Conceptual Understanding of the Role of Human Resource Development in Road Safety

Human resource development (HRD) involves improving the knowledge, skills and attitude of people for personal growth and excellence. Using the same analogy of HRD, it can be applied to safety management on the roads. People can be taught the knowledge, skills and attitude required for the safe use of roads. It is very important because the analysis of the various causes of road accidents clearly demonstrates the preponderant role played by the human factor. This aspect thus constitutes a fundamental component of danger on the roads and has become even more important in relative terms due to the significant progress achieved in recent years in the other relevant spheres of action which are traditionally, the improvement of the road network and of the designing safe vehicles. Road users include, pedestrians, luggage carriers, horse riders, bullock carts as well as those who ride bicycles, tricycles, motorized two wheelers, cars, vans, trucks, tractors, and buses

Water supply and demand assessment in Chennai city

In order to assess the water supply in Chennai city for a small focusing group of slums, the slum clearance board has been surveyed for Slums the level of water supply Status Assessment and also b) Surveyed for Demand Assessment. The survey format is to provide inputs for the quantitative assessment at the slum level while the latter to provide inputs for qualitative assessment in terms of both the need and the willingness-to-pay for the improved services. All the above data has been adopted quantitative techniques

Mobile lifestyle or life in the mobile: a perceptional outlook of Chennai city

Cell phones have become increasingly popular in recent years. While people of various ages find cell phones convenient and useful, tend to be more dependent on them. Based on a survey conducted in a randomly in different age-size in Chennai City, cell phone use was examined. The survey consisted of questions that dealt with various aspects of cell phone use, such as cell phone ownerships, time spent for cell phone calls, monthly cell phone bills, communication networks, text messaging, and cell phone dependency. The survey results showed significant gender differences in several aspects of cell phone use. Multiple interpretations of the findings are discussed

Distress — Cause and Effect: A Diagnostic Study

Detailed site investigation, rigorous analysis and smart design of any engineering project prove to offer a successful product provided Quality Control and Quality Assurance are enforced during the construction phase. Failure to comply with QA/QC led to premature distress and extensive damage. A typical case, where negligence to address extenuating problems that arose during the construction stage resulted in severe damage is investigated and reported. Post-construction diagnostic study to unravel the cause and effect is presented

Solid waste management in chennai city

Human activities create waste, and it is the way these wastes are handled, stored, collected and disposed of, which can pose risks to the environment and to public health. Where intense human activities concentrate, such as in urban centers, appropriate and safe solid waste management (SWM) are of utmost importance to allow healthy living conditions for the population. Rapid increase in volume and types of solid and hazardous waste as a result of continuous economic growth, urbanization and industrialization, is becoming a burgeoning problem for national and local governments to ensure effective and sustainable management of waste. The environmental degradation caused by inadequate disposal of waste can be expressed by the contamination of surface and ground water through leach ate, soil contamination through direct waste contact or leach ate, air pollution by burning of wastes, spreading of diseases by different vectors like birds, insects and rodents, or uncontrolled release of methane by anaerobic decomposition of waste. This fact has been acknowledged by most governments, however many municipalities are struggling to provide even the most basic services. Typically one to two thirds of the solid waste generated is not collected (World Resources Institute, et al., 1996). Solid Waste (SW) generation in Chennai, the fourth largest metropolitan city in India, has increased from 600 to 3500 tons per day (tpd) within 20 years. The highest per capita solid waste generation rate in India is in Chennai (0.6 kg/d). Chennai is divided into 10 zones of 155 wards and collection of garbage is carried out using door-to-door collection and street bin systems. The collected wastes are disposed at open dump sites located at a distance of 15 km from the city. The community-based solid waste decomposition is an ideal and a safe disposal method, is more beneficial for solid waste management, as it easily converts waste to valuable fertilizer

Geosynthetic Reinforced Segmental Retaining Wall Failure: Forensic Investigation and Remediation

