In the present study three different green inhibitors, such as, ascorbic acid, citric acid and oxalic acid were tested for their efficacy in corrosion control of bronze in acidic medium using thin layer activation method. Bronze test coupons were irradiated with 10.5 MeV proton beam to produce 65Zn radioisotopes on their surfaces. The activity loss from the surface of the coupon as a consequence of corrosion was monitored using a gamma spectrometer. The activity loss was converted to thickness loss with the help of a calibration curve and the rate of corrosion was estimated. The result showed that ascorbic acid has higher corrosion inhibition efficiency than other two inhibitors. The corrosion rate in presence of 3 x 10-4 mol/dm-3 ascorbic acid was estimated to be 13.1 nm/h with the inhibitor efficiency 89.81 %.

In the present work development of a suitable nontoxic corrosion inhibitor to control corrosion of bronze in simulated acid rain has been investigated using thin layer activation (TLA) technique. Poly vinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) has been identified as an inhibitor and the inhibition action of PVP has been evaluated at different experimental conditions. The result of the study proved that PVP showed good inhibitive characteristics to control corrosion of bronze in the test solution. Kinetic and thermodynamic parameters of the corrosion inhibition process have been determined. The adsorption of inhibitor on bronze surface obeyed Langmiur adsorption isotherm.

A novel wide stop band 7.5 GHz mushroom-like electromagnetic band gap (EBG) structure for antenna applications is presented in this paper. The idea proposed in this paper is etching several properly shapes in the metal surface of the mushroom-like compact EBG cell to introduce wide stop band electromagnetic band gap. This band gap is represented by LC equivalent circuits, from which the resonant frequencies can be estimated. CST microwave studio software is used to analysis the dispersion properties of the proposed structure. An array with size of 3 × 5 of EBG cell with microstrip lines is numerically simulated to verify the accuracy of the bandgap.

This paper presents a square monopole antenna for L-band application, it is designed to be used in a 879 MHz–2113 MHz frequency bands. It is printed on dielectric substrate of FR4 glass epoxy with relative permittivity (ɛ r ) of 4.3, thickness of 1.6 mm, a square monopole antenna (aluminium sheet) is mounted on half ground plane via a single feeding strip. Prototypes of these configurations were manufactured and measured in frequency range 0–2.5 GHz. Experimental and simulation results is calculated using computer simulation technology (CST). Keywords: square monopole antenna, wideband monopole antenna, L-band monopole antenna

Acidic crude oil transportation and processing in petroleum refining and petrochemical operations cause corrosion in the pipelines and associated components. Corrosion monitoring is invariably required to test and prove operational reliability. Thin Layer Activation (TLA) technique is a nuclear technique used for measurement of corrosion and erosion of materials. The technique involves irradiation of material with high energy ion beam from an accelerator and measurement of loss of radioactivity after the material is subjected to corrosive environment. In the present study, TLA technique has been used to monitor corrosion of carbon steel (CS) in crude oil environment at high temperature. Different CS coupons were irradiated with a 13 MeV proton beam to produce Cobalt-56 radioisotope on the surface of the coupons. The corrosion studies were carried out by subjecting the irradiated coupons to a corrosive environment, i.e, uninhibited straight run gas oil (SRGO) containing known amount of naphthenic acid (NA) at high temperature. The effects of different parameters, such as, concentration of NA, temperature and fluid velocity (rpm) on corrosion behaviour of CS were studied.

Reduced T3 and free T4, elevated thyroid stimulating hormone, and hyporesponsiveness to thyrotropin releasing hormone raise questions about the presence of hypothyroidism in chronic kidney disease (CKD) and raise the possibility of benefit from thyroxine supplementation. A prospective cohort study was conducted on 73 nondiabetic CKD cases. Hypothyroid patients were started on levothyroxine and were reviewed after 3 and 6 months. The mean age of study population was 42.3 ± 16.8 years. Of the total population, 32 (43.8%) cases had hypothyroidism, among whom 2 (2.7%) had overt hypothyroidism and 30 (41.1%) had subclinical hypothyroidism. Prevalence of hypothyroidism increased with increasing severity of CKD. There were 1 (3.1%) case with hypothyroidism in stage 3b, 8 (25%) cases in stage 4, and 23 (71.9%) cases in stage 5. The mean estimated glomerular filtration rate (ml/min/1.73 m2) at baseline was 13.7 ± 8.9 which increased to 17.5 ± 6.8 and 22.4 ± 9.3 after 3 and 6 months of thyroid hormone replacement therapy (THRT), respectively (P < 0.001). Hypothyroidism is commonly associated with nondiabetic CKD and its prevalence increases with declining renal function. THRT significantly improves renal function in nondiabetic CKD with hypothyroidism.

