Experimental Study of Physical, Fresh-State and Strength Parameters of Concrete incorporating Wood Waste Ash as a Cementitious Material

The increasing demand and production of cement have caused a huge environmental burden and thus researchers are involved in discovering waste materials having cementitious properties to reduce the production and usage of cement in order to contribute towards the development of a sustainable environment. The present study, therefore, sought to quantify the influence of wood waste ash (WWA) as a cementitious resource on the fresh-state, physical, and strength parameters of concrete. The water absorption, workability, density, compression strength,  tensile strength, and flexural strength of concrete was checked at various replacement levels i.e. 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% by weight fraction of cement. The density and water absorption were checked  on the 28th day of curing while the strength parameters were tested at 7, 28, 56, and 90 days of curing period. The water absorption, density, and workability of concrete reduced with an increase in wood waste ash content while the strength values were increased up to 10% replacement level. Hence, this study suggests that 10% WWA can be used instead of cement for concrete structures

SIFT-FANN: An efficient framework for spatio-spectral fusion of satellite images

Image fusion techniques are widely used for remote sensing data. A special application is for using low resolution multi-spectral image with high resolution panchromatic image to obtain an image having both spectral and spatial information. Alignment of images to be fused is a step prior to image fusion. This is achieved by registering the images. This paper proposes the methods involving Fast Approximate Nearest Neighbor (FANN) for automatic registration of satellite image (reference image) prior to fusion of low spatial resolution multi-spectral QuickBird satellite image (sensed image) with high spatial resolution panchromatic QuickBird satellite image. In the registration steps, Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) is used to extract key points from both images. The keypoints are then matched using the automatic tuning algorithm, namely, FANN. This algorithm automatically selects the most appropriate indexing algorithm for the dataset. The indexed features are then matched using approximate nearest neighbor. Further, Random Sample Consensus (RanSAC) is used for further filtering to obtain only the inliers and co-register the images. The images are then fused using Intensity Hue Saturation (IHS) transform based technique to obtain a high spatial resolution multi-spectral image. The results show that the quality of fused images obtained using this algorithm is computationally efficient

Experimental Study of Physical, Fresh-State and Strength Parameters of Concrete incorporating Wood Waste Ash as a Cementitious Material

The increasing demand and production of cement have caused a huge environmental burden and thus researchers are involved in discovering waste materials having cementitious properties to reduce the production and usage of cement in order to contribute towards the development of a sustainable environment. The present study, therefore, sought to quantify the influence of wood waste ash (WWA) as a cementitious resource on the fresh-state, physical, and strength parameters of concrete. The water absorption, workability, density, compression strength,  tensile strength, and flexural strength of concrete was checked at various replacement levels i.e. 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% by weight fraction of cement. The density and water absorption were checked  on the 28th day of curing while the strength parameters were tested at 7, 28, 56, and 90 days of curing period. The water absorption, density, and workability of concrete reduced with an increase in wood waste ash content while the strength values were increased up to 10% replacement level. Hence, this study suggests that 10% WWA can be used instead of cement for concrete structures

PANC Study (Pancreatitis: A National Cohort Study): national cohort study examining the first 30 days from presentation of acute pancreatitis in the UK

Abstract Background Acute pancreatitis is a common, yet complex, emergency surgical presentation. Multiple guidelines exist and management can vary significantly. The aim of this first UK, multicentre, prospective cohort study was to assess the variation in management of acute pancreatitis to guide resource planning and optimize treatment. Methods All patients aged greater than or equal to 18 years presenting with acute pancreatitis, as per the Atlanta criteria, from March to April 2021 were eligible for inclusion and followed up for 30 days. Anonymized data were uploaded to a secure electronic database in line with local governance approvals. Results A total of 113 hospitals contributed data on 2580 patients, with an equal sex distribution and a mean age of 57 years. The aetiology was gallstones in 50.6 per cent, with idiopathic the next most common (22.4 per cent). In addition to the 7.6 per cent with a diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis, 20.1 per cent of patients had a previous episode of acute pancreatitis. One in 20 patients were classed as having severe pancreatitis, as per the Atlanta criteria. The overall mortality rate was 2.3 per cent at 30 days, but rose to one in three in the severe group. Predictors of death included male sex, increased age, and frailty; previous acute pancreatitis and gallstones as aetiologies were protective. Smoking status and body mass index did not affect death. Conclusion Most patients presenting with acute pancreatitis have a mild, self-limiting disease. Rates of patients with idiopathic pancreatitis are high. Recurrent attacks of pancreatitis are common, but are likely to have reduced risk of death on subsequent admissions. </jats:sec

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

SIFT-FANN: An efficient framework for spatio-spectral fusion of satellite images

Image fusion techniques are widely used for remote sensing data. A special application is for using low resolution multi-spectral image with high resolution panchromatic image to obtain an image having both spectral and spatial information. Alignment of images to be fused is a step prior to image fusion. This is achieved by registering the images. This paper proposes the methods involving Fast Approximate Nearest Neighbor (FANN) for automatic registration of satellite image (reference image) prior to fusion of low spatial resolution multi-spectral QuickBird satellite image (sensed image) with high spatial resolution panchromatic QuickBird satellite image. In the registration steps, Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) is used to extract key points from both images. The keypoints are then matched using the automatic tuning algorithm, namely, FANN. This algorithm automatically selects the most appropriate indexing algorithm for the dataset. The indexed features are then matched using approximate nearest neighbor. Further, Random Sample Consensus (RanSAC) is used for further filtering to obtain only the inliers and co-register the images. The images are then fused using Intensity Hue Saturation (IHS) transform based technique to obtain a high spatial resolution multi-spectral image. The results show that the quality of fused images obtained using this algorithm is computationally efficient

Atypical plant homeodomain of UBR7 functions as an H2BK120Ub ligase and breast tumor suppressor

H2B monoubiquitination is implicated in oncogenesis. Here, the authors show that UBR7 PHD finger is a H2BK120 monoubiquitin ligase that acts a tumour suppressor in breast cancer by suppressing gene expression for EMT, while promoting expression of CDH4 which restrain WNT/β-cat pathway