Alpha-Quartz 2. Crystal chemistry,and nature and distribution of impurities

Crystal chemistry of alpha-quartz is discussed in relation to the nature, concentration and distribution of the common impurities. Two schemes for incorporation of impurities in the host structure,viz., the charge compensation model for untwinned natural quartz, and the broken-bond model for synthetic quartz to accomodate excess impurity residue after charge compensation, are critically reviewed. Another model for the presence of Al-H defects independent of alkali association in natural quartz is suggested. It is pointed out that the growth pressure influences the nature and distribution of impurities as well as generation of planar and line defects in synthetic quartz. It is also established that mechanicalQ (which is a measure of the acoustic loss) of synthetic crystals grown at low pressure deteriorates with increase in impurity content in excess of what is required for satisfying the charge compensation rule.     

Improved second harmonic suppression in a compact coupled-line bandpass filter with triangular corrugations

Microsystem Technologies - This paper presents the design of a miniaturized coupled-line bandpass filter centered at 5.25 GHz with a fractional bandwidth of 20% for wireless local area...     

The proposition of Possibilistic sigmoid features and the Shannon-Hanman transform classifier along with the pervasive learning model for the classification of brain tumor using MRI

As part of developing a computer-aided diagnosis system for the early detection/classification of brain tumors, this paper presents an Information set-based sigmoid features and a classifier using MR images. A set of information values constituting an Information set springs forth on fitting a membership function to a set of information source (attribute) values, the sum of which gives the certainty/uncertainty in the attribute values to a class, say, the pixel intensities in an MRI to a disease class. This certainty/uncertainty representation is not attempted in the existing methods, thus failing to produce efficient features. To this end, Hanman-Anirban (HA), Mamta-Hanman (MH), and Possibilistic Renyi entropy functions are employed including the pervasive membership function in the generation of four types of sigmoid features. The pervasive Information set results from the use of pervasive membership function that is a combination of the membership function and non-membership function. Furthermore, the Shannon-Hanman Transform classifier is formulated using the t-norm of error vectors between the training and test feature vectors, and its parameters are learned through the Pervasive learning model. The proposed system comprising features, classifier, and the learning model is tested on two Brain MRI’s datasets. The t-norm based fusion of two features has also been experimented. The Shannon-Hanman Transform classifier along with the Pervasive learning model is found to outperform the other classifiers in the literature with the highest accuracy of 99.51% for the two-class classification with a fusion of two features and 99.09% for the three-class classification with a sigmoid MH feature.

     

Studies of mechanical and moisture regain properties of methyl methacrylate grafted silk fibers

The mechanical properties such as the tenacity, breaking extension, initial modulus, elastic and work recovery, and stress relaxation behavior of methyl methacrylate (MMA) grafted silk fibers prepared under different conditions were measured and explained in terms of the relative dominance of the stress concentration, reduction in the interchain cohesion, and fiber matrix stiffening at different grafting percentages. The moisture regain characteristics of fibers grafted in the presence of different solvents were also studied and compared. The grafting of MMA on silk was found to improve the recovery properties significantly without affecting the stress relaxation behavior. The moisture regain studies indicate that moisture regain is reduced with increasing length of the grafted poly(MMA) chains. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 84: 969–974, 2002; DOI 10.1002/app.10202     

Fractional Order Digital Differentiator Design Based on Power Function and Least squares

In this article, we propose the use of power function and least squares method for designing of a fractional order digital differentiator. The input signal is transformed into a power function by using Taylor series expansion, and its fractional derivative is computed using the Grunwald–Letnikov (G–L) definition. Next, the fractional order digital differentiator is modelled as a finite impulse response (FIR) system that yields fractional order derivative of the G–L type for a power function. The FIR system coefficients are obtained by using the least squares method. Two examples are used to demonstrate that the fractional derivative of the digital signals is computed by using the proposed technique. The results of the third and fourth examples reveal that the proposed technique gives superior performance in comparison with the existing techniques.     

Electrochemiluminescent arrays for cytochrome P450-activated genotoxicity screening. DNA damage from benzo[a]pyrene metabolites

Arrays suitable for genotoxicity screening are reported that generate metabolites from cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYPs) in thin-film spots. Array spots containing DNA, various human cyt P450s, and electrochemiluminescence (ECL) generating metallopolymer [Ru(bpy)2PVP10]2+ were exposed to H2O2 to activate the enzymes. ECL from all spots was visualized simultaneously using a CCD camera. Using benzo[a]pyrene as a test substrate, enzyme activity for producing DNA damage in the arrays was found in the order CYP1B1 > CYP1A2 > CYP1A1 > CYP2E1 > myoglobin, the same as the order of their metabolic activity. Thus, these arrays estimate the relative propensity of different enzymes to produce genotoxic metabolites. This is the first demonstration of ECL arrays for high-throughput in vitro genotoxicity screening.     

