Maximum power density for an endoreversible carnot heat engine

An analysis using maximum power-density criteria has been carried out for an endoreversible Carnot heat engine. The results have been compared with known results on maximum power analysis. The design parameters at maximum power density lead to smaller and more efficient endoreversible Carnot heat engines than those working at maximum power output.     

Some pharmacologic and toxicologic studies on Rhazya stricta decne in rats, mice and rabbits

1. This work examines some in vivo and in vitro pharmacologic and toxicologic effects of extracts of Rhazya stricta, a medicinal plant in the United Arab Emirates. 2. R. stricta extracts at doses of 0.1-10 mg reduced the mean arterial blood pressure (MBP) of anesthetized rats in a dose-dependent manner. The depressor effect was partially sensitive to atropine (5 microM). Although the MBP was reduced by 50% by both doses of extracts, the normal electrocardiogram pattern and the heart rate remained unaltered. 3. Acute treatment of rats with the lyophilized extract at doses of 4 g/kg produced a significant rise in insulin concentration. In streptozotocin-diabetic rats loaded orally with glucose (1 g/kg), R. stricta at doses of 8 g/kg produced significant decreases in plasma glucose concentration at 0.5 and 1 h after treatment. 4. Chronic treatment of rats and mice for 28 days with the lyophilized extract of R. stricta did not affect the plasma glucose or insulin concentration or any of the hematological or biochemical indices measured. 5. The extracts of R. stricta (0.5-4 g/kg) dose-dependently decreased the gastrointestinal transit time in mice by 4-50%. 6. The butanolic extract of R. stricta (1 and 2 g/kg) significantly reduced the carrageenan-induced increase in raw paw edema 3 and 4 h after the extract administration. 7. The rectal temperatures of normothermic and pyrexic rats were reduced significantly 0.5 and 1 h after administration of butanolic R. stricta at doses of 1 and 2 g/kg. 8. The butanolic extract of R. stricta at doses of 1 and 2 g/kg significantly increased the reaction time on the hot plate 30 and 60 min after administration to rats. 9. At concentration < 0.05 mg/ml (bath concentration), lyophilized water and butanol extracts of R. stricta potentiated the twitch responses induced by indirect electrical stimulation in the rat phrenic nerve diaphragm preparation. The responses were inhibited by concentrations > 0.05 mg/ml. Neostigmine (2 x 10(-4)M) did not alter these effects of the extracts. 10. R. stricta extracts dose-dependently decreased the force of contraction and heart rate of the isolated rabbit heart. Atropine (1 x 10(-5)M) had no effect on the inhibitory activity of these extracts. The lyophilized water extract (> 10 mg) and butanol extract (> 5 mg) produced irreversible inhibition and disturbances in the force of contraction and heart rate.     

Handover signalling for microcellular environments

A new strategy for routing handover signalling in microcellular environments is proposed. Simulation results show that time delay for handover packets travelling across the fixed network could be reduced by diverting the signalling through the air interface between the serving and the candidate base station (BS)     

Validity of dynamic electrochemical impedance spectra of some amine corrosion inhibitors in petroleum/water corrosive mixtures by Kramers-Kronig transformation

In our previous works, the corrosion inhibition properties of propylamine (PA), iso-propylamine (i-PA), butylamine (BA), tert-butylamine (t-BA), hexylamine (HA), ethylenediamine (EDA), diethanolamine (DEA), 3-amino-1-propanol (3-AP), 2-dimethylethanolamine (2-DEA), cyclohexylamine (CHA), N-methylcyclohexylamine (N-MCA) and dicyclohexylamine (DCHA) have been investigated by means of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) with a carbon steel rotating disc electrode in some petroleum/water corrosive mixtures containing acetic acid and NaCl at 25 °C. In this work, the Kramers-Kronig transformations (KKTs) were applied to evaluate the validity of the impedance data of these amine compounds in hydrodynamic condition. The results obtained showed that experimental impedance data did not satisfy in K-K relations completely viz. indicated some errors. These errors were related to stray capacitances, external transmission line effects, pits formation and change in interface during data acquisition at high and low frequencies regions. In addition, the selection of a suitable equivalent circuit strongly emphasized to better interpret of EIS data which in turn cause better resulted KKTs spectra. With considering obtained transformations, more effective inhibitor was selected with regard to its charge transfer resistance, the corrosion capacitance and well satisfying in K-K relations.     

Low-loss high power RF switching using multifinger AlGaN/GaN MOSHFETs

We demonstrate a novel RF switch based on a multifinger AlGaN/GaN MOSHFET. Record high saturation current and breakdown voltage, extremely low gate leakage current and low gate capacitance of the III-N MOSHFETs make them excellent active elements for RF switching. Using a single element test circuit with 1-mm wide multifinger MOSHFET we achieved 0.27 dB insertion loss and more than 40 dB isolation. These parameters can be further improved by impedance matching and by using submicron gate devices. The maximum switching power extrapolated from the results for 1A/mm 100 /spl mu/m wide device exceeds 40 W for a 1-mm wide 2-A/mm MOSHFET.     

Effect of variable friction coefficient on sheet metal drawing

A variable friction model that relates the parameters of sheet metal drawing to the local lubrication conditions taking place during the deformation, has been integrated to a finite element program. Variable friction coefficients for the contacting surfaces are determined from the friction model, which uses the related parameters obtained at each time step of the finite element program as inputs. A number of numerical runs have been performed and the strains are compared with the experimental results for circular blanks. A good agreement is obtained between the numerical and experimental results for the variable friction model used.     

Rapid determination of the fracture toughness of metallic materials using circumferentially notched bars

Three types of material whose fracture toughness tests were previously performed by using circumferentially notched bars, namely (1) a dual-phase steel with three different morphologies; (2) an Al-Zn-Mg-Cu-wrought alloy; and (3) Al-Si-cast alloys with three different Si contents, were investigated in terms of accuracy and reliability of the testing method. Also, the advantages of using circumferentially notched bars for fracture toughness determination of metallic materials were discussed. With the help of stress concentration factors, which are associated with the bluntness of the notch, correction factors for the fracture toughness calculations are derived. The corrected fracture toughness values are found to be close to the uncorrected ones, implying that the testing procedure is reliable.     

Unified full wave solutions to interpret Apollo lunar surface data

Bistatic radar experiments carried out by Tyler and Howard during the Apollo 14, 15, and 16 missions provide a very useful dataset with which to compare theoretical models and experimental data. Vesecky et al. (1988) report that their model for near grazing angles compares favorably to experimental data. However, for angles of incidence around 80°, all the analytical models considered by Vesecky et al. predict values for the quasi-specular cross sections that are about half the corresponding values taken from the Apollo 16 data. In this work, questions raised by this discrepancy between the reported analytical and experimental results are addressed. The unified full wave solutions are shown to be in good agreement with the bistatic radar data taken during Apollo 14 and 16 missions. Using the full wave approach, the quasi-specular contributions to the scattered field from the large scale surface roughness as well as the diffuse Bragg-like scattering from the small scale surface roughness are accounted for in a unified self-consistent manner. Since the full wave computer codes for the scattering cross sections contain ground truth data only, it is shown how it can be readily used to predict the rough surface parameters, based on the measured data