Aspects regarding the explosion risk assessment of installations in atmospheres with combustible dust

Many industrial processes involving the presence of dust and combustible dust, suspended or accumulated in the form of deposits, have the potential to lead to a fire, explosion or decomposition in the presence of oxygen. As the damage caused by an explosion of dust is generally greater than that caused by explosions of flammable gases and vapours, a special attention must be paid to measures and means of protection and prevention of explosions of dust. A dust explosion can only occur if there is mainly a potentially explosive atmosphere generated by the air / dust mixture and a source of ignition. The level of safety is given by the operational efficiency of the employees and technical equipment involved in the production process to ensure that at least one of the above conditions is eliminated. The probability of a dust explosion is related to the physicochemical properties of the processed materials, together with the nature of the operations performed and the equipment used. This paper highlights the principles and factors that must be taken into account when conducting an explosion risk assessment in installations with combustible dust atmospheres in order to establish prevention and protection measures, with the aim of ensuring a tolerable level of risk.

Analyse expérimentale du comportement des producteurs de céréales sèches face au risque financier dans un contexte de changement climatique

This study has two objectives: to characterize farmers according to their level of financial risk aversion and to analyze the factors explaining their propensity to take financial risk. Using a lottery system inspired by the work of Allais (1953) on 540 farmers in the groundnut basin of Senegal, the results show that 81.38 % of farmers are financially risk averse and only 8.57 % are risk lovers. Estimates with the probit model show that the propensity to take financial risk decreases if the farmer sets himself a high tolerable level of production loss. These results suggest that demand components should be considered in public agricultural financing and insurance policies.

Efficiency of brinzolamide and its combinations with timolol maleate in the treatment of primary open-angle glaucoma

PURPOSE. To evaluate the effectiveness of 1% brinzolamide solution (Brineks-M) and its combination with 0.5% timolol maleate solution (Brinarga) in the treatment of patients with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG).METHODS. The study involved 56 patients (56 eyes) with initial or moderate POAG and normal or moderately increased intraocular pressure. Individually tolerated IOP, hydrodynamic parameters, hemodynamic parameters of the eye (by computer ophthalmoplethysmography), microcirculation (by OCT angiography of the optic nerve head) were determined during the study.RESULTS. The hypotensive effect of 1% brinzolamide solution (Brineks-M) in patients with the early stage of POAG (23 eyes) after 3 months was 22.5%. The antihypertensive effect of Brinarga in patients with early and moderate stages of POAG (33 eyes) was 31.3% and persisted for 3 months of observation.CONCLUSION. A decrease in IOP to an individually tolerable level was accompanied by an improvement in ocular hemodynamics and microhemocirculation of the optic nerve head, and stabilization of visual functions in patients with POAG.

Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment in Generator Manufacturing Unit

In industrial arena, if any industry to be successful, it has to be safe, reliable, and sustainable in its operations. The industry has to identify the hazards and assess the associated risks and to bring the risks to tolerable level. The objective of this paper is to obtain hazards and risk analysis, the event sequences leading to hazards and the risk associated with hazardous events. Many techniques ranging from the simple qualitative methods to the advanced quantitative methods are available to help identify and analyze hazards. Wind Turbine Generator Rotor Blade Manufacturing unit hazards and risk analysis has been done.

Autophagy-dependent survival is controlled with a unique regulatory network upon various cellular stress events

Although autophagy is a type of programmed cell death, it is also essential for cell survival upon tolerable level of various stress events. For the cell to respond adequately to an external and/or internal stimulus induced by cellular stress, autophagy must be controlled in a highly regulated manner. By using systems biology techniques, here we explore the dynamical features of autophagy induction. We propose that the switch-like characteristic of autophagy induction is achieved by a control network, containing essential feedback loops of four components, so-called autophagy inducer, autophagy controller, mTORC1 and autophagy executor, respectively. We show how an autophagy inducer is capable to turn on autophagy in a cellular stress-specific way. The autophagy controller acts as a molecular switch and not only promotes autophagy but also blocks the permanent hyperactivation of the process via downregulating the autophagy inducer. In this theoretical analysis, we explore in detail the properties of all four proposed controlling elements and their connections. Here we also prove that the kinetic features of this control network can be considered accurate in various stress processes (such as starvation, endoplasmic reticulum stress and oxidative stress), even if the exact components may be different. The robust response of the resulting control network is essential during cellular stress.

