A Study on Defining Pedestrian Level of Service for Road Links in Urban Indian Context

In countries like India pedestrians form a large percentage of traffic volume and they are the most vulnerable road users. Movement of pedestrian are not restricted to the lanes but pedestrians experience certain physical boundaries such as walkways or pedestrian ways which restrict their movement. Normally Indian roads experience inefficient facilities for pedestrians, which leads to a number of fatal accidents all over the country almost every day. To know the efficiency of roadways in aspect to accommodate the pedestrian travel or how effectively they are useful for pedestrians, walking conditions need to be assessed. This assessment helps further for the development of road geometry, road-side furniture and road network assets etc. Estimation of Pedestrian Level of Service (PLOS) is the most common approach to assess the quality of operations of pedestrian facilities. The main purpose of this study is to outline suitable methodology to evaluate Pedestrian Level of Service for both on street and off-street aspect in Indian condition. All the existing models have certain limitations for which they are not applicable for Indian conditions. In order to assess the PLOS for India it is highly necessary to develop a new model. All the parameters affecting PLOS are considered and accordingly data was collected. Videography was found to be the most efficient method for the collection of traffic data. Video of traffic flow was taken during the peak hours of the day in 15 minutes segments at various locations in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela city. Video data were extracted in order to find the value of different parameters. The extracted data were used to develop a model and regression analysis was used as the main tool for the model development. Proposed model is quite significant as it gives the PLOS value as it is observed on the segment. It describes the traffic scenario very neatly and considers the effect of all parameters those affect pedestrian movement. Proposed model was also compared with the existing models and it was observed that the proposed model gives better result than the existing models. PLOS estimated using the proposed model shows that ivalmost 70% of road segment gives level of service ‘C’ and ‘D’. 15% to 20% road segment comes under level of service ‘E’ and ‘F’. Only a few road segments come under level of service ‘A’ or ‘B’

Coronary Atherosclerosis in Women

Despite numerous studies focused on women’s cardiac health, deaths from cardiovascular disease continue to rise in women. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) continues to be the leading cause of death even in women in many areas of the world. It has been noted that despite higher frequency of chest pain/angina in women compared to men, the incidence of obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) remains lower in the female population compared with men presenting with similar symptoms. It is critical to have a deep understanding of these topics to ensure a meaningful communication between public, patients, and healthcare professionals. One reason to which this discrepancy has been attributed to is that chest pain in women is less likely to be secondary to obstructive coronary stenosis in comparison to men presenting with similar symptoms. The other issue is that the gold standard for coronary atherosclerosis continues to coronary angiography. This is a key limitation in cardiovascular atherosclerosis management since endothelial dysfunction in addition to a higher risk of atherosclerosis is prevalent in women with hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia. In this chapter, we will focus on the aspects of coronary atherosclerosis that deserve attention with respect to gender-specific considerations, particularly with respect to clinical practice

A case study on deterioration assessment and rehabilitation of fire damaged reinforced concrete structure

Fire is one of the most severe hazards that building structures may experience during their lifetime. A fire spread to the whole structure can cause unexpected damages to the structural elements. Mainly, the building type is crucially important for the type and the level of damage to the building because of the fire. Post fire investigation of damaged structure is required to determine the extent of damage to concrete elements and to work out system of effective repair/rehabilitation measures to maintain the structural integrity of fire effected structural components. The paper covers in brief the strength and durability study on fire damaged building in Delhi, India. The study reports the extent of fire damage. Optical Microscopy (OM), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Deferential Thermal Analysis (DTA) studies were carried out on the sample concrete cores extracted from different identified portions of the fire exposed concrete are highlighted in this paper. Extent of damage occurred in the Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC) i.e. RCC columns/beams/slabs are described based on the detailed evaluation by various Non-Destructive Evaluation Techniques covering Cover study & Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity (UPV) testing. Repair and remedial measures required for restoration and strengthening of the fire affected RCC columns/beams/slabs using indigenously available repair materials and techniques are also highlighted in this paper

Stress-strain characteristics and energy absorption analysis of Construction and demolition waste recycled aggregate concrete in compression

The stress strain characteristics and mechanical properties of construction and demolition aggregate concrete at two different w/c ratios – 0.4 and 0.5 are presented in this study. The mechanical and stress strain characteristics of recycled aggregate concrete are compared to the properties and Stress strain characteristics of the conventional aggregate concrete. The mechanical properties include the cube and cylindrical compressive strength, Modulus of elasticity, flexural strength, split tensile strength and hardened density. Under stress strain characteristics, strain at peak stress and the energy absorbed under compression is included. The study aimed to correlate and compare the behaviour of recycled aggregate concrete and Conventional aggregate concrete having comparable strength. Finally, the experimental stress strain characteristics of the Recycled aggregate concrete is analysed for its compatibility of the assumed stress strain behaviour of concrete in IS 456. According to the findings, recycled aggregate concrete has similar stress-strain characteristics to conventional aggregate concrete of comparable strength, and existing stress block parameters can be suitably used for the recycled aggregate concrete

Selaginella bryopteris

The effective long-term cryopreservation of human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) is an essential prerequisite step and represents a critical approach for their sustained supply in basic research, regenerative medicine, and tissue engineering applications. Therefore, attempts have been made in the present investigation to formulate a freezing solution consisting of a combination of Selaginella bryopteris water-soluble extract with and without dimethyl sulfoxide (Me2SO) for the efficient long-term storage of human umbilical cord blood- (hUCB-) derived MSCs. The cryopreservation experiment using the formulated freezing solution was further performed with hUCB MSCs in a controlled rate freezer. A significant increase in postthaw cell viability and cell attachment of MSCs was achieved with freezing medium containing Selaginella bryopteris water extract along with 10% Me2SO as compared to the freezing medium containing Me2SO (10% v/v) alone. Furthermore, the decreasing apoptotic events and reactive oxygen species production along with increasing expression of heat shock proteins also confirmed the beneficial effect of Selaginella bryopteris water extract. The beneficial effect of Selaginella bryopteris water extract was validated by its ability to render postpreservation high cell viability. In conclusion, the formulated freezing solution has been demonstrated to be effective for the standardization of cryopreservation protocol for hMSCs

What causes the spread of model projections of ocean dynamic sea-level change in response to greenhouse gas forcing?

Sea levels of different atmosphere-ocean general circulation models (AOGCMs) respond to climate change forcing in different ways, representing a crucial uncertainty in climate change research. We isolate the role of the ocean dynamics in setting the spatial pattern of dynamic sea-level (zeta) change by forcing several AOGCMs with prescribed identical heat, momentum (wind) and freshwater flux perturbations. This method produces a zeta projection spread comparable in magnitude to the spread that results from greenhouse gas forcing, indicating that the differences in ocean model formulation are the cause, rather than diversity in surface flux change. The heat flux change drives most of the global pattern of zeta change, while the momentum and water flux changes cause locally confined features. North Atlantic heat uptake causes large temperature and salinity driven density changes, altering local ocean transport and zeta. The spread between AOGCMs here is caused largely by differences in their regional transport adjustment, which redistributes heat that was already in the ocean prior to perturbation. The geographic details of the zeta change in the North Atlantic are diverse across models, but the underlying dynamic change is similar. In contrast, the heat absorbed by the Southern Ocean does not strongly alter the vertically coherent circulation. The Arctic zeta change is dissimilar across models, owing to differences in passive heat uptake and circulation change. Only the Arctic is strongly affected by nonlinear interactions between the three air-sea flux changes, and these are model specific.Peer reviewe