Occupational therapy department's engagement in the organizational management of coronavirus disease-2019 pandemic in an acute care setup: Perspective from a clinical and administrative experience and a narrative review

Background: Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic came as a big challenge to the medical fraternity. The novelty of its manifestation made it clear that occupational therapy (OT) professionals would require to adapt to the ever-changing scenario of the pandemic and engage in newer roles to combat the pandemic. Objective: The objective of the study was to provide descriptive narration of the process of engagement of the OT department in handling the COVID-19 pandemic at an acute care setup. Study Design: A perspective from a clinical experience and a narrative review. Methods: Narrative account of the initiatives, challenges, preparations, and outcomes of the measures taken by the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital’s (KEMH) OT Department’s professionals as part of a multidisciplinary team member in combating the COVID-19 pandemic is reported. The occupational therapist at KEMH used core OT principles and teachings in treatment sessions and managerial functions to aid patients and the organization during the pandemic. Results: The measures taken by the OT department professionals at KEMH helped facilitate the management of the COVID-19 pandemic at the hospital. Being well-versed with the organization’s style of functioning and philosophy enabled the OT department to work as part of a multidisciplinary team. The active participation of occupational therapists underlined their role in acute respiratory conditions. It helped OT be a part of the critical management of COVID-19 patients admitted in the hospital and at the Jumbo care centers developed by the hospital team of experts. Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic allowed OT professionals to create new processes and enhance service delivery through innovative actions in an acute care setup

Studying the behavior of Sodium Lignosulfonate treated expansive soil

The volume change behaviour of expansive soil causes failures in structuressuch as embankments, retaining walls, foundations, road subgrades. The chemical stabilization methods are commonly used to mitigate the swelling behaviour of expansive soils. The traditional chemical stabilizers such as lime and cement are used widely which are imposing negative impacts on environment either through the direct use or indirectly during production. Many of the researchers suggested the need of non-traditional, environment friendly stabilizers to be used in soil stabilization works.The wood and pulp (biomass) processing industry waste product; lignosulfonate can be effectively used to improve problematic behaviourof expansive soil. In present study theexpansive soil is treated with different percentages of sodium lignosulfonate powderfrom 1% to 12%; and it is concluded that the plasticity, compaction, strength, microstructural characteristics of expansive soil are improved. The MDD and OMC values are slightly changed for treated soils which are attributed to the poly-anionic nature of lignosulfonate. The reduced liquid limit and plasticity index is due to the adsorption of lignosulfonate particles which produced waterproofing effect due to the hydrophobic carbon chain. The maximum increase in unconfined compressive strength is observed for LS9which is 1.4 times the control mix at 28 days curing; the swelling index is alsoreduced from 1930% to 144%. The direct shear test in UU conditions found the shear parameters with increased cohesion suggested the increased stiffness of soil which is supported by results of UCS test.the CBR test conducted showed the maximum bearing value for LS9 in soaked condition.It is found from SEM, FTIR and XRD analysis that the bonds are created between the clay particles surfaces and the Na-Lignosulfonate through ion exchange process

A Modified Fast Analog Technique for Determining Luminescence Decay Times of Scintillators

ABSTRACTWe have modified our previous fast analog technique to determine the luminescence decay times of scintillators following an excitation with a Sr90β3-source. In the original technique [1], the sample was excited with a nitrogen-pumped dye laser, and the fluorescence pulses (consisting of typically 50 to 1000 photons) were detected by a multi-channel plate photomultiplier tube (MCP-PMT). The output from the MCP-PMT was directed to a fast waveform digitizer triggered externally by the exciting laser. In the modified technique, the digitizer acquires the fluorescence decay in the internal trigger mode, as no corresponding external trigger pulse is available from the Sr90source. For efficient light collection from scintillators, an ellipsoidal mirror assembly has been tested. The fluorescence decays are acquired as multi-photon pulses and are subsequently corrected for the temporal instrument response by using a deconvolution technique. The overall time resolution of the technique is about 100 ps. The fluorescence decay time obtained using this technique for a commercial scintillator (SCSN-81) agrees well with literature. We also discuss our results on new epoxy-polymer based scintillators prepared in our laboratory. The primary motivation for this work was development of new scintillators with shorter fluorescence decay times for high collision rate experiments.</jats:p