Finding F.O.S for Flow Type Landslide With Static Liquefaction At Karshingsa – A Case Study

Karshingsa is a hilly terrain situated in lower Himalayan region under Arunachal Pradesh in India. It expresses occurrence of severe landslides of debris flow nature almost every year as and when consecutive 3-month rainfall precipitation during peak monsoon period exceeds about 2,300 mm, all along the lower Himalayan region of Eurasian plateau most particularly in Karshingsa area. Study carried out in the lower belt of Arunachal Himalaya for about more than one decade proclaims that 45%-55% landslides are flow type origin, the debris of which are flowing like liquid. Mechanism of such flow failure is static liquefaction developed in a circumstance of its geological origin, in which the discrete boundary exists. The conventional method for finding the critical ‘c’ & ‘φ’ related to old failure zone is not valid for occurrence of such landslide. Hence, stability analysis demands a new approach with procedures. This new process accepts the real occurrence of flow slide in a study area called Karshingsa of north eastern region of India. Present study generates a new approach and recognition of new method of stability analysis for occurrence of flowtype landslide under unique situation of geotechnical aspect

Performance of Digboi Refinery Modernization Project From Geotechnical Aspects — Investigation and Observations

Digboi Refinery is the world’s oldest refinery in simple form which is producing oil since 1889 till present with its modernized setup. Its first well was dug manually during 1889 and crude oil was found at 54m depth only. This phenomenon has encouraged establishing an industry on oil producing business, and accordingly a form of first refinery was comeout in 1889. The Digboi Refinery modernization project was taken up in large scale in order to overcome the technological obsolescence of the old refinery. Subsequently a number of other major projects were undertaken by Assam Oil Division to further revamp and modernise Digboi Refinery, which is in fact commissioning during 2007 onward as a completely modernizied refinery. Geotechnical investigations for this modernization project was started during 1987 and completed during 1992. As a whole the investigation works were completed under time bound work of three different phases of investigations with various engineering requirements. Besides laboratory investigations, field investigation includes mainly boreholes with SPT, DCPT, SCPT, VST, CBRT and Block vibrations tests. After careful studies, based on the field and laboratory investigations various types of shallow and deep foundations were suggested. Design and constructions were made based on the suggestion provided more particularly to overcome the problems pertaining to the high seismicity of the area and potential to dynamic liquefaction point of view and executed the same at site accordingly. Observations were made till date are found highly satisfactorial to engineering aspects

Fission-fusion dynamics and group-size dependent composition in heterogeneous populations

Many animal groups are heterogeneous and may even consist of individuals of different species, called mixed-species flocks. Mathematical and computational models of collective animal movement behaviour, however, typically assume that groups and populations consist of identical individuals. In this paper, using the mathematical framework of the coagulation-fragmentation process, we develop and analyse a model of merge and split group dynamics, also called fission-fusion dynamics, for heterogeneous populations that contain two types (or species) of individuals. We assume that more heterogeneous groups experience higher split rates than homogeneous groups, forming two daughter groups whose compositions are drawn uniformly from all possible partitions. We analytically derive a master equation for group size and compositions and find mean-field steady-state solutions. We predict that there is a critical group size below which groups are more likely to be homogeneous and contain the abundant type/species. Despite the propensity of heterogeneous groups to split at higher rates, we find that groups are more likely to be heterogeneous but only above the critical group size. Monte-Carlo simulation of the model show excellent agreement with these analytical model results. Thus, our model makes a testable prediction that composition of flocks are group-size dependent and do not merely reflect the population level heterogeneity. We discuss the implications of our results to empirical studies on flocking systems.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figure

Finding the Link Between Cyberbullying and Suicidal Behavior Among School Going Adolescents

Background: Studies have shown that cyberbullying or online bullying has increased the risk of suicidal thoughts and suicidal behaviours. Although suicide or suicidal behaviours are not directly related to cyberbullying it can be said that cyberbullying increases depression rates and feelings of isolation which end up in suicidal calls. This research aims to understand the nexus between cyberbullying and suicidal behaviour. Methods and materials: A self-administered and anonymous online questionnaire was used to survey 410 higher secondary school adolescents aged 16 to 18 and the data analysis has been carried out by statistical analysis with the help of IBM-SPSS software of version 22.  Results: The findings of the results have revealed that cyberbullying was more prevalent among the respondents than cyber victimization. There was a small fraction of the population that said that they had undergone suicidal behaviour due to cyberbullying. Between text messaging and multimedia messaging, the best platform for cyberbullying was multimedia messaging. The reason behind this was its usage around the world, its popularity, and its ease. Teenagers over the age of 17 years have reported the highest percentage share for suicide rates and most of them were female. Conclusion: It can be concluded that cyber bullying is a threat to those girls who is currently studying in 11th standard and or age 17 years whose parents are separated or not living together

