Atmospheric plasma application to improve adhesion of electrospun nanofibers onto protective fabric

Nylon 6 electrospun nanofibers were deposited on plasma-pretreated woven fabric substrates with the objective of improving adhesion between them. The prepared samples were evaluated for adhesion strength and durability of nanofiber mats by carrying out peel strength, flex resistance, and abrasion resistance tests. The test results showed significant improvement in the adhesion of nanofiber mats on woven fabric substrates due to atmospheric plasma pretreatment. The samples also exhibited good flex and abrasion resistance characteristics. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and water contact angle analyses indicate that plasma pretreatment introduces radicals, increases the oxygen content on the substrate surface, and leads to formation of active chemical sites that may be responsible for enhanced cross-linking between the substrate fabric and the electrospun nanofibers, which in turn increases the adhesion properties. The work demonstrates that the plasma treatment of the substrate fabric prior to deposition of electrospun nanofiber mats is a promising method to prepare durable functional materials.     

Application of chemometrics to study the kinetics of coal pyrolysis: A novel approach

In present investigation, chemometric tools, principal component analysis (PCA) and Hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA) are used to get the linkage between the coal properties and kinetics of pyrolysis. Thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA) of 10 perhydrous Indian coals was done. Devolatilization of these coals showed five independent reactions. Kinetic parameters were calculated for individual reaction. Activation energy and weight loss of each reaction has been analyzed as a function of coal properties (moisture, volatile matter, ash, fixed carbon, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and sulfur). By applying chemometric, was extracted information about the linkage between activation energies of each reaction and coal properties. The mathematical treatment of data has provided conclusions on properties of coal and kinetic parameters.     

Integration of moment invariants and uniform local binary patterns for human activity recognition in video sequences

Multimedia Tools and Applications - In this study, we present a method for human activity recognition in video sequences. Human activities are often described by a holistic feature vector...     

Effect of separate and combined milling of Cu and TiB2 powders on the electrical and mechanical properties of Cu–TiB2 composites

The present work compares the properties of the Cu–TiB₂ composites prepared by varying the mechanical milling conditions. The Cu–TiB₂ composites were processed using Cu–TiB₂ powders combined milling, a powder mixture consisting of separately milled Cu & TiB₂ and a powder mixture prepared by the combination of separate and combined milling. The hardness and flexural strength of the combined milled powders were found to be maximum, despite of their lower sintered density. The separately milled powders achieved excellent electrical properties combined with moderate hardness and flexural strength. The properties of composites processed using the combination of separate and combined milling laid in between the two conditions of combined and separate milling.     

Design,fabrication and cryogenic testing of 0.6 MJ SMES coil

Our centre has taken up a project of development of superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) technology to have better power quality for its accelerator program. In the first phase, a prototype cryostable coil has been designed, fabricated and commissioned in a standard bath cryostat. The various parameters of the magnet coil have been determined in order to maximize stored energy taking into consideration the constraints like geometry, maximum current limit etc. Winding tension (Pre-stress) of 13.6 MPa is maintained to keep radial stress compressive in all possible scenarios (i.e. during cool-down, excitation, etc.). Mylar is used for turn to turn insulation while 1 mm thick glass epoxy based picket fences (G-10) are placed symmetrically azimuthally for layer to layer insulation as well as to ensure passage of liquid helium inside the winding.Cryostability of the conductor implies more copper to superconductor ratio and is desired as far as stability of the coil is concerned. Cryostability, however may degrade when helium vapor is trapped in between two layers. Therefore, quench behavior of the magnet along with protection system has also been studied and implemented. This paper describes issues related to design study, fabrication and also cryogenic test results of the coil.     

W* effect considered harmful [Internet WAP]

Claiming that “wireless is different” WAP 1.1 rewrites almost every Web standard in the book. The commercial demand for WAP has proved sufficient to implement most of its technologies, but it should be adopted very cautiously. The author discusses the component technologies of WAP     

Impact of ozonation on subsequent treatment of azo dye solutions

BACKGROUND: Aqueous solutions of four azo‐dyes, Acid Red 14 (AR14), Congo Red (CR), Reactive Black 5 (RB5), and Reactive Violet 5 (RV5) were treated with ozone, and the impact of ozonation on their subsequent treatability by aerobic biodegradation processes was investigated. RESULTS: In all cases, ozonation at the highest ozone doses investigated could remove more than 96% of the original dye, and the corresponding residual colour of the azo dye solutions declined to less than 20 on the Pt‐Co scale. Ozonation also resulted in reduction of chemical oxygen demand (COD), total organic carbon (TOC) the COD/TOC ratio and pH, while in all cases electrical conductivity of the dye solutions increased. Activity of the microbial colonies present in domestic wastewater was not inhibited when un‐ozonized solutions of these dyes were mixed in a 1:1 volumetric ratio with domestic wastewater, although the dyes themselves were not degraded. Also, no significant inhibition of microbial activity was observed in 1:1 mixtures of ozonized dye solutions and domestic wastewater, especially when the initial dye concentration was low and the applied ozone dose was high. In almost all cases, progressively enhanced BOD exertion was observed in mixtures containing dye solutions ozonized with progressively higher doses. This indicated that some ozonation by‐products of the above dyes could be degraded by microorganisms present in domestic wastewater. CONCLUSIONS: It was concluded that the above dye solutions, after ozonation for partial or complete colour removal, could be mixed with domestic wastewater for subsequent treatment by aerobic biological processes, with no adverse impact on the activity of the microbial colonies present in domestic wastewater. Copyright © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry     

Automatic System for Measuring and Controlling the Length of a Moving Product in Industries

This paper describes the design and development of a very simple low-cost online system for measuring the length of moving billets in the steel industry. Few photosensors, digital logic gates, and light-emitting diodes are used to track and display the wide variation in billet length. Not a single amplifier or comparator is used in photosensor circuit. The comparative study shows its superiority over other costly dimension-measuring systems, viz., shaft encoder, laser Doppler meter, and charge-coupled-device camera. Before, an operator had a risk of an accident while crossing the hot-cobble-prone area for measuring the billet length. However, today, the length of each billet is displayed in a pulpit, thereby increasing the safety. The measuring error in the billet length, ranging from +100 to -100 mm, is reduced to +50 mm. The fluctuation in linear velocity of an incoming billet to a flying shear causes wide variation in its cut lengths. To overcome this severe problem, the speed of the flying shear is adjusted during the tail end of each billet. The benefit of the system is in the tune of Rs 49.5 times 10⁶ (approximately U.S. $1.26 times 10⁶) per annum, whereas the payback period is less than 15 days. Apart from the different steel products like the slab, bloom, and rail, the developed system is also useful in the dimensional measurement of the products in nonferrous industries.     

Anatomy of a URL (and other Internet-scale namespaces. 1)

The author discusses the anatomy of a URL (Uniform Resource Locator). He considers domain names, IP addresses, MAC addresses, phone numbers, path names and names in HTTP messages