A Vickers microhardness study has been carried out on (100) and (010) faces of solution-grown single crystals of magnesium sulphate hepta-hydrate (MgSO4·7H2O) over a load range of 10–80g. The Vickers ...hardness numbers (Hv) are found to decrease initially with increase in load and then appear to level-off. The (100) face is the softest one. The Meyer index ‘n’ of the two faces is less than 2 as expected theoretically if the particular crystal system belongs to the soft material category. Neither Kick's law nor Hays and Kendall's law can fully explain the nonlinear variation of microhardness with load. Instead, preference is given to Li and Bradt's proportional specimen resistance (PSR) model. The elastic stiffness coefficient, c11, has also been calculated using Wooster's empirical relation from the hardness data and it shows reasonable agreement with a reported value. A hardness anisotropy for both planes has been observed in accordance with the orientation of the crystallographic planes.
The variation of hardness on (1
0
0) faces of orthorhombic ammonium sulphate crystals, AS (NH
4)
2SO
4, with load were studied. Vickers hardness numbers,
H
v, were found to increase with the increase ...in load. Work-hardening index ‘
n’ was found to be greater than 2 showing soft-material characteristics. Kick’s law has been satisfied after making a correction in the observed diagonal length of the indentation impression. The fracture toughness values ‘
K
c’, determined from measurements of crack lengths, were estimated to be 0.078 and 0.073
MN
m
−3/2 for (1
0
0) faces at 90 and 100
g, respectively. The brittleness indices ‘
B
i’ were estimated as 1.79 and 2.04
μm
−1/2 for the same faces at same loads. Using Wooster’s empirical relation, elastic stiffness coefficient,
c
11, has been calculated from hardness value.
X-ray diffraction studies have been carried out on solution grown mixed crystals of ammonium–potassium sulphate (AS–PS) over the entire range of composition. Lattice parameters
a,
b and
c are ...experimentally determined using Computer program POWD and have been found to obey Vegard's law of linear dependence with a constant deviation. Results are analysed in the light of packing consideration of the individual atoms.
Mixed crystals of ammonium sulphate (AS) and potassium sulphate (PS), (NH
4)
1−
x
K
x
2SO
4 were grown by slow evaporation technique at room temperature. Mechanical characterization was done by ...studying the variation of microhardness with applied load on (100) faces of mixed AS–PS system for several compositions. Vicker's hardness numbers,
H
v were found to increase primarily with increase in load and then become load independent. Meyer indices,
n were found to be always greater than two showing soft material characteristics. Some hardness related parameters such as crack length, fracture toughness were also calculated and interpreted. Fracture toughness increases with higher K
+ concentration.
Defect configurations in as-grown mixed crystals of ammonium-potassium sulphate have been revealed by chemical etch technique with greater details for the first time. Interesting features like ...symmetrical pyramidal pits, circular terraced pits, row of closely spaced pits forming low angle tilt boundary indicating branching of dislocations etc. were clearly observed using aqueous solutions of various inorganic salts (etchants) applied for different timings. It is found that addition of a salt generally promotes the formation of good pits. The results are briefly interpreted in the light of Cabrera's thermodynamic theory of dislocation etch pit formation. The optical and scanning micrographs show a good correspondence between formation of etch pits and dislocations.
Background: It is a challenge to treat onychomycosis due to frequent treatment failures and relapses. Systemic and topical therapies need to be combined to improve cure rates. Antifungal ...susceptibility might play a role in the treatment resistance of onychomycosis. Aims: To compare the safety and effectiveness of amorolfine 5% nail lacquer + oral fluconazole versus only oral fluconazole in the treatment of fingernail onychomycosis. Methodology: In this double-blind trial (CTRI/2015/02/005369), patients were randomized (1:1) into amorolfine 5% nail lacquer + fluconazole and dummy lacquer + fluconazole. Treatment was given for 3 months with monthly follow-ups. Antifungal sensitivity was carried out for Candida. Effectiveness was assessed by reduction in the number and percentage area of nails involved and mycological cure. At the end of 3-month treatment period, the association between drug sensitivity and treatment response was explored for the Candida infections. Results: Among 30 study participants, the combination group showed significantly lower number of nail involvement (P = 0.004) and percentage nail involvement (P = 0.005) than only fluconazole group. Pretreatment fungal culture showed a comparable number of dermatophytes, Candida, Aspergillus in both the groups. Sensitivity testing was done for the isolated Candida species. Antifungal sensitivity for Candida (n = 11) was tested, and 8 (72.7%) of the organisms were sensitive to fluconazole (minimum inhibitory concentration MIC 1.25 ± 1.19 μg/ml), 100% were sensitive to itraconazole (MIC 0.0726 ± 0.021 μg/ml), and 3 (27.3%) were susceptible-dose dependent (S-DD) to fluconazole (MIC 16 μg/ml). Fluconazole only group patients with Candida who showed resistance to fluconazole did not respond to therapy; however, patients in the combination group showed moderate improvement (reduction in area involvement = 55.56 ± 35.36%). Conclusion: The combination of amorolfine/fluconazole achieved a higher cure rate not only for sensitive fungus but also for those which were S-DD to fluconazole.
Breast cancer is the most frequently occurring cancer disease in women. It is reported almost 14% of cancers in Indian women are breast cancer. It becomes very crucial to predict breast cancer ...earlier to minimize the deaths. This research article helps to predict breast cancer earlier and reduce the immature deaths of women in India. In this paper, the authors have used the Logistic Regression method to classify the disease. The authors simulate the results using logistic regression with 10-fold cross-validations and with a different train-test split of the dataset. The 10-fold cross validations display its potential with almost 94% performance in the research paper. With all features and 90-10 , 80-20,50-50, 66-34 splits, and 10-fold cross-validations the authors achieve 96% accuracy. we have used different accuracy measures like accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and kappa statistics to get the novelty of the model. In this study, the authors use the Wisconsin (Diagnostic) Data Set for Breast Cancer, Created by Dr. William H. Wolberg, General Surgery Dept., University of Wisconsin, Clinical Science Centre, Madison, WI 53792 wolberg@eagle.surgery.wisc.edu available at the UCI ML Repository website.
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