Response of calcitonin cells, parathyroid glands and bone to prolonged calcitonin administration in the Indian palm squirrel, Funambulus pennanti (Wroughton)

The administration of calcitonin (4 MRC units injected intraperitoneally daily for 42 days) caused hypocalcaemia, hypophosphataemia and a decrease in the serum acid phosphatase level in adult Indian palm squirrels, Funambulus pennanti. Hypocalcaemia and the decrease in the serum acid phosphatase level persisted up to 21 days but the hypophosphataemic effect continued throughout the experiment. The serum calcium level increased from day 28 up to day 35 and the serum acid phosphatase level reached the control level at 28 days. At the close of the experiment (42 days), both serum calcium and acid phosphatase levels were again decreased. Calcitonin-induced hypocalcaemia resulted in hypertrophy of calcitonin cells which were densely packed with secretory granules up to day 21 of the treatment. Thereafter they displayed both hypertrophy and hyperplasia till the end of the experiment. Some calcitonin cells showed degranulation after 35 and 42 days of treatment. Few lead-haematoxylin-positive calcitonin cells with collapsed membranes and pyknotic nuclei were also seen in the lumina of the thyroid follicles toweards the close of the experiment. Parathyroid chief cells showed hypertrophy from 21 to 35 days of the treatment. From day 28 to the close of the experiment they released their secretory product. After 42 days of experimental treatment a growth-promoting effect of calcitonin was observed (increase in body weight and femur weight.     

Development of refractory silicate-yttria-stabilized zirconia dual-layer thermal barrier coatings

Development of advanced thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) is the most promising approach for increasing the efficiency and performance of gas turbine engines by enhancing the temperature capability of hot section metallic components. Spallation of the yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) top coat, induced by the oxidation of the bond coat coupled with the thermal expansion mismatch strain, is considered to be the ultimate failure mode for current state-of-the-art TBCs. Enhanced oxidation resistance of TBCs can be achieved by reducing the oxygen conductance of TBCs below that of thermally grown oxide (TGO) alumina scale. One approach is incorporating an oxygen barrier having an oxygen conductance lower than that of alumina scale. Mullite, rare earth silicates, and glass ceramics have been selected as potential candidates for the oxygen barrier. This paper presents the results of cyclic oxidation studies of oxygen barrier/YSZ dual-layer TBCs.     

The utility of multi-sensor data for mapping eroded lands

The availability of remote sensing data with improved spatial, spectral and radiometric resolution is now available to fully exploit their potential for a specific application subject to the relative merits and the limitations of each sensor's data. Presented here is a case study where Landsat MSS and TM; and SPOT MLA data for part of the Bijapur district, southern India, which were acquired on the same day, have been evaluated for mapping eroded lands. The approach involves the geometric registration of all three data to a common map grid using tie points and third order polynomial transform; and resampling the MSS and TM data to a 20m by 20 m pixel dimension and radiometric normalization. Thematic maps showing eroded lands were generated on a micro-VAXbased DIPIX system using a maximum likelihood classifier. Accuracy estimates were made for the thematic maps following stratified unaligned random sampling technique, and subsequently, computing overall accuracy and Kappa coefficient. Spectral separability and classification accuracy was maximum from SPOT-MLA data followed by a combination of Landsat MSS band 1, SPOT-MLA band 2 and Landsat TM band 4; Landsat TM, a combination of Landsat MSS, TM and SPOT MLA; and Landsat MSS data.     

Effect of amount, size, and spatial distribution of intermetallics on incipient localization during plastic deformation

Virtual microstructures having a systematic variation of amount, mean size, standard deviation of size, and spatial arrangement of intermetallics have been synthesized, and their deformation behavior in uniaxial tension has been evaluated using finite element analysis. Four spatial arrangements of intermetallics have been considered in this work, namely: random, clustered, and two-ordered structures. Various mathematical quantities have been developed to quantify the severity of deformation including plastic work density distribution (PWDD), percentile work-density volume criterion (PWC), and percentile stress volume criterion (PSC). This approach eliminates the need for an external trigger in FEA to achieve localization. The method developed has led to a better understanding of the effect of different microstructural attributes on the process of deformation. This has resulted in guidelines for optimizing the microstructure to minimize material damage and thereby maximize ductility.     

Effect of water absorption on erosive wear behaviour of polyamides

Two polyamides (PAs) viz. PA 6 and PA 12 were selected for investigating the influence of water absorption on some physical, mechanical and tribological properties. Erosive wear studies on water treated and untreated samples were carried out at two impact angles viz. 30° and 90°. Tests on tensile strength of untreated and treated polyamides revealed that the water treatment resulted in enhancement for PA12 and reduction for PA 6. Exactly similar trends were reflected in their erosive wear performance also. The water absorption deteriorated the wear performance of PA 6 at both the angles, whereas the erosion wear behaviour of PA 12 improved at both the angles due to water absorption. The improvement was more significant at the angle of 30° rather than 90°. Scanning electron microscopic (SEM) investigations were done to study the topography of worn surfaces and to understand the wear mechanisms.     

