Foundations Failures of Bridges and Geotechnical Investigations

In the present paper two cases of foundation failures due to which the complete bridge structure have failed are reported. The 93m long Palakmati high level brick masonry arch bridge on Hoshangabad - Piparia Road was constructed in year 1910. This bridge has shallow well brick masonry foundation with brick masonry wall type piers. Foundations of piers were on two circular shallow independent wells. The wells are resting on yellow soil. During floods of 1989, the pier No.3 sunk. This brought down 5 spans. Two well foundations were up-rooted. Cracks were developed in other arches also. The 90.5m long submersible R.C.C. trough slab type Mand bridge in 60/8 km on Ambikapur-Pathalgaon Road of 5. 5m width was constructed in the year 1945-46. The bridge has open foundation resting on rock whereas superstructure consist of R.C.C. portal framed structure. The foundation of first pier towards Ambikapur side sunk by about 0. 4m in August 1991. Due to this abrupt settlement the abutment and all the three piers have developed through cracks below the supports and severe cracks in all spans. Geotechnical investigations are carried out in these two cases and remedial measures are suggested for reconstruction of new bridges

Stabilization of anarobic digestor sludge through vermicomposting

In this study, efficiency of vermitechnology in stabilizing sludge without pre-treatment was studied. The sludge was directly introduced in the vermicomposting reactors after their withdrawal from the bio-methanation reactor installed for experimentation on domestic waste. One Liter (5% TS) sludge was loaded after every fourth day and it was discontinued after sixteen days. However, the chemical analysis of the compost was done till twentyfourth day. The present study also evaluated the potential of one indigenous Perionyx excavates (P.e.) and one exotic epigeic earthworm species Eisenia fetida (E.f). The results clearly elucidate that vermireactor with indigenous earthworms (P.e) gives over all comparable similar results with world wide known exotic species (E.f). The results of the study show a significant reduction in initial C/N ratio from an initial value of 19 to 9 for all reactors with earthworms, total organic matter (TOC) reduced by 50% and pH also reduced nearer to neutral, but increase in, total nitrogen (TN) 95%, NH4+-N reduced from 0.52% to 0.31% and NO3-N increased from 0 to 0.13%, total phosphorus (TP) increased from the initial concentration of 0.76% to 1.31%., However, removal efficiency of Fecal coliforms (indicator organism) in the prepared vermicompost through P.e and E.f was in the 6 log and 7 log (MPN/gm) respectively

Arithmetical Congruence Preservation: from Finite to Infinite

Various problems on integers lead to the class of congruence preserving functions on rings, i.e. functions verifying $a-b$ divides $f(a)-f(b)$ for all $a,b$. We characterized these classes of functions in terms of sums of rational polynomials (taking only integral values) and the function giving the least common multiple of $1,2,\ldots,k$. The tool used to obtain these characterizations is "lifting": if $\pi\colon X\to Y$ is a surjective morphism, and $f$ a function on $Y$ a lifting of $f$ is a function $F$ on $X$ such that $\pi\circ F=f\circ\pi$. In this paper we relate the finite and infinite notions by proving that the finite case can be lifted to the infinite one. For $p$-adic and profinite integers we get similar characterizations via lifting. We also prove that lattices of recognizable subsets of $Z$ are stable under inverse image by congruence preserving functions

Garenoxacin in skin & skin structure infections complicated by bear bite

Animal bites have always been a common problem to humans. The incidence of resistant organisms is also increasing in the community. Garenoxacin a novel oral des-fluoroquinolone with potent antimicrobial activity against common pathogens causing skin and soft tissue infections, including resistant strains offers the benefit of broad spectrum of coverage including gram positive, gram negative and anaerobic organisms. The result of the case study indicates that garenoxacin is very effective in treating skin and soft tissue infections caused by animal bites

Pelagic sharks by-catch in the tuna longline fishery of the Indian EEZ

Several species of pelagic and oceanic sharks are caught by the tuna longliners of FSI while surveying the oceanic tuna resources in the Indian EEZ. Though the sharks are not targeted species in tuna longlining, they constitute a major share of the catches. The sharks hooked could be, therefore, treated as by- catches or incidental catches of the tuna longline fisher

Prevalence of Gram-negative Pathogens and their antimicrobial susceptibility in bacterial meningitis in pediatric cases

The present study was conducted to find out the prevalence and spectrum of Gram negative pathogens causing bacterial meningitis and their antimicrobial susceptibility pattern in a tertiary care hospital. The cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) (3-5 ml) was collected from 638 admitted children clinically suspected of septic meningitis. Bacterial isolates were identified and antimicrobial susceptibility was assessed by the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method. Of the 638 samples tested 102 (15.99%) were culture positive. Male to female (M:F) ratio was 1.62:1. The maximum incidence of 45 (44.12%) cases was found in children (1-12 yrs); in institutional deliveries the incidence was 58 (56.86%) cases. Further, the incidence of 51 cases was found from May to August. Escherichia coli (E. coli) were commonest, seen in 9 (25%) cases followed by Acinetobacter spp., Citrobacter spp. and Klebsiella spp. with 6 (16.67%) cases each. Enterobacter spp., Neisseria spp. and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were isolated in 3 (8.33%) cases each. E. coli, Acinetobacter spp, Citrobacter spp and Klebsiella spp isolates were 100% susceptible to meropenem, piperacillin-tazobactam and cefoperazone-sulbactam and 100% resistant to cotrimoxazole and tetracycline. All strains of Neisseria spp, Enterobacter spp and Pseudomonas spp. were 100% susceptible to meropenem followed by gatifloxacin. These were 100% resistant to tetracycline and cotrimoxazole. Neisseria spp. were also 100% susceptible to pristinamycin. In septic meningitis Gram negative organisms are less common (35.29%). Of the isolates, more common Gram negative isolates included E. coli, Acinetobacter Spp., Citrobacter Spp., and Klebsiella spp. and these isolates were 100% susceptible to meropenem, piperacillin-tazobacatam and cefoperazone-sulbactam. Hence, empirical therapy should be formulated according to antimicrobial susceptibility patterns

