A Study on Potentiality of Silver as an Investment Asset

In the last few years the countries around the world are facing burden of global economic slowdown and the same is indicated in their slower GDP growth and falling stock market prices. Even under these precarious conditions the commodity markets are experiencing considerable growth and are offering good returns to the investors. Among all commodities, though considered as highly volatile, silver is a very attractive commodity to invest. In contrast to the common belief, silver is relatively a safe investment in the long run and assures significantly high returns to the investors. The present study aims to prove potentiality of silver as an investment asset using simple risk, return analysis and other basic fundamentals. The results of the analysis prove that silver is a good asset for investment vis-à-vis gold and stock markets and is a consistent performer under different economic conditions

Surface Morphological Studies of Solar Absorber Layer Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) Thin Films by Non-vacuum Deposition Methods

Surface morphological studiesThe consumption of fossil fuel globally has been enormous and has reached an alarming rate resulting in fast depletion of the available resources and at the same time polluting the environment. Hence there is a growing need to take cognizance of abundant amount of inexpensive energy available in the nature especially solar energy. Development and commercialization of Photovoltaics has been in focus due to its low cost, high absorption coefficient and suitable direct band gap for solar energy conversion applications. An attempt has been made in this work to synthesize the CZTS thin films by Electro deposition and Sol-gel method on Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) glass and Soda Lime Glass( SLG) substrates respectively. CZTS thin films have been prepared using a 3-stage electro chemical system wherein the precursors are deposited using platinum foil as a counter electrode and AgCl electrode as a reference electrode and Sol gel method. Surface morphology and optical properties have been studied using Atomic Force Microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy, X-ray Diffractometer and UV-Vis Spectroscopy When you are citing the document, use the following link http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/3596

The natural history of degenerative cervical myelopathy and the rate of hospitalization following spinal cord injury: an updated systematic review

Study Method: Systematic review (update). Objective: Degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) is a degenerative spine disease and the most common cause of spinal cord dysfunction in adults worldwide. The objective of this study is to determine the natural history of DCM by updating the systematic review by Karadimas et al. The specific aims of this review were (1) to describe the natural history of DCM and (2) to determine potential risk factors of disease progression. Method: An updated search based on a previous protocol was conducted in PubMed and the Cochrane Collaboration library for studies published between November 2012 and February 15, 2015. Results: The updated search yielded 3 additional citations that met inclusion criteria and reported the incidence of spinal cord injury and severe disability in patients with DCM. Based on 2 retrospective cohort studies, the incidence rate of hospitalization for spinal cord injury is 13.9 per 1000 person-years in patients with cervical spondylotic myelopathy and 4.8 per 1000 person-years in patients with myelopathy secondary to ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL). In a third small prospective study, the risk of being wheelchair bound or bedridden was 66.7% in DCM patients with OPLL. Conclusion: The overall level of evidence for these estimated rates of hospitalization following spinal cord injury was rated as low. </jats:sec

Impact of Baseline Magnetic Resonance Imaging on Neurologic, Functional, and Safety Outcomes in Patients With Acute Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury

Study Design: Systematic review. Objective: To perform a systematic review to evaluate the utility of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients with acute spinal cord injury (SCI). Methods: An electronic search of Medline, EMBASE, the Cochrane Collaboration Library, and Google Scholar was conducted for literature published through May 12, 2015, to answer key questions associated with the use of MRI in patients with acute SCI. Results: The literature search yielded 796 potentially relevant citations, 8 of which were included in this review. One study used MRI in a protocol to decide on early surgical decompression. The MRI-protocol group showed improved outcomes; however, the quality of evidence was deemed very low due to selection bias. Seven studies reported MRI predictors of neurologic or functional outcomes. There was moderate-quality evidence that longer intramedullary hemorrhage (2 studies) and low-quality evidence that smaller spinal canal diameter at the location of maximal spinal cord compression and the presence of cord swelling are associated with poor neurologic recovery. There was moderate-quality evidence that clinical outcomes are not predicted by SCI lesion length and the presence of cord edema. Conclusions: Certain MRI characteristics appear to be predictive of outcomes in acute SCI, including length of intramedullary hemorrhage (moderate-quality evidence), canal diameter at maximal spinal cord compression (low-quality evidence), and spinal cord swelling (low-quality evidence). Other imaging features were either inconsistently (presence of hemorrhage, maximal canal compromise, and edema length) or not associated with outcomes. The paucity of literature highlights the need for well-designed prospective studies. © 2017, © The Author(s) 2017

Sub-microsecond temporal evolution of edge density during edge localized modes in KSTAR tokamak plasmas inferred from ion cyclotron emission

