Experimental program for real gas flow code validation at NASA Ames Research Center

The experimental program for validating real gas hypersonic flow codes at NASA Ames Rsearch Center is described. Ground-based test facilities used include ballistic ranges, shock tubes and shock tunnels, arc jet facilities and heated-air hypersonic wind tunnels. Also included are large-scale computer systems for kinetic theory simulations and benchmark code solutions. Flight tests consist of the Aeroassist Flight Experiment, the Space Shuttle, Project Fire 2, and planetary probes such as Galileo, Pioneer Venus, and PAET

A SIMPLE AUTOMOTIVE APPLICATION USING FLEXRAY™ PROTOCOL

FlexRay™ protocol is emerging as the next generation automotive communication protocol which offers high data rate, deterministic, fault tolerant, flexible in-vehicle data communication. This protocol supports both time triggered and event triggered data communication. The network that uses FlexRay™ protocol is called FlexRay™ network. The need for FlexRay™ protocol is the substantial demand for the high capacity in-vehicle data communication between the electronic components. In this work, we used Infineon SoCs as FlexRay™ nodes and establish communication between multiple nodes using FlexRay™ protocol. A simple automotive application is developed with temperature and magnetic field sensor being connected to a node and the sensor data is being communicated over the FlexRay™ network

Drug utilization pattern and selected biochemical parameters in pre- and post-hemodialysis state in the end stage renal disease patients: a cross sectional study at a tertiary care hospital

Background: Chronic kidney disease can progress to end-stage kidney failure (ESRD), which is fatal without artificial filtering (dialysis) or a kidney transplant.Methods: The ESRD patients of either gender age >18 years who were diagnosed by nephrologist as ESRD and are on haemodialysis regularly included for the study.Results: The blood urea, serum creatinine, phosphorous, potassium levels were reduced significantly in post – haemodialysis condition, but, there was not much weight reduction after haemodialysis. Serum albumin, serum sodium and blood haemoglobin levels were almost unchanged in post – haemodialysis state. There was no significant difference between the pre and post haemodialysis parameters- serum Na+ serum albumin and blood hemoglobulin. Out of 75 ESRD patients, almost all patients 74 (98.7%) prescribed tablet Livogen, 73 (97.3%) patients given Inj. EPO, 55 (73.3%) tab Nicardia, 54 (76%) tab Sodamint, 43 (57.3%) capsule Alpha D3, 40 (53.3%) tab Shelcal. While between 12 (16%) to 20 (26%) patients prescribed tab Nodosis, tab Metoprolol, tab Febuget, tab Ecosprin, and tab Rantac. Only 1 (1.3%) to 9 (12%) patients received tablet Augmentin, tab Arkamine, tab Carvedilol, tab Para 500, tab Atorvas, Human mixtard, tab Calcicard, tab Minipress XL, tab Dytor, and tab Clopilet.Conclusions: The available two models of treatment, i.e., haemodialysis and poly pharmacy at hospital setup to face the challenges associated with the ESRD, and even outcome after application of both these two models of therapies did not provide optimal normal healthy life status to ESRD patients

Cell/Dendrite Distribution in Directionally Solidified Hypoeutectic Pb-Sb Alloys

The alloys Pb-2.2 wt pet Sb and Pb-5.8 wt pet Sb were directionally solidified with three different thermal gradients of 40, 86, and 140 K cm(-1) at growth rates ranging from 0.6 to 30 mu m s(-1). A Gaussian peak amplitude analysis of the cell/dendrite spacing distribution shows a distinct peak corresponding to the nearest neighbors. The peaks corresponding to the second and the third nearest neighbor spacings are also brought out by this technique. The ratios of the second to the first nearest neighbor spacings and that of the third to the first neighbor spacings are 1.85 +/-: 0.11 and 2.70 +/- 0.25, respectively. This indicates that the cells and dendrites both have a hexagonal distribution with a significant amount of superimposed noise. This is also confirmed by the frequency distribution of their number of nearest neighbors\u27 (coordination number)

A new comptutational method for constrained nonlinear programming

In this dissertation, a new computational method for equality constrained nonlinear programming is developed. Specifically, problems of minimizing a nonlinear objective function f(x) subject to constraints h(x) = 0, where f is a scalar valued, x is an n-vector and h is a m-vector with m < n is considered. The approach employed is based on the idea of seeking simultaneous satisfaction of the associated necessary conditions and the constraints. This is achieved by modifying the normal penalty method approximation to the Lagrange multipliers associated with the problem. As a result of this modification, the new method permits a solution of the constrained problem through a single minimization of an equivalent unconstrained problem, for almost any choice of the associated penalty parameter ρ *. To evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the new method, its performance is compared with that of Hestenes' Multiplier and Fletcher's Exact Penalty Methods in the computational solution of a number of nonlinear programming examples. An important computational advantage of the proposed method over the two aforementioned methods is that it does not require the computation of the critical value ρ* , of the parameter p and provides almost unlimited freedom in its choice. The new method is shown to have superior convergence properties

Case report on tuberous sclerosis

Tuberous sclerosis is a genetic multisystem disorder characterized by widespread hamartomas in several organs, including the brain, heart, skin, eyes, kidney, lung and liver.  The affected genes are TSC1 and TSC2, encoding hamartin and tuberin respectively.  Most features of tuberous sclerosis become evident only in childhood, limiting their usefulness for early diagnosis. We report a case of 3months old female child with seizures and hypo-pigmented skin lesions. The case is rare as it is documented in a family affected continuously in three generations involving four members

Dynamics of socio-economic factors affecting climate vulnerability and technology adoption: Evidence from Jodhpur district of Rajasthan

Climate change and extreme weather fluctuations are the most threatening challenges to the farming communities especially in semi-arid tropics. The paper investigates socio-economic factors affecting vulnerability and adoption of innovations using micro-level survey data of 100 systematically selected farmers in the Jodhpur district of Rajasthan, India. The results reveal that higher income, irrigation and provision of seeds reduce climate vulnerability to a great extent. Several farm level strategies have been adopted by the farmers against climate induced stress, including change in cropping pattern, reduction in irrigation usage, use of drips and sprinklers and water conservation. In case of pearl millet cropping system, we found that adoption of wide row spacing is significantly influenced by the level of the farmer’s education, land size category, climate awareness and trainings programs. The study suggests that diversified crop sequence involving pearl millet-wheat-cluster bean-barley-onion, farmers’ adoption of suitable adaptation strategies and climate resilient technologies will improve with better awareness, education and farm governance with regard to climate change. Moreover, technologies especially indigenous ones suitable to the local contextual needs must be developed or fine-tuned and disseminated for reducing climate-induced vulnerability

Atomic Resonance Radiation Energetics Investigation as a Diagnostic Method for Non-Equilibrium Hypervelocity Flows

Absorption measurements with a tunable vacuum ultraviolet light source have been proposed as a concentration diagnostic for atomic oxygen, and the viability of this technique is assessed in light of recent measurements. The instrumentation, as well as initial calibration measurements, have been reported previously. We report here additional calibration measurements performed to study the resonance broadening line shape for atomic oxygen. The application of this diagnostic is evaluated by considering the range of suitable test conditions and requirements, and by identifying issues that remain to be addressed