality and cost variation

Background: Aim of the current study was to analyze the FDCs of expectorants, antitussives, decongestants, antihistamines and mucolytics available in the Indian market for their rationality, cost, and dosage forms. Methods: FDCs involving expectorants, antitussives, decongestants, antihistamines and mucolytics listed on Drug Today and Jan Aushadhi online portal were analysed for rationality according to the list of banned FDCs by CDSCO published on 01 Jan 2018. The FDCs with EADAM available in Jan Aushadhi online portal are compared with cost of different brands with same composition, strength and dosage form available in the Indian market as per the latest drug today. The cost ratio and percentage cost variation were calculated for each FDC. Results: Out of total 340 oral formulations, 268 were liquid and 72 were solid formulations. 228 were Syrups, 67 were Tablets, 23 were Drops, 17 were Suspension and 5 were Capsules. Out of 47 banned FDCs, branded FDC with Ammonium chloride 50mg, Bromhexine 4mg, Dextromethorphan 5mg and Menthol in syrup form was still available for over-the-counter purchase and for online purchase with prescription. Percentage cost variation between branded and generic FDCs ranged from 99% for Terbutaline 2.5 mg and Bromhexine 8 mg to 1081% for Terbutaline 1.25 mg, Bromhexine 4mg, Guaiphenesin 50 mg and Menthol 2.5 mg. Conclusions: One among 47 Banned FDCs was available at both online apps and drug stores. These irrational FDCs can be risk to human lives. The drug authorities need to tune the price of these FDCs as there is a huge percentage cost variation between generic and branded products

Proactive cloud service assurance framework for fault remediation in cloud environment

Cloud resiliency is an important issue in successful implementation of cloud computing systems. Handling cloud faults proactively, with a suitable remediation technique having minimum cost is an important requirement for a fault management system. The selection of best applicable remediation technique is a decision making problem and considers parameters such as i) Impact of remediation technique ii) Overhead of remediation technique ii) Severity of fault and iv) Priority of the application. This manuscript proposes an analytical model to measure the effectiveness of a remediation technique for various categories of faults, further it demonstrates the implementation of an efficient fault remediation system using a rule-based expert system. The expert system is designed to compute an utility value for each remediation technique in a novel way and select the best remediation technique from its knowledgebase. A prototype is developed for experimentation purpose and the results shows improved availability with less overhead as compared to a reactive fault management system

Predicting the Brand Popularity from the Brand Metadata

Social networks have become one of the primary sources of big data, where a variety of posts related to brands are liked, shared, and commented, which are collectively called as brand metadata. Due to the increased boom in E/M-commerce, buyers often refer the brand metadata as a valuable source of information to make their purchasing decision. From the literature study, we found that there are not many works on predicting the popularity of the brand based on the combination of brand metadata and comment’s thoughtfulness analysis. This paper proposes a novel framework to classify the comment’s as thoughtful favored or disfavored comment’s, and later combines them with the brand metadata to forecast the popularity of the brand in near future. The performance of the proposed framework is compared with some of the recent works w.r.t. thoughtful comment’s identification accuracy, execution time, prediction accuracy and prediction time, the results obtained are found to be very encouraging

GPS Receiver Simplification for Low cost Applications and Multipath Mitigation Analysis on SDR based Re configurable Software Receiver

Many modern position-based applications rely heavily on the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). Most applications require precise position data obtained through sophisticated hardware with a high computational capacity in the receiver. Some cost-effective applications may not require precise position data and require less complex signal processing. The use of efficient hardware and signal processing techniques to reduce the overall cost of a GNSS receiver is an active research topic. This paper considers Global Positioning System (GPS) constellation and proposes two factors to reduce the receiver complexity: sampling frequency and the number of tracking channels. A Keysight GNSS signal generator to record GPS signals, a Software Defined Radio board and a software-based GPS receiver are used in the experimentation. The sampling frequencies are 40, 20, 10 and 5 MHz considered, and tracking channels are reduced from 12 to 6 and then 4. The increase of error in the receiver position with 6 and 4 satellites is considerably small, but the number of tracking channels and signal processing requirements are reduced considerably. The GPS signals are affected by many errors; one of the significant sources of error is multipath propagation. Three distinct GPS multipath scenarios are generated for four satellite signal combinations with the GNSS simulator for the receiver performance analysis. Three multipath mitigation techniques, namely Early Minus Late (EML), Narrow correlator (NC) and strobe correlator (SC) methods, are considered because of their simple structure and fewer signal processing requirements. The error reductions of three multipath scenarios are compared, and the SC method performs better in all three multipath scenarios

Classification of Surgical Errors - Ayurvedic Viewpoint

Surgical error is described in the treatise of Sushruta Samhita, wherein it has been classified into four varieties, namely, an Insufficient procedure, a procedure done in excess, a procedure done by improper technique and lastly, during the procedure injury to the surgeon. This classification is unique, and is applicable to all streams of surgery. The former three types results in aggravation of the clinical condition, worsening of the pathological process and also will be fatal, hence, a surgeon must adhere to the core principles of Surgery as detailed in test and must possess theoretical and practical knowledge. The reasons for surgical errors as listed by Sushruta are Ajnana [Ignorance], Lobha [Greed], Bhaya [Fear], Pramoha [Nervousness or haste] and fear of being spurned or abused. Any surgeon who has deficiency of theoretical and practical knowledge, incomplete understanding of the subject, ill trained in judgment is sure to produce such errors