Explosive Remnants of War: A War after the War?

Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) pose significant humanitarian problems to the civilians as well as to the governments in post conflict situations. People continue to be at risk even after the war due to the presence of ERW. The issue of ERW has in fact shifted the focus of the international community from the immediate impacts of the weapons to their long term effects. In response to this, states concluded a landmark agreement, Protocol V to the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons in 2003 (CCW). This Protocol aims at providing a proper mechanism to deal with ERW threat. Meanwhile, with the beginning of the new century and the emergence of newly sophisticated weapons the debate over the ERW got shifted to one of the most menacing category of weapons called cluster munitions. Again, responding to the problem, the state parties adopted the Convention of Cluster Munitions 2003 which bans the use and development of these deadly weapons. Both these instruments suffer from certain inherent limitations. Despite these limitations they still serve as the last resort for the civilians as well as for the governments of the war torn communities in dealing with the catastrophic effects of ERW

Speed Control of DC Motor using Pid Controller Based on Matlab

This paper is to design PID controller to supervise and control the speed response of the DC motor and MATLAB program is used for calculation and simulation PID controllers are widely used in a industrial plants because of their simplicity and robustness. Industrial processes are subjected to variation in parameters and parameter perturbations. We are choosing PID parameters and discussed Key words: DC motor, PID controller, MATLAB representatio

Effect of Deflocculants on High Alumina Low Cement Castables

Refractories are an integral part of iron and steel making industries, and they face challenging operational parameters at elevated temperatures. Hence, there has been a shift of focus towards unshaped refractories, over conventional and shaped refractories. Refractory castables consists of a mixture of aggregate refractory grains, matrix phases, binders, deflocculants and other additives. In order to get the optimum result as envisioned, castable manufacturing needs to be controlled right from compositional batch calculation to the firing process. In this project, the effect of different types of deflocculant and its amount on high alumina low cement castables is observed. As the flowability is dependent on the particle size distribution and packing of the castable system, the particle size ranges follow a continuous distribution approach based on Dinger-Funk equation. The work studies for a distribution coefficient of q=0.21, which lies in the self-flowable castable zone. To determine the physical and mechanical properties, castable sample blocks are casted in a pre-fixed mold and subsequently dried and fired at two different temperatures namely, 900 °C and 1500 °C. The dimensional measurement and Cold Crushing Strength was observed at each step. Thus, the Bulk Density, CCS, Flowability values and XRD of different batches were analysed and discussed. The varying effect of different deflocculants were noted

Right sided infective endocarditis: a forgotten complication of septic abortion

Right-sided native valve infective endocarditis (IE) refers to IE involving the tricuspid or pulmonic valve. In developing countries, septic abortion is still prevalent due to instrumental delivery by untrained personnel. We report a case of a 22-year-old lady with right-sided IE and pulmonary septic embolization complicating septic abortion. The patient was treated with IV antibiotics, however, she succumbed to the illness following worsening respiratory distress and cardiac arrest

An unusual case of hypopituitarism

Lymphocytic hypophysitis represents a difficult diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. The clinical presentation of this inflammatory condition may mimic that of a pituitary adenoma with apoplexy. We report a case of a 45 years old male patient with acute adrenal crisis complicating chronic hypopituitarism secondary to lymphocytic hypophysitis. The patient was managed acutely with high dose steroids and supportive measures, and is currently doing well

Brave: A Virtual Reality Game

Virtual Reality has a wide range of applications whether it be in educational, medical or gaming. There is a huge demand for Virtual Reality in gaming industries as due to this immersive technology gamer feels he/she is part of gaming environment rather than a mere observer. VR game is a powerful tool to depict mental illness of the patient as mental illness is often underestimated and misunderstood. This will help to educate masses about it and in a way create awareness and eradicate its stigma. We trying to develop a game on the theme based on social anxiety

Influence of welding parameters on mechanical property during friction stir welded joint on aluminium alloys: a review

