Mechanical and Tribological Behaviour of Treated and Untreated Moringa Oleifera Pods Fiber Reinforced Epoxy Polymer Composite for Packaging Applications

Researchers now focus on the use of natural fiber polymer composites materials for packing applications. This attention is due to their low cost and renewable characteristics. Fabrication of composites with the use of renewable resources has many benefits of alternating from an appropriate management and reduction in industrial wastages, ecofriendly behaviour to cost effectiveness. The artificial fibers in packing industries can be replaced by natural fibers in the areas where stiffness and high strength are not the primary requirement. In the last decade the use of Natural fibers in the place of artificial fibers for reinforcements in epoxy resin matrix ratio has been gaining momentum. In this work, the different quantity of treated and untreated Moringa pods Oleifera fiber were reinforced LV5012 CNSL hardener with LY556 Epoxy by using hand lay-up technique. Mechanical behaviour (tensile, flexural and impact), Tribological and water absorption behaviour are evaluated. The microstructural analysis of fabricated composite was done by using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) to analysis the fiber strength, internal fiber failure, cracks and interfacial properties of the fractured surfaces. Based on the results, treated MOPF polymer composites have found better mechanical, wear and water absorption properties to be used for packaging applications compared with untreated MOPF polymer composites

MEMECYLON SPECIES: A REVIEW OF TRADITIONAL INFORMATION AND TAXONOMIC DESCRIPTION

The present review is to avail the comprehensive information on taxonomy, phytochemistry and pharmacology of Indian Memecylon species. Memecylon is one of the complex genus of flowering plants and it is an important source of traditional medicine. Owing to complexity in morphological characters, identification of Memecylon species has become very difficult. Nomenclature status of most of the Indian Memecylon species is not clear. Phylogenetic studies report on this genus are also very few. Memecylon species reported having potential pharmacological activities. This background made us present a review on Indian Memecylon species. Information on this plant genus was searched using various electronic databases in reference to the terms Indian Memecylon species taxonomy, phylogeny, pharmacological activities and phytoconstituents along with Indian classical texts, journals, etc. There is a confusion regarding the taxonomic status of Memecylon malabaricum, M. amplexicaule, M. depressum, M. wightii. M. umbellatum and M. edule. Several chemical constituents like memecylaene, umbelactone, amyrin, sitosterol, tartaric acid, malicacid, oleanolicacid, ursolicacid and tannins, triterpenes, and flavonoids have been identified in this genus. The plant extracts of this genus have been demonstrated to have potential pharmacological activities. Some of the phytoconstituents are attributed to the pharmacological potential of this genus. Further, there is a need to validate its taxonomic status and pharmacological properties by using modern biological techniques. If future studies throw a light on these aspects, definitely it will help in developing a potential biopharmaceutical product. Keywords: Biological activities, Taxonomy, Memecylon species, Phylogen

Influence of moisture management finish on comfort characteristics of knitted fabrics made from different yarns

The influence of moisture management finish on comfort characteristics of knitted fabrics made from five different yarns has been studied in order to find out their level of performance. In order to study this effect, five types of yarns, namely microdenier polyester, spun polyester, polyester / cotton, filament polyester and 100% cotton, have been converted to knitted fabrics. It is observed that microdenier polyester fabrics having high wicking action and quicker moisture evaporation show superior performance with respect to comfort characteristic

Influence of moisture management finish on comfort characteristics of knitted fabrics made from different yarns

102-108The influence of moisture management finish on comfort characteristics of knitted fabrics made from five different yarns has been studied in order to find out their level of performance. In order to study this effect, five types of yarns, namely microdenier polyester, spun polyester, polyester / cotton, filament polyester and 100% cotton, have been converted to knitted fabrics. It is observed that microdenier polyester fabrics having high wicking action and quicker moisture evaporation show superior performance with respect to comfort characteristics

Impact of Temozolomide on Immune Response during Malignant Glioma Chemotherapy

Malignant glioma, or glioblastoma, is the most common and lethal form of brain tumor with a median survival time of 15 months. The established therapeutic regimen includes a tripartite therapy of surgical resection followed by radiation and temozolomide (TMZ) chemotherapy, concurrently with radiation and then as an adjuvant. TMZ, a DNA alkylating agent, is the most successful antiglioma drug and has added several months to the life expectancy of malignant glioma patients. However, TMZ is also responsible for inducing lymphopenia and myelosuppression in malignant glioma patients undergoing chemotherapy. Although TMZ-induced lymphopenia has been attributed to facilitate antitumor vaccination studies by inducing passive immune response, in general lymphopenic conditions have been associated with poor immune surveillance leading to opportunistic infections in glioma patients, as well as disrupting active antiglioma immune response by depleting both T and NK cells. Deletion of O6-methylguanine-DNA-methyltransferase (MGMT) activity, a DNA repair enzyme, by temozolomide has been determined to be the cause of lymphopenia. Drug-resistant mutation of the MGMT protein has been shown to render chemoprotection against TMZ. The immune modulating role of TMZ during glioma chemotherapy and possible mechanisms to establish a strong TMZ-resistant immune response have been discussed

Wolbachia Association and its Phylogenetic Affiliation of Brugia Malayi Parasites from India

