Will capacity building training interventions given to street food vendors give us safer food?: A cross-sectional study from India

Successful food hygiene training and the consent of safe food handling practices learnt during training are critical elements in the control of food-borne illnesses throughout the world. It is true for food handlers and vendors belonging to all sectors. But, it is all the more urgent for street vendors because they are more exposed to environmental hazards and are predominantly from much weaker socio-economic backgrounds and yet cater to the general mass. Using a cross-sectional study design a sample of 80 street food vendors were selected and provided with training to evaluate the existing Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) regarding food safety and hygiene and the change of the same after training interventions. Responses regarding KAP on food safety and hygiene before and after training revealed that there was a significant change in their perception to food safety knowledge and also practices. The knowledge level of the food vendors increased from an average 24.35%–66.2% after training interventions. The overall performance rating of full adoption of good hygiene practices by the vendors ranged from 37.5% to 50.8% in post-training period.     

Synthesis and characterization of zwitterionic organogels based on Schiff base chemistry

Poly(sulfobetaine)s and poly(carboxybetaine)s have been extensively studied for their zwitterionic and biocompatible nature. The specific features that make such zwitterionic structures technologically important are their chemical structure, a straight forward synthetic route, high ionic contents with interesting dilute solution, and solid state properties. The objective of this work is to synthesize novel zwitterionic polymers having gel characteristics. Here, p‐phenylene diamine/melamine react as nucleophiles with glutaraldehyde to produce poly(schiff base)s. In the subsequent step, the poly(sulfobetaine)s and poly(carboxybetaine)s were produced on treatment with 1,3‐propane sultone/γ‐butyrolactone. Hence, a catalyst free facile approach to novel zwitterionic polymers was obtained. The polymers were characterized by elemental analyses, FTIR, XRD analyses, SEM, pH metric titrations, conductometric titrations, and thermal analyses (TGA/DTA). The polymeric samples carry the gel characteristics, showing lamellar structure with porous network. XRD pattern shows Bragg peaks indicative of superstructures. Thermal analysis indicates the Hoffman elimination of β hydrogen and subsequent release of sulfopropyl/carboxybutyl group. One of the gel polymers shows fluorescence also. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010     

Selective recognition of fenbufen by surface-imprinted silica with iniferter technique

Fenbufen, a member of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs and widely used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis was imprinted by utilizing a zwitterionic polymeric format, N-[(phenylenediammonium) maleimidopropane sulfonate] copolymer. Imprinting was carried out by grafting polymer on a photoiniferter modified silica gel via living radical polymerization. Electrostatic interactions along with complementary H-bonding and other hydrophobic interactions inducing additional synergetic effect between the template (fenbufen) and the imprinted surface led to the formation of imprinted sites. Grafted molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) was characterized by FTIR and surface area measurements besides the recognition, rebinding and selectivity studies. The surface area, pore diameter and pore volume of the MIP are 259.06 m²/g, 4.99 nm and 0.32 cm³/g, respectively. The MIP was able to selectively and specifically take up fenbufen quantitatively. Hence, a facile, specific and selective technique using surface-grafted specific molecular contours developed for specific and selective uptake of fenbufen in the presence of various interferrants, in different kinds of matrices is presented.     

Effect of processing and palladium doping on the properties of tin oxide based thick film gas sensors

In the present work, solid-state reaction and sol–gel route derived pure tin oxide (SnO₂) powders have been used to develop the palladium (Pd)-doped SnO₂ thick film sensors for detection of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). Efforts have been made to study the gas sensing characteristics i.e., sensor response, response/recovery time and repeatability of the thick film sensors. The response of the sensors has been investigated at different operating temperatures from 200 to 350 °C in order to optimise the operating temperature which yields the maximum response upon exposure to fixed concentration of LPG. The optimum temperature is kept constant to facilitate the gas sensing characteristics as a function of the various concentration (0.25–5 vol%) of LPG. The structural and microstructural properties of Pd-doped SnO₂ powder and developed sensors have been studied by performing X-ray diffraction and field emission electron microscopy measurements. The improvement in the response along with better response and recovery time have been correlated to the reduction in crystallite size of SnO₂ powder and morphology of printed sensor in thick film form. It is found that the thick film sensor developed by using sol–gel route derived SnO₂ powder with an optimum doping of 1 wt% Pd is extremely sensitive (86 %) to LPG at 350 °C.     

