Enhanced sensitivity with thickness optimization of ZnO based acetone sensor

Zinc oxide (ZnO) thin film based acetone gas sensor has been studied with variation of sensing layer thickness towards 500 ppm of acetone. The effect of thickness variation of the sensing layer on the structural, surface morphological, optical and gas sensing properties of ZnO thin film has been studied. A significant increase from 7.19 to 63 in the sensing response has been observed with bare ZnO thin film for the samples with an optimised thickness of 410 nm at an optimised operating temperature of 320 ᵒC. This study conducts the variations in structural, optical and the gas sensing characteristics while varying the thickness of ZnO based thin films for an acetone gas sensor. Further, the study concludes with an optimised thickness as 410 nm for an oxidizing gas

Annealing temperature optimization for highly sensitive ZnO based acetone gas sensor

The present research is related to the effect of temperature on the crystallinity for zinc oxide (ZnO) thin film based acetone sensor fabricated via sol-gel method. One of the critical parameters for a gas sensor is the annealing temperature of thin films which directly influences the crystallinity of a material and hence its structural properties. Thus, the present study shows the effects of annealing temperature variation over the properties related to the gas sensing behaviour for the sensor. The structural and optical properties with surface morphology have been analysed for the prepared samples. The response characteristics of the ZnO films with a thickness of 410 nm for the acetone vapour has been determined for the temperature range from 180 °C to 360 °C and the annealing temperature variation has been studied from 450 °C to 750 °C. The optimal operating temperature has been found to be 320 °C while the optimal annealing temperature as reflected by the results is 650 °C

Globalisation and health sector in India: some emerging issues

The paper explores challenges emerging out of the impact of the globalisation process and its dynamics on the healthcare sector in India. The paper highlights that a lot many changes are taking place in the health sector ranging from health seeking behaviour to access to public health services and their financing to actual health outcomes going hand in hand with the rise in dual disease burden. Challenges emerging from WTO agreements related to public health, health policies and their compliance, and also from globalisation induced shift in development models of production and consumption having far reaching impact on physical environment threatening the healthy human life. These issues and challenges require an immediate attention by the government, development economists and policy makers

Evaluation of maternal serum levels of cell adhesion molecules and endothelial inflammatory markers in normal pregnancy, gestational hypertension and pre-eclampsia

Background: Hypertensive disorders complicate 5 to 10% of all pregnancies. Despite the still unexplained pathogenesis, endothelial dysfunctions and inflammatory mediators are thought to be responsible for the pathogenesis gestational hypertension and pre-eclampsia. Aims and objective of the study was to determine the serum levels of cell adhesions molecules - VCAM-1 and ICAM-1 and endothelial inflammatory markers TNF-α and homocysteine in normal pregnancies, Gestational Hypertension and in Pre-eclampsiaMethods: The cross-sectional study was carried out in Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Biochemistry, ESI-PGIMSR, New Delhi between October 2013-April 2015. 150 patients who gave informed written consent were enrolled and were divided equally in three groups of 50 each (normotensive, gestational hypertensive and pre-eclamptic patients). Three groups have been compared in terms of variables such as age, BMI, gestational age, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, platelet count, AST, ALT, mode of delivery, neonatal weight, VCAM-I, ICAM-I, homocysteine and TNF-alpha concentrations.Results: We found the higher concentrations of vascular cell adhesions molecules (VCAM-1 and ICAM-1) and inflammatory mediators (homocysteine and TNF α) in gestational hypertensive patients and in pre-eclamptic patients. Out of four markers, concentrations of ICAM-1 was found in largest proportions and it was also statistical significant. P value was <0.001. Though in our study concentration VCAM-1, homocysteine and TNF-α were also high in gestational hypertensive groups as compared with normotensive patients, but they were not statistical significant.Conclusions: We conclude that higher concentrations of vascular cell adhesions molecules and inflammatory mediators may be responsible for hypertensive disorders of pregnancy suggesting the role of endothelial dysfunction as a central pathogenic feature in development of preeclampsia

Monte carlo method for evaluation of uncertainty of measurement in brinell hardness scale

