A study of molecular diffusion in polymer solutions by a microinterferometric method

A microinterferometric method was used to study the effect of solute concentration on the diffusion coefficient in polymer solutions and also to determine the effect of polymer concentration on the diffusion coefficient. The polyacrylonitrile-dimethylformamide system was used as a means of determining the accuracy of the experimental apparatus and procedure. The non-ionic, water soluble polymer, hydroxyethyl cellulose (commercially known as Natrosol), was used to study this effect with urea and D-glucose as the solutes. The results obtained for the polyacrylonitrile-dimethylformamide system were in close agreement with the results obtained by Secor, which meant that the experimental technique is accurate enough to give reproducible data. The differential diffusion coefficient increased with the increase in solute concentration in all cases. The effect of solute concentration on the differential diffusion coefficient was found to be similar for various polymer concentrations and different solutes. The integral diffusion coefficient remained almost constant for the concentration range of the solutes used in this work. No effect of polymer concentration on the integral diffusion coefficient could be deduced from the experimental data --Abstract, page ii

National Mental Health Survey of India, 2016 - Rationale, design and methods.

Understanding the burden and pattern of mental disorders as well as mapping the existing resources for delivery of mental health services in India, has been a felt need over decades. Recognizing this necessity, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, commissioned the National Mental Health Survey (NMHS) in the year 2014-15. The NMHS aimed to estimate the prevalence and burden of mental health disorders in India and identify current treatment gaps, existing patterns of health-care seeking, service utilization patterns, along with an understanding of the impact and disability due to these disorders. This paper describes the design, steps and the methodology adopted for phase 1 of the NMHS conducted in India. The NMHS phase 1 covered a representative population of 39,532 from 12 states across 6 regions of India, namely, the states of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh (North); Tamil Nadu and Kerala (South); Jharkhand and West Bengal (East); Rajasthan and Gujarat (West); Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh (Central) and Assam and Manipur (North East). The NMHS of India (2015-16) is a unique representative survey which adopted a uniform and standardized methodology which sought to overcome limitations of previous surveys. It employed a multi-stage, stratified, random cluster sampling technique, with random selection of clusters based on Probability Proportionate to Size. It was expected that the findings from the NMHS 2015-16 would reveal the burden of mental disorders, the magnitude of the treatment gap, existing challenges and prevailing barriers in the mental-health delivery systems in the country at a single point in time. It is hoped that the results of NMHS will provide the evidence to strengthen and implement mental health policies and programs in the near future and provide the rationale to enhance investment in mental health care in India. It is also hoped that the NMHS will provide a framework for conducting similar population based surveys on mental health and other public health problems in low and middle-income countries