Experimental investigations of a single cylinder genset engine with common rail fuel injection system

Performance and emissions characteristics of compression ignition (CI) engines are strongly dependent on quality of fuel injection. In an attempt to improve engine combustion, engine performance and reduce the exhaust emissions from a single cylinder constant speed genset engine, a common rail direct injection (CRDI) fuel injection system was deployed and its injection timings were optimized. Results showed that 34°CA BTDC start of injection (SOI) timings result in lowest brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) and smoke opacity. Advanced injection timings showed higher cylinder peak pressure, pressure rise rate, and heat release rate due to relatively longer ignition delay experienced

Direct Observation of Unusual Interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interaction in Graphene/NiFe/Ta Heterostructure

Graphene/ferromagnet interface promises a plethora of new science and technology. The interfacial Dzyaloshinskii Moriya interaction (iDMI) is essential for stabilizing chiral spin textures, which are important for future spintronic devices. Here, we report direct observation of iDMI in graphene/Ni80Fe20/Ta heterostructure from non-reciprocity in spin-wave dispersion using Brillouin light scattering (BLS) technique. Linear scaling of iDMI with the inverse of Ni80Fe20 thicknesses suggests primarily interfacial origin of iDMI. Both iDMI and spin-mixing conductance increase with the increase in defect density of graphene obtained by varying argon pressure during sputter deposition of Ni80Fe20. This suggests that the observed iDMI originates from defect-induced extrinsic spin-orbit coupling at the interface. The direct observation of iDMI at graphene/ferromagnet interface without perpendicular magnetic anisotropy opens new route in designing thin film heterostructures based on 2-D materials for controlling chiral spin structure such as skyrmions and bubbles, and magnetic domain-wall-based storage and memory devices

Novel symmetries in N = 2 supersymmetric quantum mechanical models

We demonstrate the existence of a novel set of discrete symmetries in the context of N = 2 supersymmetric (SUSY) quantum mechanical model with a potential function f(x) that is a generalization of the potential of the 1D SUSY harmonic oscillator. We perform the same exercise for the motion of a charged particle in the X-Y plane under the influence of a magnetic field in the Z-direction. We derive the underlying algebra of the existing continuous symmetry transformations (and corresponding conserved charges) and establish its relevance to the algebraic structures of the de Rham cohomological operators of differential geometry. We show that the discrete symmetry transformations of our present general theories correspond to the Hodge duality operation. Ultimately, we conjecture that any arbitrary N = 2 SUSY quantum mechanical system can be shown to be a tractable model for the Hodge theory.Comment: LaTeX file, 23 pages, Title and Abstract changed, Text modified, version to appear in Annals of Physic

Evaluating morphological and metrical methods for sex estimation on isolated human skeletal material

The primary goal of this study is to estimate the sex of human skeletal materials using morphological and metrical methods described in the forensic and anthropological literature with molecular testing performed on Inden and Lübeck skeletal series and with known demographic data on the South African series. The data from molecular testing and preliminary demographic data form the basis for calculating the accuracy. Those approaches have been adopted from published forensic anthropological literature which claims to be able to estimate an individual's sex from single skeleton fragments. The skeletal materials utilized in the publications are from individuals of multiple ancestries, primarily European and African. Most advise using sample-specific methods and there are few researchers who proved that their discriminant functions could reproduce similar reliability when metrical methods from one population group are applied to a different population group.2023-02-2

Book-review India's Long Road: The Search for Prosperity

What policies and policy reforms can put India on the path of rapid and sustained economic growth and hence prosperity (defined in this work as average incomes close to Portugal’s and where national income is widely shared to ensure reasonable living standards for the poorest)? The analytical lenses coming from neoclassical economics—predictable given Dr Joshi’s training and subsequent affiliations—the book delves into, not only the probable explanations underlying India’s suboptimal economic growth and development performance, but also outlines the required policy initiatives to improve economic and social development outcomes. Several reforms suggested, such as in public health, are indeed critically impending ones (Chapter 9)

Death of an Industry: Cultural Politics of Garment Manufacturing During the Maoist Revolution in Nepal

