Studies on the synthesis of SAPO-5

Silicoaluminophosphate (SAPO-5) molecular sieves have been synthesised from reaction mixtures having a molar composition of: 0.7–1.0 Al₂O₃:0.7–1.0 P₂O₅:0.01–2.0 SiO₂:xR:40 H₂O (where R = (C₂H₃)₃N or (C₂H₃)₄NOH and x = 1.5–2.5 for (C₂H₅)⁵N and 0.5 for (C₂H₅)₄NOH, at 473 K using various sources of alumina and silica. The effects of (i) varying the crystallinity of the alumina source (boehmite) and (ii) the use of different silica sources such as freshly prepared silica either from sodium silicate or paddy husk extract, silica gel from commercial water-glass, and tetraethyl orthosilicate have been studied. The crystallinity of boehmite has been found to have a strong effect on its reactivity towards the formation of SAPO-5. The activity of boehmite for SAPO-5 formation increased with a decrease in its crystallinity (or with increase in its moisture content). Any silica source devoid of sodium ions could be employed for the synthesis of SAPO-5. The process of crystallisation started as early as within 1.5 h of reaction and incorporation of silicon into the AlPO₄ framework has been noted at this stage. Formation of some tridymite phase as impurity has been observed under conditions such as (i) SiO₂ concentration > 1.7 mole and (ii) x > 2.0 when R = (C²H₅)₃N.     

On the microhardness testing of electrically stressed poly(phenylene oxide): Polystyrene blends

Microhardness measurements have been performed on untreated (virgin) and electrically stressed, solvent‐cast laboratory‐prepared samples of pure poly(phenylene oxide) (PPO), pure polystyrene (PS), and PPO : PS polyblends with different weight proportions. Results of such measurement on untreated polyblend sample show that microhardness (H_v) increases with increase in the content of PS up to 10 wt %, which attributed to the existence of homogeneous phase morphology. However, this feature is not observable in samples containing higher content of PS. Electrical stress is found to modify considerably the mechanical property of polymer. The effect of electric field on the microhardness of such samples (PPO : PS :: 90 : 10) has been characterized by the existence of a peak. Trapping of charge carriers in electrically stressed samples imparts hardening to the polyblend up to an applied step field of 190 kV/cm. However, the excessive charging beyond this step field value destroys this characteristic. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008     

Semiflexible random thermotropic copolymers from 8‐(3‐hydroxy phenyl) octanoic acid and 3‐chloro‐4‐hydroxy benzoic acid/3,5‐dibromo‐4‐hydroxy benzoic acid

Two series of semiflexible random thermotropic copolymers containing 8‐(3‐hydroxy phenyl) octanoic acid (HPOA) with either 3‐chloro‐4‐hydroxy benzoic acid or 3,5‐dibromo‐4‐hydroxy benzoic acid were prepared by melt polycondensation techniques. The copolyesters were characterized with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, dilute solution viscometry, hot‐stage polarized light microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis, and wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction. Studies revealed that the amount of HPOA as a disruptor incorporated into the backbone of substituted 4‐hydroxy benzoic acids had a detrimental effect on the liquid‐crystalline behavior. Mesophase‐transition temperatures were observed between 210 and 250°C, and the optical textures were of typical nematic phases. The degree of crystallinity decreased with an increase in the HPOA content. The thermal stability of the copolymers was in the range of 310–370°C. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 2008     

Effective bandwidth of general Markovian traffic sources andadmission control of high speed networks

A prime instrument for controlling congestion in a high-speed network is admission control, which limits calls and guarantees a grade of service determined by delay and loss probability in the multiplexer. It is shown that for general Markovian traffic sources it is possible to assign a notional effective bandwidth to each source that is an explicitly identified, simply computed quantity with provably correct properties in the natural asymptotic regime of small loss probabilities. It is the maximal real eigenvalue of a matrix that is directly obtained from the source characteristics and the admission criterion, and for several sources it is simply additive. Both fluid and point process models are considered. Numerical results show that the acceptance set for heterogeneous classes of sources is closely approximated and conservatively bounded by the set obtained from the effective bandwidth approximation. The bandwidth-reducing properties of the leaky bucket regulator are exhibited numerically     

