Detecting and Mitigating Selfish Primary Users in Cognitive Radio

Wireless Personal Communications - In today’s world, Cloud computing based health cloud is an effective platform for enhancing e-health productivity, i.e., healthcare professionals can...     

"Significance of serum gamma glutamyl transpeptidase in cholestatic jaundice"

In conclusion, our study showed that serum G.G.T rises in cholestasis, and the rise is significantly higher in extraphepatic cholestasis as compared to intrahepatic cholestasis. Serum G.G.T has not shown any superiority over alkaline phosphatase in the evaluation of cholestatic liver disease. However, two considerations must caution against the use of serum G.G.T. alone for evaluation of hepatobiliary disease. The first of these is the lack of specificity for hepatobiliary disease. Serum G.G.T. activity can be elevated in some non-hepatic disorders such as acute pancreatitis, congestive cardiac failure, myocardial infarction, diabetes mellitus and alcoholism. Determination of serum G.G.T. in these patients is of no value. Second, the possibility that changes in serum G.G.T. activity results from drug administration in man.     

Development of nano indium tin oxide (ITO) grains by alkaline hydrolysis of In(III) and Sn(IV) salts

Indium tin oxide (ITO) nano powders of different compositions (In: Sn = 90: 10, 70: 30 and 50: 50) were prepared by heat treatment (300-450°C) of mixed hydroxides of In(III) and Sn(IV). The hydroxides were obtained by the reaction of aq. NH₃ with mixed aq. solutions of In(NO₃)₃ and SnCl₄. FTIR and TG/DTA studies revealed that powders existed as In(OH)₃H₂O—SnO₃H₂H₂O in the solid state and then they transformed to In₂O₃—SnO₂ via some metastable intermediates after 300°C. Cubic phase of In₂O₃ was identified by XRD for the oxides up to 30% of Sn. Particle size measurements of the solid dispersed in acetone and SEM study for microstructure showed that the oxides were in the nano range (55-75 nm) whereas the size range determined from Debye-Scherrer equation were 11–24 nm.     

Organic‐acid‐catalyzed sol–gel route for preparing poly(methyl methacrylate)–silica hybrid materials

In this study, a series of organic–inorganic hybrid sol–gel materials consisting of a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) matrix and dispersed silica (SiO₂) particles were successfully prepared through an organic‐acid‐catalyzed sol–gel route with N‐methyl‐2‐pyrrolidone as the mixing solvent. The as‐synthesized PMMA–SiO₂ nanocomposites were subsequently characterized with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The solid phase of organic camphor sulfonic acid was employed to catalyze the hydrolysis and condensation (i.e., sol–gel reactions) of tetraethyl orthosilicate in the PMMA matrix. The formation of the hybrid membranes was beneficial for the physical properties at low SiO₂ loadings, especially for enhanced mechanical strength and gas barrier properties, in comparison with the neat PMMA. The effects of material composition on the thermal stability, thermal conductivity, mechanical strength, molecular permeability, optical clarity, and surface morphology of the as‐prepared hybrid PMMA–SiO₂ nanocomposites in the form of membranes were investigated with thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, dynamic mechanical analysis, gas permeability analysis, ultraviolet–visible transmission spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy, respectively. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008     

Method for crosscorrelating images in the presence of geometric distortion

The conventional crosscorrelation function (XCF) used in temporal and spatial displacement measurement is unable to provide satisfactory results when linear distortion is also present in the signals. A 'nested' correlation function (NCF) is proposed which produces accurate results, when the distortion is dispersive, with negligible computational overhead.<>     

Simulation of Facial Muscle Actions Based on Rational Free Form Deformations

This paper describes interactive facilities for simulating abstract muscle actions using Rational Free Form Deformations (RFFD). The particular muscle action is simulated as the displacement of the control points of the control-unit for an RFFD defined on a region of interest. One or several simulated muscle actions constitute a Minimum Perceptible Action (MPA), which is defined as the atomic action unit, similar to Action Unit (AU) of the Facial Action Coding System (FACS), to build an expression.     

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.     

Performance of a magnesium–lithium alloy as an anode for magnesium batteries

In this work, we describe an evaluation of an Mg–Li alloy (Li: 13 wt %) for possible use in magnesium primary reserve batteries. Higher OCP for the Mg–Li alloy have been observed in 2 M MgCl₂ and MgBr₂ electrolyte. The corrosion rate of the Mg–Li alloy is found to be in the order: MgCl₂ < Mg(COOCH₃)₂ < MgSO₄ < MgBr₂ < Mg(ClO₄)₂. Mg–Li alloys exhibit higher (81%) anodic efficiencies even when the current density is increased to 8.6 mA cm ^–2. It has been observed that Mg–Li/MgCl₂/CuO cells offer higher operating voltage and capacity than those with the conventionally used Mg–Al alloy.     

Performance evaluation of saponin over other organic acid and tap water for removal of chromium in tannery sludge by electrokinetic enhancement

The performance of Saponin over different electrolyte-mediated electrokinetic (EK) process for removal of Cr(III) from tannery sludge was assessed. Saponin exhibited maximum Cr(III) removal efficiency, i.e. 67.6–80.75% as compared to other groups of processing fluids. The possible mechanistic approach for the highest removal efficiency of saponin over other electrolytes may be attributed to synchronized effect of micelle formation and subsequent complexation and sorption of chromium ions. The highest electroosmotic flow rate of saponin indicated low electroosmotic resistance during EK process, which validates the observed trend. Therefore, saponin can be considered as a promising electrolyte for EK treatment of tannery sludge.

Abbreviation: CA: Citric acid; LA: lactic acid; OA: oxalic acid; BOD: biochemical oxygen demand; COD: chemical oxygen demand; EK: electokinetic.