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To date, researchers who have done work life balance (WLB) have mainly focused on work and the family domain. However, the present-day workforce is heterogenous in nature and the workers might even value the other domains of non-working apart from family. These researchers mainly aim at investigating the significance of the other domains of non-working in work life balance with a special focus on the health of workers. Besides the meaning of the effect of balance between serious and fun activities and work well-being balance on representative fulfillment was evaluated. Likewise, these examinations investigate the impact of balance between serious and fun activities and work well-being balance on change in the degree of representative fulfillment according to the qualities of the laborers, including parental status, age, work capacity, and sex. The consequences of studies show that the specialists believe well-being to be a significant factor in the space of balance between fun and serious activities. Work well-being balance clarifies a greater amount of change in representative fulfillment when contrasted with balance between fun and serious activities. A sample of 311 respondents was surveyed to find the factors related to work life balance and their impact on job switching behavior. After applying factor analysis, a statistical tool, and analyzing the data, the study concludes that work health balance, job satisfaction, work environment, relation with management and co-workers, and work and personal life balance are the different factors related to work life balance that shows significant impact on job switching behavior.

Tobacco use causes serious health problems. Its use presents a crucial threat to the well-being of children. School health programs to prevent tobacco use could become one of the most effective strategies to reduce the burden of tobacco induced illness and make a substantial contribution to the health of the next generation. Preventing as many children as possible from starting tobacco use is feasible and worthwhile, both economically and in terms of improved health of the population. This review discusses the various school-based strategies in the field of tobacco-use prevention and cessation to help school personnel implement effective prevention programs.

Purpose The use of flexible connections throughout the steel structures provides a high level of stiffness compared to that of fully welded connections. Flexible connections allow for rotation to an extent, which make them perform better during earthquake than welded connections. In hanger connections, the applied load produces tension in the bolts and bolts are designed for tensile forces. When the deformation of the flange plate is equal to that of the bolts, a plastic hinge is formed in the flange plate at the weld line and the bolts are pulled to failure. If the attached plate is allowed to deform, additional tensile forces called prying forces are developed in the bolts. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach This paper includes the results of investigation on prying force in T-stub connection fabricated with normal grade bolts and high strength friction grip (HSFG) bolts. Finite element analysis has been carried out by creating models and analyzing the effect of external tensile force and bolt force. For different grades of bolt (4.6, 8.8, 10.9, 12.9), the prying force is calculated. Findings It is found that prying force is increasing with the change in grade of bolt used from normal to HSFG. The results obtained from analysis using IS 800:2007 codal provision are also included. It is observed that HSFG bolts do not allow for any slip between the elements connected and hence rigidity is increased. Originality/value The prying force mainly depends on geometrical parameter of the connection. In this research work, the variation of prying force was studied based on the variation in dimensions of T-stub angle section and bolt grade (4.6, 8.8, 10.9, 12.9). The method of obtaining prying force from bolt load and applied load is a unique approach. The results of FE analysis is validated with the analytical calculation as per IS 800:2007 code provisions, which shows the originality of the research.

Facial expression recognition plays a major role in various application areas such as medical science, security, computer vision, etc. The face was detected and aligned using the ensemble of regression tree technique. The face detection and face alignment challenges such as pose variations, the camera distance from the face, and the lighting changes were analyzed. The aligned face region was connected and cropped with the boundary of the landmark points using Delaunay triangulation for extracting facial features. Two types of feature fusion methods are used to derive the distinctive aspect of the cropped face images. These features are fed into three classifiers to recognize six facial expressions. The error-correcting output code model achieves promising predictions in terms of accuracy.

