Determination of cloud microphysical properties by laser backscattering and extinction measurements

The extinction and backscattering of 514 nm laser radiation in polydisperse water droplet clouds was studied in the laboratory. Three cloud size distributions with modal diameters of 0.02, 5.0, and 12.0 microns were investigated. The relationships between the cloud optical parameters (attentuation coefficient, sigma and volume backscattering coefficient, Beta (sub pi)) and the cloud water content, C, were measured for each size distribution. It was found that a linear relationship exists between sigma and C and between beta (sub pi) and C for cloud water content values up to 3gm/cubic m. The linear relationships obtained, however, have slopes which depend on the droplet size distribution. For a given water content both sigma and beta (sub pi) increase as the modal diameter decreases. The measured data are compared with existing theoretical analyses and discussed in terms of thie application to lidar measurements of atmospheric clouds. It is concluded that the empirical information obtained can serve as a basis for quantitative lidar measurements

Image segmentation using a neural network

An object extraction problem based on the Gibbs Random Field model is discussed. The Maximum a'posteriori probability (MAP) estimate of a scene based on a noise-corrupted realization is found to be computationally exponential in nature. A neural network, which is a modified version of that of Hopfield, is suggested for solving the problem. A single neuron is assigned to every pixel. Each neuron is supposed to be connected only to all of its nearest neighbours. The energy function of the network is designed in such a way that its minimum value corresponds to the MAP estimate of the scene. The dynamics of the network are described. A possible hardware realization of a neuron is also suggested. The technique is implemented on a set of noisy images and found to be highly robust and immune to noise

PREPARATION, CHARACTERISATION AND EVALUATION OF ROPINIROLE HYDROCHLORIDE LOADED CONTROLLED RELEASE MICROSPHERES USING SOLVENT EVAPORATION TECHNIQUE

Objective: The major objective of the research work was to design, characterise and evaluate controlled release microspheres of ropinirole hydrochloride by using non-aqueous solvent evaporation technique to facilitate the delivery of the drug at a predetermined rate for a specific period of time.Methods: Ropinirole hydrochloride microspheres were prepared by using different low-density polymers such as eudragit RL 100, eudragit RS 100 and ethylcellulose either alone or in combination with the help of non-aqueous solvent evaporation technique. All the formulated microparticles were subjected to various evaluation parameters such as particle size analysis, micrometric properties, drug entrapment efficiency, percentage drug loading, percentage yield and in vitro drug release study. The compatibility of the drug and polymers was confirmed by physical compatibility study, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and x-ray diffraction study (XRD). The formation of the most optimized batch of the microsphere (F12) was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), DSC, FTIR, and XRD. In vitro drug release study and in vitro drug release kinetics study of the formulated microspheres were also carried out.Results: Drug-polymer compatibility studies performed with the help of FTIR and DSC indicated that there were no interactions. Results revealed that non-aqueous solvent evaporation technique was a suitable technique for the preparation of microspheres as most of the formulations were discrete, free-flowing and spherical in shape with a good yield of 55.67% to 80.09%, percentage drug loading of 35.52% to 94.50% and percentage drug entrapment efficiency of 36.24% to 95.07%. Different drug-polymer ratios, as well as the combination of polymers, played a significant role in the variation of over-all characteristics of formulations. Based on the data of various evaluation parameters such as particle size analysis, percentage drug loading, percentage drug entrapment, percentage yield, rheological studies and in vitro drug release characteristics, formulation F12 was found to fulfil the criteria of ideal controlled release drug delivery system. F12 showed controlled release till the 14th hour (97.99%) and its in vitro release kinetics was best explained by zero-order kinetics and followed Korsemeyer-Pappas model (Non-Fickian mechanism). SEM of F12 revealed the formation of spherical structures. The FTIR study of F12 confirmed the stable nature of ropinirole in the drug-loaded microspheres. DSC and XRD patterns showed that ropinirole hydrochloride was dispersed at the molecular level in the polymer matrix.Conclusion: The controlled release microparticles were successfully prepared and from this study, it was concluded that the developed microspheres of ropinirole hydrochloride can be used for controlled drug release to improve the bioavailability and patient compliance and to maintain a constant drug level in the blood target tissue by releasing the drug in zero order pattern

Non-topological gravitating defects in five-dimensional anti-de Sitter space

A class of five-dimensional warped solutions is presented. The geometry is everywhere regular and tends to five-dimensional anti-de Sitter space for large absolute values of the bulk coordinate. The physical features of the solutions change depending on the value of an integer parameter. In particular, a set of solutions describes generalized gravitating kinks where the scalar field interpolates between two different minima of the potential. The other category of solutions describes instead gravitating defects where the scalar profile is always finite and reaches the same constant asymptote both for positive and negative values of the bulk coordinate. In this sense the profiles are non-topological. The physical features of the zero modes are discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure

