How teaching experience influence professional stress and allied psychopedagogical status of the female engineering-educators? (a study on techno-pedagogic fabric in India, with special reference to distance education)

Present study attempts to explore the level and interrelationship of these psychopedagogical attributes as apparent among the female teachers of engineering colleges and universities, teaching through ODCL, from selected states of eastern-India. Attempt was also made to explore the impact of span of experience in teaching of the female teachers over these psychoeducational-attributes. Sample for the study includes 132 female engineering college teachers, drawn following stratified-random-sampling-technique. The study explores the level of female engineering college teachers with reference to the specified attributes, their interrelationship and impact of age over those attributes

Synthesis and Characterization of Poly(methyl methacrylate-co-vinyl triethoxysilane) Prepared by Free Radical Polymerization

The copolymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) with vinyl triethoxysilane (VTES) was carried out in ethyl cellosolve at 70 ℃ using azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as a free radical initiator. The prepared copolymer was purified and then analysed by FT-IR, NMR, TGA and SEM analyses. FT-IR along with NMR confirm the successful preparation of the copolymer. The prepared copolymer shows better thermal stability than poly(methyl methacrylate). A morphological study was also carried out by SEM analysis. SEM micrographs show that the copolymer surface gets roughened and becomes porous on copolymerization

New Exactly Solvable Isospectral Partners for PT Symmetric Potentials

We examine in detail the possibilty of applying Darboux transformation to non Hermitian hamiltonians. In particular we propose a simple method of constructing exactly solvable PT symmetric potentials by applying Darboux transformation to higher states of an exactly solvable PT symmetric potential. It is shown that the resulting hamiltonian and the original one are pseudo supersymmetric partners. We also discuss application of Darboux transformation to hamiltonians with spontaneously broken PT symmetry.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, To be published in Journal of Physics A (2004

SWKB Quantization Rules for Bound States in Quantum Wells

In a recent paper by Gomes and Adhikari (J.Phys B30 5987(1997)) a matrix formulation of the Bohr-Sommerfield quantization rule has been applied to the study of bound states in one dimension quantum wells. Here we study these potentials in the frame work of supersymmetric WKB (SWKB) quantization approximation and find that SWKB quantization rule is superior to the modified Bohr-Sommerfield or WKB rules as it exactly reproduces the eigenenergies.Comment: 8 page

Estimation of salivary glycoconjugates and salivary ros levels in chronic periodontitis: a clinico-biochemical study

Background: Periodontitis is a chronic inflammatory disease of periodontal tissue, characterized by persistent inflammation of the connective tissue and alveolar bone destruction. Patients with periodontal disease show the differences in the composition of saliva. Newer diagnostic tools based on analysis of body fluids such as saliva, GCF and serum are found to be useful for diagnosis as well as monitoring the disease activity. Thus, aim of the study was to estimate the concentration of salivary glycoconjugates (sialic acid, total protein) and salivary ROS in unstimulated whole saliva of subjects with chronic periodontitis and to compare the concentration with healthy/gingivitis subjects.Methods: The study sample consisted of 60 subjects (33 males and 27 females) with age ranging from 30-60 years. A detailed case history was taken from all the subjects and periodontal disease parameters (bleeding on probing, probing pocket depth and clinical attachment levels) were recorded at baseline and subjects were divided into 2 groups. Group I- control group (healthy/gingivitis subjects) and Group II -test group (chronic periodontitis). Saliva samples were collected from the subjects and stored at -700 ºC.  Periodate Resorcinol Assay was done to estimate the levels of sialic acid, Biuret test was done to assess the levels of total protein and  d-ROMs test was done to assess the level of ROS. Statistical analysis was done using students unpaired ‘t’ test and Pearsons correlation test. Results: It was found that the levels of salivary glycoconjugates and ROS are increased in subjects with chronic periodontitis when compared to healthy/gingivitis subjects. Thus it can reflect the clinical status of gingival and periodontal tissues.Conclusions: Estimation of the levels of glycoconjugates and ROS may be used as one of the reliable biomarkers to assess the severity of periodontal disease and to monitor the disease progression

Interventions to improve latent and active tuberculosis treatment completion rates in underserved groups in low incidence countries:a scoping review

