3,519 research outputs found
Genetic algorithms for uncapacitated network design
No full textThesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1995.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 124).by Viswanathan Lakshmi.M.S
Sustainable product and market development for subsistence marketplaces: Creating educational initiatives in radically different contexts
No full textDeveloping products and business processes to serve subsistence marketplaces (or the roughly 4 billion poor around the world referred to as the bottom of the pyramid) is a significant challenge for businesses. Despite the importance of subsistence marketplaces, most product development educational curricula have been focused on relatively resource-rich and literate consumers and markets. We teach an innovative year-long product development course which includes an international immersion experience and which covers a broad spectrum of learning from understanding poverty, to consumer behavior, to product development and engineering design specifically for subsistence consumers. This unique course represents a pioneering effort to focus attention and create knowledge about product development, marketing, management, and engineering practices for subsistence marketplaces. Our two-semester course sequence for graduate-level students in a variety of business and engineering disciplines and industrial design combines in-class pedagogy with experiential learning and results in useful and marketable product concepts and prototypes. Working on projects with multinational companies or startups, students identify an opportunity of general need, conduct field market research to better understand subsistence consumer needs and contexts through an international immersion experience, develop a product concept, convert the concept to a workable prototype, and develop a manufacturing plan, marketing strategy, and overall business plan for the product. Overlaying the content found in a typical new product development lab course we develop a contextual understanding of subsistence marketplaces, setting the stage for new product development. A central aspect of the learning experience is travel to subsistence markets for actual immersion in the context and to conduct market research. Our course is at the confluence of two of the most important issues facing humanity, subsistence and sustainability. Lessons learned here can also be extended to other radically different contexts, such as future scenarios involving severe energy shortages or climate change consequences. Such educational initiatives provide challenging learning experiences in preparing students for the unique demands of the 21st century. © 2011 Product Development and Management Association.APPLE LE, 1988, J PROD INNOVAT MANAG, V5, P70, DOI 10.1111-1540-5885.510070; ASHBY M, 2003, MATER TODAY, V6, P24, DOI 10.1016-S1369-7021(03)01223-9; Cardozo RN, 2002, J PROD INNOVAT MANAG, V19, P4, DOI 10.1016-S0737-6782(01)00116-3; CHICK A, 1997, J SUSTAINABLE PRODUC, V1, P53; Donaldson KM, 2006, RES ENG DES, V17, P135, DOI 10.1007-s00163-006-0017-3; Ehrenreich B., 2002, NICKEL DIMED; Eppinger S.D., 2002, DESIGN MANAGEMENT J, V13, P58; GESCHKA H, 1986, J PROD INNOVAT MANAG, V3, P48, DOI 10.1016-0737-6782(86)90043-3; GREEN M, 2006, P ASME DES ENG TECHN; HAMMOND A. L., 2007, INNOVATIONS, V2, P147, DOI [10.1162-itgg.2007.2.1-2.147, DOI 10.1162-ITGG.2007.2.1-2.147]; HANNUKAINEN P, 2006, P ASME DES ENG TECHN; Hargadon A, 2000, HARVARD BUS REV, V78, P157; HAUSER JR, 1988, HARVARD BUS REV, V66, P63; HERSTATT C, 1992, J PROD INNOVAT MANAG, V9, P213, DOI 10.1016-0737-6782(92)90031-7; HORAN J, 2004, ONE PAGE BUSINESS PL; Murcott S., 2007, J INT DEV, V19, P123, DOI 10.1002-jid.1353; Prahalad CK, 2002, HARVARD BUS REV, V80, P48; PRAHALAD CK, 2005, FORT BOTT PYR ER POV; PUGH P, 1991, TOTAL DESIGN INTEGRA; Rodriguez J, 2006, INTERACT COMPUT, V18, P956, DOI 10.1016-j.intcom.2006.05.007; Sahlman WA, 1997, HARVARD BUS REV, V75, P98; Schumacher Ernest F., 1973, SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL E; *SME, 2003, PLAST INJ MOLD; *SME, 2004, FUND MAN PROC SAMPL; Sridharan S, 2008, J CONSUM MARK, V25, P455, DOI 10.1108-07363760810915671; Stone R. B., 2000, Design Studies, V21, DOI 10.1016-S0142-694X(99)00003-4; TAGUCHI J, 1990, HARVARD BUS REV, V68, P65; Tybout JR, 2000, J ECON LIT, V38, P11, DOI 10.1257-jel.38.1.11; Ulrich K., 2007, PRODUCT DESIGN DEV; Viswanathan M, 2005, J MARKETING, V69, P15, DOI 10.1509-jmkg.69.1.15.55507; Viswanathan M., 2009, IVEY BUSINESS J MAR; Viswanathan M, 2009, J MACROMARKETING, V29, P406, DOI 10.1177-0276146709345620; Viswanathan M, 2008, EDUC ASIA PAC REG-IS, V12, P1, DOI 10.1007-978-1-4020-5769-4; Viswanathan M., 2007, PRODUCT MARKET DEV S, P1; Viswanathan M., 2007, PRODUCT MARKET DEV S, P212
