Impact of Mineralogy, Texture and Fabric of the Maritime Canadian Sandstone on Deterioration of Ornamental Bridges in Central Park, NYC

The sandstones from the Maritime Provinces in Canada, used for the construction and restoration of Bethesda Terrace and several ornamental arches and bridges inside Central Park, NYC, were known for their durability, consistency of weathering, variety of earth-toned colors, fine-grained composition and easy workability. Nonetheless, they display varying weathering behavior when exposed to the same environmental conditions. While the type and degree of deterioration of the stone noted by former researchers at Central Park have been attributed largely to extrinsic factors rather than intrinsic factors, the aim of this research is to understand how different forms of deterioration observed may relate to the sandstone’s mineralogy and texture and determine if weathering is dependent on the stone’s source and utilization. Mineralogical composition and textural characteristics are important in any study of stone deterioration and treatment performance. They are useful to understand stone performance and weathering when used with other materials in a structure with complex environment such as of New York City. For this study, the Maritime Canadian sandstones used inside Central Park are fully characterized by determining their mineralogical composition and textural characteristics using x-ray diffraction (XRD), polarized light microscopy (PLM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and methylene blue index (MBI) of clay. Hygric dilation measurements were carried out to measure the stress exerted during swelling when the expansion is constrained. This characterization helps to compare and contrast deteriorated, undeteriorated and new samples; see differences among sandstones from different quarries; and understand how a particular stone characteristic may influence the sandstone’s specific weathering behavior

Evaluation of effect of extrusion process variables on mechanical properties of extruded collagen tubes and effect of post extrusion treatments

This study evaluated the effect of extrusion process variable on mechanical properties of extruded collagen tubes made using a specialized extruder, made by ZOKO Corporation of Czechoslovakia. Three extrusion variables were considered; extrusion speed, linear draw rate and rotation speed. Using Taguchi L4 matrix, a design of experiment (DOE) was run. Two mechanical properties, wall thickness and estimated elastic modulus, were considered as response of this DOE. Data was analyzed statically to evaluate the effect of extrusion variables on both these properties. Result of this study showed that linear draw rate of the extrusion process has the highest influence on wall thickness and rotation speed has highest influence on elastic modulus. Additional studies evaluated effects of post-extrusion treatment on properties of the tubes. Collagen is a biodegradable material so it degrades very fast in the body. A proposed use of these tubes is as vascular grafts. To serve this purpose the tubes have to be treated to degrade slowly in the body so that when it degrades newly formed vessel replace it. Studies were performed to compare two different cross-linking methods, coagulation methods and cross-linking time for a glutaraldehyde crosslinking process. Two crosslinking methods, considered in this study, are crosslinking by glutaraldehyde and EDC/NIHS. Result of these studies showed that, crosslinking with glutaraldehyde gives higher degree of crosslinking than EDC/NHS; and the coagulation with acetone and ammonium hydroxide is also more effective than coagulation with just ammonium hydroxide solution. Crosslinking time study for glutaraldehyde showed that increase in degree of crosslinking after 15 minutes is very slow

Formate Assisted Pyrolysis of Lignin

A significant fraction of global energy demand is met through nonrenewable petroleum feedstock, which increases the risk of energy security. The energy production from nonrenewable petroleum feedstocks is one of the large contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, which can cause climate change impacts. The energy security can be improved, and the greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced by deriving energy from domestically available renewable lignocellulosic feedstocks such as wood. Wood has three major components: cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. The cellulose is primarily used to produce pulp and paper. The hemicellulose is often utilized to produce a valueadded chemical like furfural. However, lignin is an underutilized component of wood, which is primarily used as a boiler fuel. The current economic value o f the lignin is very low as its application is greatly limited. The low economic value of lignin can also be limiting the commercialization of biorefineries to produce biofuels. has been conducted to valorize lignin via fast pyrolysis Significant research and catalytic pyrolysis to produce chemicals and fuels. However, problems such as feeding, low energy density of biooil due to a high oxygen content, irreversible deactivation of the catalyst due to the presence of ash are hindering the commercialization of these processes. In this study, we explore the possibility of overcoming these problems with the formate assisted pyrolysis (FAsP) of lignin. The FAsP involves pretreating lignin with two formate salts (calcium formate and magnesium fo rmate) before it is pyrolyzed in a reactor at a temperature of 500 °C. Two different mass concentrations formate salts salt per g of lignin. It wa we re considered: 0.5 g and 1 g of formate s observed that lignin feeding issues can be overcome by pretreating lignin with the formate salts of calcium and magnesium. The highest bio yield of pyrolysis of pretreated lignin with calcium and magnesium formate salts waoil s found to be 7% and 15.5 %, respectively. The O/C ratio of biooil wa s found to be 0.08 and 0.16 for the lignin pretreatment with calcium and magnesium formate salts, respectively. By CNMR it was detected that biooil has more than 75% aromatics

Analysis of Security Threats in Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP)

The VoIP system is build on the IP network, so it is affected by the IP network security problem. It has many security problems because of the security mechanism of VoIP system and other external factors. These effects relate to the following three aspects: confidentiality, integrity and availability. This paper makes a detailed analysis discussed several security potential threats by dividing it into several categories like social, eavesdropping, service abuse, etc. and finally shows how this threats are harmful to VoIP. Keywords-VoIP; Security threat

