Identifying crop water stress using deep learning models

Neural Computing and Applications - The identification of water stress is a major challenge for timely and effective irrigation to ensure global food security and sustainable agriculture. Several...     

Conversion of acrylonitrile-based precursors to carbon fibres

The progress of stabilization of two compositions of acrylic fibres with various orientations has been followed by a variety of techniques. The thermooxidative treatments for stabilization have been carried out in a continuous process and also in a batch process under free shrinkage, constant length and constant tension conditions. The morphological model of acrylic fibres consists of an alternating sequence of laterally ordered and laterally disordered regions along the fibre direction. This structure is consistent with the observations based on small-angle X-ray scattering of copper- impregnated precursor fibres and thermomechanical response, thermal stress development, calorimetry, wide- and small-angle X-ray scattering and sonic modu-lus measured at different extents of stabilization. Lateral as well as orientational order in these fibres can be increased markedly through a high-temperature deformation process prior to stabilization. An increase in perfection and extent of order is observed in the early stages of stabilization. There is also a simultaneous decrease in the orientation of the disordered phase at this stage and the extent of this decrease depends on the axial constraints imposed on the fibre. Little difference in the rate of stabilization is observed as measured by density or oxygen uptake for fibres with different extents of orientation, lateral order or restraint. Fibres containing itaconic add, a stabilization catalyst did show an increased rate of stabilization. Inferences have been drawn regarding additional research pertaining to achieving high order in precursor fibres, minimizing orientational relaxation during oxidative stabilization, and the techniques for monitoring the extents of the stabilization treatment and the changes in relevant morphological parameters.     

Oxygen-enrichment of YBa2Cu3 YBa2Cu3O7-δ using the fluidization techniqueusing the fluidization technique

The oxygen-deficient phase of the highT _c superconductor, YBa₂Cu₃O₇, was oxygen-enriched using the fluidization technique to give good superconducting properties. The normal method of oxygen treatment at 900°C for 24 h and at 600°C for 24 h has been reduced to just one treatment at 600°C for 12 h by the fluidization technique to achieve almost the same strength of superconducting signal for the YBa₂Cu₃O₇ powder, which establishes the attractiveness of the latter route for the large-scale preparation of superconducting material. The particle sizes were in the range 0–90, 90–180 and 180–420 μm. The fluidized particles were crystalline with orthorhombic distortion.T _c ^onset , estimated using the a.c. magnetic susceptibility method, was 91·3 K. The volume fraction of superconducting material in the product was 83·7–85·3%, one of the highest values reported so far for YBa₂Cu₃O₇.     

Development of a heterogeneous microstructurally based finite element model for the prediction of forming limit diagram for sheet material

A heterogeneous finite element model with randomly distributed inhomogeneities has been developed for the determination of the forming limit diagram (FLD) for thin aluminum sheet material based on the prediction of localized necking. The strength difference between the inhomogeneities and the matrix is ascertained either from the fluctuation of the experimental stress-strain curve or from a micromechanical analysis that uses a representative particle field. By changing the specimen geometry and friction conditions, different stress states (or strain paths) are achieved. A plot of the critical Oyane fracture parameter is used to identify the limit strain state. Also, a plot of equivalent plastic strain rate is used to distinguish the boundary of intense shear bands and hence to identify where to take the measurement point. Both a plane stress model and a three-dimensional (3-D) model are adopted to predict the shear banding phenomenon and hence the FLD. The predicted FLD agrees well with the measurements from a recent round robin experimental FLD involving several independent research laboratories. The Taguchi method is applied to assess how the various parameters involved in the heterogeneous model affect the calculated forming limit strain.     

Electrical conductivity in iodine-doped ethyl cellulose

The electrical conductivity of solution-grown ethyl cellulose (EC) films, 5–30 μm thick, has been studied in the sandwich configuration (metal–EC–metal) as a function of iodine concentration from 0.5 to 5.0 wt% ratio. The studies were conducted in the temperature range 333–383 K, while the field was varied over the range (3.0–5.5) × 10⁴V/cm. Aluminium was used as the lower electrode, while the upper electrode was of Al, Ag, Cu, Au or Sn. Certain transient effects such as a large burst of current immediately after the application of field were observed. An attempt was made to identify the nature of the current by comparing the observed dependence on electric field, electrode material and temperature with the respective characteristic features of the existing theories of electrical conduction. The results show that the electrical conduction follows Ohm's law at lower fields, while at higher fields, space-charge limited current (SCLC) was observed. It was also found that Richardson–Schottky emission was responsible, to some extent, for the transport of charge carriers in the polymer. The conductivity of the films increased on doping with iodine. The dopant molecules are considered to act as additional trapping centes and provide links between the polymer molecules in the amorphous region, thus resulting in the formation of charge transfer complexes.     

