Experimental investigation of injection timing on the performance and exhaust emissions of a rubber seed oil blend fuel in constant speed diesel engine

An experimental study is conducted to evaluate the use of rubber seed oil with diesel at a proportion of 20% by volume (RSO20) in a constant speed (1500?rpm) direct injected four-stroke air-cooled single-cylinder compression ignition engine at different injection timings (24°, 27°, 30°, 33° bTDC (before top dead centre)). A series of tests were conducted at various engine load conditions at the rated power of 5.9?kW. The injection pressure was maintained at 200?bar. As a result of investigations, at the full load condition, the brake thermal efficiency of RSO20 at 30° bTDC is high compared with other injection timings and brake energy fuel consumption is increased when advancing injection timing. There is a significant reduction in unburned hydrocarbon emission and carbon monoxide emission, and the oxides of nitrogen emission (NO_x) is increased when advancing the injection timing.     

An Effective Approach on Attaining Enhanced Silicon Solar Cell Performance Through Sputter Deposited Perovskite Thin Films

Silicon - Antireflection coatings (ARCs) have become one of the key techniques for mass production of Si solar cells. They are generally performed by vacuum processes such as thermal evaporation,...     

A new fluoride mediated synthesis of mesoporous silica and their usefulness in controlled delivery of duloxetine hydrochloride a serotonin re-uptake inhibitor

A new type of mesoporous silica nanoparticle (MSN) was synthesized in fluoride media via sol–gel technique using TritonX 100 and Tween-20. The surface area and pore volume of the MSN particles were modified by varying the concentration of Tween-20. The prepared MSN nanoparticles with large surface area and pore volume (T-2, T-3) were selected to accommodate the model drug duloxetine hydrochloride (DX) for evaluation of their drug-loading and release abilities. Calcined and DX loaded nanoparticles were characterized by Brunauer–Emmett–Teller technique (BET), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetric (TG) analysis and UV-diffuse reflectance (UV-DRS). In vitro release studies proved that the particle displays an initial burst release followed by sustained release for up to 140 h. From the studies it is evident that the synthesized particle may be useful as a carrier for sustained release of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).     

Effect of modified MWCNT on the properties of PPO/LCP blend

In this work we have coated multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) with SiC by solgel process and these modified MWCNTs are dispersed in PPO/LCP blend. The dispersion of these modified MWCNTs are analyzed by FESEM and found to be improved compared to pure MWCNTs. Thermal and mechanical properties of the modified MWCNTs added nanocomposites are higher than that of the pure MWCNTs added nanocomposites. PPO/LCP forms an incompatible blend while addition of unmodified and modified MWCNTs improves the compatibility between the blend partners.     

Effect of various processing techniques on digestibility of starch in Red kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) and two varieties of peas (Pisum sativum)

The effect of common domestic processing methods, such as splitting, soaking, boiling and pressure-cooking on the nutritionally significant starch fractions such as rapidly and slowly digestible starches (RDS and SDS), resistant starch (RS) and total starch (TS) in two legumes, Red kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) and Yellow and Green peas (Pisum sativum) were studied. The legumes had comparatively high amount (>30%, dry basis) of RS. Soaking of all legumes resulted in reduced starch fractions, possibly due to leaching of soluble fractions. Ordinary cooking of soaked as well as unsoaked seeds led to a significant (P < 0.01) decrease in RS and increase in RDS, SDS and TS. Pressure-cooking led to even greater reduction in RS and a greater increase in RDS. Cooking of legumes gelatinizes the starch and opens up the starch structure which makes them vulnerable to α-amylase hydrolysis. Splitting of legumes markedly affects the digestibility as well as RS content of raw as well as processed legumes indicating that the seed coat plays a key role in the digestibility of starches in these seeds. Overall, the enzyme resistant starch fraction of legumes was rendered more digestible by all the domestic cooking methods used.     

