Determination of residues of trichlorfon and dimethoate on guava using HPLC

A supervised trial was conducted in guava orchards during 2001 and 2002 to study residue dissipation rates of two organophos insecticides, trichlorfon and dimethoate at Kohat, NWFP, Pakistan. The insecticides were sprayed at recommended doses of 80 and 120 g a.i./100 l water on the fruits of guava when the fruits were semi ripe. The treated guava fruits were randomly sampled in triplicates (2 kg per field replicate) at 0, 3, 7, 14, and 21 days intervals after insecticide application. The samples were extracted in ethyl acetate and were cleaned up through Florisil column with ethyl acetate as eluent. The cleaned up extracts were analyzed for residues by HPLC method. The residues were found to have half-lives of 2.8–3.3 days for dimethoate and 1.7–2.0 days for trichlorfon. Based on the dissipation pattern of the insecticide residues in relation to their respective prescribed maximum residue limits, withholding periods of 3 and 9 days are suggested for guava after treatment with dimethoate and trichlorfon.     

Impact of a Nonideal Metal Gate on Surface Optical Phonon-Limited Mobility in High- κ Gated MOSFETs

The effects of surface phonon scattering in an nMOSFET with a high-k gate insulator and a nonideal metal gate are examined. The nonideal metal gate model depends on three parameters: (1) the density of electrons in the gate; (2) the electron effective mass; and (3) the high-frequency dielectric constant associated with the choice of gate metal. The impact of these parameters on surface optical (SO) mobility is demonstrated using TiN as an example. For the selected choice of parameters and Landau damping limits, the results indicate that SO phonon scattering does not seem to play a significant role in the mobility degradation of TiN/HfO₂ MOSFETs for the entire range of sheet concentration.     

Growth, structural and optical properties of copper indium diselenide thin films deposited by thermal evaporation method

Copper indium diselenide (CuInSe₂) compound was synthesized by reacting its constituent’s elements copper, indium and selenium in near stoichiometric proportions (i.e. 1:1:2 with 5% excess selenium) in an evacuated quartz ampoule. Synthesized pulverized compound material was used as an evaporant material to deposit thin films of CuInSe₂ onto organically cleaned sodalime glass substrates, held at different temperatures (300-573 K), by means of single source thermal evaporation method. The phase structure and the composition of chemical constituents present in the synthesized compound and thin films have been investigated using X-ray diffraction and energy dispersive X-ray analysis, respectively. The investigations show that CuInSe₂ thin films grown above 423 K are single phase, having preferred orientation of grains along the (112) direction, and having near stoichiometric composition of elements. The surface morphology of CuInSe₂ films, deposited at different substrate temperatures, has been studied using the atomic force microscopy to estimate its surface roughness. An analysis of the transmission spectra of CuInSe₂ films, recorded in the wavelength range of 500-1500 nm, revealed that the optical absorption coefficient and the energy band gap for CuInSe₂ films, deposited at different substrate temperatures, are ∼10⁴ cm⁻¹ and 1.01-1.06 eV, respectively. The transmission spectrum was analyzed using iterative method to calculate the refractive index and the extinction coefficient of CuInSe₂ thin film deposited at 523 K. The Hall effect measurements and the temperature dependence of the electrical conductivity of CuInSe₂ thin films, deposited at different substrate temperatures, revealed that the films had electrical resistivity in the range of 0.15-20 ohm cm, and the activation energy 82-42 meV, both being influenced by the substrate temperature.     

Mechanical Design for Accommodating Thermal Expansion Mismatch in Multilayer Coatings for Environmental Protection at Ultrahigh Temperatures

The design of coatings is like designing a system. Every coating has one or more specific functions that determine the choice of materials, and its architecture. In the case of environmental barrier coatings the topcoat must be chemically inert to the atmosphere. In high-temperature applications the stresses arising from thermal expansion mismatch between the topcoat and the substrate must be ameliorated. In this article we consider the design of an intermediate layer of a multilayer coating system with the explicit objective of managing thermal expansion difference between the topcoat and the substrate. The design is based upon a columnar architecture where the columns serve as flexible beams to accommodate relative displacement without fracture. The value of the maximum stresses in the beam and in the topcoat are calculated and used to develop a map with fail and safe regimes. The safe region is defined by the prevention of fracture in the beams, since their fracture would precipitate delamination of the topcoat. As a rule of thumb the topcoat thickness should be less than the width of the columns for safe operation (this condition changes somewhat with the aspect ratio of the columns). A larger aspect ratio of the columns also promotes safe design. We further consider how the tractions induced by the thermal stresses on the surface of the substrate may influence the intrinsic fracture strength of the substrate. The stresses in the coating are predicted to have an insignificant effect on the intrinsic fracture strength of the substrate.     

