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Background: COVID-19 caused havoc on the mankind. Post COVID-19 effects were also very painful. Post COVID-19 symptoms affected almost every organ system of the body not only physically, but also had a very profound effect on psyche of different individuals. We studied prevalence of anxiety and depression in post COVID-19 phase. Materials and methods: All patients attending various outpatient Departments, who had positive RTPCR for COVID-19, more than 3 months before the present symptoms, were included in this study. The patients were divided in two groups depending upon severity of the COVID-19 infection in past. Group-I patients were treated for COVID-19 on domiciliary basis while those required admission to hospital for treatment for COVID-19 were included in Group-II. Scoring system decided if the patient was normal or had anxiety or depression. Results: Both anxiety and depression were common in post COVID-19 phase. Group-II patients were affected more 38.65% (167 out of 432) as compared to only 10.13% (62 out of 612) of Group-I patients. Depression was seen in 52 out of 237 (22.94%) in males as compared to female 20 out of 195 (10.25%) in Group-II. Anxiety was also more common in males in Group-II, 62 out of 237 (26.18%) than females 33 out of 195 (16.92%). Conclusion: Both anxiety and depression were very common post COVID-19 infection. Hospitalized patients suffered more than those who had milder disease and were treated at home for COVID-19. Males suffered more than the females.

Background: Vaginal dryness is common during and after menopause due to declining oestrogen, vulvovaginal atrophy (VVA), up to about a year after delivery during breast feeding and in many other conditions. This can be distressing to painful for women and may cause discomfort and dyspareunia. This study was performed to evaluate the use and practicability of secretions of male bulbourethral glands (Cowper's glands) to alleviate the discomfort, dyspareunia or pain at sexual activity, because of inadequate lubrication of vagina. Method: When a healthy male is sexually aroused, Cowper's glands produce a mucous-like fluid called pre-ejaculate. This fluid is a clear, colourless, viscous, and salty liquid, which is emitted from the urethra of the penis. A lubrication free wet condom on penis during foreplay can prevent loss of these secretions during an extended foreplay and lubrication around penis due to these secretions can effectively serve as physiological lubricant during coitus. Result: This technique and secretion of Cowper’s glands are a good lubrication for dryness of vagina during coitus. Sexual function assessment revealed a marked improvement in all domains of sexual function to both partners. A physiological secretion being natural to the sexual act and providing motive for extending foreplay; it is arguably the best lubricant for coitus in situations of dry vagina. Conclusion: Supposedly the secretions may also help in reducing dose of HRT for menopause, extended foreplay adds to psychosexual benefits and a boost to sexual hormonal milieu.

Finite element method is used to investigate the free vibration and harmonic analysis of functionally graded plates. The material properties of the plates are assumed to vary continuously through their thickness direction according to a power-law distribution of the volume fractions of the plate constituents. The four noded shell 181 elements are used to analyse the functionally graded plates. The aim is to fill the void in the available literature with respect to the free vibration results of Functionally Graded plates. Convergence and Comparison studies with respect to the number of nodes has been carried out using FEM. The natural frequency, mode shape and harmonic analysis of FG plate has been determined using finite element package ANSYS.

