The design,analysis, and cost estimation of a generic adder and subtractor using the layered T (LT) logic reduction methodology with a quantum-dot cellular-automata-based approach

The quantum-dot cellular automata (QCA) is considered to be one of the ground-breaking nanotechnologies developed over the last two decades. A layered T (LT) logic cell library is constructed herein, and the methodology is extended to generic adder and subtractor module designs. The two proposed algorithms lead to more efficient QCA layout designs for an n-bit ripple carry adder (RCA) and subtractor based on an effective clock zone assignment approach. The suggested one-, four-, and eight-bit RCAs and subtractors surpass most of their existing counterparts by offering lower effective area and cell complexity. A comparative analysis is presented regarding the complexity, irreversible power dissipation, and Cost_α of the proposed n-bit layouts from a cost estimation purview.

     

A Novel High Nitrogen Steel Powder Designed for Minimized Cr2N Precipitations

High nitrogen steels provide excellent mechanical properties and corrosion resistance but are prone to form precipitates which adversely affect the corrosion resistance and toughness. High nitrogen steel powders currently available in the market are not claimed to be precipitate free. It is critical to avoid these precipitates while retaining nitrogen in the dissolved form to realize the value of these powder alloys. However, retaining high level of dissolved nitrogen in steel powder during melt atomization process is very challenging. Instead, solid-state dissolution of nitrogen into the powder alloy followed by rapid cooling may provide a convenient approach to avoid precipitate formation compared to traditional melt processing. This study presents a solution treatment approach to achieve elevated dissolved nitrogen levels (~ 0.4 wt pct) in Fe–Mn–Cr powder alloy with negligible precipitation of nitrides. The influence of starting material, holding time, temperature and cooling rate on the resulting microstructure is presented. A fully austenite matrix with high dissolved nitrogen content resulted in powders with desired mechanical properties.

     

Abrasion Resistance of Field-Assisted Ion-Exchanged Glass

The fracture strength of HF-etched samples was measured as a function of field-assisted K-Na ion exchange depth, as well as the severity of abrasion. As expected, the more severe the abrasion, the greater the depth required to make the strength insensitive to abrasion. An abrasion-independent weakening mechanism that increased with exchange depth was also found to be operative.     

Design of novel compact anti-stiction and low insertion loss RF MEMS switch

A novel torsional RF MEMS capacitive switch design on silicon substrate is presented. The optimized switch topology such as reduction in up-state capacitance results in insertion loss better than ?0.1 dB till 20 GHz. Off to on state capacitance ratio is also improved by 18 fold and isolation is better than ?43 dB at 9.5 GHz. The achieved on state return loss is ?38 dB as compared to ?21 dB at 9.5 GHz. An optimized reduction in contact area and use of floating metal layer increases the switching speed from 56 to 46 μsec. It also increases the switch reliability by alleviating the stiction.     

Analysis and optimization of fixture under dynamic machining condition with chip removal effect

Dynamic interactions in the tool–workpiece and workpiece–fixture systems significantly impinge on the quality of finished workpieces. The presented simulation system integrates the effects of workpiece fixture dynamics with the other factors contributing to the machining process dynamics. It provides more accurate prediction of the process output which helps in the design of the optimum fixture configuration prior to the production stage. Modelling of the frictional contact behaviour between the fixture element and the workpiece helps to improve the prediction accuracy of the simulation system which accelerates the convergence to the optimum fixture configuration design and consequently improves the machined part dimensional accuracy and geometric integrity. The developed simulation is capable of modelling complicated part geometries by interfacing with commercial ANSYS.V10^® packages. This research work minimizes the deformation of workpiece using integrated optimization tool of Genetic algorithm (GA) and ANSYS Parametric Design Language (APDL) of finite element analysis. The same layouts given by the above optimization tool are used in the experimental setup and it is found that the improved geometric tolerance of squarness and flatness of the given workpiece. The chip removal effect and frictional contact between the workpiece and the fixture elements are taken into account based on element death technique and nonlinear finite-element analysis. A Case study of an open slot milling process illustrates the application of the proposed improved geometric tolerance approach.     

Performance of floating cum tilted-wick type solar still with the effect of water flowing over the glass cover

A simple transient performance of floating cum tilted-wick type solar still has been presented by incorporating the effects of water flowing over a glass cover, heat capacity of tilted-wick water surface and floating-wick water surface. Explicit expressions for flowing water, glass, tilted-wick water surface and floating-wick water surface temperature and efficiency of the system have been derived. Numerical calculations have been carried out for a typical day in the month of March 2004. The relative standard deviations between the numerical and experimental results of different temperature components of the proposed still have been found. The results indicate that the relative standard deviations between theoretical and experimental results are less than 8% (glass cover), 2% (tiltedwick water surface), 1% (floating-wick water surface) and 2% (flowing water at the lower end of the glass cover) an average for the working hours of the day. Moreover, based on the numerical results, the following conclusions have been drawn: (i) glass cover temperature decreases significantly; (ii) the effect of water flowing over the glass cover has a fascinating effect on the production of distillate output during peak sunny hours; (iii) water flow rate of 1.5 m/s is optimum, and beyond it the efficiency decreases. Experimental investigations have been performed at Sri Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore, India.     