Synthesis of nano-structured 3C-SiC by carbothermal reduction of silicon bearing gel and carbon soot

Nano-sized 3C-SiC was synthesized using sol-gel method. The silica bearing sol was prepared using fumed silica and alkaline ethylene glycol which on hydrolysis resulted in a gel. The gel was mixed with nano-sized carbon particles (obtained from soot) and heat treated in 1300-1580 °C temperature range. The formation of 3C-SiC began at ~ 1400 °C and at 1580 °C it was observed to be the major phase while small amount of 2H-SiC was also present. The silicon carbide synthesized between 1400 and 1580 °C had particles in 30-50 nm range and crystallite size between 15 and 17 nm.     

Experimental investigations on solar chimney for room ventilation

Experimental investigations on a small size solar chimney show that the rate of ventilation increases with increase of the ratio between height of absorber and gap between glass and absorber. This finding is in agreement with results of the steady-state mathematical model developed for analysis of such systems. Nine different combination of absorber height and air gap have been investigated on the experimental set-up. Highest rate of ventilation induced with the help of solar energy was found to be 5.6 air change per hour in a room of 27 m³, at solar radiation 700 W/m² on vertical surface with the stack height-air gap ratio of 2.83 for a 1 m high chimney.     

An implementation of granular dynamics for simulating frictional elastic particles based on the DL_POLY code

We have modified Daresbury Laboratory's replicated data strategy (RDS) parallel molecular dynamics (MD) package DL_POLY (version 2.13) to study the granular dynamics of frictional elastic particles. DL_POLY [Smith and Forester, The DL_POLY_2 User Manual v2.13, 2001; Forester and Smith, The DL_POLY_2 Reference Manual v2.13, 2001] is a MD package originally developed to study liquid state and macromolecular systems by accounting for various molecular interaction forces. The particles of interest in this study are macroscopic grains in pharmaceutical powders, with sizes ranging from tens to hundreds of microns. We have therefore substituted the molecular interaction forces with contact forces (including linear-dashpot, HKK interaction forces and Coulombic friction) while taking advantage of the RDS scheme. In effect, we have created a parallel Discrete Element Simulation (DES) code. In this paper, we describe the modifications made to the original DL_POLY code and the results from the validation tests of the granular dynamics simulations for systems of monodisperse spherical particles settling under gravity. The code can also be utilized to study particle packings generated via uniaxial compaction and, in some cases, simultaneous application of shear, at constant strain.     

Formation of part families to design cells with alternative routing considerations

A heuristic algorithm for the formation of part families to design cells with consideration to alternative routing of parts is presented. Most of the existing algorithms in cellular manufacturing systems utilize fixed routings for parts. Consideration of alternative routings in the design of cells is important for improving operational aspects of cellular manufacturing systems. An example problem solved is included in the paper.     

Electrical conductivity of modified poly(vinyl chloride)

Chemical modification of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) by dehydrochlorination with ethanolic KOH is found to yield modified PVC with conjugated polyene sequence. The semiconducting nature of ethoxide-modified PVC is illustrated with temperature dependence of conductivity (σ). The relative ratios (r) of conductivity,σ _modifiedpvc /σ _{unmodifiedpvc} , are greater than unity in the temperature range 50° to 180°C,r being maximum in the vicinity of glass-transition temperature (T _g).T _g inferred from conductivity-temperature profiles is found to be greater for modified PVC relative to unmodified PVC, which is explicable in terms of restricted free rotation limiting segmental motion. For comparison with the conductivity andT _g of ethoxide-modified PVC, LiCl-modified PVC and (aniline + S₂O ₈ ²⁻ )-modified PVC have also been studied.