5Previously we revealed that the high toughness of double network hydrogels (DN gels) derives from the internal fracture of the brittle network during deformation, which dissipates energy as sacrificial bonds. In this study, we intend to elucidate the detailed internal fracture process of DN gels. We quantitatively analysed the tensile hysteresis and re-swelling behaviour of a DN gel that shows a well-defined necking and strain hardening, and obtained the following new findings: 1) Fracture of the 1 st network PAMPS 10 starts far below the yielding strain, and 90% of the initially load-bearing PAMPS chains already breaks at the necking point.2) The dominant internal fracture process occurs in the necking and hardening region although the softening mainly occurs before necking.3) The internal fracture efficiency is very high, 85% of the work is used for the internal fracture and 9% of all PAMPS chains break at sample failure. 4) The internal fracture is anisotropic, fracture occurs preferentially perpendicular to the tensile direction than 15 other two directions, but the fracture anisotropy decreases in the hardening region. Result 1) and 2) is in agreement with a hierarchical structural model of PAMPS network. Based on these findings, we present a revised description of the fracture process of DN gels.

Tough double network (DN) hydrogels are a kind of interpenetrating network (IPN) gels with a contrasting structure; it consists of a rigid and brittle 1 st network with dilute, densely cross-linked short chains and a soft and ductile 2 nd network with concentrated, loosely cross-linked long chains. In this work, we focus on how the brittle gel changes into a tough one by increasing the amount of ductile component. By comparing the molecular structures of the individual first network and second network gels, we found that the true key factor that controls the brittleductile transition is the density of elastically effective polymer strands of the two networks, and . When / < 1, the second network fractures right after the fracture of the first network, and the gels are brittle. When / > 1, only the first network fractures. As a result, the brittle first network serves as sacrificial bonds, imparting toughness of DN gels. This result provides essential information to design tough materials based on the double network concept.3

Background In countries where the proportion of births attended by skilled providers is low, maternal mortality is high. According to the 2016 EDHS report, the proportion of births attended by skilled providers was only 26% and the maternal mortality ratio was 412 per 100,000 live-births. Disrespectful and abusive behavior of health workers and other facility staff experienced by women during facility-based childbirth is important, but the little-understood barrier of institutional delivery. Objective This study assessed the prevalence of disrespect and abuse experienced by mothers during facility-based childbirth and associated factors. Methods A facility based cross-sectional study was undertaken from October to December 2016. Data were collected by face-to-face interview using a structured questionnaire from 290 mothers consecutively included in the study immediately prior to discharge from the hospital. Reports of disrespect and abuse during childbirth were measured using 23 performance indicators. Data were entered into EpiData and analyzed by SPSS; bivariate and multivariable binary logistic regression analyses were performed to identify factors associated with disrespect and abuse. Result Three-fourths ( 217,[74.8%]) of participants were Muslim. Nearly half (142,[49%]) had a primary level of education. Most (232,[80%]) were housewives and 175(60.3%) were from outside Jimma town. The prevalence of disrespect and abuse during childbirth was 91.7% (266/290; 95%CI:0.879,0.946). The most common types of disrespect and abuse reported were culturally inappropriate care (218,[75.2%]), failure to encourage the client to ask questions (220,[75.9%]), the provider not introducing him/herself (232,[80.0%]), failure to obtain consent/permission prior to any procedure (185,[63.8%]) and not using curtains/visual barriers to protect client (237,[81.7%]). Being non-married [95%CI:(0.009,0.222), ≥para-II [95%CI:(0.093,0.862)] and being attended by female care provider [95%CI:(0.026,0.224)] were associated with the reduced chance of reporting disrespect and abuse. However, achieving ≥secondary education [95%CI:(1.028,10.272)] was associated with a higher chance of reporting disrespect and abuse. Conclusion The very high prevalence of abuse or disrespect during facility-based delivery shows a health system in crisis. A key implication of this finding is that efforts to increase facility-based delivery must address disrespect and abuse to ensure higher utilization by women. Making facility-based deliveries attended by female providers may reduce the problem.

