ANT-colony based disjoint set assortment in wireless sensor networks

Wireless Networks - Wireless sensor network (WSN) consists of small sized devices containing different sensors to monitor physical, environmental and medical conditions during surveillance of...     

Steerable Microinvasive Probes for Localized Drug Delivery to Deep Tissue

Enhanced understanding of neuropathologies has created a need for more advanced tools. Current neural implants result in extensive glial scarring and are not able to highly localize drug delivery due to their size. Smaller implants reduce surgical trauma and improve spatial resolution, but such a reduction requires improvements in device design to enable accurate and chronic implantation in subcortical structures. Flexible needle steering techniques offer improved control over implant placement, but often require complex closed‐loop control for accurate implantation. This study reports the development of steerable microinvasive neural implants (S‐MINIs) constructed from borosilicate capillaries (OD = 60 µm, ID = 20 µm) that do not require closed‐loop guidance or guide tubes. S‐MINIs reduce glial scarring 3.5‐fold compared to prior implants. Bevel steered needles are utilized for open‐loop targeting of deep‐brain structures. This study demonstrates a sinusoidal relationship between implant bevel angle and the trajectory radius of curvature both in vitro and ex vivo. This relationship allows for bevel‐tipped capillaries to be steered to a target with an average error of 0.23 mm ± 0.19 without closed‐loop control. Polished microcapillaries present a new microinvasive tool for chronic, predictable targeting of pathophysiological structures without the need for closed‐loop feedback and complex imaging.     

Polyphenols of tea. IV.—Qualitative and quantitative study of the polyphenols of different organs and some cultivated varieties of tea plant

A method is described for the estimation of individual polyphenols of tea leaf. Polyphenols separated by two-way paper chromatography of a methanolic extract of the material were located under ultra-violet light. The excised spots were eluted with water and estimated from extinctions at 275 nm. Three of the polyphenols, (?)-epigallocatechin gallate, (?)-epigallocatechin and (?)-epicatechin gallate, which comprise 10-19% of the dry matter of tea shoots from Assam, are partly consumed during the manufacture of black tea. Seasonal variation in the polyphenolic content of some jats and clones grown in North East India are described. The phenolic content of the tea shoots was higher during rains. Changes in the phenolic pattern during the growth and development of tea flower, fruit and seed are described. Organs of tea, such as sepals, petals and pericarp with closer morphological affinities to the leaf, showed a greater degree of similarity in their phenolic pattern compared with other organs such as stigma, style, carpel, anther and testa. The gallates were mostly confined to the chlorophyll-bearing organs.     

Preparation, Characterization, and Microwave Dielectric Properties of Sr2La3Nb1−x Ta x Ti4O17 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) Ceramics

Sr₂La₃Nb_1?x Ta _x Ti₄O₁₇ (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) ceramics were processed via a solid-state mixed oxide route. Sr₂La₃Nb_1?x Ta _x Ti₄O₁₇ (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) solid solutions were single phase in the whole range of x values within the x-ray diffraction (XRD) detection limit. The microstructure comprised elongated and needle-shaped grains. The ceramics exhibit relative permittivity (ε _r) of 73 to 68.6, product of unloaded quality factor and resonant frequency (Q _u f ₀) of 7100 GHz to 9500 GHz, and temperature coefficient of resonant frequency (τ _f) of 78.6 ppm/°C to 56.6 ppm/°C.     

Erratum to: Conductivity Sensors Based System Development and Application to Investigate the Interfacial Behaviour between Supersonic Steam Jet and Water

Instruments and Experimental Techniques - An Erratum to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0020441221050249     

Formation and Phase Behavior of Winsor Type III <Emphasis Type="Italic">Jatropha curcas</Emphasis>-Based Microemulsion Systems

The formation and phase behavior of Jatropha curcas-based microemulsion systems, which could potentially be used in enhanced oil recovery applications, has been investigated. Winsor type III microemulsions were obtained by adding n-octane to Winsor type I microemulsion systems prepared using various concentrations of alkyl polyglucoside (APG). To optimize the formulation of type III microemulsion systems, five different types of co-surfactants, i.e. normal butyl alcohol (NBA), isobutyl alcohol, isopropyl alcohol, fatty acid alcohol C8 (FAC8) and fatty acid alcohol C8/C10 (FAC8/C10) were used. The microemulsion phase behavior was determined along with particle size distributions by dynamic light scattering measurements. Results show that the optimum Winston type III system can be achieved by mixing 3 wt% of NBA, 1 wt% APG and 3 wt% NaCl. At the optimum formulation, the IFT reached a minimum value (0.016 mN/m) and formed very small emulsion droplets with a narrow particle size distribution.