Some results on 0 °C isotherm height over three stations in tropical India

Some results on rain height in relation to 0 °C isotherm height over three stations located in different geographical regions of tropical India at different latitudes are presented in this paper. The seasonal variation in rain height has been found to be appreciable over the stations located in the central plains (Nagpur) and the Kashmir region (Srinagar), while the seasonal variation is not significant over the station located on the south-west coast (Cochin). The distribution of 0 °C isotherm height over the different stations is also discussed on the basis of local weather conditions. The variation in ground temperature over Nagpur and Srinagar during the year is large, while the variation over Cochin is not significant. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spinning speed–throughput rate relationships for polyester,nylon, and polypropylene fibers

The relationship between spinning speed and throughput rate has been investigated for fibers having the same fiber denier in the drawn state when produced by melt spinning of poly(ethylene terephthalate), nylon 6, and polypropylene polymers over a range of take-up speed (750–3000 m min^-1) and throughput rate. To understand the structural origin of the relationship, a limited amount of characterization of structure and properties of the as-spun and drawn fibers was also done. A comparison of the results for the three polymers shows that while the increase in productivity with increase in spinning speed is relatively less for polyester and nylon 6, it is quite high for polypropylene. The birefringence data show that while molecular orientation increases rapidly with increasing wind-up speed in polyester and nylon 6, the rate of increase is relatively less in the case of polypropylene. The possible reasons for the observed differences in behavior are discussed. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 65:1773–1788, 1997     

Axial ratio bandwidth improvement of compact planar monopole antenna with dual-band and dual-sense

A small size, dual-band and dual-sense monopole antenna is proposed to improve the axial ratio bandwidth (ARBW). The proposed antenna is considered on a low-cost lossy FR4 substrate with parasitic strips (PSs) and partial ground plane of half guided wavelength dimensions. The dimension of the antenna in terms of wavelength is $\mathbf{0.27}{\mathit{\lambda }}_{\mathbf{0}}\mathit{\times }\mathbf{0.29}{\mathit{\lambda }}_{\mathbf{0}}\mathit{\times }\mathbf{0.02}{\mathit{\lambda }}_{\mathbf{0}}$, where ${\mathit{\lambda }}_{\mathbf{0}}$ is the wavelength at the lowest resonant frequency. The circularly polarized (CP) mode is created for strong orthogonal electric fields ${\mathit{E}}_{\mathit{X}}$ and ${\mathit{E}}_{\mathit{Y}}$. The obtained phase difference (PD) between two electric fields ${\mathit{E}}_{\mathit{X}}$ and ${\mathit{E}}_{\mathit{Y}}$ is varied from ${\mathbf{86}}^{°}$ to ${\mathbf{96}}^{°}$ under ARBW. The achieved ARBW is 3.68–3.8 GHz, 4.84–12.58 GHz, and impedance bandwidth (IBW) is 3.51–3.82 GHz and 4.28–15 GHz. The applications of the proposed antenna are International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for 5G, C-band IEEE 802.11a wireless local area network (WLAN) at 5 GHz (5.15–5.825 GHz) and X-band wireless systems.     

Filter for biomedical imaging and image processing

Image filtering techniques have numerous potential applications in biomedical imaging and image processing. The design of filters largely depends on the a priori, knowledge about the type of noise corrupting the image. This makes the standard filters application specific. Widely used filters such as average, Gaussian, and Wiener reduce noisy artifacts by smoothing. However, this operation normally results in smoothing of the edges as well. On the other hand, sharpening filters enhance the high-frequency details, making the image nonsmooth. An integrated general approach to design a finite impulse response filter based on Hebbian learning is proposed for optimal image filtering. This algorithm exploits the interpixel correlation by updating the filter coefficients using Hebbian learning. The algorithm is made iterative for achieving efficient learning from the neighborhood pixels. This algorithm performs optimal smoothing of the noisy image by preserving high-frequency as well as low-frequency features. Evaluation results show that the proposed finite impulse response filter is robust under various noise distributions such as Gaussian noise, salt-and-pepper noise, and speckle noise. Furthermore, the proposed approach does not require any a priori knowledge about the type of noise. The number of unknown parameters is few, and most of these parameters are adaptively obtained from the processed image. The proposed filter is successfully applied for image reconstruction in a positron emission tomography imaging modality. The images reconstructed by the proposed algorithm are found to be superior in quality compared with those reconstructed by existing PET image reconstruction methodologies.     

Galvanic deposition of nanocrystalline ZnO thin films from a ZnO-Zn(OH)(2) mixed phase precursor on p-Si substrate

A galvanic technique for the deposition of ZnO thin films is reported. The depositions were carried out on p-type single-crystal silicon substrates at room temperature, from a solution of ZnSO(4), where the Zn rod acted as a sacrificing anode and p-Si was the cathode. The deposition of ZnO by this method is pH sensitive, and a pH between 4 and 5 is found to be optimum for film deposition. This deposition technique is simple, inexpensive and can be carried out at room temperature. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) studies revealed the nanocrystalline structure of the films. The resistivity of the annealed ZnO films was determined by the Van der Pauw measurement technique.     

Heat induced voltage generation in electrochemical cell containing zinc oxide nanoparticles

The quest for alternative energy sources has stimulated interest in several new materials. Using an aqueous suspension of zinc oxide nanoparticles in specially-designed electrochemical cells we have observed significant voltage (maximum 498.0 mV) and storage capacity (∼60 h) upon thermal excitation. Voltage increased gradually with increasing temperature. The cells exhibited reasonable energy conversion efficiency (maximum 1.05%). Moreover, increases in efficiency and storage duration were observed with the insertion of a planar lipid membrane (PLM) within the electrochemical cell, since the hydrophobic barrier of the lipid membrane hindered back recombination of the charges produced by thermal excitation. The novelty of the cells lies in the fact that voltage was generated by utilizing the heat energy of solar radiation, as opposed to the light quanta of the solar influx used in conventional photovoltaic cells.     

FEM Modeling of the Interface Strength and Its Effect on the Deformation Behaviour of Aluminum Cenosphere Syntactic Foam

The interface in aluminum cenosphere syntactic foam (ACSF) is modeled using FEM to study its deformation behaviour as a function of interface characteristics such as interface stiffness and thickness. The interface is modeled as a thin layer of object. The effective modulus and stress of ACSF examined when it contain 50% cenosphere by volume. In this study, the shell wall thickness of cenosphere is fixed at 1µm. The width of the interface varies from 0.2% to 0.6% of cenosphere volume fraction. The interface strength and modulus varies in the range of 10 to 50% of the matrix alloy. The values of the normalized yield stress and the modulus decrease with increase in the interface width and decrease in the interface strength. The FEM predicted values are also validated with experimental value. The proposed study shows that unit representative shell techniques are reasonably ideal and fast method for predicting compressive deformation behaviour of ACSF.     

Characterization of friction stir welded joint of low nickel austenitic stainless steel and modified ferritic stainless steel

Friction stir welding (FSW) of dissimilar stainless steels, low nickel austenitic stainless steel and 409M ferritic stainless steel, is experimentally investigated. Process responses during FSW and the microstructures of the resultant dissimilar joints are evaluated. Material flow in the stir zone is investigated in detail by elemental mapping. Elemental mapping of the dissimilar joints clearly indicates that the material flow pattern during FSW depends on the process parameter combination. Dynamic recrystallization and recovery are also observed in the dissimilar joints. Among the two different stainless steels selected in the present study, the ferritic stainless steels shows more severe dynamic recrystallization, resulting in a very fine microstructure, probably due to the higher stacking fault energy.