Electrical and optical properties of MoO3-V2O5 mixed oxide films

Vacuum deposited MoO₃-V₂O₅ films of different molar concentrations have been used for DC electrical conductivity studies at different temperatures. The optical absorption spectra of MoO₃-V₂O₅ films of different molar concentrations have been measured. From these measurements it is found that optical band gap and activation energy vary with molar concentration of MoO₃-V₂O₅ films.     

Tyrosine kinase inhibition produces specific alterations in axon guidance in the grasshopper embryo

Tyrosine kinase signaling pathways are essential for process outgrowth and guidance during nervous system development. We have examined the roles of tyrosine kinase activity in programming growth cone guidance decisions in an intact nervous system in which neurons can be individually identified. We applied the tyrosine kinase inhibitors herbimycin A and genistein to whole 40% grasshopper embryos placed in medium, or injected the inhibitors into intact grasshopper eggs. Both inhibitors caused interneuronal axons that normally would grow along the longitudinal connectives to instead leave the central nervous system (CNS) within the segmental nerve root and grow out toward the body wall muscles. In addition, herbimycin A produced pathfinding errors in which many longitudinal axons crossed the CNS midline. To study how this drug affected guidance decisions made by individual growth cones, we dye-filled the pCC interneuron, which normally extends an axon anteriorly along the ipsilateral longitudinal connective. In the presence of herbimycin A, the pCC growth cone was redirected across the anterior commissure. These phenotypes suggest that tyrosine kinase inhibition blocks a signaling mechanism that repels the growth cones of longitudinal connective neurons and prevents them from crossing the midline.     

Catalytic Materials for High-Temperature Combustion

Catalytic combustion, as an alternative to conventional thermal combustion, has received considerable attention during the past decade. Research efforts have been promoted by the need to meet governmental demands concerning pollution and the wish to use energy sources more efficiently. The two main advantages offered by catalytic combustors over flame combustors apply to these goals:

1. Catalytic combustion can be carried out over a wide range of fuel concentrations in air and at low temperatures.
2. These low temperatures result in attaining NO, emission levels substantially lower than possible with conventional combustors.

     

Synthesis and characterization of aromatic copolyesters containing siloxane linkages in the polymer backbone

A new series of aromatic copolyesters containing siloxane linkages were prepared by the melt polymerization of bisphenol A (BPA) with eugenol end‐capped siloxane (EuSi), diphenyl terephthalate (DPT), and diphenyl isophthalate (DPI) in varying ratio in the temperature range 220–290°C under reduced pressure in the presence of dibutyl tin dilaurate (DBTL) catalyst. The siloxane copolyesters prepared were characterized by FTIR, ¹H‐NMR spectroscopy, solution viscosity, thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, and X‐ray diffraction. The effect of incorporation of eugenol end‐capped siloxane was studied on the properties of BPA/DPI/DPT copolyesters. The glass‐transition temperature of copolyester was decreased from 184 to 70°C by incorporation of 20% of eugenol end‐capped siloxane. All copolyesters were found to be soluble in commonly used aprotic polar solvents and had film‐forming properties. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 100: 3222–3228, 2006     

Creep and Stress Rupture Behavior of an Advanced Silicon Nitride: Part I, Experimental Observations

Cylindrical buttuohead specimens of an advanced silicon nitride were tested in uniaxial tension at temperatures between 1422 and 1673 K. In the range 1477 to 1673 K, creep deformation was reliably measured using high-temperature contact probe extensometry. Extensive scanning and transmission electron microscopy has revealed the formation of lenticular cavities at two-grain junctions at all temperatures (1422–1673 K) and extensive triple-junction cavitation occurring at the higher temperatures (1644–1673 K). Cavitation is believed to be part of the net creep process. The stress rupture data show stratification of the Monkman–Grant lines with respect to temperature. Failure strain increased with increase in rupture time or temperature, or decrease in stress. Fractography showed that final failure occurred by subcritical crack growth in all specimens.     

