Effect of composition on the growth and microstructure of hafnia–zirconia based coatings

Yttria (Y₂O₃)–stabilized hafnia (HfO₂)–zirconia (ZrO₂)-based coatings were grown and studied for their growth and microstructure. Composition of the coatings was varied by varying the ratio of HfO₂ and ZrO₂, from 1:4 to 4:1, while maintaining the Y₂O₃ stabilizer content fixed at 7.5 mol%. The crystal structure, surface morphology and thermal stability of the grown coatings were evaluated as a function of the coatings' composition. The crystal structure analysis performed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) indicates the hafnia-cubic-phase stabilization in all the coatings. The morphology of the coatings is characterized by the columnar growth coupled with a dense structure as revealed by the scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Thermal stability evaluation performed using high temperature XRD coupled with SEM indicates the enhanced stability of these coatings to 1300 °C. No significant changes were found in the crystal structure and morphology of the coatings.     

An investigation of the effectiveness of fixture layout optimization methods

Deriving the optimal layout of fixture elements is critical to minimizing the impact of fixture–workpiece deformation on machined feature error. Various optimization methods for solving this problem have been reported. Unfortunately no investigation has been executed to compare their relative performance. This paper presents the methodology and results of an extensive investigation into the relative effectiveness of the main elements of these competing methods. All methods were tested over a broad range of conditions. Performance measures that were tracked included solution quality, solution repeatability, and computation time. The results of this investigation show that the best overall performance is provided by optimization methods that use both the genetic algorithm and continuous interpolation for the distribution of boundary conditions.     

Exploiting the potential of polyphenolic biomordants in environmentally friendly coloration of wool with natural dye from Butea monosperma flower extract

Coloration of textiles with natural dyes involves huge consumption of chemicals; mainly, metal salt mordants, which pose serious environmental challenges. To mitigate this pollution, more and more environmentally friendly, biodegradable, biocompatible and renewable products should be popularized in dyeing industry. This paper proposes a sustainable and metal salt-free dyeing of wool samples by employing natural mordants extracted from pomegranate peel (Punica granatum L), gallnut (Quercus infectoria L) and catechu (Acacia catechu). The color parameters of dyed wool samples were greatly found to be dependent on the chemical compounds present in respective biomordants and their interaction ability with the functional groups of wool and the dye molecules. The investigated biomordants exhibit different interactions with coloring compounds of Butea monosperma (palas) dye resulting in deep brown, olive green, dark brown, cinnamon, burgundy, and yellowish hues on wool. All the biomordants selected in this study improved dye performance and resulted in a broad beautiful spectrum of colors with acceptable fastness properties. The results encourage the search and exploitation of new plant species as a source of biomordants to replace metallic and toxic mordants currently used in textile industry.     

Light Fastness and Shade Variability of Tannin Colorant Dyed Wool with the Effect of Mordanting Methods

Mordanting methods effect on color characteristics and fastness properties, particularly light fastness were evaluated in this study. Effect of metal mordants and their combinations on wool dyeing with Terminalia chebula natural dye were investigated and correlation between dye structures, effect of metal mordant and mordanting methods were established. Results reveal that T. chebula can be used as yellow dye with or without metal mordants to get a variable range of shades on wool with good color strength and fastness properties, and appreciable shade variations with mordanting methods observed. Color performances of dyed substrate indicated substantial improvement in depth of shades and color fastness in case of mordanted samples. Pre-mordanting with tin and post-mordanting with alum proved to be most effective for increasing K/S values of the dyed substrate under the optimum dyeing conditions.     

Refuse-derived fuels as a renewable energy source in comparison to coal,rice husk,and sugarcane bagasse

The calorific potential of refuse-derived fuels (RDFs) was investigated with different coals, rice husk, and sugarcane bagasse. Carbon-sulfur analysis, gross calorific value (kJ/kg), and proximate analysis (%) were carried out. Total carbon of coal samples was found to be in the range from 62.65 to 79.19%, while RDF samples were ranged from 40.21 to 57.34% which were almost similar to rice husk (49.13%) and sugarcane bagasse (46.13%). Comparison of the total sulfur content of the coal (Duki) (10.52%) was very high as compared to RDF samples ranged from 0.17 to 0.46% and almost similar to rice husk (0.34%) and sugarcane bagasse (0.187%), while other coal samples ranged from 2.1 to 4.5%. The gross calorific value of the coal (Duki) (6,163 kJ/kg) was higher to other coal samples ranged from 4,935 to 4,972 kJ/kg, while found to be almost double to rise husk (3,518 kJ/kg), sugarcane bagasse (3,285 kJ/kg), and RDF samples (3,125–4,689 kJ/kg). The moisture content, volatile matter, and ash content were found higher in RDF 1 (42.14%), RFD 2 (66.55%), and coal (stone) (33.14%), respectively. Appropriate gross calorific value and very low sulfur content of the RDFs, especially RDF 2, appeared adequate to be used as a fuel with a lesser pollution potential and as an alternative fuel in mega cement industry of Pakistan.     

