Occurrence of COVID-19 in Kolkata slums during second surge

Background: The clobber of COVID-19 brought a coup-de-grace to humanity in this modern era. New-norms of COVID-19 prevention although appear promising yet often adjunct with non-congruent compliance. The WHO has advocated house-to-house case-linked study to acquire facts on epidemiological and transmissibility traits of COVID-19 in low-income communities. Kolkata experienced the first wave of COVID-19 till November 20, expected second splatter in March 21. Aims and Objectives: Thinking through a probable upswing of COVID-19 in Kolkata, it was felt prudent to study the occurrence of COVID-19 among residents of two different slums inter-alia study allied factors, if any. Materials and Methods: The study was carried out in two different slums having 395 and 428 members, respectively, in South Kolkata from March 21 to August 21. Sanction was obtained from administrative authority as well from each individual. Questionnaire containing personal details, awareness, and observance of personal protective measures (PPM) on COVID-19 were sent to members through e-mode; those demurred, contacted in-person under new-norm. Data assembled was coded, tabulated and analyzed. Details of COVID-19 (RT-PCR+ve) cases confirmed by Government/private hospitals were incorporated as and when surfaced. Results: Communities studied had comparable socio-demographic attributes including education, employment, and economic stand. About 93% of subjects from each slum knew most of the facets of PPM and stated practiced the same. Occurrence rates of COVID-19 were 15.2 and 16.2 per 1000 people of respective communities during study tenure. Majority of indisposed were smoker male (92%) from the lowest SES (53.8%), educated to primary/middle school (46%), and worked as vegetable seller (53.8%). All afflicted stated followed PPM except social distancing (77%) and sanitizer use (53.8%). All affected were smokers/quid-users and shared tobacco sticks/hand-smothered quid for mutual use regularly. The study unveiled unequivocal heterogeneity of COVID-19 transmission in Kolkata slums because of certain unattended socio-graphics besides optimistic reflective of PPM awareness/observance. PPM proffers protection no doubt but its effective role necessitates consistent conformity in the background of certain contextual considerations. Conclusion: Further research in urban slums is contemplated to enhance the present effort to extricate facts that may lend a hand in COVID-19 prevention tomorrow.

Microstructure and Corrosion Behavior of Extruded Mg-Sn-Y Alloys

Magnesium and its alloys, with their unique properties such as high strength/density ratio, good castability, and machinability, have found several applications in the aerospace and automotive industries. One of the reasons that restrict their widespread applicability is their poor corrosion resistance since Mg is readily oxidized in the presence of oxygen and humidity. The oxide layer is pseudo-passive and non-protective. The present effort tried to improve the passivity of this layer with the addition of alloying elements such as Tin (Sn) and Yttrium (Y) to create phases that interact differently with the oxidizing environment, thereby improving the corrosion resistance. In this work, the corrosion behavior of pure magnesium and Mg-5Sn-xY (x = 0.5, 1, 2 wt.%) were evaluated using immersion and potentiodynamic polarization tests. XRD, SEM-EDS, and EBSD have investigated the microstructure and elemental composition of the alloys. The present study is focused on elucidating the microstructure-corrosion relationship in Mg-Sn-Y alloys.

Heat Transfer Enhancement Feature of the Non-Fourier Cattaneo-Christov Heat Flux Model

Cattaneo-Christov heat flux model was proposed to remedy the weakness of the traditional Fourier heat flux model in order to maintain the finite travel time of heat. The literature is replete with numerical studies to understand the heat transfer enhancement property. The present effort is to provide a mathematical rigor and to analytically demonstrate why the new model should act towards cooling and thus, in the way of enhancing the heat transfer rate from the surfaces. The derived and presented formulae here prove this assertion through comparison with a few selected examples from the open literature.

