An assessment of the human nail plate pH.

Purpose of Study: To measure the pH of the surface of healthy nail plates. Procedures: The surface pH of human fingernails and big toenails was measured in vivo using a skin pH meter. The influence of washing, anatomical site (fingers/toes), side (left/right), digit (digits 1–5) and gender was determined. The pH of the nail interior was also measured. Results: The pH of the nail plate surface was around 5, with toenails having a significantly higher pH than fingernails. Immediately after hand washing, the nail surface pH increased significantly, from pH 5.1 ± 0.4 to 5.3 ± 0.5. However, this was not sustained with time, and the pH returned to prewashing levels within 20 min. Gender had an influence on unwashed, but not washed, nail plate pH. The pH of the nail plate interior was lower than that of its surface. Conclusions: It was possible to measure nail plate pH, and baseline values are provided

An assessment of the human nail plate pH

Purpose of Study: To measure the pH of the surface of healthy nail plates. Procedures: The surface pH of human fingernails and big toenails was measured in vivo using a skin pH meter. The influence of washing, anatomical site (fingers/toes), side (left/right), digit (digits 1-5) and gender was determined. The pH of the nail interior was also measured. Results: The pH of the nail plate surface was around 5, with toenails having a significantly higher pH than fingernails. Immediately after hand washing, the nail surface pH increased significantly, from pH 5.1 ± 0.4 to 5.3 ± 0.5. However, this was not sustained with time, and the pH returned to prewashing levels within 20 min. Gender had an influence on unwashed, but not washed, nail plate pH. The pH of the nail plate interior was lower than that of its surface. Conclusions: It was possible to measure nail plate pH, and baseline values are provided. Copyright © 2011 S. Karger AG, Basel

Consumer Behavior towards Online Shopping in India-A Study with Reference to Select Regions

Abstract The Internet is developing into a new distribution channel and online transactions are rapidly increasing, which are creating a need to understand how the consumer perceives online purchases. The purpose of this study is to examine if there are any particular factors that influences the online consumer. Primary data is collected through a survey with students of the Kakatiya University and NIT Warangal. Price, Trust and Convenience were identified as important factors. Price is considered to be the most important factor for a majority of the students. Furthermore, three segments were found to be important, they are High Spenders, Price Easers and Bargain Seekers. From the study it is observed that a variation of the different factors will gain importance and establish implications for online book stores

The pH of the Human Nail Plate

In this chapter, measurements of the nail plate pH are reported. Measurements were conducted in vivo in 37 volunteers with healthy finger- and toenails, using a skin pH meter. The pH of unwashed and washed fingernails and the big toenails was measured, and the influence of washing, anatomical site (fingers/toes), side (left/right), finger digit (digits 1–5), and gender were determined. The pH of the nail plate surface was around 5. There was no significant difference between the sides, i.e., the right or left hand/foot, among the ten fingernails and between the two great toenails. However, toenails had a significantly higher pH than fingernails. Washing the nails caused an immediate, but transient, increase in pH, which was not sustained with time, and pH returned to prewashing levels within 20 min. In males, washing did not significantly influence finger- or toenail plate pH. In females, however, washed fingernails had a significantly higher pH than unwashed ones, while there was no difference in the pH of the toenails. The pH of the nail plate interior, measured after tape stripping, was found to be slightly lower than that at its surface

FEMINIST CONCERNS IN NADINE GORDIMER’S MY SON’S STORY

Nadine Gordimer, the first Nobel Prize winner of South Africa reflects in her fiction the heart rending racial and political problems in her country ruled by apartheid. Her tenth novel, My Son’s Story, shows a subtle shift in her literary pursuit   by highlighting gender issues in the building of a new nation. Gordimer believes that racial issues should be solved first, later feminist battle be fought. Critics assert that strong and consistent feminist concerns are embedded in Gordimer’s works.  Especially these have received central focus in My Son’s Story, making the novel Gordimer’s unequivocally feminist novel.  But Gordimer has never accepted her novel as feministic but the reader can understand the positive evolution of female characters against the background of revolution.  It is a tale of a Coloured school master, Sonny who turns out a good speaker and is recruited into the banned African National Congress (ANC) and gets higher positions in it which causes loss of his government job and detention in jail for two years. In prison, he is attracted by Hannah, a blonde activist for an International Human Rights Agency who occasionally visits the detainees. His love affair with her alienates him from his wife Aila, daughter Baby and son Will. Gradually his condition both personally and politically degenerates while Aila and Baby move from passive domestic roles to active political ones when Aila skips bail, Hannah takes a new assignment. Both leave Sonny to take up further political work. Thus, the paper presents gradual degradation of Sonny’s character and emergence of supremacy of the female characters like Aila, Baby and Hannah in critical, political and historical times through which the novelist’s feminist concerns are reflected

