Four Step Strategy for Implementing IPM in Libraries in Sri Lanka

Author(s):  
Udaya Prasad Cabral ◽  
Pascal Querner

AbstractLibraries in tropical Sri Lanka have been suffering from insect infestation for a long time. Library insect pests are observed frequently and feed on books, paper, wooden shelves or building structures and make irreversible damages to the objects. Most librarians in the country struggle with this situation and are looking for long-term solutions to protect their objects. This paper illustrates a simple strategy, which could be applied in many libraries in Sri Lanka or other countries to eradicate pests. This strategy has been composed in the light of Integrated Pest Management (IPM). It consists of four steps: “Monitoring” is a regular check, which indicates the threat to the library from pests. During the second step, “identification”, the specific pests active are detected. “Treatment” can be divided in two subcategories: “immediate treatments” focusing on nonchemical and traditional methods to eradicate pests and “late treatment” denotes conservation treatment carried out in the paper laboratory. The final step is “prevention”, which includes all activities that help blocking and repelling pests from entering the library. This paper illustrates this four-step strategy with two examples for successful control of insect and fungal outbreak and can be applied in other libraries with similar problems and a low budget.

Author(s):  
Omid Noorikalkhoran ◽  
Massimiliano Gei

During a severe accident or Beyond Design Basis Accident (BDBA), the reaction of water with zirconium alloy as fuel clad, radiolysis of water, molten corium-concrete interaction (MCCI) and post-accident corrosion can generate a source of hydrogen. In the present work, hydrogen distribution due to in-vessel reaction (between zircaloy and steam) has been simulated inside a WWER-1000 reactor containment. In the first step, the thermal hydraulic parameters of containment have been simulated for a DECL (Double Ended Cold Leg) accident (DBA phase) in both short and long time and the effects of spray as Engineering Safety Features (ESFs) on mitigating the parameters have been studied. In the second step, it has been assumed that the accident developed into an in-vessel core melting accident. While in pre-phase of core melting (severe accident phase), hydrogen will be produced as a result of zircaloy and steam reaction (BDBA phase), the hydrogen distribution has been simulated for 23 cells inside the reactor containment by using CONTAIN 2.0 (Best estimate code) and MELCOR 1.8.6 codes. Finally, the results have been compared to FSAR results. As it can be seen from the comparisons, both CONTAIN and MELCOR codes can predict the results in good agreement with FSAR (ANGAR code) results. CONTAIN shows peak pressure around 0.36 MPa in short-term and this amount is about 0.38 and 0.4 MPa for MELCOR and ANGAR (FSAR) results respectively. All these values are under design pressure that is around 0.46 MPa. Cell 20 has the maximum mole fraction of hydrogen in long-term about 9.5% while the maximum amount of hydrogen takes place in cell 22. The differences between the results of codes are because of different equations, Models, Numerical methods and assumptions that have been considered by the codes. The simulated Hydrogen Distribution Map (HDM) can be used for upgrading the location of HCAV systems and Hydrogen Mitigator features (like the recombiners and ignitors) inside the containment to reduce the risk of hydrogen explosion.


2013 ◽  
Vol 486 ◽  
pp. 167-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ondřej Holčapek ◽  
Filip Vogel ◽  
Tomáš Vavřiník ◽  
Martin Keppert

Development in the field of concrete engineering is increasingly focused on the practical application of high performance concrete (HPC) or ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) in construction practise. Newly developed kings of concrete are newly using in transport and building structures. The process of hydration of hydraulic binders based on Portland cement doesn ́t stop after 28 days, when the test of compressive strength take place, but it ́s a long time process that takes for many months. For design we use the values of strength of 28 days. This paper explorers how does the long-term development of compressive strength of HPC runs. The composition of HPC is significantly different from the common concrete lower strength classes. The question of the influence of additives, filler on microsilica based, silica flour to the time development of compressive strength is being explored in this paper. There is also recorded the influence of curing condition of the test specimens to the compressive strength. The age of testing samples starts at a very early ages 1, 3, 7, 21, 28, 45, 90 and 180 days. The strength in uniaxial compression was measured on cubes with dimension 100 mm.