Though method based on law of propagation of uncertainty (LPU), described in GUM, is widely used as an international method for estimation of the uncertainty associated with measurements, JCGM through supplement JCGM 101:2008, which deals with the propagation of distributions, recommends the application of Monte Carlo method (MCM) to evaluate the uncertainty of measurement as an alternative method to LPU. In MCM approach, probability distribution function of measurand has been determined by assigning appropriate probability distribution of the input quantities. In the present paper, effort has been made to discuss the procedure for the application of MCM for computing the uncertainty of measurement of hardness blocks, which have been calibrated by Brinell hardness machine and observations have been recorded. A comparison of the findings of the LPU and MCM has been made, which shows good agreement between the two methodologies adopted. The paper attempts to highlights the MCM for uncertainty of measurement evalution and its implications in this regard. The paper thrusts upon the practical viability of MCM in similar applications and reliability of method have been discussed and presented

Biometrics for Child Vaccination and Welfare: Persistence of Fingerprint Recognition for Infants and Toddlers

With a number of emerging applications requiring biometric recognition of children (e.g., tracking child vaccination schedules, identifying missing children and preventing newborn baby swaps in hospitals), investigating the temporal stability of biometric recognition accuracy for children is important. The persistence of recognition accuracy of three of the most commonly used biometric traits (fingerprints, face and iris) has been investigated for adults. However, persistence of biometric recognition accuracy has not been studied systematically for children in the age group of 0-4 years. Given that very young children are often uncooperative and do not comprehend or follow instructions, in our opinion, among all biometric modalities, fingerprints are the most viable for recognizing children. This is primarily because it is easier to capture fingerprints of young children compared to other biometric traits, e.g., iris, where a child needs to stare directly towards the camera to initiate iris capture. In this report, we detail our initiative to investigate the persistence of fingerprint recognition for children in the age group of 0-4 years. Based on preliminary results obtained for the data collected in the first phase of our study, use of fingerprints for recognition of 0-4 year-old children appears promising.Comment: Michigan State University Technical Repor

Finger Millet:A "Certain" Crop for an "Uncertain" Future and a Solution to Food Insecurity and Hidden Hunger under Stressful Environments

Crop growth and productivity has largely been vulnerable to various abiotic and biotic stresses that are only set to be compounded due to global climate change. Therefore developing improved varieties and designing newer approaches for crop improvement against stress tolerance have become a priority now-a-days. However, most of the crop improvement strategies are directed toward staple cereals such as rice, wheat, maize etc., whereas attention on minor cereals such as finger millet [Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.] lags far behind. It is an important staple in several semi-arid and tropical regions of the world with excellent nutraceutical properties as well as ensuring food security in these areas even during harsh environment. This review highlights the importance of finger millet as a model nutraceutical crop. Progress and prospects in genetic manipulation for the development of abiotic and biotic stress tolerant varieties is also discussed. Although limited studies have been conducted for genetic improvement of finger millets, its nutritional significance in providing minerals, calories and protein makes it an ideal model for nutrition-agriculture research. Therefore, improved genetic manipulation of finger millets for resistance to both abiotic and biotic stresses, as well as for enhancing nutrient content will be very effective in millet improvementpublishersversionPeer reviewe

Antimicrobial sensitivity pattern and detection of antimicrobial resistance genes of E. coli isolated from respiratory tract infections in poultry

The present study was conducted at College of Veterinary Science, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University with the objective to determine the antimicrobial sensitivity pattern and anti-microbial resistance genes on E. coli isolates obtained from respiratory infection samples of poultry. A total of 115 samples were collected from different respiratory disease outbreaks from various poultry farms of Ludhiana district of Punjab. Various bacteria related to respiratory infections were isolated and E. coli was found to be in highest number among the isolated bacteria. The isolates of E. coli were confirmed by MALDI-TOF and were subjected to Kirby Bauer’s disc diffusion method to study the antimicrobial sensitivity pattern phenotypically. The isolates were also screened for the presence of six antimicrobial resistance genes associated with certain antibiotics by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). All the isolates showed 100% resistance towards the antibiotics, viz. tetracycline, chlortetracycline, enrofloxacin, erythromycin, ofloxacin, tylosin, amikacin, and ciprofloxacin. This demonstrates the multidrug-resistance of the isolates. The antimicrobial resistance gene strA (60%) was found to be expressed more among the isolates followed by ere (50%), tetA (47.5%), aac-(3)-(IV) (37.5%) and blaTEM (32.5%). None of the isolate was found to have tetC gene