Investigation of anti-corrosion behavior of waterborne organosilane–polyester coatings for AA6011 aluminum alloy

Thermal-cured, sol–gel derived, waterborne organosilane–polyester coatings (SiE) have been developed using methyltrimethoxysilane, 3-glycidoxytrimethoxysilane and polyester resin for corrosion protection of aluminum AA6011. The structural and morphological features of the coatings were analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Results show that the coatings on aluminum were smooth, continuous and defect-free. Performance of the SiE coatings were investigated and compared with pure organosilane coating and polyester coating using potentiodynamic polarization studies, contact angle measurement and pencil hardness test. Results from polarization studies have shown that the SiE coated substrate (4.6–13.1 × 10⁻⁷ A/cm²) provided a better corrosion protection than the polyester coated substrate (7.8 × 10⁻⁶ A/cm²) due formation of aluminum–oxygen–silicon covalent bond at aluminum-coating interface. Furthermore, SiE coatings provided better hydrophobicity and hardness than the polyester coating.     

Design data for solar heating of air Using a Heat Exchange and Storage System

An arrangement for heating with solar energy by means of a heat exchanger and storage coupled to the two water heaters has been described^*. In the present paper, the amount of the heat transferred from water to air in the shell-and-tube heat exchanger and the temperature of the outgoing air have been estimated by considering various parameters, viz. flow rate and temperature of incoming air, temperature of incoming and outgoing water, length and diameter of tubes, etc. Both natural and forced convection mode of heat transfer have been considered.

Under boundary conditions of free convection, heat transfer would be rapid and efficient with a possible reduction in the pipe length. The maximum permissible limit of pressure drop per foot of each tube for pipes of different diameters at different Reynolds numbers has been given.

As conditions of drying vary from material to material, the data presented will help in arriving at the final design of the shell-and-tube heat exchanger to be used in drying a particular material.     

Analysis of LDPC with optimum combining

Low density parity check (LDPC) codes have shown exceptionally good performance for single antenna systems over a wide class of channels. LDPC when implemented with a single input multiple output system with maximum ratio combining is optimum from the standpoint of maximising signal-to-noise ratio at combiner output without the presence of interferer. Optimum combining outperforms maximal ratio combining (MRC) in the presence of interferer(s). In this article, the performance of the LDPC codes with multiple receiver antennas with optimum combining in the presence of single interferer is investigated. The simulation results showed that LDPC codes of irregular construction are able to give high coding and diversity gain with optimum combining. The proposed LDPC optimum combined (LDPC–OC) system in Rayleigh fading channel in the presence of a single interferer improves the signal to interferer plus noise ratio by 2.62 dB with four receiver antennas and by 1.98 dB when the number of receiver antennas is three.     

Performance analysis of a variable‐gain amplify‐and‐forward relayed mixed RF‐FSO system

In this work, an amplify‐and‐forward variable‐gain relayed mixed RF‐FSO system is studied. The considered dual‐hop system consists of a radio frequency (RF) link followed by a free space optical (FSO) channel. The RF link is affected by short‐term multipath fading and long‐term shadowing effects and is assumed to follow the generalized‐K fading distribution that approximates accurately several important distributions often used to model communication channels. The FSO channel experiences fading caused by atmospheric turbulence that is modeled by the gamma‐gamma distribution characterizing moderate and strong turbulence conditions. The FSO channel also suffers path loss and pointing error induced misalignment fading. The performance of the considered system is analyzed under the collective influence of distribution shaping parameters, pointing errors that result in misalignment fading, atmospheric turbulence, and path loss. The moment‐generating function of the Signal power to noise power ratio measured end‐to‐end for this system is derived. The cumulative distribution function for the Signal power to noise power ratio present between the source and destination receiver is also evaluated. Further, we investigate the error and outage performance and the average channel capacity for this system. The analytical expressions in closed form for the outage probability, symbol and bit error rate considering different modulation schemes and channel capacity are also derived. The mathematical expressions obtained are also demonstrated by numerical plots.     

