Use of Geofabrics for Controlling Landslides − Case Histories

Four case histories on erosion and rock fall control by the use of natural and synthetic geogrids are described. Each of the affected area was analysed and treated adopting different techniques of installation of geofabrics mantle as control measures which resulted in significant improvement of slope stability. Treatment also helped in maintaining ecological balance of the hills

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), their Standards, Donning-doffing Procedures and Challenges of Indian Drug Regulatory Authorities with the New Indian PPE Manufacturers: Personal Protective Equipment and Challenges

Health care professionals rely on personnel protective equipment (PPE) including gown, gloves, goggles, face mask/N-95 respirators, and face shields etc to fight against COVID-19. The components of PPE act as an obstacle that prevents movement between infectious viral or bacterial contaminants and wearer’s mouth, nose or eyes and other parts of the body. All PPE is intended for use as medical device must follow the rules and regulations or standards for protection. The manufacturer has to show that they meet the prescribed criteria of competent authority in case of labelling, sterilisation criteria etc. the PPE must be biocompatible for at least 6-8 hrs. The wearer must follow the right procedure of donning and doffing of PPE. We here highlighted the various PPE with their standards, donning and doffing procedures, and challenges faced by Indian regulatory authority to maintain standards from the inland new manufacturers.  Different research works are required to make the PPE fit and comfortable to accept for use for a long period

Conserved number fluctuations under global rotation in a hadron resonance gas model

Net-charge, net-strangeness and net-baryon number fluctuations measured in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions may reveal details and insights into the quark-hadron transition, hadrochemical freeze-out and possibly aid in the search of the QCD critical point. By controlling the collision energy, some current and upcoming heavy-ion facilities aim to study high energy nucleus-nucleus collisions in the finite net-baryon density regime where the effects of rapid global rotation are also expected to be strong for the peripheral collisions. We discuss the ratios of conserved number susceptibilities that are experimentally measurable via products of the moments of the corresponding distributions and compute the relevant theoretical results in the framework of a rotating hadron resonance gas (rHRG) model.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Effects of organised media on the excited-state proton transfer in 2-(2'-pyridyl)benzimidazole

Absorption and fluorescence characteristics of 2-(2'-pyridyl)benzimidazole (2-PBI) are studied in the presence of α- and β-cyclodextrins (CD) in aqueous solution at two different pHs. Steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence measurements are used for the investigation of the effect of organised media on the excited-state proton transfer reaction in 2-PBI. Semi-empirical CI calculation for the geometry of the molecule reveals that the 2-PBI molecule may be involved in host–guest complex formation with α-CD and β-CD in different configurations. NMR measurements corroborate this, providing information about the orientation of the 2-PBI molecule inside the cavity of the CDs. No complex formation was evident in γ-CD owing to its larger cavity dimension compared to the size of the 2-PBI molecule

Time series effects of dissolved oxygen and nitrogen on Long Island Sound lobster harvest

The formation of hypoxic water zones in marine ecosystems across the world is a growing concern among marine scientists and regulatory agencies that focus on marine resource management. In the United States, a number of water systems such as the Gulf of Mexico, Long Island Sound, and the Chesapeake Bay experience hypoxic conditions annually. Nutrient rich water with excessive nitrogen content is widely recognized as a key anthropogenic cause that lead to development of hypoxic zones. While the dissolved oxygen level indicates the presence of hypoxic water conditions, at any given time, the aquatic nitrogen concentration indicates the possibility of formation of hypoxic zones in future time periods. Hence, understanding the effects of both these variables on current and future fish population is important for improved water quality management and sustainability of marine resources. In this paper, we estimate the temporal effects of these two key variables on lobster harvest from three contiguous fishing zones in the Long Island Sound that vary in ambient water quality. We find there is no contemporaneous effect of these variables on harvest in both the zone that experience hypoxia and the two zone that do not. While there is some evidence of lagged effects of these variables on harvest, no systematic pattern emerges in these effects that distinguishes the hypoxic fishing zone with non-hypoxic zones.http://link.springer.com/journal/110692017-12-31hb2016Economic

Profil ekspresije receptora hormona rasta (GHR), receptora čimbenika rasta sličnog inzulinu (IGFR) i gena leptina s biokemijskim i endokrinim profilom u jaradi crne bengalske koze (Capra hircus) tijekom različitih razdoblja pretpubertetskog rasta