Effective Suppression of Conducted Electro Magnetic Interference in DC-DC Boost Converter Using Field Programmable Gate Array Based Chaotic Pulse Width Modulation Switching

Abstract—In recent years, electro-magnetic interference on DC-DC converters is seen as serious problem as it limits the capability of the DC-DC converter. It is popular to use analog circuits to suppress electro-magnetic interference; however, a cheap analog circuit suffers from numerous drawbacks, including inaccurate pulse generation, carrier frequency limitation, and degraded performance due to aging. Conversely, high-performance digital circuits are capable of providing accurate pulses compared to analog circuits. In this article, a field-programmable gate array is used to generate accurate chaotic pulse-width modulation pulses for DC-DC converters. A spread spectrum technique based on randomized carrier frequency modulation with fixed duty ratio is proposed for gating pulse generation, implemented using a field-programmable gate array for electro-magnetic interference suppression. A hardware prototype is built in the laboratory for the proposed method and tested. The performance of the proposed method estimated through simulation study is validated via experimental results.     

Synthesis and characterization of poly(amideimide)s from 4-(p-carboxyphenoxy)phthalic anhydride and 4-(p-carboxybenzoyl)phthalic anhydride

A series of poly(amideimide)s were prepared by the reaction of two new anhydride acidchloride monomers with aromatic diamines. 4-(p-Carboxyphenoxy)phthalic anhydride was synthesized by nucleophilic displacement reaction of N-methyl-4-nitrophthalimide with p-hydroxybenzoic acid, followed by hydrolysis. The tricarboxylic acid was converted to the corresponding anhydride acidchloride. 4-(p-Carboxybenzoyl)phthalic anhydride was synthesized by Friedel–Craft's acylation of toluene with N-phenylphthalimide-4-carbonylchloride, which was then converted to anhydride acidchloride of 4-(p-carboxybenzoyl)phthalic acid. The monomers were characterized by IR and NMR. Several PAI were prepared by the reaction of these anhydride acidchloride monomers with aromatic diamines. The inherent viscosities of the polymers were in the range of 0.42–0.58 dL/g. All polymers were soluble in polar aprotic solvents. The polymers showed good thermal stability and T_g values were in the range of 226–269 °C. X-Ray diffractograms of polymers indicate amorphous nature of these polymers.     

HYDROSOL DEPOSITION IN GRANULAR BEDS—AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

Experiments were conducted to study the deposition of particles from suspensions flowing through packed beds. The experimental data obtained include both the initial and transient state particle collection. The initial collection efficiencies were compared with predictions based on existing theories. Agreement between experiments and predictions was generally good except for the case when significant repulsive force barrier exists between filter grains and particles. The transient state data obtained under the presence of unfavorable surface interactions show a steady decline in collection efficiency with time, which cannot be reconciled with any existing theories.     

DWAM — A WAM model extension for disjunctive logic programming

Answering queries in disjunctive logic programming requires the use of ancestry-resolution. The resulting complication makes it difficult to implement a Prolog-type query answering procedure for disjunctive logic programs. However, SLO-resolution provides a mechanism which is similar to SLD-resolution and hence offers a solution to this problem. The Warren Abstract Machine has been a very effective model for implementing Prolog. In this paper, we extend the WAM model of Prolog and adapt it for DISLOG — a language for disjunctive logic programming. We describe the extensions and additional instructions needed to make WAM viable for modeling and executing DISLOG. The extension is made in such a way that the original architecture is not disturbed and a Prolog program will execute as efficiently as it does in the original WAM.This work was done while the author was at the University of Kentucky.     

Urinary tract injuries during obstetric intervention

A retrospective case record review of obstetric urinary tract injury in the Grampian region from 1976 to 1993 identified 16 cases of bladder injury (0.1 per 1000 deliveries, 1.4 per 1000 caesarean sections and four cases of ureteric injury (0.03 per 1000 deliveries, 0.27 per 1000 caesarean sections). Diagnosis of bladder injury was immediate, but of ureteric injury often delayed. Although the injury rates are lower than previously reported and previously reported risk factors not confirmed, this audit has resulted in guidelines for junior staff, compliance with which will be monitored, and every case of urinary tract injury will be reviewed.