Performance Study of Some Reverse Osmosis Systems for Removal of Uranium and Total Dissolved Solids in Underground Waters of Punjab State, India

Radionuclides (uranium, thorium, radium, radon gas etc.) are found naturally in air, water, soil and rock. Everyday, we ingest and inhale these radionuclides through the air we breathe and through food and water we take. Out of the internal exposure via ingestion of radionuclides, water contributes the major portion. The natural radioactivity of water is due to the activity transfer from bed rock and soils. In our surveys carried out in the past few years, we have observed high concentrations of uranium and total dissolved solids (TDS) in drinking waters of some southern parts of Punjab State exceeding the safe limits recommended by national and international agencies. The main drinking water source is the underground water procured from different depths. Due to the highly saline taste, disorders in their digestive systems and other ailments, people are installing reverse osmosis (RO) systems in their houses. Some RO systems have been installed on commercial basis. The state government is also in the process of installing community RO systems at the village level. As high values of uranium are also undesired and may pose health hazards due to radioactivity and toxicity of uranium, we have conducted a survey in the field to study the performance of various RO systems for removal of uranium and TDS. Water samples from about forty RO systems from Faridkot, Mansa, Bathinda and Amritsar districts of Punjab State were collected and analyzed. Our results show that some RO systems are able to remove more than 99% of uranium in the underground waters used for drinking purposes. TDS values are also reduced considerably to the desired levels. So RO systems can be used to avoid the risk of unduly health problems posed by high concentrations of uranium and TDS in drinking water

Work–Family Conflict and Counterproductive Work Behaviors: Moderating Role of Regulatory Focus and Mediating Role of Affect

Evidence suggests work–family conflict can lead to numerous negative consequences in the workplace, including behaviors detrimental to the organization and its members, such as counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs). Yet relatively little research has addressed the relationship between work–family conflict and CWBs. This study builds on the structural model of stress and regulatory focus theory to addresses this major gap in the literature. Our model proposes that negative affect and self-regulation can help us understand how and why work–family conflict may be related to CWBs. We hypothesize that work–family conflict is positively related to negative affect, which in turn is positively related to CWBs, and regulatory focus moderates the relationship between work–family conflict and CWBs. A survey of 332 employees shows work–family conflict is directly related to CWBs, indirectly related to CWBs via negative affect, and the relationship is moderated by regulatory prevention focus. We discuss implications for theory and practice

Evaluation of the effectiveness of narcotics policies by the Swedish Government

Swedish news media are questioning whether Sweden's zero-tolerance drug policy can be sustained. Even in northern Europe, governments seldom take such a strong stance, and the UN has criticised Sweden's "balanced health and human rights strategy. Sweden's tough attitude is one factor. According to The Local, most lawmakers in Sweden's health and welfare committee want to reexamine the country's drug policies. Sweden's health and welfare committee reported this. In Sweden, liberal, centre, Swedish Democratic, Christian Democratic, and left parties promote a new perspective. This support is widespread. To establish whether Sweden's policies are effective, we will analyse both the concept of successful and its strategic criteria. Sweden's anti-drug efforts have enabled the government to proclaim success. Due to Sweden's attempts to reduce drug abuse, recreational drug use is rare. UNODC's Executive Director believes that countries should reduce overall drug consumption. It's harder to understand how this method may help with the negative effects of drug usage, particularly if the problems derive from drug dependency. Problematic are drug-related difficulties. This is because many players and systems are interdependent. Harm reduction and other public health programs may not be enough to address present circumstances, and their narrow approach may exacerbate the situation. Sweden's drug-free ideal has contributed to its inability to cope with related issues, making it harder to find a realistic solution. Because of Sweden's ideal of a drug-free society, these health concerns cannot be solved. It's rare for utopias, like Sweden's, to fail to deal with life's realities (including the continuous usage of drugs in sometimes deadly ways). Drug use is an example. Sweden's low drug usage rate is not due to the country's drug policy activities. Similar sources confirm it. Sweden has one of the world's lowest drug consumption rates, while having identical laws and responses to the issue. Problems seem intractable for any explanation of policy and usage patterns; this shows culture plays a large role. Both Sweden and the U.S. have had vigorous temperance movements, thus their legislative systems limit alcohol usage.