The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression profile of growth hormone receptor (GHR), insulin like growth factor receptor (IGFR) and leptin genes, together with some blood biochemical (glucose, aspartate aminotransferase, AST; alanine aminotransferase, ALT) and endocrine (growth hormone and cortisol) parameters. For this purpose, blood samples were collected from 25 male and 25 female kids of the Black Bengal goat (Capra hircus), at days 15, 30, 60, 90, 120 and 150. Male kids gained more body weight compared to females. The glucose and cortisol levels significantly (P≤0.01) decreased with the advancement of age. AST, ALT, and growth hormone increased significantly (P≤0.01). In both sexes, plasma glucose level was negatively (P≤0.01) correlated with AST. In males both cortisol and GH levels were positively (P≤0.05) correlated with plasma glucose levels. In female kids only GH showed a positive (P≤0.05) correlation with glucose levels. Female kids had greater expression of the GH receptor, IGFR mRNA and Leptin mRNA on day 30 (P≤0.05) and day 150 (P≤0.01). GHR was only positively (P≤0.05) correlated with IGFR and LEP in female kids. On the basis of the results obtained from our research, we are able to conclude that the lower growth rate in female kids expressed more leptin, which stimulated the somatotrophic axis for the expression of GHR and IGFR during the prepubertal growth stage.Cilj istraživanja bio je procijeniti profil ekspresije receptora hormona rasta (GHR), receptora čimbenika rasta sličnog inzulinu (IGFR) i gena leptina zajedno s krvnim biokemijskim pokazateljima (glukoza, aspartat-aminotransferaza AST, alanin-aminotransferaza ALT) i endokrinim pokazateljima (hormon rasta i kortizol). U tu su svrhu 15., 30., 60., 90., 120. i 150. dan života uzeti su uzorci krvi od 25 muške i 25 ženske jaradi crne bengalske koze (Capra hircus). Muška je jarad imala veći prirast tjelesne mase u usporedbi sa ženskom. Razine glukoze i kortizola s porastom dobi znakovito su se smanjivale (P ≤ 0,01). AST, ALT i hormon rasta znakovito su porasli (P ≤ 0,01). Kod oba je spola razina glukoze u plazmi bila u negativnoj korelaciji (P ≤ 0,01) s AST-om. Kod muške su jaradi kortizol i hormon rasta bili u pozitivnoj korelaciji (P ≤ 0,05) s razinama glukoze u plazmi. Samo je u ženske jaradi hormon rasta pokazao pozitivnu korelaciju (P ≤ 0,05) s razinama glukoze. Ženska je jarad imala veću ekspresiju receptora hormona rasta, mRNA IGFR i mRNA leptina 30. dan (P ≤ 0,05) i 150. dan (P ≤ 0,01). GHR je bio u pozitivnoj korelaciji (P ≤ 0,05) samo s IGFR-om i leptinom u ženske jaradi. Na temelju rezultata ovoga istraživanja možemo zaključiti da niža stopa rasta u ženske jaradi dovela do veće ekspresije leptina, što je stimuliralo somatotropnu os za ekspresiju hormona rasta i IGFR-a u pretpubertetskom razdoblju

Efficient Aggregation of Multiple Classes of Information in Wireless Sensor Networks

Congestion in a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) can lead to buffer overflow, resource waste and delay or loss of critical information from the sensors. In this paper, we propose the Priority-based Coverage-aware Congestion Control (PCC) algorithm which is distributed, priority-distinct, and fair. PCC provides higher priority to packets with event information in which the sink is more interested. PCC employs a queue scheduler that can selectively drop any packet in the queue. PCC gives fair chance to all sensors to send packets to the sink, irrespective of their specific locations, and therefore enhances the coverage fidelity of the WSN. Based on a detailed simulation analysis, we show that PCC can efficiently relieve congestion and significantly improve the system performance based on multiple metrics such as event throughput and coverage fidelity. We generalize PCC to address data collection in a WSN in which the sensor nodes have multiple sensing devices and can generate multiple types of information. We propose a Pricing System that can under congestion effectively collect different types of data generated by the sensor nodes according to values that are placed on different information by the sink. Simulation analysis show that our Pricing System can achieve higher event throughput for packets with higher priority and achieve fairness among different categories. Moreover, given a fixed system capacity, our proposed Pricing System can collect more information of the type valued by the sink

Original Contribution Expression of the longevity proteins by both red and white wines and their cardioprotective components, resveratrol, tyrosol, and hydroxytyrosol

Resveratrol increases longevity through SirT1, which is activated with NAD + supplied by an anti-aging enzyme PBEF. SirT1 interacts with an anti-aging transcription factor, FoxO1, which is negatively regulated by Akt. Since white wine could have similar health benefits as red wine, we determined if white wine and its cardioprotective components possess anti-aging properties by feeding rats with these compounds. The hearts expressed SirT, FoxO, and PBEF in the order of white wine N resveratrol N tyrosol N hydroxytyrosol N red wine, while cardioprotection shown by reduction of infarct size and cardiomyocyte apoptosis followed a different pattern: resveratrol N red wine N hydroxytyrosol N white wine N tyrosol, suggesting the existence of different signaling mechanisms for the induction of longevity and survival. Published by Elsevier Inc