Implementing and Characterizing Real-time Broadband RFI Excision for the GMRT Wideband Backend

The Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) is being upgraded to increase the receiver sensitivity. This makes the receiver more susceptible to man-made Radio Frequency Interference (RFI). To improve the receiver performance in presence of RFI, real-time RFI excision (filtering) is incorporated in the GMRT wideband backend (GWB). The RFI filtering system is implemented on FPGA and CPU-GPU platforms to detect and remove broadband and narrowband RFI. The RFI is detected using a threshold-based technique where the threshold is computed using Median Absolute Deviation (MAD) estimator. The filtering is carried out by replacing the RFI samples by either noise samples or constant value or threshold. This paper describes the status of the real-time broadband RFI excision system in the wideband receiver chain of the upgraded GMRT (uGMRT). The test methodology for carrying out various tests to demonstrate the performance of broadband RFI excision at the system level and on radio astronomical imaging experiments are also described.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure

Performance Comparison of TR and FSRUWB System Using Particle Filter: Effects of Frequency, Data Rate, Multi-Path and Multi-Channel Communication

In this study, we introduced a novel scheme based on Transmitted References (TR) and Frequency Shifted Reference (FSR) for ultra-wideband (UWB) system. By taking into account tracking loop-based particle filtering together with a data collecting approach for single and multi-path channel situations, the suggested method is an enhanced model. Each particle's location is determined using this filtering technique, which is then utilised to calculate the timing inaccuracy and regulate the UWB system's timing pulse. Also, it can tackle the multimodal distribution of errors then effectively approximate the optimal solution. The data distribution is discretised via a number of particles that are weighted samples evolving concerning time duration. The simulation results show that, in terms of error rate, number of particles, and delay response, the recommended model of FSR-UWB with particle filter performs better than the TR-UWB with and without considering particle filter

Analysis of prescribing pattern of antimicrobial agents and its rationality in tertiary care rural setup of Central India

Background: Antimicrobial agents are most commonly prescribed drug and share major cost of the treatment. Excessive and inappropriate use of antimicrobial has become a global problem, resulting not only in substantial economic burden on healthcare system but also in contributing to the selective pressure favoring the emergence of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms. Antimicrobial agents which one uses for prophylactic, empiric and therapeutic purposes, depends upon the local epidemiology of infectious diseases, microbiology and resistance pattern as well as local clinical experience. Rational use of antibiotics is one of the most important way of preventing development of resistant strains to these drugs. However, for this, the health care providers should be aware of the available antibiotic prescription guidelines and should strictly adhere to it. Also, they should be updated of emerging resistant strains. Though the strict guidelines are available for the use of antibiotics, there are differences in level of knowledge and approach to antibiotic prescription among professional health care providers.Methods: The present cross sectional study was carried out in A.V.B.R. Teaching Hospital by collecting data from admitted patient’s case paper, tabulated in seven groups of diseases and different groups of antimicrobial agents prescribed.Results: Penicillin and quinolone group of antimicrobials show maximum use whereas sensitivity found more in cephalosporins and quinolone group of antimicrobials.Conclusions: It was found that Cephalosporins (3rd Gen.) are the most commonly prescribed antimicrobial agents followed by aminoglycosides (Gentamicin) and Fluroquinolones (Ciprofloxacin)

Impact of counselling on the attendance and academic performance of second year medical students in the subject Pharmacology

Background: Absenteeism is becoming a major problem among medical students which has become a focus of concern nationally and globally.Methods: Students are assessed at the beginning of the counselling. The academic performance and attendance rates of students are recorded and tabulated systematically. The data was evaluated for the group of students having low academic performance and attendance over the study period. Statistics applied to determine significant impact of counselling on attendance and academic performance of students over the study period.Results: Study showed positive and significant impact of counselling on attendance and academic performance of the students. The study also revealed positive correlation between attendance and academic performance.Conclusions: The significant impact of counselling was found on student attendance and academic performance. The counselling sessions also proved to improve the student teacher relationship in terms of better two-way communication and also helped in receiving feedback on implementation of new ways of teaching

