Approaches of material selection, alignment and methods of fabrication for natural fiber polymer composites: A review

The recent superiority of the composite materials is cautiously focusing on environmental adoption of natural fiber composites. The major source of the natural fiber materials covered in the globe, especially natural fibers, is plant-based, animal-based and mineral-based. Eco friendly based material can save the environment and recycling of the material is possible, as well as important criteria. Hence engineers ultimately focused on natural fiber polymer matrix materials to save the environment, pollution control, plastic manipulation, etc. The literature work was studied to identify natural fiber material possession. The major goal of the present review was to identify material characterization and appropriate application, mainly offering to enhance mechanical properties, flexural strength, electrical properties, thermal properties etc. The major consequence of the natural fiber is hydrophilic treatment. There is poor interfacial adhesion between the addition/filling substances and poor mechanical characteristics. All of these shortcomings constitute a critical issue. This review presents numerous sorts of  natural and synthetic polymers, natural fibres such as jute, ramie, banana, pineapple leaf fibre, and kenaf, etc.; short and long fibre loading methods, fibre fillers in micro and nanoparticle, American society of testing and materials (ASTM) standard plate dimensions, fabrication methods such as hand lay-up process, spray lay-up process, vacuumed-bag, continuous pultrusion, and pulforming process, etc.; industries and home appliances such as automotive parts, building construction, sports kits, domestic goods, and electronic devices. The review lists various material combinations, fibre loading, fillers, and matrix that can aid in the improvement of material properties and the reduction of failures during mechanical testing of composites.                

A Review-Improvement of Bearing Capacity of Soft Clay by Stone Column Technique

Bearing capacity is the important factor in the construction of buildings. There are many trending methods which are used to improve the bearing capacity of soft clay. One such method is stone column technique. Now a dayrsquos most of industries and buildings are being constructed away from city limits i.e. in the agricultural lands, ponds etc. This technique is very helpful in construction of buildings in soft clay and agricultural lands. Industrial wastes such as quarry waste, bagasse ash, silica fume are widely used. In this paper, a review of researchers about the industrial waste is being presented

Perceptual and Acoustical assessment of voice in children with cleft lip and palate

BACKGROUND: The speech of individuals with cleft lip and palate is primarily characterized by nasality of oral speech because of cleft and or velopharyngeal dysfunction. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study is to investigate the acoustical assessment and perceptual rating measurements in cleft lip and palate children. METHODS: The study participants included 30 children with cleft lip and palate in the age range of 4 to 12 years. Prior parental consent was obtained for the inclusion of their children in the study. Speech samples of all the l the participants were recorded. Prerecorded speech samples of the individuals of the CLP groups were mixed and randomized and played,using headphone conditions in a quiet room. The SLPs speech language pathologists rated the nasality of the participant. Samples given for perceptual evaluation are 15 phonation samples of /ă/, /ɪ/ and /ŭ/ vowels vowel, 15 conversation samples and 30 subjects (3 oral sentences each so total 90 sentences). RESULTS: For the Phonation sample, SLP must evaluate the presence of hypernasality by Wilcoksons nasality scale. Acoustic analysis was done using PRAAT software. The spectral and temporal parameters were measured. The Kappa coefficient was 0.88 for inter-rater reliability for nasality rating scale, 0.82 for speech intelligibility,1.02 for speech understandability,1.00 for speech acceptability, which suggests substantial agreement between the raters for four different rating scales. CONCLUSION: Thus, to conclude in children with cleft lip and palate both acoustical and perceptual evaluation plays an important role while assessing the speech domain by using different kinds of speech stimuli

Magnetic and dielectric properties of BiFeO3 nanoparticles

Single crystalline nano-sized multiferroic BiFeO3 (BFO) powders were synthesized through simple chemical co-precipitation method using polyethylene glycol (PEG) as capping agent. We obtained pure phase BiFeO3 powder by controlling pHand calcination temperature. From X-ray diffraction studies the nanoparticles were unambiguously identified to have a rhombohedrally distorted perovskite structure belonging to the space group of R3c. No secondary phases were detected. It indicates single phase structure. EDX spectra indicated the appearance of three elements Bi, Fe, O in 1:1:3. From the UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectrum, the absorption cut-off wavelength of the BFO sample is around 558nm corresponding to the energy band gap of 2.2 eV. The size (60-70 nm) and morphology of the nanoparticles have been analyzed using transmission electron microscopy (TEM).   Linear M−H behaviour and slight hysteresis at lower magnetic field is observed for BiFeO3 nanoparticles from Vibrating sample magnetometer studies. It indicates weak ferromagnetic behaviour at room temperature. From dielectric studies, the conductivity value is calculated from the relation s = L/RbA Sm-1 and it is around 7.2 x 10-9 S/m

Effect of Curing On the Strength Behaviour of Lime-Fly Ashexpansive Soil Mixes

Expansive soils occupying almost 3 lakh km2 in the Indian subcontinent found to be highly problematic due to their extensive swelling and shrinkage nature. This rapid volume change leads to upliftment of foundations, differential settlements, heaving, rutting, etc. on the overlying structures. Concerning with the above problems an effective, economical and long-term method lime stabilisation was selected. In this work it is attempted to study the effect of curing period on the strength behaviour expansive soil treated with lime and fly ash by conducting triaxial shear (UU) test for 0, 3, 7, 14, 28 days with some twenty different proportions

