Built-up battened columns under lateral cyclic loading

Built-up members with battens designed for typical 2–2.5% of axial load may not behave satisfactorily in the presence of lateral seismic loads. Analytical evaluation of double-channel battened cantilever members designed as per the current practice, and subjected to constant axial compressive load and gradually increasing lateral load showed that the members failed to reach their expected flexural capacity due to lateral instability. The design of members was modified by changing the configuration of battens in the expected plastic-hinge region, i.e., reducing the spacing of battens in end panel by half, and designing battens for a shear demand due to moment capacity of section. The members with battens designed for moment capacity could able to reach the expected flexural strength. Five half-scale test specimens of battened members designed as per the current practice and improved design method were subjected to axial load and gradually increasing cyclic load. The specimens designed as per improved design method showed excellent performance in terms of lateral strength, lateral stiffness, moment rotation characteristics and energy dissipation capacity.     

Low temperature coefficient and low line sensitivity subthreshold curvature-compensated voltage reference

A high-order curvature-compensated subthreshold voltage reference is proposed in this paper. The proposed curvature-compensated voltage reference consists of two supply-independent first-order voltage references and a curvature compensation circuit. The supply-independent first-order voltage reference uses a negative feedback loop which improves the line sensitivity and eliminates the demand of operational amplifier, whereas the curvature compensation circuit provides high-order temperature-compensated output reference voltage. The proposed curvature-compensated voltage reference provides an output reference voltage of 118.54 mV with a temperature coefficient of 21.5 ppm/°C over a wide temperature range of −60°C to 120°C . The power supply rejection ratio and line sensitivity are observed as −68.64 dB (for the frequency range of 1 Hz to 100 Hz) and 0.035%/V (for the supply voltage varies from 0.85 V to 2.5 V), respectively. The values of output noise at the frequencies of 1 kHz and 10 kHz without using any capacitive filter are obtained as 179.13 nV/ √ Hz and 123.87 nV/ √ Hz , respectively.     

New grounded and floating memristor emulators using OTA and CDBA

In this paper, grounded and floating decremental/incremental memristor emulators have been proposed by using an operational transconductance amplifier (OTA), current differencing buffered amplifier (CDBA), and a grounded capacitor. The proposed memristor emulators are simpler in design over most of the realizations of memristor emulators available in the literature. The proposed configurations of grounded and floating decremental memristor emulators can be easily converted into grounded and floating incremental memristor emulators. The pinched hysteresis loops obtained from proposed memristor emulators are maintained up to 1-MHz frequency in both decremental and incremental configurations. Simulation results have been obtained using a Mentor Graphics Eldo simulation tool in 0.18-μm complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology parameters. Analog filters have also been designed to verify the performance of proposed grounded and floating memristor emulators.     

Evaluation of physiological and biochemical responses of two rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivars to ambient air pollution using open top chambers at a rural site in India

Air pollutant concentrations are rising in India, causing potential threats to crop production. As air pollutants are known to interfere with physiological processes, this study was conducted to assess the relative responses of physiological and biochemical characteristics of two cultivars of rice (Oryza sativa L. cv. Saurabh 950 and NDR 97) leading to variable yield responses. Twelve hour monitoring of ambient concentrations of SO₂, NO₂ and O₃ in filtered chambers (FCs), non-filtered chambers (NFCs) and open plots (OPs) showed that O₃ was the main pollutant at the experimental site. Ozone concentrations often exceeded 40 ppb during anthesis but not during the vegetative growth period. Photosynthetic rate (Ps), stomatal conductance (g_s) and Fv/Fm ratio, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD) activities and photosynthetic pigments, ascorbic acid, total phenolics and protein contents were assessed at different developmental stages and yield of grains were quantified. Lipid peroxidation, SOD and POD activities, ascorbic acid and total phenolics were higher, whereas Ps, g_s, Fv/Fm ratio and contents of protein and photosynthetic pigment were lower in plants of NFCs as compared to FCs. Yield decreased significantly in both cultivars grown in NFCs. NDR 97 showed less reductions in physiological characteristics, photosynthetic pigments and protein, but a greater increase in the antioxidative defense system as compared to Saurabh 950. Yield reduction was higher in NDR 97 than in Saurabh 950. This suggested that NDR 97 utilized more photosynthate in maintaining the metabolic machinery against O₃ stress leading to lower translocation of photosynthate to reproductive parts. The study concluded that under natural field conditions, physiological and biochemical responses of plants varied with pollutant concentrations leading to different translocation strategies in plants, modifying their yield responses. NDR 97, a fast growing and high yielding cultivar was more sensitive than slow growing Saurabh 950.     

