Inconsistencies in the findings of child nutrition surveys in Bangladesh

We tested the hypothesis that adenosine excites nociceptive primary afferents innervating the knee joint. Neuronal recordings were made from fine nerve filaments innervating the knee joint in rats anaesthetized with pentobarbitone. Drugs were injected close-arterially (i.a.) or into the articular space (i.art.). We studied normal and chronically inflamed arthritic joints, the latter 14-21 days after a single intra-articular injection of Freund's Complete Adjuvant, performed under halothane anaesthesia. Adenosine injected i.a. caused delayed (approximately 10 s) excitation of the majority of polymodal C-fibre afferents, and had similar effects when injected directly into the joint. Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) had biphasic effects on discharge, a fast (<1 s) excitation was followed by a delayed increase similar to that seen with adenosine. The adenosine A1 receptor agonists N6-cyclopentyladenosine (CPA) and N-[(1S,trans)-2-hydroxypentyl] adenosine (GR79236) also excited the C-fibre afferents. The A1 antagonist 8-cyclopentyl-1,3-dipropylxanthine (DPCPX) antagonized the responses evoked by adenosine, CPA, and the delayed increase seen after ATP, indicating that excitation of the nociceptive afferents was mediated via adenosine A1 receptors. Adenosine and ATP evoked delayed excitatory effects of similar magnitude, regardless of whether or not the knee joint was chronically inflamed. The increased basal discharge observed in arthritic joints was unaffected by DPCPX, which implies that the increase in spontaneous activity associated with arthritis is unlikely to involve tonically released adenosine. The results support the hypothesis that adenosine excites primary afferent nociceptive nerve terminals in the rat knee joint, an effect mediated by adenosine A1 receptors. ATP, adenosine, and A1 receptors may play a role in generating the peripheral nociceptive (pain) signal.     

Age-structured predator–prey model with habitat complexity: oscillations and control

In this article, we study a predator–prey interaction in a homogeneously complex habitat where predator takes a fixed time to develop from immature to its mature stage. The age-structure of the predator and its interaction with the prey is framed in a system of delay differential equations. The objective is to study the role of habitat complexity and the maturation delay of the predator on the overall dynamics of the model system. Different interesting dynamical behaviours can be obtained by regulating two key parameters, namely the degree of habitat complexity and the maturation delay. It is observed that the system becomes unstable from its stable condition when the maturation delay crosses some critical value. The periodic solutions bifurcated from the interior equilibrium is found to be supercritical and stable. Synchronization of population fluctuations is, however, possible by increasing the strength of habitat complexity. The predator population goes to extinction and the prey population reaches to its maximum, irrespective of the length of maturation delay, when the habitat complexity crosses some upper critical value. The qualitative dynamical behaviours of the model system are verified with the data of Paramecium aurelia (prey) and Didinium nasutum (predator) interaction.     

Performance validation tests on 80 K bubble type of shields for SST-1

The 80 K thermal shields of Steady State Superconducting Tokamak (SST-1) minimize the steady state heat loads on the superconducting magnet system at 4.5 K from ambient. Uniform temperature, vacuum and cryo compatibility is desired for the 80 K shields. In order to meet these requirements, the bubble/embossed type of design concept is adopted. This design ensures lower pressure drop and better temperature uniformity within ±5 K. Special attention has been given for preventing direct radiation on the magnet system. As part of performance validation tests, a group of 80 K thermal shields have undergone rigorous testing protocols and procedures. The temperature distribution, helium leak tightness and insulation resistance tests have been carried out for SST-1 thermal shields before final assembly of the machine. The test design, procedures and results of the 80 K thermal shields will be discussed in this paper.     

Dyeing and antimicrobial studies on polyamine/epichlorohydrin condensate incorporated viscose rayon fibres

Modified viscose rayon fibres were produced by incorporating different doses of polyamine/epichlorohydrin condensate in the dope. The modified fibres show excellent dyeability with heterobifunctional reactive dyes without electrolyte. The wash fastness and the light fastness of the modified fibres dyed with reactive dyes were good. The modified fibres also showed excellent dyeability on dyeing with different acid and metal-complex dyes. The amount of additive present in the fibre was assessed from its nitrogen content and percentage exhaustion was found to increase with increasing quantity of additive. Tonal changes and increase in light fastness with acid and metal-complex dyes have been attributed to the aggregation of dye in the fibre. Fibres containing more than 3% additive in the dope showed greater than 99% bacteria reduction on testing the antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus . It was observed that the antimicrobial activity deactivated on repeated washing using surfactants. The acid-dyed fibres also showed a decrease in antimicrobial activity.     

