Compressive strength of brickwork masonry with special reference to concentrated load.

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:D81965 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Resource productivity and economic performance of producing fish seeds in government and private fanns in Bangladesh

The effect of various factors on spawn and fingerlings production in government and private farms was measured in this study. Primary data were collected from 45 private and 11 government farms from 9 selected districts covering major fish seed producing areas of Bangladesh. Results from Cobb-Douglas production function analysis indicated that the included variables had some positive impacts on returns from spawn and fingerlings. No input was found to be over used and increasing returns to scale was observed. Tabular analysis indicated that higher amount of input use produced higher level of yield, gross return and net return. The government farms were under utilized. For increased supply of fish seeds in the country more amount of specified inputs (feed and fertilizer) should be used for producing spawn and fingerlings especially in government farms

Prehypertension; patient awareness and associated cardiovascular risk factors in an urban population in Iran

Background: This study was to estimate the frequency of prehypertension and to characterize patient awareness and associated cardiovascular risk factors in an urban population in Iran. Methods: During a hypertensive awareness program, a cross-sectional study was conducted on 2036 people. All participants completed a questionnaire about their demographic and anthropometric indices and were asked about symptoms, risk factors and preventive measures of hypertension. Data were compared between prehypertensive and non-hypertensive groups. Results: Prehypertension was detected in 30 (n=611) of the subjects. Previous CHD, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia were more prevalent in low prehypertension group compared to high normal blood pressure. The male sex, increasing age and body weight were positively associated with the rate of prehypertension. Only 8 of participants with prehypertension were aware about the symptoms of hypertension, 12 correctly mentioned at least three risk factors of hypertension, and 48 explained appropriate preventive measures. Conclusion: Prehypertension was prevalent in this population. Age, body weight, male sex, and previous CHD were the major determinants. Furthermore, hypertension awareness was alarmingly poor. Therefore, hypertension prevention programs focused on increasing public awareness are essential

The influence of human head model wearing metalframe spectacles to the changes of SAR and antenna gain: simulation of frontal face exposure

The relationship between specific absorption rate (SAR) and antenna gain inside the head due to the metal-frame spectacles was investigated. The radio frequency (RF) energy source considered is the smartphone used in the frontal face. A computer simulation using CST Microwave Studio 2012 was used for the investigation. Two sets of dipole antennas, operated at 900 MHz and 1800 MHz for GSM applications, were used as representative radiation sources from a mobile phone. Parametric studies were conducted to determine the optimum length of the metal rod, and the length was used to study the possibility of RF irradiation of the metal spectacles model. Then, the spectacles model was used as an analysis tool to study the interaction between gain and SAR in the head. The radiation pattern was plotted to identify the causes of the interactions. The gain decreased when the energy source was very close to the spectacles, and SAR increased enormously

Enhanced photovoltaic performance using reduced graphene oxide assisted by triple-tail surfactant as an efficient and low-cost counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells

In this work, 4-bis(neopentyloxy)-3-(neopentyloxycarbonyl)-1,4-dioxobutane-2-silphonate (TC14) surfactant assisted reduced graphene oxide (rGO) was used as a counter electrode (CE) in dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). Field emission scanning electron microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy observations revealed that the TC14-rGO film was well dispersed on fluorine-doped tin oxide surface. The TC14-rGO modified CE based DSSC showed a power conversion efficiency of 0.828%, a short current density (JSC) of 2.72 mA cm−2, an open circuit voltage (VOC) of 0.65 V, and a fill factor (FF) of 41.9 which were higher than those CE fabricated from commercially available SDS surfactant assisted rGO. Results revealed that TC14-rGO is a potential CE material to construct efficient DSSC for future solar cell applications

Heterojunction of SnO2 nanosheet/arrayed ZnO nanorods for humidity sensing

For the first time, a rutile phased tin oxide (SnO2) nanosheet was assembled onto a zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorod array to form SnO2 nanosheet/ZnO nanorod array heterostructure films (TSZR) using a two-step solution immersion method. This study offers a facile and effective path to grow a SnO2 nanosheet assembled layer on ZnO nanorod arrays with a varied density using a tin (II) chloride dihydrate precursor to achieve an optimum humidity sensing response through the SnO2 growth time from 1 to 5 h. The structural characteristics, electrical properties, and humidity sensing response of the heterostructure films were investigated using various characterization techniques, such as field emission scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, a two-probe current-voltage measurement, and a humidity sensing response measurement system. The synthesized ZnO nanorods have an average diameter of 90 nm, while the grown SnO2 nanosheets have an average width of 20 nm. The humidity response performance of the films demonstrates a remarkable dependence on the SnO2 nanosheet assembled layer on the ZnO nanorod array film with the best humidity sensitivity of 754.4 at room temperature obtained for the 2 h-grown SnO2 nanosheet-based 2TSZR heterostructure sample. The 2TSZR sample also exhibited good stability over a four-cycle measurement and magnified current value of the humidity sensing response at a high operating temperature up to 60 °C. These investigations reveal that the TSZR heterostructure films are promising for humidity sensing devices with high sensitivity

Fabrication of Titanium Dioxide Nanorod Arrays-Polyaniline Heterojunction for Development of UV Photosensor

An ultraviolet (UV) photosensor is successfully fabricated via heterojunction device consisted of n-type titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanorod arrays (TNAs), and p-type polyaniline (PANI) by a facile method on fluorine tin oxide (FTO)-coated glass substrate. The fabricated UV photosensor demonstrated a UV-catalyst activity through the generation of photocurrent under UV irradiation (365 nm, 750 µW/cm2). The measured UV response showed the highest generation of photocurrent of 0.52 μAcm-2, and responsivity of 0.65 mA/W at 1.0 V reverse bias. The results indicate that the fabricated TNAs/PANI heterojunction-based device could be a promising candidate for the application of UV photosensor

Comparing the cardiac MRI and thallium-201 SPECT findings in assessing myocardial viability in patients with ST elevation myocardial infarction

Background and purpose: Viable tissue detection after STEMI can lead to successful revascularization for reversing myocardial dysfunction. The purpose of this study was to compare the Thallium-201 SPECT and MRI findings in viability assessment. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was performed on 17 patients with STEMI. In addition to Thallium SPECT, contrast enhanced MRI imaging was done. Viability was determined as more than 50 percent thallium uptake after 4 hours in SPECT and lower than 50 percent gadolinium enhancement after 10 minutes in each segments in CMRI. Results: Two hundred eighty nine segments were studied using both methods. TL SPECT showed 15.6 of the segments as non-viable tissue while MRI showed 35 non-viable tissue. There was a substantial agreement between these methods in apical septal and apical segments (k: 0.653, k: 0.757, respectively). Conclusion: The percentage of non-viable myocardium in MRI was found to be higher than that of Thallium SPECT and also considerable agreement was seen between MRI and Thallium SPECT in determination of myocard viability in apical septal and apex segments. © 2016, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

Dye-sensitized solar cell using pure anatase TiO2 annealed at different temperatures

The performance of pure anatase titanium dioxide (TiO2) annealed at different tempera-tures as photoanode in the application of dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) was investigated and discussed. All samples of TiO2 were deposited on fluorine-doped tin oxide (SnO2) on glass substrate using spray pyrolysis deposition (SPD) method. Characterizations of the DSSCs fabricated were executed on their surface morphology, structural property, and energy conversion efficiency. In the DSSC preparation, anatase TiO2 thin films, platinum (Pt), ruthenium-based dye N719 and DPMII triiodide couple electrolyte were used as pho-toanodes, cathode/counter electrode, dye sensitizers and liquid electrolyte, respectively. All of the TiO2 photoanodes were annealed at 300 ◦C, 400 ◦C and 500 ◦C with a set left without any heat treatment. The thickness of anatase TiO2 photoanodes measured were in between 23 �m and 41 �m. The power conversion efficiency of DSSCs performed under visible light with intensity of 100 mW/cm2 shows that DSSC with pure anatase phased TiO2 annealed at 500 ◦C as photoanode yields the highest efficiency of 3.25%

Neutral-Current Atmospheric Neutrino Flux Measurement Using Neutrino-Proton Elastic Scattering in Super-Kamiokande

Recent results show that atmospheric $\nu_\mu$ oscillate with $\delta m^2 \simeq 3 \times 10^{-3}$ eV$^2$ and $\sin^2{2\theta_{atm}} \simeq 1$, and that conversion into $\nu_e$ is strongly disfavored. The Super-Kamiokande (SK) collaboration, using a combination of three techniques, reports that their data favor $\nu_\mu \to \nu_\tau$ over $\nu_\mu \to \nu_{sterile}$. This distinction is extremely important for both four-neutrino models and cosmology. We propose that neutrino-proton elastic scattering ($\nu + p \to \nu + p$) in water \v{C}erenkov detectors can also distinguish between active and sterile oscillations. This was not previously recognized as a useful channel since only about 2% of struck protons are above the \v{C}erenkov threshold. Nevertheless, in the present SK data there should be about 40 identifiable events. We show that these events have unique particle identification characteristics, point in the direction of the incoming neutrinos, and correspond to a narrow range of neutrino energies (1-3 GeV, oscillating near the horizon). This channel will be particularly important in Hyper-Kamiokande, with $\sim 40$ times higher rate. Our results have other important applications. First, for a similarly small fraction of atmospheric neutrino quasielastic events, the proton is relativistic. This uniquely selects $\nu_\mu$ (not $\bar{\nu}_\mu$) events, useful for understanding matter effects, and allows determination of the neutrino energy and direction, useful for the $L/E$ dependence of oscillations. Second, using accelerator neutrinos, both elastic and quasielastic events with relativistic protons can be seen in the K2K 1-kton near detector and MiniBooNE.Comment: 10 pages RevTeX, 8 figure