Sinkholes in Earth Dam Kota Barrage [India]

Kota Barrage is the lowermost hydraulic structure amongst the series of four dams built across the river Chambal, a tributary of the river Yamuna in the Ganga Basin. It is situated near the Kota City, Rajasthan in India and is in operation since November, 1960 with an irrigation potential of 679 thousand ha in two adjoining states of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. It comprises of a composite structure consisting of a 268.2m long earth and rockfill dam and a 304.8m long masonry spillway, the total length being 573.0m The earth/rockfill dam abuts in the right against a hillock over which a very old Garh Complex exists and two fort walls intervened in between the spillway and the abutment have divided the dam into three distinct reaches having different foundation sub-strata. The spillway rests on hard quartzitic sand stone with high rock face in the left flank and is provided with 19-radial gates (12 2m x 12.2m each) and 2-under-sluices (2. 7m x 3.3m) to discharge 21240 cumecs at MWL 260.9m. Heavy leakage of water through the bed rock crevices in the adjacent right abutment resting on hillock stope wet spots on downstream edge alongwith repeated settlements and formation of sinkholes on top of the dam has led to a great concern about safety of the dam. Geo-technical investigations carried out recently revealed some lenses/zones with low density soilmass and higher permeability at places in the embankment

Lack of research aptitude in medical education

Students are attracted towards the medical profession to become a doctor and not to be a researcher. According to a recent study there are about 1,00,000 undergraduate medical students in India at a given point of time, out of them only 0.9% of the students have shown research aptitude. During their training period of graduation in medical sciences, they are so much burdened with the work load of exams, practicals, ward duties and tutorials. In such an over burdened situation very few of them can think about research. A study had shown that training in research methodology received early in medical school helps students to develop a positive attitude towards research. So changes in the undergraduate and postgraduate curriculum are required to promote research among medical students

Hydrogen induced abrupt structural expansion at high temperatures of a Ni32Nb28Zr30Cu10 membrane for H2 purification

Ni-Nb-Zr amorphous membranes, prepared by melt-spinning, show great potential for replacing crystalline Pd-based materials in the field of hydrogen purification to an ultrapure grade (>99.999%). In this study, we investigate the temperature evolution of the structure of an amorphous ribbon with the composition Ni32Nb28Zr30Cu10 (expressed in atom %) by means of XRD and DTA measurements. An abrupt structural expansion is induced between 240 and 300 °C by hydrogenation. This structural modification deeply modifies the hydrogen sorption properties of the membrane, which indeed shows a strong reduction of the hydrogen capacity above 270 °C

Bench Model of Electrical Control System for Inflatable Hemi-Spherical Structure

The Development of Bench Model of Electrical Control System for Inflatable Hemi Spherical Structure (IHSS) is presented in this paper. Electrical control system is used for controlling the Air Blower System, Air Conditioning System and monitoring of complete IHSS. Electrical Control System also provides the modes of control such as Auto Control, Remote Control and Local Manual Control. A bench model is developed for achieving all these facilities and verifying design concept. Keywords:-Inflatable, Control System, Bench Model, Simulation

Immunomodulation and interferon gamma gene expression in sutchi cat fish, Pangasianodon hypophthalmus: effect of dietary fucoidan rich seaweed extract (FRSE) on pre and post challenge period

A 45-days feeding trial was conducted to study the immunomodulatory effect and interferon gamma gene expression of dietary fucoidan rich seaweed extract (FRSE) from Sargassum wightii on Pangasianodon hypophthalmus fingerlings. One hundred and eighty fingerlings were distributed into six experimental groups in triplicates. Each group was stocked with 10 fish and fed to satiation with iso-nitrogenous (34.96 � 0.09–35.18 � 0.03 CP%) and iso-caloric (368.65 � 0.86–375.09 � 0.26 Kcal/100 g) purified diets containing either 0% FRSE (control), 1% FRSE (TF1), 2% FRSE (TF2), 3% FRSE (TF3), 3% seaweed powder (TS3) or 6% seaweed powder (TS6) in the feed. After feeding trial the experimental fish were challenged with Aeromonas hydrophila. Immunological parameters like respiratory burst activity, lysozyme activity, phagocytic activity and total leukocyte count (TLC) were increased with the increasing level of dietary FRSE, whereas serum Albumin/ Globulin (A/G) ratio and blood glucose level exhibited decreasing trend (P < 0.05)