Citizenship Education for the Fourth Industrial Revolution

This chapter explores Citizenship Education in Malaysia in the context of its current experiences as we approach the era of Fourth Industrial Revolution. As a cultural discourse, the problematic conception of citizenship is a product of social fragmentation in Malaysia. Citizenship can carry two meanings - legal and sociological. The legal simply refers to a subject’s right and duties to be recognized as a legally permanent inhabitant of a state. Secondly, the development of citizenship, understood in sociological terms, would involve a transformative process in which individuals come to see themselves as part of a wider citizen body, to which they owe obligations involving duties as well as having rights. As such, ‘citizenship’ in this chapter refers to an educational process: learning and teaching to improve or achieve the aims inherent to the legal meaning. The objective of this chapter is to pull together citizenship and education as central themes, - not legal but the sociological aspects, with the ‘nations-of-intent’ as a conceptual framework. Nevertheless, the present effort of citizenship education in Malaysia is based on a particular form of ‘nation-of-intent’ (Bangsa Malaysia). As nation-building in Malaysia is a state without a nation (and it has many nations-of-intent), the present effort does not include ideas to the nation when promoting citizenship education- the notion of ‘equality in diversity’ and not only ‘unity in diversity’. The concept of citizenship and citizenship education in Malaysia is prompting only one form of ‘nation-of intent’ available in the country, whereas, there are other nations as well, apparently. An implication of it is that the concept of citizenship and thus, nation-building in Malaysia is still fraught with confusion. The presence of plurality of ‘nations-of-intent’ in contemporary Malaysia demonstrates the fact that dissenting voices are present and heard, within and without government. To some degree, it is necessary, for the underlying reason that the identification and sense of belonging of individuals and communities themselves are fragmented, not necessarily conducive to the knowledge of national unity. Hence, in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, there is a need to clarify and explore the meaning of citizenship in diverse and democratic Malaysian as a nation-state, the multiple views of citizenship and the dimensions of citizenship education.

The Role of Occupants in Buildings’ Energy Performance Gap: Myth or Reality?

Buildings’ expected (projected, simulated) energy use frequently does not match actual observations. This is commonly referred to as the energy performance gap. As such, many factors can contribute to the disagreement between expectations and observations. These include, for instance, uncertainty about buildings’ geometry, construction, systems, and weather conditions. However, the role of occupants in the energy performance gap has recently attracted much attention. It has even been suggested that occupants are the main cause of the energy performance gap. This, in turn, has led to suggestions that better models of occupant behavior can reduce the energy performance gap. The present effort aims at the review and evaluation of the evidence for such claims. To this end, a systematic literature search was conducted and relevant publications were identified and reviewed in detail. The review entailed the categorization of the studies according to the scope and strength of the evidence for occupants’ role in the energy performance gap. Moreover, deployed calculation and monitoring methods, normalization procedures, and reported causes and magnitudes of the energy performance gap were documented and evaluated. The results suggest that the role of occupants as significant or exclusive contributors to the energy performance gap is not sufficiently substantiated by evidence.

Atrial Fibrillation Ablation: When and Why?

Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation (AF) has quickly become an alternative strategy to impact the adverse symptoms and outcomes associated with or caused by AF. Early reports in 1998 demonstrated spontaneous initiation of AF by ectopic beats originating in the Pulmonary Veins (PVs) followed rapidly by showing that Radio Frequency (RF) circumferential ablation around the orifices of the PVs could “electrically disconnect” the PVs from the Left Atria (LA). This resulted in the explosive growth utilizing this procedure for AF Ablation (AFA) across a wide demographic spectrum of recipients. Foreseeable healthy debates have surfaced as to who best benefits and who may actually suffer complications or harm from AFA utilizing present techniques. Disagreement also persists as to whether AFA fundamentally and universally reduces stroke, death, hospitalization or does it initiate a more nuanced set of outcomes. The present effort asks the simple question: Has AFA matured to the point of requisite explicative review? Is it time now to peel back the layers and identify which cohort will be optimally served by AFA and perhaps which ones need demonstration of benefit? The present brief review suggests that prudent employment of AFA must now identify disparities in the variables reflected in these cohort outcomes. This will enable judgment in the use of AFA and the achievement of optimal outcomes.