Dual Critical Points and Related Phenomena in Simple Fluids from the Perspective of (Approximate) Renormalization Theory

It is known that some single component fluids can have coexisting low-density and high-density liquid phases with two, separate, gas–liquid and liquid–liquid, critical points. Such behavior is found both by experiments and in recent molecular-dynamics simulations performed for certain simple isotropic attractive pair potentials with softened repulsive cores. In the present investigation, a global renormalization group theory that was employed previously to make predictions for simple Lennard–Jones and square-well fluids over wide ranges of density and temperature, including the critical point, in reasonably good agreement with molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations, is applied to simple shoulder potentials and to square-well potentials with softened repulsive cores. Results using this renormalization approach are compared with some previously reported results for a shoulder potential and expectations regarding dual critical points for water.     

Incorporation of support vector machines in the LIBS toolbox for sensitive and robust classification amidst unexpected sample and system variability

Despite the intrinsic elemental analysis capability and lack of sample preparation requirements, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) has not been extensively used for real-world applications, e.g., quality assurance and process monitoring. Specifically, variability in sample, system, and experimental parameters in LIBS studies present a substantive hurdle for robust classification, even when standard multivariate chemometric techniques are used for analysis. Considering pharmaceutical sample investigation as an example, we propose the use of support vector machines (SVM) as a nonlinear classification method over conventional linear techniques such as soft independent modeling of class analogy (SIMCA) and partial least-squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) for discrimination based on LIBS measurements. Using over-the-counter pharmaceutical samples, we demonstrate that the application of SVM enables statistically significant improvements in prospective classification accuracy (sensitivity), because of its ability to address variability in LIBS sample ablation and plasma self-absorption behavior. Furthermore, our results reveal that SVM provides nearly 10% improvement in correct allocation rate and a concomitant reduction in misclassification rates of 75% (cf. PLS-DA) and 80% (cf. SIMCA)-when measurements from samples not included in the training set are incorporated in the test data-highlighting its robustness. While further studies on a wider matrix of sample types performed using different LIBS systems is needed to fully characterize the capability of SVM to provide superior predictions, we anticipate that the improved sensitivity and robustness observed here will facilitate application of the proposed LIBS-SVM toolbox for screening drugs and detecting counterfeit samples, as well as in related areas of forensic and biological sample analysis.     

Primary dendrite distribution and disorder during directional solidification of Pb-Sb alloys

Pb-2.2 wt pct Sb and Pb-5.8 wt pct Sb alloys have been directionally solidified from a single-crystal seed with its [100] orientation parallel to the growth direction, to examine the primary dendrite distribution and disorder of the dendrite arrays. The dendrite distribution and ordering have been investigated using analysis techniques such as the Gauss-amplitude fit to the frequency distribution of nearest and higher-order spacings, minimum spanning tree (MST), Voronoi polygon, and Fourier transform (FT) of the dendrite centers. Since the arrangement of dendrites is driven by the requirement to accommodate side-branch growth along the 〈100〉 directions, the FT images of the fully developed dendrite centers contain spots which indicate this preferred alignment. A directional solidification distance of about three mushy-zone lengths is sufficient to ensure a steady-state dendritic array, in terms of reaching a constant mean primary spacing. However, local dendrite ordering continues throughout the directional solidification process. The interdendritic convection not only decreases the mean primary spacing, it also makes the dendrite array more disordered and reduces the ratio of the upper and lower spacing limits, as defined by the largest 5 pct and the smallest 5 pct of the population.     

Cellular array morphology during directional solidification

Cellular array morphology has been examined in the shallow cell, deep cell, and cell-to-dendrite transition regime in Pb-2.2 wt pct Sb and Al-4.1 wt pct Cu alloy single-crystal samples that were directionally solidified along [100]. Statistical analysis of the cellular spacing distribution on transverse sections has been carried out using minimum spanning tree (MST), Voronoi polygons, radial distribution factor, and fast Fourier transform (FFT) techniques. The frequency distribution of the number of nearest neighbors and the MST parameters suggest that the arrangement of cells may be visualized as a hexagonal tessellation with superimposed 50 pct random noise. However, the power spectrum of the Fourier transform of the cell centers shows a diffused single-ring pattern that does not agree with the power spectrum from the hexagonal tessellation having a 50 pct superimposed random (uniformly distributed or Gaussian) noise. The radial distribution factor obtained from the cells is similar to that of liquids. An overall steady-state distribution in terms of the mean primary spacing is achieved after directional solidification of about three mushy-zone lengths. However, the process of nearest-neighbor interaction continues throughout directional solidification, as indicated by about 14 pct of the cells undergoing submerging in the shallow cell regime or by an increasing first and second nearest-neighbor ordering along the growth direction for the cells at the cell-to-dendrite transition. The nature of cell distribution in the Al-Cu alloy appears to be the same as that in the Pb-Sb. The ratio between the upper and lower limits of the primary spacing, as defined by the largest and the smallest 10 pct of the population, respectively, is constant: 1.43±0.11. It does not depend upon the solidification processing conditions.