The friction stir welding (FSW) is widely used in the fabrication of Aluminium alloy and other non-ferrous alloy. It has good potential to be used in major industries such as automobiles, aerospace, shipbuilding and can be used in the joining of high strength alloys. The FSW process low distortion and heat affected zone (HAZ) with fine recrystallized microstructure which leads to better mechanical properties at the weld zone and produces great stability. In this study, the different FSW parameters such as weld speed, tool rotation speed, tool tilt angle, feed per min has been discussed. The different types of tool pin profile and shoulder have also been discussed and their impacts on mechanical and microstructural properties at welded joints. Among various welding parameters the rotational speed is the most influencing parameter in FSW. Increasing the rotational speed exhibits the increase at tensile strength and is supposed to improve the mechanical properties. The most affected tool pin profile would be considered to be tapered threaded cylindrical pin profile which makes the adequate mixing of material with better flow ability and provide the fine grains at nugget zone. Comparing the FSW with other arc welding processes, it shows a wide range of environmental benefits which are noticeable such as saving in consumable materials, decrease in consumption of filler material and reduction in grinding wastes. Harmful emissions created from arc welding causes a health hazard to the welder. For achieving the high joint-strength for aerospace aluminium alloys and high temperature sustainable metallic alloys, friction stir welding will be preferred

Secondary Metabolites of <em>Brassica juncea</em> (L.) Czern and Coss: Occurence, Variations and Importance

There are numerous secondary plant metabolites found in the crop B. juncea, especially glucosinolates. Isothiocyanates, the by-products of glycosinolate breakdown, are beneficial to human health. A number of studies have also called attention to phenolic compounds and carotenoids, both well known for their anti-oxidant properties. A notable feature is that the profiles and concentrations of secondary plant metabolites vary greatly between varieties and that genetic factors are thought to be the most significant factors. In addition, environmental and agronomic factors have also been noted to change the concentrations of secondary plant metabolites. Secondary plant metabolites are primarily produced for defense purposes. Consequently, the intrinsic quality of Indian mustard, including color, aroma, taste, and medicinal properties, is profoundly influenced by its secondary metabolite profile. The health benefits of glycosinolates and the cancer prevention properties of their breakdown products make them of specific interest. Plant cells that have been injured undergo enzymatic decomposition of glucosinolate by endogenous enzymes such as myrosinase, which releases degradation products such as nitriles, epithionitriles, or isothiocyanates. The main phenolic compounds found in B. juncea are flavonoids and hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives. A diverse secondary metabolite pool is also essential for plant-environment interactions

Editorial: Accelerating Genetic Gains in Pulses

Legumes, members of the Fabaceae/Leguminosae family, are the third largest family of higher plants with almost 20,000 species belonging to 650 genera, and are ubiquitous all over the world. Among all legumes, pulse crops or food legumes fall into the four clades of the subfamily Papilionoideae which include aeschynomenoids/dalbergiods, genistoids, hologalegina, and phaseoloids/millettoids. They are distinctive due to their positive impact on agricultural and environmental sustainability and have a prominent role in promoting human and animal health, soil amelioration, cropping system diversification, and sustenance of rural livelihoods (Pratap et al., 2021a). These also provide protein isolates that are increasingly being used in the food industry as functional ingredients suitable for vegan diets (Robinson et al., 2019). The inclusion of pulses in rotation with cereals helps to improve system yields, enhance net carbon sequestration, and lower the carbon footprint. Nonetheless, in addition to being an excellent source of protein, starch, and micronutrients, pulses also contain anti-nutritional compounds that can interfere with the absorption of minerals (Moore et al., 2018) and also the digestion of protein (Clemente et al., 2015). Realizing their importance, significant research has been dedicated to their genetic amelioration, thereby turning them into mainstream crops from so-called “orphan legumes”. Classical plant breeding methods led to the development of more than 3,800 improved varieties of different pulse crops globally, with improved attributes of grain yield, crop duration, stress resistance, nutrition quality, etc. However, despite this effort, the increase in average pulse yields (from 637 to 1,009 kg/ha) has been modest compared to dramatic increases in cereal productivity (from 1,353 to 4,074 kg/ha) between 1961 and 2017 (Kumar et al., 2020). Among legumes, Koester et al. (2014) studied 80 years of historical data of soybean breeding at the Crop Research and Education Center in Urbana, USA and reported a genetic gain of 26.5 kg ha−1 year−1 , attributing the gain in grain yield to increases in light interception, energy conversion, and partitioning efficiencies. Productivity gains in pulses have been recorded when especially considered along with the markedly reduced duration of the improved varieties, leading to increased cropping intensity, while genetic gains have been recorded for traits imparting resistance to major biotic and abiotic stresses, herbicide tolerance, larger seeds, and improved nutritional quality. This resulted in the growth, in terms of production and productivity, in major pulse-producing countries. For example, India witnessed the highest growth in production in mung bean (178%), followed by chickpea (125%), urdbean (90%), pigeonpea (51%), and lentil (34%) in the last 15 years (Gaur, 2021). Notably, breeding in most pulses has remained confined to the exploitation of genetic variation within the primary gene pool, which has resulted in a narrow genetic base in most of them