Bearing Capacity of A Strip Footing Resting On Treated And Untreated Soils

Expansive soils are highly susceptible to volumetric changes leading to rapid loss in the bearing capacity of footings resting on them. Among several techniques available to treat expansive soils, lime or fly ash stabilization gained prominence during the past few decades due to its abundance and adaptability. Chemical stabilization is widely used to treat expansive soils as it develops base exchange and cementation processes between clay particles.When expansive soils are treated with chemicals, it is essential to obtain the load-settlement response of footing resting on stabilized ground. In this study, Finite Element Analysis is performed using the commercial software, PLAXIS 2D, to obtain the load-settlement response of a strip footing resting on untreated and treated expansive soil. The bearing capacity of strip footing resting on treated soil is found to be about 150% higher than that of footing resting on untreated soil

IN VITRO INHIBITORY ACTIVITY OF MEDICINAL PLANTS AGAINST PHOMOPSIS AZADIRACHTAE, THE INCITANT DIE BACK DISEASE OF NEEM

Objectives: Plant diseases extend a threat to the global production of herbal medicines. Safer plant protection strategies are in need to meet the demands from the pharmaceutical industry. Neem is a tree with great medicinal values, which is being infected by Phomopsis azadirachtae (PA), causing die back disease. The resulting massive destruction of the tree demands optimum disease management methods and thus, the objective of the present study was to evaluate the inhibitory potential of some plant extracts against the growth of PA.Methods: In this study, we investigate the in vitro antifungal activity of ether: chloroform (1:1), ethyl acetate, acetone and ethanol extracts from different parts (leaves and roots) of five plant species viz., Ocimum tenuiflorium, Centella asiatica, Solanum nigrum, Apium graveolens and Besella alba against the growth of PA.Results: All the 40 crude extracts (at concentration of 1000 μg/ml), were active against PA. Among them, the ethanol and ethyl acetate extracts proved optimum with antifungal activity ranging from 65-95% and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values from 75-200 μg/ml. The antifungal activity of the extracts was in the order: ethanol>ethyl acetate>acetone>ether: chloroform (1:1). Also, noteworthy results were observed in all the extracts tested against the spore germination of PA, with concentration and time-dependent kinetics.Conclusion: The results prove promising in order to develop new antifungal agents against the growth and spread of PA.Â

Influence of mastication and its relationship with Body Mass Index before and after prosthetic rehabilitation in partially edentulous patients

BACKGROUND: The main purpose of prosthetic rehabilitation is to enhance the masticatory function by replacing the missing teeth with an artificial substitute, which improves nutrient-rich food intake. There are recent studies which indicate the influence of chewing behavior and energy intake, but little is known about the relationship between chewing on nutritional status. OBJECTIVE: This study intended to assess the changes in masticatory efficiency before and after prosthetic rehabilitation and its influence on nutritional status and body weight. METHODS: A total of 40 partially edentulous subjects aged between 45- 65 years were recruited. Body Mass Index was determined by measuring body weight using a medical grade weighing scale. Height was measured using wall mounted stature meter and Waist circumference was measured with an anthropometric measure tape. Masticatory efficiency was determined using the sieve method with peanuts as test food at baseline, at 3 and 6 months of prosthetic rehabilitation with a removable partial denture. RESULTS: Sieve test performed for evaluating masticatory efficiency showed an increase in the percentage of smaller particles by 28.3% in non-obese and 32.15% in the obese group. The obese/overweight group showed a decrease in BMI values and non-obese subjects showed no significant change in BMI. CONCLUSION: The study concluded that improving masticatory efficiency by prosthodontic rehabilitation can aid in normalizing the nutritional status in certain partially edentulous non-obese and obese individuals

Effects of low intensity pulsed ultrasound to reduce the effusion volumes and pain with knee osteoarthritis: a randomized controlled trial

Background: The study aim was to determine the effect of low intensity pulsed ultrasound therapy to reduce the effusion volumes and pain in patients with Knee OA.Methods: This study design was randomized controlled trial. Total 50 patients diagnosed with Knee osteoarthritis were randomly assigned to two groups. Group I was using treatment of low intensity pulsed ultrasound therapy and group II was administered TENS with home exercise respectively. Treatments were 6 days per week and duration of 2 week. The amount of effusion volume will be measured via ultrasonograpy in knee.Results: The maximum number of cases are lying in age group >60 years which is 28% and 40% in cases and control group respectively and age distribution in both the group is statistically not significant. The mean age of patients in cases and control group is 57.08±7.40 years and 58.04±9.93 years respectively.Conclusions: Low intensity pulsed ultrasound therapy significantly reduced the effusion volumes and pain in patients with knee osteoarthritis

Resource Management in Fog Networking of Cloud Computing using KNN Algorithm

It is necessary to deploy any application in Cloud environment to reduce the investment cost, maintenance cost and licence of hardware/software. Keeping these benefits, it is advised to go for cloud computing environment for any application deployment. The major challenge in this environment is fault tolerance of resources to support for continuous availability of resources to client for working. Especially in IoT applications, we use Fog networking connecting to cloud computing. In this scenario, it is advised to use KNN (K- Nearest Neighbour) resource identification and allocation algorithm to increase the throughput to user requirement. We are presenting an approach to allocate the required resources with optimal distance resource allocation, so as to improve the throughput of user requirement