In winter, offices use heat pumps, electric heaters, and blowers to stay warm, but these use traditional energy that is not sustainable or eco‐friendly. To meet the requirements of thermal comfort, an environmentally friendly and self‐sustainable system was developed at Madhav Institute of Technology and Science in Gwalior, India. This system includes a heat exchanger, a flat plate collector, an evacuated tube collector, and a pump. Two versions of the system were tested: one with a heat exchanger and an evacuated tube collector (HEWETC) and another with a heat exchanger and a flat plate collector (HEWFPC). The results showed that the HEWETC system is better at heating the room and has higher efficiency compared to the HEWFPC system. The HEWFPC system is 12% efficient, while the HEWETC system is 21% efficient. The room stayed at a constant temperature of 26.3°C all day. The HEWETC and HEWFPC systems provided 0.46 and 0.55 MJ of heat to the room, respectively. During the heating season, the solar heat collected was 8030.38 kWh, and electricity used was 5229.7 kWh. The HEWETC system proved to be effective and suitable for heating the building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The PVC-PVDF-GO nanocomposites thin films were prepared by solution casting method. A thin film of Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), PVC-PVDF-GO was uniformly irradiated with a carbon ion beam at 70 MeV over a surface of 1 cm2 in a vacuum of almost 5 × 10−7 torr with ion fluencies of 1 × 1012 and 2 × 1013 ions/cm2. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was observed to track changes in the β-content, represented as F(β)%, during the recrystallization of PVDF after irradiation. At ambient temperature, the variation of dielectric constant and dielectric loss has been studied for pristine and irradiated samples. Ion beam irradiation caused significant changes to the dielectric constant and dielectric loss. After irradiation, the dielectric constant (ϵ′) increases at lower fluence (1 × 1012 ions/cm2), but decreases at higher fluence (2 × 1013 ions/cm2) in comparison with the pristine polymer samples. In PVDF, free radicals are generated by chain scission and cross-linking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The PVC/PVDF@BaZrO3 nanohybrid thin films were prepared by solution grown method. The dielectric constant of the films was higher due to BaZrO3 incorporation in the PVC/PVDF matrix. The PVDF and PVC/PVDF nanohybrid films were irradiated with 105 MeV Au2+ ion beam under vacuum condition at room temperature with two ion fluence. The irradiated thin film of PVC/PVDF@BaZrO3 exhibits relatively low dielectric constant with low loss at different temperature because of thermodynamic stability of β-phase. However, almost complete amorphization was observed in BaZrO3 filler in PVC/PVDF@BaZrO3 nanohybrid samples. After being irradiated with a 105 MeV Au2+ ion beam, the (ϵ′) dielectric constant, FTIR and SEM parameters were used to evaluate changes in dielectric and structural properties for all the samples. In FTIR spectra, new peaks appeared at 1705 cm−1, disappeared or minutely shifted due to high energy of ion beam. It is interesting to note that BaZrO3 phase becomes amorphized through 105 MeV Au2+ ion irradiation that causes an increased dielectric constant along with cross-linking effect of nanohybrid films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nanohybrid consists of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) nanostructure network with BaZrO3 and BaTiO3 nanoparticles separately. The mass ratios of PVC-PVDF-BaZrO3/BaTiO3 were chosen to be 60:36:04. The structural morphology of nanohybrid was examined by using Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The Raman spectroscopy is enabled to explain strong interaction between the nanoparticles and polymer matrix. The PVC-PVDF- 4 mass% BaTiO3 nanohybrid shows high dielectric permittivity, breakdown strength and the energy density as compare to pure polymer matrix. DSC analysis of nanohybrid is attributed the good thermal stability due to crystallization effect in presence of nanoparticles. The findings of present work enable to design the energy storage devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermal model is developed to predict the outlet water temperature with respect to time for water-in-tube type evacuated solar collector connected in series. Developed mathematical expression is validated for the single collector and two collectors connected in series. In each collector, there are 20 evacuated tubes connected to the storage tank. Coefficient of determination (R2), reduced chi-square (χ²), and root mean squared error (RMSE) have been calculated to show the prediction accuracy of the developed model. For single and two collectors connected in series, R2 is 99.73% and 99.90%, χ² is 0.46 °C and 0.39 °C, and RMSE is 0.70 °C and 0.65 °C, respectively. Predicted value shows good agreement with the experimental