A novel humidity sensor made up of nano-crystalline zinc oxide (ZnO) film, coated onto the U-shaped typical glass substrate as a wave guide, conjugated with an optical fiber and He–Ne un-polarized ...laser source. The nano-crystalline zinc oxide (ZnO) was synthesized using single molecular precursor method. The resulting material was characterized with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffractometry (XRD), thermogravimetric-differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). In the thin film, ZnO particles exhibited the wurtzite phase structure with the particle size in a diameter range of 70–80
nm. The humidity sensing characteristic has been estimated by measuring the optical permeability (OP) as a function of percentage relative humidity (%RH) in the ranging from 5 to 90 inside a closed chamber. The OP decreases linearly with increase in %RH with a respond time of about 30 and recovery time of 35
s. The sensor exhibits the sensitivity of 0.45 in the %RH range 5–50 and 0.30 from 50 to 90.
The present study considers the effect of heat and mass transfer on free convective flow of a visco-elastic incompressible electrically conducting fluid past a vertical porous plate through a porous ...medium with time dependent oscillatory permeability and suction in presence of a uniform transverse magnetic field and heat source. The novelty of the present study is to analyze the effect of time dependant fluctuative suction and permeability of the medium on a visco-elastic fluid flow. The necessity of the present analysis arises as the most industrial fluids exhibit the visco-elastic behavior. The coupled nonlinear partial differential equation are turned to ordinary by super imposing a solution with steady and time dependant transient part. Finally, the set of ordinary differential equations is solved with a perturbation scheme to meet the inadequacy of boundary condition. Elasticity of the fluid and the Lorentz force reduce the velocity and it is more pronounced in case of heavier species. Most interesting observation is the fluctuation of velocity appears near the plate due to the presence of sink and presence of elastic element as well as heat source reduce the skin friction.
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to physical and psychological complications and social consequences in the form of illness-related stigma. This study aimed (1) to assess the sociodemographic and ...clinical variable, as well as COVID-19 related knowledge and perception of persons admitted for COVID-19/Suspected COVID-19 in Nepal, (2) to determine their levels of COVID-19- related internalized stigma, depression, and anxiety symptoms, and (3) to evaluate the correlates of COVID-19- related internalized stigma.
It was a cross-sectional exploratory study with a convenience sample of 395 participants (306 confirmed cases, 89 suspected cases) conducted between July-October 2020 in four health facilities in Madhesh and Lumbini provinces of Nepal. We used a semi-structured questionnaire to assess sociodemographic details, clinical information, COVID-19-related knowledge, perception, COVID-19-related internalized stigma, and the Hamilton Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS) in Nepali language. Descriptive statistics, correlation analyses, and linear regression analyses were performed. The level of statistical significance was considered at
< 0.05.
Around 23.3% of the patients had anxiety symptoms, 32.9% had depressive symptoms, and 20.3% had high COVID-19-related internalized stigma (mean ISMI score: 2.51-4.00). Linear regression analyses showed a significant positive association of COVID-19-related internalized stigma total score, with the following eight factors, i.e., no income in the past one month (
= 0.013), below average socioeconomic status (
= 0.004), anxiety symptoms (
= <0.001), depressive symptoms (
= <0.001), recent testing positive for COVID-19 (
= <0.001), involuntary admission (
= <0.001), prior experience of being in isolation and quarantine (
= 0.045), and those who blame others for COVID-19 (
= 0.025).
COVID-19 survivors and suspects are vulnerable to symptoms of depression, anxiety, and COVID-19-related internalized stigma. For the first time from Nepal, our data suggests that COVID-19-related internalized stigma is associated with anxiety and depression symptoms, perceived below-average socioeconomic status, involuntary admission, prior experience of being in isolation and quarantine, recent COVID-19 positive report, self-blame, below-average socioeconomic status and no income in the past one month. Mitigating and preventing internalized stigma associated with a public health crisis such as COVID-19 is imperative by diagnosing and treating such mental health issues early and designing interventions and policies especially targeting vulnerable populations focusing on their economic background and socio-cultural beliefs.
Objective
To assess the facilities and challenges encountered in the clinical laboratories, satisfaction of the medical laboratory staff (MLS) toward their profession and their views on the role of ...related health institutions during the first wave of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Nepal.
Methods
A web-based cross-sectional study was conducted among registered MLS in Nepal. Data were collected using a structured self-reported questionnaire on the Google Docs platform.
Results
A total of 301 respondents were enrolled in the study; of which 180 were male and 121 were female. Of the 301 respondents, a lack of infrastructure was reported by 241 (80.1%), a lack of skill development training by 204 (67.8%), limited availability of diagnostics kits by 151 (50.2%), overburdened by the workload by 142 (47.2%) and difficulty in sample management by 129 (42.9%). A total of 244 of 301 respondents (81.1%) believed that stakeholder institutions should collaborate with the government during the pandemic. The level of satisfaction during the pandemic (130 of 301; 43.19%) was found to have decreased compared with before the pandemic (203 of 301; 67.4%).