Evaluation of the effectiveness of narcotics policies by the Swedish Government

Swedish news media are questioning whether Sweden's zero-tolerance drug policy can be sustained. Even in northern Europe, governments seldom take such a strong stance, and the UN has criticised Sweden's "balanced health and human rights strategy. Sweden's tough attitude is one factor. According to The Local, most lawmakers in Sweden's health and welfare committee want to reexamine the country's drug policies. Sweden's health and welfare committee reported this. In Sweden, liberal, centre, Swedish Democratic, Christian Democratic, and left parties promote a new perspective. This support is widespread. To establish whether Sweden's policies are effective, we will analyse both the concept of successful and its strategic criteria. Sweden's anti-drug efforts have enabled the government to proclaim success. Due to Sweden's attempts to reduce drug abuse, recreational drug use is rare. UNODC's Executive Director believes that countries should reduce overall drug consumption. It's harder to understand how this method may help with the negative effects of drug usage, particularly if the problems derive from drug dependency. Problematic are drug-related difficulties. This is because many players and systems are interdependent. Harm reduction and other public health programs may not be enough to address present circumstances, and their narrow approach may exacerbate the situation. Sweden's drug-free ideal has contributed to its inability to cope with related issues, making it harder to find a realistic solution. Because of Sweden's ideal of a drug-free society, these health concerns cannot be solved. It's rare for utopias, like Sweden's, to fail to deal with life's realities (including the continuous usage of drugs in sometimes deadly ways). Drug use is an example. Sweden's low drug usage rate is not due to the country's drug policy activities. Similar sources confirm it. Sweden has one of the world's lowest drug consumption rates, while having identical laws and responses to the issue. Problems seem intractable for any explanation of policy and usage patterns; this shows culture plays a large role. Both Sweden and the U.S. have had vigorous temperance movements, thus their legislative systems limit alcohol usage.

Power Spectral Analysis of Short-Term Heart Rate Variability in Healthy and Arrhythmia Subjects by the Adaptive Continuous Morlet Wavelet Transform

Power spectral analysis of short-term heart rate variability (HRV) can provide instant valuable information to understand the functioning of autonomic control over the cardiovascular system. In this study, an adaptive continuous Morlet wavelet transform (ACMWT) method has been used to describe the time-frequency characteristics of the HRV using band power spectra and the median value of interquartile range. Adaptation of the method was based on the measurement of maximum energy concentration. The ACMWT has been validated on synthetic signals (i.e. stationary, non-stationary as slow varying and fast changing frequency with time) modeled as closest to dynamic changes in HRV signals. This method has been also tested in the presence of additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) to show its robustness towards the noise. From the results of testing on synthetic signals, the ACMWT was found to be an enhanced energy concentration estimator for assessment of power spectral of short-term HRV time series compared to adaptive Stockwell transform (AST), adaptive modified Stockwell transform (AMST), standard continuous Morlet wavelet transform (CMWT) and Stockwell transform (ST) estimators at statistical significance level of 5%. Further, the ACMWT was applied to real HRV data from Fantasia and MIT-BIH databases, grouped as healthy young group (HYG), healthy elderly group (HEG), arrhythmia controlled medication group (ARCMG), and supraventricular tachycardia group (SVTG) subjects. The global results demonstrate that spectral indices of low frequency power (LFp) and high frequency power (HFp) of HRV were decreased in HEG compared to HYG subjects (p<0.0001). While LFp and HFp indices were increased in ARCMG compared to HEG (p<0.00001). The LFp and HFp components of HRV obtained from SVTG were reduced compared to other group subjects (p<0.00001)