2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 1261-1268
Author(s):  
Shu Otani ◽  
Dang-Trang Nguyen ◽  
Kozo Taguchi

In this study, a portable and disposable paper-based microbial fuel cell (MFC) was fabricated. The MFC was powered by Rhodopseudomonas palustris bacteria (R. palustris). An activated carbon sheet-based anode pre-loaded organic matter (starch) and R. palustris was used. By using starch in the anode, R. palustris-loaded on the anode could be preserved for a long time in dry conditions. The MFC could generate electricity on-demand activated by adding water to the anode. The activated carbon sheet anode was treated by UV-ozone treatment to remove impurities and to improve its hydrophilicity before being loaded with R. palustris. The developed MFC could generate the maximum power density of 0.9 μW/cm2 and could be preserved for long-term usage with little performance degradation (10% after four weeks).


2004 ◽  
pp. 406-412
Author(s):  
Paul Okunieff ◽  
Michael C. Schell ◽  
Russell Ruo ◽  
E. Ronald Hale ◽  
Walter G. O'Dell ◽  
...  

✓ The role of radiosurgery in the treatment of patients with advanced-stage metastatic disease is currently under debate. Previous randomized studies have not consistently supported the use of radiosurgery to treat patients with numbers of brain metastases. In negative-results studies, however, intracranial tumor control was high but extracranial disease progressed; thus, patient survival was not greatly affected, although neurocognitive function was generally maintained until death. Because the future promises improved systemic (extracranial) therapy, the successful control of brain disease is that much more crucial. Thus, for selected patients with multiple metastases to the brain who remain in good neurological condition, aggressive lesion-targeting radiosurgery should be very useful. Although a major limitation to success of this therapy is the lack of control of extracranial disease in most patients, it is clear that well-designed, aggressive treatment substantially decreases the progression of brain metastases and also improves neurocognitive survival. The authors present the management and a methodology for rational treatment of a patient with breast cancer who has harbored 24 brain metastases during a 3-year period.


Mediaevistik ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-53
Author(s):  
Bernard S. Bachrach

During the first thirty-three years of his reign as king of the Franks, i.e., prior to his coronation as emperor on Christmas day 800, Charlemagne, scholars generally agree, pursued a successful long-term offensive and expansionist strategy. This strategy was aimed at conquering large swaths of erstwhile imperial territory in the west and bringing under Carolingian rule a wide variety of peoples, who either themselves or their regional predecessors previously had not been subject to Frankish regnum.1 For a very long time, scholars took the position that Charlemagne continued to pursue this expansionist strategy throughout the imperial years, i.e., from his coronation on Christmas Day 800 until his final illness in later January 814. For example, Louis Halphen observed: “comme empereur, Charles poursuit, sans plus, l’oeuvre entamée avant l’an 800.”2 F. L. Ganshof, who also wrote several studies treating Charlemagne’s army, was in lock step with Halphen and observed: “As emperor, Charlemagne pursued the political and military course he had been following before 25 December 800.”3


1984 ◽  
Vol 16 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 623-633
Author(s):  
M Loxham ◽  
F Weststrate

It is generally agreed that both the landfill option, or the civil techniques option for the final disposal of contaminated harbour sludge involves the isolation of the sludge from the environment. For short time scales, engineered barriers such as a bentonite screen, plastic sheets, pumping strategies etc. can be used. However for long time scales the effectiveness of such measures cannot be counted upon. It is thus necessary to be able to predict the long term environmenttal spread of contaminants from a mature landfill. A model is presented that considers diffusion and adsorption in the landfill site and convection and adsorption in the underlaying aquifer. From a parameter analysis starting form practical values it is shown that the adsorption behaviour and the molecular diffusion coefficient of the sludge, are the key parameters involved in the near field. The dilution effects of the far field migration patterns are also illustrated.


Author(s):  
John Toye

This book provides a survey of different ways in which economic sociocultural and political aspects of human progress have been studied since the time of Adam Smith. Inevitably, over such a long time span, it has been necessary to concentrate on highlighting the most significant contributions, rather than attempting an exhaustive treatment. The aim has been to bring into focus an outline of the main long-term changes in the way that socioeconomic development has been envisaged. The argument presented is that the idea of socioeconomic development emerged with the creation of grand evolutionary sequences of social progress that were the products of Enlightenment and mid-Victorian thinkers. By the middle of the twentieth century, when interest in the accelerating development gave the topic a new impetus, its scope narrowed to a set of economically based strategies. After 1960, however, faith in such strategies began to wane, in the face of indifferent results and general faltering of confidence in economists’ boasts of scientific expertise. In the twenty-first century, development research is being pursued using a research method that generates disconnected results. As a result, it seems unlikely that any grand narrative will be created in the future and that neo-liberalism will be the last of this particular kind of socioeconomic theory.


Agriculture ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 211
Author(s):  
Tharani Gopalakrishnan ◽  
Lalit Kumar

Soil salinity is a serious threat to coastal agriculture and has resulted in a significant reduction in agricultural output in many regions. Jaffna Peninsula, a semi-arid region located in the northern-most part of Sri Lanka, is also a victim of the adverse effects of coastal salinity. This study investigated long-term soil salinity changes and their link with agricultural land use changes, especially paddy land. Two Landsat images from 1988 and 2019 were used to map soil salinity distribution and changes. Another set of images was analyzed at four temporal periods to map abandoned paddy lands. A comparison of changes in soil salinity with abandoned paddy lands showed that abandoned paddy lands had significantly higher salinity than active paddy lands, confirming that increasing salts owing to the high levels of sea water intrusion in the soils, as well as higher water salinity in wells used for irrigation, could be the major drivers of degradation of paddy lands. The results also showed that there was a dramatic increase in soil salinity (1.4-fold) in the coastal lowlands of Jaffna Peninsula. 64.6% of the salinity-affected land was identified as being in the extreme saline category. In addition to reducing net arable lands, soil salinization has serious implications for food security and the livelihoods of farmers, potentially impacting the regional and national economy.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 215013272098771
Author(s):  
S. M. Rashed Ul Islam ◽  
Tahmina Akther ◽  
Md. Abdullah Omar Nasif ◽  
Sharmin Sultana ◽  
Saif Ullah Munshi

SARS-CoV-2 initially emerged in Wuhan, China in late 2019. It has since been recognized as a pandemic and has led to great social and economic disruption globally. The Reverse Transcriptase Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (rtRT-PCR) has become the primary method for COVID-19 testing worldwide. The method requires a specialized laboratory set up. Long-term persistence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in nasopharyngeal secretion after full clinical recovery of the patient is regularly observed nowadays. This forces the patients to spend a longer period in isolation and test repeatedly to obtain evidence of viral clearance. Repeated COVID-19 testing in asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic cases often leads to extra workload for laboratories that are already struggling with a high specimen turnover. Here, we present 5 purposively selected cases with different patterns of clinical presentations in which nasopharyngeal shedding of SARS-CoV-2 RNA was observed in patients for a long time. From these case studies, we emphasized the adoption of a symptom-based approach for discontinuing transmission-based precautions over a test-based strategy to reduce the time spent by asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic COVID-19 patients in isolation. A symptom-based approach will also help reduce laboratory burden for COVID-19 testing as well as conserve valuable resources and supplies utilized for rtRT-PCR testing in an emerging lower-middle-income setting. Most importantly, it will also make room for critically ill COVID-19 patients to visit or avail COVID-19 testing at their convenience.


Buildings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Klara Kroftova

An urban residential building from the second half of the 19th century and the start of the 20th century, the so-called tenement house, is a significant representative of the architecture of the developing urban fabric in Central Europe. The vertical and horizontal load-bearing structures of these houses currently tend to show characteristic, repeated defects and failures. Their knowledge may, in many cases, facilitate and speed up the design of the historic building’s restoration without compromising its heritage value in this process. The article presents the summary of the most frequently occurring defects and failures of these buildings. The summary, however, is not an absolute one, and, in the case of major damage to the building, it still applies that, first of all, a detailed analysis of the causes and consequences of defects and failures must be made as a basic prerequisite for the reliability and long-term durability of the building’s restoration and rehabilitation. An integral part of the rehabilitation of buildings must be the elimination of the causes of the appearance of their failures and remediation of all defects impairing their structural safety, health safety and energy efficiency.


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