Multicriterion optimal electric drive vehicle selection based on lifecycle emission and lifecycle cost

This research paper examines the optimal choice among conventional gasoline vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), plug‐in HEVs (PHEV), and full‐battery EVs taking into account the different characteristics of these vehicles, such as cost, emissions per mile, and vehicle miles to be traveled between refueling and acceleration time. The existing challenges for wide‐spread deployment of EVs are availability of charging infrastructure, higher cost, long time for charging, and lower travel millage compared with conventional vehicles. Statistical data are considered for determining the spatially varying average daily vehicle miles traveled (VMT) across the United States, which, together with charging behavior, can influence the optimal choice among EV with different travel ranges. Two alternative cases for charging are examined: (1) home‐only charging and (2) home plus work charging. The motivation of this work is to select the optimal EV among their types when lifecycle cost and lifecycle emission are considered. The optimization model seeks to minimize total lifecycle cost and emissions for each level of VMT per day. It is found that when lifecycle cost is the sole objective, HEV is usually the best choice, especially for higher VMT levels. When lifecycle greenhouse gas emission is the sole objective, PHEV1 (PHEV with 1 charging station) is the optimal solution over a wide range of VMTs. The outcome of this provides a roadmap for the selection of EVs based on their annual VMT to reduce both lifecycle emission and lifecycle cost.     

Flt-3 ligand increases microchimerism but can prevent the therapeutic effect of donor bone marrow in transiently immunosuppressed cardiac allograft recipients

C3H (H2k) mice received 50 x 10(6) B10 (H2b) bone marrow (BM) cells either alone or with flt-3 ligand (FL) (10 microg/day), tacrolimus (2 mg/kg/day), or both agents for 7 days. Donor MHC class II+ (IAb+) cells were quantitated in spleens by immunohistochemical analysis, and donor class II DNA detected in BM by PCR. Donor cells were rare in the BM alone and BM + FL groups, whereas there was a substantial increase in chimerism in the BM + tacrolimus group. Addition of FL to BM + tacrolimus led to a further eightfold increase in donor cells and enhanced donor DNA compared with the BM + tacrolimus group. This increase in donor cells was almost 500-fold compared with BM alone. C3H recipients of B10 heart allografts given perioperative B10 BM and tacrolimus (days 0-13) exhibited a markedly extended median graft survival time (MST, 42 days) compared with those given tacrolimus alone (MST, 22 days). Addition of FL (10 microg/day; 7 days) to BM + tacrolimus prevented the beneficial effect of donor BM (MST, 18 days). BM alone or BM + FL resulted in uniform early heart graft failure (MST < 8 days). Functional studies revealed maximal antidonor MLR and CTL activities in the BM- and BM + FL-treated groups, with minimal activity in the tacrolimus-treated groups. Thus, dramatic growth factor-induced increases in chimerism achieved under cover of immunosuppression may result in augmented antidonor T cell reactivity and reduced graft survival after immunosuppressive drug withdrawal. With FL, this may reflect striking augmentation of immunostimulatory dendritic cells.     

Memory effects in polymers. I. Orientational memory in the molten state; its relationship to polymer structure and influence on recrystallization rate and morphology

The influence of polymer structure on the orientational memory in the molten state has been studied by observing the crystallization behavior of the molten polymer through differential scanning calorimetry. It is shown that polymers with strong intermolecular forces (e.g., H-bonding) retain the orientation memory even at temperatures above their equilibrium melting temperatures. The retained orientation memory of the polymer melt is shown to influence its recrystallization rate and the morphology.     

The Future of Mental Health.

Examines the two sets of criteria that generally categorize mental health: those that emphasize internal events and those that deal with external events. The author discusses the future of mental health in light of many of its current trends, including greater acceptance of diversity, and he discusses the potential future role of the mental health professional. The author notes that greater numbers of mental health professionals have gotten involved with different populations, and suggests that the majority of mental health professionals will probably be experts in handling small units of behavior or experience for a limited time. The very process of making predictions changes the future course of events. Let us hope that this intricate process will result in greater satisfaction for greater numbers of people. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)