Detection and Diagnosis of Plant‐Wide Oscillations

This paper presents some emerging techniques for detection and root‐cause diagnosis of plant‐wide oscillations, and demonstrates their efficacy through a successful industrial case study. The recently proposed autocorrelation function based method (Thornhill et al., J. Proc. Control 13, 91–100, 2003a) is used for detection of oscillations in the process measurements. Signals having common oscillations are analyzed for the presence of valve stiction using higher order statistical methods (Choudhury et al., Automatica 40, 1719–1728, 2004b) . A method employing changes in controller gain is proposed for distinguishing an internally generated oscillation from an external oscillatory disturbance. This method of changing controller gain is used to confirm the presence of control valve stiction. The proposed techniques have been used successfully to identify the root cause of plant‐wide oscillations in an industrial case study using routine operating data.     

Investigation of the relaxation behavior of novel terpolymers of acrylonitrile,methyl methacylate and indene

Terpolymer samples were prepared by free radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA), indene (In) and acrylonitrile (AN) in bulk. The samples were chosen so that the molar ratio of AN to MMA varied from 1.00:4.39 to 1.00:0.83, while the molar ratio of In was kept almost unchanged. The glass transition temperatures (T_g) of the samples were determined using differential scanning calorimetry. Moreover, isochronal dynamic mechanical measurements of the complex bending modulus as well as the complex dielectric permittivity were carried out over wide temperature ranges, namely from 50 to 190 °C, depending on the material investigated. All samples exhibited a single common T_g value, which increased to higher temperature upon increasing the content of AN. In addition, the results were investigated quantitatively in the framework of a molecular model. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry     

Key issues in the microchemical systems-based methanol fuel processor: Energy density,thermal integration,and heat loss mechanisms

Microreactor technology is a promising approach in harnessing the high energy density of hydrocarbons and is being used to produce hydrogen-rich gases by reforming of methanol and other liquid hydrocarbons. However, on-demand H₂ generation for miniature proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) systems has been a bottleneck problem, which has limited the development and demonstration of the PEMFC for high-performance portable power. A number of crucial challenges exist for the realization of practical portable fuel processors. Among these, the management of heat in a compact format is perhaps the most crucial challenge for portable fuel processors. In this study, a silicon microreactor-based catalytic methanol steam reforming reactor was designed, fabricated, and demonstrated in the context of complete thermal integration to understand this critical issue and develop a knowledge base required to rationally design and integrate the microchemical components of a fuel processor. Detailed thermal and reaction experiments were carried out to demonstrate the potential of microreactor-based on-demand H₂ generation. Based on thermal characterization experiments, the heat loss mechanisms and effective convective heat coefficients from the planar microreactor structure were determined and suggestions were made for scale up and implementation of packaging schemes to reduce different modes of heat losses.     

Dielectric and electrical properties of La@NiO SNPs for high-performance optoelectronic applications

A successful flash combustion synthesis of NiO spherical nanoparticles with various contents of lanthanum (La) doping (La@NiO SNPs) with remarkably enhanced dielectric and electrical properties are reported. Single phase has been confirmed through X-ray diffraction and FT-Raman spectroscopic analysis. Increasing La content in NiO reduced the crystallite size by 341% to 6.65 nm from 22.70 nm. The composition of elements in the final product was assessed via EDX analysis. Moreover, monophasic La@NiO SNPs synthesis with size reduction was observed using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). A red shift in optical energy gaps (3.52–3.26 eV) was observed with increasing La contents from pure to 10 wt%. Capacitance (109–964 PF), impedance (9.41 × 10⁴–1.67 × 10⁴ kΩ), dielectric constant (100–967), dielectric loss (335–10666), and electrical conductivity (4–5 S/m) values were remarkably improved with La doping. The current (I)–voltage (V) characteristics of pure and La@NiO NPs were performed under the biased voltage of ±20 V. Current was noticed in the range of (3.81 × 10^?4–9.91 × 10^?3 amp) at pure, 1.0, 3.0, 5.0, and 10 wt% of La@NiO NPs. Enhancements in the dielectric and electrical properties of as-synthesized NPs make them suitable for optoelectronics uses.     

Pulsed Laser Activation of Carbene Bioadhesive Boosts Bonding Strength

Light‐activated tissue adhesives are limited to low light doses (50 J) and intensities (<1 W cm^?2) due to photo‐to‐thermal heat generation. Low intensities have the disadvantage of limited penetration depths with retarded crosslinking kinetics, which impairs carbene‐based crosslinking strategies that compete with nitrogen evolution and gas nucleation. These limitations are circumvented by a trade‐off between high‐intensity activation while reducing the exposure surface area. Continuous or pulsed activation by line scanning the carbene precursor adhesive allows curing a higher surface area/volume ratio while preventing localized heat generation. By optimizing irradiation with a pulsed laser scan, the adhesion strength is improved by 17‐fold over ultraviolet A (UVA) light emitting diodes (LEDs) and is on par with bioadhesive gold standard of topical cyanoacrylates. Overall, this improved method of photo‐activation applies to other industrial and clinical photocuring adhesives where limits on UVA dose constrain exposure intensities.