Internet pharmacy is also known as online pharmacy, cyber pharmacy, e pharmacy, and virtual pharmacy/drugstores intended to help pharmacists and others to identify the legal and professional requirements. Since about the year 1999, a growing number of internet pharmacies have been established worldwide. Many of these pharmacies are similar to community pharmacies and in fact many of them are actually operated by brick and mortar community pharmacies that serve consumers online, hence, walk in their door. It was found that some customers consider this method to be more convenient and private method rather than traveling to a community drugstore. Internet pharmacies are also recommended to some patients by their physicians if they are homebound. The present review focus on the present role of online pharmacy and self medication as well as its future prospects.

An investigation was carried out to examine the anti-wear behavior of automobile lubricants using thin layer activation analysis technique. For this study disc gears made of EN 31 steel were labeled with a small amount of radioactivity by irradiating with 13MeV proton beam from a particle accelerator. Experiments on wear rate measurement of the gear were carried out by mounting the irradiated disc gear on a twin-disc tribometer under lubricated condition. The activity loss was monitored by using a NaI(Tl) scintillation detector integrated with a multichannel analyzer. The relative remnant activity was correlated with thickness loss by generating a calibration curve. The wear measurements were carried out for four different types of lubricants, named as, L1, L2, L3 and L4. At lower load L1 and L4 were found to exhibit better anti-wear properties than L2 and L3, whereas, L4 exhibited the best anti-wear performance behavior than other three lubricants at all the loads and speeds investigated.

Thin layer activation (TLA) analysis technique is used for monitoring wear and corrosion phenomena in a number of industrial equipments. This technique can be used in several industries, such as, automotive industry, oil industry, chemical industry, railway, refrigeration systems and other process instrumentation. TLA allows both offline and on-line monitoring of the loss of matter from a critical surface, by wear, erosion and corrosion. The technique offers high sensitivity by estimating surface loss of material in the range of nanometer to hundreds of micrometer. This technique is based on the production of a radioisotope on the surface of a material by a charged particle induced nuclear reaction, followed by an estimation of the loss of the activity which is a measure of the surface loss of materials. Present article describes development and applications of TLA technique at Isotope and Radiation Applications Division for monitoring wear and corrosion of different grade steel components.

The Northwest Himalaya and its adjoining regions are one of the most seismically vulnerable regions in the Indian subcontinent which have experienced two great earthquakes [1902 Caucasus of magnitude M S 8.6 and 1905 Kangra, India of M S 8.6 (M W 7.8)] and several large damaging earthquakes in the previous century. In this study, time-dependent seismicity analysis is carried out in five main seismogenic zones in the Northwest Himalaya and its adjoining regions by considering earthquake inter-arrival times using a homogeneous and complete earthquake catalogue for the period 1900–2010 prepared by Yadav et al. (Pure Appl Geophys 169:1619–1639, 2012a). For this purpose, we consider three statistical models, namely Poisson (time independent), Lognormal and Weibull (time dependent). Fitness of inter-arrival time data is investigated using Kolmogorov–Smirnov (K–S) test for Lognormal and Weibull models, while Chi-square test is applied for the Poisson model. It is observed that the Lognormal model fits remarkably well to the observed inter-arrival time data, while the Weibull model exhibits moderate fitting. The parameters A and B of the time-dependent seismicity equation \(\ln {\text{IAT}} = A + BM \pm C\) (where ln IAT is the log of inter-arrival times of earthquakes exceeding magnitude M and C is the standard deviation), developed by Musson et al. (Bull Seismol Soc Am 92:1783–1794, 2002) are evaluated in each of the five main seismogenic zones considered in the region. The mean of the inter-arrival times for the Lognormal distribution is found to be linearly related to the lower-bound magnitude (M min). Values of the slope (B) of the mean vary from 2.34 to 2.57, while the parameter A ranges from −9.06 to −7.01 in the examined seismogenic zones with standard deviation ranging from 0.21 to 0.38. It is observed that the Hindukush–Pamir Himalaya and Himalayan Frontal Thrust exhibit higher seismic hazard (i.e., high seismic activity and low recurrence periods), while the Sulaiman–Kirthar ranges show the lowest. The variation in estimated seismicity parameters from one zone to another reveals high crustal heterogeneity and seismotectonic complexity in the study region.

INTRODUCTIONSurveys that collect information on injuries often focus on the single "most serious" event to help limit recall error and reduce survey length. However, this can mask less serious injuries and result in biased incidence estimates for specific injury subcategories.METHODSData from the 2002 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey and from the Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program (CHIRPP) were used to compare estimates of sports injury incidence in Canadian children.RESULTSHBSC data indicate that 6.7% of children report sustaining a sports injury that required an emergency department (ED) visit. However, details were only collected on a child's "most serious" injury, so children who had multiple injuries requiring an ED visit may have had sports injuries that went unreported. The rate of 6.7% can be seen to be an underestimate by as much as 4.3%. Corresponding CHIRPP surveillance data indicate an incidence of 9.9%. Potential masking bias is also highlighted in our analysis of injuries attended by other health care providers.CONCLUSIONThe "one most serious injury" line of questioning induces potentially substantial masking bias in the estimation of sports injury incidence, which limits researchers' ability to quantify the burden of sports injury. Longer survey recall periods naturally lead to greater masking. The design of future surveys should take these issues into account. In order to accurately inform policy decisions and the direction of future research, researchers must be aware of these limitations.

As per W.H.O. 50 million patients are suffering from epilepsy and out of them 80% are in developing countries. In India 1% of population suffer from epilepsy. 30% of these patients become refractory to medication and would require either surgery or deep brain stimulation. Deep brain stimulation is an established therapy for Parkinson disease, essential tremor and certain form of Dystonia. Recently it has been used in intractable epilepsy with good outcome in a SANTE clinical trial. The electrical stimulation of anterior thalamus can significantly reduce the number of seizures and can improve the quality of life. Based on both animal studies and clinical trials, we subjected six patients to anterior thalamic stimulation for medically refractory epilepsy. All six selected patients were not suitable for epilepsy surgery. The age ranged from 20 years to 53 years. Bilateral anterior thalamic stimulation was done in all cases using ZD stereotactic frame under general anaesthesia. The target was calculated using fused images of CT Scan and MRI. The placement of electrodes was confirmed by microelectrode recording (thalamic burst) and intra-operative driving response obtained by scalp EEG. The post-operative CT scan was done to confirm the position of electrodes.In three patients Medtronic DBS system (Activa PC) was used while other three patients have St Jute device (Libra) device. Anticonvulsant medications were kept unchanged. The programming was started after one week using electro encephalography. The reduction or abolition of inter-ectal discharges and eeg desynchronization was kept as goal of programming. All the patients were follow-up 6 months to 4 years. Significant seizure reduction observed immediately after programming. Two patients became seizure free. Three patients have 60–80% seizure control. One patient did not get significant benefit. In three patients (good respondent) after a period of two years seizure frequency increased following battery depletion that required replacement using respectable rechargeable DBS system. Above study shows effectiveness of anterior thalamic stimulation for intractable epilepsy. Better result can only be achieved by effective eeg guided programming. Prolonged follow-up with more number of cases is required to establish deep brain stimulation of anterior thalamic nuclei as safe and effective therapy for refractory epilepsy patients who are otherwise not suitable candidate for conventional epilepsy surgery.

A transient thermo-mechanically coupled Finite Element Method based model for single pass hot rolling of AA 5083 aluminum alloy is developed. The formulation is based on thermo-viscoplastic behavior expressed by the Perzyna constitutive equation and rolling under plane-strain conditions. The finite element model is integrated with a microstructural model where dynamic recrystallization through particle stimulated nucleation and static recrystallization is considered. The dynamic recrystallization model is an adoption of discontinuous dynamic recrystallization model while static recrystallization model is based on Avrami equation. The simulation results indicate that accurate estimates of constitutive behavior of the alloy, efficiency of conversion of plastic deformation to heat, and heat transfer at the roll/metal interface are critical for precise hot rolling model.

Dengue fever has re-emerged as a major public health challenge. Of late, several promising attempts have been made to control the disease with limited success. An innovative method of biological control of dengue is the use of the bacterium Wolbachia. Selected strains of Wolbachia have been introduced into Aedes aegypti to prevent transmission of dengue viruses by the vector. Wolbachia prevents dengue transmission by either directly blocking the virus or by decreasing the lifespan of the vector. The mechanism by which it causes these effects is not clearly understood. The main concern of this technique is the emergence of a new dengue virus serotype which may evade the protection offered by Wolbachia. The technique is environment friendly and holds promise for control of other vector borne diseases.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:The main challenge in assessing patients with epilepsy is the localization of neuronal networks involved in seizure generation and the lateralization of seizure onset. Electro encephalogram-functional magnetic resonance imaging (EEG-fMRI) is a noninvasive multimodal imaging technique for epilepsies where the data is acquired based on the interictal epileptiform discharges (IED). Since this is a new technique, the specificity for lateralizing epileptic focus is yet to be established. The peak blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal in an interictal recording is known to correlate with seizure onset focus. In this study we are proposing a simple and practical method without the need for high end post processing techniques of fmri data. The peak BOLD signal derived from EEG-fMRI aids to lateralise seizure focus in a given cerebral lobe (region of interest, ROI). This is a very useful tool in a clinical setting on a given individual clinical case, when other modalities may be conflicting or inconclusive.METHODS:We analyzed simultaneous EEG-fMRI of 10 different types of refractory epilepsy. The lateralization index was calculated from the statistical significant clusters obtained between the different ROI and results were validated with other modalities.RESULTS:Lateralization of seizure focus corroborated well in temporal and extratemporal lobe epilepsy, reflex epilepsy and lesional epilepsy. The only drawback of EEG-fMRI in our study was if insignificant BOLD changes were associated with the given IED.CONCLUSIONS:EEG-fMRI can be helpful additional tool in the pre-surgical work-up of refractory epilepsy particularly when lateralization with other modalities is conflicting or inconclusive.