Extent of Rock mass Damage Induced by Blasting in Tunneling

Drilling and blasting is preferred method of rock excavation world-wide due to low initial investment cheap explosive energy, easy acceptability amongst the blasting engineers, possibility to deal with different shapes and sizes of openinings. Although drill andblast method has witnessed significant technological advancements, it has inherent disadvantage of deteriorating surrounding rock mass due to developemt of network of fine caracks in it leading to safety and stability problem. The damage in the peripheral rock mass culminates in the form of overbrak and damanged zone. Overbreak increases project cost by more than 15%. The damaged zone extends beyond overbreak. Although significant efforts have been made to assess damage to the surrounding rock mass using different methods, easier solution based on easily available site parameters is still lacking. Authors have carried out field investigations at five different tunnel construction project sites located in Himalaya, India to formulate an empirical correlation for prediction of blast induced damamge for wide range of Q values (0.04 – 17.8). The proposed correlation is based on specific charge, perimeter charge factor, maximum charge per delay, advancement and confinement factor and rock mass quality rating Q. All the parameters used in empirical correlations are readily available to the site engineers and does not require laboratory testing. Data sets of 113 experimental blasts are collected from te five tunnel sites. The proposed empirical correlation has been validated using ultrasonic tests on rock core samples obtained from one of the experimental location

The global burden of cancer attributable to risk factors, 2010–19: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

BACKGROUND: Understanding the magnitude of cancer burden attributable to potentially modifiable risk factors is crucial for development of effective prevention and mitigation strategies. We analysed results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019 to inform cancer control planning efforts globally. METHODS: The GBD 2019 comparative risk assessment framework was used to estimate cancer burden attributable to behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risk factors. A total of 82 risk–outcome pairs were included on the basis of the World Cancer Research Fund criteria. Estimated cancer deaths and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) in 2019 and change in these measures between 2010 and 2019 are presented. FINDINGS: Globally, in 2019, the risk factors included in this analysis accounted for 4·45 million (95% uncertainty interval 4·01–4·94) deaths and 105 million (95·0–116) DALYs for both sexes combined, representing 44·4% (41·3–48·4) of all cancer deaths and 42·0% (39·1–45·6) of all DALYs. There were 2·88 million (2·60–3·18) risk-attributable cancer deaths in males (50·6% [47·8–54·1] of all male cancer deaths) and 1·58 million (1·36–1·84) risk-attributable cancer deaths in females (36·3% [32·5–41·3] of all female cancer deaths). The leading risk factors at the most detailed level globally for risk-attributable cancer deaths and DALYs in 2019 for both sexes combined were smoking, followed by alcohol use and high BMI. Risk-attributable cancer burden varied by world region and Socio-demographic Index (SDI), with smoking, unsafe sex, and alcohol use being the three leading risk factors for risk-attributable cancer DALYs in low SDI locations in 2019, whereas DALYs in high SDI locations mirrored the top three global risk factor rankings. From 2010 to 2019, global risk-attributable cancer deaths increased by 20·4% (12·6–28·4) and DALYs by 16·8% (8·8–25·0), with the greatest percentage increase in metabolic risks (34·7% [27·9–42·8] and 33·3% [25·8–42·0]). INTERPRETATION: The leading risk factors contributing to global cancer burden in 2019 were behavioural, whereas metabolic risk factors saw the largest increases between 2010 and 2019. Reducing exposure to these modifiable risk factors would decrease cancer mortality and DALY rates worldwide, and policies should be tailored appropriately to local cancer risk factor burden

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

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

Ayeyarwady Integrated River Basin Management Project (AIRBM): Myanmar WMO Hydrology Training Programme. Module A1, Advanced hydrological data analysis

Training course manual. Module delivered by Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, 15–23 February 2021. Coordinated by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) in partnership with the Technical University of Dresden (Germany) (TUD), the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee (IIT-R) and Hydro-Logic Services (International) Ltd (UK) (HLSI)

Low Temperature Growth, Freezing Survival and Purificatiton of Cold Shock Protein of <i>Pseudomonas fluorescens </i>ATCC 13525

