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Blockages in pipelines inhibit the normal use of the pipeline due to constricted flow of fluid through the pipeline. Locating blockages in pipelines is a challenge and there is an increasing demand for sensitive inspection methods to locate blockages in pipelines, caused either due to presence of foreign undesired material during commissioning or maintenance of the pipeline or due to accumulation of product remanent during the prolonged use of the pipelines. A block was caused in a multiproduct pipeline due to a stuck pig (pipe inspection gauge). Radiotracer techniques viz. gamma scanning and radiography were employed to pinpoint the block location.

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Research continues to show that pharmaceutical environmental contamination causes adverse effects to aquatic life. There are also public health risks associated with pharmaceuticals because in-home reserves of medications provide opportunities for accidental poisoning and intentional medication abuse. Pharmaceutical take back programs have been seen as a potential remedy for these issues; however, a thorough review of past programs indicates limited research has been conducted on take back programs. Furthermore, there are significant gaps in take back program research. To address these gaps and ultimately determine if take back programs could improve public health, research was conducted in conjunction with the take back program Denton drug disposal days held in Denton, Texas. Socioeconomic, demographic, and geographic characteristics of Denton drug disposal days participants were investigated using surveys and Geographic Information Systems. Potential impacts of the Denton drug disposal days program on public health were determined by comparing data from Denton drug disposal days events with data supplied by the North Texas Poison Center. Results suggest that Denton drug disposal days events may have prevented accidental poisonings or intentional abuse, however only qualitative comparisons support this statement and there was insufficient empirical evidence to support the conclusion that Denton drug disposal days events were exclusively responsible for public health improvements. An interesting finding was that there was a definitive travel threshold that influenced participation in Denton drug disposal days events. Overall, this study fills some geographic, socioeconomic, and demographic data gaps of take back programs and proposes methods to analyze and improve participation in future take back programs. These methods could also be applied to improve participation in other local environmentally-focused programs such as household hazardous collection events.

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When an γ-irradiated Dy-, Tm-, Sm- or Mn-doped CaSO4 crystal is impulsively deformed, two peaks appear in the ML intensity versus time curve, whereby the first ML peak is found in the deformation region and the second in the post-deformation region of the crystals. In this study, intensities Im1 and Im2 corresponding to first and second ML peaks, respectively, increased linearly with an impact velocity v0 of the piston used to deform the crystals, and times tm1 and tm2 corresponding to the first and second ML peaks, respectively, decreased with impact velocity. Total ML intensity initially increased with impact velocity and then reached a saturation value for higher values of impact velocity. ML intensity increased with increasing γ-doses and size of crystals. Results showed that the electric field produced as a result of charging of newly-created surfaces caused tunneling of electrons to the valence band of the hole-trapping centres. The free holes generated moved in the valence band and their subsequent recombination with electron trapping centres released energy, thereby resulting in excitation of luminescent centres.

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This paper presents the results of a seroepidemiological study carried out between July 2006 and March 2007 to detect the presence of antibodies to peste des petits ruminants (PPR) virus in randomly collected serum samples from sheep and goats in southern peninsular India. The authors used a competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay with a monoclonal antibody developed against a neutralising epitope of the haemagglutinin (HA) protein of the virus. A total of 1,492 sheep sera and 2,068 goat sera collected from the six southern Indian states were screened. It was determined that 41.35% of the sheep sera and 34.91% of the goat sera were positive for the presence of antibody. The study indicated an extensive endemicity of the disease in these states, which is attributed to the agro-climatic conditions and the migration of livestock.

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1. The efficiency of utilisation of metabolisable energy (ME) for maintenance (k(m)) from diets containing maize and broken rice (BR) at 500 g/kg was studied in old White Leghorn (WL) and Rhode Island Red (RIR) laying hens using the respiration calorimetry technique. The maize-based diet contained 180.8 g crude protein (CP)/kg and 16.4 MJ gross energy (GE)/kg while the BR-based diet contained 173.2 g CP/kg and 16.3 MJ GE/kg. Diets were fed for 10 d, while an energy and nitrogen metabolism study was conducted during 3 d on an ad libitum-fed diet followed by another 3 d on two-thirds of the ad libitum-fed quantity. 2. ME values for the maize- and BR-based diets for WL hens were 73.3% and 77.6% of the GE, whereas for the RIR hens these were 77.7% and 80.0%, respectively. 3. Fasting heat productions, determined at the end of 24 h fast for WL and RIR hens were 473.2 and 366.1 kJ/kg W0.75/d, respectively. During fasting WL and RIR hens utilised body energy reserves with efficiencies of 84.9% and 73.7%, respectively. 4. The k(m) of maize- and BR-based diets for the WL hens were 81.6% and 79.6%, whereas for the RIR hens these were 74.2% and 76.0%, respectively. 5. ME for maintenance of WL and RIR hens were 589 and 499.6 kJ/kg W0.75/d, respectively. 6. It is concluded that although WL and RIR hens differ significantly in energy metabolism, their efficiency of utilisation of energy from maize- and BR-based diets are similar.

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According to Ayurveda various diseases are caused by sepratlon of natural urges (Vega-vidhran), as testified by Susruta who has described 13 types of udavarta rogas. Here an attempt is made to study thy effects of voluntary retention of urine on a series of patients suffering from stress disorders in terms of Neurohumoral, biochemical and physiological changes. The study clearly validates the ancient concept of Ayurveda that wilful retention of natural urges is quite harmful.

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