Enhanced uptake of CI Direct Red 79 by cotton in the presence of certain amino acids

Pretreatment of cotton fibres with solutions of alanine, valine, ß-phenylalanine or histidine in aqueous acetic acid increases the rate of dyeing with CI Direct Red 79 and improves the wet-fastness properties of the dyed cotton.     

Improving the stiffness of commingled thermoplastics

One of the limitations of commingled recycled plastics is their low flexural modulus, resulting from both the linear nature of thermoplastics and the incompatibility of the polymer phases. The goal of this study was to increase the flexural modulus of commingled recycled plastics by the addition of small amounts of polyester that acted both as a compatibilizer and a crosslinking agent. It was found that the increase in flexural modulus was caused by the unsaturated polyester acting as a filler, the improvement in compatibility of the phases, and the crosslinking of the commingled plastics. The increase was offset somewhat by a decrease in crystallinity of the phases.     

Distribution of the solvent-extractable organic compounds in fine (PM1) and coarse (PM1-10) particles in urban, industrial and forest atmospheres of Northern Algeria

The distribution of the solvent-extractable organic components in the fine (PM₁) and coarse (PM_1-10) fractions of airborne particulate was studied for the first time in Algeria. That was done during October 2006 concurrently in a big industrial district, a busy urban area, and a forest national park located in Algiers, Boumerdes, Blida, respectively, which are the three biggest provinces of Northern Algeria. Most of the organic matter identified in both particle size ranges consisted of n-alkanes and n-alkanoic acids, with minor contributions coming from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), nitrated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (NPAHs), oxygenated PAHs, and other polar compounds (e.g., caffeine and nicotine). The potential emission sources of airborne contaminants were reconciled by combining the values of n-alkane carbon preference index (CPI) and selected diagnostic ratios of PAHs, calculated in both size ranges. The mean cumulative concentrations of PAHs reached 3.032 ng m^− 3 at the Boumerdes site, urban, 80% of which (i.e. 2.246 ng m^− 3) in the PM₁ fraction, 6.462 ng m^− 3 at Rouiba-Réghaia, industrial district, (5.135 ng m^− 3 or 80% in PM₁), and 0.512 ng m^− 3 at Chréa, forested mountains (0.370 ng m^− 3 or 72% in PM₁). Similar patterns were shown by all organic groups, which resulted overall enriched in the fine particles at the three sites. Carcinogenic and mutagenic potencies associated to PAHs were evaluated by multiplying the concentrations of “toxic” compounds times the corresponding potency factors normalized vs. benzo(a)pyrene (BaP), and were found to be both acceptable.     

Growth, structure, and properties of BiFeO3/-BiCrO3 films obtained by dual cross beam PLD

The properties of epitaxial Bi(2)FeCrO(6) thin films, recently synthesized by pulsed laser deposition, have partially confirmed the theoretical predictions (i.e., a magnetic moment of 2 micro(B) per formula unit and a polarization of approximately 80 microC/cm(2) at 0 K). The existence of magnetic ordering at room temperature for this material is an unexpected, but very promising, result that needs to be further investigated. Because magnetism is assumed to arise from the exchange interaction between the Fe and Cr cations, the magnetic behavior is strongly dependent on both their ordering and the distance between them. We present here the successful synthesis of epitaxial Bi(2)Fe(x)CryO(6) (BFCO x/y) films grown on SrTiO3 substrates using dual crossed-beam, pulsed-laser deposition. The crystal structure of the films has different types of (111)-oriented superstructures, depending on the deposition conditions. The multiferroic character of BFCO (x/y) films is proven by the presence of both ferroelectric and magnetic hysteresis at room temperature. The oxidation state of Fe and Cr ions in the films is shown to be 3+ only, and the difference in macroscopic magnetization with Fe/Cr ratio composition could only be due to ordering of the Cr(3+) and Fe(3+) cations to the modification of the exchange interaction between them.     