Surface potential and chemical compositions of the bioceramics are the core of therapeutic effect and are key factors to trigger the interfacial interactions with surrounding hard and soft tissues to repair and regeneration. Ionic substitution in hydroxyapatite (Hap) lattice significantly influences the zeta potential from −16.46 ± 0.66 mV to −6.01 ± 0.68 mV as well as an average nano-rod length from ~40 nm to ~26 nm with respect to SO42− ion content. Moreover, the surface chemistry of Hap is mainly inter-related to SO42− substitution rate at PO42− site. Specifically, nano-sized feature with lowered negative surface potential influences the protein adsorption via their weak repulsive or attractive forces. Bovine serum albumin (BSA) and lysozyme (LSZ) adsorption studies confirmed the increased affinity to active binding sites of Hap's surface. Further, SO42− ion substituted Hap (SNHA) showed improved in vitro biomineralization activity and alkaline phosphatase activity. Expression of osteogenic biomarkers such as collagen I, V, osteopontin and osteocalcin were evaluated in Saos-2 and MC3T3-E1 cells. Gene expression of these markers was influenced by SO42− ion content in Hap (maximum with 10SNHA). Altogether, these data emphasizes that chemical composition and surface properties are dominant aspect in bioceramic development towards bone regeneration.

Understanding the crystalline properties of nano-hydroxyapatite (nHAp) from amorphous material is quite a complex process involving investigating thermal treatment, the size and charge of ions and the arrangement of ions or molecules into an ordered lattice, all of which consequently influence structural, morphological and biological properties. Varying the ratio of iron (Fe) incorporated in nano-hydroxyapatite (Fe-nHAp) subjected to different thermal treatments mediated the apatite mineralization potential under non-cellular and cellular conditions, as explored herein. An increase in thermal treatment induces a phase transition from nHAp to β-TCP, which gradually increased due to Fe incorporation and reduced the size aspect ratio followed by the creation of an irregular morphology, as evidenced by XRD and high resolution TEM analyses. The mineralization potential under non-cellular conditions is considerably influenced by the rate of calcium (Ca), phosphate (P) and Fe ionic release. Even if an apatite layer formed by nanocrystalline Fe-nHAp can endow host bone tissue with bioactivity, it is however important to address other biological activity. In line with this, under cellular conditions, the mineralization potentials of Ca, P and Fe ions were assessed using Saos-2 cells in terms of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, gene expression and calcium nodule formation, which show the enhanced potential for mineralization upto a certain ratio of Fe incorporation, as well as under thermal treatment. Thus, it could be perceived that a newly formed bone-like apatite layer is insufficient for the successful use of biomaterials in tissue regeneration, but rather optimal levels of Ca, P and Fe ions are essential to up-regulate osteoblasts, which may promote tissue regeneration.

In this study, we have attempted to prepare reduced graphene nanosheets (RGNS) reinforced nano-hydroxyapatite (nHAp) nanocomposites via different sonochemical treatments of nHAp. Structural properties of RGNS-nHAp nanocomposites were investigated by XRD and Raman analysis. In vitro bioactivity of RGNS-nHAp nanocomposites were examined by immersing them in hank's balanced salt solution and further in vitro apatite layer formation was confirmed by systematic investigations using FESEM and ICP-OES analyses. Interactions of RGNS, pure nHAp and their nanocomposites with human erythrocytes were explored. Hemocompatibility of BGO-nHAp nanocomposites were found to be superior to pristine RGNS. The nanocomposites were mechanically improved when compared to nHAp through effective load transfer onto their 2D lattice of RGNS. However, 20PGO-nHAp nanocomposites were mechanically weaker than 20BGO-nHAp due to the formation of β-TCP as an additional phase, thus decreases its mechanical strength.

The proposed framework recognizes facial expressions with the minimal histogram features. Emotional parts of the face are traced with the combination of face detection and facial landmark techniques; HOG integrated with a linear Support Vector Machine [SVM] classifier framework is adopted for face detection. The landmark points are aligned by using an ensemble of regression algorithm. The aligned facial landmark points are integrated by using a Delaunay triangulation. The mask is created by means of the convex hull points. The emotional parts of the face are isolated by the mask. For feature extraction, HOG and LDP descriptors are utilized to derive the distinct features of the detected face area. The dimensions of the fused feature vectors are reduced with the use of single-layer auto-encoder. The downsized features are recognized by using the soft-max layer. Facial expressions are recognized from still images and video frames. Images are collected from JAFFE, WSEFEP datasets, RAVEES audio-visual database and some of the images are collected from internet. The performance of the proposed model attains 95.7%.

