Challenges in Selecting an Appropriate Heat Stress Index to Protect Workers in Hot and Humid Underground Mines

Roghanchi, Pedram,Kocsis, Karoly C. Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute 2018 Safety and health at work Vol.9 No.1

Background: A detailed evaluation of the underground mine climate requires extensive measurements to be performed coupled to climatic modeling work. This can be labor-intensive and time-consuming, and consequently impractical for daily work comfort assessments. Therefore, a simple indicator like a heat stress index is needed to enable a quick, valid, and acceptable evaluation of underground climatic conditions on a regular basis. This can be explained by the unending quest to develop a "universal index," which has led to the proliferation of many proposed heat stress indices. Methods: The aim of this research study is to discuss the challenges in identifying and selecting an appropriate heat stress index for thermal planning and management purposes in underground mines. A method is proposed coupled to a defined strategy for selecting and recommending heat stress indices to be used in underground metal mines in the United States and worldwide based on a thermal comfort model. Results: The performance of current heat stress indices used in underground mines varies based on the climatic conditions and the level of activities. Therefore, carefully selecting or establishing an appropriate heat stress index is of paramount importance to ensure the safety, health, and increasing productivity of the underground workers. Conclusion: This method presents an important tool to assess and select the most appropriate index for certain climatic conditions to protect the underground workers from heat-related illnesses. Although complex, the method presents results that are easy to interpret and understand than any of the currently available evaluation methods.

Challenges in Selecting an Appropriate Heat Stress Index to Protect Workers in Hot and Humid Underground Mines

Pedram Roghanchi,Karoly C. Kocsis 한국산업안전보건공단 산업안전보건연구원 2018 Safety and health at work Vol.9 No.1

Background: A detailed evaluation of the underground mine climate requires extensive measurements to be performed coupled to climatic modeling work. This can be labor-intensive and time-consuming, and consequently impractical for daily work comfort assessments. Therefore, a simple indicator like a heat stress index is needed to enable a quick, valid, and acceptable evaluation of underground climatic conditions on a regular basis. This can be explained by the unending quest to develop a “universal index,” which has led to the proliferation of many proposed heat stress indices. Methods: The aim of this research study is to discuss the challenges in identifying and selecting an appropriate heat stress index for thermal planning and management purposes in underground mines. A method is proposed coupled to a defined strategy for selecting and recommending heat stress indices to be used in underground metal mines in the United States and worldwide based on a thermal comfort model. Results: The performance of current heat stress indices used in underground mines varies based on the climatic conditions and the level of activities. Therefore, carefully selecting or establishing an appropriate heat stress index is of paramount importance to ensure the safety, health, and increasing productivity of the underground workers. Conclusion: This method presents an important tool to assess and select the most appropriate index for certain climatic conditions to protect the underground workers from heat-related illnesses. Although complex, the method presents results that are easy to interpret and understand than any of the currently available evaluation methods.

A Method to Protect Mine Workers in Hot and Humid Environments

Sunkpal, Maurice,Roghanchi, Pedram,Kocsis, Karoly C. Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute 2018 Safety and health at work Vol.9 No.2

Background: Work comfort studies have been extensively conducted, especially in the underground and meteorological fields resulting in an avalanche of recommendations for their evaluation. Nevertheless, no known or universally accepted model for comprehensively assessing the thermal work condition of the underground mine environment is currently available. Current literature presents several methods and techniques, but none of these can expansively assess the underground mine environment since most methods consider only one or a few defined factors and neglect others. Some are specifically formulated for the built and meteorological climates, thus making them unsuitable to accurately assess the climatic conditions in underground development and production workings. Methods: This paper presents a series of sensitivity analyses to assess the impact of environmental parameters and metabolic rate on the thermal comfort for underground mining applications. An approach was developed in the form of a "comfort model" which applied comfort parameters to extensively assess the climatic conditions in the deep, hot, and humid underground mines. Results: Simulation analysis predicted comfort limits in the form of required sweat rate and maximum skin wettedness. Tolerable worker exposure times to minimize thermal strain due to dehydration are predicted. Conclusion: The analysis determined the optimal air velocity for thermal comfort to be 1.5 m/s. The results also identified humidity to contribute more to deviations from thermal comfort than other comfort parameters. It is expected that this new approach will significantly help in managing heat stress issues in underground mines and thus improve productivity, safety, and health.

A Method to Protect Mine Workers in Hot and Humid Environments

Maurice Sunkpal,Pedram Roghanchi,Karoly C. Kocsis 한국산업안전보건공단 산업안전보건연구원 2018 Safety and health at work Vol.9 No.2

Background: Work comfort studies have been extensively conducted, especially in the underground and meteorological fields resulting in an avalanche of recommendations for their evaluation. Nevertheless, no known or universally accepted model for comprehensively assessing the thermal work condition of the underground mine environment is currently available. Current literature presents several methods and techniques, but none of these can expansively assess the underground mine environment since most methods consider only one or a few defined factors and neglect others. Some are specifically formulated for the built and meteorological climates, thus making them unsuitable to accurately assess the climatic conditions in underground development and production workings. Methods: This paper presents a series of sensitivity analyses to assess the impact of environmental parameters and metabolic rate on the thermal comfort for underground mining applications. An approach was developed in the form of a “comfort model” which applied comfort parameters to extensively assess the climatic conditions in the deep, hot, and humid underground mines. Results: Simulation analysis predicted comfort limits in the form of required sweat rate and maximum skin wettedness. Tolerable worker exposure times to minimize thermal strain due to dehydration are predicted. Conclusion: The analysis determined the optimal air velocity for thermal comfort to be 1.5 m/s. The results also identified humidity to contribute more to deviations from thermal comfort than other comfort parameters. It is expected that this new approach will significantly help in managing heat stress issues in underground mines and thus improve productivity, safety, and health.