Effect of Binary and Ternary Combination of Metal Salt Mordants on Dyeing and Fastness Properties of Natural Protein Fibre with Juglans regia L. Dye

The present article focuses on the effect of different combinations of metal mordants on color characteristics and fastness properties of natural dye extracted from Juglan regia L bark powder. The influence of different types of mordant combinations such as alum + ferrous sulphate, alum + stannous chloride, ferrous sulphate + stannous chloride, and alum + ferrous sulphate + stannous chloride on color parameters has been investigated in terms of CIELab (L*, a*, b*, c*, and h°) and K/S values. The fastness properties with respect to light, washing, and crocking of developed shades were determined according to ISO and AATCC test methods. Based on the experimental results, it has been found that 96 shades with novel and fashionable hues were produced by the use of these metal salt combinations. It was also found that all mordanted samples had satisfactory light and wash fastness ratings. Dry rub fastness was found relatively better than wet rub fastness.     

Kinematic design of an anthropomimetic 7-DOF cable-driven robotic arm

In this paper, an anthropomimetic design of a 7-DOF dexterous robotic arm is proposed. Similar to the human arm, the arm consists of three sequentially connected modules, i.e., a 3-DOF shoulder module, a 1-DOF elbow module, and a 3-DOF wrist module. All three arm modules are also driven by cables in order to mimic the driving scheme and functionality of the human muscles. This paper addresses three critical design analysis issues, i.e., the displacement analysis, the tension-closure analysis, and the workspace analysis. A closed-form solution approach is presented for the forward displacement analysis, while the inverse displacement solution is obtained through an efficient optimization algorithm, in which both task-decomposition and dimension-reduction techniques are employed. An effective tension-closure analysis algorithm is also formulated based on the theory of convex analysis. The orientation workspace for the 3-DOF shoulder and wrist modules are then analyzed using a new equi-volumetric partition scheme based on the intuitive Tilt-and-Torsion angle parameterization. An optimization approach is then investigated for the kinematic design of the three joint modules, in which the design objective is to maximize the matched workspace of the robotic arm joints with that of the human arm joints. A research prototype of the 7-DOF cable-driven robotic arm has also been developed in order to demonstrate the anthropomimetic design concept. With a lightweight structure of 1 kg, the cable-driven robotic arm can carry a payload of 5 kg and has motion repeatability of±2.5mm.     

Superconductivity and cryogenics for linear accelerator programme at IUAC, New Delhi

The Inter-University Accelerator Center, New Delhi is involved in commissioning a superconducting linear accelerator (LINAC) as a booster to its existing 15 UD Pelletron accelerator. The booster consists of three LINAC modules, each containing eight superconducting Nb quarter wave resonators and a superconducting solenoid magnet. The first LINAC module preceded by a superbuncher with one cavity and followed by a rebuncher cryostat with two cavities was installed in 0° beam line of Pelletron and has been under operation for some time at the Center. The module is integrated with a liquid helium (LHe) refrigerator through a cryogen valve box and the distribution line. The performance tests of each component like the RF cavity, the cryomodule and the liquid helium distribution line were carried out independently prior to the beam acceleration test. After having many trial runs on this integrated cryonetwork system, beam acceleration tests were performed during 2007. The energy of silicon beam with charge state of +10 has been enhanced approximately from 130 MeV to 158 MeV using the first module with seven effective cavities and the accelerated beam was delivered at user’s scattering chamber. The present paper highlights the performance of the first module producing an accelerating beam duly bunched in the rebuncher. The performance of first LINAC cryomodule along with problems and the solution associated with the cryogenic system and the cavities encountered during the beam runs are presented in this paper.     

Mimicry between the hepatitis B virus DNA polymerase and the antigenic targets of nuclear and smooth muscle antibodies in chronic hepatitis B virus infection

Autoantibodies to nuclear and smooth muscle are common in hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. To understand their origin, we scanned protein databases and found that HBV-DNA polymerase (HBV-pol) shares 7-9 amino acid sequences with nuclear (MHC II trans-activator, nuclear pore core protein, nuclear mitotic apparatus, and polymyositis sclerosis Ag) and smooth muscle proteins (caldesmon and myosin). Twenty-mer peptides with relevant homologues and an irrelevant control peptide were constructed and ELISAs were established. Sixty-five children with chronic HBV infection, 104 patients with other chronic liver diseases (CLD), 36 patients with extrahepatic autoimmune diseases, and 24 healthy controls were investigated. Double reactivity to HBV-pol peptides and corresponding self homologues was observed in 40% of HBV-positive patients as compared with four (4%) with other chronic liver diseases, two (6%) with extrahepatic autoimmune diseases, and in none of the healthy controls (p < 0.001 for all). Double reactivity to myosin or caldesmon peptides and their HBV-pol homologues was associated with anti-smooth muscle Ab positivity by immunofluorescence (p < 0.05 for both). HBV-positive sera double reactive for myosin or caldesmon and their homologous HBV-pol peptides also reacted with the native proteins on immunoblot. Fifty to ninety percent Ab inhibition to individual HBV-pol and HBV-pol99-118 peptides was noted by preincubation with individual HBV-pol/self homologue peptide and native proteins, respectively, but not with control peptide. Our results show that cross-reactive immunity targeting homologous sequences of viral and self proteins may partly account for autoantibody production in HBV infection.