Urban ecosystems of Kurukshetra, India, an amalgamations of eco-friendly, historical as well as archaeological adverse facades: A case study

Kurukshetra, a state of India is a historical place having global significance linked with its multifaceted aspects concerning education, science education, engineering colleges, museums and above all some sites and spots which are witnesses to the events of world famous war namely, “Mahabharata”. The studies reveal that urbanization processes have turned rural Kurukshetra into a modern semi-urban area with distinct urban features by creating “Urban Estates”. This is an activity which has two faces: Eco-friendly face and adverse ecological face.The generation of an attraction, ultra modern city equipped with vast green belts; impressive avenues having intense plantations of trees, bushes and profusely dotted with Civil Parks is a phenomenal change. One of the most impressive eco-friendly façade of the new environs is the ambience presence of orchards and plant nurseries and there is practice of “Kitchens-Waste” disposal which is disposed off at a safe place to convert it into organic manure. The best of sanitary conditions are in place which is one more environment friendly aspects. A very well laid out “Mini-Secretariat” encompassing virtually each and every office of the District Administration is intensely covered by very thick cover of trees and a new experiment, pioneered first by Haryana Govt.However, the negative features are many to negate the over all positive features. Foremost is related with discarding the traditional and endemic trees like Shisham Dalbergia sissoo, Neem Azadirachta indica, Beri Morus alba, Peepal Ficus religiosa, Banyan Ficus benghalensis and Mango Mangifera indica trees for tree plantations in favour exotic varieties

Effect of temperature and surface area on adsorption of chlorine on different adsorbent carbons

Chlorine is used in several ways in industry. In such situations, where residual chlorine persists as pollutant, Activated carbons like animal charcoal, carbon black and coconut charcoal can serve as agents to remove residual pollutant “chlorine” by the process of adsorption. Five samples of Carbon black, six samples of active Carbons and two samples of charcoals were treated with a stream of chlorine @0.4 litre/hour at temperature varying from 300 to 1200 C. Chlorine is adsorbed partially physically and partially chemically. Percentage of the chemisorbed increases with rise in the temperature. Maximum percentages of chemisorptions occur at 1200 C while the maximum uptake, physical as well as chemical, takes place at 300 C, which was the lowest temperature. It is seen that activated carbon, carbon blacks and charcoal differ markedly by in their total chlorine uptake at 300 C. Activated carbons associated with high surface were seen to take up maximum chlorine. Fall in surface area is more in active carbons as compared to carbon black due to greater adsorption of chlorine. This probably shows that micro porous carbons are better adsorbent for chlorine adsorption. The unsaturated sites also play far dominant role and provide centres where the adsorption takes place predominantly. Uptake of chlorine is enhanced on evacuating the carbon samples at 6000 C and 10000 C. This is due to the creation of more unsaturated sites. Process of adsorption cum chemisorption takes place through different kinetic stages with different energetics. The activation energies keep on increasing with increasing amounts of chemisorption

Analysis of avian-biodiversity in rural wetland environs in Panipat district in Haryana, India

The present study has observed 67 species of wetland birds, belonging to, 10 orders and 18 families from rural wetland Environs in Panipat district located at a distance of 90 KMs north of Delhi on National Highway No.1 (29.39°N 76.97°E) in Haryana, India. Out of 67 species, 35 species were winter migrants, 18 residents, 10 local migrants and four species were summer migrants. Peculiar species of birds recorded in Panipat rural ponds are Painted Stork Mycteria leucocephala, White-necked Stork Ciconia episcopus, Asian openbill- Stork Anastomusoscitans, Lesser Adjutant Stork Leptoptilos javanicus, Black-necked Stork Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus, Oriental White Ibis Threskiornis melanocephalus, Black Ibis Pseudibis papillosa, Glossy Ibis Plegadis falcinellus, Eurasian Spoonbill Platalea leucorodia, Brahminy Shelduck Tadorna ferruginea, Comb Duck Sarkidiornis melanotos, Tufted Pochard Aythya fuligula and Green Sandpiper Tringa ochropus. On the other hand, familiar species include amongst others, Bar-headed Goose Anser indicus, Common Coot Fulica atra, Northern Shoveller Anas clypeata, Northern Pintail Anas acuta, Common Teal Anas crecca, Common Pochard Aythya ferina, Gadwall Anas strepera and Lesser-whistling Duck Dendrocygna javanica etc. Longest stay during winter season was demonstrated by birds like Northern Shoveller, Northern Pintail, Bar-headed Goose, Greylag Goose and Rudy Shelduck, whereas shortest winter sojourn was observed in case of Mallard, Eurasian Wigeon and Common Pochard. It is interesting to note that migratory birds like Northern Shoveller, Northern Pintail, Common Teal, Bar-headed Goose, Tufted Pochard, and Common Pochard come to Panipat rural ponds from very far off places like Central Russia, Caspian USSR, Siberia, Ladhakh and Central Asia, West and Central Asia and Siberia respectively

