Urban air pollution, urban heat island and human health : a review of the literature

Many cities of the world suffer from air pollution because of poor planning and design and heavy traffic in rapidly expanding urban environments. These conditions are exacerbated due to the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. While there have been studies linking the built environment and air pollution with health, they have ignored the aggravating role of UHI. The past urban planning literature in this field has also ignored the science of materials, vehicles and air pollution, and technological solutions for reducing cumulative health impacts of air pollution and UHI. Air Pollution, built environment and human health are complex discussion factors that involve several different fields. The built environment is linked with human health through opportunities of physical activity and air quality. Recent planning literature focuses on creating compact and walkable urban areas dotted with green infrastructure to promote physical activity and to reduce vehicle emissionrelated air pollution. Reduced car use leading to reduced air pollution and UHI is implied in the literature. The literature from technology fields speaks to the issue of air pollution directly. Zero emission cars, green infrastructure and building materials that absorb air pollutants and reduce UHI fall within this category. This paper identifies main themes in the two streams of urban air pollution and UHI that impact human health and presents a systematic review of the academic papers, policy documents, reports and features in print media published in the last 10–20 years

Natural disasters : origins, impacts, management

Natural hazards are processes that serve as triggers for natural disasters. Natural hazards can be classified into six categories. Geophysical or geological hazards relate to movement in solid earth. Their examples include earthquakes and volcanic activity. Hydrological hazards relate to the movement of water and include floods, landslides, and wave action. Meteorological hazards are storms, extreme temperatures, and fog. Climatological hazards are increasingly related to climate change and include droughts and wildfires. Biological hazards are caused by exposure to living organisms and/or their toxic substances. The COVID-19 virus is an example of a biological hazard. Extraterrestrial hazards are caused by asteroids, meteoroids, and comets as they pass near earth or strike earth. In addition to local damage, they can change earth inter planetary conditions that can affect the Earth’s magnetosphere, ionosphere, and thermosphere. This entry presents an overview of origins, impacts, and management of natural disasters. It describes processes that have potential to cause natural disasters. It outlines a brief history of impacts of natural hazards on the human built environment and the common techniques adopted for natural disaster preparedness. It also lays out challenges in dealing with disasters caused by natural hazards and points to new directions in warding off the adverse impact of such disasters

Performance of Concrete Exposed to Corrosive Environment

A comprehensive programme to investigate the behaviour of portland cement concrete exposed to corrosive environment was chalked out in this short duration study.The programme composed of compressive strength study, weight loss study , effect of carbonation, pH test study and study of ultrasonic pulse velocity test. Investigation to study the performance of portland cement concrete of M20 strength exposed to corrosive environment ( 5% H2SO4 Solution, 5% HC 1 Solution, 10% (NH4SO4 Solution and 10% NaOH Sol- ution ) revealed that the concrete cube deteriorated more in acidic environment than alkaline environment. The stre-ngth of PCC exposed to aggressive medium reduced signif- icantly after exposure of 28 days. This reduction in strength was mainly due to expansive salt formation . The formation of expansive salt also resulted in loss of cem-entitious properties and loss of weight. The concrete exposed to H2SO4 solution was found least durable . This study also shows that higher the ultrasonic pulse velocity lower is the corrosion . This paper presents an approach of investigation along with analysis of test results of PCC exposed to corrosive environment

A study of prevalence of tobacco use and related factors among medical students as per the Global Health Professions Student Survey protocol

