POOR VISIBILITY DURING WINTER OVER SANTACRUZ AIRPORT- ITS CAUSES AND FORECAST

Th ere is rapid decrease in \isib ihl }' l1uri ne r a tly Illumine hou rs in winter season o ver Santacruzairport .Th e deterioration at times preve nt... a irc ra ft ope ra tio n in uu u for about ) ho ur or so ,Th e cau ses of red uct io n invisibility. l":.. strong nocturnal inversion {lew level ). poll ut ion in th e lower atmosphe re. lighl ....'ind etc have beenanalySt"d in th is paper. It was c bserved th at ind us trial end domestic po ll ution together with strong low level noctu rn a lin version causes poor visibility, Visib ility attains double minima-one between 1800 and 2UOO UTC and th e othe rbetween 0200 and 0300 lITC. An objective me thod 10 forec ast visibility in th e next 2 to 3 hOUfShas been d eveloped inthis paper.

Dynamics of laboratory indicators against the background of antibacterial therapy regimens that included fluoroquinolones in the treatment of critically ill COVID-19 patients depending on their age and doses of hormonal drugs

The article provides a review of the literature on the dynamics of blood counts in patients with the new coronavirus di­sease 19 and provides data from our own researches. It was found that patients of all age groups on the background of fluoroquinolone and dexamethasone treatment demonstrated an increase in leukocyte count, and in people over 60 years of age, its increase to the highest levels was observed. Individuals under 60 compared to patients over 60 years who received only antibiotics with the inclusion of fluoroquinolones, without the use of dexamethasone, had a slightly lower level of lymphocytes (р > 0.05) at the beginning of hospitalization, but already from day 4 their growth was observed. At the same time, in people over 60 years old, on the contrary, indicators decreased. In patients under 60 years of age who received antibiotics with the inclusion of fluoroquinolones and 16 mg of dexamethasone during treatment, their gra­dual increase with normalization was observed; this did not happen when 8 mg were used. In patients over 60 years of age who received antibiotics with the inclusion of fluoroquinolones, 8 and 16 mg dexamethasone and who recovered, fluctuations were observed at reduced numbers with a slight tendency towards normalization, as it was observed in younger people. In patients over 60 who received antibiotics without the use of dexamethasone and died, there was a decrease in lymphocyte level during treatment. In people over 60 who recovered, greater fluctuations in the level of lymphocytes to normal values were observed when using 8 mg of dexamethasone, while against the background of 16 mg of dexamethasone, the former showed a decrease in their level with a tendency to increase. At the same time, those who died, on the contrary, had a more significant decrease without a tendency towards normalization. Among patients under 60 and over 60 who have recovered, the former have a more rapid decrease in the le­vel of granulocytes with a tendency to normalize. In people under 60 years of age, when 16 mg of dexamethasone were prescribed, a slightly faster decrease in granulocyte level was observed. Also, a tendency to a more rapid decrease in the level of granulocytes was observed in patients older than 60 years against the background of the use of 16 mg of dexamethasone. In the age group over 60 years old against the background of 16 mg of dexamethasone, those who recovered demonstrated a decrease in granulocytes, and those who died, on the contrary, their increase. In people older than 60 years who recovered, when using 8 mg of dexamethasone and antibiotics with the inclusion of fluoroquinolones in the treatment regimen, the level of band neutrophils was slightly higher than in people younger than 60 years, and a period of its normalization was longer. Against the background of 16 mg of dexamethasone, people over 60 years of age who recovered, had lower indicators of band neutrophils in the first three days and a longer period of their normalization compared to those under 60 years of age. Patients over 60 years old who died, in comparison with those who reco­vered, already from the beginning of hospitalization demonstrated higher levels of band neutrophils and their gradual increase, while those who recovered, on the contrary, had a decrease. In patients under 60 years of age who, in addition to antibiotics, received 8 mg of dexamethasone, in the first three days after hospitalization the level of C-reactive protein (CRP) was lower than in people over 60 years of age who recovered. In both groups of patients, a tendency towards a decrease in the level of CRP was observed. Recovered patients over 60 years of age who received fluoroquinolones and 16 mg of dexamethasone had hig­her CRP content in the first three days than younger patients, and almost the same rates as those who died at the age of 60 years and older. Patients over 60 years old and those who recovered against the background of the use of 16 mg dexamethasone, had a more rapid decrease in the level of CRP; at the same time, in those who died, its slower decrease was observed. Also, the dynamics of ala­nine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, urea, creatinine, glucose, creatine phosphokinase, lactate dehydrogenase was established depending on the doses of hormones, age and the consequences of the disease course.