Microwave-Hydrothermal Processing of BiFeO3 and CsAl2PO6

Microwave-hydrothermal (M-H) processing was compared with conventional-hydrothermal (C-H) processing in the crystallization of BiFeO₃ and CsAl₂PO₆ phases. The presence of the microwave field led to accelerated kinetics of the crystallization of both these phases as detected by powder X-ray diffraction. The acceleration of reaction rates under microwave field is expected to lead to energy savings during ceramic processing.     

PID controller tuning for a multivariable glass furnace process by genetic algorithm

Standard genetic algorithms (SGAs) are investigated to optimise discrete-time proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller parameters, by three tuning approaches, for a multivariable glass furnace process with loop interaction. Initially, standard genetic algorithms (SGAs) are used to identify control oriented models of the plant which are subsequently used for controller optimisation. An individual tuning approach without loop interaction is considered first to categorise the genetic operators, cost functions and improve searching boundaries to attain the desired performance criteria. The second tuning approach considers controller parameters optimisation with loop interaction and individual cost functions. While, the third tuning approach utilises a modified cost function which includes the total effect of both controlled variables, glass temperature and excess oxygen. This modified cost function is shown to exhibit improved control robustness and disturbance rejection under loop interaction.     

Network Lifetime Enhancement of Wireless Sensor Networks Using EFRP Protocol

This paper presents a novel transceiver architecture for in-band full duplex radio. A transceiver for full duplex radio requires a self-interference (SI) canceler to remove the SI occurring from the transmitter to the receiver, and a full duplex transceiver generally has two SI cancelers: one at the analog RF stage and the other at the baseband stage. The output from the SI canceler at the RF stage includes much residual SI, and it decreases the number of bits allocated to the analog baseband signal at the analog-to-digital converter. A 1-tap analog baseband SI canceler that uses a replica signal including only the direct path component of the residual SI has been presented for preventing degradation. However, the architecture cannot remove the SI well due to the high Ricial K-factor. To address the problem, the presented architecture has an SI canceler at the analog baseband stage, and this canceler employs a replica signal that is output from a digital-to-analog converter. Because the replica signal is generated in the digital domain, the architecture can generate a multipath replica signal, and improved performance can be expected. Numerical and theoretical analyses are shown to validate the effectiveness of the presented architecture.

     

Optical detection of CA 15.3 breast cancer antigen using CdS quantum dot

The present study focus on optical sensing of breast cancer antigen 15.3 (CA 15.3) using cadmium sulphide quantum dot (CdS‐QD) in saline and serum samples spiked with antigen. The surface of CdS‐QD was modified by cysteamine capping followed by tagging of CA 15.3 antibody. The samples were characterised using UV‐visible absorption spectroscopy (UV‐VIS Spectroscopy), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) attached with energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy, phase contrast inverted epi‐fluorescence microscopy and photoluminescence (PL) spectrophotometry (EDS). The CdS‐QD showed a mean diameter of 3.02 ± 0.6 nm. The complex formed after antigen‐antibody interaction resulted in distinguishable optical and fluorescence intensity with respect to varying concentration of antigen. The PL study revealed that CA 15.3 antibody labelled CdS QD can detect CA 15.3 tumour marker even at very low concentration of 0.002 KU/L with a constant response time of 15 min. This study clearly indicates that detection of CA 15.3 at low concentration is possible using surface modified CdS QD in serum samples and can find immense applications in biosensor development for detection of breast cancer marker similar to various automated detection kits available in market.Inspec keywords: semiconductor quantum dots, cadmium compounds, II‐VI semiconductors, wide band gap semiconductors, cancer, tumours, optical sensors, biosensors, biomedical equipment, visible spectra, ultraviolet spectra, Fourier transform infrared spectra, transmission electron microscopy, X‐ray chemical analysis, fluorescence, optical microscopy, photoluminescence, proteins, molecular biophysics, nanosensors, nanomedicine, nanoparticlesOther keywords: optical detection, CA 15.3 breast cancer antigen, optical sensing, cadmium sulphide quantum dot, saline samples, serum samples, cysteamine capping, CA 15.3 antibody, UV‐visible absorption spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy, phase contrast inverted epifluorescence microscopy, photoluminescence spectrophotometry, antigen‐antibody interaction, fluorescence intensity, optical intensity, CA 15.3 tumour marker, surface modified CdS QD, biosensor development, time 15 min, CdS