The Effect of Grain Size on Radon Exhalation Rate in Natural-dust and Stone-dust Samples

AbstractRadiation dose to human population due to inhalation of radon and its progeny contributes more than 50% of the total dose from the natural sources which is the second leading cause of lung cancer after smoking. In the present work the dependence of radon exhalation rate on the physical sample parameters of stone dust and natural dust were studied. The samples under study were first crushed, grinded, dried and then passed through sieves with different pore sizes to get samples of various grain sizes (μm). The average value of radon mass exhalation rate is 5.95±2.7 mBqkg-1hr-1 and average value of radon surface exhalation rate is 286±36 mBqm-2 hr-1 for stone dust, and the average value of radon mass exhalation rate is 9.02±5.37 mBqkg-1hr-1 and average value of radon surface exhalation rate is 360±67 mBqm-2 hr-1 for natural dust. The exhalation rate was found to increase with the increase in grain size of the sample. The obtained values of radon exhalation rate for all the samples are found to be under the radon exhalation rate limit reported worldwide

Scanned Document Compression Technique

These days’ different media records are utilized to impart data. The media documents are content records, picture, sound, video and so forth. All these media documents required substantial measure of spaces when it is to be exchanged. Regular five page report records involve 75 KB of space, though a solitary picture can take up around 1.4 MB. In our paper, fundamental center is on two pressure procedures which are named as DjVU pressure strategy and the second is Block-based Hybrid Video Codec. In which we will chiefly concentrate on DjVU pressure strategy. DjVu is a picture pressure procedure particularly equipped towards the pressure of checked records in shading at high determination. Run of the mill magazine pages in shading filtered at 300dpi are compacted to somewhere around 40 and 80 KB, or 5 to 10 times littler than with JPEG for a comparative level of subjective quality. The frontal area layer, which contains the content and drawings and requires high spatial determination, is isolated from the foundation layer, which contains pictures and foundations and requires less determination. The closer view is packed with a bi-tonal picture pressure system that exploits character shape similitudes. The foundation is compacted with another dynamic, wavelet-based pressure strategy. A constant, memory proficient variant of the decoder is accessible as a module for famous web programs. We likewise exhibit that the proposed division calculation can enhance the nature of decoded reports while at the same time bringing down the bit rate

Phrenic Nerve Impingement and Effect of Superficial Neck Flexors Stretching in Improving Diaphragmatic Function among Patient with Chronic Neck Pain

Background: The phrenic nerve is formed on the lateral border of scalenus anterior. It runs vertically downward on the anterior surface of the scalenus anterior. The muscle is oblique and nerve cross it obliquely from its lateral to medial border. In this part the nerve is related anteriorly sternocleidomastoid. The decline in the diaphragm function can occur due to phrenic nerve block but to the best of our search, there is dearth of literature pertaining to involvement of phrenic nerve in patient with chronic neck pain secondary to superficial neck flexors tightness. So, evaluation of these muscle for tightness may be considered which may affect the maximum inspiratory pressure (MIP). Objective: To find the change in diaphragmatic function secondary to phrenic nerve impingement measured through maximum inspiratory pressure (MIP) following stretching of superficial neck flexors in patient with chronic neck pain Methods: An experimental (pre-post design) study involving 40 subjects with mean (±SD) age 22.4 ± 2.8 years was performed. Using purposive sampling 40 subjects (77.5% female and 22.5% male) were used to check phrenic nerve impingement by looking at the effect of superficial neck flexors stretching (sternocleidomastoid and anterior scalene) in improving diaphragmatic function in patient with chronic neck pain. The included subject’s diaphragmatic function was measured through maximum inspiratory pressure using a device capsule sensing pressure gauge followed by stretching of superficial neck flexors on both sides. After two minutes of stretching diaphragmatic function was again measured. Results: There was increase in diaphragmatic function following stretching of superficial neck flexors by 13.2cm H2O which was found to be highly significant statistically with p value < 0.01 Conclusion: The result of present study concluded that superficial neck flexors stretching was effective in treating the impingement of phrenic nerve as measured through maximum inspiratory pressure in patients with chronic neck pain

Mortality linked derivatives and their pricing

This thesis addresses the absence of explicit pricing formulae and the complexity of proposed models (incomplete markets framework) in the area of mortality risk management requiring the application of advanced techniques from the realm of Financial Mathematics and Actuarial Science. In fact, this is a multi-essay dissertation contributing in the direction of designing and pricing mortality-linked derivatives and offering the state of art solutions to manage longevity risk. The first essay investigates the valuation of Catastrophic Mortality Bonds and, in particular, the case of the Swiss Re Mortality Bond 2003 as a primary example of this class of assets. This bond was the first Catastrophic Mortality Bond to be launched in the market and encapsulates the behaviour of a well-defined mortality index to generate payoffs for bondholders. Pricing this type of bond is a challenging task and no closed form solution exists in the literature. In my approach, we adapt the payoff of such a bond in terms of the payoff of an Asian put option and present a new methodology to derive model-independent bounds for catastrophic mortality bonds by exploiting the theory of comonotonicity. While managing catastrophic mortality risk is an upheaval task for insurers and re-insurers, the insurance industry is facing an even bigger challenge - the challenge of coping up with increased life expectancy. The recent years have witnessed unprecedented changes in mortality rate. As a result academicians and practitioners have started treating mortality in a stochastic manner. Moreover, the assumption of independence between mortality and interest rate has now been replaced by the observation that there is indeed a correlation between the two rates. Therefore, my second essay studies valuation of Guaranteed Annuity Options (GAOs) under the most generalized modeling framework where both interest rate and mortality risk are stochastic and correlated. Pricing these types of options in the correlated environment is an arduous task and a closed form solution is non-existent. In my approach, I employ the use of doubly stochastic stopping times to incorporate the randomness about the time of death and employ a suitable change of measure to facilitate the valuation of survival benefit, there by adapting the payoff of the GAO in terms of the payoff of a basket call option. I then derive general price bounds for GAOs by employing the theory of comonotonicity and the Rogers-Shi (Rogers and Shi, 1995) approach. Moreover, I suggest some `model-robust' tight bounds based on the moment generating function (m.g.f.) and characteristic function (c.f.) under the affine set up. The strength of these bounds is their computational speed which makes them indispensable for annuity providers who rely heavily on Monte Carlo simulations to calculate the fair market value of Guaranteed Annuity Options. In fact, sans Monte Carlo, the academic literature does not offer any solution for the pricing of the GAOs. I illustrate the performance of the bounds for a variety of affine processes governing the evolution of mortality and the interest rate by comparing them with the benchmark Monte Carlo estimates. Through my work, I have been able to express the payoffs of two well known modern mortality products in terms of payoffs of financial derivatives, there by filling the gaps in the literature and offering state of art techniques for pricing of these sophisticated instruments