Phase Transformation Introduced by Mechanical and Chemical Surface Preparations of Tetragonal Zirconia Polycrystals

Cutting of Y₂O₃-doped TZP rods by a low-speed diamond saw introduces an unidentified, metastable phase X (x -ZrO₂) coexisting with the tetragonal ( t -ZrO₂) and the monoclinic ( m -ZrO₂) phases initially present in the sample. Further mechanical deformation of the cut surface by indentation or polishing sustains the x -ZrO₂. Chemical etching removes the x -ZrO₂ and increases the m -ZrO₂content.     

Isolation of Shigella dysenteriae serotypes 11, 12, and 13 from patients with diarrhea in Bangladesh

Nine isolates of bacteria biochemically resembling Shigella dysenteriae but not belonging to the 10 recognized serotypes were isolated from patients with diarrhea in Bangladesh. Further studies suggested that two, one, and six isolates belonged to the recently recognized S. dysenteriae serotypes 11, 12, and 13, respectively.     

Optimizing the Runoff Estimation with HEC-HMS Model Using Spatial Evapotranspiration by the SEBS Model

Most of the commonly used hydrological models do not account for the actual evapotranspiration (ETa) as a key contributor to water loss in semi-arid/arid regions. In this study, the HEC-HMS (Hydrologic Engineering Center Hydrologic Modeling System) model was calibrated, modified, and its performance in simulating runoff resulting from short-duration rainfall events was evaluated. The model modifications included integrating spatially distributed ETa, calculated using the surface energy balance system (SEBS), into the model. Evaluating the model’s performance in simulating runoff showed that the default HEC-HMS model underestimated the runoff with root mean squared error (RMSE) of 0.14 m³/s (R²?=?0.92) while incorporating SEBS ETa into the model reduced RMSE to 0.01 m³/s (R²?=?0.99). The integration of HECHMS and SEBS resulted in smaller and more realistic latent heat flux estimates translated into a lower water loss rate and a higher magnitude of runoff simulated by the HECHMS model. The difference between runoff simulations using the default and modified model translated into an average of 95,000 m³ runoff per rainfall event (equal to seasonal water requirement of ten-hectare winter wheat) that could be planned and triggered for agricultural purposes, flood harvesting, and groundwater recharge in the region. The effect of ETa on the simulated runoff volume is expected to be more pronounced during high evaporative demand periods, longer rainfall events, and larger catchments. The outcome of this study signifies the importance of implementing accurate estimates of evapotranspiration into a hydrological model.

     

An FEC scheme combined with weighted scheduling to reduce multicast packet loss in IPTV over PON

Congestion is one of the most important challenges in optical networks. In a Passive Optical Network (PON), the Optical Line Terminal (OLT) is a bottleneck and congestion prone. In this paper, a framework is proposed with Forward Error Correction (FEC) at the IP layer combined with Weighted Round Robin (WRR) at the scheduling level to overcome packet-loss due to congestion in the OLT in order to achieve efficient video multicasting over PON. In the FEC scheme, Reed-Solomon (RS(n,k)) with erasure coding is used, where (n−k) erroneous symbols per n symbol blocks can be corrected. In our framework, an Internet Protocol TeleVision (IPTV) service provider uses the mentioned RS coding and generates redundant packets from regular IPTV packets in such a way that an Optical Network Unit (ONU) can recover lost packets from received packets, thus resulting in a better video quality. Simulation results show that using the proposed framework, an ONU can recover many lost packets and achieve better video quality under different traffic loads for its users. For instance, the proposed method can reduce packet loss rate by almost 55% and 10% under traffic load 0.9, respectively, compared with the Round Robin (RR) and WRR methods under symmetric traffic load. When High Receivers Queue (HRQ) traffic (i.e., traffic received by many users) is twice Low Receivers Queue (LRQ) traffic (i.e., traffic received by a small number of users), this reduction is almost 86% and 30% under traffic load 0.9. Finally, when LRQ traffic is twice HRQ traffic, the reduction in packet loss rate is almost 70% and 91% at traffic load 0.5.