value. At a constant mass flowrate, the maximum outlet temperature reaches 53.10 °C and 71.50 °C for single and two collectors in series, respectively. The maximum energy for the single collector is 4.12 kW and 4 kW, while for two collectors connected in series, the maximum energy is 7.08 kW and 6.69 kW. Average thermal efficiency is 4.45% and 4.51% and average exergy efficiency is 9.66% and 15.17% for single and series-connected collectors, respectively. Developed model can design energy-efficient "water-in-tube type evacuated tube collector" for domestic and industrial applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work is performed on Pb2+ detection via electrochemical sensor. The novel aptasensor was developed by modification of glassy carbon electrode (GCE) with reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) modified with ssDNA. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by HRTEM (high resolution transmission electron microscopy), SAED (selected area electron diffraction), UV–Vis spectrophotometer, FTIR, and XPS. The rGO was prepared by electrochemical reduction and thickness of rGO sheet was 0.5 to 1 nm. The average AuNPs size was 20–25 nm. The Pb2+ ion binds with specific ssDNA, and it will induce conformational changes of the aptamer and corresponding modulation of electrochemical signals. The cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were used for Pb2+ detection and optimization of sensor. The proposed aptasensor exhibits high sensitivity toward detection of Pb2+ ions with a detection limit of 1.52 nM and linear range of 5–50 nM at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3. Moreover, this aptasensor produces satisfactory results in environmental water samples analysis. The results of the newly developed aptasensor show better sensitivity and selectivity than the previously described electrochemical sensor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The thin film of nanocomposites was prepared by solution casting methods and characterized by UV–Vis spectra, Raman spectra and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The optical band gap was determined by Tau plots. The band gap of PVDF was determined with and without BaZrO3 nanoparticles. It could be seen that the band gap decreases from 4.98 to 3.32 eV in the presence of BaZrO3 nanoparticles in PVDF matrix. The Raman study identifies the interacting species with PVDF due to structural change by the addition of BaZrO3 nanoparticles. This helps to understand the potential of new nanocomposites. The structural changes were analyzed by crystallinity, nature of bonds, phase transition from G to B-phase, etc. SEM images represent the change in spherulitic morphology of PVDF by incorporation of BaZrO3 nanoparticles. SEM images are presented the aggregation of BaZrO3 nanoparticles in PVDF matrix causes the generation of larger particles in PVDF chain. DSC supports the crystallization of PVDF nanocomposites upon heating due to the rearrangement of PVDF structure in the presence of BaZrO3 nanoparticles. It is observed that BaZrO3 nanoparticles enrich the structural, thermal and piezoelectric properties due to the change in spherulitic morphology, which creates a large number of micro- to nano-sized pores, increases the β-phase content of the PVDF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The newly developed Heat Exchanger Evacuated Tube Assisted Drying System (HE-ETADS) is fabricated in roof of campus of MITS, Gwalior, India. Heat transfer analysis of developed drying system is carried out by drying mushroom inside it. The heat transfer coefficient plays a significant role in drying method. The study emphasizes on determining the convective as well as evaporative heat transfer coefficients (CHTC & EHTC) and the determination of best drying rate model fit for mushroom drying inside novel drying system. The artificial neural network is developed for predicting the CHTC & EHTC. Value of CHTC & EHTC varies from 2.10 to 3.43 and 25.68 to 49.85 W/m2 °C respectively. The developed ANN model helps in predicting the heat transfer coefficient once trained using input factors like solar radiation, relative humidity, environmental temperature and time. The value of R2 for the developed ANN model is 0.99, which shows that model predicts the value very close to the calculated value of heat transfer coefficients. Drying kinetics of mushroom is tried to fit in nine drying rate models. The Midili-Kucuk model shows the better fit among the other models. The newly developed Heat Exchanger Evacuated Tube Assisted Drying System (HE-ETADS) is fabricated in roof of campus of MITS, Gwalior, India. Heat transfer analysis of developed drying system is carried out by drying mushroom inside it. The heat transfer coefficient plays a significant role in drying method. The study emphasizes on determining the convective as well as evaporative heat transfer coefficients (CHTC & EHTC) and the determination of best drying rate model fit