Sanitation-related psychosocial stress: A grounded theory study of women across the life-course in Odisha, India.

While sanitation interventions have focused primarily on child health, women's unique health risks from inadequate sanitation are gaining recognition as a priority issue. This study examines the range of sanitation-related psychosocial stressors during routine sanitation practices in Odisha, India. Between August 2013 and March 2014, we conducted in-depth interviews with 56 women in four life stages: adolescent, newly married, pregnant and established adult women in three settings: urban slums, rural villages and indigenous villages. Using a grounded theory approach, the study team transcribed, translated, coded and discussed interviews using detailed analytic memos to identify and characterize stressors at each life stage and study site. We found that sanitation practices encompassed more than defecation and urination and included carrying water, washing, bathing, menstrual management, and changing clothes. During the course of these activities, women encountered three broad types of stressors-environmental, social, and sexual-the intensity of which were modified by the woman's life stage, living environment, and access to sanitation facilities. Environmental barriers, social factors and fears of sexual violence all contributed to sanitation-related psychosocial stress. Though women responded with small changes to sanitation practices, they were unable to significantly modify their circumstances, notably by achieving adequate privacy for sanitation-related behaviors. A better understanding of the range of causes of stress and adaptive behaviors is needed to inform context-specific, gender-sensitive sanitation interventions

Triazine skeletal covalent organic frameworks: A versatile highly positive surface potential triboelectric layer for energy harvesting and self-powered applications

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) with triazine skeleton have been developed via reticular chemistry. In this present work, a triazine-based nitrogen-rich organic moiety has been used for the COF synthesis and then tested for the output performance of a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) using the same. The synthesized COF has been characterized by several physical characterization techniques. For the first time, the surface potential of the prepared COF material was tested experimentally using Kelvin probe force microscopy, which indicates a very high positive triboelectric potential of 2.03 V. The single unit of COF-based TENG delivered 70 V, 0.6 μA, and 38 nC as an electrical output. In the case of multiunit TENG, the current and voltage values are boosted as the parallel connection of four units of TENG gave the peak-to-peak current output rises by 6.3 μA. In comparison, the series connection of four units of TENG gave a high peak-to-peak voltage of 175 V. This work describes the synthesis of N-rich COF material, fabrication of the TENG, and the excellent energy harvesting performance with the realization of low-cost self-powered hand strengthening device. This result paves the way to achieve fruitful exercise monitoring units towards improving lifestyle. © 2022 Elsevier LtdFALS

Sanitation, Stress, and Life Stage: A Systematic Data Collection Study among Women in Odisha, India

Emerging evidence demonstrates how inadequate access to water and sanitation is linked to psychosocial stress, especially among women, forcing them to navigate social and physical barriers during their daily sanitation routines. We examine sanitation-related psychosocial stress (SRPS) across women’s reproductive lives in three distinct geographic sites (urban slums, rural villages, and rural tribal villages) in Odisha, India. We explored daily sanitation practices of adolescent, newly married, pregnant, and established adult women (n = 60) and identified stressors encountered during sanitation. Responding to structured data collection methods, women ranked seven sanitation activities (defecation, urination, menstruation, bathing, post-defecation cleaning, carrying water, and changing clothes) based on stress (high to low) and level of freedom (associated with greatest freedom to having the most restrictions). Women then identified common stressors they encountered when practicing sanitation and sorted stressors in constrained piles based on frequency and severity of each issue. The constellation of factors influencing SRPS varies by life stage and location. Overall, sanitation behaviors that were most restricted (i.e., menstruation) were the most stressful. Women in different sites encountered different stressors, and the level of perceived severity varied based on site and life stage. Understanding the influence of place and life stage on SRPS provides a nuanced understanding of sanitation, and may help identify areas for intervention

