Blasting technique for stabilizing accidentprone slope for sustainable railway route

Konkan Railway has many unstable slopes along the 741 km long route from Roha to Thokur in the states of Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka in India. Frequent cases of boulder fall, slope failure and landslide used to occur on the track during the rainy season. Such cases have resulted in several severe train accidents, traffic interruptions, loss of lives and assets. Hence the Konkan Railway Corporation deployed several geotechnical measures such as wire-netting, retaining wall, rock bolting and shotcreting for stability enhancement. However, none of these measures proved effective and accidents continued. Finally, the Konkan Railway Corporation decided to redesign the cut-slopes using blasting. Excavation of hard rock for its removal without damaging the existing track (2– 3 m away from the slope) and disrupting the traffic, was a daunting task. An unplanned blast would have resulted in the closure of the route for hours. The present study explains the method in which entire cutting was redesigned by formation of 5 to 2 m wide berms at an interval of 6 m bench height from rail track level using novel direction controlled blasting technique. Further, stability of the cut-slope, before and after exacavation, has been determined using kinematic analysis and 3D numerical modelling. Similar technique can be adopted to widen or stabilize an active transportation route in hills

Ontogeny of the digestive tract in stinging catfish, Heteropneustes fossilis (Bloch) larvae

Heteropneustes fossilis (Bloch) is an important candidate species for diversification of freshwater aquaculture in India. However, high mortality rate during larval rearing is the most serious bottleneck in commercial production of this species. A proper understanding of the ontogenic development of digestive system provides the basis to understand the nutritional physiology of larvae and develop appropriate feeding strategies. In the present study, the ontogenical development of the digestive tract in H. fossilis larvae was studied from hatching until 30 day post-hatching (dph) at 29 °C. At hatching (2.8 ± 0.2 mm standard length, SL), the digestive tract was undifferentiated and attached dorsally to the yolk sac. At 1 dph (2.9 ± 0.2 mm SL), the mouth opened and oral valves were visible. At 2 dph (3.0 ± 0.3 mm SL), goblet cells were observed in the buccoparyngaeal cavity. At this age, exogenous feeding started and the intestine was differentiated into the anterior and posterior regions, and the rudimentary liver and pancreas were also seen. Small supranuclear vacuoles were observed in the enterocytes of the posterior intestine at 2 dph. Zymogen granules were observed in acinar cells of pancreas by 3 dph, and islets of Langerhans were visible at 4 dph (3.5 ± 0.1 mm SL). At the same age, most of the yolk sac reserves were consumed, whereas they were completely exhausted by 5 dph (3.9 ± 0.5 mm SL). Between 4 and 6 dph, the liver elongated in size and started to accumulate lipids in the hepatocytes. Gastric glands were detected at 4 dph, and the pyloric sphincter was completely differentiated at 9 dph (6.1 ± 0.4 mm SL) as an epithelial fold that separated stomach from the anterior intestine. By 13 dph (8.6 ± 0.2 mm SL), profuse gastric glands were visible inside longitudinal mucosal folds of the stomach. The formation of gastric glands and their development were noticed as the last events in the development of the digestive tract in H. fossilis. This indicated the end of the larval period and the commencement of the juvenile stage. Considering these observations, it is suggested that H. fossilis larvae have a morphologically complete digestive tract by 13 dph. The findings of the study on the development of the digestive system in H. fossilis may help in synchronising the larval stage of development and feeding strategies and would be helpful in improving larval rearing techniques for catfish species.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Nutrition, atherosclerosis, arterial imaging, cardiovascular risk stratification, and manifestations in COVID-19 framework: a narrative review.

Background: Atherosclerosis is the primary cause of the cardiovascular disease (CVD). Several risk factors lead to atherosclerosis, and altered nutrition is one among those. Nutrition has been ignored quite often in the process of CVD risk assessment. Altered nutrition along with carotid ultrasound imaging-driven atherosclerotic plaque features can help in understanding and banishing the problems associated with the late diagnosis of CVD. Artificial intelligence (AI) is another promisingly adopted technology for CVD risk assessment and management. Therefore, we hypothesize that the risk of atherosclerotic CVD can be accurately monitored using carotid ultrasound imaging, predicted using AI-based algorithms, and reduced with the help of proper nutrition. Layout: The review presents a pathophysiological link between nutrition and atherosclerosis by gaining a deep insight into the processes involved at each stage of plaque development. After targeting the causes and finding out results by low-cost, user-friendly, ultrasound-based arterial imaging, it is important to (i) stratify the risks and (ii) monitor them by measuring plaque burden and computing risk score as part of the preventive framework. Artificial intelligence (AI)-based strategies are used to provide efficient CVD risk assessments. Finally, the review presents the role of AI for CVD risk assessment during COVID-19. Conclusions: By studying the mechanism of low-density lipoprotein formation, saturated and trans fat, and other dietary components that lead to plaque formation, we demonstrate the use of CVD risk assessment due to nutrition and atherosclerosis disease formation during normal and COVID times. Further, nutrition if included, as a part of the associated risk factors can benefit from atherosclerotic disease progression and its management using AI-based CVD risk assessment

