16 research outputs found
Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries
Background
Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres.
Methods
This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries.
Results
In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia.
Conclusion
This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries
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Not AvailableIn order to overcome the above lacunae in the present system, Integrated Farming
systems with location specific need based integration of components/enterprises are
essential to meet the very basic objectives of IFS. Integration of components such as
crops, horticulture, dairy, poultry, goatary, aquaculture, apiary etc. can be done for improving
the production, profitability, employment and nutrition in a sustainable way. I am very happy
to note that ICAR-Indian Institute of Farming Systems Research, Modipuram is working in
this direction through AICRP on Integrated Farming Systems. Since, establishment of IFS model and its evaluation requires more time and resources, synthesis of IFS models using
the primary (characterization survey), secondary data (published records) and experiences
of on-station and on-farm research experiments is an option to develop region specific
efficient IFS models. The authors of bulletin have developed and described a methodology
for synthesizing models based on which 29 IFS models suitable for 14 agro climatic regions
have been synthesized and presented in the bulletin. I am sure, the bulletin will be highly
useful for researchers, students, planners, development and extension agencies involved
in promotion of farming systems and development of bankable projects for economic growth
of farming community.Not Availabl
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Not AvailableA 60 - day feeding trial was conducted to study the effect of dietary microbial levan on growth performance and metabolic responses of Cyprinus carpio fry exposed to sublethal dose (1/10th LC₅₀) of fipronil [(±) - 5 - amino - 1 - (2,6 - dichloro - α,α,α - trifluoro - p - tolyl) - 4 - trifluoromethylsulfinylpyrazole - 3 - carbonitrile]. Two hundred and twenty five fry were randomly distributed in five treatments in triplicates. Four purified diets were prepared with graded levels of microbial levan. Five different treatment groups were levan control L₀P₀ (basal feed + 0 % levan without exposure to pesticide); pesticide control L₀P₁ (basal feed + 0 % levan with exposure to pesticide); L₀.₂₅P₁ (basal feed + 0.25 % levan with exposure to pesticide); L₀.₅₀P₁ (basal feed + 0.50 % levan with exposure to pesticide); and L₀.₇₅P₁ (basal feed + 0.75 % levan with exposure to pesticide). Weight gain% and specific growth rate were significantly higher (p < 0.05) in levan fed groups compared to their non - levan fed counterpart. Highest (p < 0.05) content of ascorbic acid in muscle, liver and brain tissues was observed with higher level of dietary levan. Glucose - 6 - phosphate dehydrogenase activity decreased with the increasing level of dietary levan in the liver and muscle. Aspartate aminotransferase activity exhibited a second order polynomial relationship with the dietary levan, both in liver (Y = - 1.001x² + 5.366x + 5.812, r² = 0.887) and muscle (Y = - 0.566x² + 2.833x + 6.506, r² = 0.858) while alanine aminotransferase activity showed third order polynomial relationship both in liver (Y = 1.195x³ - 12.30x² + 35.23x + 9.874, r² = 0.879) and muscle (Y = 0.527x³ - 8.429x² + 31.80x + 8.718, r² = 0.990). Highest (p < 0.05) superoxide dismutase activity in gill was observed in the group fed with 0.75 % levan supplemented diet. Overall results indicated that dietary microbial levan at 0.75 % in C. carpio fry ameliorated the negative effects of fipronil and augmented the growth.Not Availabl
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Not AvailableCrop and livestock cannot be separated for small holder agriculture in India as crop +
livestock is the pre-dominant farming system existing in the country and livelihood of 117
million marginal and small farm holdings revolves around this system. Small categories of
farms are often subjected to weather vagaries like flood, drought and other natural
calamities and farming remains risky. Vertical expansion in small farms is possible by
integrating appropriate farming system components requiring less space and time and
ensuring periodic income to the farmers. Integrated Farming System (IFS) is considered
to be powerful tool and holds the key for ensuring income, employment, livelihood and
nutritional security in a sustainable mode for small and marginal farmers who constitute
84.97% of total operational holdings and operated 44.31% of area. Integrated system
meets the above goals through multiple uses of natural resources such as land, water,
nutrients and energy in a complimentary way thus giving scope for round the year
sustainable income from various enterprises.Not Availabl
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Not AvailableTurmeric (Curcuma longa L) is an important cash crop grown by tribal farmers of Odisha for their livelihood. Despite the good agro-climatic condition, the productivity of turmeric in Odisha is much below (2.4 t/ha) as compared to national average (5.1 t/ha). Therefore, the present study was carried out during 2011-12 and 2012 -13 to assess the current status of the traditional practices of turmeric cultivation followed by farmers. Four districts of Odisha namely Nayagarh,
Ganjam, Kandhamal and Keonjhar were selected where this crop is grown by the farmers in general and tribals in particular.
The sample consisted of 360 farmers including 180 women. It has been observed that a large number of tribal
farmers still practice the traditional method of cultivation of turmeric. Turmeric is cultivated in slop with or without terraces
and in plains as a sole crop and intercrop. Dughi, Jobedi, Katigia, Local, Lakadong, Ranga, Rasmi and Suroma
varieties of turmeric are grown in Odisha. Turmeric is cultivated by the farmers of Odisha for home consumption, seed purpose and for source of income. It has been observed that technological interventions like rhizome treatment, soil application of Trichoderma (bio-control agent) in well rotten cow dung, wood ash, crop rotation, mulching, plant protection measures increased rhizomes yield tune of 20- 30% at farmers fieldNot Availabl
Comparative analysis of optimal load dispatch through evolutionary algorithms
This paper presents an evolutionary algorithm named as Cuckoo Search algorithm applied to non-convex economic load dispatch problems. Economic load dispatch (ELD) is very essential for allocating optimally generated power to the committed generators in the system by satisfying all of the constraints. Various evolutionary techniques like Genetic Algorithm (GA), Evolutionary programming, Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Cuckoo Search algorithm are considered to solve dispatch problems. To verify the robustness of the proposed Cuckoo Search based algorithm, constraints like valve point loading, ramp rate limits, prohibited operating zones, multiple fuel options, generation limits and losses are also incorporated in the system. In the Cuckoo Search algorithm, the levy flights and the behavior of alien egg discovery is used to search the optimal solution. In comparison with the solution quality and execution time obtained by five test systems, the proposed algorithm seems to be a promising technique to solve realistic dispatch problems
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Not AvailableThe present investigation was carried out during 2016-2017 to delineate the best performing combinational
doses of NPK on two cauliflower varieties (Pusa Snowball K-1 and Pusa Himjyoti). Four different combinations
of NPK kg ha-1, viz. T0 = 0:0:0, T1 = 80:30:60, T2 = 120:60:80 and T3 = 150:70:100 NPK with three replications using two-way factorial analysis. Results revealed that NPK application of 120:60:80 kg ha-1 was found to be performing better for yield contributing characters of cauliflower var. Pusa Snowball K-1 with maximum plant weight (1.50 kg/ plant), net curd weight (659 g/ plant), curd diameter (13.33 cm), curd height (10.12 cm), stalk length (3.25 cm) and curd yield per plot (14.29 kg/plot), whereas, treatment T3, when applied on Pusa Snowball K-1 resulted in better growth in terms of plant height (37.16 cm), plant spread (47.23 cm) and number of leaves (14.93). The study also revealed that ascorbic acid as well as β-carotene contents in curds showed a decreasing trend with increasing level of NPK inputs irrespective of variety. Under Western plain zones of Uttar Pradesh better performance of Pusa Snowball K-1 with NPK application of 120:60:80 kg ha-1 could be suitable combination for cauliflower cultivationNot Availabl