This paper proposes an automated system to identify speaker’s regional nativity by analysing their English speech utterances. A database of English speech of native speakers of three South Indian languages: Kannada (KAN), Tamil (TAM) and Telugu (TEL), is especially collected for this study, in text-independent mode. Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCCs) features are used with three different classifiers, namely, Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM), GMM-Universal Background Model (GMM-UBM) and i-vector. The i-vector classifier gave accuracies of 93.9%. Nativity identification from English speech is observed to be relatively easier for native speakers of Kannada language, than for Tamil and Telugu speakers.

Surface coating of titanium implants is a predominant technique for enhancing osseointegration and controlling bacterial adhesion for orthopedic applications. In this study, we have developed zirconia (Zr)-incorporated bioactive glass (BG) thin films coatings on Cp-Ti substrate. As Zr is expected to increase mechanical stability, coatings with different weight percentages of Zr incorporated bioglass were examined. XRD results of thin films, confirms the of sodium calcium silicate (Na2Ca2Si3O9) along with Na2Ca2Si2O7 phase. In-vitro biomineralization ability of the thin films was evaluated from in-vitro immersion in simulated body fluid (SBF) for up to 14 days. The apatite formation on the surface of the thin films after immersion studies observed using SEM confirms the bioactivity of the coatings. Hemocompatibility of thin films shows good compatibility with acceptable lysis of less than 2%. Further, the in-vitro cytocompatibility with MG-63 Osteoblast like cell lines showed significant improvement in cell viability. Moreover, BG-Zr composite-coated Cp-Ti substrate eventually decreased biofilm formation due to linear increase of surface roughness with increased content of Zr in BG matrix. Hence, the surface-modified Cp-Ti implant materials using BG-Zr composites displayed considerably enhanced bioactivity as well as improved osseointegrated surface suitable for orthopedic applications.

The vein structure is stable over time and can be manipulated for identifying human. The sclera portion of the human eye has blood vessel pattern which is unique for each human being. So, the sclera vein pattern can be used for a useful biometric feature. A few research works has been done over finger vein pattern recognition. Finger vein is an important biometric technique for personal identification and authentication. The finger vein is a blood vessel network under the finger skin. The network pattern is distinct for each individual, unaffected by aging and it is internal i.e. inside human skin which can always guarantee more security authentication. Sclera vein pattern recognition can face a few challenges like: the vein structure moves as the eye moves, low image quality, multilayered structure of the sclera vein and thickness of the sclera vein changes with the excitement level of the human body. To overcome this limitation, the multimodel biometrics is proposed through which the user can be authenticated either sclera vein or finger vein recognition. Sclera vein recognition used Y-shape descriptor and finger vein recognition used repeated line tracking based feature extraction method to effectively eliminate the most unlikely matches respectively. According to the available work in literatures and commercial utilization experiences, sclera vein and finger vein multimodality ensures higher performance and spoofing resistance. Thus building the multimodel biometric system increases the population coverage and improves the accuracy of the human recognition.

Consumer behaviour is the study of how individual customers, groups or organizations select, buy, use, and dispose ideas, goods, and services to satisfy their needs and wants. It refers to the actions of the consumers in the marketplace and the underlying motives for those actions. Marketers expect that by understanding what causes the consumers to buy particular goods and services, they will be able to determine which products are needed in the marketplace, which are obsolete, and how best to present the goods to the consumers.

Freshly collected seeds of cocoa were desiccated at room temperature and germination rate moisture content, soluble carbohydrates etc were analysed in the samples collected at regular intervals. Cocoa seeds are highly recalcitrant and total lose of viability occurs within 6 days of storage at room temperature. There is progressive deterioration of integrity of the membrane component of the cellular system during desiccation. This is manifested as the enhanced leakage of electrolytes from the tissues. A significant increase in sucrose content was observed in the cocoa seed tissues during desiccation. Raffinose content in the seeds declined rapidly during desiccation. Sucrose is suggested to have a critical role in maintaining the integrity of the cell membrane during dehydration. HPLC analysis of sucrose and raffinose through successive stages of desiccation does not impart tolerance to dehydration. This is because of the crystallization of sucrose and the deficiency of raffinose to ameliorate it. The sucrose to raffinose ratio is critical to seed viability in cocoa than their absolute quantum. When the ratio goes beyond 8:1 the viability of the cocoa seeds commence to decline rapidly.

Introduction: Sugared beverages such as cola, packaged juice, are known for cariogenicity their intake leads to the immediate drop in plaque and salivary pH, which can be an etiologic factor for dental caries. Objective: The objective was to assess the endogenous acidity and total sugar content of four commercially available beverages commonly consumed by children in India and its effect on salivary and plaque pH. Materials and Methods: A crossover controlled trial was conducted. 60 randomly selected school children from school at south Bangalore, who were meeting the inclusion criteria, were asked to refrain from oral hygiene practices for 24 h till the sample collection. Children were divided into four groups and for each group test drink was given. Plaque and salivary sample were collected at the time of 2, 5, 10, 20, and 30 min and were sent for pH estimation. 7 days of washout time was given for each cross-over and 3 such cross-over was done during the study and the drinks were interchanged. Results: Sweet lassi was found to be having maximum total sugar content of and Coca-Cola had the lowest pH 5.3. Milk showed least sugar content and highest pH (6.7). Study showed a significant drop in pH after consumption of all the test drinks (P = 0. 05). Carbonated beverage, that is, Coca-Cola Showed the maximum drop of pH, followed by Pulpy orange in both the plaque as well as saliva. Coca-Cola showed the drop of plaque pH below the critical level, 5.44 (0.134). Conclusion: Sweet lassi showed the maximum inherent total sugar content, lowest inherent pH and maximum fall in plaque and salivary pH, was found with Coca-Cola.

Direction of arrival (DOA) estimation is one of the focal problems in the fields of Wireless communications, Radar, Sonar, Radio Astronomy and Seismology. The main objective of the DOA estimation is to obtain the desired signals direction as well as the interference signals direction based on the data received from the array sensor at the base station. In literature various techniques are researched for DOA estimation. Among which are two high resolution algorithms, viz. MUSIC (MUltiple SIgnal Classification) and ESPRIT (Estimation of Signal Parameters via Rotational Invariance Technique, MUSIC algorithm is implemented in this paper with Empirical Mode Decomposition technique. The key feature of EMD is to decompose a signal into sum of intrinsic mode functions (IMF) with a final residue of non linear and non stationary signals. The work presented in this paper deals with EMD application to the problem of DOA estimation as a preprocessing technique. This technique separately de-noises the rows of the array data matrix where each row corresponds to the output of a particular sensor array. Especially in low-SNR conditions, the estimation performance of MUSIC algorithm is enhanced significantly when de-noising is given to array data matrix prior to DOA estimation stage.

Introduction Oral health of pregnant women is of utmost important to dental health practitioners. Even among healthy women the physiological changes that accompany pregnancy can lead to gingivitis, periodontitis and at times benign lesions. Preventive, emergency and routine dental procedures are all suitable during various phases of pregnancy, with some treatment modifications and initial planning. Objectives This study was undertaken to understand the dentist's knowledge, behaviour, attitude and beliefs towards treating pregnant patients. Materials and methods A self administered questionnaire study was conducted among dental health practitioners in Bengaluru city. Two hundred and fifty dental practitioners participated. Knowledge, behaviour, attitude and beliefs were recorded using thirty seven itemed questionnaire. Results Descriptive and chi square analysis was done. The p-value was set at 0.05. Second trimester was rated as the safest to provide all dental treatment. The type of the practice had effect on the treatment decision making of dentists and drug administration (p Conclusion The participating dentists exhibited limited knowledge about appropriate management of the pregnant patients.

We report the interaction of graphene oxide reinforced hydroxyapatite (GO-HAp) nanocomposites with human erythrocytes. The hemocompatibility of GO-HAp found to be superior as compared to the pristine graphene oxide. It is found that the HAp nanoparticles on GO decrease the disruption of erythrocytes by minimizing the exposure of oxygen groups to phosphatidylcholine surface of erythrocyte membrane and it enhances hemocompatibility. Further, it is also found that the graphene oxide reinforced HAp nanobiocomposite enhances the metabolic activity of osteoblasts-like cells by promoting cell proliferation.

In this study, we report the preparation of nano-hydroxyapatite (nHAp) incorporated poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) scaffolds by conjugated thermal induced phase separation (TIPS) and wet-chemical approach, which essentially facilitates the enhancement of both mechanical as well as biological properties of the scaffolds. The dissolution of PMMA was accomplished by acetone (Ace scaffold), ethanol-water (E-W scaffold) and isopropanol-water (I-W scaffold) mixtures as solvents. The existence of nHAp in PMMA matrix was investigated systematically. The higher degree of porous architecture was achieved from Ace scaffolds compared to both I-W and E-W scaffolds. On the other hand, the dense porous architecture of the I-W scaffold exhibited superior hardness and compressive strength than that of the Ace and E-W scaffolds. All the fabricated samples demonstrated enhanced in vitro bioactivity with respect to increasing immersion period as a result of flower-like in vitro apatite layer formation. The MTT assay was carried out for 1day and 3day culture using Saos-2 osteoblast-like cells, which showed better cell proliferation with increasing culture period owing to the interconnected pore architecture of scaffolds and the rational hemocompatibility as per the ASTM standard F756-00.

Objective: The goal of this paper is to analyze the computation of detecting faces from still images using adaboost algorithm. Methods: The dataset is collected from the web. The chosen image is converted into gray scale image. Sum of the pixel values are calculated with the utilization of summed area table. For each step of iteration, adaboost learn and reconstruct the weight value. For classification, cascade classifiers are used to differentiate face and non-face regions. Findings: The method is suitable for frontal view face images only.

Decolourization potential of white rot fungal organism, coriolus versicolor, was investigated in a batch reactor, for textile dye industry wastewater. The influence of process parameters like pH, temperature, agitation speed and dye wastewater concentration on the decolourization of textile dye wastewater was examined by using Response surface methodology (RSM). The maximum decolourization was attained at: pH- 6.8, temperature - , agitation speed - 160 rpm and dye wastewater concentration - 1:2. From the analysis of variance (ANOVA) results it was found that, the linear effect of agitation speed and dye wastewater concentration were significant for the decolourization of textile dye wastewater. At these optimized condition, the maximum decolourization and chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction was found to be 64.4% and 79.8% respectively. Various external carbon sources were tried to enhance the decolourization of textile dye wastewater. It was observed that the addition of carbon source enhances the decolourization of textile dye wastewater. Kinetics of textile dye degradation process was studied by first order and diffusional model. From the results it was found that the degradation follows first order model with value of 0.9430.

Background: The health risks of tobacco use are well known, but kids and teens continue to smoke and use tobacco. Many young people pick up tobacco habits every year; in fact, 90% of all adult smokers began smoking started when they were kids. Aims: The aim of this study was to estimate factors influencing the prevalence of tobacco use among 13–15-year-old high schoolchildren and to assess their knowledge, attitude, and behavior regarding tobacco use. Material and Methods: This pilot study was conducted among 210 schoolchildren selected from three schools based on convenient sampling method. The modified version of Global Youth Tobacco Questionnaire (World Health Organization) was used to measure the knowledge, attitude, and tobacco use of children. The analysis was carried out using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software version 17. Descriptive statistics were used for the analysis of the study variables. Chi-square and Fisher's exact tests were applied to test the association of knowledge of and attitude toward factors influencing tobacco use. The level of significance was set at 5%. Results: Of the 210 children participated in the study, 54.8% were boys and 45.2% were girls. Ever tobacco use was reported by 31.4% of children, of which, over 10% reported initiation around 8–10 years of age and 21% of them at 12–15 years of age. Among them, 32 (15.2%) children used the smoking form of tobacco (cigarette, beedi, and other unspecified forms), 27 (12.9%) used the chewing form of tobacco, and 7 (3.3%) participants used both forms. The association was found to be statistically significant with regard to the knowledge (P = 0.03) and attitude scores (P < 0.001). Conclusion: It was found that tobacco use by parents, siblings, and teachers influences the children to initiate tobacco. Knowledge about the harmful effects of tobacco use among children was poor.