Surface tailored PS/TiO₂ composite nanofiber membrane for copper removal from water

Wanjale, S.,Birajdar, M.,Jog, J.,Neppalli, R.,Causin, V.,Karger-Kocsis, J.,Lee, J.,Panzade, P. Academic Press 2016 JOURNAL OF COLLOID AND INTERFACE SCIENCE - Vol.469 No.-

Polystyrene (PS)/TiO<SUB>2</SUB> composite nanofiber membranes have been fabricated by electrospinning process for Cu<SUP>2+</SUP> ions removal from water. The surface properties of the polystyrene nanofibers were modulated by introducing TiO<SUB>2</SUB> nanoparticles. The contact angle of the PS nanofiber membrane was found to be decreased with increasing concentration of TiO<SUB>2</SUB>, depicted enhanced hydrophilicity. These membranes were highly effective in adsorbing Cu<SUP>2+</SUP> ions from water. The adsorption capacity of these membranes was found to be 522mg/g, which is significantly higher than the results reported by other researchers. This was attributed to enhanced hydrophilicity of the PS/TiO<SUB>2</SUB> composite nanofiber membranes and effective adsorption property of TiO<SUB>2</SUB> nanoparticles.

Cortically projecting basal forebrain parvalbumin neurons regulate cortical gamma band oscillations

Kim, Tae,Thankachan, Stephen,McKenna, James T.,McNally, James M.,Yang, Chun,Choi, Jee Hyun,Chen, Lichao,Kocsis, Bernat,Deisseroth, Karl,Strecker, Robert E.,Basheer, Radhika,Brown, Ritchie E.,McCarley, National Academy of Sciences 2015 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF Vol.112 No.11

<P><B>Significance</B></P><P>When we are awake, purposeful thinking and behavior require the synchronization of brain cells involved in different aspects of the same task. Cerebral cortex electrical oscillations in the gamma (30–80 Hz) range are particularly important in such synchronization. In this report we identify a particular subcortical cell type which has increased activity during waking and is involved in activating the cerebral cortex and generating gamma oscillations, enabling active cortical processing. Abnormalities of the brain mechanisms controlling gamma oscillations are involved in the disordered thinking typical of neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia. Thus, these findings may pave the way for targeted therapies to treat schizophrenia and other disorders involving abnormal cortical gamma oscillations.</P><P>Cortical gamma band oscillations (GBO, 30–80 Hz, typically ∼40 Hz) are involved in higher cognitive functions such as feature binding, attention, and working memory. GBO abnormalities are a feature of several neuropsychiatric disorders associated with dysfunction of cortical fast-spiking interneurons containing the calcium-binding protein parvalbumin (PV). GBO vary according to the state of arousal, are modulated by attention, and are correlated with conscious awareness. However, the subcortical cell types underlying the state-dependent control of GBO are not well understood. Here we tested the role of one cell type in the wakefulness-promoting basal forebrain (BF) region, cortically projecting GABAergic neurons containing PV, whose virally transduced fibers we found apposed cortical PV interneurons involved in generating GBO. Optogenetic stimulation of BF PV neurons in mice preferentially increased cortical GBO power by entraining a cortical oscillator with a resonant frequency of ∼40 Hz, as revealed by analysis of both rhythmic and nonrhythmic BF PV stimulation. Selective saporin lesions of BF cholinergic neurons did not alter the enhancement of cortical GBO power induced by BF PV stimulation. Importantly, bilateral optogenetic inhibition of BF PV neurons decreased the power of the 40-Hz auditory steady-state response, a read-out of the ability of the cortex to generate GBO used in clinical studies. Our results are surprising and novel in indicating that this presumptively inhibitory BF PV input controls cortical GBO, likely by synchronizing the activity of cortical PV interneurons. BF PV neurons may represent a previously unidentified therapeutic target to treat disorders involving abnormal GBO, such as schizophrenia.</P>

Molecular insight into drought tolerance of CR Dhan 40: an upland rice line from Eastern India

Chatterjee Atreyee,Galiba Gábor,Kocsy Gábor,Kar Rup Kumar,Dey Narottam 한국작물학회 2024 Journal of crop science and biotechnology Vol.27 No.2

To reveal the genetic potentiality of a rice line for stress tolerance, the conventional way is physiological and biochemical profiling under induced stress followed by validation through RT PCR based gene expression analysis. Though this technology is very useful and dependable, in the era of Plant Genomics and Post-Genomic bioinformatics, global transcriptome analysis is the current trend for identifying the potential genotype for their promising stress tolerance attributes. In the present study, RNA-seq analysis was performed on a potential upland-improved rice line (var. CR Dhan 40) to get a molecular insight into drought tolerance through a cataloguing of differentially expressed genes. Young seedlings (11 days old) of the selected line were exposed to water stress (12.5% relative to control) for 10 days and the leaves were subjected to transcriptome analysis. Total RNA extraction followed by preparation of cDNA libraries generated ~ 549 million high-quality reads which were mapped and aligned with the Oryza sativa indica reference rice genome. A total of 635 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were enumerated, of which 445 were upregulated and 190 were downregulated. GO enrichment analysis of the DEGs resulted in different functional categories of genes and pathways, of which six groups were highlighted that give us a clear idea about the water stress tolerance mechanism in rice. This work yielded genomic information that will enrich the available information on drought tolerance in rice, which is a typical quantitative trait regulated by a cluster of genetic elements across the whole rice genome