694-698Pseudomonas fluorescens ATCC 13525, a psychrotroph with temperature optima of 25°C was able to grow at 10 and 15 °C, both in minimal as well as in complex media after cold induction. In addition, the freezing survival of the bacterium at -5 and -20°C increased after cold induction. A major cold shock protein of this bacterium was purified in order to understand the intrinsic mechanisms of this protein in cryotolerance

Impact of Health Education on Breastfeeding Behaviour of Mothers in UT Chandigarh

Introduction: Despite global efforts for improving nutritional status of children, desired outcomes could not be achieved. Infant and young child feeding practices (IYCF) may be influenced by some interventionAim: To evaluate the effects of interventions on optimal IYCF practices.Methodology: Community based longitudinal study was undertaken to find IYCF status among children in Rural, Urban and Slum population of UT Chandigarh. Mothers of infants willing to participate in the study and satisfying the inclusion criteria and also children below three years of age within selected clusters served as study units/respondents for qualitative as well as quantitative surveys at pre-interventional and post-interventional stages.Results: There were 279 mothers surveyed in the study group and 228 mothers in the control group based on intervention and no intervention respectively. About 46% mothers in the study group and 41.7 % mothers in the control group were of the opinion that prelacteal feed (PLF) should not be given. In both the groups, maximum of respondents were in favour of feeding colostrum. Also, 43.3% mothers in study group and 41.7% mothers in control groups opined that duration of breast feeding should be 6 months or more.Conclusions and Suggestions: Present study provides evidence of positive impact of interventions in terms of creating awareness and counselling of mothers and elderly women in the community on adoption of optimal IYCF by mothers. There is a need to plan area specific programs to create an enabling environment for comprehensive health education of mothers so as to protect, promote and sustain IYCF practices

Nanofabrication route to achieve sustainable production of next generation defect-free graphene: analysis and characterisation

Abstract In the past two decades, graphene has been one of the most studied materials due to its exceptional properties. The scalable route to cost-effective manufacture defect-free graphene has continued to remain a technical challenge. Intrinsically defect-free graphene changes its properties dramatically, and it is a challenging task to control the defects in graphene production using scaled-down subtractive manufacturing techniques. In this work, the exfoliation of graphite was investigated as a sustainable low-cost graphene manufacturing technique. The study made use of a simple domestic appliance e.g., a kitchen blender to churn graphene in wet conditions by mixing with N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP). It was found that the centrifugal force-induced turbulent flow caused by the rotating blades exfoliates graphite flakes to form graphene. The technique is endowed with a high yield of defect-free graphene (0.3 g/h) and was deemed suitable to remove 10% fluoride content from the water and color absorption from fizzy drinks

Rain gauge network design for flood forecasting using multi-criteria decision analysis and clustering techniques in lower Mahanadi river basin, India

Study region: Mahanadi Basin, India. Study focus: Flood is one of the most common hydrologic extremes which are frequently experienced in Mahanadi basin, India. During flood times it becomes difficult to collect information from all rain gauges. Therefore, it is important to find out key rain gauge (RG) networks capable of forecasting the flood with desired accuracy. In this paper a procedure for the design of key rain gauge network particularly important for the flood forecasting is discussed and demonstrated through a case study. New hydrological insights for the region: This study establishes different possible key RG networks using Hall’s method, analytical hierarchical process (AHP), self organization map (SOM) and hierarchical clustering (HC) using the characteristics of each rain gauge occupied Thiessen polygon area. Efficiency of the key networks is tested by artificial neural network (ANN), Fuzzy and NAM rainfall-runoff models. Furthermore, flood forecasting has been carried out using the three most effective RG networks which uses only 7 RGs instead of 14 gauges established in the Kantamal sub-catchment, Mahanadi basin. The Fuzzy logic applied on the key RG network derived using AHP has shown the best result for flood forecasting with efficiency of 82.74% for 1-day lead period. This study demonstrates the design procedure of key RG network for effective flood forecasting particularly when there is difficulty in gathering the information from all RGs