A Modified Algorithm of Improved Explicit Euler’s Method To Solve Initial Value Problems.

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Outcome of adult patients with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia receiving the MRC UKALL XII protocol: a tertiary care centre experience

Introduction:Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) is a heterogeneous group of lymphoid neoplasm resulting from the proliferation of malignant lymphoid cells. We aimed to study the outcome of adult Patients with ALL receiving the Medical Research Council UKALL XII protocol. Methods: This was a retrospective study conducted at Aga Khan University Hospital from January 2001 to December 2008. The medical records of all adult Patients were reviewed and analysed for clinical, morphological and immunological features at presentation and impact on treatment outcomes. Multivariate analysis and survival studies were performed using Kaplan-Meier statistics. Results: The total number of Patients was 54, with a male to female ratio of 3.4:1 and a median age of 28 years. Common presenting symptoms were fever (n is 49) and bleeding (n is 14). 38 Patients had haemoglobin less than 10 gms/dl, 21 had white blood cell (WBC) count of 50 x 10E9/L or more, and 35 had lactate dehyrogenase more than 1,000 IU. Morphologically, FAB-L2 was the commonest subtype, with 38 Patients with B-ALL and eight with T-ALL. Multivariate analysis showed that age above 30 years, male gender, WBC count above 50 x 10E9/L and T-ALL subtype were independent risk factors for poor survival. 46 (85 percent) Patients achieved complete remission. The median survival was 12.3 months. At the end of five years, 16 Patients were alive, two were alive with disease and 14 were in complete remission. Conclusion: Overall survival and relapse rates in our study were comparable to those reported internationally

Prevalence of diabetic retinopathy in type II diabetic patients in a health facility in Karachi, Pakistan

Purpose: To study the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy in known diabetic patients attending the diabetes outpatient department (OPD) of Sind Government Hospital (SGH), New Karachi Township (NKT), Pakistan.Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was carried out at the diabetic OPD of SGH, NKT over the period of 17 months from March 2013 to August 2014. The selected patients were interviewed based on a questionnaire; laboratory investigations were performed and examination of the eye was conducted by a specialist ophthalmologist. One hundred and fifty four (154) subjects out of 305 patients contacted fully completed the study. Stratification of the data on gender basis was done, after which one-way ANOVA, χ2 test of correlation, binary logistic regression and relative risk analyses were carried out using SPSS-20.Results: It was found that 66 % men of normal weight (χ2 = 4.667, p < 0.05) and 60.7 % overweight women (χ2 = 5.143, p < 0.05) were more likely to present with diabetic retinopathy (DR). Prevalence of DR in this target population was 42.86 % (N = 66). Background DR (56 %) and maculopathy (23 %) were more prevalent than advanced conditions of the disease. There was no gender-based preponderance for the presentation of DR (χ2 = 0.663; p > 0.05), nor was this seen in different ethnic groups.Conclusion: DR is prevalent in the target population and, therefore, emphasis should be on the education of the local population of New Karachi Township on how to attain euglycemic state with regular medication, diet and exercise to avoid development and progress of DR.Keywords: Diabetes mellitus, Diabetic retinopathy, Medication, Euglycemia, Microvascular complication

Flow induced vibration of a square cylinder with high scruton number

Flow over a square cylinder is numerically studied to understand the effect of reduced velocity to the transverse oscillation under the influence of high Scruton number elastic system of 4.316. For low reduced velocities, the transverse oscillation behavior can be grouped in the initial branch region. In this region, the motion is mainly controlled by the lift fluctuation. For intermediate reduced velocities, the transverse oscillation behavior is grouped in the lower branch region. In this region, its natural frequency slowly becomes significant. For high reduced velocities, the galloping region is observed. In this region, the natural frequency dominated the shape of the amplitude oscillation

Modelling performance of ocean-thermal energy conversion cycle according to different working fluids

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) is a promising renewable energy technology with the concept to harness the energy stored at the surface seawater (SSW) and the cold deep seawater (DSW). The operation is based on the Rankine cycle, and involves at a minimum temperature difference of 20 K of the SSW and DSW to generate electricity. This research focuses on the economic efficiency of different working fluids used in the OTEC Rankine cycle. The various working fluids include ammonia, ammonia-water mixture (0.9), propane, R22, R32, R134a, R143a, and R410a. Most of the existing commercial OTEC systems use ammonia as the working medium despite its toxic nature. This study shows that the ammonia-water mixture still gives the best results in terms of heat transfer characteristics because of its greater transport properties and stability compared to other fluids. However, fluids such as propane and R32 can also be used as a substitute for ammonia-water mixture despite having slightly lower efficiency, because they are non-toxic and safer towards the environment. The same developmental model was used to present the proposed modified OTEC Rankine cycle, which shows a 4% increase in thermal cycle efficiency. This study reveals economically efficient and environmentally friendly working fluids

Utilizing open source software running in inexpensive high performance computing system for cfd applications

