A program-management plan with critical-path definition for Combustion Augmentation with Thermionic Energy Conversion (CATEC)

Thermionic energy conversion (TEC) is discussed. In recent TEC-topping analyses, overall plant efficiency (OPE) and cost of electricity (COE) improved slightly with current capabilities and substantially with fully matured technologies. Enhanced credibility derives from proven hot-corrosion protection for TEC by silicon-carbide clads in fossil fuel combustion products. Combustion augmentation with TEC (CATEC) affords minimal cost and plant perturbation, but with smaller OPE and COE improvements than more conventional topping applications. Risk minimization as well as comparative simplicity and convenience, favor CATEC for early market penetration. A program-management plan is proposed. Inputs, characteristics, outputs and capabilities are discussed

Association of Breakfast Intake with Obesity, Dietary and Physical Activity Behavior Among Urban School-Aged Adolescents in Delhi, India: Results of a Cross-Sectional Study

In developed countries, regular breakfast consumption is inversely associated with excess weight and directly associated with better dietary and improved physical activity behaviors. Our objective was to describe the frequency of breakfast consumption among school-going adolescents in Delhi and evaluate its association with overweight and obesity as well as other dietary, physical activity, and sedentary behaviors. Methods: Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Eight schools (Private and Government) of Delhi in the year 2006. Participants: 1814 students from 8th and 10th grades; response rate was 87.2%; 55% were 8th graders, 60% were boys and 52% attended Private schools. Main outcome measures: Body mass index, self-reported breakfast consumption, diet and physical activity related behaviors, and psychosocial factors. Data analysis: Mixed effects regression models were employed, adjusting for age, gender, grade level and school type (SES). Results: Significantly more Government school (lower SES) students consumed breakfast daily as compared to Private school (higher SES) students (73.8% vs. 66.3%; p<0.01). More 8th graders consumed breakfast daily vs. 10th graders (72.3% vs. 67.0%; p<0.05). A dose-response relationship was observed such that overall prevalence of overweight and obesity among adolescents who consumed breakfast daily (14.6%) was significantly lower vs. those who only sometimes (15.2%) or never (22.9%) consumed breakfast (p<0.05 for trend). This relationship was statistically significant for boys (15.4 % vs. 16.5% vs. 26.0; p<0.05 for trend) but not for girls. Intake of dairy products, fruits and vegetables was 5.5 (95% CI 2.4-12.5), 1.7 (95% CI 1.1-2.5) and 2.2 (95% CI 1.3-3.5) times higher among those who consumed breakfast daily vs. those who never consumed breakfast. Breakfast consumption was associated with greater physical activity vs. those who never consumed breakfast. Positive values and beliefs about healthy eating; body image satisfaction; and positive peer and parental influence were positively associated with daily breakfast consumption, while depression was negatively associated. Conclusion: Daily breakfast consumption is associated with less overweight and obesity and with healthier dietary-and physical activity-related behaviors among urban Indian students. Although prospective studies should confirm the present results, intervention programs to prevent or treat childhood obesity in India should consider emphasizing regular breakfast consumption.Obesity Prevention Center, University of MinnesotaPRIME program of the University of Texas, School of Public Health (Stigler, PI)Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research in Underserved Population

A Case Report on Metformin-Associated Lactic Acidosis.

Metformin is the first-line therapy for patients with type 2 diabetes, and its most common adverse effects are gastrointestinal. Lactic acidosis associated with metformin use is rare. Here, we report the case of a 77-year-old man with a medical history of diabetes (treated with metformin), hypertension, chronic alcohol abuse, and prostate and bladder cancer, who presented with abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea for five days. He was admitted with severe metabolic acidosis due to metformin toxicity (metformin-associated lactic acidosis) with metformin level 23 mcg/mL (therapeutic range approximately 1-2 mcg/mL) in the setting of acute kidney failure due to acute pancreatitis and sepsis secondary to aspiration pneumonia. He was intubated, required pressor support, and received daily hemodialysis. Despite aggressive management, his hospital course became complicated with acute respiratory distress syndrome, myocardial infarction, acute hepatic failure, and ischemic and metabolic encephalopathy. In the end, the family decided to withdraw care and the patient was terminally extubated

BCS BEC crossover and phase structure of relativistic system: a variational approach

