Challenges and Developments in Secure Routing Protocols for Healthcare in WBAN: A Comparative Analysis

Wireless Personal Communications - The rise in life expectancy of humans, COVID-19 pandemic and growing cost of medical services has brought up huge challenges for the government and healthcare...     

Localization of region of interest in surveillance scene

Multimedia Tools and Applications - In this paper, we present a method for autonomously detecting and extracting region(s)-of-interest (ROI) from surveillance videos using trajectory-based...     

On the Microstructure and Wear Behavior of Fe–xCr–4Mn–3C Hardfacing Alloys

The present paper describes an investigation aimed at evaluating the microstructural and dry sliding adhesive wear characteristics of Fe–xCr–4Mn–3C hardfacing alloys applied through shielded metal arc welding. The effect of chromium addition on the microstructure of hardfacings was carried out by using optical microscope, field emission scanning electron microscope and X-ray mapping. Dry sliding wear tests were performed on a pin-on-disc wear tribometer. From the experimental results, it was observed that the primary carbides were refined and increased with the increase of chromium content. The morphology of carbides revealed that the primary carbides were rod shaped. The increased chromium content was also found to be beneficial to enhance hardness and wear resistance of hardfacings. The correlation between hardness and wear resistance exhibited the reliability of hardness as an indicator of the wear performance of hardfacings.     

Experimental investigations and CFD modeling for flow of highly concentrated iron ore slurry through horizontal pipeline

Considering a large number of higher solids concentration iron ore slurry pipelines operating across the world and their associated problems, the present study aims to generate an extensive experimental dataset from the pilot plant test facility and to carry out computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations for better understanding of the flow behavior in such pipelines. The paper has presented experimental data of 12?µm iron-ore slurry flow cases through 105?mm pipe with flow velocity range 1.35–5.11?m/s and efflux concentration range 2.63–31%. The obtained results are validated using CFD using appropriate model. In addition, qualitative analysis of iron-ore slurry flow cases using simulated results has been presented.     

Mixed micelles of cationic surfactants and bile acid salts in aqueous media

Critical micelle concentrations of cetyltrimethylammonium-p-toluene sulfonate (CTAT) and cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC) with sodium cholate (NaC) and sodium deoxycholate (NaDC) were determined in aqueous solutions by surface tension measurements. Interaction parameters and mole fraction of the components in mixed micelles were estimated using Rubingh's theory. Strong interaction was observed for each mixed system, a common feature shown by anionic-cationic mixtures. Dramatic effects on the viscosities of these cationic surfactant-bile salt mixtures were seen, and were markedly dependent upon the counterion of the cationic surfactant and the nature of bile salts. Micelles are small and spherical for cationic surfactants in the presence of NaC. Micelle growth was seen for CPC in the presence of NaDC by an increase in viscosity, but a CTAT solution showed an opposite effect on addition of NaDC. Conductance results supported this view. Different behavior of the two bile salts is explained on the basis of their orientation in cationic micelles.     

Insight into adsorption kinetics and isotherms for adsorption of methylene blue using gum rosin alcohol/psyllium-based green adsorbent

Present work focused on synthesis of green hydrogel polymer of gum rosin alcohol/psyllium crosslinked poly (acrylic acid) [(GrA-Psy)-cl-PAA] under vacuum condition. Use of both psyllium and gum rosin alcohols as backbones could lessen the burden on the environment, as more natural aspect is drawn in the hydrogel polymer. The various reaction parameters for the synthesis of hydrogel polymer were systematically optimized as a function of percentage swelling. The optimized ecofriendly hydrogel polymer was characterized using XRD, FTIR, FE-SEM and TGA techniques, which supported the successful formation of crosslinked three-dimensional network structures. (GrA-Psy)-cl-PAA was further studied as an adsorbent for the removal of methylene blue dye from an aqueous solution. Adsorption parameters such as the amount of adsorbent and pH were optimized to obtain the maximum percentage of dye removal. Kinetics of the adsorption process was analyzed using pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order and Elovich kinetic models. Adsorption kinetics followed pseudo-second-order model (non-linear) for all the concentrations studied. Non-linear forms of Langmuir, Freundlich and Dubinin-Kaganer-Radushkevich isotherm models were studied for the adsorption process and it was observed that it goes well with both Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. Thermodynamic parameters were also evaluated which indicated that the adsorption process was exothermic and spontaneous. Furthermore, the candidate polymer retained a reusability tendency for two consecutive cycles of adsorption/desorption. Thus, the synthesized novel material was taken as a potential to act as green adsorbent in treatment of industrial wastewater.     

Atomic scale characterization of ion-induced amorphization of GaAs and InAs using perturbed angular correlation spectroscopy

The perturbed angular correlation technique has been utilized to understand the production and nature of the implantation induced crystalline to amorphous transformation in GaAs and InAs. This technique, which is based upon the nuclear hyperfine interaction of the electric-quadrupole moment of the probe nucleus with the electric field gradient from extra nuclear charges, requires introduction of radioactive probe nuclei in host material. The radioactive probes ¹¹¹In/¹¹¹Cd were produced with the 14UD heavy-ion accelerator via nuclear reaction that recoil implants the ¹¹¹In nuclei deep into single crystals of GaAs (1 0 0) and InAs (1 0 0). After removal of radiation damage, caused by recoil implantation, single crystals of GaAs (1 0 0) and InAs (1 0 0) were implanted with stable ⁷⁴Ge ions (MeV) over a wide dose range at liquid nitrogen temperature. The irradiated samples were investigated with respect to the damage production. The crystalline, disordered and amorphous probe environments were identified from the measurement. The evolution of damage is described within the framework of different amorphization models. In GaAs, amorphization is obtained by direct-impact amorphization and by the growth of amorphous zones due to defect-stimulation at crystalline/amorphous interface. In InAs, the amorphization is first initiated by accumulation of simple point defects and then direct-impact/defect-stimulated mechanism contributes to further stimulate the transformation.     

Evaluation of segmentation techniques using region area and boundary matching information

Evaluation techniques play an important role while picking a suitable segmentation scheme out of a number of alternatives. In this paper, a novel supervised segmentation evaluation scheme is proposed that is designed by combining segment area and boundary information. Using the evaluation metric, a ranking of the popular segmentation algorithms is carried out. A comparative analysis with existing supervised metrics that are commonly used for grading segmentation schemes is performed. Experimental results indicate that the performance of the proposed measure is promising.     

Material selection for thin-film solar cells using multiple attribute decision making approach

This paper presents a material selection approach for selecting absorbent layer material for thin-film solar cells (TFSCs) using multiple attribute decision making (MADM) approach. In this paper, different possible materials for absorbent layer and their properties like band gap, absorption coefficient, diffusion length, thermodynamic compatibility and recombination velocity is taken into consideration and MADM approach is applied to select the best material for thin-film solar cells. It is observed that Copper Indium Gallium Diselinide (CIGS) is the best material for the absorbent layer in thin-film solar cells out of all possible candidates. It was observed that the proposed result is in accordance with the experimental findings thus justifying the validity of the proposed study.