XML: a door to automated Web applications

In Japanese culture, your meishi conveys your place in the company, even in society, as well as your name, phone number, and e-mail address. That is to say, in Japan, business cards matter. They convey complex metadata about the people who carry them. Like people, Web pages come in an abundance of shapes and sizes (and sounds). What makes them machine interpretable-and therefore a new medium for communicating information globally-is Hypertext Markup Language. HTML allows the structural markup of Web documents, distinguishing the elements of a page with tags and declaring the physical relationships among the various document elements. This organizes the display of information and allows humans to read and use it. To give machines this capability, however, requires semantic markup, identifying what each particular element means on its own (for example, “this is a home street address” or “this is an e-mail address”). Semantic markup would change what is now simply displayed content to machine readable, structured content. The Extensible Markup Language (XML) specification, first released as two working drafts in 1997 by the World Wide Web Consortium, makes it dramatically easier to develop and deploy domain- and mission-specific Web pages. We describe the evolution of the Web's data representation from display formats to structural markup to semantic markup     

On the synthesis and characterization of a new manganite type CMR material: La0.7Hg0.3MnO3

A new manganite type CMR material, La_0.7Hg_0.3MnO₃ has been successfully synthesized and has been found to exhibit magnetoresistance (≈9%) at low fields (≈1.5 kG). The synthesis has been carried out through a solid state reaction route consisting of the formation of La_0.7MnO₃ followed by diffusion of Hg leading to La_0.7Hg_0.3MnO₃. The as grown samples are polycrystalline and correspond to an orthorhombic unit cell with the lattice parameters; a=5.5183 Å, b=5.6383 Å and c=7.5368 Å. The typical grain size as revealed by scanning electron microscopy is in the range of 0.5–2 μm. The ρ–T behaviour shows a peak at T_IM=227 K. The ρ–T behaviour above this temperature corresponds to that of an insulator and below this to that of a metal. The ρ–T behaviour remains unaltered when a magnetic field (H_dc=1.5 kG) is applied. However, with this magnetic field a drop in the resistivity is observed up to 77 K. At room temperature the magnetoresistance ratio (MRR) is too small but it steadily increases as the temperature is decreased. Thus, MRRs at 227.13 and 77 K are 3.41 and 9.05%, respectively, in an applied field of H_dc=1.5 kG. At a given temperature the variation in MRR with field H_dc is rapid at lower field values (H_dc<1.2 kG) and scales linearly for higher field values (H_dc>1.2 kG). It may be mentioned that the present work on the synthesis and magnetoresistance behaviour of La_0.7Hg_0.3MnO₃, is the first of its type.     

Hydrodynamics and liquid phase axial mixing in orifice pipe reactor

Two phase flow in a horizontal pipe, with orifice plates placed at regular intervals as obstructions, was studied for the effect of phase velocities on flow patterns, fractional phase hold-ups, pressure drop and liquid phase axial dispersion. Radioactive technetium-99m (as an aqueous solution of sodium pertechnatate) was used as tracer. A pulse injection technique with two point measurements was employed. Three different orifice diameters were used (8 mm, 16 mm, and 20 mm) in a pipe diameter of 32 mm. The orifice spacing was 500 mm in all cases. Superficial gas (air) velocity was varied over a range from 0.02 m/s to 1.0 m/s and superficial liquid (water) velocity from 0.03 m/s to 0.85 m/s. Different flow patterns under different flow conditions were identified and a generalised flow map is presented. Variations in hold-ups and pressure drop with flow patterns have been explained. Rational correlations have been developed for fractional phase hold-ups and pressure drop. A preliminary comparison of two phase gas-liquid flow in a horizontal pipe with orifice obstructions (to be called orifice pipe reactor), as a gas-liquid contacting device, is made with a conventional bubble column reactor. Recommendations have been made for future work.