We investigate here the BCS BEC crossover in relativistic systems using a variational construct for the ground state and the minimization of the thermodynamic potential. This is first studied in a four fermion point interaction model and with a BCS type ansatz for the ground state with fermion pairs. It is shown that the antiparticle degrees of freedom play an important role in the BCS BEC crossover physics, even when the ratio of fermi momentum to the mass of the fermion is small. We also consider the phase structure for the case of fermion pairing with imbalanced populations. Within the ansatz, thermodynamically stable gapless modes for both fermions and anti fermions are seen for strong coupling in the BEC regime. We further investigate the effect of fluctuations of the condensate field by treating it as a dynamical field and generalize the BCS ansatz to include quanta of the condensate field also in a boson fermion model with quartic self interaction of the condensate field. It is seen that the critical temperature decreases with inclusion of fluctuations.Comment: 18 pages, 13 figures, one more section added, title modified, version to appear in Phys Rev

Reinterpreting Shock Wave Structure Predictions using the Navier-Stokes Equations

Classical Navier-Stokes equations fail to predict shock wave profiles accurately. In this paper, the Navier-Stokes system is fully transformed using a velocity variable transformation. The transformed equations termed the re-casted Navier-Stokes equations display physics not initially included. We then analyse the stationary shock structure problem in a monatomic gas by solving both the classical and the re-casted Navier-Stokes equations numerically using a finite difference global solution (FDGS) scheme. The numerical results are presented for different upstream Mach numbers ranging from supersonic to hypersonic flows. We found that the re-casted Navier-Stokes equations show better agreements with the experimentally measured density and reciprocal shock thickness profiles

Breeding tomatoes suitable for processing with triple disease resistance to tomato leaf curl disease, bacterial wilt and early blight

India is the second largest producer of tomato with 11 per cent global share and cultivated on an estimated area of 0.76 million hectares with productivity of 24 tonnes per hectare. Less than 1% of the produce is processed when compared to 26% in other major producing countries. Of the estimated more than 41 million tonnes of tomato processed globally, only 130,000 tonnes were processed in India and domestic demand for processed tomato products is expanding at an estimated 30% annually. At present traditional fresh market tomato cultivars are being processed though such cultivars are unsuitable for processing. Processors in India are looking for high yielding tomato cultivars with high total soluble solids (5-6 º Brix), acidity not less than 0.4%, pH less than 4.5 and uniform red colour with a/b colour value of at least 2. In addition, firm fruited tomato cultivars with joint less pedicel (j2) which facilitate mechanical harvesting or rapid hand picking. ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research has recently developed two high yielding F1 hybrids in tomato viz: Arka Apeksha and Arka Vishesh suitable for processing. On evaluation for three years, both the hybrids recorded good level of total soluble solids (4.5-5º Brix) and colour value of 2. Further, both the hybrids had high yield potential (80-90 tonnes / hectare) with triple disease resistance to tomato leaf curl disease, bacterial wilt and early blight. Arka Apeksha and Arka Vishesh were also bred with jointless pedicel making them suitable for mechanical harvesting. Our experimental studies on vine storability revealed that all the fruits were intact on plants even 110 days after transplanting in the main field facilitating once over harvest

Battery Lifetime Extension Using Super capacitors in Small-Scale Wind-Energy System with fuzzy logic control

Because of the variable attributes of renewable era, batteries utilized as a part of renewable-force frameworks can experience numerous unpredictable, incomplete charge/release cycles. This study shows a technique for enhancing battery lifetime in a little scale remote-zone wind-power framework by the utilization of a battery/super capacitor half breed vitality stockpiling framework. An agent element model of the general framework, consolidating practical wind-speed and load power varieties has been produced

Bulk viscosity in hyperonic star and r-mode instability

We consider a rotating neutron star with the presence of hyperons in its core, using an equation of state in an effective chiral model within the relativistic mean field approximation. We calculate the hyperonic bulk viscosity coefficient due to nonleptonic weak interactions. By estimating the damping timescales of the dissipative processes, we investigate its role in the suppression of gravitationally driven instabilities in the $r$-mode. We observe that $r$-mode instability remains very much significant for hyperon core temperature of around $10^8$K, resulting in a comparatively larger instability window. We find that such instability can reduce the angular velocity of the rapidly rotating star considerably upto $\sim0.04 \Omega_K$, with $\Omega_K$ as the Keplerian angular velocity.Comment: 10 pages including 7 figure