Characterization of TLB and page allocation behavior on modern processors
No full textVirtual memory support is prevalent in most modern processors and is facilitated through Translation Lookaside Buffers (TLBs) which play a major role in the overall system performance. TLB misses are costly since they require multiple high latency memory references to walk the page table and locate the desired Virtual Page Number (VPN) - Physical Page Number (PPN) mapping. This study improves TLB hit rates by taking advantage of any contiguity present in the pages allocated by the Operating System (OS). By contiguity we refer to cases where consecutive VPNs are mapped to consecutive PPNs. Traditionally, OSs use large or superpages to collapse hundreds of such contiguous entries, thereby using one TLB entry to represent them rather than hundreds of entries they would normally require. Unfortunately due to implementation complexities superpaging has not been universally successful in reducing TLB pressure. We show, however, that even without explicit superpaging, various OS virtual memory allocation activities lead to intermediate levels of contiguity that may be exploited to coalesce TLB entries and significantly improve hit rates. We verify the presence of contiguity by running benchmarks on a real system and checking the page allocations of the OS. The OS page allocation schemes depend on memory pressure and memory defragmentation daemons. Further, we find an average contiguity of 30 pages over all the benchmarks and configurations with superpaging turned on and about 10 with superpaging turned off. To verify the performance of a Coalesced TLB we have implemented a fully associative TLB with variable size and Least Recently Used (LRU) replacement policy. Our results show an average hit rate improvement of 25% by adding an 8-16 entry fully associative Coalesced TLB. The Coalesced TLB further needs no complex hardware to implement, hence providing to a low cost means to reduce miss rates.M.S.Includes bibliographical referencesby Viswanathan Vaidyanatha
Fig. 1. — Aganope agastyamalayana M.B. Viswan., U. Manik. & A.C in A new species of Aganope (Fabaceae) from the Southern Western Ghats, Peninsular India
No full textFig. 1. — Aganope agastyamalayana M.B. Viswan., U. Manik. & A.C. Tang.: A, habit (flowering twig); B, stipule; C, stipel; D, bract; E, bracteole; F, flower; G, calyx; H, standard (dorsal side); I, standard (ventral side); J, wing petals (dorsal view); K, keel petals (dorsal view); L, flower without petals; M, stamens; N, ovary; O, longitudinal section of ovary; P, transverse section of ovary; Q, pod; R, seed (lateral view); S, seed (front view). Viswanathan & Manikandan 14473.Published as part of Viswanathan, Manikandan, U. & Tangavelou, A.C., 2003, A new species of Aganope (Fabaceae) from the Southern Western Ghats, Peninsular India, pp. 205-210 in Adansonia (3) 25 (2) on page 209, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.518116
Quantum of fluids in hospitalised patients with dengue and warning signs- a pilot cross-sectional study
No full textBackground:
Dengue is an endemic arboviral illness in Asia with significant morbidity and mortality. The World Health Organization (WHO) in 2009 revised the category of dengue severity into Classes A, B, and C based on the presence or absence of warning signs. The quantum of oral and intravenous fluids(IVF) in hospitalised patients with Group B(warning signs) have not been studied so far. Oral fluids in hospitalised patients and monitoring of their administration with help of patients’ relatives have not been assessed.
