How Perception Impacts on Drawings.

In 3 experiments the authors investigate how errors in perception produce errors in drawings. In Experiment 1, when Shepard stimuli were shown as a pair of tables, participants made severe errors in trying to adjust 1 part of the stimulus to match the other. When the table legs were removed, revealing a pair of parallelograms with minimal perspective cues, the illusion was weaker. The authors predicted that participants would err when drawing the table but not the parallelogram stimuli. The results of Experiment 2 support the prediction and establish a direct link between degree of perceptual distortion of the table stimuli and the severity of error in drawing. When drawing only the right-hand part of the figure, participants also erred to a greater degree in drawing the table than the parallelogram (Experiment 3). Collectively, the results suggest that perceptual distortion is linked with errors in drawing the table stimuli. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Enhancement of corrosion protection of 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane-based sol–gel coating through methylthiourea doping

Protection of aluminum metal and its alloys from corrosion is a key requirement for many engineering applications. Nowadays, sol–gel coating technology is recognized as the ideal replacement for chromate conversion coatings. The present work makes use of 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (GPTMS) as a precursor for sol–gel coating. GPTMS was subjected to hydrolysis and subsequent condensation reaction to get a three-dimensional network and methylthiourea (MTU) was incorporated into the sol–gel matrix. MTU-doped GPTMS-based sol–gel coatings were applied over aluminum metal by dip coating method. The resultant coating was studied by FTIR, XRD and SEM. MTU-doped GPTMS-based sol–gel coatings increased the hydrophobic nature of the coating and were stable up to a temperature of 450°C. The protective nature of the coatings was evaluated in a 1% NaCl environment using electrochemical impedance and polarization studies. The study has revealed that doping of MTU enhanced the protection ability of doped GPTMS-based sol–gel coating to a significant extent.     

Effect of salt concentration on poly (vinyl chloride)/poly (acrylonitrile) based hybrid polymer electrolytes

Hybrid, solid polymer electrolyte films consisting of poly (vinyl chloride) (PVC), poly (acrylonitrile) (PAN) and, propylene carbonate (PC) with different concentrations of LiClO₄ are prepared by means of a using solvent-casting technique. The structure and complex formation are studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The temperature dependence of the ionic conductivities of the polymer films is explained in terms of a free volume model. The conductivities of PVC–PAN–LiClO₄–PC complexes are determined at different salt concentrations. The highest ionic conductivity (8.35 × 10⁻⁵ S cm⁻¹) is obtained for 8 wt.% LiClO₄ in the polymer complex at 304 K. The thermal stability of the electrolyte is examined by thermogravimetric/differential thermal analysis (TG/DTA).     

Influence of alkali treatment and fibre length on mechanical properties of short Agave fibre reinforced epoxy composites

Composites based on short Agave fibres (untreated and alkali treated) reinforced epoxy resin using three different fibre lengths (3 mm, 7 mm and 10 mm length) are prepared by using hand lay up and compression mould technique. The materials were characterized in terms of tensile, compressive, flexural, impact, water absorption properties and machinability behaviour. All mechanical tests showed that alkali treated fibre composites withstand more fracture strain than untreated fibre composites. As evidenced by the dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) tests, the thermo-mechanical properties of the composite with alkali treated Agave fibre were considerably good as alkali treatment had facilitated more sites of fibre resin interface. The machinability and atomic force microscope (AFM) studies were carried out to analyze the fibre–matrix interaction in untreated and alkali treated Agave fibre–epoxy composites.     

Determination of preservative and antimicrobial compounds in fish from Manila Bay, Philippines using ultra high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry, and assessment of human dietary exposure

Ultra high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) determination of four paraben preservatives (methyl, ethyl, propyl and butyl) and two antimicrobial agents (triclosan and triclocarban) belonging to personal care products (PCPs) in 20 species of fish from Manila Bay (Philippines) was performed. Detection of PCPs with greater frequency indicates the ubiquitous contamination of Manila Bay. Concentrations of total paraben were one order of magnitude higher than the antimicrobials in almost all fish, except in Stolephorus indicus and Leiognathus equulus. A positive correlation was observed between parabens concentration and fish length (r = 0.31-0.49; p<0.05 to <0.001) and fish weight (r = 0.28-0.49; p<0.05 to <0.001), but not for the antimicrobials. The estimated dietary exposure values of the four parabens in the Philippines through fish is four orders of magnitude lower than the acceptable daily intake (ADI) of 10mg/kg/day, but the values of antimicrobials are just half of the ADI of TCS. To our knowledge, this is the first report of PCPs contamination in fish from Philippines.     

