Partial as Well as Total Photon Interaction Effective Atomic Numbers for Some Concretes

Photon interaction effective atomic number (Zeff) for partial as well as total photon interaction processes has been computed using logarithmic interpolation method for seven different concretes viz. (i) Ordinary, (ii) Hematite - Serpentine, (iii) Ilmenite - Limonite, (iv) Basalt - magnetite, (v) Ilmenite, (vi) Steel - scrap and (vii) Steel - magnetite concrete in the wide energy range from 10.0 keV to 100 GeV. It has been concluded that this method has an advantage over the atomic to electronic cross-section ratio method especially for mixtures in the intermediate energy level. However, due to lack of experimental data in the higher energy region, it is difficult to discuss, its validity in these energy regions

A Low Voltage Actuated RF-MEMS Shunt Capacitive Switch

A novel design of low actuated voltage shunt capacitive RF-MEMS switch and its analysis have been presented in this paper. The proposed design of the switch is having low actuation voltage and low insertion loss as well. The proposed design also offers a very high isolation. A horizontal structure of bridge membrane is present in the proposed switch and its vertical movement is being controlled by the electrostatics MEMS actuation technique, which actually provides the ON and OFF conditions of the switch. The actuation pad has been fed by the CPW transmission line. The switch performance has been analysed over a wide frequency range from 1 GHz to 40 GHz. The actuation voltage of the proposed design has been observed to be 3.0 Volt for a vertical displacement of 1.5 μm. The fixed-fixed flexures beam structure has been used to obtain the excellent RF Characteristics i.e. Isolation is -43 dB and insertion loss is -0.12 dB at 28 GHZ

Multiband reconfigurable antennas for future wireless communication systems

79-97Evolution in wireless technology has resulted in remarkable capabilities, but ever increasing user demand and limited bandwidth spectrum has always instigated the researchers to think of new techniques that can improve network efficiency in terms of size, power and bandwidth consumption. Antenna designing is one of the key factors in achieving this goal and as a result plethora of research work has been conducted in past for crafting sustainable reconfigurable multiband antennas for different wireless services. The concept of combining the wideband-narrowband reconfiguration functionality into a single antenna has created an effective solution for optimizing antenna size and enhancing flexibility in antenna designing. Moreover; this combination has offered the advantage of pre-filtering, which has helped in mitigating the level of interference at the receiver end and has provided an edge over the fixed or non-reconfigurable transceivers. This paper has presented a detailed outlook about reconfigurable antennas and the various techniques involved in attaining reconfigurability in antenna design. The review has been supported by some antenna designs and simulation results that have provided an insight into reconfiguration features. Some new technologies employed in antenna design have also been briefly presented

A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY ON NUTRITIONAL STATUS ASSESSMENT AND MORBIDITY PATTERN OF ADOLESCENTS (10–16 YEARS) RESIDING IN URBAN SLUMS OF AMRITSAR, PUNJAB

Objectives: To assess the nutritional status and morbidity pattern of adolescents age 10–16 years and to determine the various factors associated with under-nutrition. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 1600 households which were selected by systematic random sampling method from 64 slum areas. All adolescents aged 10–16 years were included. Required information was collected on a pretested performa. Height and weight were measured to assess their nutritional status and haemoglobin estimation was done by Sahli’s method. Descriptive statistics (frequencies and proportions) and univariate logistic regression were done to determine various factors associated with under nutrition. Results: Out of 603 study participants, 75% of adolescents were under-weight. About 82.3% had anemia. About 36% suffered from one or more infectious disease in the last 3 months. Going to school, occupation, female sex, and suffering from any infectious disease in the past 3 months were found to be associated with malnutrition. Addiction was reported in 9% of study participants. Conclusions: High prevalence of under-nutrition and anemia in our study reflects inequitable distribution of resources, low purchasing capacity of foods, and unequal food sharing patterns in families making them socially and biologically vulnerable

Multiband reconfigurable antennas for future wireless communication systems

Evolution in wireless technology has resulted in remarkable capabilities, but ever increasing user demand and limited bandwidth spectrum has always instigated the researchers to think of new techniques that can improve network efficiency in terms of size, power and bandwidth consumption. Antenna designing is one of the key factors in achieving this goal and as a result plethora of research work has been conducted in past for crafting sustainable reconfigurable multiband antennas for different wireless services. The concept of combining the wideband-narrowband reconfiguration functionality into a single antenna has created an effective solution for optimizing antenna size and enhancing flexibility in antenna designing. Moreover; this combination has offered the advantage of pre-filtering, which has helped in mitigating the level of interference at the receiver end and has provided an edge over the fixed or non-reconfigurable transceivers. This paper has presented a detailed outlook about reconfigurable antennas and the various techniques involved in attaining reconfigurability in antenna design. The review has been supported by some antenna designs and simulation results that have provided an insight into reconfiguration features. Some new technologies employed in antenna design have also been briefly presented

A study regarding the availability and utilization of water supply and sanitation practices in rural Amritsar, Punjab, India

