Liquefaction Studies of the Solani Sand Reinforced with Geogrid

In this paper, a study on liquefaction resistance of Solani sand reinforced with geogrid sheets is reported. Tests were carried out on shake table (vibration Table) with sand samples prepared at relative density of 25% without and with geogrid sheets. In this investigation biaxial synthetic geogrid sheets having the dimension equal to plan dimension of the shake table tank were used in three different combinations of 3 layers, 4 layers and 5 layers at different depths within the sand sample. The liquefaction parameters such as maximum pore water pressure (Umax), maximum pore water pressure built up time (t1) and pore water pressure dissipation time (t3) were measured with the help of transparent piezometer tubes and stop watch for each combination of geogrid sheet corresponding to various levels of accelerations varying from 0.1g to 0.4g. In each test, the frequency of dynamic load was kept constant (5Hz). The liquefaction resistance of sand was evaluated in- terms of pore pressure ratio. Tests results indicate that on inclusion of geogrid sheets into the sand samples, the Umax decreases and t1 and t3 increases. It was also observed that on increasing the number of geogrid sheets, Umax decreases further and this decrease is significant at small amplitude of excitation. The average increase in liquefaction resistance of sand was found to be about 31 % in case of 5 layers of Geogrid sheets at 0.1g acceleration

Papillary cystic acinic cell carcinoma: report of a rare lesion with unusual presentation

Introduction: Acinic cell carcinoma is an uncommon low grade tumour of the salivary glands that constitutes 2.5 to 4% of parotid gland tumours. Acinic cell carcinoma -Papillary cystic variant (ACC-PCV) is histologically composed of tumor with papillary and cystic growth patterns, with varying proportions of one or more cell types. It has been conferred significance because it has a poorer prognosis and is reported to be universally fatal in ten years. Case Report: We present a case of ACC-PCV in a sixteen year old male with unusual unicystic gross appearance, benign cytological picture and characteristic histopathological features .Cystic areas with papillary projection of surrounding cells showing characteristic tombstone or hobnail arrangements were seen. Discussion: The histogenesis and myriad architectural and cellular variations of ACC-PCV have been discussed along with its variegated cytomorphology which may lead to pitfalls in cytodiagnosis. The tumor may pose difficulty in histodiagnosis due to its resemblance to papillary carcinoma of the thyroi

Biosocial correlates of perinatal mortality in rural lucknow

Six hundred and forty three consequltive pregnancies occurring between March to February, 90 in the Mohanlalganj community Development Block of Lucknow District, were registered during second trimester and fotlowed-up till seven days crfte r delivery, for study of perinatal mortality and related blosoclal correlates. A total of 20 still births and 27 Neonatal deaths were recorded out of the six hundred forty nine newborns which included seven twins also. Overall Perinatal Mortality Rate was found to be 72.4 per thousand births. Perinatal Mortality was significantly high among twin deliveries (500 per thousand births), mothers aged below 18 and above 30 years (136.3 and 100 per thousand deliveries respectively), spacing less than IS months (113.4 per thousand deliveries). Gestation age below 28 weeks (1000 deaths per thoitsand births) and among primipara (112.6 per thousand births)

Online Geoprocessing using Multi-Dimensional Gridded Data

Traditional geoprocessing techniques often rely on the use of multiple softwares for data handling and management which consumes almost 80% of the time and requires the user to be well versed with all the intricacies of pre-processing. Therefore, there is a need to reverse the trend on analysis and data management, so as to enable scientists and researchers to focus on the science rather than data handling and pre-processing. The concept of a Data Cube which is a massive multi-dimensional array of raster or gridded data, ‘stacks’ satellite images and addresses the problems faced by traditional remote sensing practices and provides an interactive environment where datasets can be analysed with relative ease as compared to its traditional counterparts. This framework allows multi-format and multi-projection datasets spanning decades to be used in various geoprocessing techniques from simple GIS tasks such as data conversion, time series generation, and to do more complex tasks such as change detection, NDVI generation, unsupervised classification and modelling. LISS III data for the state of Uttarakhand, India was used on an interactive interface called the Jupyter Notebook where scripts written in Python allowed data to be ingested, analysed and visualised. The Data Cube framework hence proved to be a flexible and extensive development environment which can be extended to meet more complex modelling requirements