Wideband dielectric characterization using a dielectric filledcavity adapted to the end of a transmission line

The concept, analysis, and testing of a technique for characterizing dielectric materials over a wide band of frequencies are presented. The technique utilizes a cylindrical cavity completely filled with a sample of the dielectric material under test and adapted to the end of the precision air line. The complex permittivity of the filling dielectric is derived from the measured reflection coefficient. This technique offers great advantages over conventional methods where the sample is placed in a resonant cavity or inserted in a transmission line     

Pedestrian tracking by fusion of thermal-visible surveillance videos

In this paper we introduce a system to track pedestrians using a combined input from RGB and thermal cameras. Two major contributions are presented here. First is the novel probabilistic model of the scene background where each pixel is represented as a multi-modal distribution with the changing number of modalities for both color and thermal input. We demonstrate how to eliminate the influence of shadows with this type of fusion. Second, based on our background model we introduce a pedestrian tracker designed as a particle filter. We further develop a number of informed reversible transformations to sample the model probability space in order to maximize our model posterior probability. The novelty of our tracking approach also comes from a way we formulate observation likelihoods to account for 3D locations of the bodies with respect to the camera and occlusions by other tracked human bodies as well as static objects. The results of tracking on color and thermal sequences demonstrate that our algorithm is robust to illumination noise and performs well in the outdoor environments.     

New direct torque neuro-fuzzy control based SVM-three level inverter-fed induction motor

In this paper, a novel direct torque neuro-fuzzy control (DTCNF) scheme combining with space voltage modulation (SVM) technique of a three levels inverter is presented. Using neuro-fuzzy technique, the reference space voltage vector can be obtained dynamically in terms of torque error, stator flux error and the angle of stator flux. Compared with conventional direct torque control (C_DTC), in this new technique, the ripples of both torque and flux are reduced remarkable, and switching frequency is maintained constant. Simulation results verify the validity of the proposed method.     

A New Modified MPPM for High‐Speed Wireless Optical Communication Systems

Previous work proposed combining multipulse pulse position modulation (MPPM) with pulse amplitude modulation to form multipulse amplitude and position modulation (MPAPM), which is a hybrid modulation that results in an improvement in bandwidth efficiency but a degradation in power efficiency. In this paper, to achieve greater power efficiency and a better data rate, we propose multipulse dual amplitude‐width modulation, based on MPAPM and pulse width modulation. The proposed scheme shows a remarkable improvement in data rate and a 1.5‐dB improvement in power efficiency over MPAPM, while sustaining the bandwidth efficiency. After introducing symbol structure, we present the theoretical expressions of spectral efficiency, the power requirements, and the normalized data rate, as well as the results of comparing the proposed modulation to MPPM and MPAPM.     

Effect of hydrogen-related shallow donor on the physical and chemical properties of Ag-doped ZnO nanostructures

Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics - Silver-doped zinc oxide nanostructures (Ag/ZnO NSs) with Ag content of 0 wt%, 5 wt%, 10 wt%, and 20 wt% were synthesized using a...     

Hormonal control of water and sodium in plasma and urine of camels during dehydration and rehydration

Eight dromedary camels were studied for 24 days under control conditions (3 days), and during water deprivation (14 days) and rehydration (7 days) in Tadla (Morocco), during the summer. During dehydration, food intake gradually fell and was zero on the last day and animals lost about 30% of their body weight. However, most of this reduction in weight was attributed to water loss, since body weight of the animals returned to control values following rehydration. Dehydration was associated with a decrease in plasma volume (-42 +/- 3%) and a concomitant rise in plasma Na concentration (from 154 +/- 2 to 191 +/- 3 mM). These changes were accompanied by increased plasma arginine-vasopressin (from 0.2 +/- 0.1 to 5.7 +/- 2.2 pg ml-1) and plasma renin activity (from 1.2 +/- 0.2 to 20.0 +/- 5.2 ng Al ml-1 hr-1), without significantly changed plasma concentrations of aldosterone and atrial natriuretic peptide. Dehydration was associated with increased urine osmolality (from 952 +/- 515 to 1963 +/- 498 mosm kg-1 H2O), reduced urine production (from 4565 +/- 2230 to 817 +/- 178 ml day-1), and increased Na excretion. Most of these parameters returned to control values during initial rehydration, except for plasma renin activity, which remained elevated for 7 days, and diuresis, which rose to 12773 +/- 6707 ml day-1 on Day 7 of rehydration.