Effect of nimodipine and flunarizine on neuromuscular function in mice

Background: Changes in the intracellular concentration of Ca2+ control a number of cellular and physiological processes, hormone secretion, and cell fate and gene expression. The objective of this study was to study the effect of L-type of calcium channel blocker nimodipine and T-type of calcium channel blocker funarizine on neuromuscular function in mice without pre-treatment by any other drug.Methods: The study was carried out following permission from the Institutional animal ethics committee. Healthy Swiss albino mice of either sex were selected by the strict inclusion and exclusion criteria and the grouping is done. Group A is control treated with normal saline; group B and C received two titrated doses of nimodipine while group D and E received two titrated doses of flunarizine. The animals were then observed for neuromuscular function and the Statistical analysis was done by using unpaired‘t’ test.Results: L-type calcium channel blocker nimodipine has dose dependent effect on locomotor activity on traction wire and while the T- type calcium channel blocker flunarizine has no effect on locomotor activity.Conclusions: Nimodipine has significant dose dependent depressant action on neuromuscular function while flunarizine has no effect on the above mentioned parameter

Incidence of Seed-borne Mycoflora on French Bean Mutants and its Antagonistic Activity against Trichoderma harzianum

Seed-borne mycoflora of two varieties of French bean viz. Waghya and Varun was studied. Seed mycoflora of nine mutants of Waghya and seven mutants of Varun was isolated on Glucose Nitrate Agar and Rose Bengal Agar Media. Thirteen fungi were isolated from Waghya variety and nine fungi were found to be associated with Varun variety. On both the varieties Macrophomina phaseolina showed its quantitative dominance which were followed by Aspergillus niger and Fusarium oxysporum. Broad pod mutant of variety Waghya showed maximum association of fungi while Long pod mutant showed minimum detection of fungi. Small leaf mutant of variety Varun was associated with maximum number of fungi while dwarf and branched mutant showed minimum detection of fungi. Waghya variety showed maximum incidence of fungi as compared to Varun variety. The antagonistic activity of Trichoderma harzianum against dominant fungi was also studied

Role of Computer Technology in Changing Smile

In the ever changing complex society, where success has become a mantra for both young and old, facial appearance that includes smile, plays a pivotal role. Among many attractive components in a person’s face, smile reflects the persona of an individual. In the present day next gen age, science in unison with technology and techniques which are rapidly getting ingrained into day to day dental practice, has changed the perception of healthy smile by more effective and less invasive approach. In this scenario, the onus lies on the dentist to give that perfectionist touch to a customised smile using computer aided software and hardware apparatus, and to avail the best state of the art material, equipment and techniques. Hence, it is imperative for us to understand and inculcate the role of modern cutting edge computer-aided technologies used in designing and changing the smile of an individual

Comparative Study of PI Controller and PID Controller for Power Quality Improvement

Power factor correction (PFC) is a mandatory functionality of electronic products in the industrial and commercial market in order to mitigate grid harmonics to improve power quality. Since the load characteristics of most PFC applications such as home appliances, battery chargers, switched mode power supplies and other digital products support unidirectional power flow, the general ac - dc boost converter is considered a popular topology. It is one of the low cost, simple methodologies and their performance is well - proven. Maintaining dc - link voltage constantly inside the system in order to feed loads at different power ratings is the main task. Active power filters (APF) is another approach capable of improving grid power quality to control input current with a pure sinusoidal waveform in phase with input voltage. Unlike PFC circuits, the APF is a system in itself which provides compensation of harmonics and reactive power in order to reduce undesirable effects from non-linear loads and uncontrolled passive loads in power systems. The paper introduces a versatile method for mitigating grid power quality using unidirectional ac ? dc boost converter. The additional focus of this paper is to measure the quantity of input current distortions by the unidirectional ac ? dc boost converter used for supplying active power to the load and reactive power. By using this method, the amount of reactive power injected due to input current distortion from an individual converter to the grid should be restricted. This paper presents, control strategy by using dual boost PFC converter. An improved simulation software using MATLAB was developed to study the proposed method to mitigate harmonics in order to improve power quality. Comparative results for power quality improvement by using PI controller and PID controller are observed