RP-HPLC METHOD DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION FOR SIMULTANEOUS ESTIMATION OF MOXIFLOXACIN AND DIFLUPREDNATE IN THEIR COMBINED DOSAGE FORM

Moxifloxacin is synthetic fluoroquinolone antibiotic agent and Difluprednate is a topical corticosteroid indicated for the treatment of infammation and pain associated with ocular surgery. This combination of drugs will be used to treat optical infections. In RP-HPLC method, a mobile phase of Phosphate Buffer (pH 3.5) : Methanol (35:65 v/v)  was used to resolve Moxifloxacin and Difluprednate from a mixture. The linearity range obtained for the HPLC method were 25 - 75 μg/ml and 2.5 – 7.5 μg/ml with corresponding correlation coefficient of 0.998 and 0.997, for Moxifloxacin and Difluprednate respectively. Flow rate was set to 1 ml/min and detection was carried out at 244 nm. The method was found to be rapid, accurate and precise. This method was validated according to ICH guidlines

Value of Lifestyle Risk Factor Modification prior to joint replacement surgery

Background: Healthcare providers in the United States are under pressure to improve quality and reduce growth in cost of care in order to provide greater value for healthcare spending. CMS has targeted high cost, high volume elective procedures like joint replacement surgery for cost control and quality improvement through initiatives like the Comprehensive Joint Replacement program which provides a bundled payment for hospital and physician services for the initial surgery and 90 days of post-operative care. This dissertation examines the value of Lifestyle Risk Factor Modification (LSRM) on the clinical and financial outcomes of joint replacement surgery at a large academic hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. Methods: The dissertation begins with the background and significance of this topic. The first manuscript is a review of published literature to identify relevant work on this topic. Results of relevant studies were summarized and findings synthesized into a table of recommendations for lifestyle risk factors. The second manuscript explores the effect of the LSRM intervention on clinical outcomes like pain scores, length of stay, readmissions and joint revisions. The third manuscript looks at the value of the LSRM intervention on financial outcomes like cost of initial surgery/discharge and cost of 90 day episode of care. We end with a robust discussion regarding results of this study and implications for future research. Results: This study found a statistically significant benefit for patients receiving the LSRM intervention on clinical outcomes like pain score and length of stay as well as financial outcomes like cost of discharge and cost of 90 day episode of care. The study did not find a statistically significant benefit related to 90 day readmission and 180 day joint revision for patients receiving the LSRM intervention, most likely due to study power. Conclusion: This study suggests that the LSRM intervention has a beneficial effect on clinical and financial outcomes. There are several limitations to the study including a shift in care delivery to outpatient and ASC settings that began during the study period should be examined in future research. We should also explore how the LSRM intervention informs venue of care selection

Case report of serial pleural effusion managed with good fetal outcome

Fetal pleural effusion is a rare congenital anomaly that occurs when some amount of fluid surrounds the fetal lung without concomitant hydrops. It may remain the same or progress more. We present here a case of a 32-year-old lady with primary infertility who conceived naturally. She presented to us for her routine term pregnancy evaluation. At 17 weeks her targeted imaging for fetal anomalies (TIFFA) scan revealed left side severe fetal hydrothorax. Again at 29 weeks left pleural effusion was noted. A C-section was performed at 38th week of pregnancy and a male child weighing 2.995 grams was born, with no need for ventilator support

Certificates of Confidentiality: Protecting Human Subject Research Data in Law and Practice

The federal Certificate of Confidentiality plays an important role in research on sensitive topics by authorizing researchers to refuse to disclose identifiable research data in response to subpoenas in any legal setting. However, there is little known about how effective Certificates are in practice. This article draws on our legal and empirical research on this topic to fill this information gap. It includes a description of the purpose of Certificates, their legislative and regulatory history, and a summary of the few reported and unreported cases that have dealt with Certificates. In addition, we outline other statutory confidentiality protections, compare them to the Certificate's protections, and analyze some of the vulnerabilities of a Certificate's protections. This analysis allows us to make specific recommendations for strengthening the protections afforded to research data

Clinical and endoscopic features of pill-induced esophagitis

Background: Medication can cause an injury in the esophagus by local and systemic effect, leading to esophagitis. Many such medications have been identified as a cause of pill-induced esophagitis. This study was performed to evaluate the clinical and endoscopic findings of pill-induced esophagitis.Methods: This was retrospective observational study, conducted among patients diagnosed endoscopically with pill-induced esophagitis at Ansh gastroenterology clinic, Ahmedabad, India, from April 2017 to March 2021. The data of these patients were recorded in pre-designed case record form by evaluating their past medical records.Results: Total 90 patients were diagnosed with pill-induced esophagitis. Retrosternal chest pain (68.9%), odynophagia (41.1%), dysphagia (25.6%), and epigastric pain (14.4%) were common clinical findings. The major culprit medications were antibiotics, and NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs). Common esophageal endoscopic findings were ulcer (84.4%), erosion (17.8%), and active ulcer bleeding (12.2%). Kissing ulcers were observed in the majority (46.7%) of cases. The majority of ulcer and erosion were located in middle third of the esophagus. All the patients were recovered within 6 to 10 days after treatment with PPIs (proton pump inhibitors) and/or antacids, and withdrawal of the causative medication.Conclusions: Pill-induced esophagitis commonly manifests as retrosternal chest pain, odynophagia and dysphagia, and endoscopy reveals kissing ulcer and erosion in the majority of cases. The condition can be treated with PPIs and/or antacids, and withdrawal of the offending medication.