Archives-September 2012

The present study was conducted to assess the health impact of, high fluoride content in ground water among the inhabitants of nine fluoride affected villages in and around Munndaragi of Gadag district in Karnataka, India. The study area, where sample survey was conducted includes Muktampur, Kalakeri, Virupapur, Bennihalli, Mushtikoppa, Hirewaddatti, Mevundi, and Budihal villages including Mundaragi town. Research articles by many researchers revealed that, fluoride distribution in these villages was found higher than the prescribed limits. Sample survey was conducted, by randomly selecting fifty families in each village comprising total population of 2001, in the month of April 2012. Dean’s index codes were used to assess the severity of dental fluorosis. The results revealed that 42.12% found normal,14.34% found questionable,28.18% found with very mild fluorosis,13.80% found with mild fluorosis,0.15% with moderate fluorosis and only 0.05 % found with severe fluorosis. It was also revealed that people also suffering from pain in neck, back, joint, etc.

A multi layer artificial neural network (ANN) and multiple regression (mathematical) models were developed for the investigation of cadmium removal efficiency of powered activated carbons of coconut oilcake, neem oilcake and commercial carbon. Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) Back-propagation algorithm is used to train the network. The network topology was optimized by varying number of hidden layers and number of neurons in hidden layers. The effective parameters on the removal of cadmium (%R) by adsorption process, which included the pH, contact time (T), distinctiveness of activated carbon (Cn), amount of activated carbon (Cw) and initial concentration of cadmium (Co) were investigated. The model was developed in terms of training; validation and testing of experimental data, the test subsets that each of them contains 60%, 20% and 20% of total experimental data, respectively. Standard deviation (SD) with respect to experimental output was calculated for outputs of ANN and regression model. The experimental data were best fitted with the artificial neural network model.

CNC Wire Electric Discharge Machining is the process of material removal using electrical discharge erosion action, with a wire electrode travelling longitudinally through the work piece. The work piece and wire electrode both are immersed in a dielectric fluid. The relative moving passage between the wire electrode and work piece is controlled by a CNC system that is pre-programmed. The Wire Electrical Discharge Machining performance mainly depends on various machining parameters like generator parameters, drawing parameters and user parameters. But the most prominent parameters are generator parameters as they are very important for sparking principles. Reference Voltage (V), Pulse on-time (Ton), Pulse off-time (Toff) fluid injection pressure mode (Inj), Wire tension (WB), Wire velocity (WS) are the crucial machining process parameters which has influence on the machining performance characteristics such as Material Removal Rate (MRR), Surface Roughness (Ra), Spark Gap (SG) and Dimensional Deviation (DD) while processing / slicing of ingot. Variation in machining performances causes both functional, profit and loss for any manufacturing organisation. Hence, an attempt has been made to study and optimize these machining parameters for minimizing the variations in multiple machining performances and process model (empirical relationship/regression model) between the process parameters (V, Ton, Toff, Inj, WB, WS) and the performance characteristics (MRR, Ra, SG and DD) has been developed. These process model can predict the level of performance that the machine would render for a given set of process parameters, thereby providing prior knowledge of desired machining performance before actually producing the part. The process model is able to show the dependency of machining performance on process parameters, which will be useful for both machine designers and the machine users.

In this paper, a modified distributive arithmetic algorithm is designed and implemented on FPGA for OFDM system. In order to reduce the number of storage elements required to store the partial products, input register is split into two sections. Bottom section of register is used to access the partial products and the top section of input register is used as select line of multiplexer structure. The addition of partial products is executed in parallel to reduce the latency of the DWT/IDWT computation. The modified DA algorithm is modeled using HDL and is implemented on Spartan 3E devices. The design operates at 60 MHz and consumes power less than 0.036 W and is thus suitable for low power applications. The developed DWT/IDWT model can be integrated with QAM modulator and form a OFDM system used for power line applications.

