Synthesis and characterization of screen-printed CdS films

Cadmium sulphide films having energy band gap of 2.4 eV found applications in solar cells and electroluminescent devices. CdS polycrystalline films have been prepared on ultra-clean glass substrate by screen-printing technique and then sintered in air. Optimum conditions for preparing good quality screen-printed films have been found. The optical band gaps ‘Eg’ of the CdS films were determined from the UV transmission spectroscopy and were found to be 2.47eV. The Wurtzite structure of CdS films was confirmed by X-ray diffraction analysis. DC conductivity and activation energy of films was also measured in vacuum by two-probe technique

Design, Development and in Vitro Characterization of Emulgels Loaded with Fluconazole Solid Dispersion and Various Oils for Synergestic Anti-Fungal Effect

Topical Fungal Infections are the most common types of skin infections. Nearly a billion people are suffering from fungal infections of different types. Early accurate diagnosis and treatments may lead to complete cure of such infections, which if left untreated may lead to deadly results. Our current Research topic includes designing of antifungal emulgels that contain oil base which already has proven its efficacy against fungal infections and Fluconazole as the main active ingredients. Three oils were selected namely Tea tree oil, Neem oil and Lemon grass oil. To enhance the efficacy of BCS class II drug fluconazole, solid dispersions of the drug were prepared(F1-F6). Twelve formulations (EGF1-EGF12) containing various combination of oils, gelling agents, API, Aloe vera gel were prepared. Which were then evaluated and characterized for properties like drug content, Rheological study, spread ability, Drug release, pH, stability analysis etc. Among all the formulations EGF2 and EGF5 showed optimum results for drug content and drug release kinetics. The Best selected formulations were then compared with marketed gel formulation of Fluconazole and were kept for stability study analysis. Preformulation studies of the drug, preparation of solid dispersions, incorporation of these solid dispersions into emulgels and characterization of prepared emulgels by comparing with marketed formulations are the main key points of our Research work

Simulation of Three Dimensional Flows in Hydraulic Pumps

Hydraulic efficiency of the centrifugal pump is mainly depends on mass flow rate, Head and RPM. Finding the best combination with the above said parameters and the best geometry of the pump is possible by using three dimensional CFD simulations. For designers, prediction of operating characteristics curve is most important. All theoretical methods for prediction of efficiency merely give a value; but one is unable to determine the root cause for the poor performance. Due to the development of CFD code, one can get the efficiency value as well as observe actual behaviour. One can find the root cause for poor performance by using CFD Analysis of equipment. We have considered centrifugal pump for the three dimensional fluid flow analyses and validated the pump hydraulic efficiency with the experiment results. We observed the behaviour of the hydraulic efficiency with respect to the pump performance characteristics. Centrifugal pumps should be run at best efficiency point. Generally the radial force developed on the shaft will be high, if operates away from the BEP and it may leads to shaft damage. So it is important to find out best efficiency point

Performance analysis of a fluid queue with random service rate in discrete-time

We consider a fluid queue in discrete time with random service rate. Such a queue has been used in several recent studies on wireless networks where the packets can be arbitrarily fragmented. We provide conditions on finiteness of moments of stationary delay, its Laplace-Stieltjes transform and various approximations under heavy traffic. Results are extended to the case where the wireless link can transmit in only a few slots during a frame

Geographical access to radiation therapy in North Queensland: a retrospective analysis of patient travel to radiation therapy before and after the opening of an additional radiotherapy facility

Introduction: Access to radiation therapy (RT) underlies optimal care for prostate and breast cancer patients. This study investigates the impact of opening a new RT clinic on distance and road travel time to RT, and overall utilisation for prostate and breast cancer patients over a 3-year period in North Queensland (NQ), Australia. Methods: The study used retrospective audit of two radiotherapy databases and a geographic information system to illustrate patient origins and distance to the RT clinic used over 3 years. Prostate and female breast cancer patients were selected from the radiation oncology databases of The Townsville Hospital (TTH) and Radiation Oncology Queensland (ROQ) Cairns between 1 July 2010 and 30 June 2013. Distance from a patient's home origin to the RT facility was mapped using a geographic information system (ArcGIS software), and travel time (minutes) and road distance (km) determined by Google Maps road directions. Results: Overall number of prostate and breast cancer patients treated by RT in Cairns and Townsville clinics increased by 16% in 2011–2012 and by 29% in 2012–2013 from year 1 values. In 2010, 44% of the patients travelled 200–400 km to RT, which reduced to 21% in 2013. By 2013, with a second treatment facility, more than 70% of patients lived within 200 km of an RT facility (p<0.0001). Total median road travel time reduced annually from 201 minutes in 2010–2011 to 66 minutes in 2011–2012 and 56 minutes in 2012–2013 (p<0.0001), corresponding to a decrease in the median distance travelled to an RT facility. Conclusions: An additional RT facility in NQ has led to an increase in patients treated with RT for prostate and breast cancer and, on average, less travel distance and time to treatment, suggesting improvement in access to RT in NQ

Intuitionistic Fuzzy Soft Set Theory and Its Application in Medical Diagnosis

For finding coherent and logical solution to various real life problems containing uncertainty, impreciseness and vagueness, fuzzy soft set theory is gaining importance. Later on a theoretical study of the intuitionistic fuzzy soft set was developed. The combination of intuitionistic fuzzy set and intuitionistic fuzzy soft set are more useful for application point of view in the field wherever uncertainty due to vagueness appear in more complex form. In the present communication the concepts of fuzzy soft set and Intuitionistic fuzzy soft Set are defined as hybridization of fuzzy set and soft set theory. A new method of application of intuitionistic fuzzy soft set is studied in Medical Diagnosis following Sanchez’s approach. A hypothetical case study is also discussed in brief using the proposed method

LIBS-Based Detection of Antioxidant Elements in Seeds of Emblica officinalis

The aim of the study was to determine the effect of the elements of the extract of seed from Emblica officinalis on antioxidant enzymes and osmotic fragility of erythrocytes membrane in normal as well as streptozotocin-induced severely diabetic albino Wister rats. The results revealed that the untreated diabetic rats exhibited increase in oxidative stress as indicated by significantly diminished activities of free radical scavenging enzymes such as catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) by 37.5% (p

Temporal Variation of Surface Water Quality in Urbanized Watershed of Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India

The Water quality of Ashwani Khad, a drinking water resource for Shimla city was studied to find out it’s suitability for drinking purposes since this stream is receiving treated sewage effluent from a nearby Sewage Treatment Plant. The sewage contaminated water had caused Hepatitis A outbreak in the city few years ago. This for the first time created a hue and cry among the people leading to a constant monitoring of the water quality of Ashwani Khad since this water is directly being used for drinking purposes in the study area. Fifteen water quality parameters were tested for 26 water samples along the stream both in pre and post monsoon seasons in April 2013 and October 2013 respectively. These included pH, EC, TDS, BOD, COD, hardness, alkalinity, nitrates, phosphates, fluoride, sulphates and chlorides. The pH, EC and TDS were evaluated in the field while the other parameters were evaluated in the laboratory. The higher values of few parameters especially the BOD and COD in the water samples indicated that the water is not suitable for drinking purposes and needs certain levels of purification techniques to make it suitable for drinking purposes. The results also revealed that the Sewage Treatment Plant is not working effectively as the effluents were highly contaminated. Keywords: Water, Sewage, Pollution, Shimla, Sewage Treatment Plant, Ashwani Kha