Urban heritage conservation and rapid urbanization : insights from Surat, India

Currently, heritage is challenged in the Indian city of Surat due to diverse pressures,  including rapid urbanization, increasing housing demand, and socio‐cultural and climate changes.  Where rapid demographic growth of urban areas is happening, heritage is disappearing at an  alarming rate. Despite some efforts from the local government, urban cultural heritage is being  neglected and historic buildings keep being replaced by ordinary concrete buildings at a worryingly  rapid pace. Discussions of challenges and issues of Surat’s urban area is supported by a qualitative  dataset, including in‐depth semi‐structured interviews and focus groups with local policy makers,  planners, and heritage experts, triangulated by observation and a photo‐survey of two historic  areas. Findings from this study reveal a myriad of challenges such as: inadequacy of urban  conservation management policies and processes focused on heritage, absence of skills, training,  and resources amongst decision makers and persistent conflict and competition between heritage  conservation needs and developers’ interests. Furthermore, the values and significance of Surat’s  tangible and intangible heritage is not fully recognized by its citizens and heritage stakeholders. A  crucial opportunity exists for Surat to maximize the potential of heritage and reinforce urban  identity for its present and future generations. Surat’s context is representative of general trends  and conservation challenges and therefore recommendations developed in this study hold the  potential to offer interesting insights to the wider planners and conservationists’ international  community.  This  paper  recommends  thoughtful  integration  of  sustainable  heritage  urban  conservation into local urban development frameworks and the establishment of approaches that  recognize the plurality of heritage values

A study of efficacy of subcision, micro-needling and carbon dioxide fractional laser for treatment of acne scars

Background: Acne vulgaris is one of the most common skin problem encountered in adolescents. Complication of acne may lead to scar formation. Types of acne scars are atrophic scars (ice pick, rolling scars and box scar), hypertrophic scar and keloidal scar. Multiple modalities for treating acne scars are chemical peeling, derma roller, subcision, punch excision, cryoroller, CROSS (chemical reconstruction of skin scars), fractional lasers, etc. This study is to study the efficacy of derma roller, subcision and CO2 fractional laser in acne scar and complications associated with them.Methods: Total 45 patients with grade 2, 3 and 4 atrophic acne scar (Goodman and Baron grading system) were enrolled in the study and randomly assigned in three groups of 15 patients each. Group A: Derma roller, Group B: Subcision, Group C: CO2 fractional laser. 3 sittings at 28 days interval were done in each group. Evaluation was done by standardized digital photography pre-procedure and at each sitting. Physician’s evaluation was done in terms of excellent, good, fair, poor improvement or worsening. Patient’s self-evaluates as excellent, good, fair, poor improvement or worsening.Results: According to physicians evaluation at the end of 3 sittings excellent response was seen in 20% (n=3), 13.33% (n=2), 6.67% (n=1) in group B, group C, group A respectively. According to self-evaluation by patient at the end of 3 sittings, overall, 44.44% (n=20) patients showed an excellent response (score of 8-10).Conclusions: Time tested procedures; like subcision if done adequately and properly have excellent response and is comparable to newer and costly treatment like CO2 fractional laser.

Analysis of an agent-based model for predicting the behavior of bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis) under the influence of acoustic deterrence

Bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis) are an invasive, voracious, highly fecund species threatening the ecological integrity of the Great Lakes. This agent-based model and analysis explore bighead carp behavior in response to acoustic deterrence in an effort to discover properties that increase likelihood of deterrence system failure. Results indicate the most significant (p \u3c 0.05) influences on barrier failure are the quantity of detritus and plankton behind the barrier, total number of bighead carp successfully deterred by the barrier, and number of native fishes freely moving throughout the simulation. Quantity of resources behind the barrier influence bighead carp to penetrate when populations are resource deprived. When native fish populations are low, an accumulation of phytoplankton can occur, increasing the likelihood of an algal bloom occurrence. Findings of this simulation suggest successful implementation with proper maintenance of an acoustic deterrence system has potential of abating the threat of bighead carp on ecological integrity of the Great Lakes

LESSENING OF ISSUES REGARDING POWER QUALITY IN ELECTRICAL POWER DEVICES

In the recent times, issues of power quality are extremely vital for customers and hence for the devices of custom power, dynamic voltage restorer is employed to lessen the issues of power quality. Dynamic voltage restorer device manages active power flow and includes minute cost when measured to others. By dynamic voltage restorer device, introduced on feeder of load, line voltage is returned to its common level within few milliseconds as a result preventing power disruption. We carry out a control method of hysteresis voltage for building purpose of switching pulses for the inverter of dynamic system of voltage restorer. By added benefits of low expenditure as well as simple functioning, our proposed system is tremendously accepted for power supply of microprocessors. The proposed method of hysteresis voltage presents quick transient response without additional loop compensation