The importance of superspreaders on the spread of the global COVID-19 pandemic

The dynamics of pandemics is most often analyzed using a variation of the SIR (Susceptible-Infected-Recovered) model1, the key parameter of which is the basic reproduction number R0. Some evidences suggest that the contagion-spreading networks are scale-free, with the biggest nodes corresponding to superspreaders2,3. However, current understanding of the scale-free topology of these networks, and of the implications of such topology for the dynamics of pandemics is incomplete. Here we show that the world-wide spreading rate of COVID-19 gives an indirect evidence that the underlying virus-spreading network is scale-free, with the degree distribution exponent close to 2. Furthermore, our results show that the spreading rate of a virus is predominantly controlled by superspreaders who typically get infected and acquire immunity during the initial outbreak stage of the pandemic. Thereby the biggest nodes get immune and hence, removed from the network, resulting in a rapid decrease of the effective reproduction number. These findings are important for understanding the dynamics of pandemics, and for designing optimal virus control strategies. In particular, screening a population for the number of antibodies of a set of viruses can reveal potential superspreaders, the vaccination or isolation of whom can impede a pandemic at its early stage.

A Punitive But Non-Punitive Society: An Explanation Of The Specificity Of Penal Populism In South Korea

<p>It is argued in existing Korean criminological literature that penal populism has strongly influenced the criminal justice system over the last two decades in South Korea (‘SK’, hereafter). Their contention is based on the evidence of punitive penal policies formulated around sex offences against children since the 2000s. These policies include increased minimum sentencing for sex offenders, increased maximum terms of imprisonment, sex offender registration and community notification, electronic monitoring, and chemical castration. However, imprisonment rates in SK, one of the main indicators of punitiveness in other countries, rapidly decreased in the 2000s and have since then been stable. Moreover, the imprisonment rates in this country are significantly lower than those of other societies where penal populism has occurred, including the US, England, and New Zealand. Why, then, do criminologists in SK argue that penal populism has flourished in SK at a time when imprisonment rates are not sufficiently high to invoke punitiveness, let alone the downward (and stabilising) trend of imprisonment rates? The purpose of this thesis is to explain the punitive penal developments in SK since the 2000s, by drawing upon Pratt’s (2007) penal populism theory. Firstly, the contention in Korean criminology that penal populism has strongly operated and impacted the penal landscape in SK is empirically demonstrated. This demonstration is based on analyses of newspaper articles, social media, legislative bills, and minutes of the National Assembly with regard to sexual violence against children. This is followed by an explanation of the specific form of penal populism in SK, which is focused exclusively around sexual violence against children. The explanation draws on a social analysis of why and how the sensibilities of South Koreans toward children and the safety of children have changed over recent decades. The main argument here is that the socio-cultural value of children created under the tradition of Confucian familialism in SK has significantly increased through immense social, economic, and structural changes. These changes were brought about by a compressed process of industrialisation, which began as early as the 1960s, and the transition to late-modern society from the 1990s onwards. Lastly, this thesis seeks to explain the apparent contradiction between penal populism and the rapid decrease of the imprisonment rate in the 2000s in SK. I argue here that the rapid decrease of the imprisonment rate at that time was primarily caused by the changed patterns of pardon, parole, and remand within the context of the criminal justice reforms driven by the two progressive governments between 1998 and 2007. In addition, during the CJS reforms, ‘independence of the judiciary’ was upheld as the most important value, which regulated institutional arrangements in regard to sentencing in particular. Within these arrangements, the judiciary has been able to resist the impact of penal populism, which also contributed to the decrease of the imprisonment rate in the 2000s in this country.</p>

