Uttarakhand: A State Rich in Plant Fibers

A diverse range of natural fibers is produced in many countries providing an important source of income for farmers and local communities. With the UN declaring 2009 as the Year of Natural Fibres, for the state of Uttarakhand the development comes as a fillip to its efforts toward promoting the use of natural fibers. Some of the commercially important natural fibers found in Uttarakhand are obtained from Sisal, Agave, Bhimal, Hemp, Jute, and Nettle. This review article describes some of the fiber-yielding plants of North West Himalayas with special reference to Uttarakhand. Many of the natural fibers described have been traditionally used by the rural communities; some of the traditional processing techniques employed have been described along with other natural fiber plant species that have the potential to provide alternative employment opportunities. This review article aims to compile the record of fiber-yielding plants of Uttarakhand, which will lead to increase the contribution of fiber-yielding plants in the rural economy and ecosystem of the state for achieving sustainable socioeconomic development

Social empowerment through green fashion

https://kent-islandora.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/node/12113/77225-thumbnail.jpgClothes reflect the personality of individuals and can be used as an identity of a group, community, family, region and even country. Khadi is one such cloth that had played a key role in the freedom struggle of India and thus, has been referred to as the \u27Fabric of Indian Independence\u27. Khadi fabric has historical significance for bringing about extensive rural empowerment. Khadi has become the invaluable asset of heritage providing respectable means of livelihood to huge human resource especially rural women. In this paper an attempt is made to focus on various environment friendly methods and processes involved in the manufacturing, production and other developments taking place in khadi fabric. Purposive sampling technique was used for collecting the data. Semi-structured interview and observation techniques were used for data collection. Detailed information about raw material manufacturing processes, utilization of energy and water during manufacturing of cotton khadi from yarn to fabric was sought. Information was obtained with respect to waste management, by-products of the manufacturing process, nature of air pollutants and toxic substances if any produced during manufacturing process. Results of the study confirms that khadi is handspun and handwoven in the natural environment using natural fibers and it is considered 100% natural. It does not rely on electric units and the manufacturing processes do not generate toxic waste products. Production of khadi consumes less water and energy as compared to water and energy consumed in a conventional textile mill. In the rural India khadi production meets the twin objectives of green production and employment creation. Total employment in khadi sector during 2018-19 has registered at 5 lakh persons.</p

Kinetics and thermodynamics of dye extracted from <i>Arnebia nobilis</i> Rech.f. on wool

178-182Kinetic and thermodynamic studies have been conducted with the crude dye extract of A. nobilis on wool fabric. On comparing the dyeing results of this dye with those of other natural dyes (juglone, lawsone and Rheum emodi), it is found that the diffusion coefficient of this dye is slightly lower. The dyeing mechanism corresponds to the partition mechanism, confirming that this naphthoquinonoid based colourant is adsorbed by wool fabric as a disperse dye. The dyeing process is exothermic. The rate of dye uptake, diffusion coefficient, standard affinity, heat of dyeing and entropy have also been calculated and discussed. Heat of dyeing and entropy are found to be negative

Antimicrobial activity of naphthoquinones extracted from Arnebia nobilis

ABSTRACT Arnebia nobilis Rech. f., a natural source of red dye has traditionally been used as a food colourant, in cosmetic formulations and pharmaceutical preparations. In this study, the extracted dye and separated components of A. nobilis have been studied for their antibacterial activity. The extracted dye and its major component, alkannin β, β-dimethylacrylate has also been evaluated as an antibacterial finish on various textile substrates viz. nylon, polyester, silk, wool, cotton and acrylic. The dye and its components showed excellent antimicrobial activity against both S. aureus and E. coli. Amongst the fabrics dyed with 5% dye, wool, silk and acrylic showed 100% activity against both the microbes. Polyester showed 100% activity against S. aureus and ~ 80% activity against E. coli. Nylon and cotton showed no antimicrobial activity. Durability of antimicrobial activity to laundering and to light is also discussed

Dyeing parameters of hydroxynaphthoquinones extracted from <i style="">Arnebia</i> <i style="">nobilis</i> Rech.f

91-97Ratanjot (Arnebia nobilis Rech.f) has been used to extract dye for its application on various textile substrates such as cotton, wool, silk, nylon, polyester and acrylic. The sensitivity of the dye extract to pH and temperature is studied. The dye exhibits acute sensitivity to pH in terms of its solubility and colour. It is found to be thermally stable upto 80°C. The dyed polyester shows pink colour, nylon shows blue and all other substrates acquire a purple hue under similar dyeing conditions. This may be due to the reduction of dye from quinonoid form to benzenoid form in all the substrates except in polyester. The dye shows excellent wash, rub and perspiration fastness, however light fastness is found to be poor

Development of a quantitative assessment method for self cleaning by photocatalytic degradation of stains on cotton

74-82This paper reports a standardised method termed as Stain Degradation Assessment (SDA) method, developed for the quantitative evaluation of self-cleaning efficiency of the finished fabric. The method involves (i) a standardized staining procedure to apply a uniform stain on the fabric, (ii) instrumental evaluation of photodegradation of stain in terms of K/S using a template to reduce error, and (iii) analysis of K/S values to evaluate stain degradation in percentage and its comparison with visual assessment. This method has been found to give a reproducible and comparable assessment of stain degradation on the textile material with respect to UV exposure

Identification of CT Features to Differentiate Pulmonary Sarcoma from Carcinoma

Background Primary lung sarcoma (PLS) differs in management protocols and prognosis from the more common primary lung carcinoma (PLC). It becomes imperative to raise a high index of suspicion on radiological and pathological features