The Relationship Between Stress and Remote Working in Indian Information Technology Companies

Purpose: While remote working is a common practice in Information Technology organization, it was mostly confined to a small percentage of employees. The COVID-19 pandemic forced several companies to swiftly adapt to a near 100 percentage remote working model. The aim of this study was to understand the relationship between Stress and Remote Working in the Indian IT companies.   Design/Methodology/Approach: With multiple waves of infection, several companies are yet to return back to office. It is by now clear that, remote working is going to be way of life. Most companies are looking at a hybrid work model even after the pandemic era. However, it is important to realise that implementation of remote working is a much broader subject. Employees have been complaining of stress and fatigue while working from home. NASSCOM data has shown an increase in attrition across IT organizations.  We decided to adopt the survey approach for studying work stress while working from home and the impact on the intent to stay amongst employees working in IT organizations. We followed the snowball sampling method and a total of 181 employees participated from IT Companies across India. A model was created to explore the relationship between Autonomy, Emotional Demands, Work Pressure, Work Engagement, Recognition, Intent to Leave and Stress. A PLS-SEM model was created and the relationships were analyzed.   Findings: A total of six hypotheses were tested and the result was conclusive. The result corroborated with the fact that working from home is stressful and identified the factors that influence the stress. While remote working continues to be a preferred option, the concerns raised by the employees were valid and hence stress induing. We also spoke to a group of HR Managers to understand and solution some of the problems that surfaced in our survey. Together, we arrived at recommendations that could help address these concerns. As remote working is going to be a part of future work strategy, it is important to bring about these changes to immediately reduce the increasing attrition in Indian IT organizations.   Research, Practical & Social implications: Organizations should understand that remote working is the future way forward. With more clients being open to have employees working from home it is important for the organizations to ensure that they provide a stress free work environment to their remote workers. While there could be other external factors that could induce stress, it is the responsibility of the organization to focus on the controllable factos.    Originality/Value: While working from home is not new to Indian Indian IT companies they have allowed only a small percentage of their workforce to operate remotely. Most employees are allowed to work from home on a need basis. However, permanent work from home is generally discouraged. Remote working by majority workforce was uncommon before the pandemic and hence this topic was rarely researched. The recommendations provided based on our research study could help bridge the gaps and help organizations reduce the stress levels of their employees

Remote Onboarding Effectiveness in Indian it Industry During the Pandemic

Purpose: The outbreak and impact of COVID-19 has definitely caused the most drastic and rapid shift to the global workforce. The Information Technology (IT) industry was amongst early responders who adopted a remote working model. The aim of this study was to understand the effectiveness of remote onboarding experience in the IT companies.   Design/methodology/approach: The perceived benefits of remote working such as creating valuable opportunities for cost saving and greater flexibility for staff has caused many businesses to understand it is a beneficial model of working in the future and hence adopt it. Now that remote working is here to stay, this research studied the experience of the employees who were recruited in the years 2019 and 2020 into various IT organisations. A survey was circulated to understand this effect and a total of 126 employees participated from 21 IT Companies across India. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire was verified and the data was analyzed using SPSS V22.   Findings: The results indicated that there is a significant difference in the joining experience between the two groups. The findings showed that the physical joining experience worked better as it helped in a higher employee satisfaction and hence helped learning the job faster. While the remote induction process seemed effective, the gaps pertain to lack of a structured onboarding process, knowledge transfer and supervisor interventions that are relevant for the remote working world.   Research, Practical & Social implications: Organizations should understand the importance of making a good first impression with the new joiners. They should ensure smoother interventions that could enhance the culture immersion and knowledge transfer process.    Originality/value: Most Indian IT companies have always allowed employees to work remotely. However, even these employees were required to be physically present for the onboarding process. Remote onboarding as a process did not exist prior to the pandemic and hence this study touches upon a lesser researched topic. The research recommendations provided in our study could help bridge the gaps and provide a better employee remote joining experience

