Physico-Chemical Properties of Immature Pods of Japanese Soybean Cultivars

Twelve Japanese cultivars and JS335, the most popular soybean cultivar in India, were grown in the field. Days to arrival of R6 stage (when pods are still green, immature, and tight with fully developed immature green seeds) of these cultivars were recorded. Pods picked at this stage were evaluated for pod yield per plant, pod characteristics (width, presence of hairs) fresh green seed weight and percent moisture content. Fresh green seeds were analyzed for compositional traits viz. protein content, trypsin inhibitor lipoxygenase isozymes, oil content, and polyunsaturated fatty acids (essential fatty acids). Japanese cultivars showed higher fresh green seed weight and pod yield than JS335. On a fresh weight basis, Japanese cultivars exhibited lower protein content but higher oil content than JS335. Most of the Japanese cultivars showed lower trypsin inhibitor content and a varying level of lipoxygenase-I, as well as lipoxygenase-II + III when compared to JS335. Total polyunsaturated fatty acids content in JS335 was higher than some of the Japanese cultivars. The number of pods per plant showed a positive correlation (r = 0.863, p < 0.001) with pod yield per plant. Some of the Japanese cultivars offer great potential for consumption at the green pod stage or as a source for desirable traits.     

Improvement in casting practice by controlling the drainage rate and hearth liquid level to develop an efficient casthouse management practice in blast furnace

The key to excellent casthouse operation are low cost, high productivity, dry hearth and high casting rate while minimising the consumable material. The stable blast furnace operation requires proper control of drainage rate of liquid hot metal and slag from hearth. The productivity of blast furnace can be effectively increased if drainage rate is considerably increased. If the drainage rate is controlled, the periodic tapping of hot metal and slag from hearth can be made effective. This paper highlight the improvement made in casting practice by controlling the hearth liquid level in blast furnace. The improvements have made significant change in casthouse management. It is well demonstrated that various casthouse operations have migrated from one regime of operation to another regime and various consumable items are significantly reduced. The importance of increasing the drainage rate in improving the productivity of blast furnace is explained in details.     

Variability aware SVM macromodel based design centering of analog circuits

Design centering is the term used for a procedure of obtaining enhanced parametric yield of a circuit despite the variations in device and design parameters. The process variability in nanometer regimes manifest into variations in these devices and design parameters. During design space exploration of analog circuits, a methodology to find design-instances with better yield is necessitated; this would ensure that the circuit will function as per specifications after fabrication, even with impact of statistical variations. We need to evaluate circuit performance for a given instance of a circuit-design identified by possessing a set of nominal values of device-design parameters. A lot of instances need be searched, having different sizes for a given circuit topology. HSPICE is very compute intensive. Instead, we employ macromodeling approach for analog circuits based on support vector machine (SVM), which enables efficient evaluation of performance of such circuits of different sizing during yield optimization loops. These performance macromodels are found to be as accurate as SPICE and at the same time, time-efficient for use in sizing of analog circuits with optimal yield. Process variability aware SVM macromodels are first trained and then used inside the Genetic algorithm loops for design centering of different circuits, subsequently resulting into sized-circuit instances having optimal yield. Post design centering, the sized circuits will be able to provide functions as per specifications upon fabrication. The application of this design centering approach as process variability analysis tool is illustrated on various circuits e.g. two stage op amp, voltage controlled oscillator and mixer circuit with layouts drawn into 90?nm UMC technology (Euro-practice).     

Synthesis and Optimization of the Production of Millimeter‐Sized Hydroxyapatite Single Crystals by Cl−–OH− Ion Exchange

Millimeter‐sized hydroxyapatite (HA) single crystals were synthesized from chlorapatite (ClAp) crystals via the ionic exchange of Cl^? for OH^? at high temperature. X‐ray diffraction, Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy, and chloride content measurements were used to follow the progress of this conversion, and to assess the effect of the experimental conditions (temperature, time, and atmosphere). Cl^?→OH^? exchange took place homogeneously and was enhanced by firing in wet air. After firing at 1425°C for 2 h 92% of the Cl^? ions were exchanged by OH^? while maintaining crystal integrity. Temperatures above 1450°C damaged the surface of the crystals, destroying the hexagonal habit at 1500°C. The composition of these apatite crystals was close to bone mineral content. Their nanoindentation hardness (8.7 ± 1.0 GPa) and elastic nanoindentation modulus (120 ± 10 GPa) were similar to those of the starting ClAp (6.6 ± 1.5 GPa, and 110 ± 15 GPa, respectively). However, their average flexural strength was ~25% lower due to the formation of defects during the thermal treatments.     

