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Microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) have garnered significant attention for their potential in sustainable hydrogen production and wastewater treatment. Due to their unique electrochemical properties, molybdenum-based compounds have emerged as promising candidates among various cathode materials. This review explores the multifaceted role of molybdenum in MECs, focusing on its catalytic performance, synthesis strategies, and potential for enhancing H2evolution reactions. Various molybdenum-based materials, including molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), molybdenum phosphide (MoP), molybdenum carbide (Mo2C), and nickel-molybdenum alloys (NiMo), are discussed in terms of their synthesis methods, electrochemical performance, and scalability. Notably, molybdenum-based electrodes have demonstrated comparable or superior catalytic activity to traditional platinum-based cathodes, highlighting their potential as cost-effective alternatives. Future directions in this field include further optimization of synthesis methods, exploration of new molybdenum-based cathodes, mechanistic understanding of catalytic activity, and addressing scalability and stability challenges. Overall, molybdenum-based materials present promising opportunities for advancing MECs technology, driving progress toward sustainable hydrogen production and wastewater treatment.

Extant research on data breach events primarily focus on the information technology lapses and delayed financial outcomes with less emphasis on the behavior of consumers. Essentially, current research prioritizes the “what” of data breaches, largely ignoring the question of “why.” Our research seeks to fill a gap in the research design of prior studies on data breaches and customer behaviors by considering the customer emotions of anger and fear. While prior research has focused on anger due to its contagious nature, our results demonstrate that fear is the most influential emotion leading to changed behavior and/or lower revisit intentions. This article employs text and sentiment analysis of consumer responses to a data breach event to determine emotional response and revisit intentions. We find that angry customers may vent but will return with no meaningful change in their behavior. Unlike prior research, we also focus on fear and find that fearful customers retreat and disengage, behaving differently from angry customers. Managerial implications of this research illustrate the need to address fearful customers differently after a data breach to avoid reduced firm interactions and withdrawal behavior as opposed to merely reducing anger in the media as hitherto suggested.

This research examines the interactions between open innovation (OI) strategies and competitive behavior in global automotive assemblers and suppliers. We show that these firms behave differently when engaging external networks to limit downside risks when dealing with competitors (and rivals). Specifically, we find that firms cross external firm boundaries for incremental, but not radical technology projects using nominal external links. Our results are aligned with emerging innovation trends in the auto industry where the locus of innovation has evolved upstream in the digital age, from final assemblers to suppliers. This study provides support for a theory to explain inter-firm competitive dynamics within OI contexts. In particular, it provides an explanation for boundary selection criteria when engaged in OI projects. We conclude with implications for theory and practice and provide guidance for potential future research.

An experimental study is carried out to investigate droplet–film interactions when a drop impinges on a thin stagnant film of the same liquid. The impacting drop causes either liquid deposition or splash, consisting of prompt generation of secondary drops or a delayed process. By varying the drop diameter and impact velocity, measurements are made to characterize the phenomena using five different liquids that are chosen to cover a wide range of liquid properties (viscosity and surface tension). The drop impact dynamics are captured with a high-speed digital camera with real-time, high-resolution image processing. The drop-splash threshold is found to scale with inertial and viscous forces, or Reynolds number (Re), as well as capillary forces, as described by the balance of gravitational and interfacial tension forces, or Bond number (Bo); fluid properties are described by their Morton number (Mo). A correlation, functionally expressed as Re= ϕ(Bo,Mo), is devised to determine the splash/no-splash (or deposition) boundary, and the predictions for the splash/no-splash outcomes agree well with the experimental outcomes as well as those readily available in the literature.

As information plays a vital role in the current scenario, fetching of information from the voluminous quantity seems to be challenging. Therefore, the data mining community work on this area to find an improved solutions to help the end users. The end users may be an organisation or may be an ordinary user. The authors have used different classification techniques for the study purpose. The article attempts to analyse the accuracy of classifiers with respect to that of medical data. Dataset from the repository is considered for analysing purpose. Initially a pre-processing step is used on the dataset for finding out the missing values. Next, the resulting dataset is applied to the classifiers to study its performance accuracy. In order to improve the classifier accuracy an attribute selection filter of supervised category is selected. For the analysis purpose the Naïve Bayes classifier is used, the comparative study of the classifier is done with the genetic approach, supervised – best first approach and rank approaches. The study shows that, out of all the integrated approaches, the genetic approach is proven to be on the higher end of accuracy.

Aim: Medicinal plants are an important therapeutic aid for various ailments. The invitro antimicrobial activity of Albizzia lebbeck. Benth was screened against some pathogens isolated from diarrhoeal patients. Procedure: The bark of the plant was powdered and extracted separately with aqueous, methanol, chloroform, petroleum ether and hexane using maceration technique. The antimicrobial activity was carried out by disc diffusion method and minimum inhibitory concentration by two-fold serial dilution method. The microorganisms tested include Enterotoxigenic E.coli, Enteropathogenic E.coli, Salmonella typhimurium, Salmonella enteritidis, Shigella dysenteria, Shigella flexineri, Candida albicans, Candida tropicalis and Candidakrusei. Amikacin 10 [micro]g/disc and fluconazole 10 [micro]g/disc were used as standards. Results: Aqueous, methanol and chloroform extracts exhibited activity against E.coli and Salmonella species. Petroleum ether and hexane extracts did not exhibit any activity. None of the extracts showed activity against Shigella and Candida species activity.Conclusion: This study revealed that the methanol extracts of Albizzia lebbeck was effective against E.coli and Salmonella strains associated with infectious diarrhoea. Further isolation of active compound responsible for the activity could be the potential sources of new antimicrobial agents Keywords: Albizzia lebbeck. Benth | antimicrobial activity | diarrhoeal pathogens | Salmonella typhimurium | Shigella dysenteria | Candida albicans., Introduction Diarrhoea is a major public health problem in developing countries and is said to be endemic in many regions of Asia especially in India, and is the leading cause [...]

Byline: K. Sivakumar, Sam. Varkey, Mathan. George, S. Rajendran, R. Hema Ascaris lumbricoides, or the common roundworms, has a worldwide distribution but is mainly seen in Asian and Latin American [...]

Byline: R. Duara, S. Rajendran, G. Nagi, K. Neelakandhan Sir, Internal jugular venous (IJV) catheterization is a fairly routine part of the anaesthetic management for cardiothoracic and vascular surgical procedures. [...]

Byline: Reji. Thomas, Suneetha. Nithyanandam, Abdul. Rawoof, S. Rajendran Malignant atrophic papulosis is a rare and fatal condition with multiple organ involvement. We describe a patient with progressive ocular and [...]

In recent years, the multilingual content over the internet has grown exponentially together with the evolution of the internet. The usage of multilingual content is excluded from the regional language users because of the language barrier. So, machine translation between languages is the only possible solution to make these contents available for regional language users. Machine translation is the process of translating a text from one language to another. The machine translation system has been investigated well already in English and other European languages. However, it is still a nascent stage for Indian languages. This paper presents an overview of the Machine Translation in Indian Languages shared task conducted on September 7–8, 2017, at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore, India. This machine translation shared task in Indian languages is mainly focused on the development of English-Tamil, English-Hindi, English-Malayalam and English-Punjabi language pairs. This shared task aims at the following objectives: (a) to examine the state-of-the-art machine translation systems when translating from English to Indian languages; (b) to investigate the challenges faced in translating between English to Indian languages; (c) to create an open-source parallel corpus for Indian languages, which is lacking. Evaluating machine translation output is another challenging task especially for Indian languages. In this shared task, we have evaluated the participant’s outputs with the help of human annotators. As far as we know, this is the first shared task which depends completely on the human evaluation.

Purpose: Emphasizing the role of residents as destination advocates, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of residents’ familiarity with, and, favorability of attractions on destination image. Design/methodology/approach: A mixed methods research strategy was employed using 15 individual in-depth interviews and a survey questionnaire with a sample of n=364. The study utilizes an attraction familiarity index to classify respondents into four groups based on high, average, and low familiarity and examines the characteristics of each in the relationship between informational familiarity, experiential familiarity, and favorability and destination image. Findings: The study reveals resident perceptions of attractions within the tourism product assembly framework and illustrates the positive relationship between the residents’ level of familiarity with, and favorability of visitor attractions and destination image. Further, the findings also demonstrate the significant role of demographic characteristics such as gender and length of residency in the area. The study findings suggest that temporary residents can function as destination advocates. Research limitations/implications: Employees and students from a prominent northeastern university were sampled, representing local residents and temporary residents respectively. While appropriate and fairly representative of the target market for the research questions in this investigation, more work is required to replicate this study utilizing representative samples across different locations. Practical implications: Evidence from the study indicates the importance of marketing to residents as they serve as destination advocates. In particular, the residents’ familiarity with and favorability of attractions is critical to positive destination image. The research offers insights into the identification of potential segments of residents that require special attention. Originality/value: Limited existing research investigates the role of residents as destination advocates, especially in the context of destinations that lack a primary tourism attraction but have a well-balanced mix of attractions.

Solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) with high ionic conductivity and wide electrochemical window are highly desirable for all-solid-state rechargeable lithium batteries. Herein, we report the use of hydrothermally derived nano-BaTiO3(BT) as nanofillers in poly(vinyl acetate)/poly(vinylidene fluoride–hexafluoro propylene) and its use as composite SPE (CSPE) for Li-ion batteries. The CSPE was prepared by the solution casting technique and lithium bis-trifluoromethanesulfonylimide is used as salt. The molecular interaction among the various constituents and the surface morphology of the CSPEs were characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and field-emission scanning electron microscopy analysis respectively. BT (7.5 wt %) in CSPE was found to be the optimum composition to obtain a high ion conductivity of 2 × 10–3S cm–1at ambient temperature. The CSPE exhibits better mechanical strength (6.9 MPa), wider electrochemical window (5.4 V), and higher lithium transference number (0.48) than SPEs. Solid-state lithium cell was demonstrated as a proof of concept using lithium as an anode and LiFePO4and SPE/CSPE (7.5 wt % BT) as cathode and electrolyte, respectively. The CSPE cell shows an enhanced specific discharge capacity of 132 mA h g–1at 0.1 C, cycling performance up to 40 cycles, and 99% coulombic efficiency. The properties above well support the CSPE as a potential electrolyte-cum-separator for Li-ion batteries couple with high-voltage cathode material.

Older people are at a higher risk of developing chronic wounds, both because of a weakened immune system and because the cause of the wound (pressure, reduced blood supply) cannot be taken away. Subbiyan Rajendran advises on treatment.

The polymer blend electrolytes composed of poly (ethyl methacrylate)(PEMA) and Poly (vinyl acetate)(PVAc) as host polymer and lithium perchlorate (LiClO4) as a salt are synthesized by solvent casting technique. The polymer membranes with different wt% of PEMA and PVAc are subjected to AC impedance analysis for the investigation of ionic conductivity. The maximum ionic conductivity of 3.541 X 10- 5Scm- 1 at 303K is reported for PEMA/PVAC (70/30wt%) –LiClO4 (8wt%) polymer blend electrolyte system.The complexation has been confirmed by XRD and FTIR techniques. The glass transition temperature (Tg) of the blend polymer electrolytes has been obtained from DSC measurements. The SEM micrographs show the surface morphology of the prepared samples. The electrochemical stability of the sample exhibiting high conductivity has been carried out using linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) measurements. The potential window has been found to be-2.5 to +2.5 V. The lithium transference number evaluated using chronoamperometry technique results in a value of 0.90. The dielectric behavior of the solid polymer blend electrolytes has been analyzed as a function of frequency and temperature. The dc conductivity values obtained from the conductance spectra match the ac impedance results. The photoluminescence spectra that contain information about the local free volume of the prepared samples justify the conductivity results. The two and three dimensional images of the maximum ionic conducting sample exhibit numerous micropores.

One of the supreme striking areas in electrical system design is power quality analysis and its associated problems. All the electronic devices are exceptionally susceptible to a slight variation in the power supply. Among the Flexible Alternating Current Transmission System (FACTS) devices, the Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM) is the most effective device, since it has much faster dynamic response for the load changes. A PSO Optimized Hybrid Sliding Mode Controller based STATCOM with LCL Filter is used in the proposed work for enhancing power factor and decreasing the Total Harmonic Detection (THD) value. The Sliding Mode Controller (SMC) is used to operate this STATCOM, power quality was tuned using the PSO technique. The effectiveness of the conventional PI controller with SMC in regulating reactive power at the Point of Common Coupling (PCC) is compared with the proposed SMC-based controller. Applying soft computing techniques for efficient grid integration and cleaner energy production is the aim of this research. The overall design and analysis are done in MATLAB Simulink with nonlinear and unbalanced loads. With the proposed controller, the power factor is improved to 0.98 with the THD of 2.35 % for nonlinear inductive load. The proposed controller outperforms well with the 2.66 % overshoot and 5.61 ms settling time.

— A metaheuristic is an iterative process that guides and updates the operations of subordinate heuristics to efficiently produce better quality solutions. It is used in cases where exact methods are not sufficient to provide a solution so that the method of manipulation of a single solution or a collection of solutions at each iteration is deployed. This paper addresses the application of generic algorithm for a parallel machine flow line scheduling problem using the algorithm proposed for minimizing the makespan. Makespan is an important requirement to achieve effective production from process planning. As the problem chosen is NP-hard, genetic algorithm is adopted as it is one of the proven methods to search for a feasible optimal solution to the chosen objective function. The methodology is based on creating a group of random solutions for the randomly generated samples and applying the operators of cross over and mutation to improve the solutions till an acceptable fitness level is reached. The computational experiments deployed indicate that the proposed methodology and procedures are helping to arriving at better solutions faster.Keywords: Scheduling-Parallel machine – Flow shop scheduling– GA.

Polymer electrolytes prepared by the complexation of lithium salts with poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) and poly(vinylidene chloride-co-acrylonitrile) (PVdC-co-AN) will be of great use as separators in lithium polymer batteries. The amorphous nature of the blend electrolyte shows that the conductivity increases by the addition of lithium salts. The presence of C=N and C=N in PVdC-co-AN are confirmed from the Fourier transform infrared studies. Among the various lithium salts studied, lithium trifluoro methane sulfonoimide [LiN(CF3SO2)2] based electrolyte exhibits the highest ionic conductivity of the order of 0.265 × 10-5Scm-1at room temperature. The sample having a maximum ionic conductivity PEO(80 wt%)/PVdC-co-AN(20 wt%)/LiN(CF3SO2)2(8 wt%) is supported by the lower optical band gap in UV-Visible analysis and low intensity in luminescence studies. Two and three dimensional topographic images of the above sample reveal the presence of micropores. Thermal stability of the prepared electrolytes is studied by thermo gravimetric/differential thermal analysis. Using differential scanning calorimetric analysis, the minimum glass transition temperature (30°C) is observed for the sample doped with LiN(CF3SO2)2. The cyclic voltammetric studies reveal the strong capacitive behavior of the prepared polymer electrolytes. The electrochemical stability windows for the prepared samples are observed using linear sweep voltammetry.

Solid polymer electrolytes have attracted considerable attention due to their wide variety of electrochemical device applications. In the present study, the fixed concentration of the salt lithium perchlorate (LiClO4) and various concentrations of poly(ethylene oxide)/poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PEO/PVP)-based electrolytes were prepared by solvent casting technique. The structural analysis of the present system shows that the amorphous character of the samples is responsible for the process of ion transport. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) has been used to characterize the structure of polymer and confirm the complexation between the polymers and salt. The maximum ionic conductivity value is found to be 0.2307 × 10−5S cm−1for PEO (90 wt%)/PVP (10 wt%)/LiClO4(8 wt%) (A1) complex at 303 K (30 °C).

This paper reports on the gel polymer electrolytes based on the PEO/PVP/LiClO4complex by the addition of different plasticizers using a well known solvent casting technique.

The increased consumption of plastics in day to day life has a significant impact on the environment. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is widely used to select a sustainable alternative in plastic waste management. The LCA studies on mechanical recycling and energy recovery scenarios showed that recycling resulted in lower emissions and provided benefits to the environment. These results are valid only if the performance of the recycled plastic is equivalent to those of the virgin materials. Many LCA studies have been focused on individual impact categories rather than aggregated single score. The decision making process becomes complex if individual impact categories are used. This research is focused on the comparison of LCA results between individual and aggregated impacts and integration of performance of recycled plastics in LCA. The results indicated that recycling was the preferred option if it could replace a minimum of 70–80% of virgin plastics.

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a sustainability measurement tool that identifies the environmental impacts of a product. The uniqueness of the LCA lies in its methodology, which aggregates all environmental burdens throughout the product's life cycle, providing many variables for optimisation of the product (or process). Having occupied a major market share, the environmental impacts associated with the manufacturing and disposal of polyolefins are quite high. The main theme of this paper is to review the reported LCA studies on polyethylenes and polypropylenes including recycled plastics, biobased materials, which are competing with polyolefins, and polyolefin composites. The widely claimed green product ‘recycled plastic’ is analysed in detail from an LCA perspective, and key points, which determine its sustainability, are discussed. The environmental impacts associated with the manufacturing of polyolefins and their bioalternatives are highlighted. The few published studies of polyolefin composites on different applications are also discussed.

India is spending about 1.25 lakh crore rupees to protect iron structure from rust every year. The USA is spending about 12 lakh crore rupees every year for the same purpose. Generally, iron suface is protected by applying a special paint coating at regular intervals. This method of protection involves more chemicals and most of them are toxic in nature which cause several environmental hazards. Therefore, a preliminary study was under taken to find out the possibility of involving biotechnological method(s) to remove iron rust and protect the metal from further rust formation. A fungal-based technique was developed through which aerosol particulate matter was generated. A set of rusty iron mesh (1mm) was exposed to the aerosol particulate matter for a period of time. The rusty iron mesh which not exposed to the aerosol particulate was kept as control. The result revealed that the rust on rusty metals was removed (derusted) and the metal surface became brilliant white due to the deposition of aerosol particles, which inturn protected the metal from rust formation for about fifteen years in natural condition, However, the control metal lost its original shape and structure gradually by deterioration. As this new biological method offers a long-term solution for rust problem it can be tried in a big way.

The purpose of this paper is to review recent work on composite materials based on recycled thermoplastics and glass fibres (GFs). The high collection and separation cost of plastics waste, and the legislative push to increase recycling rates, require the inclusion of increasing proportions of low‐quality plastic waste into recycled products. A robust method for upgrading mixed plastics recyclates is the incorporation of fillers and reinforcements. In particular, addition of chopped GF can lead to material systems with more favourable and consistent sets of mechanical properties. Provided a good interfacial adhesion is achieved, the key structural properties of the composite (stiffness and strength) are mainly dictated by the reinforcement. Therefore, a wide range of polymers, including blends, are accessible for recycling into semistructural products. Glass fibres are one of the most cost‐effective ways of reinforcing recycled polymers, as testified by several patents and commercial products which appeared in the last decade.

To our knowledge, the present study is the first attempt to evaluate the effect of different process parameters on the amount of polyelectrolyte adsorbed on a cotton textile substrate viasequential adsorption of negatively charged poly (styrene sulfonate) (PSS) and positively charged poly (allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH) using layer-by-layer (LBL) self-assembly nanocoating process. A considerably different polymer adsorption behaviour was observed from thick adsorbed layers to thin adsorbed layer with different degree of layer penetration and ionic pair formation over the pH range (2.5 – 9.0) studied. The amount of polyelectrolyte adsorption on cotton fabric was evaluated by measuring the colour value (K/S) of methylene blue absorbed cotton surface. Contact angle measurement revealed that the extent of binding of the oppositely charged polyions on the fabric depends on the pH of the polyelectrolyte solution and ‘zipped-up’ structure with more ion pair formation was observed at the pH range 4.5 – 6.5. At higher temperature, the amount of polyelectrolyte adsorbed within the multilayers was higher. An increased deposition of PSS and PAH was observed with increase in electrolyte (NaCl) concentration. The amount of PSS and PAH adsorption increased up to 0.03 (M) of PSS and 0.01 (M) of PAH concentrations, respectively. A dipping time of 5 min was sufficient to have a maximum deposition of the polyelectrolyte multilayers.

This section offers news briefs on the all-India hartal called by Left parties on April 28, 2010 to protest the spiraling prices of commodities . In West Bengal people participated spontaneously, with the city of Kolkata becoming an instant football ground. The hartal was totally successful in Kerala with road and rail traffic paralyzed and demonstrations held in major towns and cities. Across Andhra Pradesh, protest actions stopped services, closed shops and government offices and brought traffic to a halt despite arrests of Left activists and leaders.

Objective:To investigate the odour-adsorbing properties of biopolymers, with a view to using the findings to develop a novel dressing with odour-adsorbing properties.Method:The odour-adsorbing properties of a selection of biopolymers (aloe vera, tea tree oil, neem oil and manuka honey) and three commercially available dressings containing activated charcoal cloth (ACC) were quantitatively assessed using laboratory test equipment. An aloe vera-containing composite dressing, designed and developed by the authors, was also compared with the ACC dressings.Results:Aloe vera was the most adsorbent of the biopolymers and a 40% dilution had comparable values to those of the ACC dressings. Furthermore, values for the novel composite dressing were similar to those of the ACC dressings.Conclusion:The novel composite dressing may be a potential alternative to ACC dressings, and has the added advantages of having antimicrobial properties as well as the ability to promote a moist wound environment. However, more research is needed.Declaration of interest:The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and Lantor (UK), Bolton, supported the study. The Surgical Materials Testing Laboratory (SMTL) loaned the test equipment.

Wounds that emit repulsive odour affect the social interaction of patients with friends and relatives thus causing psychological problems such as depression. Malodour, however, is usually just part of the whole difficult chronic situation. This study focuses on the treatment of malodorous wounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the treatment efficacy of sulfuryl fluoride and phosphine. It is being cited that sulfuryl fluoride and phosphine can be considered an alternative fumigants for controlling pests which create havoc in solid wood packaging materials (WPMs). Fumigation trials to evaluate the treatment efficacy of sulfuryl fluoride and phosphine on wooden pallets is conducted. In the analysis, the efficacy of the two substances were ascertained to be used as methyl bromide alternatives against pests that might infest wooden pallets.

The article presents a study which assesses the effectiveness of sulfuryl fluoride for treating milled rice and wheat stacks under gas-proof covers. Mixed-age cultures of grain beetle (Oryzaephilus surinamensis), grain borer (Rhyzopertha dominica), rice weevil (Sitophilus oryzae), flour beetle (Tribolium castaneum), and the Khpara beetle (Trogoderma granarium) were used as test insects to asses the efficacy of fumigation. The findings suggests that sulfurly fluoride could be used for effective treatment of bagged milled grains under gas-cover under a prescribed dosage and temperature. It also suggests that reliable sulfuryl fluoride monitors that can measure concentrations during fumigations of grains are needed.

This paper investigates a novel in vitro method of ascertaining quantitative comparative data on a selection of commercially available odour adsorbent wound dressings. The aim of this study is to determine and evaluate quantitative desirable data on the efficiency of odour adsorbency along with other comparable physical characteristics of commercial odour adsorbent dressings. This study is a part of an ongoing research programme into the design and development of novel odour adsorbent dressings for managing malodorous wounds. The study also includes the development of a controlled in vitro test method that simulates a more realistic situation. A selection of commercially available activated charcoal dressings were analysed and tested, and comparative evaluation was carried out and discussed.

The structural and thermal properties of solvent-induced poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) polyester have been investigated. Flat, high twist and spun yarns were treated with trichloroacetic acid-methylene chloride (TCAMC) mixed solvent for 5 min at about 25 °C. The treatment influenced the solvent- induced crystallisation in PET, and the high interacting power of TCAMC with PET was substantiated. An increase in X-ray crystallinity was observed in the treated flat yarn but the orientation was reduced. The variation in crystallinity was measured by X-ray and DSC techniques and is discussed. The melting and recrystallisation behaviour of the crystallites were indicated by DSC measurements.The treatment improved the crystallite stability and perfection. Flat yarn exhibited a distribution of the more stable crystals with higher heat of fusion than the respective spun and high twist yarns.The study shows that the crystalline structure reorganises to a more stable and uniform form as a result of the treatment. Double melting peaks were seen in the DSC of the high twist treated samples.