Designing fuzzy rule based classifier using self-organizing feature map for analysis of multispectral satellite images

We propose a novel scheme for designing fuzzy rule based classifier. An SOFM based method is used for generating a set of prototypes which is used to generate a set of fuzzy rules. Each rule represents a region in the feature space that we call the context of the rule. The rules are tuned with respect to their context. We justified that the reasoning scheme may be different in different context leading to context sensitive inferencing. To realize context sensitive inferencing we used a softmin operator with a tunable parameter. The proposed scheme is tested on several multispectral satellite image data sets and the performance is found to be much better than the results reported in the literature.Comment: 23 pages, 7 figure

EVALUATION OF STABILITY OF ROPINIROLE HYDROCHLORIDE AND PRAMIPEXOLE DIHYDROCHLORIDE MICROSPHERES AT ACCELERATED CONDITION

Objective: The objective of the present work was to conduct accelerated stability study as per international council for harmonisation (ICH) guidelines and to establish shelf life of controlled release dosage form of ropinirole hydrochloride and pramipexole dihydrochloride microspheres for a period of 6 mo.Methods: Most optimized batch of ropinirole hydrochloride and pramipexole dihydrochloride (F12 and M12 respectively) were selected and subjected to exhaustive stability testing by keeping the sample in stability oven for a period of 3 and 6 mo. Various parameters like surface morphology, particle size, drug content, in vitro drug release and shelf life were evaluated at 3 and 6 mo period. The surface morphology of the formulated microspheres was determined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The particle size of the microspheres was estimated by optical microscopy method. The drug content was assayed by the help of ultra-violet spectrophotometer (UV). The in vitro drug release was performed by using Paddle II type dissolution apparatus and the filtrate was analyzed by UV spectrophotometer. The shelf life of the optimized microspheres was calculated by using the rate constant value of the zero-order reaction.Results: A minor change was recorded in average particle size of F12 and M12 microspheres after storage for 6 mo. For F12 and M12, initially the particle size was 130.00 µm and 128.92 µm respectively and after 6 mo it was found to be 130.92 µm and 128.99 µm respectively. There was no change in surface morphology of F12 and M12 microspheres after 6 mo of storage. The shape of microspheres remained spherical and smooth after 6 mo. An insignificant difference of drug content was recorded after 6 mo compared to the freshly prepared formulation. For F12 and M12, 94.50% and 93.77% of the drug was present initially and after 6 mo 94.45% and 93.72% of the drug was recorded. In vitro drug release was recorded after 6 mo for F12 and M12. Initially, 97.99% and 97.69% of the drug was released till 14th hour respectively for F12 and M12. After 6 mo, 98.23% and 97.99% of the drug was released respectively. The percentage residual drug content revealed that the degradation of microspheres was low. Considering the initial percentage residual drug content as 100%, 99.94% of the drug was recorded for both F12 and M12. The shelf life for F12 and M12 was found to be 10 y 52 d and 10 y 70 d respectively which were determined by the zero-order kinetic equation.Conclusion: A more or less similar surface morphology, particle size, drug content and percent of drug release before and after stability study confirmed the stability of F12 and M12 microspheres after storage for 6 mo and prove the efficacy of the microspheres in the site-specific delivery of drugs in Parkinson's disease

Radiative neutrino decay and CP-violation in R-parity violating supersymmetry

We calculate the radiative decay amplitude for Majorana neutrinos in trilinear R-parity violating supersymmetric framework. Our results make no assumption regarding the masses and mixings of fermions and sfermions. The results obtained are exemplary for generic models with loop-generated neutrino masses. Comparison of this amplitude with the neutrino mass matrix shows that the two provide independent probes of CP-violating phases.Comment: Latex, uses axodraw, 14 pages (small changes implemented

A search for a consistent model for the electromagnetic spectrum of the crab nebula

An attempt is made to search for a consistent model to explain the electromagnetic spectrum of the Crab nebula (Tau A). It is assumed that there is a continuous injection of electrons at the centre of the nebula with an energy spectrum E-1.54 as evidenced by radio data. This spectrum must steepen to a slope larger than 2 at some energy Ei in order to ensure that the energy input into electrons remains finite. The spectrum must also steepen beyond an energy Ec depending on the magnetic field because of synchrotron energy losses. Two types of models are considered: Class I, in which the whole nebula is characterised by a uniform magnetic field, and Class II, in which besides the general field H0, small filamentary regions of strong field Hs are postulated. In models of Class I, the best fit to the observed data is obtained when E t >E c and H0⋍5×10-4 gauss. However, this predicts a decrease in X-ray source size beyond ~40 KeV. There are two possibilities of Class II model depending on the residence time of electrons in strong field regions being small or large. The former case explains the flattening in the optical spectrum