Improvement of battery lifetime in software-defined network using particle swarm optimization based cluster-head gateway switch routing protocol with fuzzy rules

The software-defined network (SDN) is one of the network architectures, in which the data plane and control plane is divided from each other, and the network can be handled using a sensibly centralized controller and this method is adopted to reconfigure the wireless sensor network automatically. In this article, to implement the SDN in MANET, in which control nodes can be chosen in SDN dynamically for the activation of MANET function to allocate the works to other mobile nodes to the base station. However, in the field of mobile ad hoc networks, the network lifetime, and battery lifetime is one of the major problems and the energy consumption can play a significant rule for the transmission of data in the SDN. Therefore, in this article, particle swarm optimization (PSO) based CGSR (cluster-head gateway switch routing protocol) algorithm with fuzzy rules is proposed to increase the network lifetime of battery powered mobile nodes by reducing the energy consumptions of each node in software-defined MANET. In this proposed method, a routing method that can permit various mobile nodes with low battery power to transmits the data from source node to base station. We design a PSO based CGSR routing protocol by selecting the routing mobile nodes using fuzzy rules for packet transmission. In CGSR process, the formation of cluster and selection of cluster head is executed depending on the particle swarm optimization method. This proposed routing protocol can be used to enhance the battery lifetime by extension of the network lifetime with numerical analysis for efficient route node selection.     

Biodegradation and corrosion behavior of manganese oxidizer Bacillus cereus ACE4 in diesel transporting pipeline

The degradation problem of petroleum products arises since hydrocarbon acts as an excellent food source for a wide variety of microorganisms. Microbial activity leads to unacceptable level of turbidity, corrosion of pipeline and souring of stored product. The present study emphasizes the role of Bacillus cereus ACE4 on degradation of diesel and its influence on corrosion of API 5LX steel. A demonstrating bacterial strain ACE4 was isolated from corrosion products and 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that it has more than 99% similarity with B. cereus. The biodegradation and corrosion studies revealed that B. cereus degraded the aliphatic protons and aromatic protons in diesel and is capable of oxidizing ferrous/manganese into oxides. This is the first report that discloses the involvement of manganese oxidizer B. cereus ACE4 on biodegradation of diesel and its influence on corrosion in a tropical country pipeline.     

Crevice corrosion monitoring of titanium and its alloys using microelectrodes

Crevice corrosion of titanium and its alloys in 10% sodium chloride was investigated at 100°C with the aid of microelectrodes. Potential, pH and chloride ion concentration inside the crevice were monitored using an Ag/AgCl electrode, a tungsten microelectrode and a Ag/AgCl chloride ion selective microelectrode, respectively. The pH and Cl^? concentrations within the crevice were calculated from the standard potential‐pH and potential‐log[Cl^?] calibration curves. The effect of Mo on the crevice corrosion of titanium was also studied. The passivation behavior on the titanium and Ti‐15%Mo alloy was studied using electrochemical impedance studies. There was no apparent change in pH and Cl^? ion activity inside the crevice for the alloy at 100°C, whereas a marginal decrease in pH and increase in Cl^? ion concentration were observed for pure titanium. Thus pure titanium is susceptible to crevice corrosion in hot 10% NaCl solutions at 100°C. The chloride ion activity was found to be reduced for the alloy so that the pH inside the crevice increased. The corrosion reaction resistance (R_t) was found to increase with the addition of Mo as an alloying element. It also increases with externally applied anodic potential. Hence, Mo is an effective alloying element, which enhances the crevice corrosion resistance of titanium.     

Valence Charge Fluctuations and Tc Retention in Tl1−xPbxSr1+xLa1−xCuO5−y (0.0 ≤ x ≤0.5) System

Structural and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) studies of the Tl_1?xPb_xSr_1+xLa_1?xCuO_5?y (0.0≤x≤0.5) system have been carried out. The unit cell parameters increase with x. Irrespective of x the T_c is retained in this series and the optimum hole concentration (n_h) is maintained for x≤ 0.5. An increase in Tl 4f and O ls binding energy with x suggests a reduction in their oxidation state. Origin of holes is discussed in terms of charge transfer between Tl, Pb and CuO₂ layers.