The high cost of conducting research is a significant issue for the successfulness of any research project. For research activities involving flow simulation, the licensing fee for the numerical software and the cost to acquire powerful machine are the main factors contributing to the high cost. This paper reports our experiences in setting up a cost effective way of doing computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The actions involve two areas, i.e., software and hardware. For the software, open source softwares are utilized, particularly the OpenFOAM(r) as the CFD package. For the hardware, a parallel computer made from a cluster of inexpensive desktop computer is constructed. This architecture is found able to meet our requirement in investigating various flow problems that include aeroacoustics, vibration and wind engineering for ventilation

Aerodynamics characteristics around simplified high speed train model under the effect of crosswinds

The aerodynamics problems of train commonly come when the flow pass through train body. The increasing speed of train to achieve highly technology demands has led to increase the forces and moments and increase sensitivity of train stability and may cause the train to overturn. In this paper, two prisms arranged in tandem represent a simplified model of high speed train are performed at different yaw angle ranging from 0° to 90° by using the unsteady Reynolds- Averaged Navier Stokes (URANS) equation combined with k-ω SST turbulence model. The Reynolds number is 3.14x105based on height of the train and the free stream velocity. The aerodynamic quantities such as the side force, lift force and drag force coefficient show a similar trend where the forces increase with the yaw angle until a certain critical yaw angle before start to decrease till the yaw angle of 90°. The flow structure around the train under the effect of crosswind is visualized. The vorticiticy start to form from the nose and slowly drifts away further towards the trailing edge. The two-dimensional mean streamlines on the cross-section of train at different yaw angle show that the size of vortex increase as the yaw angle increase. Time averaged pressure contour plotted on the cross section along x-axis show the variation of region between high pressure and low pressure region on the leeward and windward side of the train model that may cause train to overturn. © 2006-2017 Asian Research Publishing Network (ARPN)

Aerodynamics characteristics around simplified high speed train model under the effect of crosswinds

The aerodynamics problems of train commonly come when the flow pass through train body. The increasing speed of train to achieve highly technology demands has led to increase the forces and moments and increase sensitivity of train stability and may cause the train to overturn. In this paper, two prisms arranged in tandem represent a simplified model of high speed train are performed at different yaw angle ranging from 0° to 90° by using the unsteady Reynolds- Averaged Navier Stokes (URANS) equation combined with k-ω SST turbulence model. The Reynolds number is 3.14x105based on height of the train and the free stream velocity. The aerodynamic quantities such as the side force, lift force and drag force coefficient show a similar trend where the forces increase with the yaw angle until a certain critical yaw angle before start to decrease till the yaw angle of 90°. The flow structure around the train under the effect of crosswind is visualized. The vorticiticy start to form from the nose and slowly drifts away further towards the trailing edge. The two-dimensional mean streamlines on the cross-section of train at different yaw angle show that the size of vortex increase as the yaw angle increase. Time averaged pressure contour plotted on the cross section along x-axis show the variation of region between high pressure and low pressure region on the leeward and windward side of the train model that may cause train to overturn. © 2006-2017 Asian Research Publishing Network (ARPN)

Comparative study on energy extraction from vibrating square cylinder

In this paper, the prospect of harvesting energy from flow induced-vibration of a square cylinder is assessed. The extraction of energy from the flow is attained by mounting the square cylinder on a one-degree elastic system with a massdamping (m*ζ) of 2.75. OpenFOAM®, an open source CFD package is used to model the flow induced motion of the square cylinder. A theoretical formulation to estimate the lift force acting on the square cylinder is derived to confirm the results obtained by the simulation. A good agreement between the results is obtained. The amplitude vibration and lift force are then used to estimate the power induced by the oscillating square cylinder. Energy in the micro scale range can be harvested from this flow induced-vibration system. This type of alternative green energy is suitable for the micro energy harvester system required for sensors in many engineering structure for health monitoring purpose

Investigation of Non-linear Chirp Coding for Improved Second Harmonic Pulse Compression

Non-linear frequency-modulated (NLFM) chirp coding was investigated to improve the pulse compression of the second harmonic chirp signal by reducing the range side lobe level. The problem of spectral overlap between the fundamental component and second harmonic component (SHC) was also investigated. Therefore, two methods were proposed: method I for the non-overlap condition and method II with the pulse inversion technique for the overlap harmonic condition. In both methods, the performance of the NLFM chirp was compared with that of the reference LFM chirp signals. Experiments were performed using a 2.25 MHz transducer mounted coaxially at a distance of 5 cm with a 1 mm hydrophone in a water tank, and the peak negative pressure of 300 kPa was set at the receiver. Both simulations and experimental results revealed that the peak side lobe level (PSL) of the compressed SHC of the NLFM chirp was improved by at least 13 dB in method I and 5 dB in method II when compared with the PSL of LFM chirps. Similarly, the integrated side lobe level (ISL) of the compressed SHC of the NLFM chirp was improved by at least 8 dB when compared with the ISL of LFM chirps. In both methods, the axial main lobe width of the compressed NLFM chirp was comparable to that of the LFM signals. The signal-to-noise ratio of the SHC of NLFM was improved by as much as 0.8 dB, when compared with the SHC of the LFM signal having the same energy level. The results also revealed the robustness of the NLFM chirp under a frequency-dependent attenuation of 0.5 dB/cm·MHz up to a penetration depth of 5 cm and a Doppler shift up to 12 kHz