Impact of bounded delay on throughput in multi-hop networks

This paper presents a closed form solution relating to the impact of bounded delays on throughput in multi-hop networks. In contrast to contemporary literature that largely focuses on average delay to estimate the Quality of Service, our model focuses on an upper bound of delay, referred to as delay threshold in this paper. Traffic that exceeds the delay threshold is treated as lost throughput. The results obtained can be used in scaling resources in a multi-hop network for attaining specified levels of throughput under different thresholds of acceptable delays. Both single-hop and multi-hop transfers are addressed. The theoretical analysis presented in this paper is further corroborated by simulation. The findings presented in this paper will be very relevant to multi-hop network applications where received data that are older than a specified threshold period are not relevant and must be discarded.     

A fluctuation-based characterization of athermal phase transitions: Application to shape memory alloys

We employ a fluctuation-based technique to investigate the athermal component associated with martensite phase transition, which is a prototype of temperature-driven structural transformation. Statistically, when the phase transition is purely athermal, we find that the temporal sequence of avalanches under constant drive is insensitive to the drive rate. We have used fluctuations in electrical resistivity or “noise” in nickel titanium shape memory alloys in three different forms: a thin film exhibiting well-defined transition temperatures, a highly disordered film, and a bulk wire of rectangular cross-section. Noise is studied in the realm of dynamic transition, viz., while the temperature is being ramped, which probes into the kinetics of the transformation at real time scales, and could probably stand out as a promising tool for material testing in various other systems, including nanoscale devices.     

Different phenomenological theories and their abilities to describe the interdiffusion process in a binary system during multiphase growth

There are essentially two different phenomenological models available to describe the interdiffusion process in binary systems in the solid state. The first of these, which is used more frequently, is based on the theory of flux partitioning. The second model, developed much more recently, uses the theory of dissociation and reaction. Although the theory of flux partitioning has been widely used, we found that this theory does not account for the mobility of both species and therefore is not suitable for use in most interdiffusion systems. We have first modified this theory to take into account the mobility of both species and then further extended it to develop relations for the integrated diffusion coefficient and the ratio of diffusivities of the species. The versatility of these two different models is examined in the Co–Si system with respect to different end-member compositions. From our analysis, we found that the applicability of the theory of flux partitioning is rather limited but the theory of dissociation and reaction can be used in any binary system.     

Kinetic analysis of gluconic acid production by Pseudomonas ovalis

A simple growth model is proposed on the basis of the reaction scheme for the conversion of glucose to gluconic acid. The model considers the combined effects of both glucose and oxygen substrates. Kinetic analysis of the system has been made. Computer solution of the equations proposed are obtained and the adequacy of the models confirmed.     

Turbulent natural convection heat transfer from a vertical plate to the power-law fluid at high prandtl numbers

A simple analytical technique for turbulent natural convection heat transfer from an isothermal vertical plate to a power-law fluid is developed. The model is based on the assumption that the turbulent heat transfer rate is controlled by the flow characteristic near the surface in the limit of large Prandtl numbers. The formulation proposed in this work agrees well with the correlations available in the literature.     

<Emphasis Type=Bold>Analysis of Spatio-temporal Characteristics and Regional Frequency of Droughts in the Southern Peninsula of India</Emphasis>

A detailed regional drought study is carried out in the southern peninsula of India to characterize the spatio-temporal nature of droughts and to predict the drought magnitudes for various probabilities in the homogeneous drought regions. The method of several random initializations of the cluster centres of the K-means algorithm is suggested for the identification of the initial regions in the context of drought regionalization, which is shown to perform better than the initialization from the Ward’s algorithm and the Ward’s algorithm itself. The peninsula is classified into seven spatially well-separated homogeneous drought regions. The robust L-moment framework is used for the regional frequency analysis of drought magnitudes computed using the standardized precipitation index. The Pearson type III is found to be appropriate for regional drought frequency analysis in six of the regions, while the robust Wakeby distribution is suggested for one region. Low magnitude droughts are frequent and dominant in the northern part of west coast, the north-eastern coast and its adjoining inland region, while high magnitude droughts are less in number and are experienced in semi-arid central part, southern part of western coast, south-eastern part and north-western inland region. The spatial maps of drought magnitudes indicate that at higher return periods (100 and 200 years) the south-eastern part of the peninsula is likely to encounter high magnitude droughts, while the central region is likely to experience the same at lower return periods (10 and 50 years). Hence these regions need to be given special importance in the drought mitigation planning activities.     

Oxidation of oleanolic acid ofAvicennia officinalis leaves to oleanonic acid in the natural environment of Sunderban mangrove ecosystem

Oleanolic acid, a major component pentacyclic triterpene in the leaves ofAvicennia officinalis was found to be oxidized to oleanonic acid in the natural environment of Sunderban mangrove forest.Presented in part at the All India Symposium on Marine Plants, held on Oct. 30–Nov. 1,1983 at National Institute of Oceanography Dona Paula, Goa India.     

The effect of temperature and moisture on the rheology of black coal-oil suspensions

Rheological properties of black coal-KC220 oil suspensions have been investigated using a Contraves rheometer over a temperature and coal volume fraction range of 18–200°C and 0.247-0.385, respectively. The suspensions behaved as Newtonian fluids. Variation of viscosity with temperature does not follow any regular trend and peak viscosity values occur in the temperature range of 80–140°C for dry coal and 70–130°C for moist coal, depending upon the concentrations of coal in the suspension. Freshly prepared suspensions of moist coal exhibit viscosity peaks at a temperature lower than that of the corresponding suspension with dry coal. However, when aged, the suspensions of moist coal exhibit very small peak viscosity and follow an Arrhenius type behavior. For both dry and moist coal, the maximum volume fraction, ?_m, continues to decrease with an increase in temperature.     

Relationships Between Satellite Observed Lit Area and Water Footprints

Global water resources are vulnerable to depletion due to the increasing demand of an ever-increasing human population. A country’s water footprint is a measure of the total volume of water needed to produce the goods and services consumed by the country, including water originating beyond its own borders. The water footprint can be a critical indicator of global water resource use, but its practical application is hindered by a lack of comparable data across national boundaries. The purpose of this article is to test the applicability of the nighttime imagery products produced by the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program’s Operational Linescan System (DMSP-OLS) for the assessment of the global water footprint. To accomplish this purpose, the average areal extent of nighttime lighting (lit area) is calculated from 1997 to 2001. Next, lit area is regressed on the total water footprint for each country, as indicated by the Water Footprint Network (WFN), to estimate that country’s total water footprint using nighttime imagery. Model residuals are analyzed at the national scale to understand the appropriateness of nighttime imagery for assessing water consumption. Results indicate strong positive correlations between lit area and total water footprint (TWF), domestic water withdrawal (DWW), and industrial water consumption (IWC) at the national scale. Overall, the analyses reveal that the rate of agricultural water consumption to total water footprint (AWCR) and population density can affect the precision of estimates when lit area is selected as a proxy to estimate water footprints.