Studying the resistivity imaging of chicken tissue phantoms with different current patterns in Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT)

A current injection pattern in Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) has its own current distribution profile within the domain under test. Hence, different current patterns have different sensitivity, spatial resolution and distinguishability. Image reconstruction studies with practical phantoms are essential to assess the performance of EIT systems for their validation, calibration and comparison purposes. Impedance imaging of real tissue phantoms with different current injection methods is also essential for better assessment of the biomedical EIT systems. Chicken tissue paste phantoms and chicken tissue block phantoms are developed and the resistivity image reconstruction is studied with different current injection methods. A 16-electrode array is placed inside the phantom tank and the tank is filled with chicken muscle tissue paste or chicken tissue blocks as the background mediums. Chicken fat tissue, chicken bone, air hole and nylon cylinders are used as the inhomogeneity to obtained different phantom configurations. A low magnitude low frequency constant sinusoidal current is injected at the phantom boundary with opposite and neighboring current patterns and the boundary potentials are measured. Resistivity images are reconstructed from the boundary data using EIDORS and the reconstructed images are analyzed with the contrast parameters calculated from their elemental resistivity profiles. Results show that the resistivity profiles of all the phantom domains are successfully reconstructed with a proper background resistivity and high inhomogeneity resistivity for both the current injection methods. Reconstructed images show that, for all the chicken tissue phantoms, the inhomogeneities are suitably reconstructed with both the current injection protocols though the chicken tissue block phantom and opposite method are found more suitable. It is observed that the boundary potentials of the chicken tissue block phantoms are higher than the chicken tissue paste phantom. SNR of the chicken tissue block phantoms are found comparatively more and hence the chicken tissue block phantom is found more suitable for its lower noise performance. The background noise is found less in opposite method for all the phantom configurations which yields the better resistivity images with high PCR and COC and proper IR_Mean and IR_Max neighboring method showed higher noise level for both the chicken tissue paste phantoms and chicken tissue block phantoms with all the inhomogeneities. Opposite method is found more suitable for both the chicken tissue phantoms, and also, chicken tissue block phantoms are found more suitable compared to the chicken tissue paste phantom.     

Relation between hydrodynamics and drop size distributions in pump–mix mixer

In the present work, experiments have been carried out to measure the drop size distributions in a pump–mix mixer over a wide range of geometry and operating conditions. The effects of impeller type, (single and multiple impellers), impeller speed, location, phase flow rates, and interfacial tension have been investigated. Computational fluid dynamics model has been developed to predict the hydrodynamic characteristics of pump–mix mixers. Population balance modeling has been carried out to predict the drop size distributions. The hydrodynamic characteristics predicted through CFD simulations have been related to the drop size distributions. The role of convection and energy dissipation in influencing the drop size distributions has been elucidated.     

Polycondensation of structurally divergent tetraamine monomers with dicarboxylic acids to synthesize polybenzimidazole copolymers for polymer electrolyte membranes

In our effort to promote 2,6‐bis(3,4‐diaminophenyl)‐4‐phenylpyridine (Py‐TAB) as an alternative tetraamine monomer to conventionally used 3,3′,4,4′‐tetraaminobiphenyl (TAB) for synthesizing readily processable pyridine bridged polybenzimidazoles (Py‐PBIs), two series of random copolymers (PBI‐co‐Py‐PBI) were synthesized by polymerizing Py‐TAB and TAB with isophthalic acid or terephthalic acid to produce meta (mPBI‐co‐mPy‐PBI) and para (pPBI‐co‐pPy‐PBI) connected copolymers, respectively. For the first time in the PBI literature, copolymers were synthesized by varying the relative compositions of tetraamines (TAB and Py‐TAB) in the polymerization feed with a single dicarboxylic acid (DCA) instead of the traditionally used method where two DCAs with variable compositions were polymerized with a single tetraamine. The solubility and hence the processability of the copolymers were improved significantly upon introduction of Py‐PBI in the copolymer. The detailed characterizations of both meta and para series copolymers compellingly established that thermal, chemical and mechanical stabilities can be easily modulated according to need by altering the relative compositions of PBI and Py‐PBI. The phosphoric acid (PA) loading of the copolymers increased gradually with increasing Py‐PBI content since the bulky pyridine moiety facilitated the absorption of PA. The presence of pyridine functionality and a larger PA loading caused a higher proton conductivity of PA doped copolymer membranes. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry     

MgAl2O4 spinel as an effective ceramic bonding in a MgO–CaZrO3 refractory

The influence of MgAl₂O₄ spinel addition as a ceramic bonding in the MgO–CaZrO₃ refractory was established by the evaluation of physical and microstructural characteristics in terms of density, porosity, crystalline phases, phase distribution and morphology. X-ray diffraction analyses and scanning electron microscopy with microanalysis have been used. The mechanical behavior has been evaluated in terms of cold crushing strength at room temperature and modulus of rupture at 25 and 1260 °C. Static and dynamic resistances tested by chemical attack of clinker raw constituents have been carried out at 1450 °C. Results showed that thermo-mechanical properties significantly improved with increasing the content of spinel. Microstructural analysis revealed that spinel phase aided to develop a strong bond between MgO and CaZrO₃ refractory aggregates. Finally, the refractory bodies exhibited a good thermal stability and an excellent chemical resistance against the clinker raw material.     