PREDICTING BLAST-INDUCED GROUND VIBRATIONS IN SOME INDIAN TUNNELS USING DECISION TREE

This study compares three different techniques — decision tree, artificial neural network (ANN) and multivariate regression analysis (MVRA) — for predicting blast-induced ground vibrations in some Indian tunneling projects. The models’ performance was also compared with site-specific conventional predictor equations. A database consisting of 137 vibration records was randomly divided into training and testing sets for model generation. The results indicate that the decision tree is best suited to predicting vibrations. Furthermore, the decision tree suggests that the intensity of near-field ground vibrations is mainly affected by the total charge fired in a round, whereas the intensity of far-field vibrations is governed by maximum charge per delay and charge per hole

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Not AvailableThe present investigation was carried out to find out the yield performance and extent of genetic variability present in the fine grain aromatic rice advanced lines under mid hill conditions of Uttarakhand. Sixteen fine grain aromatic rice genotypes were evaluated for fifteen quantitative traits in a completely randomized block design with three replications during Kharif season. Highly significant differences were found for most of the traits, indicating the existence of genetic variability varying from lower to higher coefficients. The results found that the highest estimates of genotypic and phenotypic coefficient of variability for grain yield per plot (20.74% and 22.21%) whereas moderate level was observed for plant height (12.19% and 12.27%), panicles per plant (9.78% and15.19%), grains per panicle (11.40% and12.05%) and fertile grains per panicle (11.74% and 12.29%) respectively, indicating considerable amount of variability expressed for these traits. High heritability as well as high genetic advance was exhibited by traits viz., plant height (97.71% and 29.05%), number of grains per panicle (89.49% and 27.81%) and fertile grains per panicle (91.23% and 22.98%) signifying that for the improvement of these traits selection may be rewarding. Grain yield was observed to be significantly and positively correlated with plant height (0.467), flag leaf length (0.389), thousand grain weights (0.523) and kernel length (0.322) suggesting the scope of these traits for improving yield of fine grain aromatic rice through indirect selection. The path coefficient analysis showed that kernel length (1.675) had the highest positive direct effect on grain yield followed by days to maturity (1.053), grains per panicle (0.585), thousand grain weight (0.501), panicles per plant (0.305) and plant height (0.285). Therefore, these traits should be considered as significant while formulating the selection criteria in fine grain aromatic rice breeding for yield under the mid hill conditions of Uttarakhand.ICA

Directional controlled blasting technique for excavation of unstable slopes along the Konkan Railway route

The paper presents an innovative directional controlled blasting (DCB) technique for excavating unstable slopes along the Konkan railway in India without disturbing the traffic. New empirical formulae for small geometry blasting to estimate burden and throw were developed. A unique sequence of firing and excavation with powder factor varying between 0.04 and 0.39 kg/m3, irrespective of the actual free face, was used for rock blasting. The process controlled the throw of blasted material over the track and resulted in a smooth and stable wall. The slope angle was changed from 80–82 to 45– 47 degrees, and possible wedge, planar and toppling failures were eliminated. No incident of rockfall and slope failure along these slopes has been observed after the stabilization

Innovative Directional Controlled Blasting Technique for Excavation of Unstable Slopes Along a Busy Transportation Route: a Case Study of Konkan Railway in India

Many cases of derailments, train accidents and traffic interruptions due to the slope failure and rockfall have been reported in the past on Konkan Railway trackline because of unstable rock slopes. The authorities installed stability enhancement measures such as wire netting, rock bolting and shotcreting which were found insufficient. The failed geotechnical measures prompted authorities to excavate the unstable slopes. Rock blasting is generally not preferred for the excavation of slopes along the transportation route. Stabilisation and widening of slopes by blasting need closure of the route for a considerable time. Discontinuing traffic on Konkan Railway route was undesirable as it connects two important port cities Mumbai and Mangalore. The paper presents an innovative directional controlled blasting (DCB) technique for excavating three unstable slopes (i.e. cuttings) in hilly terrain without disturbing the traffic. New empirical formulae for small geometry blasting to estimate burden and throw have been developed. A unique sequence of firing and excavation with powder factor varying between 0.04 and 0.39 kg/m3 irrespective of the actual free face was used for rock blasting. The process controlled the throw of blasted material over the track and resulted in a smooth and stable wall. The slope angle has been changed from 80 to 82° to 45–47° and probability of wedge, planar and toppling failures was eliminated. About 100 such accident-prone slopes (52 km cumulative length, 7% of total route) situated at discrete locations along Konkan Railway route were stabilised using the technique. No incident of rockfall and slope failures along these slopes has been observed after the stabilisation