Cenosphere filled aluminum syntactic foam made through stir-casting technique

Cenospheres in the range of 30–50 vol.% were used as space holders for making syntactic aluminum foam having density 1.5–1.9 gm/cc using stir-casting technique. The synthesized syntactic foam (SF) was characterized in terms of microstructures, hardness and compressive deformation behaviour. It was noted that the SF behaves like a high strength aluminium foam under compressive deformation exhibiting flat plateau region in the stress–strain curves. The plateau stress of SF decreases with cenosphere volume fraction vis-à-vis porosity following a power law relationship. But, the densification strain increases linearly with cenosphere volume fraction.     

Experimental determination of thermal conductivity of three nanofluids and development of new correlations

Experimental investigations have been carried out for determining the thermal conductivity of three nanofluids containing aluminum oxide, copper oxide and zinc oxide nanoparticles dispersed in a base fluid of 60:40 (by mass) ethylene glycol and water mixture. Particle volumetric concentration tested was up to 10% and the temperature range of the experiments was from 298 to 363 K. The results show an increase in the thermal conductivity of nanofluids compared to the base fluids with an increasing volumetric concentration of nanoparticles. The thermal conductivity also increases substantially with an increase in temperature. Several existing models for thermal conductivity were compared with the experimental data obtained from these nanofluids, and they do not exhibit good agreement. Therefore, a model was developed, which is a refinement of an existing model, which incorporates the classical Maxwell model and the Brownian motion effect to account for the thermal conductivity of nanofluids as a function of temperature, particle volumetric concentration, the properties of nanoparticles, and the base fluid, which agrees well with the experimental data.     

Isolation and evaluation of a high H2-producing lab isolate from cow dung

Hydrogen producing bacterial strain was isolated from Indian cow dung and identified of the bacterial family Enterobacteriaceae. This lab isolate was differentiated from Citrobacter Y-19 at molecular level by using RAPD, PCR based technique, and OPO-03₄₆₀ and OPO-17₈₀₀ RAPD marker for this specific strain (lab isolate) was identified. Fermentative studies were investigated for important parameters, starting with pH of the culture, temperature, inoculum age and inoculum volume, initial substrate concentration and different substrates. Among different substrates, dextrose and sucrose were the preferred substrates for hydrogen production. The optimal starting pH of the culture was found to be 5.0. The H₂ production increased with increase in temperature up to 30 °C. The maximum value of H₂ production was recorded when inoculum volume was 12.5% of the culture broth and inoculum age was 14 h. Under batch fermentation conditions, the maximum hydrogen production rate and yield were 355.2 ml l⁻¹ h⁻¹ and 2.1 mol/mol glucose (conversion 35%), respectively. These results indicate that this lab isolate is an ideal hydrogen producer.     

Biosorption of cadmium (II) and lead (II) from aqueous solutions using mushrooms: A comparative study

Sorption capacity of oyster mushroom (Pleurotus platypus), button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus) and milky mushroom (Calocybe indica) were evaluated on biosorption of heavy metals, viz. cadmium (II) and lead (II) from aqueous solutions. The optimum sorption conditions were studied for each metal separately. The desired pH of the aqueous solution was found to be 6.0 for the removal of cadmium (II) and 5.0 for removal of lead (II) for all the mushrooms. The percent removal of both the metals was found to increase with the increase in biosorbent dosage and contact time. The fitness of the biosorption data for Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption models was investigated. It was found that biosorption of cadmium (II) and lead (II) ions onto the biomass of the three mushrooms were better suitable to Langmuir than Freundlich adsorption model. P. platypus showed the highest metal uptake potential for cadmium (q_max 34.96 mg/g) whereas A. bisporus exhibited maximum potential for lead (q_max 33.78 mg/g). Milky mushroom showed the lowest metal uptake capacity for both the metals. The present data confirms that mushrooms may be used as efficient biosorbent for the removal of cadmium (II) and lead (II) ions from aqueous solution.     

The flexible PEI composites

The present study investigates the compatibilizing effect of polyphosphazene on the blends of poly(ether imide) (PEI) and thermotropic liquid crystalline polymer (Vectra‐B). FTIR study showed that there was a partial interaction or chemical reaction between the PEI and LCP in the presence of compatibilizer. Polyphosphazene is compatibilized with both PEI and LCP, which was evident from DMA results. From the X‐ray diffraction study, it has been observed that the crystalline structure of PEI–LCP blends was increased with the addition of compatibilizer. The thermal study of the composites has been studied by DTA/thermo gravimetric analyses (TGA). TGA thermograms showed an increase in decomposition temperature of PEI–LCP blends in the presence of compatibilizer. Measurement of the tensile properties showed an increase in the elongation as well as enhanced modulus and strength. From SEM micrographs of tensile fractured surfaces, the addition of compatibilizer to PEI–LCP blends was found to increase the adhesion between the matrix and the dispersed phase. POLYM. COMPOS., 27:533–538, 2006. © 2006 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Arsenic groundwater contamination and its health effects in the state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) in upper and middle Ganga plain, India: a severe danger

