Study on High Energy Propellant Waste in the Processing of Fired Clay Bricks

Utilisation of propellant waste in fabrication of bricks is not only used as efficient waste disposal method but also to get better functional properties. In the present study, high energy propellant (HEP) waste additive mixed with soil and fly ash in different proportions during manufacturing of bricks has been investigated experimentally. X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies were carried out to confirm the brick formation and the effect of HEP waste. Ceramic bricks were fabricated with HEP waste additive in proper proportions i.e. 0.5 wt %, 1.0 wt %, 1.5 wt %, 2.0 wt %, 2.5 wt %, 3 wt %, 3.5 wt %, and 4 wt % and then evaluated for water absorption capability and compressive strength. Compressive strength of 6.7 N/mm2, and Water absorption of 22 % have been observed from modified fired bricks impregnated with HEM waste additive. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studies were carried out to analyze the effect of HEP waste additive on pore formation and distribution in the bricks. Further, the heat resulting from decomposition of propellants can cause a decrease in the energy required of baking process. The process of manufacturing of bricks with HEP waste additive is first of its kind till date

Adsorption Studies of Congo Red from Aqueous Solution on to Rice Husk

ABSTRACT Adsorption is of significant importance for the effluent treatment, especially for the treatment of colored effluent generated from the dyeing and bleaching industries. Low cost adsorbents have gained attention over the decades as a means of achieving very high removal efficiencies to meet discharge standards. The present paper reports on batch investigations for color removal from aqueous solutions of Congo red (CR) using Rice Husk (RH) as an alternative low cost adsorbent. The performance analysis was carried out as function of various operating parameters, such as initial concentration of dye, adsorbent dose, contact time, particle size of adsorbent and P H . Performance studies revealed that a very high percentage removal of color was achievable. Detailed data analysis indicated that the adsorption of CR followed Freundlich isotherm and Langmuir isotherm

Impact of Zn substitution on phase formation and superconductivity of Bi1.6Pb0.4 Sr2Ca2Cu3-xZnxO10 with x = 0.0, 0.015, 0.03, 0.06, 0.09 and 0.12

Samples of series Bi1.6Pb0.4Sr2Ca2Cu3-xZnxO10 with x = 0.0, 0.015, 0.03, 0.06, 0.09 and 0.12 are synthesized by solid-state reaction route. All the samples crystallize in tetragonal structure with majority (> 90%) of Bi-2223 (Bi2Sr2Ca2Cu3O10) phase (c-lattice parameter ~ 36 A0). The proportion of Bi-2223 phase decreases slightly with an increase in x. The lattice parameters a and c of main phase (Bi-2223) do not change significantly with increasing x. Superconducting critical transition temperature (Tc) decreases with x as evidenced by both resistivity [(T)] and AC magnetic susceptibility [(T)] measurements. Interestingly the decrement of Tc is not monotonic and the same saturates at around 96 K for x > 0.06. In fact Tc decreases fast (~10K/at%) for x = 0.015 and 0.03 samples and later nearly saturates for higher x values. Present results of Zn doping in Bi-2223 system are compared with Zn doped other HTSC (High temperature superconducting) systems, namely the RE-123 (REBa2Cu3O7) and La-214 ((La,Sr)2CuO4).Comment: 12, pages of text and Figs. TO APPEAR IN Mod. Phys. Lett. B (2005)

Epidemiology and patterns of care for invasive breast carcinoma at a community hospital in Southern India

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Breast cancer incidence in India is on rise. We report epidemiological, clinical and survival patterns of breast cancer patients from community perspective.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>All breast cancer patients treated at this hospital from July 2000 to July 2005 were included. All had cytological or histological confirmation of breast cancer. TNM guidelines for staging and Immunohistochemistry to assess the receptor status were used. Either lumpectomy with axillary lymph node dissection or Modified radical mastectomy (MRM) was done for operable breast cancer, followed by 6 cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy with FAC or CMF regimens to patients with pT >1 cm or lymph node positive or estrogen receptor negative and radiotherapy to patients after breast conservation surgery, pT size > 5 cm, 4 or more positive nodes and stage IIIB disease. Patients with positive Estrogen receptor or Progesterone receptor were advised Tamoxifene 20 mg per day for 3 years. Descriptive analysis was performed. Independent T test and Chi-square test were used. Overall survival time was computed by Kaplan – Meier method.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of 1488 cancer patients, 122 (8.2%) had breast cancer. Of 122 patients, 96.7% had invasive breast carcinoma and 3.3% had sarcoma. 94% came from the rural and semi urban areas. Premenopausal women were 27%. The median age was 50 years. Stage I-6.8%, II-45.8%, III-22%, IV-6.8%, Bilateral breast cancer – 2.5%. The mean pT size was 3.9 cm. ER and PR were positive in 31.6% and 28.1% respectively. MRM was done in 93.8%, while 6.3% patients underwent breast conservation surgery. The mean of the lymph nodes dissected were 3. CMF and FAC regimens were used in 48.8% and 51.2% of patients respectively. FAC group were younger than the CMF group (43.6 yr vs. 54 yrs, P = 0.000). Toxicities were more in FAC than CMF group, alopecia (100% vs. 26.2%), grade2 or more emesis (31.8% vs. 9.2%), grade2 or more fatigue (40.9% vs.19%), anemia (43.1% vs. 16.6%). Median Survival for the cohort was 50.8 months. ER positive patients had better median survival (P = 0.05).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>MRM was the most frequent surgical option. CMF and FAC showed equivalent survival. FAC chemotherapy was more toxic than CMF. ER positive tumors have superior survival. Overall 3 year survival was 70 percent</p

