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With the increase in soft failures in deep submicron ICs, online testing is becoming an integral part of design for testability. Some techniques for online testing of asynchronous circuits are proposed in the literature, which involves development of a checker that verifies the correctness of the protocol. This checker involves Mutex blocks making its area overhead quite high. In this paper, we have adapted the Theory of Fault Detection and Diagnosis available in the literature on Discrete Event Systems to online testing of speed independent asynchronous circuits. The scheme involves development of a state based model of the circuit, under normal and various stuck-at fault conditions, and finally designing state estimators termed as detectors. The detectors monitor the circuit online and determine whether it is functioning in normal/failure mode. The main advantages are nonintrusiveness and low area overheads compared to similar schemes reported in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography is used for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. It is relatively more complex than routine endoscopies and requires adequate patient sedation. Furthermore the patients often have co-morbidities. This article provides an overview of various anaesthetic drugs and the type of anaesthesiological support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health benefits of phenolics are prompting vegetable breeders to identify cultivars with enhanced functional properties. Ten onion cultivars grown under North Indian conditions were evaluated for their total phenolics, flavonoids, quercetin and total antioxidant activity for two consecutive years. Total phenolics, flavonoids and antioxidant activity exhibited significant variation (P < 0.05) among cultivars. Red cultivars, namely Sel-383, N-53, Pusa red and Sel-402, constituted a high phenolic group, with a mean content higher than 100 mg/100 g gallic acid equivalents. Mean flavonoid content was highest in cultivars, Pusa red, Sel-402, H-44 and N-53 (> 40 mg/100 g). White cultivars namely, Pusa white flat, Pusa white round and Early grano, consistently showed low phenolics, flavonoids and total antioxidant activity. Total antioxidant activity as determined by ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), cupric reducing antioxidant capacity (CUPRAC) was highest in cultivars Sel-383, N-53, Pusa red and Sel-126. Over both consecutive years, phenolics correlated positively with total antioxidant activity (R 2 = 0.95 FRAP and R 2 = 0.87 CUPRAC). Over all red cultivars, Sel-383 and Pusa red are promising cultivars for incorporation in existing breeding programs for the production of onions with high antioxidant content. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS Onion, being a major constituent of Indian diet, is a potential source of phenolics and flavonoids. Selection of the phenolic-rich cultivars, preferably the red ones with high antioxidant activity, can deliver a variety of health benefits. The breeders can use total phenolics and flavonoids as parameters to develop varieties with increased levels of target antioxidants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quality and viscosity of tomato juice is strongly governed by mechanical and thermal abuse during processing. The effect of processing and storage duration on the viscosity and quality parameters of tomato juice was evaluated in the present work. Tomato juice was obtained by two different methods, normal method (NM) and variable method (VM), and was heated by both conventional and microwave hot break treatments. Tomato juice was evaluated for various quality characteristics including precipitate weight ratio, degree of serum separation (DOSS), Brookfield viscosity, lycopene levels, vitamin C, phenols and antioxidant activity. Changes observed in several quality parameters during storage were statistically insignificant. The methods and processing had the greatest contribution toward viscosity, whereas storage duration had no significant effects. Viscosity parameters viz precipitate weight, DOSS and Bostwick consistency revealed that juice processed by VM was more viscous than that of NM, irrespective of the hot break processing used. Ascorbic acid and lycopene content varied significantly with mechanical methods and processing conditions. However, phenolic content and antioxidant activity remained stable. The variable process represents an improvement over the conventional by enabling tomato processors to improve the consistency of the tomato product. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS Quartering or slicing tomatoes followed by hot break processing techniques can significantly improve the quality of tomato juice in terms of reduced degree of serum separation and precipitate weight ratio. The modified technology could be considered as a viable and economical method for small- and medium-scale tomato processors with limited resources and facilities at their disposal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to identify the clinical factors associated with the need for peri-operative blood transfusion in non-anaemic patients undergoing hip or knee arthroplasty. We prospectively evaluated 162 consecutive patients who underwent total hip or knee arthroplasty. Analysis was performed to establish the relationship between all independent variables and the need for postoperative transfusion. Univariate analysis revealed a significant relationship between the need for postoperative blood transfusion and the pre-operative haemoglobin levels ( P= 0·001), weight ( P= 0·019) and age ( P= 0·018). Multivariate analysis identified a significant relationship only between the need for transfusion and the pre-operative haemoglobin level ( P= 0·0001). The pre-operative haemoglobin level of the patient was the only variable to independently predict the need for blood transfusion after primary hip or knee arthroplasty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]