Synthesis,characterization and magnetic properties of Mg2+ doped green pigment Cobalt aluminate nanoparticles

Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics - The green pigment cobalt aluminate nanoparticles have been prepared by the simple and cost-effective co-precipitation method. And also, the...     

Design and synthesis of superabsorbent polymers

A series of novel copolymer superabsorbents based on the monomers acrylamide (AM), acrylic acid (AA), acrylonitrile, methacrylic acid, sodium acrylate (SA), and 2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) were prepared by copolymerization using ammonium persulfate as an initiator and N,N‐methylenebisacrylamide as a crosslinking agent. The experimental results of superabsorbent polymers (SAPs) show that the absorbency in water and NaCl solutions is maximum for AM, SA, HEMA and AM, AA, SA combinations. The copolymers were characterized by IR spectroscopy. The water retention of soil was also enhanced using the above superabsorbents. Use of SAPs for the growth of the croton plant was also investigated. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 80: 2635–2639, 2001     

Label-free detection of DNA hybridization using gold-coated tapered fiber optic biosensors (TFOBS) in a flow cell at 1310 nm and 1550 nm

We had previously reported the detection of a model protein bovine serum albumin (BSA) using antibody-immobilized tapered fiber optic biosensors (TFOBS) at 1310 nm and 1550 nm under stagnant and flow conditions. Because of recent interest in pathogen detection based on DNA, in this work we explore the application of these sensors for the detection of single stranded DNA (ssDNA). We show that it is feasible to directly detect the hybridization of a 10-mer ssDNA to its complementary strand immobilized on the sensor surface. Detection was performed under flow conditions because flow reduces non-specific binding to sensor surface, eliminates optical transmission changes due to mechanical movements, and allows for instantaneous switching of samples when needed.

TFOBS were fabricated with waist diameters of 5–10 μm and total lengths of 1000–1200 μm. The taper regions were coated with 50 nm of gold and housed in a specially constructed holder which served as a flow cell. The TFOBS was immobilized with 15-mer ssDNA with a C₆ extension and a thiol group, which attaches to Au1 1 1 sites. Then, the complementary 10-mer ssDNA samples were allowed to flow in from low to high concentration (750 fM to 7.5 nM) and the resulting transmission changes were recorded. It is shown that 750 fM of complementary DNA can be detected. This sensor was able to distinguish between complementary DNA from DNA with a single nucleotide mismatch in the middle position.     

Condition assessment of gas turbine blades and coatings

This paper brings out the metallurgical investigation that was carried out on discoloured low pressure turbine rotor blade (LPTR) for its platinum modified aluminium coating integrity and overheated high pressure turbine rotor blade (HPTR) for its blade material and coating integrity. LPTR blades were investigated as they were for the requirement of reuse. Heat tinting, EDS and XRD were carried out to present the harmonized inference that the coating was in good condition. HPTR blades were sectioned to study under SEM. Regions of platinum modified aluminide coating degradation and DS CM 247 LC base material cracking were observed which make the particular lot unusable.     

Characterization of the iterative application of makespan heuristics on non-makespan machines in a heterogeneous parallel and distributed environment

Heterogeneous computing (HC) is the coordinated use of different types of machines, and networks to process a diverse workload in a manner that will maximize the combined performance and/or cost effectiveness of the system. Heuristics for allocating resources in an HC system are based on some optimization criterion. A common optimization criterion is to minimize the completion time of the machine that finishes last (makespan). In this study, we consider an iterative approach that repeatedly runs a mapping heuristic to minimize the makespan of the considered machines and tasks. For each successive iteration, the makespan machine of the previous iteration and the tasks assigned to it are removed from the set of considered machines and tasks. This study focuses on understanding the different mathematical characteristics of resource allocation heuristics that cause them to behave differently when combined with this iterative approach. This paper has three main contributions. The first contribution is the study of an iterative technique used in conjunction with resource allocation heuristics. The second contribution is the definition and mathematical characterization of “iteration invariant” heuristics. The third contribution is to determine the characteristics of a heuristic that will cause the mapping to change across iterations.     

A novel multi functional multi parameter concealed cluster based data aggregation scheme for wireless sensor networks (NMFMP-CDA)

Data aggregation is a promising solution for minimizing the communication overhead by merging redundant data thereby prolonging the lifetime of energy starving Wireless Sensor Network (WSN). Deployment of heterogeneous sensors for measuring different kinds of physical parameter requires the aggregator to combine diverse data in a smooth and secure manner. Supporting multi functional data aggregation can reduce the transmission cost wherein the base station can compute multiple statistical operations in one query. In this paper, we propose a novel secure energy efficient scheme for aggregating data of diverse parameters by representing sensed data as number of occurrences of different range value using binary encoded form thereby enabling the base station to compute multiple statistical functions over the obtained aggregate of each single parameter in one query. This also facilitates aggregation at every hop with less communication overhead and allows the network size to grow dynamically which in turn meets the need of large scale WSN. To support the recovery of parameter wise elaborated view from the multi parameter aggregate a novelty is employed in additive aggregation. End to end confidentiality of the data is secured by adopting elliptic curve based homomorphic encryption scheme. In addition, signature is attached with the cipher text to preserve the data integrity and authenticity of the node both at the base station and the aggregator which filters out false data at the earliest there by saving bandwidth. The efficiency of the proposed scheme is analyzed in terms of computation and communication overhead with respect to various schemes for various network sizes. This scheme is also validated against various attacks and proved to be efficient for aggregating more number of parameters. To the best of our understanding, our proposed scheme is the first to meet all of the above stated quality measures with a good performance.

     

3D nanoporous nanowire current collectors for thin film microbatteries

Conventional thin film batteries are fabricated based on planar current collector designs where the high contact resistance between the current collector and electrodes impedes overall battery performance. Hence, current collectors based on 3D architectures and nanoscale roughness has been proposed to dramatically increase the electrode-current collector surface contact areas and hence significantly reduce interfacial resistance. The nanorod-based current collector configuration is one of several 3D designs which has shown high potential for the development of high energy and high power microbatteries in this regard. Herein we fabricate a nanoporous nanorod based current collector, which provides increased surface area for electrode deposition arising from the porosity of each nanorods, yet keeping an ordered spacing between nanorods for the deposition of subsequent electrolyte and electrode layers. The new nanostructured 3D current collector is demonstrated with a polyaniline (PANI)-based electrode system and is shown to deliver improved rate capability characteristics compared to planar configurations. We have been able to achieve stable capacities of ~32 μAh/cm(2) up to 75 cycles of charge/discharge even at a current rate of ~0.04 mA/cm(2) and have observed good rate capability even at high current rates of ~0.8 mA/cm(2).     

Optical bifunctionality of europium-complexed luminescent graphene nanosheets

Graphene is an intriguing two-dimensional material, which could be modified for achieving tunable properties with many applications. Photoluminescence of graphene due to plasmonic emission is well-known, however, attempts to develop strong luminescent graphene have been difficult. Synthesis of a graphene-based material with a dual optical functionality, namely quenching the fluorescence of organic dyes while maintaining its own self-luminescence, is an interesting and challenging proposition. Here, we demonstrate this optical bifunctionality in a lattice-modified luminescent graphene, where europium(III) cations are complexed with graphene through oxygen functionalities. After excitation at 314 nm, a hypersensitive red emission is observed at 614 and 618 nm showing the complexation of europium(III) with graphene. We demonstrate dual functionality of this graphene by the quenching of luminescence of Rhodamine-B while displaying its own hypersensitive red emission. The decay lifetime observed through the time-resolved spectroscopy confirms its potential for applications in biosensing as well as optoelectronics.