Comparative Physicochemical Evaluation of Selective Brands of Diclofenac Potassium Tablets Available in Pakistan

The purpose of present effort was to conduct physiochemical evaluation of miscellaneous commercially available diclofenac potassium 75 mg tablets in the local market of Sindh, Pakistan. Further comparison was made among their different parameters. In study seven brands tagged as RB1 to RB7 were evaluated for diameter, thickness, disintegration time, and assay content and dissolution profile. Obtained results of all brands conformed to the official standard specification for disintegration test, Assay Content. The attained release rate profile during dissolution study revealed that all brands achieved more than 80% in sixty minutes. The spectrophotometric analysis for assay content of all brands was within 90%-110% which in good agreement with specified in the Unites States Pharmacopoeia. In the current study all the assessed products could be regarded as being chemically similar, while no product is found as a false product, these all brands can be used alternatively. The used spectrophotometric evaluation is very simple, reasonable, and easy to adopt for analysis and could be used in routine analysis of diclofenac potassium tablets, particularly in the unavailability of advanced equipment’s just like HPLC, LCMS & GC etc. which is not easily available and accusable in many institutions.

County-level recruitment in online samples: Applications to COVID-19 and beyond

Thousands of readily downloadable county-level data sets offer untapped potential for linking geo-social influences to individual-level human behavior. In this study we describe a methodology for county-level sampling of online participants, allowing us to link the self-reported behavior of N = 1084 online respondents to contemporaneous county-level data on COVID-19 infection rate density. Using this approach, we show that infection rate density predicts person-level self-reported face mask wearing beyond multiple other demographic and attitudinal covariates. Using the present effort as a demonstration project, we describe the underlying sampling methodology and discuss the wider range of potential applications.

The impact of language contact in a bilingual translation class

This effort focuses exclusively on the realization of the phenomenon of language contact and the impact it has on the language behavior of users. Each two languages, or more, by one way or another may get into a contact situation when they are alternately used by the same person. Among the situations where both languages would be exposed to contact that of the translation class covered by this study. The present effort highlights the example of French and Arabic languages used alternatively by university level translator-learners, specifically by third year students. After having shown the aspects of bilingualism related to the subject, and following a corpus elaborated to trace the source of the problem, being the realization of the contact of languages in the class concerned, we notice that the phenomenon is actually realized and that negative impacts are seen in the production of the translator-students as to the translating activity. In this respect, all the gaps in the pedagogical situation are identified and effective solutions are therefore proposed in order to cope with the linguistic problems which hinder any progress made by the translator-students. It is a matter of establishing measures to avoid, or at least reduce, the negative impact resulting from the meeting of two different linguistic systems, which affects the performance of translators in the process of learning.

“Hiding In Plain Sight” Chronic Kidney Disease and Potential Consequences of the Proinflammatory State: Hemodialysis Catheter-Related Masses

Multiple observational and experimental data support that chronic kidney disease (CKD) represents a “proinflammatory” state. These findings link this disordered inflammation and immunity to increased adverse cardiovascular (CV) events present in CKD through their role in atherosclerosis, but mechanisms of activation, recruitment and propagation remain unclear. Accordingly, the present effort reviewed the common use of indwelling hemodialysis catheters as a potential inflammatory trigger and immuno-amplifying variable. Hemodialysis intravenous catheters are routinely used to provide essential functional vascular access for patients requiring emergent or urgent hemodialysis. Numerous observations report that even within hours to days after insertion, a fibrin-thrombin-cellular matrix often forms around the catheter. This catheter associated “biomass” is so common it is usually thought to be clinically silent. But intravenous masses attached, or sheared off at catheter removal or remaining even after catheter explantation are recognized to provoke embolic and direct hemodynamic-related injury. Perhaps less recognized is that their formation, size and growth may be mechanistically linked to the heightened vascular immuno-reactivity found in CKD. Thus, vascular catheter placement or the associated reactive fibrin-thrombin-cellular matrix (or both) may directly contribute to pathologic CV immune-responsiveness in hemodialysis patients.