Instrumentation, Monitoring and Analysis of a Landslide − A Case Study

Powari Landslide which is situated at Km.367 on National Highway-22, on the right bank of river Sutlej in Kinnaur District of Himachal region of North-Western Himalaya has been active since 1987 and recurring every year in the months of July-Sept and March-May. The traffic interruption due to this slide was estimated in one year as 25 full days. 60 half days and 55 less than half days. Money spent each year only to clean the slided debris was estimated approximately from 70,000 to 2,00,000 in Indian rupees. Geological and geotechnical investigations followed by instrumentation and monitoring of this typical landslide was carried out to notice the nature, magnitude, rate and direction of movement on its surface and subsurface part from 1992 to 1995. Remedial measures recommended on the basis of such studies are also described

Antidiabetic and antihyperlipidemic activities of a novel polyherbal formulation in streptozotocin - nicotinamide induced diabetic wistar rats

Objective: To investigate the antidiabetic and antihyperlipidemic activities of polyherbal formulation (PHF) containing seven plants namely Cassia auriculata, Cassia fistula, Syzygium cumini, Cyperus rotundus, Saussurea lappa, Terminalia arjuna and Salacia reticulate in streptozotocin (STZ) - nicotinamide (NC) induced diabetic rats by administering oral doses (200 and 400 mg/kg body weight). Materials and Methods: Animals were divided into diabetic and nondiabetic groups. Rats were fed with normal laboratory diet and induced with a single intraperitoneal injection of 60mg/kg of STZ, and thereafter 120 mg/kg NC was injected after 15min. Diabetic rats were treated with formulation (200 and 400 mg/kg) and glibenclamide 5 mg/kg. Blood glucose levels were measured using blood glucose test strips with ACCU CHEK glucometer. Glycosylated haemoglobin, total haemoglobin, lipid profiles, lipoproteins, hepatic marker enzymes activity were determined in normal and STZ- NC induced diabetic rats after oral administration of the PHF for 28 days. Histopathological changes in normal and diabetic rat pancreas organs were also observed after PHF treatment.The statistical analysis of results was carried out using one-way analysis (ANOVA) followed by post hoc multiple comparison tests. Results: Treatment of diabetic rats with PHF (200 and 400 mg/kg) and glibenclamide (5 mg/kg) indicate significant decreased blood glucose level and significant improvement in body weight. PHF treated rats showed significant (P < 0.01) decrease in the level of HbA1C, TC, TG, LDL, VLDL, AST, ALT and ALP while a significant increment in the level of Hb, HDL cholesterol was observed. Furthermore, the PHF treated rats has a favourable effect on the histopathological changes of the pancreas in STZ-NC induced diabetes. Conclusion: These findings suggested the antihyperglycemic and antihyperlipidemic properties of the PHF and thus help in preventing future complications of diabetes

Comparative Evaluation of Rate of Orthodontic Tooth Movement by Varying the Timing of Therapeutic Extractions in patients Undergoing Fixed Appliance Therapy: An In Vivo study

