Electrochemical synthesis of benzofuroxan: role of electrogenerated iodonium ion in the intramolecular cyclization of 2-nitroaniline

The application of electrogenerated iodonium ion, acting as catalytic electron carrier, has been taken into account in the intramolecular oxidative cyclization reaction of 2-nitroaniline on graphite anode in the preparation of benzofuroxan, which is of great synthetic utility.     

On the nature and structure of ‘niobic acid’. Part IV: Formation of sulphatoniobates(V) and the properties of isopolyniobic acid produced therefrom

Formation of sulphatoniobates can be considered as resulting from the high temperature acid-base reaction of isopolyniobic acid and sulphur trioxide. The nature of attachment of the SO₃ group has been adjudged from the properties of the available atomic orbitals on the oxygen atoms of H₈Nb₆O₁₉. The hydrolysis of the sulphatoniobates and the nature and properties of the resulting isopolyniobic acid has been explained. The possible way of stabilisation of the sulphatoniobates and their proper nomenclature have been discussed.     

Assessment of integrity of components in piping of 500 MWe PHWR: using R-6 method

The primary heat transport system of 500 MWe Indian PHWR comprises of straight pipes, elbows and headers. A study was conducted to qualify piping system for leak before break. R-6 method was used to assess integrity of system for leakage size crack (LSC), the margins on crack initiation load and unstable crack growth loads. Option 2 (material specific failure assessment diagram), Category 3 (ductile tearing) analysis was used for straight pipes, elbows and header. In order to enhance the confidence in the analytical results, detailed sensitivity analysis was also performed. For sensitivity analysis, variation in material properties, LSC was considered. The effect of variation in temperature on material properties was also considered. Tensile and fracture properties used for base and weld material data were generated from pipe material obtained from 220 MWe Nuclear Power Plant, under construction.     

Lamination steel technology for appliance industry

In response to the appliance industry's growing need for high-quality lamination steels for energy-efficient motors, intensive research efforts are being made to develop low-loss high-permeability products with appropriate selection of composition and processing. This has led to the development of new decarburized semiprocessed lamination steels with lower losses (~33% improved) and AC peak relative permeability close to 2000 at 1.5 T and 60 Hz. The magnetic properties of some of these steels are equivalent to or better than those of high-silicon steels. These efforts are described with emphasis on (a) requirements for achieving improved magnetic properties, (b) benefits of new steels over standard products, (c) annealing response of new products, and (d) current research activities aimed at providing future products with excellent magnetic characteristics     

Analysis of a two unit standby system with partial failure and two types of repairs

A two dissimiliar unit standby system is analysed. The priority unit can either be in normal or partial operative mode. When the unit fails from the partial mode, it undergoes minor repair and the unit becomes operative with different failure rate. If this unit fails again, it goes to major repair after which it works as good as new. The standby unit while in use is either operative or failed. This non priority unit fails without passing through the partial failure mode and undergoes only one type of repair with different repair time distribution. Failure and repair time distributions are negative exponential and general respectively. Regenerative technique in MRP is applied to obtain several reliability characteristics of interest to system designers.     

Phase-shifting interferometry by a covariance-based method

A novel generalized approach to phase-shifting interferometry in which phase distribution in an interferogram is evaluated in the presence of nonsinusoidal waveforms and piezoactuator device miscalibration is proposed. The approach is based on the underlying rotational invariance of signal subspaces spanned by two temporally displaced data sets. The advantage of the proposed method lies in its ability to identify arbitrary phase-step values pixelwise from an interference signal buried in noise. The robustness of the proposed method is investigated by addition of white Gaussian noise during the simulations.     

Optimization of back propagation algorithm and GAS-assisted ANN models for hot metal desulphurization

Adaptive neural net (ANN) model of hot metal desulphurization is first optimized by various search methods including the golden section search and Davies-Swann-Campey methods. Logarithmic preprocessing of input data leads to a further improvement in generalization ability of the net. Genetic adaptive search (GAS) method is used to optimize the mathematical model for desulphurization and when the input data are preprocessed with this optimized model and fed into an artificial neural net, the generalization ability of the net becomes even better. Best results are obtained when using GAS to optimize the interconnection weights during the training phase, while training data are preprocessed through a mathematical model already optimized by GAS. For every process several options presented by a combination of ANN and GAS must be systematically investigated before choosing the ultimate model for predictions on shop floor.     

An expert system to automate timing design

Presents a novel approach for automating the timing design of interfaces between VLSI chips in microcomputer systems. The Prolog-based expert system, called TDS (for timing design system), incorporates the heuristic knowledge of the hardware designer. TDS is a rule-based system that interprets the specification sheets of VLSI chips and can synthesize, diagnose, and verify timing charts at the expert's level. The system uses a functional model based on timing specifications, not the structural information. TDS can model other interfaces that are based on timing specifications, such as standard bus interfaces     

Phase transitions in molybdenum sesquisulphide systems between 80 and 600 K

Samples of Mo₂S₃ system and substituted derivatives with Cr, Nb, Cu and Mn have been studied. The resistivity, thermoelectric power, magnetic susceptibility and specific heat indicate clear phase transition at temperatures between 200 and 310 K. X-ray investigations establish the transitions at these temperatures as structural changes. Careful analysis of the data helps to obtain working values for a model for the energy band. Carrier density, effective mass, mobility, band overlap parameter, density of states for the electrons and holes in the overlapping bands at the Fermi level and the band gap for a higher conduction band are obtained.