Accelerated life tests on a new water tree retardant insulation forpower cables

This paper describes the results of an investigation in which 15 kV rated cables insulated with a new water tree retardant cross-linked polyethylene (TR XLPE) were subjected to accelerated aging tests under a controlled voltage stress and thermal load cycle conditions. Cables insulated with conventional XLPE and a commercially available TR XLPE were used as reference test populations to affirm the test methodology. Under the chosen conditions, cable life of the new TR XLPE as calculated using Weibull and log normal statistical distributions, was more than twice that for the reference TR XLPE. Extensive diagnostic measurements (water content, dissipation factor, water tree analysis) were performed on failed cable samples to bring out the differences between the three insulations. Electron micrographic investigations revealed the size and distribution of micro voids in the new TR XLPE to be smaller supporting its extended life under these tests. The experimental details of the accelerated life tests are also documented in a clear manner facilitating any archival of the data for future analysis and comparison     

Antifeedant activity of some new heterocyclic compounds against the larvae of Spodoptera litura F

The antifeedant activity of diisoflavones a synthetic products is reported for the first time against S. litura. The antifeedant activity was tested employing the non-choice test method against the 4th instar pre-starved larvae.     

Flat panel displays for portable systems

Flat panel display technologies for portable and personal information systems are reviewed. The display sub-system performance requirements, and the metrics for evaluating display technologies for portable systems are discussed. The current display technology choices for high performance portable systems are active matrix liquid crystal display (AMLCD) and field emitter display (FED). AMLCD is at the forefront at an advanced state of development, and it is already in mass production for notebook computer applications. Because of the huge market size, AMLCD technology continues to be developed at an aggressive pace to address the needs of the future portable systems. On the other hand, FED technology is not currently in mass production, but it is being developed at rapid pace; Impressive technology capabilities and demonstration displays have already been shown. This review focuses on the current status and future development trends in both the these display technologies for application to portable systems. The current status of the reflective LCDs and their future development trends are also reviewed.     

Characterization of host-range mutants of cyanophage N-1

Fifteen host-range (h) mutants of cyanophage N-1 were characterized with reference to their efficiency of plating, time of appearance, morphology and size of plaques on Nostoc muscorum and its three phage-resistant (Nm 1/N-1, Nm 2/N-1 and Nm 8/N-1) mutants. While phage N-1 did not adsorb to the three phage-resistant mutants, the h mutants differed one from the other in having lower or higher adsorption rate constants on N. muscorum or the phage-resistant mutants. The inability of majority of h mutants isolated on Nm 1/N-1 to grow in Nm 8/N-1 was shown to be due to a failure of adsorption. The h mutants also differed one from the other in their reversion (back mutation) frequencies. The lethal doses (LD37) required to kill 37% of free phage particles after UV-irradiation, heating and ethylenediamine tetraacetate (EDTA) treatment greatly varied. Most of the h mutants were found to be considerably more sensitive to UV and thermic inactivation than N-1 while they were resistant to EDTA. The h mutants except five of them were unable to multiply at 40 degrees C. The significance of these features is discussed.     

A new network reconfiguration technique for service restoration indistribution networks

Whenever a fault occurs in a particular section of a distribution network and on isolation of the fault, some of the loads get disconnected and are left unsupplied. Service should be restored to these affected load points as quickly as possible through a network reconfiguration procedure. A new and efficient technique is presented in this paper for this purpose. Network reduction and determination of the interested trees of the reduced network by a specially developed algorithm for finding the required restorative procedures, are the main contributions of this paper