Role of advocacy campaign to achieve sustainable rural sanitation reform

The paper has discussed the results of case study on the role of field advocacy campaign for Sanitation Reform Programme launched during 2005-06 by the Public Health Engineering Department in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. The major emphasis was on the awareness, motivation and advocacy to construct household toilets in the Lempia village of Lower Subansiri District. Field level advocacy was undertaken to generate demand among the villagers for the construction household toilets. A behavioural change was noticed when the villagers started using toilets. The lesson learnt from the case study was the role of advocacy for motivating villagers to construct their own household toilets which has a direct bearing on the health of the people. The institutional development and capacity building must be given due importance to take up advocacy at the grass-root level to motivate the villagers and to generate demand for the construction of toilets

Analysis of thermal instability test methodologies for synchronous generator rotors

Abstract: Thermal instability testing (TIT) is utilised by service providers as a final proving test during the construction, repair and overhaul of large turbo-generator rotors. This test is typically performed using two methodologies – i.e. current injection and friction/windage methods – to evaluate the thermal sensitivity of the generator rotor. Although these methods are distinctly different – service providers/OEMS worldwide show no preference towards a methodology and there is no substantiating evidence or international standards which provide insight into which method is most suitable. This paper investigates these two methods of TIT for synchronous generator rotors. A specialised experimental configuration utilising infrared thermography is used analyse the thermal behaviour a synchronous generator rotor under different test conditions. Experimental results indicate that there are substantial differences in the behaviour of the rotor under the two different methodologies and that an augmented test methodology is required to improve TIT

Thermographical analysis of turbo-generator rotor

Abstract: Refurbished or newly constructed utility-scale turbo-generator rotors requires stringent acceptance testing before commissioning and subsequent operation thereof. Conventional methods of testing are inadequate in detecting and locating thermally induced problems. This paper presents a thermographic method for carrying out thermal instability testing of generator rotors. An experimental setup is used to map the thermal distribution of the generator rotor. Implementation and testing of the method is carried out in a laboratory setting using a down-scaled turbo-generator rotor

Influence of alkaline pre-treatment on acid dissolution of cathode material of 18650 lithium battery

Lithium battery cathodes contain lithium, cobalt, nickel, and manganese. Recycling of spent lithium batteries aims to recover these elements for re-use. Liberation of cathode materials from other metals in the battery such as aluminium, copper, and iron, is essential to obtain a good leaching efficiency in the recovery of valuable metals from end-of-life lithium batteries. This study investigates the behaviour of cathode materials and other metals in spent 18650 lithium batteries during leaching in H2SO4 solution with and without NaOH pre-treatment. Dissolution of aluminium using NaOH is a selective method to separate the metal from other elements. The influence of a 2-hour NaOH pre-treatment on subsequent acid leaching of cathode materials was investigated at both room temperature and 80°C. The extraction of aluminium increased to 75% at a higher temperature. Lithium concentration in the pregnant leach solution from acid leaching also increases with NaOH pre-treatment. The pre-treatment had a negligible effect on nickel, manganese, iron, and copper extraction. However, the cobalt extraction with NaOH pre-treatment was significantly lower. The result was likely due to indirect impact of less hydrogen gas was generated from a lower Al amount. The lattice structure of the leach residue for the sample with NaOH pre-treatment was monoclinic rather than rhombohedral due to stronger delithiation

Economics of underdevelopment : a series of articles and papers

IDRC personnel. Compilation on the economic aspects of underdevelopment - discusses the causes and factors contributing to underdevelopment in developing countries and the various methods used in analyzing and dealing with the problem; examines the main economic theories relating to economic development, employment and underemployment, balanced economic growth, growth models, etc. Statistical data, bibliography

Pressure dependence of the dielectric loss in semi-conducting polypyrrole aged at room temperature

The effect of physical aging of semi-conducting polypyrrole at ambient temperature for two years duration on the dielectric loss at various pressures is investigated. Changes of the dielectric loss spectra and the modification of the values of the activation volume for relaxation are interpreted through the division of chain clusters into smaller components and the reduction of the size of the conductive grains.Comment: Synthetic Metals (in print

An unusual association between Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Aspergillus fumigatus

Allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA) is rarely described outside the setting of asthma or cystic fibrosis. The occurrence of ABPA in other structural lung diseases included scars of old healed pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) is also unknown. In this case, we report a 62- year old lady treated for PTB 40 years ago who presented with increasing dyspnea on exertion, cough with expectoration of blackish brown mucus plugs and wheezing. High-resolution computed tomographic scan of the thorax showed parenchymal fibrosis and volume loss in left upper lobe while central bronchiectasis, mosaic attenuation, centrilobular nodules with a tree-in-bud pattern were observed in the other lobes. Investigations revealed a diagnosis of ABPA. The patient was treated with prednisolone and showed a significant response. We review the current literature on this unusual association of previous and cured TB with ABPA, and also discuss the hypothesis of this possible relationship

Phantom dark energy and cosmological solutions without the Big Bang singularity

The hypothesis is rapidly gaining popularity that the dark energy pervading our universe is extra-repulsive ($-p>\rho$). The density of such a substance(usually called phantom energy) grows with the cosmological expansion and may become infinite in a finite time producing a Big Rip. In this Letter we analyze the late stages of the universe evolution and demonstrate that the presence of the phantom energy in the universe is not enough in itself to produce the Big Rip. This singularity occurrence requires the fulfillment of some additional, rather strong conditions. A more probable outcome of the cosmological evolution is the decay of the phantom field into 'normal' matter. The second, more intriguing consequence of the presence of the phantom field is the possibility to introduce a cosmological scenario that does not contain a Big Bang. In the framework of this model the universe eternally expands, while its density and other physical parameters oscillate over a wide range, never reaching the Plank values. Thus, the universe evolution has no singularities at all.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, accepted to Physics Letters