Planning for the Subernarekha river system in eastern India

The study describes the systems studies carried out to plan a river basin in order to determine the nature and size of water storage facilities and releases for irrigation and industrial uses, and the associated cropping pattern. The model has been formulated in the framework of a linear programming model for a specific target year. This model is developed in the context of planning the Subernarekha river basin. The results are discussed and these provide information and insight suggesting the need for more disaggregated analysis of interaction between irrigation and related agroeconomic parameters.     

Production of Low-P Steel

Production of low phosphorus steel using the basic oxygen steelmaking process is conventionally achieved by maintaining a highly basic slag. This leads to high flux consumption, generates a large volume of slag and restricts recycling of the slag due to presence of free lime. The environmental impact goes further, since the calcined lime involves depletion of a mineral resource, consumption of fossil fuels and release of CO₂. However, recent studies indicate that adequate dephosphorisation is possible in the BOF even if the slag basicity is reduced from the current practice (3.3–3.6) to a level of 2.7–2.8. Phosphorus partitioning deviates considerably from equilibrium and post stirring of bath helps in lowering bath phosphorus. Induction furnace is widely used to produce structural grade steel. Since lining is usually acidic, effective phosphorus removal is not achieved. But using basic lining reasonably low phosphorus steel could be produced.     

Hemodynamic and autonomic effects of intravenous saterinone in patients with chronic heart failure

In this study, the hemodynamic and neurohumoral/autonomic effects of intravenous saterinone (a selective phosphodiesterase type III inhibitor, with additional alpha 1-blocking properties) were evaluated. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled design, 36 patients with moderate to severe heart failure were studied (saterinone, n = 24; placebo, n = 12). Invasive hemodynamic measurements, by using right-heart catheterization, were performed, as well as measurement of plasma neurohormones and analysis of heart rate variability (HRV), to study drug influences on neurohumoral activation and autonomic tone. Systemic vascular resistance significantly decreased during saterinone infusion, accompanied by a decrease in systemic blood pressure (both p values < 0.05) and an increase in heart rate (p = 0.05). Filling pressures also decreased during saterinone, but this was statistically significant only for pulmonary capillary wedge pressure, whereas the cardiac index remained unaffected. Plasma neurohormones (norepinephrine, epinephrine, and renin activity) were not significantly influenced by saterinone. HRV analysis revealed no significant effect of saterinone on autonomic tone. These results suggest that intravenous saterinone has a significant vasodilating effect in patients with moderate to severe chronic heart failure (CHF), without exerting an adverse effect on the autonomic nervous system, as demonstrated by assessment of plasma neurohormones and HRV analysis.     

Apatite formability of boron nitride nanotubes

This study investigates the ability of boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) to induce apatite formation in a simulated body fluid environment for a period of 7, 14 and 28 days. BNNTs, when soaked in the simulated body fluid, are found to induce hydroxyapatite (HA) precipitation on their surface. The precipitation process has an initial incubation period of ～ 4.6 days. The amount of HA precipitate increases gradually with the soaking time. High resolution TEM results indicated a hexagonal crystal structure of HA needles. No specific crystallographic orientation relationship is observed between BNNT and HA, which is due to the presence of a thin amorphous HA layer on the BNNT surface that disturbs a definite orientation relationship.     

Directional distribution of the ambient neutron dose equivalent from 145-MeV ¹⁹F projectiles incident on thick Al target

The directional distribution of the ambient neutron dose equivalent from 145-MeV (19)F projectiles bombarding a thick aluminium target is measured and analysed. The measurements are carried out with a commercially available dose equivalent meter at 0°, 30°, 60° and 90° with respect to the beam direction. The experimental results are compared with calculated doses from EMPIRE nuclear reaction code and different empirical formulations proposed by others. The results are also compared with the measured data obtained from an earlier experiment at a lower projectile energy of 110 MeV for the same target-projectile combination.     

“Central Atoms” models for ternary silicate and alumino-silicate melts

The “Central Atoms” model presented by the authors in an earlier paper is extended to ternary silicate and alumino-silicate melts. The model is applied to the CaO-FeO-SiO₂ and the CaO-Al₂O₃-SiO₂ system. Use is made of the parameters from the relevant binaries only. The agreement between experimental and calculated isoactivity curves is good in all cases. Formerly Research Student, Department of Metallurgy, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore-560 012, India     

Cat carotid body chemosensory discharge (in vitro) is insensitive to charybdotoxin

Charybdotoxin (ChTX), a venom protein, suppresses Ca2+-activated K+ (K+(Ca)) currents in the glomus cell of neonatal rat carotid body. If it works similarly for cat carotid body chemoreceptors, charybdotoxin is expected to stimulate the chemosensory discharge during normoxia, and particularly hypoxia and hypercapnia. We studied the effects of charybdotoxin (20-40 nM) in vitro (perfused/superfused) on the cat carotid chemosensory discharge, and simultaneously tissue PO2 (PtiO2), as a measure of positive control. ChTX (20 nM) only increased PtiO2 and decreased carotid chemosensory discharge during hypoxia, indicating vasodilation. We conclude that K+(Ca) channels do not appear to play a significant role in chemotransduction in the cat carotid body.     

Bubble Formation through Reaction at Liquid‐Liquid Interfaces

Slag foaming is an important phenomenon in steelmaking processes with both beneficial as well as negative effects. The present work is part of the wider project on the modelling of slag foaming, with special reference to dynamic conditions. Since bubble formation is the first step to foam formation, the present work was carried out in an attempt to simulate the bubble formation in slag/metal reactions in steelmaking processes by water‐modelling experiments. The bubble formation due to the gas produced through chemical reaction at the interface between oleic acid and sodium bicarbonate solution was systematically monitored. The chemical reaction rate was varied by varying the concentration of sodium bicarbonate. The bubbles were observed to be generated in the heavier aqueous phase just below the water‐oil interface. The bubbles penetrated the interface and escaped through the oil phase. The rate of the reaction was estimated from the volume of the gas that passed the water/oil interface. It was observed that the bubble formation and bubble growth mechanism were influenced by the reaction rate while the bubble size seemed to be unaffected by the reaction rate.