Oscillation quenching in third order phase locked loop coupled by mean field diffusive coupling.

We explored analytically the oscillation quenching phenomena (amplitude death and parameter dependent inhomogeneous steady state) in a coupled third order phase locked loop (PLL) both in periodic and chaotic mode. The phase locked loops were coupled through mean field diffusive coupling. The lower and upper limits of the quenched state were identified in the parameter space of the coupled PLL using the Routh-Hurwitz technique. We further observed that the ability of convergence to the quenched state of coupled PLLs depends on the design parameters. For identical systems, both the systems converge to the homogeneous steady state, whereas for non-identical parameter values they converge to an inhomogeneous steady state. It was also observed that for identical systems, the quenched state is wider than the non-identical case. When the system parameters are so chosen that each isolated loop is chaotic in nature, we observe narrowing down of the quenched state. All these phenomena were also demonstrated through numerical simulations.

Challenges in HbA1c Analysis and Reporting in Patients with Variant Hemoglobins.

Hemoglobin A1c (HbA(1)c) is a well-established indicator of mean glycemia. The presence of genetic variants of hemoglobin can profoundly affect the accuracy of HbA(1)c measurements. Variants of hemoglobin especially Hemoglobin E (HbE) is prevalent in South East Asia including Bangladesh. The objective of our study is to compare the HbA(1)c values measured on high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and Turbidimetric Inhibition Immunoassay (TINIA) in diabetic patients with variant hemoglobins including HbE. A total of 7595 diabetic patients receiving treatment at BIRDEM General Hospital were analyzed for HbA(1)c results within a period of two months from December 2013 to January 2014. Seventy two cases out of 7595 (0.95%) had either undetectable or below normal HbA(1)c levels (males-33 and females-39; ratio = 0.82:1) by HPLC method. In 34(0.45%) cases, HbA(1)c value was undetectable by HPLC method but was in the reportable range by TINIA method. In the other 38 (0.55%) cases, HbA(1)c levels were below the reportable range (<4%) by HPLC method but were in the normal or higher range by TINIA method. TINIA method did not agree with HPLC method on Bland Altman plot in the 38 cases with below normal HbA(1)c levels, [Mean bias -5.2(-9.3 to 1.0), 95% CI] but agreed very well [mean bias -0.21 (-0.84 to 0.42), y=1.1037+0.776X; r(2)=0.30, p<0.01] in controls. In control group mean MCV was 83.80±7.48 and in study group was 73.65±10.44. Alkaline electrophoresis confirmed the variant hemoglobin to be HbE. The fasting blood sugar levels of all the 72 cases correlated strongly with TINIA method (r(2) =0.75, p<0.0001) but not with HPLC (r = 0.24, p=0.13). In our regions where populations have a high prevalence of Hb variant, proper knowledge of hemoglobin variants which affect the measurements HbA(1)c level is essential. MCV of 80fl or below may serve as a rough guide to select samples that require analysis by TINIA method. Moreover, HPLC may be a convenient and inexpensive tool for screening of hemoglobinopathies especially among diabetic population in Bangladesh. It may therefore be helpful in improving management of complications related to both anaemia and iron overload.

Spatiotemporal dynamics of a digital phase-locked loop based coupled map lattice system.

We explore the spatiotemporal dynamics of a coupled map lattice (CML) system, which is realized with a one dimensional array of locally coupled digital phase-locked loops (DPLLs). DPLL is a nonlinear feedback-controlled system widely used as an important building block of electronic communication systems. We derive the phase-error equation of the spatially extended system of coupled DPLLs, which resembles a form of the equation of a CML system. We carry out stability analysis for the synchronized homogeneous solutions using the circulant matrix formalism. It is shown through extensive numerical simulations that with the variation of nonlinearity parameter and coupling strength the system shows transitions among several generic features of spatiotemporal dynamics, viz., synchronized fixed point solution, frozen random pattern, pattern selection, spatiotemporal intermittency, and fully developed spatiotemporal chaos. We quantify the spatiotemporal dynamics using quantitative measures like average quadratic deviation and spatial correlation function. We emphasize that instead of using an idealized model of CML, which is usually employed to observe the spatiotemporal behaviors, we consider a real world physical system and establish the existence of spatiotemporal chaos and other patterns in this system. We also discuss the importance of the present study in engineering application like removal of clock-skew in parallel processors.

Mathematical modelling of thin layer hot air drying of carrot pomace.

Thin layer carrot pomace drying characteristics were evaluated in a laboratory scale hot air forced convective dryer. The drying experiments were carried out at 60, 65, 70 & 75 °C and at an air velocity of 0.7 m/s. Mathematical models were tested to fit drying data of carrot pomace. The whole drying process of carrot pomace took place in a falling rate period except a very short accelerating period at the beginning. The average values of effective diffusivity ranged from 2.74 × 10(-9) to 4.64 × 10(-9) m(2)/s for drying carrot pomace. The activation energy value was 23.05 kJ/mol for the whole falling rate period.

Effect of air velocity on kinetics of thin layer carrot pomace drying.

Carrot pomace is a by-product obtained during carrot juice processing. Thin layer carrot pomace drying was performed in a laboratory scale hot air forced convective dryer. The drying experiments were carried out at the air velocity of 0.5, 0.7 and 1.0 m/s at air temperatures from 60 to 75 °C. It was observed that whole drying process of carrot pomace took place in a falling rate period except a very short accelerating period at the beginning. Mathematical models were tested to fit drying data of carrot pomace. The best fit model was observed on the basis of R², Chi-square and RMSE values. R² values for all the selected models were above 0.9783. The average values of effective diffusivity ranged from 2.61 × 10(-9) to 3.64 × 10(-9) m²/s.