Direct determination of boron in Zr–2.5%Nb, Zr–1%Nb alloys and zirconium metals which are extensively used as structural materials in nuclear reactors has been carried out by glow discharge quadrupole mass spectrometer (GD-QMS). Relative sensitive factor (RSF) values for boron were determined using different solid standard reference materials (Zircaloy and steel). A comparison of the GD-QMS results obtained using these RSF values, with DC–Arc-AES (direct current arc atomic emission spectrometry)/certified values showed reasonably good agreement in all the Zr-based materials analysed for boron in the range of 0.1–7 mg kg −1 . Quantitation of boron in Zr matrix is possible even with a steel standard when certified for Zr and B. Internal precision (intra-sample precision) was found to be typically ±4% RSD (relative standard deviation) and the inter-sample precision was ±10% RSD for boron at ∼0.1 mg kg −1 levels. The overall accuracy of the procedure was found to be ±8% at ∼0.5 mg kg −1 levels of boron using Zircaloy and steel standards. Under optimised experimental conditions the detection limit for boron was found to be ±13 μg kg −1 .

An individual is known by his/her personality. Personality, an area studied for almost a century by theorists, psychologists, and researchers, is one of the important determinants of individual behaviour. But the question of 'how it affects the work action' is yet to be properly answered. The studies on understanding the role of personality in different aspects of work behavior are still an area of interest for many inquisitive researchers. This study on similar grounds tried to examine the role of personality factors on employee brand identification in internal brand management. A survey was conducted administering a structured questionnaire on a sample of 232 employees of select IT & ITES companies in Hyderabad. The results indicated that an individual's personality factors affect employee brand identification, and therefore, highlight the importance of having an appropriate person with appropriate personality at work for achieving great results. Therefore, it was implied that, it is important for both branding and HR personnel of the organizations to work in harmony with each other to identify and create a perfect blend of human resources by considering and evaluating the prospect's personality fit along with the technical skills and competencies. Such human resources would then reflect the organization's brand identity as their own identity, thus achieving maximum employee and customer experience.

This study reports the microwave-assisted synthesis and characterization of nHAp (nano-hydroxyapatite)–alumina composites. The crystalline phase and interaction of alumina with nHAp was analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman microscopy analysis, respectively. High resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) micrographs exhibit morphological changes of nHAp composites with increasing alumina concentrations. Microhardness studies reveal the enhanced mechanical strength of nHAp10 and nHAp20 nanocomposites than pure nHAp. In vitro bioactivity of the nanocomposites was studied by immersing samples in simulated body fluid (Hank's solution) for 21 days. The surface of biomineralized samples were analyzed using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Hemolytic assay revealed acceptable compatibility for varying concentrations of all the samples. Cell proliferation assay was systematically investigated for 1 day and 3 days on Saos-2 osteoblast-like cell lines and it was found that nHAp nanocomposites improved the proliferation.

A switched reluctance (SR) motor has a doubly salient pole structure. A stator has concentrated windings on each pole, while a rotor is only made of iron core. Therefore, the SR motor is expected as a low cost, extremely robust, variable speed motor. The performance of the SR motor greatly depends on magnetic properties of core material since it consists of only laminated-core and windings. However, some of its disadvantages are noise, torque ripple and low torque per unit volume. In this paper mathematical modeling of switched reluctance motor is carried out various equations of SRM are clearly described. In this paper we have developed simple SRM model without nonlinearities and saturation effects. The proposed model is operated in open loop and further it is operated in closed loop. PI controller is employed for closed loop operation. Finally MA TLAB/Simulink based model is developed and simulation results are presented.

Tri-n-butyl phosphate (TBP) continues to be the most widely used solvent in nuclear fuel extraction, refining and reprocessing units for the extraction of actinides and their separation from fission products. An X-ray fluorescence spectrometric method (XRFS) for the determination of TBP content with an X-ray detectable element is presented. The method involves formation of an ion association complex of uranium with TBP-kerosene mixture in 3M nitric acid. The analytes uranium and bromine used as internal ratio elements in organic extract are excited by a primary X-ray beam from a rhodium tube. The solvent concentration is determined from the ratioed characteristic intensities of uranium and bromine. The procedure permits the determination of organic solvent in the range 0.5 to 5.0% with a relative standard deviation of 0.1%.

