Vaccines: Propaganda and Practice

Vaccines are a cost effective, time tested means of reducing morbidity and mortality. As more and more new vaccines are introduced and more diseases come under the purview of ‘vaccination net’, the routine immunization program is sidelined.\ud This is compounded by vaccination practices in private health care system and anti vaccine propaganda and confusing pro vaccine propaganda. The primary purpose of the vaccine is shifting from prevention of diseases to monetary gains for the health care providers and manufacturers. There is a need to regulate the vaccination practices in the private health care system especially in the developing countries. The regulatory process should educate not only the community but also the health care providers and take adequate measures to control the ‘vaccine market forces

Openpit Mine Slope Stability – A Case Study

For profitability steep overall slope angle is essential for openpit mines without endangering the safety for the life time of the pit. Openpits have been designed to depths of 150 to 200 metres. For optimum slope angles of the footwall and the hanging wall of a rock phosphate mine, near Udaipur, Rajasthan , geotechnical investigation covering discontinuity mapping, analysis of data, testing of geo-mechanical properties in laboratory and in in-situ condition were conducted. Slope monitoring was done by precise surveying instruments to give advance warning of impending ground movement. On the basis of geotechnical studies the mine has been designed with an overall slope angle of 33 degrees up to 200 metres depth

Force modelling of the crankshaft pin grinding process.

A force model was developed for crankshaft pin grinding to predict the forces generated during grinding. The force model developed builds on the authors&rsquo; previously developed model, which predicted the out-of-roundness in crankshaft pin grinding. The model includes key grinding variables, such as the work removal parameter (WRP), system sti€ ness and Young&rsquo;s modulus to determine the end forces produced. The model also includes the important geometrical relationships that are unique to this type of grinding. The model was veriŽ ed using an experiential set-up involving sophisticated strain gauge force measurements on a commercial Landis CP grinding machine, with close correlation between the results and the model.<br /

UTILITY OF ANTIGEN DETECTION TEST AND POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION IN THE DIFFERENTIATION OF TUBERCULOUS AND NON-TUBERCULOUS MYCOBACTERIA

Objectives: Cultivation and identification of mycobacteria to species level remains difficult and time-consuming. Hence, easy and rapid diagnostic methods are necessary for the differentiation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) from non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM). The present study aims to detect and differentiate MTB from NTM isolated from clinical samples by immunochromatographic test (ICT) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Methods: Over a period of 1 year, clinical samples (n=496) received from suspected cases of TB, at the Department of Microbiology, Kasturba Medical College Hospital, Mangalore were cultured to isolate Mycobacterium spp. Identification of all the isolates was done by conventional biochemical technique, ICT, and PCR. Results: Among the 496 samples processed, 49 (9.87%) were acid-fast bacilli smear positive and 59 (11.89%) samples showed the growth of Mycobacterium spp. Among these, 10 were rapid growers, 49 were slow-growing mycobacteria, out of which 30 were MTB as identified by conventional biochemical reaction. Out of 59 Mycobacterial isolates subjected to ICT for the detection of MPT 64 antigen, only 28 were identified as MTB. However, all the 30 isolates were correctly identified as MTB by PCR. Conclusion: Hence, PCR is essential for rapid differentiation of non-tuberculous Mycobacterium from MTB. False negative results seen with immunochromatographic MPT 64 antigen assay could be due to mutations within the mpt64 gene. Further studies are necessary to characterize these PCR-positive and immunochromatographic assay negative MTB isolates

Straddling For Market Space: Transforming Estonian State-Owned Enterprises Toward A Free-Market Orientation

This paper examines the dynamics of transformation of three Estonian state-owned enterprises – Eesti Gaas, Eesti Energia and Eesti Telefon - toward a free market orientation following the Estonia’s decision to separate from the USSR. The difficulties of such transformation are first examined from a theoretical perspective. It is argued that organizations attempting such transformation are likely to be stuck in a state of dynamic equilibrium between the old static mode and the emerging free-market mode until some key factor causes it to tip over into one or the other of these modes. Four major transformational challenges - strategic orientation, resource and competency acquisition logic, workforce and organizational configuration - are discussed by examining the dynamics of transformation of three Estonian state-owned enterprises

Sand waves in a pristine estuary

The stochastic and the Fourier theories for sand waves developed by Lee(11) and Hino(6), respectively, for unidirectional flows are extended in order to estimate the rate of sediment turnover (RST) under oscillatory flows in the South Slough estuary, Coos Bay, Oregon. Data were collected by a mechanical and a sonic profiler. Histograms are given for the distributions of the elevations of deposition and erosion for sand wave data measured by the mechanical profiler. It may be observed from these distributions that the Gaussian assumption required for the application of the stochastic theory is not satisfied. The parameters for the step length distribution are estimated for only one elevation of deposition and erosion and the theoretical Gamma distribution is computed. Wave number amplitude spectra are estimated from the sonic profiler sand wave data. The maximum amplitude in the sand waves which were measured in the South Slough estuary lie in the fundamental harmonic component; while for the Coos Bay main channel, the spectral amplitudes for the sand waves are dispersed over a wider band of wave numbers. Due to the weak hydrodynamic influence, the sand waves in the South Slough estuary are still in the initial stage of their growth and it may not be possible to estimate RST in the South Slough estuary by the stochastic method outlined by Lee(11). Due to the strong tidal influence and/or ship disturbances, the sand wave spectral amplitudes are well dispersed for the Coos Bay main channel data and it is possible to estimate the RST in the main channel from a wave number spectrum using a transformation between wave numbers and wave frequencies

The influence of the Home Government on land revenue and judicial administration in the presidency of Fort William in Bengal from 1807 to 1822.

In this thesis I have traced the influence of the Home Authorities on the land-revenue and judicial administration in the Bengal Presidency during the governments of Lord Minto and Lord Hastings. It is a subject which has been little understood or investigated, important though it is, as covering a formative epoch which subjected the old system to criticism and began to build a new. Short sketches of administration have, indeed, been given by Mill and Wilson in their history of India; but these sketches trace neither the origin,nor the motives,nor the effects of the policy pursued, except in a superficial manner. Moreover, they hardly do any justice to the opinions, endeavours and influence of the Home Authorities. I have, therefore, based my work largely on original records so carefully preserved at the India Office. As will be seen, the reorganization at the Board's Office in 1807, the defects engendered by the Cornwallis system, the conservatism of the Bengal Government, the increasing activities in administrative matters manifested at the India House, these, and many more things, gradually induced the Home Authorities to reform if not to transform the very basis of the existing system. In order to bring out the full significance of this, as also to throw light on a little known but allied topic, I have shown what the Home Grovernment was, its composition, constitution and working. I wish to direct the attention of the students of Indian History to the caution, perseverance and zeal with which the Home Authorities studied the intricacies of Indian administration and prescribed remedies. That they sometimes stumbled was only natural; that they ever pushed their way to progress, in face of infinite difficulty and opposition, was beyond doubt admirable