Methods:
Consecutive patients with dengue fever and warning signs were studied for 48 hours after hospitalisation. Vital signs, anthropometry, biochemical and haematological investigations, electrocardiogram were studied. Patients were asked to consume between four and five litres of fluids. Maintenance and bolus IVF were administered depending upon the presence of compensated or hypotensive shock. Intake and urinary output were monitored by the patient’s attendant. Total fluids(oral and intravenous) were divided by each anthropometric measurement-height, weight, body mass index(BMI) and body surface area(BSA). Significance of compensated and hypotensive shock, thrombocytopenia and 20% change in haematocrit, bleeding episodes and the need for transfusions, and organ impairment were considered in relation to total amount of fluids received daily.
Findings:
Forty-one patients were studied. All had warning signs at admission, and 37 continued to have them on Day1. Serositis and/or organ involvement-hepatitis, acute kidney injury, myositis, or cardiac dysfunction were observed in 15, and bleeding manifestations were seen in seven. Patients with obesity and hypotensive shock received significantly more fluids on Day1; taller patients and those with tachycardia, higher haematocrit and elevated creatine kinase correspondingly received more on Day2. Serositis, hepatitis, severe thrombocytopenia, bleeding, and compensated shock did not have any correlation with anthropometry-related fluid calculation. Hypotensive shock had significant correlations with fluids/BSA and fluids/weight, while laboratory parameters correlated best with fluids/BMI.
Interpretation:
Most adults hospitalised with dengue fever and warning signs during an epidemic seem to require >100mL/kg/day of fluids during their stay. Also, advising a similar amount of fluids at home during dengue epidemics may further reduce the need for admissions as shown in some studies. In resource-poor settings, participation of patients and their relatives in the bedside management of fluid administration may go a long way in preventing morbidity and mortality in dengue fever. Adults with dengue probably need a better anthropometric measurement to decide the quantum of fluids
First-Principles Based Analysis of the Electrocatalytic Activity of the Unreconstructed Pt(100) Surface for Oxygen Reduction Reaction
No full textWe apply a rigorous computational procedure combining ab initio DFT calculations and statistical mechanics based methods to examine the electrocatalytic activity of the unreconstructed Pt(100) surface for oxygen reduction reaction. Using the cluster expansion formalism, we obtain stable interfacial water structures using Monte Carlo simulations carried out using parametrized interactions of water-water and water-metal. We find that both long-range and multibody interactions are important to describe the adsorbate interactions as a consequence of the mismatch between the preferred "hexagonal" water overlayer and the underlying square symmetry of the (100) surface. Our results indicate that the stable interfacial water structure is substantially different from that found on the Pt(111) surface. We compute the potential-dependent equilibrium coverages of oxygen-containing adsorbates, which shows that the surface is poisoned by strongly adsorbed OH. We construct the free-energy diagram of intermediates for oxygen reduction reaction on the Pt(100) surface and find that the limiting step is the reduction of the strongly adsorbed OH. We also find that, at a given potential, a higher degree of poisoning by OH is the reason unreconstructed (100) surfaces are catalytically less active than (111) surfaces. This study shows the importance of accurately capturing atomistic interactions beyond the nearest neighbor pairs. © 2012 American Chemical Society.
Quantum of fluids in hospitalised patients with dengue and warning signs- a pilot cross-sectional study
No full textBackground:
Dengue is an endemic arboviral illness in Asia with significant morbidity and mortality. The World Health Organization (WHO) in 2009 revised the category of dengue severity into Classes A, B, and C based on the presence or absence of warning signs. The quantum of oral and intravenous fluids(IVF) in hospitalised patients with Group B(warning signs) have not been studied so far. Oral fluids in hospitalised patients and monitoring of their administration with help of patients’ relatives have not been assessed.
Methods:
Consecutive patients with dengue fever and warning signs were studied for 48 hours after hospitalisation. Vital signs, anthropometry, biochemical and haematological investigations, electrocardiogram were studied. Patients were asked to consume between four and five litres of fluids. Maintenance and bolus IVF were administered depending upon the presence of compensated or hypotensive shock. Intake and urinary output were monitored by the patient’s attendant. Total fluids(oral and intravenous) were divided by each anthropometric measurement-height, weight, body mass index(BMI) and body surface area(BSA). Significance of compensated and hypotensive shock, thrombocytopenia and 20% change in haematocrit, bleeding episodes and the need for transfusions, and organ impairment were considered in relation to total amount of fluids received daily.