Background Euphorbia hirta linn., is a species of Euphorbiaceae family. They are known as asthma plant, barokhervi. The plant E. hirta is famous for its medicinal importance among the tribal population. It is a common practice to use the whole to heal wounds. Several pharmacological properties including antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, antidibetic, antispasmodic, antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, anticonvulsant, nootropic, antifertility and aphrodisiac properties have already been reported for this plant. The aim of present work was to evaluate the wound healing property in diabetic animals by oral and topical administration of ethanolic extract of E. hirta whole plant.MethodsThe ethanolic extract of E. hirta was subjected to determine the total phenolic content and total flavonoid content using galic acid and quercetin, respectively as standard. A single injection of alloxan monohydrate (120 mg/kg, i.p.) prepared in normal saline was administered to produce diabetes in rats, after overnight fasting. For analyzing the rate of contraction of wound, excision wounds sized 4.90cm2 and of 2 mm depth were used. Oral (100, 200 and 400 mg/kg/day; p.o.) and topical treatment with the extract (5% and 10% ointment 50 mg/kg/day) and standard (5% povidone iodine ointment 50 mg/kg/day) was started on the day of induction of wound and continued up to 16 days. The means of wound area measurement between groups at different time intervals were compared using ANOVA and Dunnet’s test. The diabetic wound healing mechanism was studied by measuring the plasma level of glucose, malondialdehyde (MDA) and nitric oxide (NO) in both control and treated groups. For the confirmation of activity, histopathology of the wounds tissues from excision wound model was performed.ResultsPhytochemical investigations showed the presence of various phytoconstituents (carbohydrates, saponins, alkaloids, glycosides, steroids, flavonoids, tannins). In the ethanolic extract of E. hirta the total phenol content was 285 ± 3.22 mg/g whereas the total flavonoid content was 118.46 ± 1.85 mg/g. In the present study, E. hirta caused significant wound closer both orally (35.92%, 44.69% and 61.42% at the doses of 100, 200 and 400, respectively) and topically (32.86% and 36.32% at the doses of 5% and 10%) treated groups as compared to diabetic control. However, the orally treated groups showed more significant effect than the topically treated groups. Moreover, oral administration of E. hirta ethanolic extract significantly reduced the blood glucose levels in diabetic wound rats (p < 0.01) on day 8 and day 16 as compared to the diabetic wound control (p < 0.01). On the other hand, topical application of E. hirta did not influence the blood glucose levels in diabetic rats (p > 0.05). It also demonstrated a significant decrease in the plasma levels of lipid malondialdehyde and nitric oxide. The results of biochemical parameters were further supported by the histopathological changes of different organs (liver, pancrease, kidney, heart and skin from wound area) which ...

Most people-centric delay tolerant networks have been shown to exhibit power-law behavior. Analysis of the temporal connectivity graph of such networks reveals the existence of hubs, a fraction of the nodes, which are collectively connected to the rest of the nodes. In this paper, we propose a novel forwarding strategy called HubCode, which seeks to use the hubs as message relays. The hubs employ random linear network coding to encode multiple messages addressed to the same destination, thus reducing the forwarding overheads. Further, the use of the hubs as relays ensures that most messages are delivered to the destinations. Two versions of HubCode are presented, with each scheme exhibiting contrasting behavior in terms of the computational costs and routing overheads. We formulate a mathematical model for message delivery delay and present a closed-form expression for the same. We validate our model and demonstrate the efficacy of our solutions in comparison with other forwarding schemes by simulating a large-scale vehicular delay tolerant network using empirically collected movement traces of a city-wide public transport network. Under pragmatic assumptions, which account for short contact durations between nodes, our schemes outperform comparable strategies by more than 20%.