BACKGROUND: People in underserved groups have higher rates of tuberculosis (TB) and poorer treatment outcomes compared with people with no social risk factors.OBJECTIVES: This scoping review aimed to identify interventions that improve TB treatment adherence or completion rates.ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: Studies of any design focusing on interventions to improve adherence or completion of TB treatment in underserved populations in low incidence countries.SOURCES OF EVIDENCE: MEDLINE, Embase and Cochrane CENTRAL were searched (January 2015 to December 2023).CHARTING METHODS: Piloted data extraction forms were used. Findings were tabulated and reported narratively. Formal risk of bias assessment or synthesis was not undertaken.RESULTS: 47 studies were identified. There was substantial heterogeneity in study design, population, intervention components, usual care and definition of completion rates. Most studies were in migrants or refugees, with fewer in populations with other risk factors (eg, homelessness, imprisonment or substance abuse). Based on controlled studies, there was limited evidence to suggest that shorter treatment regimens, video-observed therapy (compared with directly observed therapy), directly observed therapy (compared with self-administered treatment) and approaches that include tailored health or social support beyond TB treatment may lead to improved outcomes. This evidence is mostly observational and subject to confounding. There were no studies in Gypsy, Roma and Traveller populations, or individuals with mental health disorders and only one in sex workers. Barriers to treatment adherence included a lack of knowledge around TB, lack of general health or social support and side effects. Facilitators included health education, trusted relationships between patients and healthcare staff, social support and reduced treatment duration.CONCLUSIONS: The evidence base is limited, and few controlled studies exist. Further high-quality research in well-defined underserved populations is needed to confirm the limited findings and inform policy and practice in TB management. Further qualitative research should include more people from underserved groups.</p

Synthesis and compositional analysis of co- and ter-polymers of butyl acrylate with vinyl acetate and acrylic acid prepared via emulsion polymerization

This investigation reports the synthesis and characterization of copolymers and ter-polymers of butyl acrylate (BA) prepared via emulsion polymerization. Vinyl acetate (VAc) has been used for the synthesis of copolymer and VAc along with acrylic acid (AA) for the synthesis of ter-polymerswith BA. The polymerizations have been carried out at 70°C for 30 minutes at 470 rpm using two different thermal initiators, ammonium persulfate (APS) and potassium persulfate (KPS) and an emulsifier sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). Attempts have also been made to prepare co- and ter-polymers of BAwith varying amounts of monomers. The prepared copolymerswere characterized by GPC, FT-IR, NMR and UV-Vis analyses. The percentage of conversion of monomers to polymer has been calculated gravimetrically. UV-Visible analysis has been used to confirm the preparation of transparent lattices. Furthermore, the incorporation of monomers in the co- and ter-polymers are confirmed by FT-IR and 1H NMR analyses. The molar compositions of the prepared polymers are determined by 1H NMR analysis comparing the areas under the characteristics 1H NMR peaks of the repeating units

Synthesis and compositional analysis of co- and ter-polymers of butyl acrylate with vinyl acetate and acrylic acid prepared via emulsion polymerization

509-514This investigation reports the synthesis and characterization of copolymers and ter-polymers of butyl acrylate (BA) prepared via emulsion polymerization. Vinyl acetate (VAc) has been used for the synthesis of copolymer and VAc along with acrylic acid (AA) for the synthesis of ter-polymerswith BA. The polymerizations have been carried out at 70&deg;C for 30 minutes at 470 rpm using two different thermal initiators, ammonium persulfate (APS) and potassium persulfate (KPS) and an emulsifier sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). Attempts have also been made to prepare co- and ter-polymers of BAwith varying amounts of monomers. The prepared copolymerswere characterized by GPC, FT-IR, NMR and UV-Vis analyses. The percentage of conversion of monomers to polymer has been calculated gravimetrically. UV-Visible analysis has been used to confirm the preparation of transparent lattices. Furthermore, the incorporation of monomers in the co- and ter-polymers are confirmed by FT-IR and 1H NMR analyses. The molar compositions of the prepared polymers are determined by 1H NMR analysis comparing the areas under the characteristics 1H NMR peaks of the repeating units