A comparative study of the synthesis of nanocrystalline Yttrium Aluminium Garnet using sol-gel and co-precipitation methods

Nanocrystalline yttrium aluminium garnet (nYAG) powder has been synthesized via sol-gel and co-precipitation methods using nitrate precursors. Thermal evolution and crystallisation kinetics of both the methods were investigated. The optimised calcination condition for the formation of nYAG was also examined. It was found that a complete transformation to nYAG was observed at 925 °C/2 h and 1000 °C/1 h for the coprecipitation and sol-gel samples respectively. An intermediate YAlO₃ phase was formed at 900 °C in all powders regardless of the synthesis methods. The powder morphologies obtained from TEM revealed very similar particle sizes for the two routes (20–30 nm); whilst the extent of agglomeration was higher for the sol-gel method. It was also observed that by controlling the pH in a narrow range, maintaining the precipitate processing temperature and dehydrating excess OH- ions in the precipitates using n-butanol treatment, the extent of agglomeration was further reduced in the co-precipitated nYAG powder.     

SCALEUP AND PERFORMANCE OF 5 FT. (1.52 m) DIAMETER RECIPROCATING PLATE EXTRACTION COLUMN

Environmental considerations dictated the necessity of reducing the phenol content of a waste water to less than 1 PPM. Tests were conducted in a 2 inch diameter column and the test column was optimized with respect to plate spacing and volumetric efficiency. The production unit, scaled up from the test unit, was 5 ft. in diameter. Waste water levels of 0.1 to 0.2 ppm phenol in the raffinate were obtained for feed flows ranging from 150 to 350 gpm and phenol contents in the feed from 400 to 1100 ppm. The empirical scaleup procedure was verified.     

A Knowledge Based Semantics of Messages

We investigate the semantics of messages, and argue that the meaning ofa message is naturally and usefully given in terms of how it affects theknowledge of the agents involved in the communication. We note thatthis semantics depends on the protocol used by the agents, and thus not only the message itself, but also the protocol appears as a parameter in the meaning. Understanding this dependence allows us to give formal explanations of a wide variety of notions including language dependence, implicature, and the amount of information in a message.     

Electron‐Induced Reactive Processing of Poly(propylene)/Ethylene–Octene Copolymer Blends: A Novel Route to Prepare Thermoplastic Vulcanizates

TPVs are prepared by dynamic vulcanization in which crosslinking of an elastomeric polymer takes place during its melt mixing with a thermoplastic polymer under high‐shear conditions. 30:70 wt% blends of PP and ethylene–octene copolymer are vulcanized using electron‐induced reactive processing (EIReP) employing a range of absorbed doses (25, 50, and 100 kGy) while keeping the electron energy and treatment time fixed. The structure/property relationships of the prepared samples are studied using various characterization techniques such as DMA, DSC, SEM, and melt rheology. The results suggest that EIReP offers a novel route to prepare TPVs without any chemical crosslinking and coupling agents.

     

Incomplete hypospadiac urethral duplication with posterior urethral valves

Urethral duplication (UD) is an uncommon malformation. Obstruction rarely occurs in hypospadiac UD. We describe two children with incomplete hypospadiac UD in association with posterior urethral valves, a combination not previously recognised. The embryonic significance of this anomaly is discussed. Keywords Urethral duplication. Hypospadias. Posterior urethral valve. Megalourethra     

Minimizing data and synchronization costs in one-way communication

Minimizing communication and synchronization costs is crucial to the realization of the performance potential of parallel computers. This paper presents a general technique which uses a global data-flow framework to optimize communication and synchronization in the context of the one-way communication model. In contrast to the conventional send/receive message-passing communication model, one-way communication is a new paradigm that decouples message transmission and synchronization. In parallel machines with appropriate low-level support, this may open up new opportunities not only to further optimize communication, but also to reduce the synchronization overhead. We present optimization techniques using our framework for eliminating redundant data communication and synchronization operations. Our approach works with the most general data alignments and distributions in languages like High Performance Fortran (HPF) and uses a combination of the traditional data-flow analysis and polyhedral algebra. Empirical results for several scientific benchmarks on a Cray T3E multiprocessor machine demonstrate that our approach is successful in reducing the number of data (communication) and synchronization messages, thereby reducing the overall execution times     

Empirical performance model-driven data layout optimization and library call selection for tensor contraction expressions

Empirical optimizers like ATLAS have been very effective in optimizing computational kernels in libraries. The best choice of parameters such as tile size and degree of loop unrolling is determined in ATLAS by executing different versions of the computation. In contrast, optimizing compilers use a model-driven approach to program transformation. While the model-driven approach of optimizing compilers is generally orders of magnitude faster than ATLAS-like library generators, its effectiveness can be limited by the accuracy of the performance models used. In this paper, we describe an approach where a class of computations is modeled in terms of constituent operations that are empirically measured, thereby allowing modeling of the overall execution time. The performance model with empirically determined cost components is used to select library calls and choose data layout transformations in the context of the Tensor Contraction Engine, a compiler for a high-level domain-specific language for expressing computational models in quantum chemistry. The effectiveness of the approach is demonstrated through experimental measurements on representative computations from quantum chemistry.