for mushroom drying inside novel drying system. The artificial neural network is developed for predicting the CHTC & EHTC. Value of CHTC & EHTC varies from 2.10 to 3.43 and 25.68 to 49.85 W/m2 °C respectively. The developed ANN model helps in predicting the heat transfer coefficient once trained using input factors like solar radiation, relative humidity, environmental temperature and time. The value of R2 for the developed ANN model is 0.99, which shows that model predicts the value very close to the calculated value of heat transfer coefficients. Drying kinetics of mushroom is tried to fit in nine drying rate models. The Midili-Kucuk model shows the better fit among the other models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the paper is to present the modifications done in hybrid greenhouse solar dryers to make them more efficient. As hybrid dryers were developed to overcome the various limitations of other types of solar dryers. Due to modifications in dryers, the effect on various heat transfer parameters like heat transfer coefficient, drying time, drying efficiency, etc. is studied and also encapsulated in the paper. It is found that in most of the hybrid dryers, the maximum temperature of the drying chamber is around 65-80°C. This shows the suitability of a hybrid dryer for drying high moisture crops. Also, the drying time for most of the crops is around 2-3 days, which shows the faster moisture removal rate inside the hybrid dryers. According to the literature studied, the maximum drying efficiency of a hybrid dryer is reported by about 35%. The paper also encapsulates the various relations/equations used by different researchers to carry out the thermal modeling and heat transfer analysis of greenhouse dryers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this research is to carry out the heat transfer analysis of PVT hybrid active solar still (HASS) at different water depth to obtain maximum output. Experimentation is performed for validation of thermal modeling with and without flowing water, having water depth of 0.15m in the solar still basin. During experimentation, water flows above the glass cover. Theoretically calculated values of basin water, basin liner, glass temperature and yield obtained using thermal modeling are very near to the experimental values having correlation coefficients 0.988, 0.981, 0.999 and 0.985 respectively. It is also found that thermal efficiency and daily exergy output increases by 4% and 8.2% respectively for this hybrid system whose glass cover is getting cooled by water flowing over it. Theoretical calculation for distillate output of the system was also calculated out for various climatic conditions of India using developed thermal modeling and it is found that proposed system gives higher annual yield of 2756.67 kg/m2 for the climate of Mumbai. The experimental uncertainty of the HASS is obtained as 14.82%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The solar stills were developed to fulfil the freshwater need of the growing population. The paper presents the recent modifications made in still to improve their productivity like the application of phase change materials (PCM), connecting flat-plate collector (FPC), use of nanoparticles, stepped solar still, and attaching separate condenser in the still. Active solar stills are found more productive than passive ones and the thermal efficiency of active solar stills lie in the range of 50-70%, which is far better than passive still having 20-55% thermal efficiency. According to the literature studied in the paper, the maximum productivity of active solar still is 10 litres per day and in passive solar stills, it is 6 litres per day. The different approaches used to carry out the heat and mass transfer analysis of single and double slope active and passive solar stills are also discussed in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arsenic is toxic, so being able to detect and monitor arsenic in aqueous environments is important. Here, we report a biosensor for As3+ (Arsenic (III)) which uses a glassy carbon electrode modified with Ag-Au alloy NPs (i.e. Silver and gold alloy nanoparticles) and loaded with an aptamer. The electrode contains apta deep trapped Ag-Au alloy NPs, and the detection method employs cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry. Captured As3+ ions undergo electrochemical reaction, producing a significant increase in the current which is observed in the voltammetry curves. This current increase is a result of the electrocatalytic properties of the NPs. The electrode is used for the determination of As3+ in real water samples. The activity curve is linear for As3+ concentrations of 0.01µg/L to 10 µg/L, and the detection limit is 0.003 × 10−3µg/L. The operation of the biosensor is reproducible, stable, and selective, and the biosensor performs well in determining As3+ in water from natural water courses, lakes, and wells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]