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The implementation of stable, accurate, and wideband second-order microwave integrators (SOMIs) is presented in this paper. These designs of SOMIs are obtained by using different combinations of transmission line sections and shunt stubs in cascading. Particle swarm optimization (PSO), cuckoo search algorithm (CSA), and gravitational search algorithm (GSA) are applied to obtain the optimal values of the characteristic impedances of these line elements to approximate the magnitude response of ideal second-order integrator (SOI). The performance measure criteria for the proposed SOMIs are carried out based on magnitude response, absolute magnitude error, phase response, convergence rate, pole-zero plot, and improvement graph. The simulation results and statistical analysis demonstrate that GSA surpasses the PSO and CSA to approximate the ideal SOI in all state-of-the-art, that is eligible for wide-band microwave integrator. The designed SOMI is compact in size and suitable to cover microwave applications. The magnitude errors for the proposed SOMIs GSA based are as low as 4.9954 and 3.6573, respectively. The structure of the designed SOMI is implemented in the form of microstrip line on RT/Duroid substrate with dielectric constant 2.2 and having height 0.762 mm. The simulated and measured magnitude result agrees well with the ideal one in the frequency range of 3–15 GHz.

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Introduction: Breastfeeding success depends on both mother and child. There is high energy requirement to produce breast milk, which is wholesome food for under 6 months children and then complementary foods are introduced to child. Inadequate feeding practices affect nutritional status of children. The main aim of this study was to measure the dietary practices of lactating women and nutritional status of their children.Material and Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among 343 lactating women and under two years children of Baglung district. Random sampling technique was applied to select the participants. Face to face interview was conducted among women to collect the data and anthropometric measurement was performed among the children. Data were entered in EPI-DATA version 3.2 and exported to Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 17.0) for further analysis.Results: Only 5.2% of mother had taken additional two meals per day and energy intake of 31.8% of women was met. Dietary practices of mothers were not associated with nutritional status of children. Breastfeeding practice was nearly universal (99.7%). Bulks (91.8%) of children were put into breast for breast feeding within first hour of birth. Exclusive breastfeeding rate was 34.5%. Bottle feeding was practiced by 15.6% of women. Less than half (40%) of 6-23 months children (n=174) had achieved satisfactory feeding practice (minimum meal frequency and minimum dietary diversity). The rate of wasting (n=180), stunting (n=180) and underweight (n=343) was 10%, 22.2% and 9.3% respectively. Feeding practice to children was associated with wasting and stunting.Conclusion: Dietary practice of women and feeding practice to their children was not satisfactory. Dietary practice of women was not associated with nutritional status of children but feeding practice was associated with their nutritional status. The rate of stunting, wasting and underweight was high.