Synthesis,characterization and charge transport properties of Pr–Ni Co-doped SrFe2O4 spinel for high frequency devices applications

Ferrites are materials of interest due to their broad applications in high technological devices and a lot of research has been focused to synthesize new ferrites. In this regard, an effort has been devoted to synthesize spinel Pr–Ni co-substituted strontium ferrites with a nominal formula of Sr_1-xPr_xFe_2-yNi_yO₄ (0.0 ≤ x ≤ 0.1, 0.0 ≤ y ≤ 1.0). The cubic structure of pure and Pr–Ni co-substituted strontium ferrite samples calcinated at 1073 K for 3 h has been confirmed through X-ray diffraction (XRD). Average sizes of crystallites (18–25 nm) have been estimated from XRD analysis and nanometer particle sizes of synthesized ferrites have been further verified by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). SEM results have also shown that particles are mostly agglomerated and all the samples possess porosity. It has been observed that at 298 K, the values of resistivity (ρ) increase, while that of AC conductivity, dielectric loss, and dielectric constants decrease with increasing amounts of Pr³⁺ and Ni²⁺ ions. The values of dielectric parameters initially decrease with frequency and later become constant and can be explained on the basis of dielectric polarization. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) studies show that the charge transport phenomenon in ferrite materials is mainly controlled via grain boundaries. Overall, synthesized ferrite materials own enhanced resistivity values in the range of 1.38 × 10⁹–1.94 × 10⁹ Ω cm and minimum dielectric losses, which makes them suitable candidates for high frequency devices applications.     

Ambient‐cured polyesteramide‐based anticorrosive coatings from linseed oil—A sustainable resource

Ambient‐cured polyesteramide (APEA) coating resin synthesized from dihydroxy fatty amide obtained from linseed oil, a sustainable resource, and poly(styrene‐co‐maleic anhydride), a bifunctional acid component, was found to exhibit improved physicomechanical and anticorrosive properties. The structural elucidation of APEA resin has been carried out by FTIR, ¹H‐NMR, and ¹³C‐NMR spectroscopies. The physicomechanical and chemical resistance properties were investigated by standard methods. The corrosion resistance performance was evaluated in acid, alkali, and organic solvent. The thermal behavior was studied by TGA technique. A comparative study of these properties of APEA with reported baked polyesteramide (PEA) coatings was carried out. A remarkable improvement in the drying property of APEA was observed. The APEA coatings also showed improved physicomechanical and anticorrosive properties as compared to the baked PEA coatings. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 97: 1818–1824, 2005     

Theoretical Investigation of Cubic BaVO<Subscript>3</Subscript> and LaVO<Subscript>3</Subscript> Perovskites via Tran–Blaha-Modified Becke–Johnson Exchange Potential Approach

The full potential linearized augmented plane wave method of density functional theory has been used to investigate the structural, electronic, magnetic and thermoelectric properties of cubic perovskites BaVO₃ and LaVO₃. The ferromagnetic ground state has been found to be stable by comparing the total energies of non-spin-polarized and spin-polarized calculations performed for optimized unit cells. For both compounds, the bond length and tolerance factor are also measured. From the band structures and density of states plots, it is found that both compounds are half-metallic. We found that the presence of V at the octahedral site of these perovskites develops exchange splitting through p-d hybridization, which results in a stable ferromagnetic state. The observed exchange splitting is further clarified from the magnetic moment, charge and spin of the anion and cations. Finally, we also presented the calculated thermoelectric properties of these materials, which show that half-metallic BaVO₃ and LaVO₃ materials are potential contenders for thermoelectric applications.     

A study on the effect of polishing fluid volume in ball end magnetorheological finishing process

Ball end magnetorheological finishing is a unique process that utilizes a magnetically controlled ball of polishing fluid at the tip of the rotating tool to finish workpiece of different materials and shapes. The aim of this research is to study the effect of polishing fluid volume on finishing spot size and the surface finish associated with it. A magnetostatic simulation is done to find the variation of flux density in the working gap and on the workpiece surface. The maximum limit of the polishing fluid volume is selected on the basis of area of threshold magnetic flux density (minimum value required for finishing) region on the workpiece surface. The surface characteristics and the diameter of the finished spot are analyzed by varying the fluid volume. The surface obtained with high fluid volume is poorly finished and has scratch marks as the excess fluid flows out from the working gap and forms a thick ring at the periphery of the tool tip. Contrary to this, if the fluid volume is too less, then it merely rotates over the workpiece surface without causing any finishing action. An optimum range of fluid volume produces a good quality surface finish with constant finished spot size.     

Correction on link relative based approach to CUSUM chart

Link relative-based approach was used in an article (see reference 1) to enhance the performance of the cumulative sum (CUSUM) control chart. This technique involves the use of firstly, the link relative variable to convert the process observations in a relative to the mean form and secondly, optimal constants to define a new variable which is used as the plotting statistic of the link relative CUSUM chart. In this article, it is proven through simulation study that the optimal constants with fixed values, as reported in the aforementioned article, give different results. Instead, if the regression technique is used, then the same results will be obtained.     

Selective determination of urea using urease immobilized on ZnO nanowires

Well-aligned zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowire arrays were fabricated on gold-coated plastic substrates using a low-temperature aqueous chemical growth (ACG) method. The ZnO nanowire arrays with 50–130 nm diameters and ∼1 μm in lengths were used in an enzyme-based urea sensor through immobilization of the enzyme urease that was found to be sensitive to urea concentrations from 0.1 mM to 100 mM. Two linear sensitivity regions were observed when the electrochemical responses (EMF) of the sensors were plotted vs. the logarithmic concentration range of urea from 0.1 mM to 100 mM. The proposed sensor showed a sensitivity of 52.8 mV/decade for 0.1–40 mM urea and a fast response time less than 4 s was achieved with good selectivity, reproducibility and negligible response to common interferents such as ascorbic acid and uric acid, glucose, K⁺ and Na⁺ ions.     

A bigraphical model for specifying cloud-based elastic systems and their behaviour

The few recent years have witnessed the appearance of a new kind of self-adaptive systems called cloud based-elastic systems. These systems are particularly appealing for their ability to maintain a decent quality of service and reduce a system’s operating cost at the same time. They achieve this by dynamically adjusting resources allocation in terms of elasticity. Meanwhile, complexity of structural and behavioural aspects related to cloud-based elastic systems increase the difficulty of designing and developing such systems. In this paper, we address this challenge by proposing a formal approach based on bigraphical reactive systems for modelling both structural and behavioural aspects of cloud-based elastic systems. In particular, we represent their behaviour in terms of client/application interactions and elasticity methods at different levels using bigraphical reaction rules. The feasibility of the proposed approach is illustrated through a motivating example running on the top of an Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) infrastructure.     

Morphological, structural, and functional properties of maranta (Maranta arundinacea L) starch

Starch isolated from maranta (Maranta arundinacea) tuber and studied for its various physicochemical characteristics. The amylose content of the starch was 24.8%. SEM showed that the granules were small indented and spherical. Maranta starch granule size has a range of 2.92–6.42 μm, (mean of 4.84 μm), length/degree of 1.20, and roundness of 0.73. Maranta starch has a gelatinization temperature of 74.8°C, peak viscosity of 498 BU, and cold paste viscosity of 669 BU. It also possessed higher freeze-thaw stability. Dynamic rheological properties of maranta starch, measured using parallel plate geometry showed increased storage modulus (G’) values, while loss modulus (G″) values were decreased with increasing frequency values (0–100 Hz). The low gelatinization temperature and high freeze thaw stability of starch indicates its potential for application as a thickener in food industries.