Silicon Seed Priming Combined with Foliar Spray of Sulfur Regulates Photosynthetic and Antioxidant Systems to Confer Drought Tolerance in Maize (Zea mays L.)

Silicon - The present study evaluated the effect of silicon (Si) seed priming and sulfur (S) foliar spray on drought tolerance of two contrasting maize hybrids viz. drought tolerant Hi-Corn 11 and...     

Forced migration of soluble and suspended materials by freezing front in aqueous systems

Migration of soluble and suspended materials by directional freezing of aqueous systems has been studied qualitatively. Slow freezing was employed vertically as well as horizontally through solutions and suspensions. In all cases, the impurities (soluble salts as well as suspended materials) were appreciably forced out by dynamic freezing front. The phenomenon worked for concentrating/separating inorganic ions, soluble organic compounds and dyes in synthetic solutions as well as in natural streams. Various analytical techniques were employed to monitor the migrating species through the freezing media. It was found that separation efficiency depends on different factors like rate of cooling, pH and concentration. Model experiments were designed and exercised successfully to employ the technique for treatment of dye-polluted water.     

Recent advances and developments in advanced green porous nanomaterial for sustainable energy storage application

Journal of Porous Materials - Compared with traditional battery and super capacitor materials, nanomaterials can significantly improve ion transport and electron conductivity. There are many...     

Complexity control of HEVC encoders targeting real-time constraints

High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) encoders impose several challenges in computing constrained embedded applications, especially under real-time throughput constraints. This paper proposes an adaptive complexity control scheme (CCS) that dynamically adjusts the encoder to the varying computing capabilities of the hardware platform. To design an efficient scheme, an extensive complexity analysis of key HEVC encoding parameters is herein presented. For this analysis, we developed a parameterized complexity model called “arithmetic complexity,” which can be widely applied to any computing platform. Our results demonstrate that the proposed scheme provides time savings ranging from 10 up to 90 % with an average error (between target and effective complexity) of 1.2 %. Our adaptability and control performance analysis show that the scheme rapidly adapts to dynamic set-point adjustments. Compared to state of the art, our complexity control achieves more accurate results and extra features (such as dynamic set-point adjustment) at the cost of minor losses in coding efficiency.     

Stress distributions in a horizontal pressure vessel and the saddle supports

This paper presents analysis results of stress distributions in a horizontal pressure vessel and the saddle supports. The results are obtained from a 3D finite element analysis. A quarter of the pressure vessel is modeled with realistic details of saddle supports. In addition to presenting the stress distribution in the pressure vessel, the results provide details of stress distribution in different parts of the saddle separately, i.e. wear, web, flange and base plates. The effect of changing the load and various geometric parameters is investigated and recommendations are made for the optimal values of ratio of the distance of support from the end of the vessel to the length of the vessel and ratio of the length of the vessel to the radius of the vessel for minimum stresses both in the pressure vessel and the saddle structure. Physical reasons for favoring of a particular value of ratio of the distance of support from the end of the vessel to the length of the vessel are also outlined.     

Energy and exergy analysis of a 747-MW combined cycle power plant Guddu

ABSTRACT

The paper presents a detailed study based on the energy and exergy analysis of a combined cycle power plant (CCPP) Guddu having triple pressure heat recovery steam generator (HRSG). The energy loss and the energy efficiency of each plant component with HRSG as a whole is calculated. The exergy destruction of these components and the sub-parts of the HRSG are also found out. All the three stages of the steam turbine are analysed individually. The combustion chamber is found to have the maximum share of exergy destruction while the condenser is having a maximum of energy loss. The total net power output, energy and exergy efficiency of the whole plant is calculated as 737.8?MW, 59.12% and 58.24%, respectively. The error in getting the designed power output of 747?MW is 3.16%. The thermal efficiency of the Brayton and Rankine cycle is 62.01% and 56.38%, respectively.     

Maximum Stress Triaxiality Ratio Criterion for Mixed Mode Crack Initiation in Anisotropic Materials

The maximum stress triaxiality ratio criterion, originally proposed for mixed mode crack initiation in isotropic materials, is adapted for anisotropic materials using an anisotropic yield function.     

Comparison of culture, PCR and immunoassays for detecting Escherichia coli O157 following enrichment culture and immunomagnetic separation performed on naturally contaminated raw meat products.

The aims of this study were (i) to evaluate the specificity and sensitivity of three previously described PCR assays for the detection of Escherichia coli O157 and, (ii) to compare PCR, culture, and two visual immunoassays (VIAs), BioSign and Path-Stik, for detecting E. coli O157 after enrichment culture and immunomagnetic separation (IMS) performed on various naturally contaminated raw beef, lamb and mixed meat products. Twelve sorbitol nonfermenting (SNF) verocytotoxin-producing (VT +) E. coli O157, 6 SNF VT - E. coli O157, 4 sorbitol fermenting (SF) VT + E. coli O157, 3 SF VT - E. coli O157, 23 E. coli belonging to 17 other serogroups and 12 organisms of other species were used to check the specificity of PCR reactions. Only one primer pair generated amplimers only with E. coli O157 and was used for all subsequent work. After enrichment culture and on inoculated minced beef samples, PCR was as sensitive as culture for detecting 9 of the 12 strains of E. coli O157, but up to 4 log10 more sensitive than culture for detecting three strains. Of the 120 samples of naturally contaminated meat products examined, 80 (67%) were positive by PCR, 70 (58%) were positive by BioSign, 69 (58%) were positive by culture and 67 (56%) were positive by Path-Stik. Although both VIAs lacked sensitivity when compared to PCR, both compared favourably with culture and both were extremely rapid and easy to perform, giving a result in less than 15 min. Eleven samples were positive by PCR and both VIAs, but negative by culture because culture plates were heavily overgrown with SF organisms, making detection of any E. coli O157 present impossible.