A STUDY OF IRON AND STEEL SECTOR IN INDIA

ABSTRACT The iron and steel manufacturing sector is one of the largest sectors in the world in terms of financial volume of trade, employment potential, development of ancillary and allied industries and geographical spread. Added to this is the fact that iron and steel is used as an input in almost all the industrial and manufacturing sectors and goods produced by them. As a result this sector attracts the maximum attention of almost all the countries of the world, whether being one of the manufacturers and suppliers or not. This is because the universality and increased percentage of usage has created conditions for present and future demand for this commodity, part of which is due to the beneficial results of opening up of the global economy due to the influence of WTO. This demand has created immense opportunities for steel manufacturing countries as well as global steel manufacturing countries, both of whom are charting out aggressive policies and strategies to gain the maximum advantage from this situation. As part of their strategies the global steel manufacturing companies are scouting for opportunities worldwide where they can set up their operations that would reap the maximum benefit in terms of profit and market share. At the same time the steel manufacturing countries are also trying to attract the global steel companies to set up operations in their country by which they would benefit from increased business, production capacity and transfer of latest technology.In line with this environment it is found that India as a manufacturer of iron and steel is attracting the attention of global steel manufacturers, who have already made plans for setting up manufacturing units in the country, some of them like POSCO, Arcelor Mittalalready on the process of implementing their plans. The reasons behind the attractiveness of India as a destination for manufacture of iron and steel is the latent demand existing in the country, availability of huge quantities of iron ore, other raw materials and factors of production, its rich legacy as a premier centre for production of iron and steel and its geographical position from where global steel companies can reach out to other markets of the world. These reasons have been largely influenced by the general climate of optimism and global demand for steel. Along with all these reasons the proactive policy of the Government of India for the overall development of the steel industry has contributed to a large measure in instilling confidence amongst global steel companies and investors to invest and set up operations in this sector in India

On the Direct Construction of MDS and Near-MDS Matrices

The optimal branch number of MDS matrices makes them a preferred choice for designing diffusion layers in many block ciphers and hash functions. Consequently, various methods have been proposed for designing MDS matrices, including search and direct methods. While exhaustive search is suitable for small order MDS matrices, direct constructions are preferred for larger orders due to the vast search space involved. In the literature, there has been extensive research on the direct construction of MDS matrices using both recursive and nonrecursive methods. On the other hand, in lightweight cryptography, Near-MDS (NMDS) matrices with sub-optimal branch numbers offer a better balance between security and efficiency as a diffusion layer compared to MDS matrices. However, no direct construction method is available in the literature for constructing recursive NMDS matrices. This paper introduces some direct constructions of NMDS matrices in both nonrecursive and recursive settings. Additionally, it presents some direct constructions of nonrecursive MDS matrices from the generalized Vandermonde matrices. We propose a method for constructing involutory MDS and NMDS matrices using generalized Vandermonde matrices. Furthermore, we prove some folklore results that are used in the literature related to the NMDS code

On the Construction of Near-MDS Matrices

The optimal branch number of MDS matrices makes them a preferred choice for designing diffusion layers in many block ciphers and hash functions. However, in lightweight cryptography, Near-MDS (NMDS) matrices with sub-optimal branch numbers offer a better balance between security and efficiency as a diffusion layer, compared to MDS matrices. In this paper, we study NMDS matrices, exploring their construction in both recursive and nonrecursive settings. We provide several theoretical results and explore the hardware efficiency of the construction of NMDS matrices. Additionally, we make comparisons between the results of NMDS and MDS matrices whenever possible. For the recursive approach, we study the DLS matrices and provide some theoretical results on their use. Some of the results are used to restrict the search space of the DLS matrices. We also show that over a field of characteristic 2, any sparse matrix of order $n\geq 4$ with fixed XOR value of 1 cannot be an NMDS when raised to a power of $k\leq n$. Following that, we use the generalized DLS (GDLS) matrices to provide some lightweight recursive NMDS matrices of several orders that perform better than the existing matrices in terms of hardware cost or the number of iterations. For the nonrecursive construction of NMDS matrices, we study various structures, such as circulant and left-circulant matrices, and their generalizations: Toeplitz and Hankel matrices. In addition, we prove that Toeplitz matrices of order $n>4$ cannot be simultaneously NMDS and involutory over a field of characteristic 2. Finally, we use GDLS matrices to provide some lightweight NMDS matrices that can be computed in one clock cycle. The proposed nonrecursive NMDS matrices of orders 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 can be implemented with 24, 50, 65, 96, and 108 XORs over $\mathbb{F}_{2^4}$, respectively

Synthesis and Evaluation of c-Src Kinase Inhibitory Activity of Pyridin-2(1H)-one Derivatives