A Simple D 2-Sampling Based PTAS for k-Means and Other Clustering Problems

Given a set of points \(P \subset\mathbb{R}^{d}\) , the k-means clustering problem is to find a set of k centers \(C = \{ c_{1},\ldots,c_{k}\}, c_{i} \in\mathbb{R}^{d}\) , such that the objective function ∑ _x∈P e(x,C)², where e(x,C) denotes the Euclidean distance between x and the closest center in C, is minimized. This is one of the most prominent objective functions that has been studied with respect to clustering. D ²-sampling (Arthur and Vassilvitskii, Proceedings of the Eighteenth Annual ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms, SODA’07, pp. 1027–1035, SIAM, Philadelphia, 2007) is a simple non-uniform sampling technique for choosing points from a set of points. It works as follows: given a set of points \(P \subset\mathbb{R}^{d}\) , the first point is chosen uniformly at random from P. Subsequently, a point from P is chosen as the next sample with probability proportional to the square of the distance of this point to the nearest previously sampled point. D ²-sampling has been shown to have nice properties with respect to the k-means clustering problem. Arthur and Vassilvitskii (Proceedings of the Eighteenth Annual ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms, SODA’07, pp. 1027–1035, SIAM, Philadelphia, 2007) show that k points chosen as centers from P using D ²-sampling give an O(logk) approximation in expectation. Ailon et al. (NIPS, pp. 10–18, 2009) and Aggarwal et al. (Approximation, Randomization, and Combinatorial Optimization. Algorithms and Techniques, pp. 15–28, Springer, Berlin, 2009) extended results of Arthur and Vassilvitskii (Proceedings of the Eighteenth Annual ACM-SIAM Symposium on Discrete Algorithms, SODA’07, pp. 1027–1035, SIAM, Philadelphia, 2007) to show that O(k) points chosen as centers using D ²-sampling give an O(1) approximation to the k-means objective function with high probability. In this paper, we further demonstrate the power of D ²-sampling by giving a simple randomized (1+?)-approximation algorithm that uses the D ²-sampling in its core.     

Effect of coupling agents on thermal and electrical properties of mica/epoxy composites

The influence of 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane, 3-glycidyloxypropyltrimethoxysilane, and neoalkoxytric(dioctyl pyrophosphato)zirconate on thermal expansion behavior, dielectric strength, and arc resistance of mica/epoxy composites has been investigated. The addition of mica up to 30% resulted in the reduction of thermal expansion with respect to neat resin. However, the coefficient of linear thermal expansion of 30% mica treated with aminosilane was the least among the various coupling agent-coated filler/epoxy composites. Mica (30%)/epoxy composites showed the highest dielectric strength values (26 kV/mm), but the highest arc resistance was obtained in zirconate-treated mica (30%)/epoxy composite. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Dynamic gas disengagement: A new technique for assessing the behaviour of bubble columns

A precise measure of the liquid motion and distribution of bubble sizes is essential for designing gas-liquid reactors for complex reactions in which product distribution may be a function of bubble size. A theoretical approach is presented which shows how the interaction of bubble size distribution and bubble rise velocity functions leads to predictions of the overall steady state hold-up in a bubble column within which the liquid flow is understood. Since this approach is based on a physical understanding of how bubble flow at a given superficial velocity must relate to the static hold-up, the theory can be immediately extended to describe the disengagement of gas bubbles if the gas feed is cut off. Thus the dynamic gas hold-up during gas disengagement can be used to provide new insights into the fundamentals of bubble column behaviour. In this way it becomes possible in principle to inter-relate macroscopic properties such as surface area, gas phase residence time distribution and intensity of mixing in the liquid phase.A new experimental technique is described which measures the dynamic gas hold-up during gas disengagement Experimental results at a nominal 20 mm/s gas superficial velocity are compared with various approaches based upon the theory. The effects of the accompanying induced liquid movements are represented by a simplified core-annulus circulation model. Bubble size distributions and liquid circulation can then be related to both the static and dynamic hold-up behaviour. It is shown that ambiguity due to uncertainty about the relative differences in bubble size distribution in upflow and downflow regions can be resolved from a knowledge of the surface area.