Iron forms an important constituent of zirconium alloys that are specially chosen for the fabrication of nuclear reactor core components. The concentration of iron in intermediate products is closely monitored during the manufacture of these alloys starting from the chemical processing of the ore zircon. In order to accomplish this, an x-ray fluorescence spectrometric technique using an internal ratio method has been developed for the determination of iron in the range of 10 μg g −1 to 2500 μg g −1 in zirconium oxide, an intermediate product which is the feed material for the production of zirconium sponge and further to zircaloy. The method involves direct measurement of Fe K α and second order Zr K α intensities of loose as well as compacted powders. Results are precise within

Titanium-tantalum alloys show high corrosion resistance and are the materials of choice for some of the structural components in nuclear industry. This paper describes a procedure to determine tantalum present in the range of 0.75–5.0% in a titanium alloy by x-ray fluorescence spectrometry based on a solution technique. The method is fast, reliable and does not involve prior separation of tantalum from titanium. Various samples were analysed and the values obtained were compared with those obtained by atomic absorption spectrometry. The precision of the method is 1.68% R.S.D. This method can be used for routine analysis of samples.

Background: This study is the first of its kind conducted among Tibetans immigrants to Bangalore City, India to study the effects of acculturation on the oral health outcomes of less established group of individuals. Objectives: To determine the Acculturation and oral health status among Tibetan immigrants in Bangalore city and to assess the relationship between them. Materials and Methods: A random sample of 560 immigrants aged 18 years and above from different Tibetan centre of Bangalore city were included for the study. Acculturation was measured using modified Psychological-behavioral acculturation scale. Dental caries experience and periodontal status were recorded. Results: 49.1% of females and 50.9% of males were in highly accultured group. Bivariate analysis using Chi-square test was performed using 5% significance level. Logistic regression analysis demonstrated a strong association between DMFT and Ethnic factors, and periodontal status with language barrier and utilization of health care. Discussion: Reducing disparities in oral health status and in the use of dental services among Tibetan immigrants require attention to cultural factors such as language barrier and age at migration and immigrant’s degree of acculturation.

Highly luminescent ZnO:Na nanocrystals of size ~2 nm were synthesized using a improved sol-lyophilization process. The surface analysis such as survey scan, core-level and valence band spectra of ZnO:Na nanocrystals were studied using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to establish the presence of Na+ ions. The observed increase in band gap from 3.30 (bulk) to 4.16 eV (nano), is attributed to the quantum confinement of the motion of electron and holes in all three directions. The photoluminescence and decay measurements have complemented and supported our study to design an efficient and ultrafast responsive optical sensing device., Comment: 10 Pages, 5 Figures

Background: This study explores the association of disabilities and oral health. The aim of the study was to assess the salivary and plaque pH and oral health status of children with and without disabilities. Materials and Methods: A total of 100 schoolchildren (50 with disabilities and 50 without disabilities) were examined from 9 to 15 years age group. Saliva and plaque pH analysis were done to both the groups. Clinical data were collected on periodontal status, dental caries using WHO criteria. pH values of different groups, difference between the means were calculated using independent t-test, and frequency distribution was analyzed using Chi-square test. Statistical significance, P value was set at 0.05. Results: Mean plaque and salivary pH scores were lesser (5.73 and 5.67) in children with intellectual disabilities (IDs) (P< 0.001). Subjects with disabilities had also statistically significant higher CPI scores and decayed, missing, and filled scores than their healthy counterparts (P< 0.001). Conclusion: There is a statistically significant difference in plaque and salivary pH among children with and without ID with lower plaque and salivary pH among children with ID. In addition to this, the oral health was also more compromised in children with ID, which confirms a need for preventive treatment for these children.

A combined education, promotion, and preventive program in the school would greatly reduce the amount of classroom time lost in traveling to a treatment facility. Comprehensive school programs also would obviate the loss of study time due to pain and apprehension before and after treatment. Today, there is a need for research and evaluation on the best approaches to promoting oral health in schools with a focus on school-based clinics. Data from original scientific papers published in PubMed, PubMed Central, and Google Scholar were taken for review. Articles published in English are only included. The review concluded that the primary objective of school oral health promotion programs must focus on the 3 M's – manpower, money, and material, plus the amount of classroom time it will take from conventional classroom education.

The fingerlings of Cyprinus carpio var. communis were exposed to sublethal concentration of dimethoate for 7, 14 days to evaluate the impact of the pesticide dimethoate on different ions namely sodium, potassium, chloride, calcium, magnesium. The blood potassium, calcium, magnesium and liver chloride and magnesium levels were elevated under sublethal condition. The blood sodium, chloride and liver sodium, potassium, and calcium levels were found to be significantly decreased.

