A novel DSP‐based PFC‐DPLL with fuzzy controlled acquisition aid to improve acquisition performance and noise immunity

This paper proposes a new digital signal processing (DSP)‐based phase frequency controlled digital phase locked loop. Here, a very simplistic form of fuzzy logic controller with the help of carrier phase and frequency error as input data is used to provide an acquisition aid. A frequency discriminator is employed to generate frequency error, and phase detector output is taken for phase error. This addition of an acquisition aid helps the loop to achieve the minimum acquisition time and maximum noise rejection simultaneously. An additional phase control in the digitally controlled oscillator makes the loop perform even better towards this goal. The implementation of the proposed loop is carried out on a reconfigurable logic platform using System Generator^®;, a tool from Xilinx^®; used to design real‐time DSP application. A significant improvement of time domain characteristics are observed as well as the performance in presence of additive white Gaussian noise is demonstrated in terms of the reduction in steady‐state phase jitter and enhancement in output signal to noise ratio in the proposed loop. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mechanical and tribological behavior of alumina and alumina‐CNT reinforced hybrid unsaturated polyester composites

Micro‐ and nano‐scale wear behavior of alumina vis‐á‐vis alumina‐carbon nanotube‐reinforced hybrid composites has been studied. In comparison to the pristine alumina, the alumina‐carbon nanotube hybrid reinforcement resulted in reduced scratch depth and lower frictional coefficient. Addition of carbon nanotube has effectively modified the pristine alumina into a superior wear resistant filler. POLYM. COMPOS., 37:1577–1586, 2016. © 2014 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Assessment of groundwater depletion–induced land subsidence and characterisation of damaging cracks on houses: a case study in Mohali-Chandigarh area,India

Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment - The present study identified groundwater depletion–induced land subsidence by spaceborne differential interferometric SAR (DInSAR)...     

Variational Bayes Based Multiuser Detection for On–Off Random Access Channels

This paper considers on–off random access channels where the users transmit either a one or a zero to a base station or fusion center, and it is assumed that only a small fraction of users are active during any channel use. Under these assumptions, the problem of identifying the active users reduces to that of recovering a sparse binary vector from noisy random linear measurements. A hierarchical Bayesian approach is proposed in this paper to recover the set of active users. A fast approximate Bayesian inference based on Variational Bayes (VB) is then developed. Extensive simulation results are then provided to compare the performance of the proposed VB based Bayesian MUD approach to sparse estimation techniques such as OMP and LASSO. It is observed that the proposed approach is robust to variations in noise as well as sparsity levels. Further, for a given BER performance, the proposed approach requires substantially smaller dimensional codes as compared to OMP and LASSO, thus improving the spectral efficiency.     

Synthesis,aggregation and adsorption behaviour of a thermoresponsive pentablock copolymer

Poly(ethylene oxide)–poly(propylene oxide)–poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO–PPO–PEO) triblock copolymer (Pluronic F127) was modified by introducing poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) at both the PEO ends, and the pentablock copolymer (PNIPAM₄₁–F127–PNIPAM₄₁, PN41) so prepared was characterized using gel permeation chromatography and ¹H NMR spectroscopy. The degree of polymerization of NIPAM blocks at the two ends was 41. The solution behaviour and microstructure of PN41 aggregates in water were examined using UV–visible spectroscopy, micro‐differential scanning calorimetry and small‐angle neutron scattering (SANS) and compared with F127. Two lower critical solution temperatures (LCSTs) were observed for the pentablock copolymer, corresponding to PPO and PNIPAM blocks, respectively. The adsorption of PN41 on thiol‐grafted hydrophobic gold surfaces at various temperatures was investigated using a quartz crystal microbalance. It was found that the adsorption behaviour and mechanism of PN41 were mainly determined by the interactions of the pentablock copolymers with different chain conformations in dilute aqueous solutions at various temperatures. SANS measurements were used to determine the temperature‐dependent structural evolution of polymer micelles in aqueous solution. A NOESY study revealed that above the LSCT of PNIPAM, the interaction of PPO and PNIPAM protons increases and the distance between PPO and PNIPAM decreases. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry     

Design and Engineering of Open Weave Jute Soil Saver for Potential Application in the Field of Soil Erosion Control and Hill Slope Management

