Re-examining the prospects of aluminous cements based on alkali-earth and rare-earth oxides

In the family of aluminous cements the potential of strontium aluminate, the strontium–barium aluminate and the barium aluminate cements have been sporadically and incoherently studied over several decades in various parts of the world and more particularly in the East European countries without much wide-spread commercial success. Attempts had also been made to extend the exploratory studies to the (Ca, Sr, Ba)O–Al₂O₃–ZrO₂–HfO₂ system to synthesize super-refractory binders.In fact, the above compositions, prima facie, seem to have the potential of arriving at cementitious formulations that, apart from being super-refractory, may as well be highly resistant to seawater, X-rays and gamma radiation.Looking at these potentials, quite a few experimental studies have been carried out under the guidance and supervision of the present author. The present paper is an endeavour to collate the data on some of these systems both from the published literature as well as from the author's findings. The prime motive has been to review and re-assess the prospects of manufacturing a range of new aluminous binders with superior properties.     

A novel high-power low-distortion synchronous link converter-basedload compensator without the requirement of VAr calculator

A high-power low-distortion static VAr compensator based on a synchronous link converter has been proposed, where the harmonics are eliminated by incorporating a low-power insulated-gate-bipolar-transistor-based controlled current auxiliary converter in conjunction with a high-power gate-turn-off-thyristor-based converter. In this paper, a new load compensator based on this topology is proposed which does not require the information of the voltampere required by the load. As the requirement of the reactive voltampere calculator is eliminated, the scheme becomes insensitive to system frequency variations, temperature, and component aging. The control scheme required for the compensator is developed. The operation of the scheme is validated through extensive simulation studies. Experimental results obtained from a laboratory prototype are provided to demonstrate the viability of the scheme     

Efficiency, speed, and scaling of two-dimensional passive-dynamic walking

We address performance limits and dynamic behaviours of the two dimensional passive-dynamic bipedal walking mechanisms of Tad McGeer. The results highlight the role of heelstrike in determining the mechanical efficiency of gait, and point to ways of improving efficiency. We analyse several kneed and straight-legged walker designs, with round feet and and point-feet. We present some necessary conditions on the walker mass distribution to achieve perfectly efficient (zero-slope-capable) walking for both kneed and straight-legged models. Our numerical investigations indicate, consistent with a previous study of a simpler model, that such walkers have two distinct gaits at arbitrarily small ground-slopes, of which the longer-step gait is stable at small slopes. Energy dissipation can be dominated by a term proportional to (speed) 2 from tangential foot velocity at heelstrike and from kneestrike, or a term proportional to (speed) 4 from normal foot collisions at heelstrike, depending on the gait, ground-slope, and walker design. For all zeroslope capable straight-legged walkers, the long-step gaits have negligible tangential foot velocity at heelstrike and are hence especially fast at low power. Some apparently chaotic walking motions are numerically demonstrated for a kneed walker.     

Effect of reaction products on mechanical properties of diffusion bonded of titanium to 304 stainless steel with Cu interlayer joints

In present study, pure copper was used as an interlayer of the diffusion bonded joints between commercially pure titanium and 304 stainless steel. The process was carried out at 900°C for 30–150 minutes in steps of 30 minutes under 3MPa uniaxial load in vacuum. Microstructures of the bonded assemblies were observed in optical and scanning electron microscopes. The study exhibits the presence of different reaction layers in the diffusion zone and their chemical compositions were determined by energy dispersive spectroscopy. Formation of reaction products in diffusion interfaces were confirmed by xray diffraction technique. The maximum tensile strength of ∼322MPa (∼101% of Ti) and shear strength of ∼254MPa (∼86% of Ti) along with 8.4 % ductility were obtained for the couple bonded for 60 minutes and due to the rise in bonding time up to 90 minutes, bond strength drops marginally. With a further increase in joining time, the bond strength drops gradually due to the increase in the width of Fe-Ti base reaction products. Observation of fracture surfaces in SEM using EDS indicated that fracture takes place through the SS-Cu interface for all bonded samples.     

Metallo-organic compound-based plasma enhanced CVD of ZrO2 films for microelectronic applications

ZrO ₂ films on silicon wafer were deposited by microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition technique using zirconium tetratert butoxide (ZTB). The structure and composition of the deposited layers were studied by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The deposition rates were also studied. MOS capacitors fabricated using deposited oxides were used to characterize the electrical properties of ZrO ₂ films. The films showed their suitability for microelectronic applications.     

