Enhancement of reactivity and increased usage of low lime class -F-fly ash-possible avenues

The low lime class-F fly ash available in the country shows high degree of variability in the quality, higher content of crystallites , lower glassy phase which accounts for lower of usage in cement and concrete . The time reactivity test used for assessing the pozzolanicity of fly ash did not always correlate with its observed reactivity in Blended cements . An alternative rapid alkali reactivity rest developed at the authors ' laboratory is illustrated in the paper. The paper also discusses the possibility of increasing the reactivity of fly ash and effect of the reactive fly ash on characteristics of PPC and concrete. The paper further discusses other avenues of fly ash utilisation, which could be categorised as low, medium and high value applications. One of such applications developed at the authors ' laboratory that merits special interest, is the Hydrogel process of clinkerisation , which has a potential for utilisation of 20-30% fly ash as a raw material in cement manufacture

Prevalence of infections among 6-16 years old children attending a semi-rural school in Western Maharashtra, India

Background: Infections are an important cause of morbidity in rural India. Reports on the prevalence of infections in older childrenand their effects on growth are scarce. Objective: The objectives were to determine the prevalence of common infections among6-16 year old school-children in a semi-rural setting in Western India and to assess the influence of infections on the growth status ofthe children. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in a semi-rural setting in a Zilla Parishad PrimarySchool, Karegaon, Maharashtra. 802 children (boys = 439), 6-16 years of age were assessed. Data on height, weight and infectionrelatedsymptoms reported by children (pre-tested, validated questionnaire) were collected. K-means cluster analysis was used to createthree clusters based on the severity of infections, and one-way analysis of variance with post-hoc Tukey’s multiple comparisons wasused to test the significance of differences in means of various characteristics of the subjects in three clusters. Results: 43% boys and49% girls reported symptoms of respiratory tract infections occasionally, and 28% boys and 27% girls complained of gastrointestinal(GI) infections occasionally. Children with more severe infections were more likely to be shorter and lighter; this was more marked ingirls. Conclusions: Rural school-going children (aged 6-16 years) suffer from high rates of infections, mainly upper respiratory tractinfections followed by GI tract infections

Effect of mid-day meal on nutritional status of adolescents: A cross-sectional study from Gujarat

Objective: To evaluate the effect of mid-day meal (MDM) on the nutritional status of adolescents and compare it with healthy comparison group. Settings and Design: A cross-sectional study on apparently healthy adolescents (10-14 years) receiving MDM and not receiving MDM (comparison group) was conducted in two cities (Ahmedabad and Patan) of Gujarat, Western India, from January 2012 to March 2014. Materials and Methods: A total of 401 adolescents (200 boys) were selected randomly, using computerized random number generation, from two private and two municipal/government schools. Anthropometric measurements were performed. Height, weight, and body mass index Z scores were computed using ethnic data. Diet was recorded by 24 h recall and nutrient intakes were computed (C-diet V-2.1) as a percentage of the recommended dietary allowance (RDA). Student’s t-test and Chi-square tests were used to compare differences in nutritional status. Results: Percentage of stunting (24% boys and 19% girls) and wasting (17% boys and 18% girls) was significantly higher in adolescents receiving MDM (p<0.001), while the percentage of risk of being overweight, i.e., BMI for age Z (BAZ) >1 or above 85th percentile (18% boys and 12% girls) was predominant in non-MDM receiving adolescents (p<0.001). Compared to non-MDM, MDM receiving adolescents consumed significantly reduced quantity of nutrients (p<0.05). On comparing RDA based on the 24 h dietary recall, it was seen that MDM receiving boys met 60% energy, 78% protein, 50% calcium, and 53% of micronutrient requirements while MDM receiving girls met 59% energy, 67% protein, 44% calcium, and 48% of micronutrient requirements. Non-MDM receiving adolescents had close to RDA or above intake for the most nutrients (p<0.05 for all). Conclusion: Although MDM scheme restricted the percentage of stunting to some extent, the percentage of wasting was critical in terms of public health significance. MDM receiving adolescents were vulnerable to energy, protein, and micronutrient deficiencies.Key words: Adolescents, Nutritional status, Micronutrients, Mid-da

Invited commentary to the paper ‘Zinc status and its association with the health of adolescents: a review of studies in India’

We are pleased to view the article based on Dr. Rama Kawade's thesis illustrating the importance of micronutrient adequacy, especially zinc, and associated health implications in Indian adolescent girls. This brief commentary addresses three major aspects in which Kawade's work has made a significant contribution; nutrition and health issues of adolescents, rising importance of zinc in terms of deficiency problems being addressed, and development of dietary interventions to alleviate micronutrient deficiencies