LIBS-an efficient approach for the determination of Cr in industrial wastewater

In the present paper, LIB spectra of different water samples having varying concentration of Cr (certified reference material, CRM) have been recorded by using liquid jet (fabricated in our laboratory) configuration. Calibration curves for different atomic lines of Cr are compared and it is found that calibration curve for Cr II (283.5 nm) atomic line is the best in terms of the Limit of detection (LOD) which is found to be 30 ppm. This calibration curve has been used for quantification of Cr in wastewater collected from Cr-electroplating industry where the concentration of Cr is found to be 1500 ppm. Its removal can be planned by biological system, which is in progress.     

Evaluation of equilibrium constants for deprotonation and lactonisation of α-D-isosaccharinic acid

A great deal of disagreement exists in the literature regarding the intrinsic deprotonation and lactonisation constants of α-D-isosaccharinic acid (ISA). Based on a combination of nuclear magnetic resonance and interpretations using the specific ion interaction theory (SIT) of extensive experimental Ca(ISA)₂(cr) solubility data involving α-D-isosaccharinic acid, the reliable value of log₁₀ K° for [HISA(aq) ISA^? + H⁺] is ?3.27 ± 0.01 and for [HISA(aq) ISL(α-D-isosaccharinate-1,4-lactone)(aq) + H₂O] is 0.49 ± 0.09. These data also provide log₁₀ K° of ?3.76 ± 0.09 for the reaction [ISL(aq) + H₂O ISA^? + H⁺] and ?3.88 ± 0.09 for the composite reaction [HISA(aq) + ISL(aq) ISA^? + H⁺]. Reinterpretation of extensive Ca(ISA)₂(cr) solubility data using the SIT activity coefficient model provides log₁₀ K° of ?6.40 ± 0.09 for [Ca(ISA)₂(cr) Ca²⁺ + 2(ISA)^?] and of 1.70 ± 0.09 for [Ca²⁺ + ISA^? CaISA⁺] which are consistent with all of the available values.     

Thermally aware performance analysis of single-walled carbon nanotube bundle as VLSI interconnects

A comparative performance analysis in terms of delay, power dissipation, power delay product (PDP), and crosstalk noise between SWCNT bundle interconnects with resistance estimated using conventionally (temperature independent model), and thermally aware model is investigated. The results are also compared with those of currently used copper interconnects at 22 nm technology node. It is observed that, with rise in temperature from 300 to 500 K, SWCNT bundles have a lower delay than that of copper interconnect at different lengths from 100 to \(1000\,\upmu \hbox {m}\) whereas reverse is true for power dissipation. The SPICE simulation results further reveal that for temperature variations ranging from 300 to 500 K, compared to conventional metal (copper) conductors, crosstalk noise voltage levels (positive peaks) in capacitively coupled SWCNT bundle, at the far end of victim line, are significantly low. Moreover, a relative average improvement in delay, power, and PDP using a thermally aware model in comparison with a temperature independent model is about 22.44, 7.59 and 31.96 %, respectively, with length variations from 100 to \(1000\,\upmu \hbox {m}\), whereas for varied tube diameter is about 16.6, 5.6 and 19.72 %, respectively. The average relative improvement in the time duration reduction of victim output, for varied tube diameters, is about 21.7 % by using a thermally-aware model instead of a temperature-independent model of an SWCNT bundle resistance.     

Sequence-specific DNA cleavage by Fe2+-mediated fenton reactions has possible biological implications

Preferential cleavage sites have been determined for Fe2+/H2O2-mediated oxidations of DNA. In 50 mM H2O2, preferential cleavages occurred at the nucleoside 5' to each of the dG moieties in the sequence RGGG, a sequence found in a majority of telomere repeats. Within a plasmid containing a (TTAGGG)81 human telomere insert, 7-fold more strand breakage occurred in the restriction fragment with the insert than in a similar-sized control fragment. This result implies that telomeric DNA could protect coding DNA from oxidative damage and might also link oxidative damage and iron load to telomere shortening and aging. In micromolar H2O2, preferential cleavage occurred at the thymidine within the sequence RTGR, a sequence frequently found to be required in promoters for normal responses of many procaryotic and eucaryotic genes to iron or oxygen stress. Computer modeling of the interaction of Fe2+ with RTGR in B-DNA suggests that due to steric hindrance with the thymine methyl, Fe2+ associates in a specific manner with the thymine flipped out from the base stack so as to allow an octahedrally-oriented coordination of the Fe2+ with the three purine N7 residues. Fe2+-dependent changes in NMR spectra of duplex oligonucleotides containing ATGA versus those containing AUGA or A5mCGA were consistent with this model.