The key to excellent casthouse operation are low cost, high productivity, dry hearth and high casting rate while minimising the consumable material. The stable blast furnace operation requires proper control of drainage rate of liquid hot metal and slag from hearth. The productivity of blast furnace can be effectively increased if drainage rate is considerably increased. If the drainage rate is controlled, the periodic tapping of hot metal and slag from hearth can be made effective. This paper highlight the improvement made in casting practice by controlling the hearth liquid level in blast furnace. The improvements have made significant change in casthouse management. It is well demonstrated that various casthouse operations have migrated from one regime of operation to another regime and various consumable items are significantly reduced. The importance of increasing the drainage rate in improving the productivity of blast furnace is explained in details.

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Security agencies across the world are facing major challenge from the left-wing extremism and terrorism. Terrorists plan to create liberated zones by forming guerrilla squads. They plant IEDs to stop movement of security forces. Forces due to the inadequacy of traditional tools and techniques, unfamiliar terrain, lack of knowledge of local language are struggling hard to get an upper hand over the militia, while launching various operations. In 2010, 132 police officers lost their lives in these operations. In order to overcome these shortcomings, in this paper, digital image analysis and neural networks have been used to predict risk profile of an area which acts as alert to security forces conducting operations. Before conducting any CASO or Ambush, troops undertake operational-planning based on terrain features, intelligence inputs and risk profile of the area. These tools have been very useful in reduction of number of losses to 26 police officers in 2011.