Selected Cardiovascular Studies Based on Photoplethysmography Technique

Photoplethysmography (PPG) is a simple and inexpensive optical technique that can be used to detect blood volume changes in the microvascular bed of tissues. There has been a resurgence of interest in the technique in recent years, driven by the demand for low cost, simple and portable technology for the primary care and community based clinical settings and the wide availability of low cost and small semiconductor components, and the advancement of computer-based pulse wave analysis techniques. The present research work deals with the design of a PPG sensor for recording the blood volume pulse signals and carry out selected cardiovascular studies based on these signals. The interaction of light with tissue, early and recent history of PPG, instrumentation, measurement protocol and pulse wave analysis are also discussed in this study. The effect of aging, mild cold exposure, and variation in the body posture on the PPG signal have been experimentally studied.

Unusual autofluorescence characteristic of cultured red-rain cells

The red cells found in the red rain in Kerala, India are now considered as a possible case of extraterrestrial life form. These cells can undergo rapid replication even at an extreme high temperature of 300 deg C. They can also be cultured in diverse unconventional chemical substrates. The molecular composition of these cells is yet to be identified. This paper reports the unusual autofluorescence characteristic of the cultured red rain cells. A spectrofluorimetric study has been performed to investigate this, which shows a systematic shift of the fluorescence emission peak wavelength as the excitation wavelength is increased. Conventional biomolecules are not known to have this property. Details of this investigation and the results are discussed.

Thermal transport, photoconduction and electrical switching in selected chalcogenide glasses exhibiting carrier type reversal

Department of Instrumentation, Cochin University of Science and Technology

Investigations on Nonlinear and Radiative Properties of Certain Photonic Materials

International School of Photonics, Cochin University of Science & Technology

A Study on the Water Retention Characteristics of Soils and their Improvements

Soil moisture plays a cardinal role in sustaining eclological balance and agricultural development – virtually the very existence of life on earth. Because of the growing shortage of water resources, we have to use the available water most efficiently by proper management. Better utilization of rainfall or irrigation management depends largely on the water retention characteristics of the soil.Soil water retention is essential to life and it provides an ongoing supply of water to plants between periods of irrigation so as to allow their continued growth and survival.It is essential to maintain readily available water in the soil if crops are to sustain satisfactory growth. The plant growth may be retarded if the soil moisture is either deficient or excessive. The optimum moisture content is that moisture which leads to optimum growth of plant. When watering is done, the amount of water supplied should be such that the water content is equal to the field capacity that is the water remained in the saturated soil after gravitational drainage. Water will gradually be utilized consumptively by plants after the water application, and the soil moisture will start falling. When the water content in the soil reaches the value known as permanent wilting point (when the plant starts wilting) fresh dose of irrigation may be done so that water content is again raised to the field capacity of soil.Soil differ themselves in some or all the properties depending on the difference in the geotechnical and environmental factors. Soils serve as a reservoir of the nutrients and water required for crops.Study of soil and its water holding capacity is essential for the efficient utilization of irrigation water. Hence the identification of the geotechnical parameters which influence the water retention capacity, chemical properties which influence the nutrients and the method to improve these properties have vital importance in irrigation / agricultural engineering. An attempt in this direction has been made in this study by conducting the required tests on different types of soil samples collected from various locations in Trivandrum district Kerala, with and without admixtures like coir pith, coir pith compost and vermi compost. Evaluation of the results are presented and a design procedure has been proposed for a better irrigation scheduling and management.

Photothermal beam deflection for non-destructive evaluation of semiconductor thin films

Non-destructive testing (NDT) is the use of non-invasive techniques to determine the integrity of a material, component, or structure. Engineers and scientists use NDT in a variety of applications, including medical imaging, materials analysis, and process control.Photothermal beam deflection technique is one of the most promising NDT technologies. Tremendous R&D effort has been made for improving the efficiency and simplicity of this technique. It is a popular technique because it can probe surfaces irrespective of the size of the sample and its surroundings. This technique has been used to characterize several semiconductor materials, because of its non-destructive and non-contact evaluation strategy. Its application further extends to analysis of wide variety of materials. Instrumentation of a NDT technique is very crucial for any material analysis. Chapter two explores the various excitation sources, source modulation techniques, detection and signal processing schemes currently practised. The features of the experimental arrangement including the steps for alignment, automation, data acquisition and data analysis are explained giving due importance to details.Theoretical studies form the backbone of photothermal techniques. The outcome of a theoretical work is the foundation of an application.The reliability of the theoretical model developed and used is proven from the studies done on crystalline.The technique is applied for analysis of transport properties such as thermal diffusivity, mobility, surface recombination velocity and minority carrier life time of the material and thermal imaging of solar cell absorber layer materials like CuInS2, CuInSe2 and SnS thin films.analysis of In2S3 thin films, which are used as buffer layer material in solar cells. The various influences of film composition, chlorine and silver incorporation in this material is brought out from the measurement of transport properties and analysis of sub band gap levels.The application of photothermal deflection technique for characterization of solar cells is a relatively new area that requires considerable attention.The application of photothermal deflection technique for characterization of solar cells is a relatively new area that requires considerable attention. Chapter six thus elucidates the theoretical aspects of application of photothermal techniques for solar cell analysis. The experimental design and method for determination of solar cell efficiency, optimum load resistance and series resistance with results from the analysis of CuInS2/In2S3 based solar cell forms the skeleton of this chapter.