Thalamic thought disorder: on being "a bit addled"

Humans can generate and maintain relatively coherent trains of thought in natural discourse. The neural mediation of this ability and the phenomenology of its breakdown are not well understood. We report a case of a woman with paramedian thalamic strokes involving the mammillothalamic tract, intralaminar nuclei, parts of the dorsomedial and ventral lateral nuclei bilaterally. She presented with a dense amnesia and confusion typical of the syndrome of bilateral paramedian thalamic infarcts. Her Tc-99m HMPAO brain SPECT scan showed decreased thalamic and basal ganglia blood flow. General diminution of cerebral blood flow and areas of further diminution in the right frontal, left temporal and left temporoparietal regions were also observed. Although her amnesia was characteristic of diencephalic amnesia, her most striking clinical feature was a bizarre, disconnected and at times incoherent speech output. Analysis of her speech revealed relatively preserved lexical and morpho-syntactic linguistic production. By contrast, analysis of the macrostructure of her discourse revealed frequent unpredictable topic shifts that were completely unconstrained by contextual factors. Many of her shifts were intrusions from previous topics. We interpret her severely disordered speech output as representing the surface manifestations of a thought disorder (rather than as a language disorder per se) characterized by an inability to maintain and appropriately shift themes that normally guide discourse. Median and intralaminar thalamic nuclei appear to be critical for the neurophysiologic regulation of thalamocortical and striatocortical circuits, which in turn may be critical for the functional regulation of contextually appropriate transitions of thought.     

Local vascular complications after heart catheterization

BACKGROUND: A prospective study was carried out to clarify the efficacy of an endoscopic screening program for detecting superficial colorectal neoplasias by color changes such as faint redness or discoloration, which have been described as a key finding of these lesions in the literature. METHODS: We enrolled 716 consecutive cases in this study, but more than half of them did not reveal any abnormalities colonoscopically. RESULTS: Of the 716 cases, 48 (7%) were examined by magnifying colonoscopy with a dye spraying technique, following the detection of superficial color changes. Sixteen neoplastic lesions (in 16 cases) were detected among the 48 cases and the detection rate was calculated as 2.2% (16/716) in the total number of cases and 33% (16/48) in those showing color abnormalities. Histologically, all of the 16 were adenomas. These neoplastic lesions were most frequent (52%; 11/21) in those showing faint redness in an oval shape, whereas 14 (94%) of the 15 lesions were non-specific in those showing faint redness with unclear margin. CONCLUSIONS: These results may confirm the diagnostic utility of color abnormality, particularly faint redness in an oval shape, for endoscopic screening of superficial colorectal neoplasias.     

Effect of microstructure on hydrogen embrittlement of weld-simulated HSLA-80 and HSLA-100 steels

HSLA-80 and HSLA-100 steels have been subjected to weld-simulated grain-coarsened heat-affected zone (GCHAZ) and grain-refined heat-affected zone (GRHAZ) treatments at peak temperatures of 1350 °C and 950 °C, respectively, followed by varying cooling rates to approximate the weld heat inputs of 10 to 50 kJ/cm. Subsequent slow strain rate testing in synthetic seawater has been employed to assess the hydrogen embrittlement (HE) propensity of the materials. It is indicated that in spite of an increase in strength after weld simulation, further ductility deterioration, compared to the base material under similar testing conditions, did not occur in GCHAZ HSLA-100 steel and for low heat input condition of GRHAZ HSLA-80. This has been attributed to their HE resistant microstructures. Predominant acicular ferrite or lath martensite or a combination of both imparts resistance to HE, as observed in the case of grain-coarsened HSLA-100 and for the low heat input grain-refined HSLA-80 steels. The deleterious effect of bainitic-martensitic microstructure has been reflected in the ductility values of grain-coarsened HSLA-80, which is in agreement with the observation of higher susceptibility of the as-received HSLA-100 steel having a similar structure. However, contrary to its beneficial effect in the as-received HSLA-80, an acicular ferrite structure has shown vulnerability toward HE for high heat input grain-refined HSLA-80. This has been attributed to the presence of polygonal ferrite and to the development of an HE susceptible substructure on GRHAZ weld simulation.