Src kinase, a prototype member of the Src family of kinases (SFKs), is over-expressed in various human tumors, and has become a target for anticancer drug design. In this perspective, a series of eighteen 2-pyridone derivatives were synthesized and evaluated for their c-Src kinase inhibitory activity. Among them, eight compounds exhibited c-Src kinase inhibitory activity with IC50 value of less than 25 μM. Compound 1-[2-(dimethylamino)ethyl]-5-(2-hydroxy-4-methoxybenzoyl)pyridin-2(1H)-one (36) exhibited the highest c-Src kinase inhibition with an IC50 value of 12.5 μM. Further the kinase inhibitory potential of compound 36 was studied for EGFR, MAPK and PDK, however no significant activity was observed at the highest tested concentration (300 μM). These results provide insights for further optimization of this scaffold for designing the next generation of 2-pyridone derivatives as candidate Src kinase inhibitors

Heat shock protein 70-2 (HSP70-2) overexpression in breast cancer

Supplementary Methods, Supplementary table, Supplementary Figure Legends. (DOCX 41 kb

A STUDY OF IRON AND STEEL SECTOR IN INDIA

ABSTRACT The iron and steel manufacturing sector is one of the largest sectors in the world in terms of financial volume of trade, employment potential, development of ancillary and allied industries and geographical spread. Added to this is the fact that iron and steel is used as an input in almost all the industrial and manufacturing sectors and goods produced by them. As a result this sector attracts the maximum attention of almost all the countries of the world, whether being one of the manufacturers and suppliers or not. This is because the universality and increased percentage of usage has created conditions for present and future demand for this commodity, part of which is due to the beneficial results of opening up of the global economy due to the influence of WTO. This demand has created immense opportunities for steel manufacturing countries as well as global steel manufacturing countries, both of whom are charting out aggressive policies and strategies to gain the maximum advantage from this situation. As part of their strategies the global steel manufacturing companies are scouting for opportunities worldwide where they can set up their operations that would reap the maximum benefit in terms of profit and market share. At the same time the steel manufacturing countries are also trying to attract the global steel companies to set up operations in their country by which they would benefit from increased business, production capacity and transfer of latest technology.In line with this environment it is found that India as a manufacturer of iron and steel is attracting the attention of global steel manufacturers, who have already made plans for setting up manufacturing units in the country, some of them like POSCO, Arcelor Mittalalready on the process of implementing their plans. The reasons behind the attractiveness of India as a destination for manufacture of iron and steel is the latent demand existing in the country, availability of huge quantities of iron ore, other raw materials and factors of production, its rich legacy as a premier centre for production of iron and steel and its geographical position from where global steel companies can reach out to other markets of the world. These reasons have been largely influenced by the general climate of optimism and global demand for steel. Along with all these reasons the proactive policy of the Government of India for the overall development of the steel industry has contributed to a large measure in instilling confidence amongst global steel companies and investors to invest and set up operations in this sector in India

Preoperative Predictors of Level of Difficulty of Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy

Background: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) is the gold standard treatment for symptomatic gallbladder stone disease. This is due to its safety, reliability, cost-effectiveness, negligible mortality, shorter duration of hospitalization (early return to work), better cosmesis, minimal wound complications, and temporary paralytic ileus. In spite of these, conversion to open cholecystectomy which is sometimes required in difficult cases could be challenging. Aims and Objectives: The aim of the present study is to aid the prediction of difficult cases undergoing LC, thereby better selection of patients with the least conversion rates. Materials and Methods: This prospective study was conducted on 100 consecutive patients with cholecystitis, over a 2-year period from January 1, 2017, to December 31, 2018, having undergone LC. Various preoperative parameters, including age, sex, previous attacks of cholecystitis, deranged liver functions, and ultrasonographic findings, were analyzed for their effects for predicting the level of difficulty during LC. Results: Twenty-five percent of the cases were correctly predicted as difficult in the age group of >65 years. Cholecystitis was more common (79%) in females, but difficulties were encountered more frequently while performing LC in males. Abnormal serum hepatic and pancreatic enzyme profiles were associated with difficulties during surgery as about 83.3% of the patients predicted as moderately difficult peroperatively had deranged liver functions. The preoperative ultrasonography findings were helpful for predicting the degree of difficulty involved in the procedure. About 33.3% of the patients that had pericholecystic fluid on ultrasound preoperatively were correctly predicted to have moderately difficult surgeries. The Chi-square test and P value were used to determine statistical significance. Conclusions: Females, the absence of previous repeated attacks of cholecystitis and hospitalizations, no upper abdominal surgery in the past, normal liver function tests, normal amylase levels, nondistended and uncontracted gallbladder, absence of pericholecystic collection, afebrile, and single stone are positive preoperative predictors of safe LC in symptomatic gallbladder stone disease