Investigations on Photoconductivity and Electrical Switiching in Selected Chalcogenide Glasses

In this thesis, we present the results of our investigations on the photoconducting and electrical switching properties of selected chalcogenide glass systems. We have used XRD and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis for confinuing the amorphous nature of these materials and for confirming their constituents respectively.Photoconductivity is the enhancement in electrical conductivity of materials brought about by the motion of charge carriers excited by absorbed radiation. The phenomenon involves absorption, photogeneration, recombination and transport processes and it gives good insight into the density of states in the energy gap of solids due to the presence of impurities and lattice defects. Photoconductivity measurements lead to the determination of such important parameters as quantum efficiency, photosensiti\'ity, spectral sensitivity and carrier lifetime. Extensive research work on photoconducting properties of amorphous semiconductors has resulted in the development of a variety of very sensitive photodetectors. Photoconductors are finding newer and newer uses eyery day. CdS, CdSe. Sb2S3, Se, ZnO etc, are typical photoconducting materials which are used in devices like vidicons, light amplifiers, xerography equipment etc.Electrical switching is another interesting and important property possessed by several Te based chalcogenides. Switching is the rapid and reversible transition between a highly resistive OFF state, driven by an external electric field and characterized by a threshold voltage, and a low resistivity ON state, Switching can be either threshold type or memory type. The phenomenon of switching could find applications in areas like infonnation storage, electrical power control etc. Investigations on electrical switching in chalcogenide glasses help in understanding the mechanism of switching which is necessary to select and modify materials for specific switching applications.Analysis of XRD pattern gives no further infonuation about amorphous materials than revealing their disordered structure whereas x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy,XPS) provides information about the different constituents present in the material. Also it gives binding energies (b.e.) of an element in different compounds and hence b.e. shift from the elemental form.Our investigations have been concentrated on the bulk glasses, Ge-In-Se, Ge-Bi-Se and As-Sb-Se for photoconductivity measurements and In-Te for electrical switching. The photoconducting properties of Ge-Sb-Se thin films prepared by sputtering technique have also been studied. The bulk glasses for the present investigations are prepared by the melt quenching technique and are annealed for half an hour at temperatures just below their respective glass transition temperatures. The dependence of photoconducting propenies on composition and temperature are investigated in each system. The electrical switching characteristics of In-Te system are also studied with different compositions and by varying the temperature.

Thermal diffusivity measurements in organic liquids using transient thermal lens calorimetry

Thermal diffusivity measurements are carried out in certain organic liquids using the pulsed dual beam thermal lens technique. The 532 nm pulses from a frequency doubled Q-switched Nd:YAG laser are used as the heating source and an intensity stabilized He-Ne laser serves as the probe beam. Experimental determination of the characteristic time constant of the transient thermal lens signal is verified theoretically. Measured thermal diffusivity values are in excellent agreement with literature values.

Open-cell photoacoustic investigation of the thermal effusivity of liquid crystals

We report the use of an open photoacoustic cell configuration for the evaluation of thermal effusivity of liquid crystals. Initially, the method is calibrated using water and glycerol as transparent liquid samples, and the role of thermal conductivity of these liquids on the photoacoustic signal amplitude is discussed. To demonstrate the application of the present method for the evaluation of thermal effusivity of liquid crystals, we have used certain multicomponent nematic liquid crystal mixtures, namely BL001, BL002, BL032, and BL035. Each of these liquid crystal mixtures contains four to nine components and are primarily based on the cyanobiphenyl structure. The measured values of thermal effusivity of BL001 and BL002 were found to be almost the same, but differ from those of BL032 and BL035, which implies a difference in composition of the latter two from the former two mixtures.

Photoacoustic studies on n-type InP

We discuss an open photoacoustic cell study on sulfer-doped n-type InP wafer. The thermal diffusivity of the sample is evaluated from the phase data associated with the photoacoustic signal as a function of the modulation frequency under heat transmission configuration. Analysis is made on the basis of the Rosencwaig-Gersho theory and the results are compared with those from earlier reported photoacoustic studies of semiconductors. Our investigation clearly indicates that the instantaneous thermalization process is the major heat diffusion mechanism responsible for the photoacoustic signal generation in an InP sample.