An appreciation of J.C. Bose's pioneering work in millimeter waves

The pioneering work in the area of millimeter waves, performed by J. C. Bose, a physicist from Calcutta, India, during 1894-1900, is reviewed and appraised. Various measurement techniques and circuit components, developed by him a hundred years ago, are still being used. The development of the electromagnetic horn, the point-contact detector, and the galena (semiconductor) detector of electromagnetic waves are attributed to the original research of J.C. Bose     

A higher-order triangular plate bending element revisited

A new formulation of an eighteen-degrees-of-freedom higher-order triangular plate bending element using triangular area co-ordinates is presented. The displacement function w is taken as the complete fifth-order polynomial in area co-ordinates. The normal slope along an edge of the triangle is constrained to vary cubically. The twenty-one constants are expressed explicity in terms of eighteen degrees of freedom. The element stiffness matrix is expressed as a product of component matrices for which explicit expressions are developed and presented. No numerical inversion or integration is necessary. The formulation is expected to be useful specially for microcomputers.     

Exergy analysis of a coal‐based 210 MW thermal power plant

In the present work, exergy analysis of a coal‐based thermal power plant is done using the design data from a 210 MW thermal power plant under operation in India. The entire plant cycle is split up into three zones for the analysis: (1) only the turbo‐generator with its inlets and outlets, (2) turbo‐generator, condenser, feed pumps and the regenerative heaters, (3) the entire cycle with boiler, turbo‐generator, condenser, feed pumps, regenerative heaters and the plant auxiliaries. It helps to find out the contributions of different parts of the plant towards exergy destruction. The exergy efficiency is calculated using the operating data from the plant at different conditions, viz. at different loads, different condenser pressures, with and without regenerative heaters and with different settings of the turbine governing. The load variation is studied with the data at 100, 75, 60 and 40% of full load. Effects of two different condenser pressures, i.e. 76 and 89 mmHg (abs.), are studied. Effect of regeneration on exergy efficiency is studied by successively removing the high pressure regenerative heaters out of operation. The turbine governing system has been kept at constant pressure and sliding pressure modes to study their effects. It is observed that the major source of irreversibility in the power cycle is the boiler, which contributes to an exergy destruction of the order of 60%. Part load operation increases the irreversibilities in the cycle and the effect is more pronounced with the reduction of the load. Increase in the condenser back pressure decreases the exergy efficiency. Successive withdrawal of the high pressure heaters show a gradual increment in the exergy efficiency for the control volume excluding the boiler, while a decrease in exergy efficiency when the whole plant including the boiler is considered. Keeping the main steam pressure before the turbine control valves in sliding mode improves the exergy efficiencies in case of part load operation. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Randomized Trial of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Chronic Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Adult Female Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse.

The authors conducted a randomized clinical trial of individual psychotherapy for women with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) related to childhood sexual abuse (n = 74), comparing cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) with a problem-solving therapy (present-centered therapy; PCT) and to a wait-list (WL). The authors hypothesized that CBT would be more effective than PCT and WL in decreasing PTSD and related symptoms. CBT participants were significantly more likely than PCT participants to no longer meet criteria for a PTSD diagnosis at follow-up assessments. CBT and PCT were superior to WL in decreasing PTSD symptoms and secondary measures. CBT had a significantly greater dropout rate than PCT and WL. Both CBT and PCT were associated with sustained symptom reduction in this sample. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

DNA sensing by amplifying the number of near-infrared emitting, oligonucleotide-encapsulated silver clusters

A bifunctional oligonucleotide integrates in situ synthesis of a fluorogenic silver cluster with recognition of a target DNA sequence. With the template C(3)AC(3)AC(3)GC(3)A, a complex forms with 10 silver atoms that possesses electronic transitions in the near-infrared and that is detected at nanomolar concentrations using diode laser excitation. Pendant to this cluster encoding region, the recognition component binds a target DNA strand through hybridization, and decoupling of these two regions of the composite sensor renders a modular sensor for specific oligonucleotides. A target is detected using a quencher strand that bridges the cluster template and recognition components and disturbs cluster binding, as indicated by static quenching. Competitive displacement of the quencher by the target strand restores the favored cluster environment, and our key finding is that this exchange enhances emission through a proportional increase in the number of emissive clusters. DNA detection is also accomplished in serum-containing buffers by taking advantage of the high brightness of this fluorophore and the inherently low endogenous background in the near-infrared spectral region. Cluster stability in this biological environment is enhanced by supplementing the solutions with Ag(+).     

Chemical-induced pH-mediated molecular switch

The transmembrane protein α-hemolysin pore has been used to develop ultrasensitive biosensors, study biomolecular folding and unfolding, investigate covalent and noncovalent bonding interactions, and probe enzyme kinetics. Here, we report that, by addition of ionic liquid tetrakis(hydroxymethyl)phosphonium chloride solution to the α-hemolysin pore, the α-hemolysin channel can be controlled open or closed by adjusting the pH of the solution. This approach can be employed to develop a novel molecular switch to regulate molecular transport and should find potential applications as a "smart" drug delivery method.     

Polyol surfactants derived from moringa seed oil for potential use in the pharmaceutical industry

Two polyol surfactants ((a) a crude product of 60% monoglyceride content and (b) a homogeneous sorbitan ester) have been prepared by alcoholysis from the not well known edible Moringa concanensis seed oil. These products constituted mainly oleic acid, which will be suitable for utilisation in the pharmaceutical industry. The optimum conditions of glycerolysis of the moringa seed oil have also been found.     

Design of efficient lightweight strategies to combat DoS attack in delay tolerant network routing

Delay tolerant networks (DTNs) are characterized by delay and intermittent connectivity. Satisfactory network functioning in a DTN relies heavily on co-ordination among participating nodes. However, in practice, such co-ordination cannot be taken for granted due to possible misbehaviour by relay nodes. Routing in a DTN is, therefore, vulnerable to various attacks, which adversely affect network performance. Several strategies have been proposed in the literature to alleviate such vulnerabilities—they vary widely in terms of throughput, detection time, overhead etc. One key challenge is to arrive at a tradeoff between detection time and overhead. We observe that the existing table-based reactive strategies to combat Denial-of-service (DoS) attacks in DTN suffer from two major drawbacks: high overhead and slow detection. In this paper, we propose three secure, light-weight and time-efficient routing algorithms for detecting DoS attacks (Blackhole and Grey-hole attacks) in the Spray & Focus routing protocol. The proposed algorithms are based on use of a small fraction of privileged (trusted) nodes. The first strategy, called TN, outperforms the existing table-based strategy with 20–30 % lesser detection time, 20–25 % higher malicious node detection and negligible overhead. The other two strategies, CTN_MI and CTN_RF explore the novel idea that trusted nodes are able to utilize each others’ information/experience using their long range connectivity as and when available. Simulations performed using an enhanced ONE simulator reveals that investing in enabling connectivity among trusted nodes (as in CTN_RF) can have significant performance benefits.     

Performance analysis of a packet assembly function

A general packet assembly function in which the bundle is completed whenever any one of a number of conditions is satisfied is analyzed. These conditions subsume those most commonly found in practice. The analysis yields the distribution of bundle size. In several useful cases, closed form expressions for the mean bundle size is obtained