IR studies on preoxidized PAN fibres

IR absorption spectra of preoxidized PAN fibres have been studied in the spectral region 2–15 μ. Observed frequencies have been assigned to the different modes of vibration. The neighbouring frequencies appearing in the stretching mode region of the nitrile group has been interpreted in terms of Fermi-resonance and a basis for the correlation between their intensity ratio and the degree of oxidation has also been discussed.     

Model for drying during fluidized-bed combustion of wet low-rank coals

An unsteady state heat conduction model with a convective boundary condition is proposed for the drying of low-rank, high-porosity coals, such as lignites, during fluidized-bed combustion. The drying front is assumed to be the receding surface of a wet core. The solution technique for this moving boundary problem is based on the heat balance integral approach with immobilization of the moving boundary by a change in space variable. The governing cubic equation describing the drying curve in dimensionless form may be solved easily by the Newton—Raphson method. The model predictions are compared with experimental data for Mississippi lignite with excellent agreement. A correlation for estimation of total drying time is proposed. The temperature profiles obtained may be used for the study of the coupled drying and devolatilization in fluidized-bed combustors. The profiles could also be of importance in the study of formation of fissures/cracks in lignites subjected to intense heating conditions encountered during fluidized-bed combustion.     

Virtual modeling of an ankle foot orthosis for correction of foot abnormality

Clubfoot is a challenging structural foot abnormality in babies and generally occurs at birth or during childhood. Due to this the abnormal posturing of the foot causes the babies to turn the ankle inward and walk along the outside edges of the foot. In medical science it is known as “congenital talipes equino varus” (CTEV). Computer modeling of prosthesis and orthosis is a perspective method for optimal design and gait is a terminology related to walking patterns of human subject.     

Development of piezoelectric fans for flapping wing application

A piezoelectric fan (piezofan) which couples a piezoelectric unimorph to an attached flexible blade is able to produce a large deflection especially at resonance. The fundamental resonant frequencies (f_r) of the piezofan structures have been calculated by an analytical method and finite element modelling, and these were compared with experimental measurements. Good agreements have been obtained between them. The free tip deflection at quasi-static operation or/and the vibration amplitude at dynamic operation (A) of the piezofans have been experimentally measured. We introduce f_r × A as an optimization criterion for piezofans. Optimization according to this criterion has been carried out for some piezofan configurations, such as the length and the location of the piezo patch, as well as the thickness ratio between the elastic and piezoelectric layers among a few available variations. Results show this optimization approach to be promising when compared to previously defined piezofan performance parameters such as the energy transmission coefficient and electromechanical coupling coefficient.     

A constraint programming approach to cutset problems

We consider the problem of finding a cutset in a directed graph G=(V,E)$G=(V,E)$, i.e., a set of vertices that cuts all cycles in G  . Finding a cutset of minimum cardinality is NP-hard. There exist several approximate and exact algorithms, most of them using graph reduction techniques. In this paper, we propose a constraint programming approach to cutset problems and design a global constraint for computing cutsets. This cutset constraint is a global constraint over boolean variables associated to the vertices of a given graph and states that the subgraph restricted to the vertices having their boolean variable set to true is acyclic. We propose a filtering algorithm based on graph contraction operations and inference of simple boolean constraints, that has a linear time complexity in O(|E|+|V|)$O(|E|+|V|)$. We discuss search heuristics based on graph properties provided by the cutset constraint, and show the efficiency of the cutset constraint on benchmarks of the literature for pure minimum cutset problems, and on an application to log-based reconciliation problems where the global cutset constraint is mixed with other boolean constraints.     

A SWAT evaluation of the effect of climate change on the hydrology of the Volta River basin

The SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) was used to evaluate the impacts of a climate scenario based on IPCC A1B emissions on flows in the Volta River basin in West Africa for 2021–2050 and 2071–2100, using 1983–2012 as the reference period. Overall, the simulation indicates increased variability and a decrease of up to 40% in river flow as a consequence of decreasing rainfall and increasing temperature. In particular, the analysis shows smaller absolute but greater relative changes in the hydrology of the northern (upper) part of the basin, particularly at the end of the century.     

Synthesis of Nanocrystalline Lanthanum Strontium Manganite Powder by the Urea–Formaldehyde Polymer Gel Combustion Route

Nanocrystalline lanthanum strontium manganite (LSM) powder has been synthesized by combustion of a transparent gel obtained by the polymerization of methylol urea and urea in a solution containing La³⁺, Sr²⁺, and Mn²⁺ (LSM ions). Chemistry of the transparent urea–formaldehyde (UF) polymer gel formation and structure of the gel have been proposed such that the LSM ions act in between the growing UF polymer chains by interacting through NH, OH, and CO groups by co-ordination and prevent polymer self-assembly through inter-chain hydrogen bonding as evidenced from infrared spectrum. Thermally stable structures formed by the decomposition of UF polymer below 300°C undergo combustion in the presence of nitrate oxidant in a temperature range from 350°–450°C. A perovskite LSM phase has been formed by self-sustained combustion of the dried gel initiated with little kerosene. The powder obtained after deagglomeration and calcination at 600°C for 2 h has a D ₅₀ value of 0.19 μm, and the particles are aggregates of crystallites 10–25 nm in size.     

An iterative technique for fitting exponentials

An interative method to fit the function \documentclass{article}\pagestyle{empty}\begin{document}$\mathop \[y = \sum\nolimits_i^n { = 1} a_i e^{lix}\] $\end{document} to data is considered. The technique used is that of inversion of a linear differential operator with constant coefficients. This method reproduces the parameters for mathematically precise data and gives satisfactory results when the data are affected by random errors.