The trade-off between taxi time and fuel consumption in airport ground movement

Environmental impact is a very important agenda item in many sectors nowadays, which the air transportation sector is also trying to reduce as much as possible. One area which has remained relatively unexplored in this context is the ground movement problem for aircraft on the airport’s surface. Aircraft have to be routed from a gate to a runway and vice versa and it is still unknown whether fuel burn and environmental impact reductions will best result from purely minimising the taxi times or whether it is also important to avoid multiple acceleration phases. This paper presents a newly developed multi-objective approach for analysing the trade-off between taxi time and fuel consumption during taxiing. The approach consists of a combination of a graph-based routing algorithm and a population adaptive immune algorithm to discover different speed profiles of aircraft. Analysis with data from a European hub airport has highlighted the impressive performance of the new approach. Furthermore, it is shown that the trade-off between taxi time and fuel consumption is very sensitive to the fuel-related objective function which is used

Studies on Backside Al-Contact Formation in Si Solar Cells: Fundamental Mechanisms; Preprint

This paper describes our investigations on the formation of back contacts in screen-printed solar cells, and how most requirements of a good back contact can be met by a suitable process

Percentile reference values for anthropometric body composition indices in European children from the IDEFICS study

INTRODUCTION: To characterise the nutritional status in children with obesity or wasting conditions, European anthropometric reference values for body composition measures beyond the body mass index (BMI) are needed. Differentiated assessment of body composition in children has long been hampered by the lack of appropriate references. OBJECTIVES: The aim of our study is to provide percentiles for body composition indices in normal weight European children, based on the IDEFICS cohort (Identification and prevention of Dietary-and lifestyle-induced health Effects in Children and infantS). METHODS: Overall 18 745 2.0-10.9-year-old children from eight countries participated in the study. Children classified as overweight/obese or underweight according to IOTF (N = 5915) were excluded from the analysis. Anthropometric measurements (BMI (N = 12 830); triceps, subscapular, fat mass and fat mass index (N = 11 845-11 901); biceps, suprailiac skinfolds, sum of skinfolds calculated from skinfold thicknesses (N = 8129-8205), neck circumference (N = 12 241); waist circumference and waist-to-height ratio (N = 12 381)) were analysed stratified by sex and smoothed 1st, 3rd, 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th, 97th and 99th percentile curves were calculated using GAMLSS. RESULTS: Percentile values of the most important anthropometric measures related to the degree of adiposity are depicted for European girls and boys. Age-and sex-specific differences were investigated for all measures. As an example, the 50th and 99th percentile values of waist circumference ranged from 50.7-59.2 cm and from 51.3-58.7 cm in 4.5-to < 5.0-year-old girls and boys, respectively, to 60.6-74.5 cm in girls and to 59.9-76.7 cm in boys at the age of 10.5-10.9 years. CONCLUSION: The presented percentile curves may aid a differentiated assessment of total and abdominal adiposity in European children

Comparison of embedded and added motor imagery training in patients after stroke: Study protocol of a randomised controlled pilot trial using a mixed methods approach

Copyright @ 2009 Schuster et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Background: Two different approaches have been adopted when applying motor imagery (MI) to stroke patients. MI can be conducted either added to conventional physiotherapy or integrated within therapy sessions. The proposed study aims to compare the efficacy of embedded MI to an added MI intervention. Evidence from pilot studies reported in the literature suggests that both approaches can improve performance of a complex motor skill involving whole body movements, however, it remains to be demonstrated, which is the more effective one.Methods/Design: A single blinded, randomised controlled trial (RCT) with a pre-post intervention design will be carried out. The study design includes two experimental groups and a control group (CG). Both experimental groups (EG1, EG2) will receive physical practice of a clinical relevant motor task ('Going down, laying on the floor, and getting up again') over a two week intervention period: EG1 with embedded MI training, EG2 with MI training added after physiotherapy. The CG will receive standard physiotherapy intervention and an additional control intervention not related to MI.The primary study outcome is the time difference to perform the task from pre to post-intervention. Secondary outcomes include level of help needed, stages of motor task completion, degree of motor impairment, balance ability, fear of falling measure, motivation score, and motor imagery ability score. Four data collection points are proposed: twice during baseline phase, once following the intervention period, and once after a two week follow up. A nested qualitative part should add an important insight into patients' experience and attitudes towards MI. Semi-structured interviews of six to ten patients, who participate in the RCT, will be conducted to investigate patients' previous experience with MI and their expectations towards the MI intervention in the study. Patients will be interviewed prior and after the intervention period.Discussion: Results will determine whether embedded MI is superior to added MI. Findings of the semi-structured interviews will help to integrate patient's expectations of MI interventions in the design of research studies to improve practical applicability using MI as an adjunct therapy technique