Comparative study of intravenous hydralazine and labetalol in severe hypertensive disorders of pregnancy

Background: Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are among the most common medical complications of pregnancy and major cause of maternal, fetal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy and safety of intravenous hydralazine and labetalol for management of severe hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.Methods: This prospective study was conducted among 100 women admitted with SBP ≥ 160 or DBP ≥ 110 mmHg or both. Patients were divided into 2 groups randomly: labetalol and hydralazine group.Results: Majority of patients (38%) were in the age group of 21-25 years and primigravida (52%). There was more significant decrease in the systolic, diastolic and mean arterial blood pressure at the end of 15 and 30 minutes in labetalol group. Labetalol required fewer doses as compared to hydralazine to achieve the target blood pressure (average 1.95 versus 3.1). Total numbers of term deliveries were 19 (38%) in hydralazine group and 16 (32%) in labetalol group. Pre-term deliveries in hydralazine and labetalol group were 14 (28%) and 15 (30%) respectively. Headache was significantly more common in hydralazine treated patients than labetalol group.Conclusions: Both hydralazine and labetalol were effective and well-tolerated in the treatment of severe hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. Labetalol may be preferred because it was more effective in lowering the systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and mean arterial pressure to achieve target levels with less number of doses

Trends in water borne diseases in Kerala: an analysis of directorate of health services portal data

Background: Kerala faces high mortality-morbidity rates from water borne diseases. For the timely management of communicable diseases, understanding trends, pattern and seasonality of disease was important. The aim was to find out the trend, pattern and seasonal variation of water borne diseases in Kerala.Methods: Retrospective record based descriptive study was done to find out the trend and pattern of water borne diseases and to find out its seasonal variation in Kerala. Data from the DHS (directorate of health services) portal during 2011 to 2019 were collected and analyzed.Results: More than 97 percent of water borne diseases are due to diarrheal diseases but no death reported. A rising trend in diarrheal disease is observed. Typhoid, hepatitis A and cholera showed decreasing trend. Leptospirosis shared only 0.2 to 0.4 percent, but death rate was high. Malapuram tends to report most number of cases but percentage share was highest from Kozhikode in 2011. Palakkad reported highest number and Kottayam lowest among central districts. Among southern districts, Thiruvananthapuram reported highest number of cases and Pathanamthitta lowest. Malappuram showed declining trend among northern districts while least number of cases were reported from Wayand district. Seasonal variability was observed in 2011-2013 and 2018.Conclusions: Seasonal variation in occurrence of water borne diseases in rainy season is statistically significant when compared to winter season. Data on water borne disease other than diarrheal diseases is a matter of concern

Isolation, Identification and Production of Encapsulated Bradyrhizobium japonicum and Study on their Viability

Rhizobium, a nitrogen-fixing bacteria is the essential feature of leguminous plants which is essential for the regeneration of nutrient-deficient soil. This study was aimed to isolate, identify, mass culture and immobilize Bradyrhizoium japonicum in encapsulated form and test their viability. Root nodules were sterilized, grinded and cultured aseptically in YEMA media containing Congo red. The obtained colon was sub-cultured to get a pure culture and different biochemical tests were conducted which proved Bradyrhizobium japonicum as the slow-growing species. The test shows a positive result of catalase production and nodulation test whereas the pH tolerance test shows more tolerance to the acidic pH. Similarly, Bradyrhizaobium japonicum can tolerate 1% and 2% NaCl concentration and it doesn’t show resistance to the penicillin disc of 10mg. The mass culture and encapsulation with sodium alginate adding sucrose as nutrient proved the simplicity for handling. Altogether 548 beads were prepared from the 100ml of the cultured broths which were viable for more than 190 days at 1%, 2% and 3% sucrose concentration but less viable at 5% and 10% sucrose concentration under room temperature

Ethical Values and Gravity of Profit or How Much Should Be Greed of Profit

Profit is fundamental right of every business, but the question is what should be the gravity of profit or how much be the greed of profit. Appetency of profit is must but too much greed affect the business. Researcher in this paper try to analyze the greed of profit and its impact on the growth and survival of business in this cruel competitive world through descriptive comparative approach with negative and positive aspects on business in operation and survival in competitive challenging world. Modern business operation is very complex from business point of view, everyone has eye on every concern, directly or indirectly, media and society is watching with eagle eye no one can escape, image and goodwill is key for success