During edge localised mode (ELM) crashes in KSTAR deuterium plasmas, bursts of spectrally structured ion cyclotron emission (ICE) are detected. Usually the ICE spectrum chirps downwards during an ELM crash, on sub-microsecond timescales. For KSTAR ICE where the separation of spectral peak frequencies is close to the proton cyclotron frequency Ω&lt;sub&gt;cp&lt;/sub&gt; at the outer plasma edge, we show that the driving population of energetic ions is likely to be a subset of the 3MeV fusion protons, born centrally on deeply passing orbits which drift from the core to the edge plasma. We report first principles modelling of this scenario using a particle-in-cell code, which evolves the full orbit dynamics of large numbers of energetic protons, thermal deuterons, and electrons self-consistently with the electric and magnetic fields. The Fourier transform of the excited fields in the nonlinear saturated regime of the simulations is the theoretical counterpart to the measured ICE spectra. Multiple simulation runs for different, adjacent, values of the plasma density under KSTAR edge conditions enable us to infer the theoretical dependence of ICE spectral structure on the local electron number density. By matching this density dependence to the observed time-dependence of chirping ICE spectra in KSTAR, we obtain sub-microsecond time resolution of the evolving local electron number density during the ELM crash

The impact of acute lung injury, ECMO and transfusion on oxidative stress and plasma selenium levels in an ovine model

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of smoke induced acute lung. injury (S-ALI), extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and transfusion on oxidative stress and plasma selenium levels. Forty ewes were divided into (i) healthy control (n = 4), (ii) S-ALI control (n = 7), (iii) ECMO control (n = 7), (iv) S-ALI + ECMO (n = 8) and (v) S-ALI + ECM + packed red blood cell (PRBC) transfusion (n = 14). Plasma thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), selenium and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity were analysed at baseline, after smoke injury (or sham) and 0.25, 1, 2, 6, 7, 12 and 24 h after initiation of ECMO. Peak TBARS levels were similar across all groups. Plasma selenium decreased by 54% in S-ALI sheep (1.36 +/- 0.20 to 0.63 +/- 0.27 mu mol/L, p < 0.0001), and 72% in sheep with S-ALI + ECMO at 24 h (1.36 +/- 0.20 to 0.38 +/- 0.19, p < 0.0001). PRBC transfusion had no effect on TBARS, selenium levels or glutathione peroxidase activity in plasma. While ECMO independently increased TBARS in healthy sheep to levels which were similar to the S-ALI control, the addition of ECMO after S-ALI caused a negligible increase in TBARS. This suggests that the initial lung injury was the predominant feature in the TBARS response. In contrast, the addition of ECM in S-ALI sheep exacerbated reductions in plasma selenium beyond that of S-ALI or ECM alone. Clinical studies are needed to confirm the extent and duration of selenium loss associated with ECMO. Crown Copyright (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved

Distribution Grid Voltage Regulation for Power Quality Improvement Using UPQC

Poor voltage regulation is experienced for the costumers connected at the end of low voltage distribution grid. In the proposed paper, voltage regulation is achieved in the distribution grid using Unified Power Quality Compensator (UPQC). Different control techniques are used for shunt inverter in UPQC to improve the power quality of the Distribution Grid. Control techniques, including the PI control, DQ control and Minimum Power Point Tracking (mPPT) for voltage control are analyzed and simulated in the proposed paper. Simulation with UPQC is done for three different control techniques and its performances are compared. The mPPT avoids the circulation of unnecessary reactive compensation for voltage regulation by operating at the Minimum Power Point (mPP). Comparative analysis is made for UPQC with the different control techniques during sag, swell and fault condition. The simulation of distribution Grid for voltage regulation using UPQC is carried out using MATLAB Simulink

Multi-objective wind farm layout optimization using evolutionary computations

The usage of fossil fuels is actually not good for living nature and in future, this limited source of energy will vanish. Therefore, we need to go with the clean and renewable source of energy such as wind power, solar energy etc. In this paper, we are concentrating in wind power through optimizing the wind turbine placement in wind farm. The area-of-convex hull, maximize ‘output power’ and minimum spanning tree distance are our main objective topics, due to their effect in wind farm design. An implementation of modified version of the wind turbine (WT) placement model is uses to estimate the yields of the (wind farm) WF layouts and for simplifying the behavior of wind field, in this paper we uses a simple wake approach. Moreover, to resolve the multi-objective problem here we proposed (Modified Genetic Algorithm) MGA, which is considerably better than the (Genetic Algorithm) GA and for evaluate the performance of MGA we use the multi-objective (EA) evolutionary algorithms such as; Genetic algorithm (GA) and SPEA2 and, produce different number of WT layouts. These methodologies are consider with various ‘problematic specific operators’ that are present in this paper