Overview of the risk management framework of Inland transport of dangerous good

The paper defines dangerous goods, the concept of risk and presents a framework for risk assessment of Inland transport of dangerous goods. In order to improve the risk assessment of this area, a framework has been developed on the basis of which inequalities will be eliminated in practice and in the legal sense. The paper presents an overview of the steps of the case study description and risk assessment of the transport of dangerous goods, on the basis of which the necessary prevention measures are applied in order to reduce the risk to a tolerable level. Improving the functioning of the risk assessment framework is done by harmonizing the best methodology of the expert's work and based on the feedback of the results during its use.

Semiochemical-based integrated pest management of ambrosia beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) in British Columbia’s forest industry: implemented in 1982 and still running

Three species of ambrosia beetles (Trypodendron lineatum (Olivier), Gnathotrichus sulcatus (LeConte), and G. retusus (LeConte) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae)) have been estimated to cause annual losses of $95–$189 million in degrade of logs and lumber on the British Columbia coast, in Canada. A consultant-run semiochemical-based integrated pest management programme was implemented in 1982 against these beetles, following fulfilment of four prerequisites: (1) presence of receptive potential clients, (2) availability of semiochemical lures, (3) invention of an operational trap, and (4) proof of concept of mass trapping technology. The programme is based on two broad strategies: maintain the problem at a tolerable level and, if necessary, reduce the problem to a tolerable level. One measure of effectiveness over 12 years of mass trapping at a dryland sort near Sooke, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, was 16.4 million beetles trapped and an estimated five to one benefit-to-cost ratio. Despite success, several factors have conspired to reduce the programme from 50 sites serviced in early years to 7 in 2018. Timber companies in British Columbia are currently showing renewed interest and are taking steps to incorporate the integrated pest management programme as a formal component of their overall operations.

Evaluation of The Patulin Content of Certain Non-Alcoholic Beverages (Gnamankoudji, Bissap And Tomi) Sold on The Streets of Daloa (Côte d’Ivoire)

This study was conducted to ascertain the Sanitary state of beverages (Gnamankoudji, Bissap and Tomi) sold in the streets of Daloa (Côte d'Ivoire). To conduct the study, a survey was carried out to diagnose the different non-alcoholic artisanal drinks sold in the town of Daloa. The diagnosis revealed that 87.5% of consumers buy the drinks from the vendors while 12.5% produce them themselves. These drinks are consumed mainly by 77% of young people (˂ 30 years old), mostly pupils and students. Furthermore, 83.5% of the respondents have no knowledge of chemical contamination of the beverages they consume and various ailments have been reported by consumers. Toxicological analyses carried out on these three (3) beverages revealed that they present a risk to the health of the consumer. This is because the level of contamination of these beverages is three (3) to five (5) times higher than the European recommendations on the maximum tolerable level of PAT (50 µg.L-1) in fruit juices and derived beverages.

Women Abuse Screening Tool: A Validation Study on Nigerian Pregnant Women

Domestic violence is identified across the globe as a menace as it poses a threat to the mental health of its victims, the significant others of the victim and the security of a nation at large. In some cases, the victim of domestic violence is a pregnant woman and harm is caused not only to a woman but her fetus also and this calls for urgent psychological assessment and intervention. Although there is no doubt that psychological tests are effective in the assessment of domestic violence, using the psychometric properties obtained from a different population may produce generate inaccurate findings. This paper therefore attempts the validation study of Women Abuse Screening Tool (WAST) using a sample of 379 pregnant women attending antenatal clinic at the State Specialist Hospital, Osogbo, Osun State, Nigeria. The study derived a Cronbach’s Alpha Reliability of 0.758, p <.05 and a Guttman split-half coefficient of 0.683, p <.05. Furthermore, concurrent validity of Women Abuse Screening Tool (WAST) and Ongoing Abuse Screen (OAS) was established as 0.29, p<.05. The norms of the instrument were given as 2.38 for tolerable level of domestic violence and 5.79 for severe and pathological level of domestic violence. Authors conclude that Women Abuse Screening Tool has acceptable psychometric properties to justify its usage for the assessment of level of domestic violence among pregnant women in Nigeria and other nations with similar socio-cultural backgrounds.