THE EFFECT OF METFORMIN ON NON-ENZYMATIC GLYCOSYLATION OF RECOMBINANT HUMAN SERUM ALBUMIN

Objective: The present research work was aimed to observe the effect of Metformin hydrochloride (MET) on non-enzymatic glucosylation of recombinant human serum albumin (rHSA).Methods: Albumin was incubated at 37 ° in 10 mM phosphate buffer (pH 7.4) using 0.2% sodium azide for 7 d with different concentrations of D-(+)-glucose and MET. Incorporation of D-(+)-glucose (5-12 mM) into rHSA was calculated in the presence of metformin hydrochloride (1-5 µg/ml) following extensive dialysis of the incubation mixture. The binding experiments were exercised at respective plasma concentration of rHSA, D-(+)-glucose and MET in corresponding to that of diabetic and non-diabetic population. Glycosylation of rHSA was quantified using 2-thiobarbituric acid (2-TBA). Whereas, metformin hydrochloride was quantified using a validated LC-MS/MS method with negative ion electrospray ionization using multiple reactions monitoring (MRM) mode. MET was eluted isocratically on X-Bridge BEH Phenyl column with a mobile phase consisting of mixture of water (containing 50 mM ammonium acetate) and acetonitrile in a ratio of 70:30.Results: The weighted (1/X2) calibration curve from 20 to 10, 000 ng/ml was employed for the calculation ofMET in sample with line equation of Y= 0.0020584x+0.0037475. The binding pattern ofMET to rHSA, was specific and pH dependent, possibly due to a change in ionization state of MET and change in conformation of rHSA during the binding process.Conclusion: All the described parameters were in accordance to the FDA Guideline (inside 85-115% for the accuracy and less than 15% for the precision), thus it can be concluded that the bioanalytical method is were fully validated as per USFDA guideline. These experiments showed the affinity ofMETtoward the rHSA proved to be higher than its affinity toward the glucose

A Novel Approach for the Design of Controllers with Interleaved Boost Converter

Themomentous increase in exigency of electric energy is forced us to find various source of generations like solar, wind, hydraulic and clean energy like fuel cell. Low cost, high efficiency, compactness, portability and environmentally clean energy has enhanced the research on fuel cell. One of the factor which affects the life time of the fuel cell is ripple content presents in the current. In order to supply high voltage and low current applications, fuel cell is used to integrate with boost converter. But to improve the performance and lifetime of fuel cell, interleaved boost converter is employed. Also to supply for constant load the output voltage has to be maintained at a particular value. To attain this controllers are exploited. The conventional PI controller and smith predictive controller are designed for fuel cell fed interleaved boost converter in order to track the output voltage and to improve the transient time.The results depict the validity of the design procedure and the potential of the proposed method

Micro-eukaryotic diversity in hypolithons from Miers Valley, Antarctica

The discovery of extensive and complex hypolithic communities in both cold and hot deserts has raised many questions regarding their ecology, biodiversity and relevance in terms of regional productivity. However, most hypolithic research has focused on the bacterial elements of the community. This study represents the first investigation of micro-eukaryotic communities in all three hypolith types. Here we show that Antarctic hypoliths support extensive populations of novel uncharacterized bryophyta, fungi and protists and suggest that well known producer-decomposer-predator interactions may create the necessary conditions for hypolithic productivity in Antarctic deserts

Herbal vs. Chemical Actives as Antidandruff Ingredients -Which Are More Effective in the Management of Dandruff?– An Overview

Dandruff, a clinical condition caused by Malassezia (Pityrosporum) species is of great cosmetic concern all over the world. Dandruff is known to be controlled by fungistatic ingredients in Anti-dandruff shampoos. A comparative study on the efficacy of chemical and herbal anti-dandruff ingredients on ‘as is’ basis and their performance in market shampoos was done in vitro against Pityrosporum ovale (MTCC 1374). Zinc pyrithione (ZnPTO), ketoconazole and other azole compounds recorded good anti-Pityrosporum activity among the chemical ingredients. Herbal ingredients like tea tree oil, rosemary oil, coleus oil, clove oil, pepper extract, neem extract, and basil extract also recorded anti-pityrosporum activity, but their MIC values are much higher than the synthetic ingredients. Shampoos containing ZnPTO and ketoconazole recorded higher in vitro activities than the shampoos containing herbal AD ingredients