Not Available

Not AvailableA field experiment was conducted in 2015 to study the land surface energy fluxes from tropical lowland rice paddy in eastern India with an objective to determine the mass, momentum, and energy exchange rates between rice paddies and the atmosphere. All the land surface energy fluxesweremeasured by eddy covariance (EC) system(make Campbell Scientific) in dry season (DS, 1–125 Julian days), dry fallow (DF, 126–181 Julian days), wet season (WS, 182–324 Julian days), and wet fallow (WF, 325–365 Julian days). The rice was cultivated in dry season (January–May) and wet season (July–November) in low wet lands and the ground is kept fallow during the remainder of the year. Results showed that albedo varied from 0.09 to 0.24 and showed positive value from morning 6:00 h until evening 18:00 h. Mean soil temperature (Tg) was highest in DF, while the skin temperature (Ts) was highest in WS. Average Bowen ratio (B) ranged from 0.21 to 0.64 and large variation in B was observed during the fallow periods as compared to the cropping seasons. The magnitude of aerodynamic, canopy, and climatological resistances increased with the progress of cropping season and their magnitudes decreased during the end of both cropping seasons and found minimum during the fallow periods. At a constant vapor pressure deficit (VPD) at 0.16, 0.18, 0.15, and 0.43 kPa, latent heat flux (LE) initially increased, but later it tended to level off with an increase in VPD. The actual evapotranspiration (ETa) during both the cropping seasons was higher than the fallow period. This study can be used as a source of default values for many land surface energy fluxes which are required in various meteorological or air-quality models for rice paddies. A larger imbalance of energy was observed during the wet season as the energy is stored and perhaps advected in the fresh water.Not Availabl

A new insight into the ZIF-67 based triboelectric nanogenerator for self-powered robot object recognition

Harvesting mechanical energy from the surroundings can be a promising power source for micro/nano-devices. The triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) works on the principle of triboelectrification and electrostatic induction. So far, metals and polymers have mostly dominated the conventional triboelectric series, but there is a need to find novel materials to extend the triboelectric series and further improve the performance of a TENG. Herein, a zeolitic imidazole framework (ZIF-67) was synthesized using a room temperature solvent-assisted route. Extensive material analysis was performed to understand its structural and chemical properties. Further, a simple vertical contact mode S-shaped TENG device (abbreviated further as S-TENG) was fabricated using an additive manufacturing approach. ZIF-67 acted as a positive triboelectric layer while Teflon/PDMS acted as a negative triboelectric layer. The multi-unit S-TENG device was further utilized for self-powered recognition of the various gaits using a digital signal processing approach. The S-TENG device based on ZIF-67 and Teflon produced a voltage of 118 V, a current of 1.7 μA, and a power density of 15 μW cm2at a load resistance of 50 MΩ. The gait analysis of different volunteers was recorded by employing the S-TENG device and the digital signal processing route to effectively distinguish the gait patterns for the prevention of falls and injury. The S-TENG device was utilized to charge a commercial capacitor for powering a wristwatch and further it was attached to a robotic gripper for object identification. © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2021.1

Spent Catalyst-Derived Mo-MOF: Triboelectric Nanogenerators and Energy Harvesting

The spent catalysts discarded during chemical manufacturing can be a source of pollution and are classified as hazardous waste. Looking at the bright sides of the mission of waste management, such as recycling and reducing, reuse such types of the spent catalyst can be chemically treated to extract valuable salts and metals. Such a process not only reduces waste disposal issues but also promotes a circular economy ecosystem. This present study aims to extract MoO3 from the spent petroleum catalyst, Mo–Ni/Al2O3, and further processing of Mo-metal organic framework (MOF) particles using extracted MoO3 and imidazole acting as an organic binder. The structural, morphology, and thermal properties of Mo-MOF are evaluated. The surface roughness and positive surface potential of the Mo-MOF are achieved. The Mo-MOF/Kapton-based triboelectric nanogenerators (TENG) generate a 148 V voltage, 470 nA current, and 17 nC charge. Further, TENG is utilized to charge the capacitors, and powering of the electronic devices is demonstrated. The repetition of the boxing punches and exercises can be monitored using TENGs and paves the way toward intelligent sports or healthcare. © 2023 Wiley-VCH GmbH.FALS

Participant Characteristics.

<p>Participant Characteristics.</p

Probability that each stressor be ranked occurring most frequently or being ranked as high severity.

<p>Bolded values indicate stressors that have 50% or greater consequence in the category.</p

Visualizing Frequency and Severity of Common Stressors Based on Life Stage and Geographic Site.

<p>Each circle represents a sanitation stressor. The diameter of the circle is proportional to the percentage of women who reported that the stressor was applicable to them. The location of the midpoint of the circle on the horizontal and vertical axes reflects the proportion of those women who indicated that the item was a high severity stressor and high frequency stressor, respectively. Only stressors that were highly applicable, severe, or frequent are included in each graph.</p

Applicability, stress, and freedom associated with sanitation activities.

<p>The diameter of each circle is proportional to the percentage of women who indicated the activity was applicable to them; the location of the center of the circle relative to the horizontal and vertical axes indicates the probability that the activity was rated most stressful and most free, respectively.</p