Dr Mallika Shakya’s scholarly contributions on industrial development dynamics in Nepal, the focus of her work being Nepal’s apparel sector (which evolved in early-1980s with the introduction of the Multifibre Agreement or the MFA), are well-known to most Nepal as well as South Asia scholars. Shakya has a longstanding and commendable engagement with not just Nepal’s apparel sector—and the institutional dynamics that govern it—but also with Nepal’s broader political economy of development. Several dimensions in Shakya’s scholarship are not only noteworthy and important but also exceptional, in part, due to the methodological approaches and interdisciplinarity that enables, inter alia, credible grounding into the context. Built on political economy frameworks—inspiration being disciplines such as anthropology and economic sociology—and principal empirical strategy being ethnography-based grounded case-studies, the publication under review here unpacks the interface of domestic and transnational politics with practices of, not only, firms but important spatio-institutional structures (relevant to industrialization) such as labour unions, bureaucracy, business associations, political parties and global retailers downstream in the apparel production network. At the risk of oversimplification, the publication analyzes how Nepal’s apparel sector evolved with the MFA and how politics within and beyond borders impacted its development and performance. The rich empirical and archival insights presented across seven chapters are a major departure from the narrow and abstract formulations coming from much of the existing industrialization literature on Nepal, produced predominantly by IFI-affiliated or commissioned (IFI or International Financial Institutions) economists. For instance, the existing industrialization literature— looking at production dynamics from, for instance, the production function lens—informs little on the production dynamics such as its governance, organization and networks. Moreover, the existing formulations pay no attention to important elements in production such as production capabilities and that such capabilities are learnt and acquired via credible policy tools. Unsurprisingly, mainstream economics has been critiqued to not have credible analytical tools to assess important aspects of production and industrialization dynamics. Other gaps in the existing apparel sector analysis on Nepal—owing significantly to deployment of narrow analytical frames—pertain to the emphasis on supply-side constraints (that hinder progress in industrialization) and somewhat problematic empirics including in analyzing apparel sector performance. On the empirical analysis front, an important limitation that the book addresses is supplementing the rather unreliable and limited published data on Nepal’s apparel sector—an issue valid for much of the Global South—with extensive ethnographic fieldwork; spaces being firms, labour unions and business associations. In this backdrop and given the methodological approaches and interdisciplinarity, the book has significantly greater explanatory power in unpacking the industrial development dynamics; more so, in the case of backward developing countries

Book-review India's Long Road: The Search for Prosperity

What policies and policy reforms can put India on the path of rapid and sustained economic growth and hence prosperity (defined in this work as average incomes close to Portugal’s and where national income is widely shared to ensure reasonable living standards for the poorest)? The analytical lenses coming from neoclassical economics—predictable given Dr Joshi’s training and subsequent affiliations—the book delves into, not only the probable explanations underlying India’s suboptimal economic growth and development performance, but also outlines the required policy initiatives to improve economic and social development outcomes. Several reforms suggested, such as in public health, are indeed critically impending ones (Chapter 9)

Death of an Industry: Cultural Politics of Garment Manufacturing During the Maoist Revolution in Nepal