Photograft copolymerization of methyl methacrylate on silk fiber using titanium(III) chloride–potassium persulphate redox initiator in a limited aqueous system. I

Graft copolymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) onto mulberry silk fibers has been investigated in a limited aqueous system employing titanium(III) chloride–K₂S₂O₈ as the redox initiator under a photoactive condition with visible light. Polymerization in the presence of light at 32 ± 1°C has been found to be more pronounced than in the dark under identical conditions. The percentage of grafting, the percentage of total conversion, and the percentage of grafting efficiency have been studied by varying the reaction time, concentration of monomer, initiator concentration, solvent composition, and pH of the medium. A high percentage of grafting (∼ 93%), high grafting efficiency (∼ 97%), and the percentage of total conversion (∼ 25%) have been obtained with little homopolymer formation. Characterization of the grafted fibers has been investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Finally, the reaction mechanism has been discussed by considering hydrogen bonding. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 73: 2187–2193, 1999     

Thermal stratification in ribbed liquid hydrogen storage tanks

A significant decrease in the degree of thermal stratification is demonstrated by improvising transverse wall ribs on the inner cylindrical surfaces of large liquid hydrogen storage tanks. The ribbed surfaces are modeled as fins and a conjugate transient heat transfer problem is formulated for predicting flow currents and heat transfer. Turbulent Rayleigh numbers between 1.2×10¹²$1.2\times {10}^{12}$ and 6×10¹⁶$6\times {10}^{16}$ are considered. A stratification parameter based on the moment of energy is defined to quantify the degree of stratification and this parameter is seen to be about 30% lower for the ribbed tanks. The degree of stratification is not sensitive to changes in the ratio of the rib height to the spacing between the ribs. The transient free convection is shown to be characterized by the parameter Fo×Ra^0.15$\mathrm{Fo}\times {\mathrm{Ra}}^{0.15}$. The process of stratification takes place more slowly in the ribbed tanks than in smooth-walled tanks. The free convective heat transfer coefficient for tanks having ribbed surface is also seen to be significantly lower. Incorporation of ribs over the inner surface of the insulated tanks is demonstrated to offer a simple means of reducing the stratification and boil-off losses.     

Assessment of CO2 emission reduction and identification of CDM potential in a township

This paper presents the theoretical investigation of CDM opportunity in a township at Jaipur, India. The purpose of study is to identify and analyze the various opportunities viz., installation of solar water heater, energy efficient lighting, energy efficient air conditioners, and energy efficient submersible water pumps in desert coolers and thus achieve a considerable (65.7?%) reduction in GHG emissions. Out of the various opportunities considered, the retrofitting with solar water heater can be recommended for CDM. Though, the retrofitting with energy efficient lighting, energy efficient air conditioners and energy efficient submersible water pumps in desert coolers claimed CO₂ emission reduction of 104.84, 25.92, and 36.94?tons per annum, respectively, but the only opportunity which got through CDM was retrofitting with solar water heater claiming 115.70?tCO₂ (100?%) emission reductions per annum which could result into net earnings of 115.70 CERs. The simple and discounted payback period for all four project activities are also calculated with and without CDM and tax benefits.     

An electromechanical higher order model for piezoelectric functionally graded plates

Bidirectional flexure analysis of functionally graded (FG) plate integrated with piezoelectric fiber reinforced composites (PFRC) is presented in this paper. A higher order shear and normal deformation theory (HOSNT12) is used to analyze such hybrid or smart FG plate subjected to electromechanical loading. The displacement function of the present model is approximated as Taylor’s series in the thickness coordinate, while the electro-static potential is approximated as layer wise linear through the thickness of the PFRC layer. The equations of equilibrium are obtained using principle of minimum potential energy and solution is by Navier’s technique. Elastic constants are varying exponentially along thickness (z axis) for FG material while Poisson’s ratio is kept constant. PFRC actuator attached either at top or bottom of FG plate and analyzed under mechanical and coupled mechanical and electrical loading. Comparison of present HOSNT12 is made with exact and finite element method (FEM).