Non-Destructive Evaluation of Corrosion on Insulated Pipe using Double Wall Radiographic Technique

The research explored the Double Wall Radiographic inspection technique using Ir-192 for evaluating deposits and corrosion attacks across the inner and outer walls of an insulated steel pipe .The experiment was performed on a designed test piece to simulate corrosion attacks and deposits on industrial pipes. From the relationship curve drawn between the radiographic film density and the thickness of the pipe, the attenuation coefficient of the insulating material was negligible compared to the concrete deposit. The Double Wall Technique (DWT) had a maximum underestimation of 1.3% of the corroded surface area of the pipe and was within an accuracy of ± 0.29. This tolerance limit is 5% less than the wall thickness of the pipe. From the results obtained, effective corrosion monitoring of insulated pipes can reliably be executed by the DWT without the costly removal of insulation material. Keywords: Double Wall Radiography, Corrosion, Insulated Pipe, Ir-192, Attenuation Coefficient

The Current State of the Clam, Galatea paradoxa, Fishery at the Lower Volta River, Ghana

The clam, Galatea paradoxa has for decades been an important source of protein to the riparian communities of the lower Volta River and provides employment to about 2000 people, especially women. The fishing grounds have dwindled from 100 km from the pre-dam era to a narrow stretch of 10 km as a result of the development of sand bars at the estuary. This study was conducted to ascertain the socio-economic importance of the clam fishery to the people of the lower Volta, Ghana. The research found out that there were 251 fishing canoes and 503 fishers engaged in the clam fishery. The average daily catch per fishing canoe was 130 kg of clams, with an annual harvest of 7700 tonnes worth 4,620,408 Ghana Cedis. Commercial extinction of G. paradoxa is imminent in the lower Volta as a result of habitat alteration and overfishing. There is the need to put in place a sustainable harvesting measure that will target medium to large size clams against the current situation where the catch is dominated by smaller clams. It is recommended that a minimum landing size of 50 mm should be imposed. This should be done in consultation with the chiefs and traditional authorities in the communities which have managed the fishery to date. The marketing of clams below the 50 mm shell length limit should be abolished and enforced by the traditional authorities. Secondly, the farming of smaller clams, which is a traditional activity in the estuary, should be encouraged so that fishers who harvest undersize clams can seed them onto their culture plots

UNITY : a low-field magnetic resonance neuroimaging initiative to characterize neurodevelopment in low and middle-income settings

DATA AVAILABILITY : Data collected as part of the UNITY network will be made available to researchers from the academic communities at varying levels of granularity depending on site-specific IRB approvals. For some sites, full access to individual raw and processed data will be provided, whilst for others, owing to national policies (e.g., those located in India) may only be able to provide de-identified composite values (e.g., regional volumes, mean relaxometry measures, etc.). The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is committed to open access and broad data availability as permitted.Measures of physical growth, such as weight and height have long been the predominant outcomes for monitoring child health and evaluating interventional outcomes in public health studies, including those that may impact neurodevelopment. While physical growth generally reflects overall health and nutritional status, it lacks sensitivity and specificity to brain growth and developing cognitive skills and abilities. Psychometric tools, e.g., the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, may afford more direct assessment of cognitive development but they require language translation, cultural adaptation, and population norming. Further, they are not always reliable predictors of future outcomes when assessed within the first 12–18 months of a child’s life. Neuroimaging may provide more objective, sensitive, and predictive measures of neurodevelopment but tools such as magnetic resonance (MR) imaging are not readily available in many low and middle-income countries (LMICs). MRI systems that operate at lower magnetic fields (< 100mT) may offer increased accessibility, but their use for global health studies remains nascent. The UNITY project is envisaged as a global partnership to advance neuroimaging in global health studies. Here we describe the UNITY project, its goals, methods, operating procedures, and expected outcomes in characterizing neurodevelopment in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London, and through a Wellcome Trust Investigator Award and a Wellcome Trust Strategic Award.https://www.elsevier.com/locate/dcnhj2024Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology (BGM)ImmunologyPaediatrics and Child HealthRadiologySDG-03:Good heatlh and well-beingSDG-17:Partnerships for the goal

Using mortuary statistics in the development of an injury surveillance system in Ghana

OBJECTIVE: To develop, in a mortuary setting, a pilot programme for improving the accuracy of records of deaths caused by injury. METHODS: The recording of injury-related deaths was upgraded at the mortuary of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi, Ghana, in 1996 through the creation of a prospectively gathered database. FINDINGS: There was an increase in the number of deaths reported annually as attributable to injury from 72 before 1995 to 633 in 1996-99. Injuries accounted for 8.6% of all deaths recorded in the mortuary and for 12% of deaths in the age range 15-59 years; 80% of deaths caused by injury occurred outside the hospital and thus would not have been indicated in hospital statistics; 88% of injury-related deaths were associated with transport, and 50% of these involved injuries to pedestrians. CONCLUSIONS: Injury was a significant cause of mortality in this urban African setting, especially among adults of working age. The reporting of injury-related deaths in a mortuary was made more complete and accurate by means of simple inexpensive methods. This source of data could make a significant contribution to an injury surveillance system, along with hospital records and police accident reports