AIM OF THE STUDY: This study aims in estimating the rate of tooth movement by mini-implant assisted canine retraction through a simplified Rapid acceleratory phenomenon (RAP) by altering the time of therapeutic extraction. MATERIALS AND METHOD: After approval from institutional review board and clearance from ethical committee (IRB/EC Ref No: 2017-MDS-BR.V-SUD-12/APDCH) the study was initiated. Out patients who reported to the department of Orthodontics, Adhiparasakthi Dental College and Hospital, Melmaruvathur, after completing their informed consent form, a total of 10 patients having class I malocclusion, bimaxillary protrusion who satisfied the inclusion and exclusion criteria and required therapeutic extract ion of both maxillary and mandibular 1st premolars were included in the study. In total 40 samples were obtained 20 (10 control & 10 experimental) in maxilla and 20 (10 control & 10 experimental) in mandible respectively. Patients were randomly assigned to one of the study groups. Intially the extract ion of first premolars in one side of maxilla & mandible per formed and taken as control group (Healed extraction site) and the other side extract ion performed after completion of aligning & levelling stage is taken as experimental group (Recent extract ion site). Allocation of control and experimental group is done in randomly unbiased manner. All the permanent teeth were bonded with 0.022” MBT PRESCRIPTION with auxiliary vertical slot canine brackets. The leveling and alignment was done using the fol lowing sequence of 0.016 NiTi, 0.017*0.25 NiTi, 0.019*0.025 NiTi wires and 0.019*0.025 SS arch wire was placed for a period of 4 weeks and then the experimental side extract ion was performed. Then 24 hours after extraction alginate impressions were taken as a record fol lowed by retract ion phase. In the which mini - screws were used as the source of anchorage and the individual canine retraction was achieved using 9mm NiTi closed coil spring connected from temporary anchorage device to the customized serpentine hook placed in the vertical slot of canine brackets to deliver a force of 100g to produce bodily tooth movement which was checked periodically using dontrix gauge. Alginate impressions were taken at the beginning of the study, immediately before canine retraction, and at 28th, 56th, 84th day after canine retract ion began, to monitor the rate of tooth movement in both arches. The distance between the canine and lateral incisor was assessed before and after canine retract ion at 3 points namely incisal, middle, and cervical third of the crown from palatal aspect on the cast and rechecked to reduce intra and inter examiner error and the results were analyzed statistically. RESULT: The results of the study showed that increase in rate of canine retraction of maxi l la & mandible by 1- fold in experimental side when compared with control side in 28 days. But, the overall rate of tooth movement in experimental side (Recently extracted site) showed less significant (p-value of 0.012) when compared to control side. Which is almost near to the significant value (p - value ≤ 0.005). CONCLUSION: Simplified Rapid acceleratory phenomenon (RAP) is an effective, comfortable, non- invasive and safe procedure to accelerate tooth movement and significantly reduce the duration of orthodontic treatment time

Investigation and Control of Narayanbagar Landslide, District Chamoli, Uttaranchal, India – A Case Study

Incidences of landslide hazards are quite common in the hilly terrain of Himalayas. These landslides not only damage the hill slopes causing enormous loss of slope forming materials but also become responsible for creating frequent disturbances to the moving traffics on hill roads and consequent adverse socio-economic impacts to the communities. As road communication system is the only lifeline for the people residing in the hilly terrain of Himalayas, detailed scientific study of landslide-affected area is , therefore, very much essential to overcome all sorts of geo-environmental and socio-economic problems created by the landslide. Numbers of landslides have already occurred along the stretch of the hill slope adjoining the Almora – Baijnath – Gowaldam – Karanprayag (A-BG- K) State Highway, located in Uttaranchal, in India. The present paper deals with such a problematic Narayanbagar Landslide at 129 km on this Highway. This landslide affected area is situated within the vicinity of Narayanbagar town on the left bank of River Pinder. This is the only road, which connects the two Commissionaires (Garhawal and Kumaun) of Uttaranchal State. Because of the present existing situation of Narayanbagar, which is lying very close to the boundary of Almora and Berinag Nappe, the geology has played a very important major role in creating slope instability in this area. Both geological and geo-technical studies have, therefore, been carried out with a view to understand the cause and mechanism of failure of the hill slope materials and to suggest the best possible suitable remedial measures to stabilize the Narayanbagar landslide affected area

Fortran and C programs for the time-dependent dipolar Gross-Pitaevskii equation in an anisotropic trap

Many of the static and dynamic properties of an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) are usually studied by solving the mean-field Gross-Pitaevskii (GP) equation, which is a nonlinear partial differential equation for short-range atomic interaction. More recently, BEC of atoms with long-range dipolar atomic interaction are used in theoretical and experimental studies. For dipolar atomic interaction, the GP equation is a partial integro-differential equation, requiring complex algorithm for its numerical solution. Here we present numerical algorithms for both stationary and non-stationary solutions of the full three-dimensional (3D) GP equation for a dipolar BEC, including the contact interaction. We also consider the simplified one- (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) GP equations satisfied by cigar- and disk-shaped dipolar BECs. We employ the split-step Crank-Nicolson method with real- and imaginary-time propagations, respectively, for the numerical solution of the GP equation for dynamic and static properties of a dipolar BEC. The atoms are considered to be polarized along the z axis and we consider ten different cases, e.g., stationary and non-stationary solutions of the GP equation for a dipolar BEC in 1D (along x and z axes), 2D (in x-y and x-z planes), and 3D, and we provide working codes in Fortran 90/95 and C for these ten cases (twenty programs in all). We present numerical results for energy, chemical potential, root-mean-square sizes and density of the dipolar BECs and, where available, compare them with results of other authors and of variational and Thomas-Fermi approximations.Comment: To download the programs click other and download sourc