WATER VAPOR ADSORPTION-DESORPTION CHARACTERISTICS OF A MIXED ADSORBENT

Air conditioning systems that are incorporating desiccant based dehumidifiers are finding increased applications over traditional vapor compression refrigeration systems due to their efficient handling of latent heat loads. Generally, silica gel, molecular sieves, or activated alumina coaled on a rotating honeycomb type desiccant matrix is used as a dehumidifier in these systems. However, shapes of the isotherm for water vapor adsorption on these materials are not favorable for optimal performance of desiccant cooling systems. Theoretical studies have shown that a material having a type I isotherm for water vapor, whose shape lies between that on molecular sieve 13X and silica gel would lower installation and operating costs of desiccant based air-conditioning systems.

An adsorbent was prepared by mixing a silica gel, molecular sieve 13X, and a hydrophobic molecular sieve. The mixed adsorbent was mixed with a binder and was further coated on both sides of a 0.0014“ thick aluminum foil. Both plain and corrugated foils were used in preparing a desiccant matrix. A plain sheet was inserted in between two corrugated sheets and then they were rolled into a cylinder. The shape of water adsorption isotherm and equilibrium water adsorption capacity were obtained for this desiccant matrix. The shape of the water isotherm in the temperature range of 288-308 K was found to be more favorable than that on silica gel or molecular sieve 13X. However, the total water adsorption capacity of the new mixed adsorbent was significantly lower than these materials. The water adsorption data on the mixed adsorbent could be correlated according to Polyani's potential theory     

Routing bandwidth guaranteed paths for traffic engineering in WiMAX mesh networks

In this paper, the authors present a novel algorithm for computing bandwidth guaranteed paths for traffic engineering in WiMAX IEEE 802.16 standard based networks using the mesh topology. The underlying algorithm fulfills routing requests ‘on the fly’ without a priori knowledge of future requests. This problem is motivated by the need for efficient handling of traffic and network resource utilization. The key idea behind the solution is the use of heuristic methods to defer routing through certain nodes, which have a higher chance of getting selected because of hop constraints, so that they can be prevented from congestion. Simulation‐based performance evaluation shows that the proposed algorithm performs well in comparison with the selected benchmarks on metrics such as the number of rejected requests and the active links present in the network. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effect of speed, loading and spray pattern on coating variability in a pan coater

A computational study using the discrete element method was performed to study the effect of pan speed, fill level and the design of the spray pattern on the coating variability of tablets coated in a rotating pan. The method simulates the movement of tablets in the pan and calculates the residence time of each tablet inside the spray zone, which is directly related to the amount of coating received by the tablet. The computational method was experimentally validated using a Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy based analytical method. The simulations showed that the axial mixing was the most critical parameter affecting the coating variability. Although axial mixing was found to be better at higher pan speed, it did not affect the coating variability significantly. Lower variability was obtained when a 100% fill level was used as compared to 67% fill. Four spray patterns were used, two idealized (full surface spray and a symmetric band spray) and two realistic (5-ellipse and 5-circular spray guns). The full and band spray showed similar results while the ellipse and circular patterns were similar to each other (and much worse than the other two patterns) at all speeds and fill levels.     

Polymer Nanocomposites Containing Carbon Nanofibers as Soft Printable Sensors Exhibiting Strain‐Reversible Piezoresistivity

Designed as flexible and extendable conductive print media for pervasive computing as strain sensors, nanocomposites composed of a plasticized thermoplastic or a cross‐linked elastomer and containing carbon nanofibers at concentrations just above the percolation threshold are observed to exhibit a uniquely strain‐reversible piezoresistive response upon application of quasi‐static tensile strain. At small strain levels, the electrical resistance of these nanocomposites reduces with increasing strain, indicative of negative piezoresistivity. Beyond a critical strain, however, the resistance reverses and increases with increasing strain, revealing the existence of a negative‐to‐positive piezoresistivity transition that is fully strain‐reversible and repeatable upon strain cycling. These characteristics imply that the nanocomposite morphologies are highly stable with little evidence of mechanical hysteresis. The mechanism underlying this transition is attributed to reorientation of high‐aspect‐ratio nanofibers (initially homogeneously dispersed) at low strains, followed by separation at high strains. While deposition of these nanocomposites as robust print coatings on textile fabric alters the percolation threshold, strain‐reversible piezoresistivity is retained, confirming that they are suitable as printable strain sensors.     

Effectiveness of radiation and Joule heating on hydromagnetic Carreau fluid through microfluidic channels with slip boundary conditions

Microsystem Technologies - In the present article, the fundamental flows (such as both the plates are moving in the opposite directions, lower plate is moving with constant velocity and other is at...