In the G.729 speech coder, linear predictive coding (LPC) parameters are converted into line spectral frequencies (LSF) and then quantized. Spectral distortion, due to quantization error at various stages is calculated by using the log spectral distortion (LSD) measure.

Context: Oral health status plays an import role in patient quality of life, affecting mental, physical, and psychological wellbeing and complete social development by interfering with word pronunciation, social life, and alimentary function. Aims: To evaluate self-perception of elderly about the effect of oral health on quality of life using the geriatric oral health assessment index (GOHAI) index. Settings and Design: A cross-sectional study was carried out among 376, elderly individuals aged 60 years and above, residing in residential homes of Bengaluru city. Materials and Methods: The data were collected using GOHAI scale comprising of 12 items to measure the patient-perceived oral functional problems. In addition, a self-reported questionnaire was used to elicit demographic information. Statistical Analysis Used: A descriptive statistics along with Chi-square test was used. Results: Out of 407 individuals, only 376 fulfilled the inclusion criteria and constituted the final number of the participants. GOHAI was statistically significant with age (0.036*), gender (0.045*), dentition status (0.019*), and smoking status (0.042*), which showed a predictor for low oral health functional status. A majority of the subjects (66.1%) were always unhappy with their appearance of their teeth gums or dentures and 74.5% of the subjects were always concerned about their problems with their teeth, gums, or denture. Conclusions: The GOHAI final score was considered low, indicating a low self-perception by the elders of Indian residential homes.

Introduction: Aged people living in residential homes have a higher prevalence of depression and stress which cause oral health-related problems, contributing to excessive morbidity, than do those who live in communities. Aim: To find the relationship between senses of coherence (SOC) and quality of life (QoL) using Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI) among elderly residents of old age homes in Bengaluru city, India. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among elderly residents of Bengaluru city, India. Data were collected using a validated questionnaire which record demographic details, oral hygiene practices, and oral health habits. SOC and oral health-related QoL was measured using 13-item short version of the SOC scale and 12-item GOHAI scale. Chi-square test and Pearson's correlation coefficient test were used for statistical analysis. All variables showing significant association (P < 0.05) were entered into a regression model to identify predictors of low GOHAI and SOC. Results: A total of 376 elderly residents participated in the study and completed the questionnaire. Among them 150 (39.9%) were men and 226 (60.1%) were women. SOC was statistically significant with gender (P = 0.008), marital status (P = 0.003), dentition status (P = 0.000), smoking (P = 0.043), and alcohol consumption (P = 0.043). Age (P = 0.036), gender (P = 0.045), dentition status (P < 0.019), and smoking (P = 0.042) were found to be associated with GOHAI, there also exist a strong Pearson's correlation (r = 0.712) between SOC and GOHAI scores. Conclusions: A strong positive correlation was found between SOC and GOHAI scores indicating elder's with low SOC had low GOHAI scores and vice versa. The elders in residential homes were found to have more self-reported oral health-related functional problems, so dental health education must be focused on the special needs of the disabled, dependant and socio – economically deprived geriatric population to improve their QoL.

Introduction: Dental caries is one of the most prevalent diseases affecting children invariably across the world; a toothache is one of the common outcomes found to be associated with dental caries as pain perception is a subjective phenomenon reporting of pain may vary among different individuals. The aim of this study was to assess the difference in oral health status and pain perception related to oral health status among the children with intellectual disability (ID) and their normal counterparts. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 100 school children of 9-14 years with or without ID in Bangalore City, ethical clearance and informed consent were obtained. The study involved 50 children with ID and 50 children with non-ID (NID), of age group 9-14 years. A self-administered questionnaire was used to assess participant′s demographic profile, self-assessed medical and dental conditions. Clinical assessment was done for recording dental caries and gingival status. Dental pain was measured using the "Dental Discomfort Questionnaire +" given by Versloot et al. Results: It was found that children with ID had a higher score for D(T), and M(T) compared to NID control. This difference was statistically significant. Children with ID showed higher discomfort due to pain. Except for chewing on one side all other questions showed a significant difference between the groups. Conclusion: It was found that children with ID had a higher caries experience compared to NID control and showed significantly higher pain experience than children with NID.