A universal and stable metasurface for photonic quasi bound state in continuum coupled with two dimensional semiconductors

Strong coupling of excitons to optical cavity modes is of immense importance to understanding the fundamental physics of quantum electrodynamics at the nanoscale as well as for practical applications in quantum information technologies. There have been several attempts at achieving strong coupling between excitons in two dimensional semiconductors such as transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) and photonic quasi-bound states in the continuum (BICs). We identify two gaps in the platforms for achieving strong coupling between TMDC excitons and photonic quasi-BICs: firstly, in the studies so far, different cavity architectures have been employed for coupling to different TMDCs. This would mean that typically, the fabrication process flow for the cavities will need to be modified as one moves from one TMDC to the other, which can limit the technological progress in the field. Secondly, there has been no discussion of the impact of fabrication imperfections in the studies on strong coupling of these subsystems so far. In this work, we address these two questions by optimizing a cavity with the same architecture which can couple to the four typical TMDCs (MoS$_2$, WS$_2$, MoSe$_2$, WSe$_2$) and perform a detailed investigation on the fabrication tolerance of the associated photonic quasi-BICs and their impact on strong coupling

DYSLIPIDEMIA AMONG SMOKERS

ABSTRACTObjective: The objective of this study is to evaluate lipid profile among cigarette smokers and compare it with non-smokers.Methods: About 125 subjects aged between 20 and 40 years including 100 smokers as case group and 25 non-smokers as control were taken intostudy. They did not having any history of any disease (i.e., diabetes, hypertension, liver diseases, renal diseases, or obesity) or alcohol intake. Theywere not taking any drug such as B-blockers, lipid lowering drugs, or thiazide diuretics.Results: The mean serum total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), very LDL-C (VLDL-C) were significantly raised (p<0.05) inall three groups of mild, moderate, and heavy smokers as compared to non-smokers control while mean serum high--density lipoproteins cholesterol(HDL-C) was significantly lower in all three above said groups.Conclusion: Cigarette/beedi smoking is associated with lower level of god cholesterol, i.e., HDL, and higher level of cholesterol, triglycerides, andserum LDL and VLDL.Keywords: Dyslipidemia, smoker

ALDEHYDE EMISSIONS FROM TWO-STROKE AND FOUR-STROKE SPARK IGNITION ENGINES WITH CATALYTIC CONVERTER RUNING ON GASOHOL

Rad donosi rezultate ispitivanja emisije aldehida iz dvotaktnog i četverotaktnog jednocilindričnog motora na paljenje svjećicama koji koristi mješavinu benzina (80 vol. %) i alkohola (20 vol.); motor je prevučen bakrom (sloj debljine 300 μm na klipu i na unutarnjoj strani glave cilindra) i opremljen katalizatorom od spužvastog željeza. Rezultati su uspoređeni s konvencionalnim benzinskim motorom na paljenje svjećicama. Motor prevučen bakrom pokazuje smanjenje emisije aldehida u odnosu na konvencionalni motor za oba ispitna goriva. Katalitički pretvornik s ubrizgavanjem zraka značajno smanjuje štetne emisije kod oba ispitna goriva i kod obje konfiguracije motora.This paper reports aldehyde emissions from two-stroke and four-stroke, single cylinder spark ignition (SI) engines with gasohol (80 vol. % gasoline, 20 vol. % ethanol) having copper coated engine (copper-coated thickness, 300 μm) on piston crown and inner side of cylinder head) provided with catalytic converter with sponge iron as catalyst and compared with conventional SI engine with gasoline operation. Copper-coated engine showed reduction in aldehyde emissions when compared with conventional engine with both test fuels. Catalytic converter with air injection significantly reduced emissions with both test fuels on both configurations of the engine