Dr Mallika Shakya’s scholarly contributions on industrial development dynamics in Nepal, the focus of her work being Nepal’s apparel sector (which evolved in early-1980s with the introduction of the Multifibre Agreement or the MFA), are well-known to most Nepal as well as South Asia scholars. Shakya has a longstanding and commendable engagement with not just Nepal’s apparel sector—and the institutional dynamics that govern it—but also with Nepal’s broader political economy of development. Several dimensions in Shakya’s scholarship are not only noteworthy and important but also exceptional, in part, due to the methodological approaches and interdisciplinarity that enables, inter alia, credible grounding into the context. Built on political economy frameworks—inspiration being disciplines such as anthropology and economic sociology—and principal empirical strategy being ethnography-based grounded case-studies, the publication under review here unpacks the interface of domestic and transnational politics with practices of, not only, firms but important spatio-institutional structures (relevant to industrialization) such as labour unions, bureaucracy, business associations, political parties and global retailers downstream in the apparel production network. At the risk of oversimplification, the publication analyzes how Nepal’s apparel sector evolved with the MFA and how politics within and beyond borders impacted its development and performance. The rich empirical and archival insights presented across seven chapters are a major departure from the narrow and abstract formulations coming from much of the existing industrialization literature on Nepal, produced predominantly by IFI-affiliated or commissioned (IFI or International Financial Institutions) economists. For instance, the existing industrialization literature— looking at production dynamics from, for instance, the production function lens—informs little on the production dynamics such as its governance, organization and networks. Moreover, the existing formulations pay no attention to important elements in production such as production capabilities and that such capabilities are learnt and acquired via credible policy tools. Unsurprisingly, mainstream economics has been critiqued to not have credible analytical tools to assess important aspects of production and industrialization dynamics. Other gaps in the existing apparel sector analysis on Nepal—owing significantly to deployment of narrow analytical frames—pertain to the emphasis on supply-side constraints (that hinder progress in industrialization) and somewhat problematic empirics including in analyzing apparel sector performance. On the empirical analysis front, an important limitation that the book addresses is supplementing the rather unreliable and limited published data on Nepal’s apparel sector—an issue valid for much of the Global South—with extensive ethnographic fieldwork; spaces being firms, labour unions and business associations. In this backdrop and given the methodological approaches and interdisciplinarity, the book has significantly greater explanatory power in unpacking the industrial development dynamics; more so, in the case of backward developing countries

Onset of stimulated Raman scattering of a laser in a plasma in the presence of hot drifting electrons

Stimulated Raman scattering of a laser in plasmas with energetic drifting electrons was investigated by analyzing the growth of interacting waves during the Raman scattering process. The Langmuir wave and scattered electromagnetic sideband wave grow initially and are dampened after attaining a maximum level that indicates a periodic exchange of energy between the pump wave and the daughter waves. The presence of energetic drifting electrons in the laser-produced plasma influences the stimulated Raman scattering process. The plasma wave generated by Raman scattering may be influenced by the energetic electrons, which enhance the growth rate of the instability. Our results show that the presence of energetic (hot) drifting electrons in a plasma has an important effect on the evolution of the interacting waves. This phenomenon is modeled via two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations of the propagation and interaction of the laser under Raman instability. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLCopen

HIV Testing among Patients with Presumptive Tuberculosis: How Do We Implement in a Routine Programmatic Setting? Results of a Large Operational Research from India.

BACKGROUND: In March 2012, World Health Organization recommended that HIV testing should be offered to all patients with presumptive TB (previously called TB suspects). How this is best implemented and monitored in routine health care settings in India was not known. An operational research was conducted in Karnataka State (South India, population 64 million, accounts for 10% of India's HIV burden), to test processes and learn results and challenges of screening presumptive TB patients for HIV within routine health care settings. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study conducted between January-March 2012, all presumptive TB patients attending public sector sputum microscopy centres state-wide were offered HIV testing by the laboratory technician, and referred to the nearest public sector HIV counselling and testing services, usually within the same facility. The HIV status of the patients was recorded in the routine TB laboratory form and TB laboratory register. The laboratory register was compiled to obtain the number of presumptive TB patients whose HIV status was ascertained, and the number found HIV positive. Aggregate data on reasons for non-testing were compiled at district level. RESULTS: Overall, 115,308 patients with presumptive TB were examined for sputum smear microscopy at 645 microscopy centres state-wide. Of these, HIV status was ascertained for 62,847(55%) among whom 7,559(12%) were HIV-positive, and of these, 3,034(40%) were newly diagnosed. Reasons for non-testing were reported for 37,700(72%) of the 52,461 patients without HIV testing; non-availability of testing services at site of sputum collection was cited by health staff in 54% of respondents. Only 4% of patients opted out of HIV testing. CONCLUSION: Offering HIV testing routinely to presumptive TB patients detected large numbers of previously-undetected instances of HIV infection. Several operational challenges were noted which provide useful lessons for improving uptake of HIV testing in this important group