Wolbachia have established a mutualistic association with filarial nematodes and has a phenomenal implication in its normal development, reproduction and survival. Elimination of Wolbachia by tetracycline class of antibiotic compounds have been suggested and successfully implemented for the treatment of lymphatic filarial parasites. Thereby, is necessary to assess the prevalence of the Wolbachia in B. malayi before such new strategies are employed, across the world. In the present communication, the presence of Wolbachia and phylogenetic affiliation in B. malayi collected from Sevagram, Maharashtra, India, has been addressed

Enabling Customization of Discussion Forums for Blind Users

Online discussion forums have become an integral component of news, entertainment, information, and video-streaming websites, where people all over the world actively engage in discussions on a wide range of topics including politics, sports, music, business, health, and world affairs. Yet, little is known about their usability for blind users, who aurally interact with the forum conversations using screen reader assistive technology. In an interview study, blind users stated that they often had an arduous and frustrating interaction experience while consuming conversation threads, mainly due to the highly redundant content and the absence of customization options to selectively view portions of the conversations. As an initial step towards addressing these usability concerns, we designed PView - a browser extension that enables blind users to customize the content of forum threads in real time as they interact with these threads. Specifically, PView allows the blind users to explicitly hide any post that is irrelevant to them, and then PView automatically detects and filters out all subsequent posts that are substantially similar to the hidden post in real time, before the users navigate to those portions of the thread. In a user study with blind participants, we observed that compared to the status quo, PView significantly improved the usability, workload, and satisfaction of the participants while interacting with the forums

AutoDesc: Facilitating Convenient Perusal of Web Data Items for Blind Users

Web data items such as shopping products, classifieds, and job listings are indispensable components of most e-commerce websites. The information on the data items are typically distributed over two or more webpages, e.g., a ‘Query-Results’ page showing the summaries of the items, and ‘Details’ pages containing full information about the items. While this organization of data mitigates information overload and visual cluttering for sighted users, it however increases the interaction overhead and effort for blind users, as back-and-forth navigation between webpages using screen reader assistive technology is tedious and cumbersome. Existing usability-enhancing solutions are unable to provide adequate support in this regard as they predominantly focus on enabling efficient content access within a single webpage, and as such are not tailored for content distributed across multiple webpages. As an initial step towards addressing this issue, we developed AutoDesc, a browser extension that leverages a custom extraction model to automatically detect and pull out additional item descriptions from the ‘details’ pages, and then proactively inject the extracted information into the ‘Query-Results’ page, thereby reducing the amount of back-and-forth screen reader navigation between the two webpages. In a study with 16 blind users, we observed that within the same time duration, the participants were able to peruse significantly more data items on average with AutoDesc, compared to that with their preferred screen readers as well as with a state-of-the-art solution

Moisture management finish on woven fabrics

Moisture management behaviour of four different woven fabrics, such as cotton, polyester/cotton blend, microdenierpolyester and nylon, has been studied. A wetting agent of ethoxylated alcohol blend and moisture management finishingagents, such as amino silicone polyether copolymer and hydrophilic polymer, have been prepared and used. Moisturemanagement finishes with wetting agent and without wetting agent are imparted onto woven fabrics. The effect of moisturemanagement finishing process parameters on the comfort properties of woven fabrics has been studied. The optimization ofcomfort level by varying the moisture management finishing process parameters in order to achieve suitability for makingsports wear is done. It is found that the type of fibre and linear density of yarn affect the comfort properties of woven fabricswhich include wicking, wetting, water absorbency and moisture vapour transmission characteristics. Based on the testresults, microdenier polyester fabrics and cotton fabrics exhibit good wicking, wetting and water absorbency characteristicsthan the polyester/cotton blend and nylon. It is found that the combination of ethoxylated alcohol (wetting agent) and therecipe containing amino silicone polyether copolymer and hydrophilic polymer in the ratio of 1:2 with pH of 5.5 at 600-700 Ctemperature is the optimum finishing process than the other two combinations so as to attain better comfort propertiesfor sportswear

Moisture management finish on woven fabrics

486-491Moisture management behaviour of four different woven fabrics, such as cotton, polyester/cotton blend, microdenier polyester and nylon, has been studied. A wetting agent of ethoxylated alcohol blend and moisture management finishing agents, such as amino silicone polyether copolymer and hydrophilic polymer, have been prepared and used. Moisture management finishes with wetting agent and without wetting agent are imparted onto woven fabrics. The effect of moisture management finishing process parameters on the comfort properties of woven fabrics has been studied. The optimization of comfort level by varying the moisture management finishing process parameters in order to achieve suitability for making sports wear is done. It is found that the type of fibre and linear density of yarn affect the comfort properties of woven fabrics which include wicking, wetting, water absorbency and moisture vapour transmission characteristics. Based on the test results, microdenier polyester fabrics and cotton fabrics exhibit good wicking, wetting and water absorbency characteristics than the polyester/cotton blend and nylon. It is found that the combination of ethoxylated alcohol (wetting agent) and the recipe containing amino silicone polyether copolymer and hydrophilic polymer in the ratio of 1:2 with pH of 5.5 at 600-700 C temperature is the optimum finishing process than the other two combinations so as to attain better comfort properties for sportswear