Findings:
Forty-one patients were studied. All had warning signs at admission, and 37 continued to have them on Day1. Serositis and/or organ involvement-hepatitis, acute kidney injury, myositis, or cardiac dysfunction were observed in 15, and bleeding manifestations were seen in seven. Patients with obesity and hypotensive shock received significantly more fluids on Day1; taller patients and those with tachycardia, higher haematocrit and elevated creatine kinase correspondingly received more on Day2. Serositis, hepatitis, severe thrombocytopenia, bleeding, and compensated shock did not have any correlation with anthropometry-related fluid calculation. Hypotensive shock had significant correlations with fluids/BSA and fluids/weight, while laboratory parameters correlated best with fluids/BMI.
Interpretation:
Most adults hospitalised with dengue fever and warning signs during an epidemic seem to require >100mL/kg/day of fluids during their stay. Also, advising a similar amount of fluids at home during dengue epidemics may further reduce the need for admissions as shown in some studies. In resource-poor settings, participation of patients and their relatives in the bedside management of fluid administration may go a long way in preventing morbidity and mortality in dengue fever. Adults with dengue probably need a better anthropometric measurement to decide the quantum of fluids
Outside the fold conversion, modernity, and belief
No full text"Outside the Fold is a radical reexamination of religious conversion. Gauri Viswanathan skillfully argues that conversion is an interpretive act that belongs in the realm of cultural criticism. To that end, this work examines key moments in colonial and postcolonial history to show how conversion questions the limitations of secular ideologies, particularly the discourse of rights central to both the British empire and the British nation-state. Implicit in such questioning is an attempt to construct an alternative epistemological and ethical foundation of national community. Viswanathan grounds her study in an examination of two stimultaneous and, she asserts, linked events: the legal emancipation of religious minorities in England and the acculturation of colonial subjects to British rule. The author views these two apparently disparate events as part of a common pattern of national consolidation that produced the English state. She seeks to explain why resistance, in both cases, frequently took the form of religious conversion, especially to "minority" or alternative religions. Confronting the general characterization of conversion as assimilative and annihilating of identity, Viswanathan demonstrates that a willful change of religion can be seen instead as an act of opposition. Outside the Fold concludes that, as a form of cultural crossing, conversion comes to represent a vital release into difference.""Through the figure of the convert, Viswanathan addresses the vexing question of the role of belief and minority discourse in modern society. She establishes new points of contact between the convert as religious dissenter and as colonial subject. This convergence provides a transcultural perspective not otherwise visible in literary and historical texts. It allows for radically new readings of significant figures as diverse as John Henry Newman, Pandita Ramabai, Annie Besant, and B. R. Ambedkar, as well as close studies of court cases, census reports, and popular English fiction. These varying texts illuminate the means by which discourses of religious identity are produced, contained, or opposed by the languages of law, reason, and classificatory knowledge. Outside the Fold is a challenging, provocative contribution to the multidisciplinary field of cultural studies. Book jacket."--BOOK JACKE
FIGURE 2. Memecylon pachaimalayanum—a. Tree, b. Twig, c in Memecylon pachaimalayanum (Melastomataceae)-a new species from the Eastern Ghats of Tamil Nadu in India
No full textFIGURE 2. Memecylon pachaimalayanum—a. Tree, b. Twig, c. Floral buds in axillary fascicle, d. Axillary fascicles in full blossom, e. Immature fruits, f. Mature fruit, g. A portion of cleared leaf, showing narrowly filiform, unbranched, often mixed with spheroidal sclereids. Photographs: C. Rajasekar and R. Rajesh.Published as part of Rajesh, R., Viswanathan, M.B. & Silambarasan, R., 2021, Memecylon pachaimalayanum (Melastomataceae)-a new species from the Eastern Ghats of Tamil Nadu in India, pp. 69-76 in Phytotaxa 496 (1) on page 72, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.496.1.3, http://zenodo.org/record/542349
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