Modified Dugdale Model

A precise determination of the influence of plastic yielding on the deformation and failure at a crack tip is needed for accurate predictions of the behavior of cracked bodies under static load large enough to cause fracture, and subcritical repetitive loads which cause fatigue. The catastrophic growth of cracks in plates under monotonically increasing load depends on a number of factors. A general view concerning the behavior of material at the leading edge of a crack is that plastic flow and subsequent fracture of the material is influenced by factors such as strain hardening, strain rate, the state of stress, and temperature. Therefore, for a proper understanding of fracture mechanism it is essential to determine appropriate inelastic solutions describing the behavior of plastic zone as a function of loads and mechanical properties. The elastic-plastic problem has been considered by Rosenfield et al. and Swedlow. Rosenfield has described experiments revealing the shapes and extent of the plastic zone in front of notches and cracks. While these analyses have produced information to indicate the role of plasticity in notched or cracked plates, they have yet to produce a criterion for fracture useful to the designer. Dugdale model for static yielding at the tip of the crack has been considered by Newman and extended to include the. influence of stress-strain curve on the plastic zone size and subsequently on the fracture strength of the plate. A fracture toughness equation which accounts for non-perfect plasticity has been derived by him for the uniformly loaded plate. Elastic-plastic crack problems in plane strain and plane stress have been discussed by Rice through the use of deformation and incremental plasticity theories. Nevertheless, his treatment provides an insight to the inelastic fracture. In the present work, Dugdale model for static yielding at the crack tip has been used and then modified to include the effect of strain-hardening on the plastic zone size and crack tip displacement. An attempt has been made to determine the plastic energy dissipation for the strain hardening material. These properties of material are influenced by factors such as the state of stress, strain rate, and the test temperature. In the present work, only the case of plane stress at room temperature for rate-insensitive material is considered. Many attempts have been made in recent years to establish a satisfactory relationship between engineering design parameters and cyclic crack growth rates. Generally, these proposed relationships indicate that the fatigue crack growth rate is dependent upon the alternating stress level and the current crack length. The main objective of the present work was to modify the Dugdale model to include the influence of strain hardening on the plastic zone size and crack tip displacement. For a given stress level, both plastic zone size and tip displacement decrease with increasing strain hardening. For the non-hardening case, the modified Dugdale model coverages very well to the original Dugdale model

A PWM Method for Reducing dv/dt and Switching Losses in Two-Stage Power Converters

Today\u27s semiconductor devices are accompanied by high switching frequencies (\u3e kilo-hertz) and small transition times (\u3c micro-seconds). Such fast transition times are accompanied by undesirable effects such as voltage overshoots at the load terminals, ground leakage currents, wide-band electromagnetic noise, etc. With the advent of wide band-gap devices, several applications are moving towards higher switching frequency operation with at-least an order of magnitude reduction in transition times. While these characteristics are considered necessary to break the next-generation barriers in power density, efficiency and applicability, the undesirable effects due to faster transitions are expected to present obstacles. This work proposes a PWM approach to modify the shape of the switching voltages to overcome the disadvantages of the fast transition times without any increase in switching losses. In fact, several of the switching transitions feature ZVS operation, resulting in reduced switching losses. The paper discusses the analytical details of the approach using a simple DC-DC boost-buck converter and extends it to a DC to three-phase AC converter using the principles of space vector modulation. The paper presents detailed simulation and comparative results in terms of voltage over-shoots over long cables, loss calculations and electromagnetic noise. Results from a laboratory-scale working prototype confirm the benefits of the proposed approach in terms of EMI and loss reduction