Out of several natural agents causing extensive damages to roads, landslides can claim to be a major destroyer. There are several causes for landslides such as hazardous ground conditions, landform configuration adversities, occasionally occurring natural physical forces and anthropogenic impact on the environment. In such vulnerable situations the top soil on hill slopes get disintegrated due to intensive precipitation or shaking due to tremors and eventually flows down rapidly down the slope. The situation deserves the search for a biocover which can reduce the velocity of overland flow and entrap detached soil particles thereby controlling top soil loss. Jute Geotextile (JGT) if properly designed can fulfill the said criteria besides facilitating growth of vegetation. This paper discusses optimization of property parameters of open weave Jute Geotextile in tune with different parameters of design concerning protection of hill slope along with comparative analysis of the results of different tests on one hand and determination of tolerance limit of the prime property parameters of the developed JGT samples, on the other, which have been employed in different case studies to prove their potentiality and technoeconomic viability.     

Systematic Control of the Orientation of Organic Phosphorescent Pt Complexes in Thin Films for Increased Optical Outcoupling

Orienting light‐emitting molecules relative to the substrate is an effective method to enhance the optical outcoupling of organic light‐emitting devices. Platinum(II) phosphorescent complexes enable facile control of the molecular alignment due to their planar structures. Here, the orientation of Pt(II) complexes during the growth of emissive layers is controlled by two different methods: modifying the molecular structure and using structural templating. Molecules whose structures are modified by adjusting the diketonate ligand of the Pt complex, dibenzo‐(f,h)quinoxaline Pt dipivaloylmethane, (dbx)Pt(dpm), show an ≈20% increased fraction of horizontally aligned transition dipole moments compared to (dbx)Pt(dpm) doped into a 4,4′‐bis(N‐carbazolyl)‐1,1′‐biphenyl, CBP, host. Alternatively, a template composed of highly ordered 3,4,9,10‐perylenetetracarboxylic dianhydride monolayers is predeposited to drive the alignment of a subsequently deposited emissive layer comprising (2,3,7,8,12,13,17,18‐octaethyl)‐21H,23H‐porphyrinplatinum(II) doped into triindolotriazine. This results in a 60% increase in horizontally aligned transition dipole moments compared to the film deposited in the absence of the template. The findings provide a systematic route for controlling molecular alignment during layer growth, and ultimately to increase the optical outcoupling in organic light‐emitting diodes.     

Separation of acid–water mixtures by pervaporation using nanoparticle filled mixed matrix copolymer membranes

BACKGROUND: Low energy and less expensive membrane based separation of acetic acid‐water mixtures would be a better alternative to conventional separation processes. However, suitable acid resistant membranes are still lacking. Thus, the objective of the present study was to develop mixed matrix membrane (MMM) which would allow high flux and water selectivity over a wide range of feed concentrations of acid in water. RESULTS: Three MMMs, namely PANBA0.5, PANBA1.5 and PANBA3 were made by emulsion copolymerization of acrylonitrile (AN) and butyl acrylate (BA) with 5.5:1 comonomer ratio and in situ incorporation of 0.5, 1.5 and 3 wt%, sodium montmorilonite (Na‐MMT) nanofillers, respectively. For a feed concentration of 99.5 wt% of acid in water the membranes show good permeation flux (2.61, 3.19, 3.97 kg m^?2 h^?1 µm^?1, for PANBA0.5, PANBA1.5 and PANBA3 membrane, respectively) and very high separation factors for water (1473, 1370, 1292 for PANBA0.5, PANBA1.5 and PANBA3 membrane, respectively) at 30 °C. Similarly for a dilute acid–water solution, i.e. for 71.6 wt% acid the membrane showed a very high thickness normalize flux (8.67, 9.44, 11.56 kg m^?2 h^?1 µm^?1, for PANBA0.5, PANBA1.5 and PANBA3 membrane, respectively) and good water selectivity (101.7, 95.3, 79 for PANBA0.5, PANBA1.5 and PANBA3 membrane, respectively) at the same feed temperature. The permeation ratio, permeability, diffusion coefficient and activation energy for permeation of the membranes were also estimated. CONCLUSION: Unlike most of the reported membranes, the present MMMs allowed high flux and selectivity over a wide range of feed concentrations. These membranes may also be effective for separating other similar organic‐water mixtures. Copyright © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry