Design and development of a machine vision system using artificial neural network-based algorithm for automated coal characterization

Coal is heterogeneous in nature,and thus the characterization of coal is essential before its use for a specific purpose.Thus,the current study aims to develop ...     

Polarographic Study of Thio-acetic Acid

The polarographic behaviour of thio-acetic acid (RSH) at dropping mercury electrode (d.m.e.) has been investigated in presence of KNO₃ in the pH range 2–10.5 at 30.0 ± 0.2°C in 50% alcoholic medium at 0.2 M ionic strength. Well defined anodic waves were obtained at all pH values in the concentration range studied. At pH < 2.2 and > 10.5 ill defined anodic waves were obtained. The effect of pH, concentration of RSH, temperature, drop time and alcohol on the wave characteristic and the mechanism of the reaction occurring at the surface of the mercury drop have been studied in detail. A small prewave was also observed at pH 9.1 and 10.5, which has been assigned adsorption characteristics. The reversibility of the reaction mechanism was confirmed by a number of methods. The wave is diffusion controlled and reversible involving one electron transfer process: Mathematical and experimental evidence shows that the anodic wave of RSH at. d.m.e. does not correspond to formation of (RSSR) but to a mercury compound RSHg according to the above equation. The diffusion coefficient and temperature coefficient for (30–45°C) of i_d at pH 4.0 and 9.1 have been found to be 1.698; 1.965 × 10⁻⁶ cm²/sec and 1.08%; 1.20% per degree respectively. The dissociation constant pKa was found to be 4.25 by the plot of E_1/2 vs. pH. The linearity of i_d with RSH concentrations provides a rapid and precise method for the determination of RSH down to 0.2 mM.     

Wave-induced flow of pore fluid in a cracked porous solid containing penny-shaped inclusions

An aim of current study is to analyze the contribution of reflected longitudinal waves to wave-induced fluid flow(WIFF)in the cracked porous solid.Initially,we ...     

A near-optimum detector with reduced out-of band response fornarrowband signals

Reduced spectral response in adjacent spectral bins is very desirable for detectors since it gives capability to detect narrowband signals in the presence of unknown interference and colored noise. Conventionally, this is achieved by applying a smoothing window on the signal at the cost of detection performance. In this correspondence, a new method of detecting narrowband signals that uses a close approximation to the matched filter and the extrapolated input signal is proposed. The filter used has a frequency response that is very closely equal to that of the matched filter within a Doppler bin and nearly zero response outside it     

Improved diagnosis using enhanced fault dominance

Defect diagnosis can benefit from fault dominance relations to reduce the set of defect candidate sites. This paper presents new fault dominance collapsing operators that further reduce the set of candidates considered during the initial phase of diagnosis. In contrast to existing dominance-based methods which operate on pairs of faults, the proposed method operates on sets of faults. Fault-related entities are generated to guide the diagnosis process. The proposed collapsing operators can be used to accelerate effect-cause diagnosis. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves a higher collapsing ratio than existing methods.     

WIPO Panels’ interpretation of the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) three-prong test

The Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) is a unique process that resolves domain name disputes effectively and inexpensively. This paper, through an analysis of the UDRP three-prong test, revealed that even though the UDRP affords a great degree of discretion to the WIPO Panels deciding any given case, there is some consistency and predictability inherent in the UDRP process.     

Europe should stop taxing innovation

After nearly 48 years of failure to create the EU patent, language issues and the design of a centralised patent-litigation court still dominate headlines. But behind these issues there are high financial stakes and control power to play for. The recent EU Council deal on an ‘enhanced’ European patent system does not solve the above problems, and has not eliminated lingering governance issues. The risk for Europe is that a final patent agreement might be reached that does not cure the system of its major ills, and thus does not bring about any significant improvement for those that need it most: entrepreneurs and innovative companies starting out on the innovation process. The creation of an effective single EU patent requires (i) English-only post-grant translation, (ii) the end of nationally granted patents, (iii) phasing-out of the current ‘European patent’, (iv) lower fees for young innovative companies, and (v) a radical shake-up of the governance of the European Patent Office.