Making of a unique birth control vaccine against hCG with additional potential of therapy of advanced stage cancers and prevention of obesity and insulin resistance

Reviewed is the work which led to the development of a unique vaccine that prevents pregnancy in sexually active women without impairment of ovulation and block of their making normally their sex steroid hormones. Being given that hCG is not expressed by non-pregnant females, immunization with the vaccine is devoid of any crossreaction with any tissue of the body. It is totally reversible and women regained fertility on decline of antibodies. A recombinant vaccine has been developed which is highly immunogenic in mice. It is undergoing extensive toxicology under GLP conditions in rodents and a primate species, the marmosets, before resumption of clinical trials. Ectopic expression of hCG or its subunits takes place in a variety of cancers, particularly at advanced stage with adverse survival and poor prognosis. Anti-hCG antibodies exercise therapeutic action against such cancers as indicated by in vitro culture and in vivo studies in nude mice. Transgenic hCG β mice put on weight and manifest insulin resistance. Immunization of these mice with the recombinant hCG β-LTB vaccine prevents obesity and insulin resistance.Fil: Talwar, G. P.. Talwar Research Foundation; IndiaFil: Rulli, Susana Beatriz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental (i); ArgentinaFil: Vyas, Hemant. Harvard Medical School; Estados UnidosFil: Purswani, Shilpi. Talwar Research Foundation; IndiaFil: Kabeer, Rafi Shiraz. Talwar Research Foundation; IndiaFil: Chopra, Prem. Sir Ganga Ram Hospital; IndiaFil: Singh, Priyanka . Talwar Research Foundation; IndiaFil: Atrey, Nishu. Talwar Research Foundation; IndiaFil: Nand, Kripa. Talwar Research Foundation; IndiaFil: Gupta, Jagdish C.. Talwar Research Foundation; Indi

Efficacy and safety of formoterol versus montelukast as add on therapy in moderate persistent asthma

Background: From a pathophysiologic point of view, asthma treatment is directed toward the airway to effectively suppress inflammation, attenuate airway hyper responsiveness. Ideally, this in turn should translate into benefits in terms of symptom control, prevention of exacerbations, optimizing dyspnoea, along with patient safety.Methods: This study was carried out at Department of Pharmacology and TB and Respiratory Medicine, Pt. BDS PGIMS, Rohtak, Haryana. The protocol was approved by institutional review board. Out of 60 OPD patients, group A (30) received inhaled budesonide 400μg and formoterol fumarate 6μg twice daily and group B (30) received oral montelukast 10 mg once daily along with inhaled budesonide 400μg twice daily. All values were expressed as mean±SEM and comparison between both groups was done using unpaired t-test.Results: Baseline PFT Values at 0 week and Improvement at 8 weeks were comparable between both groups with P-value >0.05. In Group A both day time cough/wheeze score (20.67±0.19 to 11.23±0.37) and night time cough/wheeze score (11.47±0.17 to 4.27±0.21) reduced after 8 weeks treatment. Also in Group B daytime cough/ wheeze reduced from (20.70±0.25) at 4 weeks to (12.93±0.43) at end of 8 weeks. Modified Borg’s dyspnoea score also decreased significantly (3.13±0.11 to 0.73±0.06) in Group A and (3.16±0.14 to 0.80±0.05) in Group B at end of 8 weeks and decrease was comparable in both groups (p value >0.05). Statistically there was no difference between two treatments as far as safety assessment was concerned. Most common ADRs reported were headache, asthenia and abdominal pain.Conclusions: Montelukast seems clinically effective and safe in controlling asthma symptoms, PFT and improving dyspnoea. So montelukast can be reasonable and alternative therapeutic option as add on to inhaled ICS in moderate persistent asthma patients