Cryptanalysis of recently proposed Remote User Authentication Schemes

Recently Manik et al. [13] proposed a novel remote user authentication scheme using bilinear pairings. Chou et al. [14] identified a weakness in Manik et al.’s scheme and made an improvement. In this paper, we show that both Manik et al.’s and Chou et al.’s schemes are insecure against forgery attack and replay attack

Green composites based on wheat gluten matrix and posidonia oceanica waste fibers as reinforcements

[EN] In this work, green composites from renewable resources were manufactured and characterized. A fibrous material derived from Posidonia oceanica wastes with high cellulose content (close to 90 wt% of the total organic component) was used as reinforcing material. The polymeric matrix to bind the fibers was a protein (wheat gluten) type material. Composites were made by hot-press molding by varying the gluten content on composites in the 10¿40 wt% range. Mechanical properties were evaluated by standardized flexural tests. Thermo-mechanical behavior of composites was evaluated with dynamic mechanical analysis (torsion DMA) and determination of heat deflection temperature. Morphology of samples was studied by scanning electronic microscopy and the water uptake in terms of the water submerged time was evaluated to determine the maximum water uptake of the fibers in the composites. Composites with 10¿40 wt% gluten show interesting mechanical performance, similar or even higher to many commodity and technical plastics, such as polypropylene. Water resistance of these composites increases with the amount of gluten. Therefore, the sensitiveness to the water of the composites can be tailored with the amount of gluten in their formulation.The authors would like to acknowledge the Wallenberg and Lars-Erik Thunholms Foundation for the economical support through the concession of a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Forest related. Authors would also like to thank Marcos and Elena for helping in collecting P. oceanica balls.Ferrero Penadés, B.; Boronat Vitoria, T.; Moriana Torró, R.; Fenollar Gimeno, OÁ.; Balart Gimeno, RA. (2013). Green composites based on wheat gluten matrix and posidonia oceanica waste fibers as reinforcements. Polymer Composites. 34(10):1663-1669. doi:10.1002/pc.22567S16631669341

An in vivo determination of the human nail plate pH

The in vivo pH of healthy finger and toenail plates, measured using a skin pH metre, was 5.1 (+/-0.6) and 5.4 (+/-0.8) respectively. Toenail pH was higher than that of fingernail, while the subject's gender and age, hand/foot side (right or left) had no influence on pH. Handwashing increased nailplate pH, although the increase was not sustained with time. Tape stripping of the nail plate showed a slightly lower pH inside the nail plate compared to its surface

The pH of the human nail plate

In this chapter, measurements of the nail plate pH are reported. Measurements were conducted in vivo in 37 volunteers with healthy finger- and toenails, using a skin pH meter. The pH of unwashed and washed fin- gernails and the big toenails was measured, and the influence of washing, anatomical site (fin- gers/toes), side (left/right), finger digit (digits 1–5), and gender were determined. The pH of the nail plate surface was around 5. There was no significant difference between the sides, i.e., the right or left hand/foot, among the ten fin- gernails and between the two great toenails. However, toenails had a significantly higher pH than fingernails. Washing the nails caused an immediate, but transient, increase in pH, which was not sustained with time, and pH returned to prewashing levels within 20 min. In males, washing did not significantly influ- ence finger- or toenail plate pH. In females, however, washed fingernails had a signifi- cantly higher pH than unwashed ones, while there was no difference in the pH of the toe- nails. The pH of the nail plate interior, mea- sured after tape stripping, was found to be slightly lower than that at its surface

Experimental Studies on Mechanical Behavior of TIG and Friction Stir Welded AA5083 -AA7075 Dissimilar Aluminum Alloys

Welding is a suitable and better process to manufacture complex objects for aerospace, naval, and automotive structures. Service conditions and complexity in load acting force the manufactures to make joints between dissimilar materials. Thus, there is a need for efficient welding techniques to form sound joints and an understanding of imperfections and their effects. In this study an attempt has been made to study the joining feasibility of dissimilar aluminum alloys by two different welding techniques, namely, tungsten inert gas welding (TIG) and friction stir welding (FSW). Dissimilar AA5083-O and AA7075-T651 aluminum alloys successfully joined by considered welding techniques. Metallurgical and mechanical characteristics of fabricated weld joints are studied at different weld currents (80–120 amp) for TIG and various rotational speeds (800, 1000, 1100, 1200, and 1400 rpm) with constant traverse speed for FSW. Weld joints made by FSW exhibit superior tensile strength, whereas the joint line microhardness of TIG samples is higher than the FSW ones