Restriction on animal experimentation for medical education and research: pros and cons

Recently, a lot have been written and discussed about animal experiments and ethics. Still there is too much confusion among academicians and researchers about the future of use of animals in biomedical research and up to what extent their use in laboratory, research institutions, and medical colleges. This article highlighted and discussed about various aspects of this burning issue along with several pros and cons

Effect of crop residue addition on soil organic carbon priming as influenced by temperature and soil properties

Priming of soil organic carbon (SOC) is a crucial factor in ecosystem carbon balance. Despite its increasing importance in the changing global climate, the extent of influence of temperature and soil properties on the priming effect remains unclear. Here, soil priming was investigated using 13C labeled wheat residues in two cultivated, subtropical (Vertisol) and semi-arid (Luvisol), soils of Australia at four incubation temperatures (13, 23, 33 and 43 °C). The priming effect was computed from respired CO2 and associated δ13C, which were measured periodically over the 52-day incubation period. Wheat residue addition resulted in greater priming effect in the Luvisol (1.17 to 2.37% of SOC) than the Vertisol (0.02 to 1.56% of SOC). The priming of SOC was the highest at 23 °C in the Luvisol, and at 43 °C in the Vertsiol, which indicates a variable positive priming effect of temperature in different soil types. Wheat residue addition significantly increased the temperature sensitivity (Q10) of SOC mineralization in the Vertisol at temperature ranges below 33 °C (i.e., 13–23 and 23–33 °C) and had no significant effect in the Luvisol. A negative correlation was observed between temperature and the Q10 values. Across soils, the Q10 of residue C was lower than SOC suggesting that soil C is more vulnerable to climatic warming. This work demonstrates that the magnitude of SOC priming by wheat residue and Q10 of SOC mineralization varied significantly with soil type (Luvsiol &gt; Vertisol) and incubation conditions (temperature and time). Given the current trend towards increasing atmospheric temperatures, future studies should evaluate temperature effects on the priming of different pools of SOC induced by crop residue in different agro-ecosystems

Assessment of blood culture and tube agglutination serology test for the diagnosis of typhoid fever amongst malaria-negative patients: a one-year hospital-based study

Salmonella serotypes, including Salmonella Typhi, S. Paratyphi A, S. Paratyphi B, and S. Paratyphi C, are responsible for the systemic, protracted febrile sickness known as typhoid fever. Various antibody-based tests are being used for diagnosing typhoid fever. This study was carried out to assess the performance of the widal test and blood culture for the diagnosis of typhoid fever among malaria-negative patients in a tertiary care hospital in east Delhi, India. The study was conducted from July 2021 to June 2022 in the Department of Microbiology of a tertiary care hospital in Delhi. Patients, including the adult and pediatric population, were evaluated for typhoid fever and participated in an observational, prospective study on febrile patients that was malaria-negative. Venous blood samples were obtained under strict aseptic conditions and further processed for widal serology and blood culture tests for typhoid fever. In our study, the prevalence of blood culture-positive Salmonella species was 0.3% (30/10,000 = 0.3%) Among antimicrobial susceptibility patterns, S. Typhi revealed the highest resistance rates for Ciprofloxacin (43.33%), Azithromycin (36.66%), and third-generation cephalosporins. Out of 30 blood culture-positive Salmonella Typhi of typhoid fever patients, 5 (17%) samples were negative for the Widal test. Among 30 samples, all were blood culture positive, but only 25 samples show Widal titer above the baseline i.e. >1:64. Although blood culture is the gold standard for the diagnosis of typhoid fever, the Widal test does play a role in the diagnosis and management of typhoid fever, especially in suspected cases when blood culture is negative, especially in government tertiary care hospitals

Android Phone Speech Recognition Sensed Notice Board Display

Today notice board has become an important thing in institutes/organization or public places like railway stations, bus stands and hospitals. But to use the paper notices stacked on a notice board is a time taking and expensive process and there is wastage lot of time, paper and labour. The notice board is used to display the information in an effective way to the people, but to update the messages instantly is not easy on the notice board. This project, deals about an advanced Hi-Tech wireless Notice Board. This system is enhanced to display the latest information through an Android application of smart phones or tablet