A Punitive But Non-Punitive Society: An Explanation Of The Specificity Of Penal Populism In South Korea

<p>It is argued in existing Korean criminological literature that penal populism has strongly influenced the criminal justice system over the last two decades in South Korea (‘SK’, hereafter). Their contention is based on the evidence of punitive penal policies formulated around sex offences against children since the 2000s. These policies include increased minimum sentencing for sex offenders, increased maximum terms of imprisonment, sex offender registration and community notification, electronic monitoring, and chemical castration. However, imprisonment rates in SK, one of the main indicators of punitiveness in other countries, rapidly decreased in the 2000s and have since then been stable. Moreover, the imprisonment rates in this country are significantly lower than those of other societies where penal populism has occurred, including the US, England, and New Zealand. Why, then, do criminologists in SK argue that penal populism has flourished in SK at a time when imprisonment rates are not sufficiently high to invoke punitiveness, let alone the downward (and stabilising) trend of imprisonment rates? The purpose of this thesis is to explain the punitive penal developments in SK since the 2000s, by drawing upon Pratt’s (2007) penal populism theory. Firstly, the contention in Korean criminology that penal populism has strongly operated and impacted the penal landscape in SK is empirically demonstrated. This demonstration is based on analyses of newspaper articles, social media, legislative bills, and minutes of the National Assembly with regard to sexual violence against children. This is followed by an explanation of the specific form of penal populism in SK, which is focused exclusively around sexual violence against children. The explanation draws on a social analysis of why and how the sensibilities of South Koreans toward children and the safety of children have changed over recent decades. The main argument here is that the socio-cultural value of children created under the tradition of Confucian familialism in SK has significantly increased through immense social, economic, and structural changes. These changes were brought about by a compressed process of industrialisation, which began as early as the 1960s, and the transition to late-modern society from the 1990s onwards. Lastly, this thesis seeks to explain the apparent contradiction between penal populism and the rapid decrease of the imprisonment rate in the 2000s in SK. I argue here that the rapid decrease of the imprisonment rate at that time was primarily caused by the changed patterns of pardon, parole, and remand within the context of the criminal justice reforms driven by the two progressive governments between 1998 and 2007. In addition, during the CJS reforms, ‘independence of the judiciary’ was upheld as the most important value, which regulated institutional arrangements in regard to sentencing in particular. Within these arrangements, the judiciary has been able to resist the impact of penal populism, which also contributed to the decrease of the imprisonment rate in the 2000s in this country.</p>

Modeling seasonal variations of extreme rainfall on different timescales in Germany

We model monthly precipitation maxima at 132 stations in Germany for a wide range of durations from 1 min to about 6 d using a duration-dependent generalized extreme value (d-GEV) distribution with monthly varying parameters. This allows for the estimation of both monthly and annual intensity–duration–frequency (IDF) curves: (1) the monthly IDF curves of the summer months exhibit a more rapid decrease of intensity with duration, as well as higher intensities for short durations than the IDF curves for the remaining months of the year. Thus, when short convective extreme events occur, they are very likely to occur in summer everywhere in Germany. In contrast, extreme events with a duration of several hours up to about 1 d are conditionally more likely to occur within a longer period or even spread throughout the whole year, depending on the station. There are major differences within Germany with respect to the months in which long-lasting stratiform extreme events are more likely to occur. At some stations the IDF curves (for a given quantile) for different months intersect. The meteorological interpretation of this intersection is that the season in which a certain extreme event is most likely to occur shifts from summer towards autumn or winter for longer durations. (2) We compare the annual IDF curves resulting from the monthly model with those estimated conventionally, that is, based on modeling annual maxima. We find that adding information in the form of smooth variations during the year leads to a considerable reduction of uncertainties. We additionally observe that at some stations, the annual IDF curves obtained by modeling monthly maxima deviate from the assumption of scale invariance, resulting in a flattening in the slope of the IDF curves for long durations.