Background: Access to safe water and sanitation practices is an important issue of health and development at local, regional and national levels. The government has come up with various facilities regarding the water supply and sanitation but there are various factors which curtail their utilization. The present study deals with the extent of utilization and factors impeding the utilization of such services at the village level.Methods: The present impeding cross-sectional study was carried out in village Nagkalan, Amritsar, where the eldest adult member present in the house at the time of the visit was interviewed. Every house of the village was visited during the period of January 2017 to December 2017, and a total of 1123 families were included in the final analysis. Thereafter, data was compiled and analyzed.Results: Out of total 1123 families, only 31.4% were using government water supply (tap water); while 42.7% had no government connection at all and used submersible as their sole source of water supply. 20.2% did not have a toilet at their house and therefore practiced open defecation; out of which majority families belonged to lower socio-economic status (statistically significant). Out of total 896 families having a toilet at their house, there were only 30 families (3.4%) who responded that some of the family members practice open defecation. Also, only 6.1% of the respondents were aware about the functions of Village Health Sanitation and Nutrition Committee (VHSNC).Conclusions: More number of families (42.7%) were dependent on submersible pump as sole source of water supply. 20.2% lacked separate toilet facility, mostly belonging to lower socio- economic status. Only 6.1% were aware regarding the VHSNC. All the families disposed of their household waste on the roads

Extremely compact UWB antenna design with single Notch-Band characteristic

198-203An extremely compact antenna design for Ultra-wideband (UWB) application has been presented in this paper that successfully displays band-notch characteristics at the WLAN band. The design consists of a truncated radiator supplied by a 50 Ω Coplanar Waveguide (CPW) feedline structure. The antenna has been mounted on a FR4 substrate, and its ground plane has been etched with an inverted-L slot responsible for frequency-notch characteristics at the WLAN band (5.15-5.825 GHz). The ground plane has been defected by engraving a rectangular slot in the ground plane for improving the impedance bandwidth. The antenna has a profile size of 19×9×1.6 mm3. The performance of the antenna has also been compared with another design having twice the dimensions of the proposed structure (30×26×1.6 mm3)

A low voltage actuated RF-MEMS shunt capacitive switch

48-52Micro electromechanical system switches (MEMS) have procured remarkable attention in recent years due to their perceptible accomplishment in RF and microwave areas. The major challenge in RF-MEMS is to minimize the actuation voltage deprived of restoring force losses. The proposed design presents the analysis of a low actuation voltage shunt capacitive RF-MEMS switch. The proposed switch comprises low actuation voltage, low insertion loss and very high isolation. A horizontal structure of bridge membrane is exhibited in this design and its vertical movement is presided by the electrostatics MEMS actuation technique, which actually provides the ON and OFF conditions of the switch. The actuation pad is fed by coplanar wave guide (CPW) transmission line. The switch performance is successfully evaluated for a large frequency range from 1 GHz to 40GHz. The actuation voltage of the proposed design has been observed to be 3.0 Volts for a vertical displacement of 1.5 μm. Moreover, the fixed-fixed flexures beam structure offers the isolation of -43 dB and insertion loss of -0.12 dB at 28 GHz

Genome-wide association study for type 2 diabetes in Indians identifies a new susceptibility locus at 2q21.

Indians undergoing socioeconomic and lifestyle transitions will be maximally affected by epidemic of type 2 diabetes (T2D). We conducted a two-stage genome-wide association study of T2D in 12,535 Indians, a less explored but high-risk group. We identified a new type 2 diabetes-associated locus at 2q21, with the lead signal being rs6723108 (odds ratio 1.31; P = 3.32 × 10⁻⁹). Imputation analysis refined the signal to rs998451 (odds ratio 1.56; P = 6.3 × 10⁻¹²) within TMEM163 that encodes a probable vesicular transporter in nerve terminals. TMEM163 variants also showed association with decreased fasting plasma insulin and homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance, indicating a plausible effect through impaired insulin secretion. The 2q21 region also harbors RAB3GAP1 and ACMSD; those are involved in neurologic disorders. Forty-nine of 56 previously reported signals showed consistency in direction with similar effect sizes in Indians and previous studies, and 25 of them were also associated (P < 0.05). Known loci and the newly identified 2q21 locus altogether explained 7.65% variance in the risk of T2D in Indians. Our study suggests that common susceptibility variants for T2D are largely the same across populations, but also reveals a population-specific locus and provides further insights into genetic architecture and etiology of T2D

Unzipping the Polyglutamine Steric Zipper Using High Throughput Flow Cytometry

The transition of soluble proteins into insoluble aggregates underlies many neurodegenerative disorders. While disorders vary with respect to age of onset, disease phenotype, prognosis and the identity of the involved proteins, the irreversible transition to a thermodynamically stable amyloid state has been strongly implicated in all of them. Amyloids have been studied for over 160 years and much work has gone into the study of amyloid morphology and assembly. Despite extensive experimentation, information regarding the structures of amyloid nuclei, and therefore the initiation of amyloid formation and therefore the defining event underlying many neurodegenerative diseases, has eluded researchers. Biophysical models show that, in fact, the direct visualization of the high-energy, transient amyloid nucleus would be predicted to be incredibly difficult if not impossible. Additionally, due to the lack of sequence complexity in many of these peptides, bioinformatic prediction of amyloidogenic proteins or regions is exceedingly error prone. At the extreme of this lack of sequence complexity is the polyglutamine expansion underlying Huntingtin’s Disease (HD). We utilized a high-throughput cytometric platform for the analysis of amyloid nucleation barriers in living cells to systematically dissect the nucleus of polyglutamine expansions. We probed how geometry relating to the primary structure of the polypeptide could affect the transition of these disordered regions by introducing amino acids at regular spacings. Using rational mutagenesis, we found that simple rules relating to glutamine spacing had predictable results on amyloid nucleation. These results supported molecular dynamics free energy simulations of rationally designed nuclei. These results provide more context for the prediction of potential amyloidogenic proteins which could be implicated in disease