Study of metastasis in lymph node by fine needle aspiration cytology: our institutional experience

Background:Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is a reliable as well as an inexpensive diagnostic method. It is suitable for the developing countries for the diagnosis of lymphadenopathy at any approachable site. Fine needle aspiration cytology not only confirms the presence of metastatic disease but also, in most cases, gives the clue regarding the origin of the primary tumor, prognosis as well in the management of patient for staging purposes. The aim of the study was to detect and diagnose metastasis in lymph nodes. Methods:A study was done of all metastatic lymph node lesions reported in Department of Pathology, Govt. Medical College, Surat from May 2011 to April 2012.Results:A total of 2355 cases of fine needle aspiration cytology were carried out of which 580 cases were of lymph node. Cytology results were positive for metastasis in 157 specimens (27.06%). The most common site was cervical lymph nodes. Maximum numbers of cases of metastatic tumors were in 41-50 yrs age group. There were 115 males and 42 females with a male predominance (Male:Female= 2.8:1). The most common malignancy was squamous cells carcinoma, seen in 118 cases (75.15%), followed by metastatic mammary carcinoma (13 cases, 8.29%). In 26 cases out of 580 cases, histopathological confirmation was done and diagnostic accuracy of FNAC was 100%. Conclusions:Fine needle aspiration cytology of lymphadenopathy is a useful tool in diagnosing metastatic lesions with good certainty

A Review of the Mechanism of Antagonism of N-methyl-D-aspartate Receptor by Ketamine in Treatment-resistant Depression

The biochemical processes involved in depression go beyond serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine. The N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor has a major role in the neurophysiology of depression. Ketamine, one of the prototypical NMDA antagonists, works rapidly in controlling depressive symptoms, including acutely suicidal behavior, by just a single injection. Ketamine may rapidly increase the glutamate levels and lead to structural neuronal changes. Increased neuronal dendritic growth may contribute to synaptogenesis and an increase in brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Activation of the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR), as well as increased levels of BDNF, may increase long-term potentiation and result in an improvement in the symptoms of depression. The mechanisms of ketamine’s proposed effect as an off-label treatment for resistant depression are outlined in this paper

Design and Development of Novel Configuration of Steering Knuckle for an All Terrain Vehicle (ATV)

Steering knuckle or suspension upright is one of the most critical loaded parts in an automobile and especially in all terrain vehicle (ATV) as it has to sustain the forces arising from the braking torque, road bump and the steering pull. Also, in the commercial vehicles, the left knuckle cannot be interchanged with the right knuckle. Therefore there is a need of design and development of a steering knuckle which may be interchangeable and manufactured as a one piece product. Also to reduce the overall weight of an automobile a light weight steering knuckle should be designed. Thus the design and development of a low weight knuckle which is structurally rigid and has the ability to withstand all the forces arising due to bump, cornering, cyclic loading during steering and braking while being interchangeable between front wheels of an Off-Road vehicle is discussed in this article

Angiogenesis in urinary bladder carcinoma as defined by microvessel density (MVD) after immunohistochemical staining for Factor VIII and CD31

Background: Among the patients with bladder cancer, a group is still at risk of disease recurrence, progression, and death from their cancer after curative treatment. Angiogenesis is a crucial pathogenic mechanism for this type of urothelial carcinoma and is a potential therapeutic target. Objectives: To quantify tumor angiogenesis in bladder cancer and determine whether it correlates with tumor stage and grade. Patients and methods: A series of 42 archival samples from carcinomas of the urinary bladder were graded, staged, and analyzed for microvessel density (MVD) by a double immunohistochemical technique using Factor VIII (FVIII) and CD31 antibodies. The correlation between MVD and histopathological grade and tumor stage was evaluated. Results: FVIII and CD31 immunoreactivity was observed in 100% of cases and more intensely with CD31. Significantly higher MVD was determined in invasive tumors than in superficial tumors (p<0.05). MVD increased with tumor grade and stage (p<0.05); MVD was not affected by age or sex of the patients. Conclusion: These data demonstrate that MVD in bladder carcinoma correlates with the tumor grade and stage. Quantification of tumor angiogenesis may allow selection of the type of treatment for bladder cancer patients

Can Bottom-Up Institutional Reform Improve Service Delivery?

This article makes three contributions to the literature. First, it provides new evidence of the impact of community monitoring interventions using a unique dataset from the Citizen Visible Audit (CVA) program in Colombia. In particular, this article studies the effect of social audits on citizens' assessment of service delivery performance. The second contribution is the introduction a theoretical framework to understand the pathway of change, the necessary building blocks that are needed for social audits to be effective. Using this framework, the third contribution of this article is answering the following questions: i) under what conditions do citizens decide to monitor government activity and ii) under what conditions do governments facilitate citizen engagement and become more accountable