Implicit Runge-Kutta formulae for the numerical integration of ODEs

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An unusual foreign body of esophagus

We report a rare case of an unusually long foreign body (Datun) impacted in the esophagus of a 56 year-old gentleman. He was literate, without any psychiatric illness and had been using “Neem” (Azadirachta indica) stick for cleaning his teeth for the past twenty years. Neem sticks are used for brushing teeth, perhaps one of the earliest and very effective dental care. On closer questioning he revealed his habit of passing the Neem stick into his throat with the aim of cleaning it too while cleaning his teeth. He presented to our emergency early in the morning with this strange long foreign body impacted in his esophagus which was removed successfully using a Jackson’s adult rigid oesophagoscope. We believe this to be the first case of such an unusually long foreign body to be reported in the literature

Informal Taxation

Informal payments are a frequently overlooked source of local public finance in developing countries. We use microdata from ten countries to establish stylized facts on the magnitude, form, and distributional implications of this "informal taxation." Informal taxation is widespread, particularly in rural areas, with substantial in-kind labor payments. The wealthy pay more, but pay less in percentage terms, and informal taxes are more regressive than formal taxes. Failing to include informal taxation underestimates household tax burdens and revenue decentralization in developing countries. We propose a simple model of information and enforcement constraints that parsimoniously explains the patterns in the data.

Numerical analysis of flow and heat transfer in the VAFB LOX storage Dewar tank

The present report describes numerical simulation of three-dimensional transient distributions of velocity and temperature of liquid oxygen (LOX) in the LOX Dewar tank of Vendenberg Air Force Base (VAFB). The present analyses cover the replenish time period only. Four test cases have been considered. For all four cases, the input boundary conditions are comprised of LOX facility heat loads, drain flow rates, recirculation flow rates and dewar heating. All the quantities are prescribed as functions of time. The first two test cases considered sensitivity of results to the computational grid. In Case 3, system heat load was changed, while in Case 4, a lower LOX level was specified. Cases 1 and 2 showed that the temperatures were not sensitive to the grid refinement. This provided a basic check on the numerical model. Cases 3 and 4 showed that the thermal boundary layer motion near the tank surface becomes more significant at the late time, e.g., 5 1/2 hours from replenish start. Comparison between results of Cases 3 and 4 showed, as expected, that the smaller initial LOX volume given in Case 4, results in higher temperature level. All calculated velocity and temperature distributions were found to be plausible

Mixing and merging for spoken document retrieval

This paper describes a number of experiments that explo- red the issues surrounding the retrieval of spoken documents. Two such issues were examined. First, attempting to find the best use of speech recogniser output to produce the highest retrieval effectiveness. Second, investigating the potential problems of retrieving from a so-called "mi- xed collection", i.e. one that contains documents from both a speech recognition system (producing many errors) and from hand transcription (producing presumably near perfect documents). The result of the first part of the work found that merging the transcripts of multiple recognisers showed most promise. The investigation in the second part showed how the term weighting scheme used in a retrieval system was important in determining whether the system was affected detrimentally when retrieving from a mixed collection

Is slower early growth beneficial for long-term cardiovascular health?

Background - Accelerated neonatal growth increases the later propensity to cardiovascular disease (CVD) in animals, whereas slower growth is thought to have a beneficial effect. To test this hypothesis in humans, we measured flow-mediated endothelium-dependent dilation (FMD) in a population subject to slower early growth and in healthy controls.Methods and Results - High-resolution vascular ultrasound was used to measure the change in brachial artery diameter in response to reactive hyperemia in adolescents age 13 to 16 years who were either part of a cohort born preterm and followed up prospectively (n = 216) or controls born at term ( n = 61). Greater weight gain or linear growth in the first 2 weeks postnatally was associated with lower FMD at adolescence ( regression coefficient, - 0.026-mm change in mean arterial diameter per 100-g increase in weight; 95% CI, - 0.040 to - 0.012 mm; P = 0.0003) independent of birthweight and potential confounding factors. Mean FMD in the half of the preterm population with the lowest rates of early growth was higher than in both the half with the greatest growth ( P = 0.001) and subjects born at term ( P = 0.03).Conclusions - FMD was 4% lower in adolescents with the highest compared with the lowest rate of weight gain in the first 2 weeks after birth, a substantial negative effect similar to that for insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus or smoking in adults. Our findings are consistent with the adverse effects of accelerated neonatal growth on long-term cardiovascular health and suggest that postnatal growth patterns could explain the previously reported association between birthweight and later CVD

The role of infant nutrition in the global epidemic of non-communicable disease

Non-communicable diseases (NCD) and atherosclerotic CVD in particular, are the most important health problems of the 21st century. Already in every world region except Africa, NCD account for greater mortality than communicable, maternal, perinatal and nutritional conditions combined. Although modifiable lifestyle factors in adults are the main determinants, substantial evidence now suggests that factors in early life also have a major role in the development of NCD; commonly referred to as the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease hypothesis. Factors in utero, early postnatal life and throughout childhood, have been shown to affect NCD by influencing risk factors for CVD such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension and dyslipidaemia. Infant nutrition (e.g. breastfeeding rather than bottle feeding) and a slower pattern of infant weight gain have been shown to be particularly protective against later risk of obesity and CVD in both low- and high-income countries. The mechanisms involved are poorly understood, but include epigenetic changes; effects on endocrine systems regulating body weight, food intake and fat deposition; and changes in appetite regulation. As a consequence, strategies to optimise early life nutrition could make a major contribution to stemming the current global epidemic of NCD. This review will consider the role of early life factors in the development of NCD, focusing on the impact of infant nutrition/growth on obesity and CVD. The review will highlight the experimental (randomised) evidence where available, briefly summarise the underlying mechanisms involved and consider the implications for public health

Discrete element weld model, phase 2

A numerical method was developed for analyzing the tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding process. The phenomena being modeled include melting under the arc and the flow in the melt under the action of buoyancy, surface tension, and electromagnetic forces. The latter entails the calculation of the electric potential and the computation of electric current and magnetic field therefrom. Melting may occur at a single temperature or over a temperature range, and the electrical and thermal conductivities can be a function of temperature. Results of sample calculations are presented and discussed at length. A major research contribution has been the development of numerical methodology for the calculation of phase change problems in a fixed grid framework. The model has been implemented on CHAM's general purpose computer code PHOENICS. The inputs to the computer model include: geometric parameters, material properties, and weld process parameters

Studying Three Phase Supply in School

The power distribution of nearly all major countries have accepted 3-phase distribution as a standard. With increasing power requirements of instrumentation today even a small physics laboratory requires 3-phase supply. While physics students are given an introduction of this in passing, no experiment work is done with 3-phase supply due to the sheer possibility of accidents while working with such large powers. We believe a conceptual understanding of 3-phase supply would be useful for physics students with hands on experience using a simple circuit that can be assembled even in a high school laboratorys

Rocket injector anomalies study. Volume 1: Description of the mathematical model and solution procedure

The capability of simulating three dimensional two phase reactive flows with combustion in the liquid fuelled rocket engines is demonstrated. This was accomplished by modifying an existing three dimensional computer program (REFLAN3D) with Eulerian Lagrangian approach to simulate two phase spray flow, evaporation and combustion. The modified code is referred as REFLAN3D-SPRAY. The mathematical formulation of the fluid flow, heat transfer, combustion and two phase flow interaction of the numerical solution procedure, boundary conditions and their treatment are described