Rotation and radiation effects on MHD flow through porous media past an impulsively started vertical plate with variable temperature is studied here. The fluid considered is gray, absorbing-emitting radiation but a non- scattering medium. The governing equations involved in the present analysis are solved by the Laplace transform technique. The velocity, temperature and skin friction are studied for different parameters like Thermal Grashof number, Prandtl number, magnetic field parameter, rotation parameter, radiation parameter, permeability of porous media and time.

Today the world is moving faster. In this there is no time to serve the loving disabled in their family. Even though any care taker stays with them to help, they could not serve them heartily, especially during eating. During eating everyone will take their own time to chew the food. Someone might chew it faster and someone may consume more time. The care taker cannot serve them by spending their time with them. For providing freedom of eating to the disabled, a feeding system is designed for them. This research paper deals with the proposal to facilitate the feeding problem for physically challenged person. The “Automatic Food Feeder” has a conveyor belt with attached spoon to take the food from the parabolic bowl. It is in turn connected to an AC servo motor controlled by ATMEGA32 microcontroller. The user gives the instruction through the microcontroller and the servo motor rotates at a particular angle which is preset and hence the spoon takes the food from the bowl and comes to a position perpendicular to the user, so that the user can have their food at ease. This system gives freedom of eating to the disabled. Indeed this system will help the physically challenged person to rely on themselves instead of depending on others. Moreover the physically challenged can have food with their family members in dining table as like normal person.

A discourse marker (henceforth DM) is defined as a word or phrase that does not change the meaning of the sentence and has a somehow zero meaning. DMs are a set of linguistic items which create cohesiveness, coherence and meaning in discourse. An extensive body of research has examined DMs and their functions in different languages. Having considered the significance of this area of language and the fact that few studies have focused on DMs in local languages of Iran, the present study intended to target the different functions of Freidanian variety of Azeri Turkish DMs – ?ey, yani, and da– in an interview situation to compare them with those of Istanbuli Turkish corresponding DMs as the standard variety. To this aim, 12 native speakers of Freidanian Turkish were selected and their speeches were recorded for further analysis. Detailed analysis of the data revealed that ?ey primarily functions to signal the speaker’s need for a pause to plan and organize his/her next message. yani mostly functions to illustrate the speaker’s elaboration of previous utterances, and da can serve a discourse connective function with an additive or adversative sense. A preliminary comparison revealed that the functions manifested by these DMs in Freidanian Turkish are not so far from their corresponding DMs in the Istanbuli Turkish. However, compared to the Istanbuli variety, ?ey in our variety marked an additional function of derogation. In the case of da, other functions aside, this DM can serve to emphasize the action of the verb which is absent in Istanbuli Turkish.

The inhibition effect of turmeric extract on Cu corrosion in 0.5N HCl acid has been studied by impedance, Polarisation, Cyclic-Voltametry and FTIR techniques between the 303K to 333 K. The inhibition efficiency increased with the concentration of turmeric extract. The corrosion rate increased with the increase in temperature and it redused when the extract is mearged in solution. The adsorption of extract on metal surface is obeying Langmur’s and Temkin’s isotherm. The thermodynamic data and results of other technique found that the rate of corrosion is redused.

Didymoplexis seidenfadenii Sathish & Ormerod, Ixora agasthyamalayana Sivad & N. Mohanan, Kunstleria keralensis C. N. Mohanan & N. C. Nair, Melochia nodiflora Swartz, Merremia cissoides (Lam.) Hall. f. and Synedrella vialis (Less.) A. Garay, are reported here as additions to the flora of Tamil Nadu. A brief description with relevant notes is provided for the easy identification of taxa in the field.

Croton hirtus L’Herit is a poorly known exotic species naturalizing in Tamil Nadu with faster rate. Critical analysis of this taxon with recently described Chrozophora baskarani from Sirumalai hills proved that both of them are identical. Hence, the later is merged with Croton hirtus. The present communication throws light on the identity and distribution of this little known alien species.