Modelling and analysis of FMS productivity variables by ISM,SEM and GTMA approach

Productivity has often been cited as a key factor in a flexible manufacturing system (FMS) performance, and actions to increase it are said to improve profitability and the wage earning capacity of employees. Improving productivity is seen as a key issue for survival and success in the long term of a manufacturing system. The purpose of this paper is to make a model and analysis of the productivity variables of FMS. This study was performed by different approaches viz. interpretive structural modelling (ISM), structural equation modelling (SEM), graph theory and matrix approach (GTMA) and a cross-sectional survey within manufacturing firms in India. ISM has been used to develop a model of productivity variables, and then it has been analyzed. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) are powerful statistical techniques. CFA is carried by SEM. EFA is applied to extract the factors in FMS by the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS 20) software and confirming these factors by CFA through analysis of moment structures (AMOS 20) software. The twenty productivity variables are identified through literature and four factors extracted, which involves the productivity of FMS. The four factors are people, quality, machine and flexibility. SEM using AMOS 20 was used to perform the first order four-factor structures. GTMA is a multiple attribute decision making (MADM) methodology used to find intensity/quantification of productivity variables in an organization. The FMS productivity index has purposed to intensify the factors which affect FMS.     

Finite difference Legendre wavelet collocation method applied to the study of heat mass transfer during food drying

In this paper, we studied a single‐phase‐lag model of heat and moisture transfer in a finite slab, cylinder or sphere, undergoing industrial drying of foods. The present model is a boundary value problem of a system of two nonlinear second‐order hyperbolic partial differential equations. The solution of the present is model obtained by using finite difference Legendre wavelet collocation (FDLWCM) and Galerkin methods. In case of constant moisture diffusivity, we observe that the finite difference Legendre wavelet Galerkin and collocation solutions are exactly the same. Laplace transform and FDLWCM solutions are approximately the same. The L ² norm error decreases as Legendre wavelet basis functions increases and strip size decreases. The L ² norm relative error increases as Luikov number increases. L ² norm relative error is highest in cylindrical shape and lowest in slab shape while in between spherical shape. The effects of the dimensionless parameters of heat and mass transfer are discussed in detail.     

Active Antenna Module for Low-Cost Electronically Scanned Phased Arrays

This paper describes a low-cost compact active antenna module that includes transmit/receive/mixer electronics and a dual-polarized antenna element for half-duplex operation at 10 GHz. The system-in-package module has been fabricated in a ball-grid-array package. It is particularly suited for large low-cost low-power phased-array applications. Measurements at IF of single element gain show cross-pol reduced 18 dB. A small compact array was fabricated and measured. Simulations show that coupling between modules in a tightly packed infinite array caused a small reduction in scan range.     

Er~(3+)-Yb~(3+)-Na~+:ZnWO_4 phosphors for enhanced visible upconversion and temperature sensing applications

The crystal structure and surface morphology of the Er³⁺/Yb³⁺/Na+:ZnWO₄ phosphors synthesized by solid state reaction method were analyzed by X-ray diffraction(XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy(FESEM) analysis.The frequency upconversion(UC) emission study in the developed phosphors was investigated by using 980 nm laser diode excitation.The effect of codoping in the Er³⁺:ZnWO₄ phosphors on the UC emission intensity was studied.The UC emission bands that are exhibited in the blue(490 nm),green(530,552 nm),red(668 nm) and NIR(800 nm) region correspond to the ⁴F_7/2→⁴I_15/2.²H_11/2,⁴S_3/2→⁴I_15/2,⁴F_9/2→⁴I_15/2 and ⁴I9/2→⁴I_15/2 transitions,respectively.The temperature sensing performance of the Er³⁺-Yb³⁺-Na+:ZnWO₄ phosphors was investigated based on the 2 H_11/2→⁴I_15/2 and ⁴S_3/2→⁴I_15/2 thermally coupled transitions of the Er³⁺ions.The photometric study was also carried out for the developed phosphors.     

Synergistic effects of hybrid carbon nanomaterials in room‐temperature‐vulcanized silicone rubber

This work examines nanocomposites based on nanofillers and room‐temperature‐vulcanized silicone rubber. The carbon nanofillers used were conductive carbon black (CB), carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene (GE). Vulcanizates for CB, GE, CNTs as the only filler and hybrid fillers using CNTs, CB and GE were prepared by solution mixing. The elastic modulus for CNT hybrid with CB at 15 phr (4.65 MPa) was higher than for CB hybrid with GE (3.13 MPa) and CNTs/CB/GE as the only filler. Similarly, the resistance for CNT hybrid with CB at 10 phr (0.41 kΩ) was lower than for CB (0.84 kΩ) at 20 phr and CNTs as the only filler. These improvements result from efficient filler networking, a synergistic effect among the carbon nanomaterials, the high aspect ratio of CNTs and the improved filler dispersion in the rubber matrix. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry