Animacy modulates gender agreement comprehension in Hindi: An ERP study

The animate–inanimate distinction is of crucial importance cognitively, and animacy has been known to influence language comprehension. However, little is known about the role of animacy in verb agreement processing. The present study employed event-related brain potentials to examine whether the gender agreement of the verb with animate (natural gender) and inanimate (grammatical gender) subject nouns reveal similar or different processing mechanisms in Hindi. Critical stimuli were intransitive sentences of the form subject–verb–aux. Subject nouns were either animate or inanimate, and the verb either showed correct gender agreement or violated it. The violation of gender agreement with animate subjects evoked a P600 effect, whereas gender agreement violation with inanimate subjects revealed a long-latency N400-like effect. The result suggests that different underlying mechanisms are involved in the computation of gender agreement with animate and inanimate arguments in Hindi, illustrating the crucial role that animacy plays in verb agreement processing

Estimation of Ibuprofen solubilization in cationic and anionic surfactant media: Application of micelle binding model

426-430Drug solubility is an important parameter for efficient drug delivery and absorption. Ibuprofen, -methyl-4-[2-methyl­propyl] benzene acetic acid is a NSAID group of drug with antipyretic and analgesic properties. It has poor solubility in water. Its solubilisation properties in presence of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and sodiumdodecyl sulphate (SDS) have been studied. Saturation solubilities in aqueous and aqueous-micellar media have been studied spectrophotometrically by measuring absorbance at 264 nm. Plot of solubility versus [SDS] shows a maximum in the pre-micellar region followed by the linear relationship between the variables in the region past critical micellar concentration (cmc). With CTAB, the solubility- [surfactant] profile shows double maxima, one each in pre- and post- micellar region. Appropriate explanation has been forwarded and the nature of solubilizate-surfactant interaction suggested. The pKa values of ibuprofen determined pH-metrically in aqueous and aqueous-SDS media have been used to supplement the inference. The association constant values and free energy change of solubilisation are reported

Corrosion behaviour of painted HSLA panels in chloride environment – a comparative study of different paints

High strength low alloy steels have attained wide acceptance as structural materials. Research and development have led to different corrosion preventive methods. High strength low alloy (HSLA) of composition C(0.4%), Mn(0.7%), Si(0.25%). Cr(0.8%), Ni(1.7%) was selected for this study. Epoxy iron oxide, epoxy micaceous iron oxide (MIO), zinc-rich epoxy and zinc ethyl silicate were used for painting the HSLA panels (150mm × 100mm × 3mm). Physical properties such as film thickness, specific gravity, viscosity, drying times of paints were evaluated and salt spray test, AC impedance and metallographic examination were carried out. Performance of zinc ethyl silicate coating over HSLA was found to be the best followed by epoxy micaceous iron oxide system

Synthesis and characterization of some PLNZT ceramics

Powder of sodium doped polycrystalline samples of PLZT with composition Pb-0.98(La1-x/3Nax)(0.02)(Zr-0.53 Ti-0.47)(0.9950) .O-3 (PLNZT) with x = 0.5 was systematically prepared using spray drying technique. Rhombohedral phase of PLNZT compound has been confirmed after being calcined at 800 degreesC. IDTA-TGA and XRD studies were used to characterize the compound synthesized. SEM was used for micro-structural evaluation. The dielectric constant (epsilon) and loss tangent (tan delta) of the compound were studied at different temperatures at 10 kHz frequency, which suggests that the compound undergoes a ferro-electric phase transition of diffuse type. (C) 2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers

Crevice attack of a boiler steam drum

The mechanism of corrosive degradation of the interior of a boiler steam drum was investigated. This involved analysis of the feedwater and boilerwater, phase and elemental analysis of the corrosion products, and microstructural observation after preparing replicas of the attacked regions. The operation of crevice attack was identified as the most detrimental mode of corrosion in the present case. The accelerating influence of chlorine on such deterioration is discussed. The chronological deposition of the corrosion products are explained by the mechanism of attack. The presence of various transition compounds in the corrosion product are due to the sequence of chemical events during crevice attack

Microfinance and climate change adaptation: an overview of the current literature

There is growing interest in the role microfinance could play in facilitating adaptation to climate change. This article contributes to this interest by reviewing the state of the literature on microfinance and climate change adaptation which has two key areas. The first area of the literature focuses on the potential for microfinance to facilitate household adaptation, which has been only partially successful in linking microfinance and adaptation because of weak conceptualisation of adaptation and terminological shortcomings. The second area of literature examines the vulnerability of microfinance institutions to climate change, highlighting they are directly vulnerable to climate change themselves as well as indirectly vulnerable through their beneficiaries. The realisation of climate-resilient microfinance requires both climate proofing internal operations to reduce direct vulnerability, and promoting climate-resilience amongst beneficiaries. This may have already happened serendipitously to an extent, but there is scope for further action. We conclude that more evidence is needed to substantiate the links and thus progress the literature, particularly studies employing an adaptation lens