INTEROPERABLE MODEL FOR BIORESOURCE DISTRIBUTED DATABASES

Recently, numerous frameworks and tools are being developed for enhancing access to data and services with a standardized view to communicate the advances in open information sharing. Another emerging field of data exploration is encountered in the coordination, examination and perception of bioresource data and are prompting corresponding new innovations. The bioresource information team aims to develop standards for nationwide data exchange by the establishment of a catalog service to locate and access biological data and information from across the country and information tool for decision makers. With the growth of open data sharing initiatives, the sharing of data among different and myriad sources has increased significantly, but major challenge lies in addressing the issues of interoperability during exchange and use since the data sources are heterogeneous and the data being organization specific is prepared with different (organization) specific data standards and platforms. This paper presents the model based on the study of different metadata standards and to develop a recommended standard for biodiversity information to support interoperability among heterogeneous databases under the umbrella of Indian Bioresource Information Network (IBIN) portal. The paper presents the mapping of different data standards into the IBIN standard for sharing species data in the form of distributed and interoperable web services to set the stage for interoperability

GEOSPATIAL MULTI-CRITERIA DECISION BASED SITE SUITABILITY ANALYSIS FOR SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL USING TOPSIS ALGORITHM

The problem of Urban Municipal solid waste disposal is a challenging task faced by civic bodies and planning authorities in almost all the cities of rapidly developing countries like India. A similar situation is being faced by Dehradun, the capital, and the fastest growing city of Uttarakhand, India. In the current study, an attempt has been made to find out the suitable sites for waste disposal in the area around Dehradun city using Geospatial Multi-criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) techniques from remote sensing data. Two different decision rules of MCDA are used, namely, Analytical Hierarchical Process based Weighted Linear Combination (AHP – WLC) and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to the Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). WLC has been used previously for similar studies for its ease and simplicity to apply in raster format but TOPSIS has an advantage over WLC, it orders a set of alternatives on the basis of their separation from the ideal point. It defines the best alternative as the one that is simultaneously closest to the ideal alternative and farthest from the negative ideal point. Raster-based suitability analysis has been done and the results obtained by the two methods are compared. Identical results with minor differences identifying best suitable sites outside the eastern boundary of the city where the existing dumping site is located are obtained. Also, new potential sites are identified in the western part of the city which faces the problem of waste disposal more acutely because of expansion of the city in that direction

GEOSPATIAL BASED CITIZEN CENTRIC WATER QUALITY MEASUREMENT SOLUTION

Citizen science has emerged as a game changer in various scientific endeavors, wherein scientific data for understanding the phenomenon could be collected by volunteers/non-specialist in a quick possible time. Citizens nowadays play an important role by functioning as “sensors” helping government/institutions by collecting and analyzing data. The advancements and convergence of technologies (Information and communication technologies (ICT)), especially the Internet and mobile technology has further assisted in such efforts. Moreover, the location sensors (GPS) and camera on board the mobile devices enables citizens to collect geotagged data. The classic example is the OpenStreetMap project where volunteers contribute towards the mapping of the planet. This paper highlights the geospatial solution based on citizen science to collect geotagged data about the water quality (turbidity). This solution is developed using open source tools and consists of an Android based mobile app and web based dashboard on the server side for real time data visualization and analysis. The web application is designed and developed using PHP, JavaScript, HTML & CSS and allows user to view the interpolated geotagged data about water quality over various background maps like OSM, Bhuvan etc. PostgreSQL/PostGIS are used as the backend geospatial data server for storing the geotagged dataset. Such solution will be very useful for water quality monitoring as part of national level project like Clean Ganga Mission using the citizen centric approach

Apoptosis screening of human chromosome 21 proteins reveals novel cell death regulators

The functional analysis of chromosome 21 (Chr21) proteins is of great medical relevance. This refers, in particular, to the trisomy of human Chr21, which results in Down’s syndrome, a complex developmental and neurodegenerative disease. In a previous study we analyzed 89 human Chr21 genes for the subcellular localization of their encoded proteins using a transfected-cell array technique. In the present study, the results of the follow-up investigation are presented in which 52 human Chr21 genes were over-expressed in HEK cells using the transfected-cell array platform, and the effect of this protein over-expression on the induction of apoptosis has been analyzed. We found that the over-expression of two Chr21 proteins (claudin-14 and -8) induced cell death independent of the classic caspase-mediated apoptosis. Our results strongly suggest the functional involvement of claudins in the control of the cell cycle and regulation of the cell death induction mechanism