A prescription event monitoring study to assess safety and health outcomes of Airtec SF® (salmeterol fluticasone propionate combination) in Indian population

Background: Asthma management has been fraught with several challenges especially for partly or uncontrolled cases. Incremental dosage strategy with salmeterol, fluticasone propionate combination offers stable yet effective control of symptoms preventing further exacerbations. However, there is limited evidence available on the need and safety profile of this incremental dosage strategy with the combination especially in Indian settings. To examine the safety and adverse clinical outcomes of Airtec SF when prescribed in patients with well- or poorly controlled persistent asthma.Methods: Based on the principle of prescription event monitoring (PEM) for safety reporting, this study was conducted at 20 centers across India. PEM study booklets with study questionnaire were provided to capture information related to adverse “events” during the observation period of 30 days.Results: Data of 384 patients were analyzed, with a mean age 44.5 years. 39% (n=150) were newly diagnosed and 61% (n=234) being in poorly controlled asthma status (i.e., partly or uncontrolled asthma). Of them, 42% (161), 44% (n=169) and 14% (54) patients were diagnosed with mild, moderate or severe persistent asthma, respectively. These were prescribed with metered-dose inhaler (n=187) or dry powder inhaler (n=197) formulations. 56% (n=216) patients suffered from concomitant allergic rhinitis. Among newly diagnosed patients with moderate to severe asthma dosage were tapered in 5.5% (n=3) cases. Dosage consistency was well-maintained in 98.2% (n=155) among partial or uncontrolled asthmatics with moderate to severe asthma with exacerbation rate of 1.9% (n=3). Adverse events including infective pneumonitis and upper respiratory tract infection were transient with none requiring treatment withdrawal.Conclusion: Use of Airtec SF was safe and well-tolerated with a negligible rate of exacerbations in Indian population especially amongst poorly controlled asthma patients

Functional and radiological outcomes of periacetabular osteotomy for hip dysplasia in patients under fifty years using a minimally invasive approach—a single surgeon series with a minimum follow up of two years

\ua9 The Author(s) 2024. Purpose: We conducted a retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data to evaluate (1) the extent of surgical correction following minimally invasive periacetabular osteotomy, (2) improvements in functional outcomes and any potential predictors for favourable outcome, and (3) complications after minimally invasive periacetabular osteotomy. Methods: A total of 352 minimally invasive periacetabular osteotomy procedures were performed on 312 hip dysplasia patients between 2013 and 2020. Radiological parameters such as lateral centre edge angle, acetabular index, and T\uf6nnis grade of arthritis were calculated. Patients also completed a range of patient reported outcome measures. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were performed to assess for differences between patient reported outcome measures and radiological outcomes across the follow-up periods. Univariate linear regression and logistic regression were used to assess for predictors of change in functional outcome. Results: Patients had a significant correction in mean lateral centre edge angle from 17.2\ub0 to 35.3\ub0 (p < 0.001) and mean acetabular index from 13.2\ub0 to − 0.82\ub0. At one year follow-up all patient reported outcome measures were significantly greater than their baseline measurements and this improvement was maintained at two years. Changes in patient reported outcome measures were independent of radiological parameters such as change in the lateral centre edge angle and acetabular index, pre-operative T\uf6nnis grade, and patient factors such as age and sex. A total of 5.11% of patients developed post-operative complications, with four requiring posterior column fixation. Four patients (1.12%) needed a total hip replacement. Conclusion: Minimally invasive periacetabular osteotomy is a safe procedure that provides significant functional outcome improvements following surgery at six months which is maintained at two years. More than three-fourths of patients achieved improvement of iHOT-12 score beyond the minimal clinically important difference and more than half of the patients achieved substantial clinical benefit for iHOT-12 score

Towards an Immersive Driving Simulator to Study Factors Related to Cybersickness

What makes a good cybersickness testbed great? In this work, we discuss the characteristics of a high fidelity, realistic immersive virtual reality driving simulator developed to study cybersickness, a malady that is caused as a consequence of Virtual Reality usage. The simulator’s feasibility was evaluated by conducting a preliminary study. Results suggest that our platform is reliable and robust, making for an excellent testbed/ platform to study factors associated with cybersickness in Immersive Virtual Environments

Trust in Crowds: probabilistic behaviour in anonymity protocols

The existing analysis of the Crowds anonymity protocol assumes that a participating member is either ‘honest’ or ‘corrupted’. This paper generalises this analysis so that each member is assumed to maliciously disclose the identity of other nodes with a probability determined by her vulnerability to corruption. Within this model, the trust in a principal is defined to be the probability that she behaves honestly. We investigate the effect of such a probabilistic behaviour on the anonymity of the principals participating in the protocol, and formulate the necessary conditions to achieve ‘probable innocence’. Using these conditions, we propose a generalised Crowds-Trust protocol which uses trust information to achieves ‘probable innocence’ for principals exhibiting probabilistic behaviour