Development of eAgromet Prototype to Improve the Performance of Integrated Agromet Advisory Service

In several countries, the systems for forecasting weather are being operated to deal with weather and its related factors affecting agricultural production. India meteorological department (IMD) is providing several types of weather forecasts. One of the forecast service is medium range forecast (MRF). As a part of MRF, the expected values of rain fall, temperature, cloud cover, humidity, wind speed and wind direction for next five days are forecasted twice a week by considering district as a unit. Agriculture is markedly affected by weather condition during crop season. IMD in collaboration with Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) and State Agriculture Universities (SAUs) has set-up about 130 Agro-meteorological Field Units (AMFUs) and each AMFU covers about five districts. Based on MRF, IMD is rendering Integrated Agromet Advisory Service to the farming community of the country in the form of agromet advisory bulletin. The agromet advisory bulletins contain possible risk mitigation measures for the major crops and livestock. Based on the weather forecast, a group of interdisciplinary scientists and agromet scientists at AMFU prepare district-level agromet advisory bulletins. These bulletins are sent to the farmers and other stakeholders of the corresponding district. To ease the process of preparing agromet bulletins, an effort has started to build IT-based agrometeorological advisory system called, eAgromet. In this paper, we explain the concepts of eAgromet and its operation

Mechanism of the Very Efficient Quenching of Tryptophan Fluorescence in Human γD- and γS-Crystallins: The γ-Crystallin Fold May Have Evolved To Protect Tryptophan Residues from Ultraviolet Photodamage†

Proteins exposed to UV radiation are subject to irreversible photodamage through covalent modification of tryptophans (Trps) and other UV-absorbing amino acids. Crystallins, the major protein components of the vertebrate eye lens that maintain lens transparency, are exposed to ambient UV radiation throughout life. The duplicated β-sheet Greek key domains of β- and γ-crystallins in humans and all other vertebrates each have two conserved buried Trps. Experiments and computation showed that the fluorescence of these Trps in human γD-crystallin is very efficiently quenched in the native state by electrostatically enabled electron transfer to a backbone amide [Chen et al. (2006) Biochemistry 45, 11552−11563]. This dispersal of the excited state energy would be expected to minimize protein damage from covalent scission of the excited Trp ring. We report here both experiments and computation showing that the same fast electron transfer mechanism is operating in a different crystallin, human γS-crystallin. Examination of solved structures of other crystallins reveals that the Trp conformation, as well as favorably oriented bound waters, and the proximity of the backbone carbonyl oxygen of the n − 3 residues before the quenched Trps (residue n), are conserved in most crystallins. These results indicate that fast charge transfer quenching is an evolved property of this protein fold, probably protecting it from UV-induced photodamage. This UV resistance may have contributed to the selection of the Greek key fold as the major lens protein in all vertebrates.National Eye Institute (Grant EY 015834

Absence of truncating BRIP1 mutations in chromosome 17q-linked hereditary prostate cancer families

Background:In a genome-wide scan (GWS) of 175 multiplex prostate cancer (PCa) families from the University of Michigan Prostate Cancer Genetics Project (PCGP), linkage was observed to markers on chromosome 17q21–24, a region that includes two breast cancer susceptibility genes, BRCA1 and BRIP1. BRIP1 is a Fanconi anaemia gene (FANCJ) that interacts with the BRCT domain of BRCA1 and has a role in DNA damage repair. Protein truncating mutations in BRIP1 have been identified in hereditary breast and ovarian cancer families, and a recent report suggested that a recurrent truncating mutation (R798X) may have a role in PCa susceptibility.Methods:We examined the role of BRIP1 mutations in hereditary PCa through sequence analysis of 94 individuals from PCGP families showing linkage to 17q.Results:A total of 24 single-nucleotide polymorphisms, including 7 missense variants but no protein truncating mutations, were observed.Conclusion:The data presented here suggest that BRIP1 truncating mutations are uncommon in PCa cases and do not account for the linkage to chromosome 17q observed in our GWS. Additional investigation is needed to determine the significance, if any, of the observed BRIP1 missense variants in hereditary PCa