Phase separation in immiscible silver–copper alloy thin films

Far from equilibrium, immiscible nanocrystalline Ag–Cu alloy thin films of nominal composition Ag–40 at.% Cu have been deposited by co-sputter deposition. Both X-ray and electron diffraction studies indicate that the as-deposited films largely consist of nanocrystalline grains of a single alloyed face-centered cubic (fcc) phase. However, detailed three-dimensional atom probe tomography studies on the same films give direct evidence of a nanoscale phase separation within the columnar grains of the as-deposited Ag–Cu films. Subsequent annealing of these films at 200 °C leads to two effects; a more pronounced nanoscale separation of the Ag and Cu phases, as well as the early stages of recrystallization leading to the breakdown of the columnar grain morphology. Finally, annealing at a higher temperature of 390 °C for a long period of time leads to complete recrystallization, grain coarsening, and a complete phase separation into fcc Cu and fcc Ag phases.     

Ergonomics in the hoeing operation

The hoeing operation is extensively required in farm tasks, such as seed-bed preparations, cutting root crops, etc. In seven male farmers (age: 27.4 ± 5.9 years), using two types of hoes (A&B), the physiological and biomechanical strains were evaluated, and hoeing speeds in low lift (LL) and high lift (HL) work were optimized. The heart rates (161–176 beats/min) and VO₂ demands (71–89% VO_2max) indicated extremely heavy work loads. Hoe A (blade-handle angle: 65°) was less strenuous in LL, while Hoe B (blade-handle angle: 87°) was better in HL work. During the hoeing sequence, the torque and compressive forces at the L5-S1 disc increased with the trunk inclination, up to about 65°; beyond 55° inclination, the torque at the L5-S1 disc exceeded the upper limit (135 Nm) allowed for a day's work. The work output was optimized equating at 50% VO_2max, i.e, stroke rate: 53 and 21 strokes/min; weight of soil dug: 123 and 54 kg/min, and area of soil dug: 1.34 and 0.33 sq.m./min in LL and HL work respectively. In general, farmers are suggested to adopt the LL mode of hoeing; with a 10 min work to 7 min rest ratio, the 8 h work output was derived as 400 to 450 sq.m. A hoe, weighing about 2 kg, having blade-handle angle 65 to 70°, blade length 25 to 30 cm, blade width 22 to 24 cm, handle length 70 to 75 cm, and the handle diameter 3 to 4 cm may be suitable for different modes of hoeing.     

T-cell receptor-mediated signal transduction in transformed human T-cells

Carbonated apatite (dahllite) is formed within and between collagen fibrils in the mineralization of connective tissues. However, the mechanism of crystal nucleation at these sites has not been resolved. To identify non-collagenous proteins that may be involved in the nucleation process we have utilized a dissociative extraction procedure to isolate proteins associated non-covalently with the de-mineralized collagen matrix of dentine isolated from tooth roots of adult porcine incisors. Following extraction of dentine fragments with 4M GuHCl (G1-extract) and 0.5M EDTA (E-extract), de-mineralized collagen matrix-associated proteins were isolated with a second series of extractions with 4M GuHCl (G2-extract). Analysis of the G2-extracts on SDS-PAGE revealed two major 32 kDa and 24 kDa protein bands, comprising > 80% of the extracted non-collagenous proteins. The 32 kDa protein was purified by FPLC on hydroxyapatite and Mono Q resins, followed by HPLC reverse-phase chromatography. Small amounts of 26 kDa and 6 kDa proteins, which appear to represent proteolytically processed, disulphide-linked fragments of the 32 kDa protein, co-eluted with the major protein. The 32 kDa protein was identified as lysyl oxidase from amino acid sequence analysis of a 13 kDa CNBr peptide obtained from protein purified by preparative electrophoresis on SDS-PAGE. Fractionation of the 24 kDa protein on FPLC Mono Q resin generated < 5 closely eluting protein peaks. The proteins from these peaks were similar in size, staining properties, amino acid composition and CNBr digestion patterns. Each protein was immunoreactive with antibodies raised against a tyrosine-rich acidic matrix protein (TRAMP), reported previously to co-purify with lysyl oxidase. These studies, therefore, show that lysyl oxidase, which is important in collagen cross-link formation, and proteins with properties of TRAMP, a protein that can modulate collagen fibrillogenesis, are the major proteins in dissociative extracts of de-mineralized porcine dentine.     

Alprazolam in chronic tension type headache

Alprazolam was evaluated in the treatment of 62 patients of chronic tension type headache using a double blind cross over design with random allocation to drug or placebo. The duration of the trial was 4 months with a 2 week run in period and 2 week washout period separating two treatment periods of 4 weeks each. The patients were followed up for 4 weeks at the completion of the trial. 48 patients completed the trial. There was no significant difference in the overall response rate based in terms of percentage reduction in headache frequency per week, however a significant decrease in headache index was observed during treatment with alprazolam as compared to placebo (P < 0.05). The mean analgesic intake per week was also significantly lower during treatment with alprazolam as compared to the run in period. Side effects were seen in 16.67% patients. In none of the patients was it significant enough to require withdrawal from the study.     

Effect of probe size on heat transfer at the wall in circulating fluidized beds

An experimental investigation was made to study the effect of vertical probe height on heat transfer at the wall in circulating fluidized beds. Experiments were conducted in a 100 mm internal diameter, 5.15 m tall circulating fluidized bed. Four probes having 85, 127.5, 170 and 255 mm heights were tested. Heat transfer measurements covered a range of superficial velocity from 7.2 to 12.5 m/s and a range of suspension density from 25 to 68 kg/m³. The results were compared with those of other investigators. An empirical correlation incorporating the dimensionless probe height and the particle Nusselt number and Reynolds number has been suggested.     