The article analyzes the fabric materials of commercially available knee braces and compares them with novel spacer fabrics. The commercial braces were made of knitted fabrics, neoprene or other composite material. The results show that knitted spacer fabrics are lighter, thinner, have better mechanical properties and are more comfortable than fabrics used in commercial braces. Knitted spacer fabrics show superior qualities over neoprene or other knitted fabrics and can be used in knee braces.

Methyl32chloroquinolin3ylacrylates 5aion reaction with methyl amine in acetonitrile yielded methyl32methylaminoquinolin3ylacrylates 6ai. When, these were followed by the reaction with the Vilsmeier reagent, they afforded methyl benzob1,8naphthyridin3carboxylate 7aiin good yields.

Hybrid solid polymer electrolyte films consisting of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), LiBF4, and ethylene carbonate/propylene carbonate (EC/PC) were prepared with a solvent-casting technique. The complexation was investigated with Fourier transform infrared and X-ray diffraction. The ionic conductivities of the electrolyte films were determined with an alternating-current impedance technique for various temperatures in the range of 302–373 K. The maximum conductivity value, 1.2886 × 10⁻³ S/cm, was observed for a PVA–PMMA–LiBF4–EC complex. Thermogravimetry/differential thermal analysis was performed to ascertain the thermal stability of the electrolyte with the maximum conductivity value. For an examination of the cyclic and reversible performance of the film, a cyclic voltammetry study was carried out. The surface morphology of the EC-and PC-based electrolytes was examined with scanning electron microscopy. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 90: 2794–2800, 2003

The Gaussian quadrature points, which are generally observed to be the same as the Barlow points for lower order elements, have so far been used as the sampling points for the superconvergent patch recovery (SPR). Recent developments on the best-fit method to calculate the optimal sampling points suggest that, for higher order elements, Barlow points need not be the optimal sampling points and also need not be the same as the Gaussian quadrature points. In this paper the best-fit method is extended to predict the optimal points of the 8-node serendipity rectangular element, and it is observed that best-fit points do not exist. Next, a novel method is proposed, in which, the expressions for stress-error based on the best-fit are used in the least-square fit of the patch recovery, and thereby the superconvergent points are obtained more directly. Application of this method to the 8-node serendipity element reveals the existence of two sets of superconvergent points for patch recovery, one of which is the well-known Gaussian points, ( $ \pm 1/\sqrt 3 , \pm 1/\sqrt 3 $), and the other is the set of four points given by $\{ (0, \pm \sqrt {2/3} ),\,( \pm \sqrt {2/3} ,0)\}$, the existence of which has not been known before. A detailed numerical study on the patch recovery of stresses for two demonstrative problems reveals that there indeed exist two sets of superconvergent points as predicted by the proposed method. The comparative performance of the two sets of points is tested for typical demonstrative problems and the results are discussed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Context— Adverse drug reaction (ADR) reporting is under‐developed in India, with only two of six national reporting centres currently functioning.

Objective:This study aimed to develop a variety of wound dressing materials, made from standard natural fibres, that have high absorption and non-adherent characteristics. Method:A total of 21 dressings were made using knitted and crochet technologies and their absorbency was tested. Five non-adherent recipes were selected from a range of chemical formulations and the optimised non-adherent finishes were applied to the four best dressings. Their absorbency and non-adherent properties were evaluated.Results:The study demonstrated that rib cotton (RC), rib viscose (RV), crochet cotton medium (CCM) and crochet viscose medium (CVM) dressings possess high absorption and that five finishing recipes, C+D, A+G, I, I+N and I+G, impart high absorption as well as non-adherent properties. The finish I+G is superior in imparting non-adherence to RV dressing, both in dry and moist conditions. This means that irrigation with water, saline or sodium citrate solution before removing the dressing from a wound is not needed.Conclusion:A number of novel knitted and crochet structures with enhanced absorbency have been designed for wound management using standard bleached fibres. Novel non-adherent finishes for the developed structures have been formulated for the developed dressings, and offer an alternative to existing non-adherent dressings.Declaration of interest:This was jointly funded by Alcare Co. Ltd., Japan and Bolton Institute, UK.

S. Rajendran from the Central Food Technological Research Institute at Mysore, India, gives an update on the search for methyl bromide alternatives.