Background: Physicians who smoke are less likely to ask patients about their smoking and initiate cessation interventions. Hence it is important to study the prevalence of tobacco use, attitude and training of health professional students. Objectives were to study prevalence and attitudes towards tobacco use and training related to tobacco cessation.Methods: Armed Forces Medical college-based cross-sectional survey by anonymous, self-administered questionnaire as per Global Health Professions Student Survey (GHPSS) was conducted. Data was compiled and analyzed for various variables as per the GHPSS questionnaire.Results: Forty-two percent of the students had ever smoked cigarettes and 24% were current smokers. Nearly one in five had tried their first cigarette before 20 years of age. Male gender was associated with smoking. There is a significant association between not smoking and support for smoking ban in public places. Almost all the respondents (98.1%) thought smoking should be banned in all enclosed public places. In light of 20.6% of all respondents who smoked in college buildings during past this year indicated a gap between their knowledge, attitude and behavior. There was a strong desire to quit smoking but only 42% reported receiving help/ advice to stop smoking. Only one in ten reported receiving formal training in smoking cessation techniques.Conclusions: The fight against tobacco can get a boost through interventions aimed at health care professional students. Active Interventions should be made to address smoking issues among medical students. Skill based medical school curriculum should incorporate and emphasize on acquiring effective smoking cessation skills

Effect of various levels of nitrogen on quantitative and qualitative parameters of Rose var. “Top Secret” under poly house condition

Study was conducted to find out the effect of various levels (100, 150, 200, 250,300 mg/plant/week) of nitrogen on growth parameters in terms of qualitative and quantitative traits of rose var. Top Secret. Plant growth in general increased with increase in nitrogen levels. Among various levels of nitrogen application, 300 mg nitrogen per plant per week significantly increased all vegetative growth parameters and showed maximum plant height (117.45 cm), leaf area (98.91 cm2 ) and a number of leaves (62.50). Further, flowering parameters like stalk length (83.53cm), bud diameter (2.45cm), bud length (2.55 cm), number of flowers per plant (7.30) as well as per square meter (53.05) were also significantly maximum in plants given nitrogen @ 300 mg per plant per week. Leaf N (2.94 %), P (0.19%), K (1.87%) and chlorophyll content in leaves (4.41mg/g) was also higher with 300 mg N per plant per week. Vase life (10 days) and anthocyanin content in petal tissue (2.09 mg/g) were found the maximum in plants given nitrogen @ 250 mg per plant per week, which was at par with the treatment of nitrogen @ 300 mg per plant per week. Nitrogen should be applied at the rate of 300 mg/plant/week under protected cultivation as the optimum dose for good plant growth and qualitative flower production in rose var. Top Secret under protected cultivation

Tillage and Mulching Effects on Crop Productivity and Moisture Dynamics in Fodder Sorghum Based Cropping Systems under Rainfed Condition

Indian farmers generally take more than one crop in a year to maximize their total production and profits. In this process fodder sorghum followed by crops like chickpea, wheat, oat, barley and mustard are common in Bundelkhand region of central India. The soils of Budelkhand region of India are medium to low in fertility with low organic matter content and poor water holding capacity that limits the fodder and food productivity. Therefore, adoption of resource conserving technologies in fodder sorghum based cropping systems under rainfed conditions is one of the potential areas, where increase in green fodder and food production with enhanced resource use efficiency can be achieved (Dixit et al., 2014). Adoption of resource conserving technologies includes minimal soil disturbance, maintaining soil cover and crop diversification through conservation of moisture for which the role of green manure mulches has been well recognised. Under rainfed situation, moisture stress has been identified as one of most important factor limiting yield of post rainy season crop. Introducing conservation tillage (zero tillage/reduced tillage) along with foliage mulching may improve soil moisture conservation, weed control, soil physic-chemical and biological properties, system productivity and may also reduce fuel, animal or human energy required for land preparation

Computational characterization of bulk heterojunction nanomorphology

The bulk heterojunction (BHJ) nanomorphology in organic solar cells strongly affects the final efficiency of the device. Progress in experimental techniques now allows visualization of the complex 3D BHJ morphology. It is, therefore, important to characterize the topological properties of the morphology in order to quantify the link between morphology features and performance. Here, we introduce a suite of morphology descriptors which encode the complex nature of the multi-stage photovoltaic process in the BHJ. These morphology descriptors are easily determined using an approach based on converting the morphology into an equivalent weighted, labeled, undirected graph. We show how these descriptors can be used to interrogate BHJ morphologies, allow identification of bottlenecks in the photovoltaic process, and conduct quantitative comparison between morphologies with respect to each sub-process in the photovoltaic phenomena. This framework provides a simple and easy-to-use characterization tool that can be used to unravel the impact of morphology on complex transport phenomena