Conclusion
MLS were not fully satisfied with the available resources during the pandemic.
An understanding of the dynamics of carbon (C) stock in soils, as impacted by management strategies, is necessary to identify the pathways of C sequestration in soils and for maintaining soil organic ...C (SOC) at a level critical for upkeeping soil health and also for restraining global warming. This is more important in tropical and subtropical region where soils are inherently low in organic C content and the production system is fragile. We evaluated the long-term role of crop residue C inputs to soil in SOC sequestration and also the critical value of C inputs for maintenance of SOC across five different rice-based cropping systems and four soil management practices including a fallow (no cultivation since initiation of the experiments) using five long-term (7-36 years) fertility experiments in subtropical India. Cropping per se always caused a net depletion of SOC. Such depletion was inversely proportional to the amount of crop residue C incorporated into the soils (r=-0.92, P=0.001). Balanced fertilization with NPK, however, caused an enrichment (9.3-51.8% over the control) of SOC, its extent being influenced by the cropping systems. Long-term application of organic amendments (5-10 Mg ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹) through farmyard manure (FYM) or compost could increase SOC hardly by 10.7% constituting only 18% of the applied C, the rest getting lost through oxidation. The total quantity of soil C sequestered varied from -11.5 to 14.5 Mg C ha⁻¹ and was linearly related (r²=0.40, P=0.005) with cumulative crop residue C inputs to the soils. On an average, the rate of its conversion to SOC came out to be 6.4%. This was more in presence of added organics (6.9%) than in its absence (4.2%). For sustenance of SOC level (zero change due to cropping) we found that a minimum quantity of 2.9 Mg C is required to be added per hectare per annum as inputs. The cropping systems and the management practices that could provide C input higher than the above critical level are likely to sustain the SOC level and maintain good soil health in the subtropical regions of the Indian subcontinent.
The mechanoluminescence (ML) of GdCa
4
O(BO
3
)
3
: Sm, Cu, Tb, Mn, Sb are studied and synthesized by a solid-state reaction process. The section clarity, crystallinity and configuration of the ...material are established by XRD while the FTIR spectrum of the sample confirms its practical cluster (BO3)
3
and phonon frequency of the molecules in the host. B-O triangle structure defines its constructional inflexibility. Photoluminescence (PL)of GdCa
4
O(BO
3
)
3
with dopants Cu
0.2mol%
, Mn
0.2mol%,
Tb
0.1mol%,
Sm
0.2mol%,
Sb
0.1mol%
and its transition confirms the incorporation of dopant within the host material. The ready phosphor could also be vital for stress sensing applications and accidental radiation measurement as it responds linearly to γ-ray dose and impact rate of the piston is very less sensitive for lower exposure and also it has very low fading, on storage.
This work focusses on deriving exact analytic solutions for an oscillatory flow of an elastico-viscous conducting fluid in a porous medium over a moving plate with variable suction. The momentum ...equation is enhanced with the resisting force offered by the permeability of the medium by incorporating the Darcy model. The energy transfer is equipped with volumetric heat generation/absorption and thermal radiation. Exact solutions for the governing equations are obtained by employing Cardan’s method, and comparative discussion is made by using the perturbation technique. The temperature distribution is evaluated by solving the energy equation considering relaxation time. Solutions of velocity fields are obtained for any value of viscoelastic parameter
k
1
. The results obtained from the analytical and approximation methods for any value of viscosity parameter are compared and found to be in good agreement. The physical behaviour of the pertinent parameters is obtained and displayed in graphs.
Since COVID-19 outbreak, wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) studies as surveillance system is becoming an emerging interest due to its functional advantage as a tool for early warning signal and to ...catalyze effective disease management strategies based on the community diagnosis. An attempt was made in this study to define and establish a methodological approach for conducting WBE studies in the framework of identifying/selection of surveillance sites, standardizing sampling policy, designing sampling protocols to improve sensitivity, adopting safety protocol, and interpreting the data. Data from hourly sampling indicated a peak in the viral RNA during the morning hours (6–9 am) when the all the domestic activities are maximum. The daily sampling and processing revealed the dynamic nature of infection spread among the population. The two sampling methods viz. grab, and composite showed a good correlation. Overall, this study establishes a structured protocol for performing WBE studies that could provide useful insights on the spread of the pandemic at a given point of time. Moreover, this framework could be extrapolated to monitor several other clinically relevant diseases. Following these guidelines, it is possible to achieve measurable and reliable SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentrations in wastewater infrastructure and therefore, provides a methodological basis for the establishment of a national surveillance system.
Display omitted
•Designed methodological approach for sewage surveillance of COVID-19.•Hourly and daily sewage sampling were employed.•Viral RNA copies in sewage were assessed based on CT values obtained.•Infected population in a community based on RNA copies in sewage.•Framework for wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE).
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