The Worst Page-Replacement Policy

In this paper, we consider the following question: what is the worst possible page-replacement strategy? Our goal is to devise an online strategy that has the highest possible fraction of page faults as compared to the worst offline strategy. We show that there is no deterministic, online page-replacement strategy that is competitive with the worst offline strategy. We give a randomized strategy based on the “most-recently-used” heuristic and show that this strategy is the worst possible online page-replacement strategy.     

Fast b.c.d./binary adder/subtractor

A binary-coded-decimal adder/subtractor is proposed that uses the carry-look-ahead technique, resulting in a significant increase in speed. With slight modification, it is possible to use it for binary operation as well.     

Microwave processing of electroceramic materials and devices

Microwave synthesis of nano-sized BaTiO₃ and decrystallized titania, and microwave sintering of electroceramics including BaTiO₃, Ba(Zn_1/3Ta_2/3)O₃ (BZT), lead zirconate–titanate (i.e. Pb(Zr _x Ti_1?x )O₃, or PZT), etc., as well as multilayer ceramic capacitors based on X7R, C0G, and ferrite multilayer chip inductors are presented. The results indicate that microwave processing significantly accelerated synthesis and sintering kinetics. As a result, processing time can be saved up to 90%, with the product properties comparable to or better than that of the conventional products.     

Ultra Low-Dose Radiation: Stress Responses and Impacts Using Rice as a Grass Model

We report molecular changes in leaves of rice plants (Oryza sativa L. - reference crop plant and grass model) exposed to ultra low-dose ionizing radiation, first using contaminated soil from the exclusion zone around Chernobyl reactor site. Results revealed induction of stress-related marker genes (Northern blot) and secondary metabolites (LC-MS/MS) in irradiated leaf segments over appropriate control. Second, employing the same in vitro model system, we replicated results of the first experiment using in-house fabricated sources of ultra low-dose gamma (γ) rays and selected marker genes by RT-PCR. Results suggest the usefulness of the rice model in studying ultra low-dose radiation response/s.     

Simultaneous Chemical Vapor Deposition of Boron Nitride and Aluminum Nitride

Two chemically different phases, hexagonal BN and AIN, were simultaneously produced by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) using an impinging jet reactor and the BCl₃─AlCl₃─NH₃─Ar reagent system. The microstructure of the BN + AIN composite coatings was strongly dependent on temperature, pressure, and BCl₃ and AlCl₃ concentrations. The growth characteristics of BN and AIN in the codeposition system were similar to those expected from the single-phase deposition processes (i.e., BN-CVD and AIN-CVD), except the growth of AIN whiskers was accentuated, and competition between BN and AIN deposition in the composites was suspected to be the cause of less-crystalline deposits. In both BN + AIN-CVD and AIN-CVD, the growth of AIN whiskers became more apparent with increasing pressure or temperature. The codeposition behavior observed experimentally was compared with thermodynamic predictions.     

Improvement of Crystallinity of KZr2P3O12 by Sol-Gel Synthesis

The X-ray diffraction pattern for potassium-zirconium phosphate is significantly improved when the material is prepared by the sol-gel route rather than the powder method. Peaks at high, low, and intermediate angles are presented and compared for the two methods. It is assumed that the more nearly homogeneous mixing of the elements in the sol-gel process is responsible for the significant improvement in crystallinity.     

Iron, folate, and vitamin B12 stores among pregnant women in a rural area of Haryana State, India

BACKGROUND: Iron, folate, and vitamin B12 deficiencies have adverse effects on pregnancy outcome. In India, data on the concomitant prevalence of these deficiencies among pregnant women are meager. OBJECTIVE: We conducted a community-based study to assess the prevalence of deficiencies of iron, folate, and vitamin B12 among pregnant women in a rural block of Haryana State. METHODS: The study was approved by the ethics committee of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. A total of 283 pregnant women were enrolled in the study. After oral informed consent had been obtained from the women, blood was drawn from the antecubital vein for estimation of the levels of serum ferritin by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (levels < 12 ng/ mL were considered as indicative of poor iron stores); serum folate was determined by radioimmunoassay (levels <3 ng/mL were considered as indicative of poor folate stores); and serum vitamin B12 was estimated by the microbiologic method (levels < 200 pg/mL were considered as indicative of poor vitamin B12 stores). RESULTS: The results indicated that 67.7%, 26.3%, and 74.1% of the women had poor iron, folate, and vitamin B12 stores, respectively. Concomitant deficiencies of iron, folate, and vitamin B12 occurred in 16.2% of the women. We found that 59.9% of the women were consuming less than 75% of the recommended daily caloric allowance (2175 kcal), indicating an overall poor food intake. This could be one of the predominant reasons for poor iron, folate, and vitamin B12 stores among the women. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that apart from iron and folate, vitamin B12 deficiencies may play an important role in causing anemia.     

Evapotranspiration Modeling Using Different Tree Based Ensembled Machine Learning Algorithm

Water Resources Management - The present study investigates and evaluate the scope and potential of modern computing tools and techniques such as ensembled machine learning methods in estimating...     

Temperature measurements in steady axisymmetric partially premixed flames by use of rainbow schlieren deflectometry

We focus on the utility of rainbow schlieren as a tool for measuring the temperature of axisymmetric partially premixed flames (PPFs). Methane-air PPFs are established on a coannular burner. The flames involve two spatially distinct reaction zones, one in an inner premixed region that has a curved tip and a spatially planar wing portion and another that involves an outer nonpremixed zone in which intermediate species burn in air. Schlieren images are found to visualize clearly these PPF characteristics through light deflection by steep refractive-index gradients in the two reaction zone fronts. The temperature distributions of two flames established at fuel-rich mixture equivalence ratios of phi(r) = 1.5 and 2.0, with bulk-averaged velocities, Vreac = 60 cm s(-1) and Vair = 50 cm s(-1), are inferred from color schlieren images, and a measurement error analysis is performed. Errors arise from two sources. One lies in the process of inferring the temperature from the refractive-index measurement by making assumptions regarding the local composition of the flame. We have shown through simulations that the average temperature deviations due to these assumptions are 1.7% for the phi(r) = 1.5 flame and 2.3% for the phi(r) = 2.0 flame. Another source involves the local uncertainty in the measurement of the transverse ray displacement at the filter plane that is used to determine the refractive index and thereafter the flame temperature. We have ascertained that a maximum error of 4.3% in the temperature determination can be attributed to this local measurement uncertainty. This investigation demonstrates the capability of the schlieren technique for providing not only qualitative displays of the PPFs but also full-field-of-view temperature measurements that are accurate, spatially resolved, and nonintrusive.