Hydrogen Generation from Biowaste & Its Application as A Fuel

With the rapid decrease in conventional energy sources and serious issues like Global Warming and change in the climate, there is an immediate need to find sources that are renewable and will last for a long time. Hydrogen as a fuel is a good alternative given its abundance. Hydrogen production uses natural gases and electrolysis of water, thus directly or indirectly creating pollution. But this doesn’t mean that energy provided by hydrogen is clean in the utmost sense. Hence there is a need to segregate and analyze different Hydrogen production techniques. In this paper, we will briefly discuss the biological methods of Hydrogen production from biomass and applications of hydrogen. Keywords: Biological H2 production, Aerobic Reaction, Anaerobic reactions, Fuel cell.

A model for the size distribution of marine microplastics: A statistical mechanics approach

The size distribution of marine microplastics provides a fundamental data source for understanding the dispersal, break down, and biotic impacts of the microplastics in the ocean. The observed size distribution at the sea surface generally shows, from large to small sizes, a gradual increase followed by a rapid decrease. This decrease has led to the hypothesis that the smallest fragments are selectively removed by sinking or biological uptake. Here we propose a new model of size distribution, focusing on the fragmentation of marine plastics. The model is inspired by ideas from statistical mechanics. In this model, the original large plastic piece is broken into smaller pieces once by the application of “energy” or work by waves or other processes, under two assumptions, one that fragmentation into smaller pieces requires larger energy and the other that the occurrence probability of the “energy” exponentially decreases toward larger energy values. Our formula well reproduces observed size distributions over wide size ranges from micro- to mesoplastics. According to this model, the smallest fragments are fewer because large “energy” required to produce such small fragments occurs more rarely.

Effects of Repeated Frying on Physical Properties of Cooking Oil obtained from Local Markets in Makurdi Metropolis, Benue State, Nigeria.

The viscosity, density and specific gravity of different brands of cooking oil samples locally sourced for in Makurdi have been measured with respect to change in temperature. The viscosity of the different brands of cooking oil was measured with the instrumentality of Brookfield Viscometer. The density and specific gravity were evaluated using the mass of the sampled oil obtained with the help of the density bottle. The result showed a pattern of rapid decrease in viscosity with increase in temperature for the oil samples, while density decrease is observed to be almost linear with increase in temperature for all samples. Amongst the sampled cooking oils, palm kernel showed the least viscosity of 8.6 Pascal-second when measured at 45.200C. This illustrates that palm kernel oil has a relatively low viscous nature at 45.200C as compared to other samples used in this work but cannot be recommended to be used as lubricants in vehicles in place of gasoline because they have very low viscous nature within temperatures far less than 100 0C.

Contractile force of transplanted cardiomyocytes contributes to heart function after injury

Transplantation of pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes represents an innovative therapeutic strategy for heart failure. Studies in small and large animals have demonstrated functional recovery of left ventricular function after cardiomyocyte transplantation, and first clinical studies are currently underway. Yet, the mechanism of action underlying graft-induced benefit is unknown. Here we demonstrate that transplanted cardiomyocytes actively contribute to heart function. We transplanted cardiomyocytes with an optogenetic off-on switch in a guinea pig cardiac injury model. Light-induced inhibition of engrafted cardiomyocyte contractility resulted in a rapid decrease of left ventricular function that was fully reversible with the offset of photostimulation. Hence, our optogenetic approach demonstrated that transplanted cardiomyocytes actively participate in heart function, supporting the hypothesis that the delivery of new force-generating myocardium can serve as a regenerative therapeutic strategy.