BUBBLE TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENTS ON THE BINARY MIXTURES OF 1,4-DIMETHYLBENZENE WITH ISO -, SEC -, AND TERT - BUTANOLS AT 95 kPa

Bubble temperatures at 95 kPa over the entire composition range were measured for the three binary systems formed by 1,4-dimethylbenzene with iso-, sec-, and tert- butanols. A Swietoslawski-type ebulliometer was used for the measurements. The composition versus temperature measurements are well represented by the Wilson model.     

ANALYSIS OF LAMINATE METAL MATRIX COMPOSITES

This article describes an integrated micro/ macro mechanical study of the thermo-elastic-uiscoplastic behavior of unidirectional metal matrix composites. The microme-chanical analysis of the elastic moduli are based on the representative unit cell approach with comparisons also drawn with the composite cylinder assemblage model. These “ homogenization ” results are later incorporated into the vanishing fiber diameter model develop the macroscopic stress-strain relations. The finite element method is employed for the analysis in conjunction with the Bodner and Partom thermoviscoplas-tic constitutive model for the associated macroscopic analysis and a “ smeared” element approach. Comparisons are made against experimental and analytical results available in the literature whenever feasible.     

EFFECT OF PAPAYA PULP ADDITION ON THE GROWTH OF LACTOBACILLUS ACIDOPHILUS

Effect of papaya pulp addition to skim milk on the growth characteristics of five strains of Lactobacillus acidophilus was investigated. All the strains tested exhibited higher viable counts, shorter generation time, increased acid production, greater sugar utilization and fall in pH upon addition of papaya pulp. The generation time, acid production, sugar utilization and pH values at the end of 18 h fermentation of skim milk by different strains were 150–200 min, 0.29–1.73%, 0.39–2.22 g/100 mL and 3.85–6.10, respectively. The corresponding values for 10% papaya pulp added skim milk blend were 120–143 min, 0.51–1.84%, 0.70–2.79 g/100 mL and 3.70–5.10, respectively. Organoleptic evaluation revealed that papaya pulp addition imparted firmness to the coagulum and thus enhanced the acceptability of the product by eliminating the problem of wheying-off and improved flavor.     

Electrode impedance parameters and internal resistance of a sealed LiC/Li1-xCoO2 lithium-ion rechargeable battery

The individual electrode impedance parameters and internal resistance of a sealed LiC/Li1-xCoO2 lithium-ion rechargeable battery were estimated by a galvanostatic nondestructive technique. Various resistive components of the battery were found to be minimum between state-of-charge values 0.5–0.9. It is expected that the operation of the battery within about 50% of its depth-of-discharge would prolong the charge/discharge cycle life of the battery.     

Ultraviolet sensing properties of polyvinyl alcohol-coated aluminium-doped zinc oxide nanorods

Undoped and aluminium (Al)-doped zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods have been synthesized by electrochemical route. The synthesized materials have been characterized by X-ray diffraction, UV–visible spectrometer and scanning electron microscope. The Al-doped ZnO nanorods have been coated with polyvinyl alcohol. Current–voltage characteristics have been investigated in dark and under UV-light illumination. Aluminium doping in ZnO increase its electrical conductivity and further polyvinyl alcohol coating on Al-doped ZnO increase UV sensitivity of the material. Response and recovery time of Al-doped ZnO and PVA-coated Al-doped ZnO nanorods have been recorded. PVA-coated Al-doped ZnO nanorods shows very fast response and recovery time of 10 s in comparison to uncoated ZnO (20 min) nanorods.     

Statistically tuned Gaussian background subtraction technique for UAV videos

Background subtraction is one of the efficient techniques to segment the targets from non-informative background of a video. The traditional background subtraction technique suits for videos with static background whereas the video obtained from unmanned aerial vehicle has dynamic background. Here, we propose an algorithm with tuning factor and Gaussian update for surveillance videos that suits effectively for aerial videos. The tuning factor is optimized by extracting the statistical features of the input frames. With the optimized tuning factor and Gaussian update an adaptive Gaussian-based background subtraction technique is proposed. The algorithm involves modelling, update and subtraction phases. This running Gaussian average based background subtraction technique uses updation at both model generation phase and subtraction phase. The resultant video extracts the moving objects from the dynamic background. Sample videos of various properties such as cluttered background, small objects, moving background and multiple objects are considered for evaluation. The technique is statistically compared with frame differencing technique, temporal median method and mixture of Gaussian model and performance evaluation is done to check the effectiveness of the proposed technique after optimization for both static and dynamic videos.     

Buckling analysis of rectangular composite plates with rectangular cutout subjected to linearly varying in-plane loading using fem

A numerical study is carried out using finite element method, to examine the effects of square and rectangular cutout on the buckling behavior of a sixteen ply quasi-isotropic graphite/epoxy symmetrically laminated rectangular composite plate [0°/+45°/-45°/90°]_2s, subjected to various linearly varying in-plane compressive loads. Further, this paper addresses the effects of size of square/rectangular cutout, orientation of square/rectangular cutout, plate aspect ratio(a/b), plate length/thickness ratio(a/t), boundary conditions on the buckling bahaviour of symmetrically laminated rectangular composite plates subjected to various linearly varying in-plane compressive loading. It is observed that the various linearly varying in-plane loads and boundary conditions have a substantial influence on buckling strength of rectangular composite plate with square/rectangular cutout.