At UNC Charlotte, the authors have used a retaining wall failure case history to cover the different modes of failure of retaining wall and to highlight the importance of global stability failure. Specifically, this case study has been used by the authors in undergraduate and graduate courses of geotechnical engineering to highlight the importance to include in the design process the assessment of global stability. The project is valuable to students due to wealth of data including field and laboratory site investigation, monitoring data from slope inclinometers, amongst other data. The students are presented with the initial design information including wall height, backfill information, geosynthetic reinforcement type and layout, etc. The first assignment requires students to check conventional internal and external stability. Then the students are presented with post failure photos of the wall. The failure incident is discussed in detail and the students are then asked to take a second closer look of the project information to try to explain the failure. This time around they also have access to the post failure inclinometer data and field reports that included evidence of surface cracks on the pavement built on the top of the wall. With this available information students successfully explain the failure mode via global slope stability analyses

Impact of vitamin D fortified food on quality of life and emotional difficulties among adolescents – A randomized controlled trial

Background: The action of vitamin D on health related quality of life (HRQoL) and emotional difficulties of individuals has been extensively studied in several epidemiological studies. However, studies focusing on the effect of vitamin D fortification on these aspects among adolescents are limited. Aim: This study aims to explore the influence of vitamin D fortification on the vitamin D status and the HRQoL and emotional difficulties among adolescents. Methods: A total of 71 healthy adolescents consented to be a part of the randomized controlled trial conducted in two schools in Chennai, India. They were allocated and blinded into two groups: experimental (one vitamin D fortified ladduu (a homemade eatable with natural supplements) daily, containing 1000 IU vitamin D3) or the control group (one unfortified ladduu daily) for 12 weeks following random assignment. The vitamin D status, HRQoL and emotional difficulty parameters of anxiety and stress of the participants were evaluated both at baseline and at 12 weeks. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 12. Results: Vitamin D status of the adolescents significantly improved post supplementation (Z=-6.28; P =0.00). However, despite of significant improvement, no significant changes were observed in the other parameters. Conclusion: These findings demonstrate that although vitamin D fortification helps in improving the vitamin D status of adolescents, it does not particularly benefit their HRQoL and emotional difficulties of anxiety and stress of adolescents

Aeroelastic testing of LCA wing models - Model fabrication - Ground testing - Wind tunnel testing and Data analysis

Aeroelastic Testing Programme of Scaled Aeroelastic model of LCA half wing with rigid fuselage

Arthralgia in South Indian patients with pulmonary tuberculosis during treatment with pyrazinamide and rifampicin

Arthralgia was the major adverse reaction encountered in a clinical trial of the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis with three short-course regimens containing pyrazinamide in South Indian patients. The first regimen was of rifampicin, streptomycin, isoniazid and pyrazinamide given daily for three months; the second was of the same four drugs daily for three months followed by streptomycin, isoniazid and pyrazinamide twice-weekly for two months, and the third was the same as the second except that rifampicin was not administered. Arthralgia was reported in 36% of 353 rifampicin patients and 66% of 179 non-rifampicin patients, a highly significant difference (p<0.001). The onset of arthralgia was mostly during the first two months of chemotherapy. The knees were affected in about 90% followed by the ankles in about 50% of the patients with arthralgia, and about 60% of these patients had one or more of the signs, swelling, tenderness and limitation of joint movement. Chemotherapy was modified in 10 rifampicin and 15 non-rifampicin patients; the rest of the patients were managed with symptomatic treatment with analgesics. There was a two to three fold increase in serum uric acid concentrations by the end of the first month and the concentrations were more or less stationary throughout the rest of the daily phase of treatment. The mean concentration during the daily phase of treatment in patients with arthralgia (0.482 mmoles/litre) was similar to that in those without arthralgia (0.484 mmoles/litre), while that in the rifampicin patients (0.476 mmoles/litre) was significantly lower (p=0.03) than that in the non-rifampicin patients (0.495 mmoles/litre)