NASA/DOE/DOD nuclear propulsion technology planning: Summary of FY 1991 interagency panel results

Interagency (NASA/DOE/DOD) technical panels worked in 1991 to evaluate critical nuclear propulsion issues, compare nuclear propulsion concepts for a manned Mars mission on a consistent basis, and to continue planning a technology development project for the Space Exploration Initiative (SEI). Panels were formed to address mission analysis, nuclear facilities, safety policy, nuclear fuels and materials, nuclear electric propulsion technology, and nuclear thermal propulsion technology. A summary of the results and recommendations of the panels is presented

Primary squamous cell carcinoma of the sigmoid colon

Primary squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the colon and rectum is a rare malignancy. Overall there are less than 150 cases which have been reported and the first was case was reported in 1919. We report a case of pure SCC involving the sigmoid colon. A 55 year old woman presented with chief complaints of bleeding per rectum for 5 months, anorexia and abdominal pain. Histological diagnosis of SCC was made by colonoscopy biopsy. Later it was confirmed by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Any other possible primary sites of malignancy were excluded. Complete surgical resection was performed. The prognosis of this disease seems to be worse than that of adenocarcinoma

An Approach to Beneficiation of Apatite Ore of Purulia

West Bengal Mineral Development and Trading Corporation operates the apatite mine in Purulia District of West Bengal. The produce three grades of samples, i.e. (i) High grade above 30% P2O5 (ii) Average grade of about 20% P2O5 and (iii)Low grade of 12% P2O5. The average is directly marketed as fertiliser for application in tea garden etc. The medium or average grade sample is mined from areas around the main ore body and contains substantial amount of ferruginous material besides other gangue minerals. The low grade ore is dumped separately and occasionally blended with high grade of ore to prepare the average grade for direct marketing. Thus every bit of apatite from the mines is used except for the top soil. But with reduc-ed demand, the manufacturer is faced with a selling problem and reduced production. Value addition by way of making high grade product is one option to pursue with. The typical problem is of iron removal as presence of high iron hinders value addition in terms of phosphate during down stream operation. Studies on the average grade sample indicated that using suitable processing steps the phos-phate content could be increased to +38% P205 with very low content of iron & silica. The present paper deals approach adopted in beneficiating the average grade apatite ore of Purulia. Key Words: apatite, Purulia, iron, magnetic separation, flotation

Thermal stress impaired expression of insulin-like growth factor binding proteins in pigs

This study aimed to investigate the correlation of IGFs, IGFBPs, and IGFBPRs of grower pigs with change in temperature humidity index (THI). THI was calculated to know the months of the year when pigs feel discomfort and samples of feed offered were analyzed to know the nutritional availability/deficit. The calculated average THI was above thermal comfort zone for seven months in a year. It was observed that crude protein (CP) and metabolizable energy (ME) availability to pigs were deficient. Gilts of two months age and similar body weight were randomly divided into two groups (n=6); viz. Con-fed animals (feed offered by the farmer) and For-fed animals (formulated feed supplement + Con-fed). The composition of formulated feed supplement was dried leaf of Moringa oleifera, soybean meal, rice mill waste, and mineral mixture. The plasma cortisol level increased in the experimental animals with accelerated THI as evidenced by the strong positive correlation of THI with HSP70 and HSP90. The level of leptin and ghrelin did not have significant relation with the expression level of HSPs in the present study, however, in the control animals, a low level of leptin was observed. The correlation between the growth factors and HSPs was not significant. During the season, where the THI was above the thermal comfort zone, the IGFBPR and IGFBP concentrations were non-significantly increased along with the increased THI

Processing of Waste Printed Circuit Boards

Recycle and reuse of obsolete electronics has now been recognised as a real big challenge. These e-wastes contain a number of metallic elements such as Cu, Pb, Sn, Ni, Fe, Al, Cd, Be, Pd etc. including the precious metals such as Ag and Au. Many of these such as Be, Pb, Cd, etc., and the acrylic and phenolic resins and epoxides in the waste are harmful and add to environmental pollution. Also, the shear volume of such waste generated today poses a great problems in term of storage/disposal space and handling. The need for processing these wastes to extract the metal values and remove the non-metallic constituents has been felt all over the world

Multiple imputation for completion of a national clinical audit dataset.

The Myocardial Ischaemia National Audit Project (MINAP) is a register of heart attacks covering 234 acute admitting hospitals in England and Wales. It is used to assess the extent to which hospitals are attaining the government targets for patients with heart attacks (myocardial infarction). MINAP is therefore of national importance in coronary care and of potential international importance for research. As with most observational databases, there is missing data in MINAP, which has the potential to bias statistical analyses. In this paper, we use multiple imputation to reduce the impact of missing data and we give details of how our imputation scheme was implemented. The key contribution of this paper is the provision of multiply completed datasets, suited to a range of analyses, that can be used to make efficient inferences without the distractions of missing data. Our work will assist MINAP in achieving its priority goal of providing useful data with which to analyse patient care