Mesonephric-like adenocarcinoma of the ovary with co-existent endometriosis: A case report and review of the literature

© 2020 The Authors Introduction: Mesonephric-like adenocarcinoma (MLA) is a rare malignant gynecologic neoplasm occurring in the uterine corpus and ovary. The morphological and immunohistochemical characteristics of MLA closely resemble that of cervical mesonephric adenocarcinomas, but whether they share a common histogenesis remains unclear. Two main theories for histogenesis of MLAs include the origination of these neoplasms from mesonephric remnants, as is the case for cervical mesonephric adenocarcinoma, versus the differentiation along a mesonephric pathway from Mullerian lesions. Case: A 67-year-old presented after a right salpingo-oophorectomy for a complex ovarian mass revealed a mesonephric-like adenocarcinoma of the ovary and endometriosis. She underwent a total abdominal hysterectomy, pelvic lymphadenectomy, and infra-colic omentectomy, and diagnosed with Stage IA mesonephric-like adenocarcinoma of the ovary. At 18 months post-operatively, the patient developed flank and abdominal pain and was found to have multiple sites of recurrent disease. She was referred to medical oncology for chemotherapy as she was not a candidate for surgical cytoreduction. Discussion: This case demonstrates the aggressive nature of ovarian MLA and the need for a multidisciplinary approach when determining the treatment. In addition, this case provides further evidence to support the theory that at least a subset of MLAs arises from a Mullerian lesion which then differentiates down a mesonephric pathway

FORMULATION AND OPTIMIZATION OF LEVAMISOLE CHEWABLE TABLETS

Objective: The aim of the present study was to prepare and optimize levamisole chewable tablets by using various super disintegrants, namely; sodium starch glycolate, DRC Indion 204, and DRC Indion 234. Methods: Drug excipient compatibility study was carried out by FTIR spectroscopy to verify the compatibility of levamisole with the excipients. Nine batches of levamisole chewable tablets were prepared according to 32 factorial designs using a direct compression method by optimizing the super disintegrant concentration. The powder blend was exposed to pre-compression studies of the powder blend followed by post-compression studies of the formulated tablets. Results: FTIR study revealed that the excipients used in the formulations were compatible with the drug. The pre-compression and post-compression parameters were found within the IP limits. Form the dissolution studies, it was evident that the formulation prepared with DRC Indion 234 (50 mg) showed maximum percentage drug release in 45 min (97.13%) hence it is considered as optimized formulation. When compared to all other formulation, the batches with DRC Indion 234 (F7-F9) showed a better release of the drug (90 % drug release within 45 min). Conclusion: Nine batches of levamisole chewable tablets were successfully formulated by optimizing the concentration of super disintegrants such as sodium starch glycolate, DRC Indion 204, and DRC Indion 234. It was concluded from the dissolution studies that the DRC Indion 234 is the best super disintegrant irrespective of their concentration for the formulation of levamisole chewable tablets when compared to sodium starch Glycolate and DRC Indion 204

Sensitivity measurement of Fibre Bragg grating sensor

A practical pass-through type fibre Bragg grating (FBG) temperature sensor system have been designed, developed, simulated, and experimentally investigated. The performance of FBG was evaluated in harsh environments exposed under direct sunlight, rain, and wind. The sensor system designed directly focused with convex and hand lens. The temperature of FBG’s sensor head been measured. The broadband laser source was launched into the system using tunable laser source (TLS) and both transmission and reflection spectra of FBG sensor were measured by optical spectrum analyzer (OSA). Results shows that the Bragg wavelength shift, ΔλB increased proportionally with the temperature changes. The sensitivity of FBG were recorded at 0.0100 and 0.0132 nm °C-1 for the systems where convex and hand lens applied to the FBG’s sensor head respectively, while the sensitivity of 0.0118 nm °C-1 measured for the system without any focusing element applied