This communication presents results of our 2-year survey on groundwater arsenic contamination in three districts Ballia, Varanasi and Gazipur of Uttar Pradesh (UP) in the upper and middle Ganga plain, India. Analyses of 4,780 tubewell water samples revealed that arsenic concentrations in 46.5% exceeded 10 microg/L, in 26.7%, 50 microg/L and in 10% 300 microg/L limits. Arsenic concentrations up to 3,192 microg//L were observed. The age of tubewells (n=1,881) ranged from less than a year to 32 years, with an average of 6.5 years. Our study shows that older tubewells had a greater chance of contamination. Depth of tubewells (n=3,810) varied from 6 to 60.5 m with a mean of 25.75 m. A detailed study in three administrative units within Ballia district, i.e. block, Gram Panchayet, and village was carried out to assess the magnitude of the contamination. Before our survey the affected villagers were not aware that they were suffering from arsenical toxicity through contaminated drinking water. A preliminary clinical examination in 11 affected villages (10 from Ballia and 1 from Gazipur district) revealed typical arsenical skin lesions ranging from melanosis, keratosis to Bowens (suspected). Out of 989 villagers (691 adults, and 298 children) screened, 137 (19.8%) of the adults and 17 (5.7%) of the children were diagnosed to have typical arsenical skin lesions. Arsenical neuropathy and adverse obstetric outcome were also observed, indicating severity of exposure. The range of arsenic concentrations in hair, nail and urine was 137-10,900, 764-19,700 microg/kg, and 23-4,030 microg/L, respectively. The urine, hair and nail concentrations of arsenic correlated significantly (r=0.76, 0.61, and 0.55, respectively) with drinking water arsenic concentrations. The similarity to previous studies on arsenic contamination in West Bengal, Bihar and Bangladesh indicates that people from a significant part of the surveyed areas in UP are suffering and this will spread unless drives to raise awareness of arsenic toxicity are undertaken and an arsenic safe water supply is immediately introduced.     

A Novel Neurofilament Light Chain ELISA Validated in Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease,Frontotemporal Dementia,and Subjective Cognitive Decline,and the Evaluation of Candidate Proteins for Immunoassay Calibration

Neurofilament light chain (Nf-L) is a well-known biomarker for axonal damage; however, the corresponding circulating Nf-L analyte in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is poorly characterized. We therefore isolated new monoclonal antibodies against synthetic peptides, and these monoclonals were characterized for their specificity on brain-specific intermediate filament proteins. Two highly specific antibodies, ADx206 and ADx209, were analytically validated for CSF applications according to well-established criteria. Interestingly, using three different sources of purified Nf-L proteins, a significant impact on interpolated concentrations was observed. With a lower limit of analytical sensitivity of 100 pg/mL using bovine Nf-L as the calibrator, we were able to quantify the Nf-L analyte in each sample, and these Nf-L concentrations were highly correlated to the Uman diagnostics assay (Spearman rho = 0.97, p < 0.001). In the clinical diagnostic groups, the new Nf-L ELISA could discriminate patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD, n = 20) from those with frontotemporal lobe dementia (FTD, n = 20) and control samples with subjective cognitive decline (SCD, n = 20). Henceforth, this novel Nf-L ELISA with well-defined specificity and epitopes can be used to enhance our understanding of harmonizing the use of Nf-L as a clinically relevant marker for neurodegeneration in CSF.     

A Gravitational Search Algorithm Based Static VAR Compensator Switching Function Optimization Technique for Minimum Harmonic Injection

Switching function optimization for minimum source harmonic injection for a static VAR compensator is presented. The static VAR compensator is configured with a fixed capacitor and insulated-gate bipolar transistor controlled reactor. The switching function is optimized for minimum source harmonic injection considering the desired fundamental voltage across load terminals. A gravitational search algorithm is employed for this purpose. It is observed that the proposed switching scheme with two different switching angles per half-cycle provides lower source harmonic injection compared to conventional switching, hence improving the source current harmonics. The switching angles are computed off-line using the gravitational search algorithm for varying modulation indices considering the minimum total harmonic distortion of the reactor voltage. The switching angles are stored in a processor as a function of the modulation index for on-line application using a piecewise mixed model approximation technique for low memory usage. It is observed that the proposed switching improves the source current total harmonic distortion on an average of 4 to 5% over most of the operating range compared to conventional switching without optimization. Various simulation and experimental results are presented on different loads to validate the proposed concept.     

Multi-Objective Approach for Reconfiguration of Distribution Systems with Distributed Generations

This paper presents a fuzzy multi-objective based heuristic algorithm for network reconfiguration of distribution systems considering distributed generations (DGs). The objectives of reduction of real power loss, branch current carrying capacity limit, maximum and minimum voltage constraints, and feeder load balancing are considered for performance enhancement of the distribution system. Since these objectives are non-commensurable and difficult to solve simultaneously using conventional approaches, they are converted into fuzzy domain and a fuzzy multi-objective function is formulated. A sensitivity analysis based on voltage profile improvement and real power loss reduction is used for obtaining optimal locations of DGs and genetic algorithm is used for optimal sizing of DGs. The proposed reconfiguration algorithm is implemented in two stages, initially in the first stage without incorporating DGs and in the second stage incorporating DGs for obtaining an optimal distribution system network reconfiguration. The advantage of the proposed method is demonstrated through a seventy node four feeders and a sixteen node three feeders distribution systems.     

Improvement of lubrication and cooling in grinding

The presence of air boundary layer around a grinding wheel impedes the proper entry of cutting fluid into grinding zone and thereby lubrication and cooling are hampered. It leads to the thermal damage to the workpiece and rapid wheel wear. This experimental work is aimed at increasing the lubrication and cooling effects in grinding by a novel method of using scraper board. The experiments are conducted, using the scraper board, to find the critical region where the air pressure is zero. The coolant jet has then impinged into the grinding zone which is maintained within the critical region. The requirement of specific energy, surface texture, and mechanical properties of the ground surface are analyzed and compared with the traditional grinding and the grinding at various positions of scraper board. Results show that the grinding ratio improved by 35.6and 119%, surface roughness decreased by 36 and 54.2%, while the requirement of specific energy is reduced by 50.8 and 57.3% when scraper board is positioned at the critical distance in comparison to the 57.5° position and no scraper board, respectively. The results indicate that the introduction of fluid in the present method can improve the process efficiency and the product quality effectively.