Hybrid Electrochemical Capacitors: Materials, Optimization, and Miniaturization

With the ever-advancing technology, there is an incessant need for reliable electrochemical energy storage (EES) components that can provide desired energy and power. At the forefront of EES systems are electrochemical capacitors (ECs), also known as supercapacitors that typically have higher power and superior cycle longevity but lower energy densities than their battery counterparts. One of the routes to achieve higher energy density for ECs is using the hybrid EC configuration, which typically utilizes a redox electrode coupled with a counter double-layer type electrode. In this dissertation, both scale-up (coin-cell type) as well as scale-down (on-chip miniaturized) hybrid ECs were designed, constructed and evaluated. The first part of the dissertation comprised material identification, syntheses, and electrochemical analyses. Lithium titanate-anatase titanium oxide (Li4Ti5O12-TiO2) composites were synthesized via electrostatic spray deposition (ESD) and characterized in both half-cell and full-cell assembly against lithium and nanostructured carbon based counter electrodes, respectively. The second redox type material studied for hybrid electrochemical capacitors was ESD derived manganese oxide (MnOx). The MnOx electrodes exhibited a high gravimetric capacitance of 225F g-1 in aqueous media. Further improvement in the rate handling of the MnOx electrodes was achieved by using CNT additives. The MnOx-CNT composites were tested in full-cell assembly against activated carbon counter electrodes and tested for different anode and cathode mass ratios in order to achieve the best energy-power tradeoff, which was the second major goal of the dissertation. The optimized hybrid capacitor was able to deliver a high specific energy density of 30.3 Wh kg-1 and a maximal power density of 4kW kg-1. The last part of the dissertation focused on a scale-down miniaturized hybrid microsupercapacitor; an interdigitated electrode design was adopted in order to shorten the ion-transport pathway, and MnOx and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) were chosen as the redox and double layer components, respectively. The hybrid microsupercapacitor was able to deliver a high stack energy density of 1.02 mWh cm-3 and a maximal stack power density of 3.44 W cm-3, both of which are comparable with thin-film batteries and commercial supercapacitor in terms of volumetric energy and power densities

Rhinosinusitis: How Common Are Anatomical Variations Responsible?

The term rhinosinusitis is defined as inflammation of nose and paranasal sinuses characterised by nasal blockage, nasal discharge, post-nasal drip, facial pain, pressure and reduction/loss of smell with corresponding endoscopic appearance and CT scan changes. The combined term is more apt than individual rhinitis or sinusitis as it is unusual for having sinus inflammation alone in the absence of nasal inflammation. The disease occurs due to obstruction in the key area, i.e., the osteomeatal complex (OMC). This chapter discusses anatomical variations responsible for the blockage of OMC leading to rhinosinusitis. Nasal endoscopic findings and radiological features depicting these variations are discussed in detail

Arteriovenous malformation of external ear and temporal region: a case report

Arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) of the scalp are remarkably rare. We report a case of 20 years old female complaining of swelling over right pinna and scalp since 2 years with known history of trauma. This case report represents pathogenesis, clinical features and management of the disease

FPGA Implementation of DHT Algorithms for Image Compression

Digital image processing is the use of computer algorithms to perform image processing on digital images. The basic operation performed by a simple digital camera is, to convert the light energy to electrical energy, then the energy is converted to digital format and a compression algorithm is used to reduce memory requirement for storing the image. This compression algorithm is frequently called for capturing and storing the images. This leads us to develop an efficient compression algorithm which will give the same result as that of the existing algorithms with low power consumption. Compression is useful as it helps in reduction of the usage of expensive resources, such as memory (hard disks), or the transmission bandwidth required. But on the downside, compression techniques result in distortion (due to lossy compression schemes) and also additional computational resources are required for compression-decompression of the data. Reduction of these resources by comparing different algorithms for DHT is required. FPGA Implementations of different algorithms for 1-DHT using VHDL as the synthesis tool are carried out and their comparison gives the optimum technique for compression. Finally 2-D DHT is implemented using the optimum 1-D technique for 8x8 matrix input. The results obtained are discussed and improvements are suggested to further optimize the design

A case study of bowel prolapses after induced abortion

Induced abortion, the intentional termination of pregnancy, is among the most common of gynaecological procedures. Depending on country-specific abortion laws, where abortion laws are highly restrictive, abortion is unsafe leading to maternal morbidity and mortality. This is a case study of unsafe abortion. In this case a 25-year-old G3P2L2 with previous 2 normal vaginal delivery had uterine perforation with bowel prolapse through the vagina following an dilatation and curettage of a missed abortion of 7 week and 6 days in a private hospital. Following the procedure patient had severe abdominal pain and bleeding from vagina, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was done. Patient came to our hospital with MRI. Patient was taken for exploratory laparotomy with uterine repair, bowel resection and anastomosis. Even though MTP Amendment act 2021 in India is liberal and government provides free contraception and abortion services by trained personnel, due to ignorance and misinformation, female often undergoes unsafe abortion. Unsafe abortion causes mild discomfort to grave injury like bowel prolapse leading to maternal death. Best preventive measure is awareness and easy accessibility

Freshwater oligochaetes of India: A review

The present review deals with freshwater oligochaetes of India which records the presence of 102 species of freshwater oligochaetes belonging to 17 genera and 4 families. Besides this, a brief description of their global and Indian distribution has also been made along with their ecology, morphology of typical oligochaetes methods of their collection and preparation for taxonomic study has also been given. A thorough survey of various states is needed for the distribution of oligochaetes systematically

Preauricular sinus: a clinicopathological study

Background: Preauricular sinuses are common congenital malformations. In most instances the diagnosis and management of condition is straightforward.Methods: The present study was done on 26 patients of preauricular sinus who presented to the Department of ENT, S.S. Medical College & G.M. Hospital, Rewa from August 2012 to July 2013 prospectively.Results: Males and females were equally affected. Most patients i.e. 11 belong to 11-20 year age group with age ranging from 4 year to 60 years. Two cases had genetic history and one case was found to be associated with chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM).Conclusions: The patients in whom a preauricular sinus is identified, the associated congenital anomalies and family history should be sought. Early identification and spreading of awareness should be done to avoid the complication of recurrent abscess in preauricular region

A cross sectional study to assess pharmacotherapeutic adherence among diabetes mellitus patients in tertiary care hospital

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) refers to a group of common metabolic disorders that associated with abnormalities in carbohydrate, fat, and protein metabolism which results in chronic complications. Attainment of optimal blood sugar level is generally based on appropriate usage and proper adherence to prescribed medications. The study was, therefore, aimed to assess adherence to oral antidiabetic drugs among diabetic patients attending outpatient clinic of L. L. R. Hospital, G.S.V.M. Medical College, Kanpur, U.P.Methods: Hospital based cross-sectional study design was conducted from April 2017 to June 2018. The data was collected by interviewing T2DM patients receiving antidiabetic medications using Morisky’s four item adherence assessment questionnaire. The collected data was processed and analyzed with SPSS version 20.Results: From the 126 patients of diabetes, when asked about adherence to their medications as per the Morisky's four item method, 114 (90.47%) of them did not forget to take the drugs, 108 (85.71%) of patients reported that they had been being careful in taking their medications, 90 (71.42%) patients did not stop medications when they felt better and the other 108 (85.71%) patients reported that they did not stop medications when they felt worse while taking medications. This study shows that 54 (42.86%) respondents were adherent to their medications.Conclusions: This study revealed a moderate level of adherence among the participants and statistically significantly depended upon their socioeconomic status. Efforts are needed to increase the medication adherence of these patients’, so they can realize the full advantage of prescribed therapies