Thermal and dielectric properties of rare earth iodates

The thermal (TGA, DTA and DSC) and dielectric behaviour of all rare earth iodates (except prometheum) has been investigated. The iodates of lanthanum, cerium to europium and gadolinium to lutetium decompose differently and the activation energies for these decomposition reactions have been determined. The DSC measurements have shown that all of the anhydrous iodates undergo one or more exothermic/endothermic changes. From the nature of the DSC profiles, heat of transitions, and powder diffraction data the phase transformations of Ln (IO₃)₃ have been found to occur in four different ways (lanthanum, cerium to europium, gadolinium to terbium, dysprosium to lutetium). Dielectric measurements of Ln (IO₃)₃ at varying temperature have corroborated the observations made with DSC studies. Relatively low dielectric constants of the high-temperature phases probably indicate their centrosymmetric structures. The dielectric behaviour of noncentrosymmetric Ln (IO₃)₃·H₂O (Ln=cerium to samarium) has been investigated in the temperature range 30 to –160° C. They have high dielectric constants (_r, ~ 1800 to 2400) at the ambient temperature and do not show significant change in the entire temperature range of investigation.     

Effects of thermal contact resistance on film growth rate in a horizontal MOCVD reactor

Effects of thermal contact resistance between heater and susceptor, susceptor and graphite board in a MOCVD reactor on temperature distribution and film growth rate were analyzed. One-dimensional thermal resistance model considering thermal contact resistance and heat transfer area was made up at first to find the temperature drop at the surface of graphite board. This one-dimensional model predicted the temperature drop of 18K at the board surface. Temperature distribution of a reactor wall from the three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics analysis including the gap at the wafer position showed the temperature drop of 20K. Film growth rates of InP and GaAs were predicted using computational fluid dynamics technique with chemical reaction model. Temperature distribution from the three-dimensional heat transfer calculation was used as a thermal boundary condition to the film growth rate simulations. Temperature drop due to the thermal contact resistance affected to the GaAs film growth a little but not to the InP film growth.     

An efficient Boolean based multi-secret image sharing scheme

The purpose of this paper is to develop an algorithm for sharing k secret images to n participants in such a way that each participant gets a single share image by encoding all k images. Any qualified subgroup of t : t ≤ n of those n participants can reconstruct the k_ith secret image only by combining their share images if they are qualified to reconstruct the k_ith secret image. Most of the existing literature solves this problem for the cases where t =?2 or t = n making it a very restrictive scheme. In this article, we aim to design a multi-secret image sharing scheme based on XOR operation where t is not restricted to be 2 or n. We have used n random matrices of the same size as the secret image size as private share to generate r (where r is the number of qualified subgroups) share images as public share using XOR operations. The proposed scheme is computationally lightweight and lossless due to XOR operation only. It does not involve any pixel expansion. The experimental results with a very low correlation coefficient between share and secret images confirm that share image does not reveal anything about secret image. The scheme is secure against differential attack as a higher value of Number of Changing Pixel rate (NPCR) confirms that. The current proposal is based on a general access structure, and hence any secret image can be reconstructed by a qualified group of t or more shares where t need not be 2 or n only.

     

Power saving through state retention in IGZO‐TFT AMOLED displays for wearable applications

We present a qHD (960 × 540 with three sub‐pixels) top‐emitting active‐matrix organic light‐emitting diode display with a 340‐ppi resolution using a self‐aligned IGZO thin‐film transistor backplane on polyimide foil with a humidity barrier. The back plane process flow is based on a seven‐layer photolithography process with a CD = 4 μm. We implement a 2T1C pixel engine and use a commercial source driver IC made for low‐temperature polycrystalline silicon. By using an IGZO thin‐film transistor and leveraging the extremely low off current, we can switch off the power to the source and gate driver while maintaining the image unchanged for several minutes. We demonstrate that, depending on the image content, low‐refresh operation yields reduction in power consumption of up to 50% compared with normal (continuous) operation. We show that with the further increase in resolution, the power saving through state retention will be even more significant.     

Functionalization of styrene–butadiene rubber with meta‐pentadecenyl phenol for better processing: A multifunctional additive and renewable resource

Meta‐pentadecenyl phenol, a nonisoprenoid phenolic lipid, is a renewable agricultural resource and also a byproduct of the cashew industry; it is popularly known as cardanol. This study throws light on the grafting of cardanol, which has been established as a multifunctional additive for natural rubber, onto the main‐chain backbone of styrene–butadiene rubber (SBR), a synthetic polymer used to imbibe the multifunctional properties of the former, such as those of a plasticizer, curing promoter, process aid, and antioxidant, into the latter. The grafting was carried out in the solution stage on a trial basis with a peroxide catalyst, and all of the grafting parameters were optimized with a Taguchi methodology. The grafting of cardanol onto the SBR backbone was successfully confirmed by UV–visible spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and NMR analysis. Thermal analysis of the cardanol‐grafted styrene–butadiene rubber (C‐g‐SBR) revealed a higher thermal stability and better plasticizing effect than that those found in the virgin SBR. The rheological properties of the grafted rubber indicated the improvement of the pseudo‐plastic (shear‐thinning) nature compared to that in gum SBR. The unfilled C‐g‐SBR vulcanizates exhibited physicomechanical properties comparable to 5‐phr processing‐oil‐containing SBR [oil‐plasticized styrene–butadiene rubber (OPSBR)] vulcanizates. The carbon‐black‐filled C‐g‐SBR vulcanizates exhibited improved plasticization, a faster curing rate, easy processability, and better physicomechanical properties compared to the 5‐phr OPSBR vulcanizates. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017 , 134, 45150.