Dyeing of N-modified viscose rayon fibres with reactive dyes

Modified viscose rayon fibres were produced by incorporation of different doses of a polydiallyldimethylammonium chloride based additive in the viscose dope prior to spinning. On dyeing the modified fibres with different reactive dyes, excellent dye exhaustion and total dye fixation above 90% were obtained without the use of electrolyte and with low salt concentration. Exhaustion and total dye fixation showed an exponential relationship. The wash fastness properties of the dyed fibres were excellent and the light fastness showed a slight drop in the modified fibres. The presence of the amino groups along with low density and crystallinity of the modified fibres may be responsible for the enhanced dyeability.     

A hybrid piezoelectric nanogenerator comprising of KNN/ZnO nanorods incorporated PVDF electrospun nanocomposite webs

A unique potassium sodium niobate (KNN)/zinc oxide (ZnO) incorporated Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) polymer-based hybrid piezoelectric nanogenerator has been developed by using electrospinning process. Electrospinning method has been used due to its remarkable role in improving the piezoelectric performance of the nanocomposite based nanogenerator by providing mechanical stretching and in situ poling of both the polymer as well as filler at the same time. The PVDF/KNN/ZnO electrospun nanocomposite-based piezoelectric nanogenerator exhibits the maximum output voltage as compared to PVDF/KNN and PVDF/ZnO based nanogenerator. The output voltage and current for the PVDF/KNN/ZnO based nanogenerator are 25 V and 1.81 μA (when pressure is applied by the finger tapping mode) and 8.31 V and 5 μA (when pressure is applied by standard sewing machine). The synergistic effect of KNN and ZnO nanorods into PVDF polymer matrix significantly improves the resultant piezoelectric performance of the PVDF/KNN/ZnO based nanogenerator by which it has been possible to glow an LED, power density of 11.31 μW/cm² (finger tapping) and 10.38 μW/cm² (pressure applied by sewing machine). Finally, the practical applicability of the produced nanogenerator has been checked by attaching it on elbow and wrist of a human hand, which shows 90 mV (for elbow), 400 mV (front side of wrist), and 225 mV (back side of wrist) output voltage by bending and moving of the same.     

Dyeing of N-modified viscose rayon fibres with acid and metal-complex dyes

Viscose rayon N -modified by the incorporation of polydiallyldimethyl ammonium chloride gave good dye exhaustion and colour yield on dyeing with acid or metal complex dyes. The amount of additive present in the fibre was assessed from its nitrogen content, and percentage exhaustion was found to increase with increasing quantity of additive. Changes in hue, in addition to an increase in the light fastness of deeper shades, are attributed to aggregation of dye within the fibre. The light fastness of metal complex dyes on N -modified fibre was very good but acid dyes gave poor results. Wash fastness was improved after treating with a dye fixing agent.     

Dynamic schedule execution in an agent based holonic manufacturing system

The present paper deals with the negotiation based task allocation to the resources for preparing dynamic scheduling in an agent based holonic control framework. The scheduling priority is developed by Multi Objective Optimization on the basis of Ratio Analysis (MOORA) technique under Fuzzy Multi Criteria Decision Making (FMCDM) environment considering several attributes. The well-known Contract Net Protocol (CNP) is followed for the purpose of task allocation by negotiation and cooperation, where message based communication is accomplished by eXtensible markup language (XML) using J2EE. Different Document Type Definitions (DTDs) are developed for intended applications. Necessary modifications in the scheduling arising out of changes in the volume-mix are made by a distributed cooperative problem-solving algorithm to meet the demand without violating the deadline. The algorithm is implemented using HTML code in front-end with Java Server Page (JSP) through Apache Tomcat 6.02 server. It is advocated that the cooperation based teamwork coupled with higher flexibility and agility is the key to success to remain unperturbed and provide reasonably good solution in the face of disturbances and stands superior to its hierarchical counterpart.