Ultrasonic Assisted Nano-structures of Novel Organotin Supramolecular Coordination Polymers as Potent Antitumor Agents

Journal of Inorganic and Organometallic Polymers and Materials - The reaction of potassium tetracyanocupprate(I) with triethyltin bromide in presence of phenanthroline (Phen) and quinoxaline (Qox)...     

Simulation and optimization of tool-life in manufacturing centers

This paper presents the development of an optimization and a computer-simulation model to evaluate the process plans of a manufacturing center by analyzing the effect of tool failure on system performance. The GPSS/PC simulation program that is used in this study has been built with variables, functions and matrices so that many experiments could be conducted with the model. Sensitivity analysis is presented and the developed model has proven to be useful in determining optimum sequencing of parts for various operating policies.     

Effects of Luminous Environment on Worker Productivity in Building Spaces

This paper is based in part, on the results of a survey undertaken by the writer for an industrial client. The purpose was to collect and systematize information on quantitative relations between the indoor environment and worker productivity. Office workers strongly believe that lighting conditions are an extremely important aspect of their workspace environment. Unfavorable conditions may hamper productivity. Daylighting is of particular importance. It is further shown that lighting conditions have a strong impact on worker performance in industrial facilities. Certain lighting strategies can contribute to an enhancement in worker productivity while cutting down on energy consumption. The influence on worker productivity of different characteristics of illumination are described. These include spectral distribution, color rendition, glare, daylight versus artificial light, and others. The presence or absence of windows on worker comfort and perception is also discussed. It is shown that improving lighting conditions is a highly cost-effective method of increasing worker productivity in office spaces as well as in manufacturing facilities.     

A large vocabulary system for Arabic online handwriting recognition

The success of using Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) for speech recognition application has motivated the adoption of these models for handwriting recognition especially the online handwriting that has large similarity with the speech signal as a sequential process. Some languages such as Arabic, Farsi and Urdo include large number of delayed strokes that are written above or below most letters and usually written delayed in time. These delayed strokes represent a modeling challenge for the conventional left-right HMM that is commonly used for Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) systems. In this paper, we introduce a new approach for handling delayed strokes in Arabic online handwriting recognition using HMMs. We also show that several modeling approaches such as context based tri-grapheme models, speaker adaptive training and discriminative training that are currently used in most state-of-the-art ASR systems can provide similar performance improvement for Hand Writing Recognition (HWR) systems. Finally, we show that using a multi-pass decoder that use the computationally less expensive models in the early passes can provide an Arabic large vocabulary HWR system with practical decoding time. We evaluated the performance of our proposed Arabic HWR system using two databases of small and large lexicons. For the small lexicon data set, our system achieved competing results compared to the best reported state-of-the-art Arabic HWR systems. For the large lexicon, our system achieved promising results (accuracy and time) for a vocabulary size of 64k words with the possibility of adapting the models for specific writers to get even better results.     

A novel facile synthesis and characterization of molybdenum nanowires

We describe a straightforward technique to synthesize pure Mo nanowires (NWs) from Mo₆S_yI_z (8,2 <y + z ≤ 10) NWs as precursor templates. The structural transformations occur when Mo₆S_yI_z NWs are annealed in Ar/H₂ mixture leading to the formation of pure Mo NWs with similar structures as initial morphologies. Detailed microscopic characterizations show that large diameters (>15 nm) Mo NWs are highly porous, while small diameters (<7 nm) are made of solid nanocrystalline grains. We find NW of diameter 4 nm can carry up to 30 μA current without suffering structural degradation. Moreover, NWs can be elastically deformed over several cycles without signs of plastic deformation.     

New syntheses of pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidine,pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyridazine,isoindolinedione and pyrazole derivatives

Phenacylmalononitriles 2 react with hydrazines, acetic-hydrochloric acid and with diazotised primary aromatic amines to afford phenacylpyrazole ( 5a,b ), aminofurans ( 6a,b ) and aminopyrazole derivatives ( 3a,d ) respectively. The synthesised derivatives ( 3d, 6a ) were the key materials for the synthesis of isoindolinedione, ( 7a – c ) pyrazolopyrimidine ( 9, 10 ), and pyrazolopyridazine derivatives ( 11 ). The structures of the newly synthesised heterocycles were established on the basis of elemental analyses and spectral data besides synthesis via other routes.     

On comparison of luminescence properties of La2Zr2O7 and La2Hf2O7 nanoparticles

Unveiling the underlying mechanisms of properties of functional materials, including the luminescence differences among similar pyrochlores A₂B₂O₇, opens new gateways to select proper hosts for various optoelectronic applications by scientists and engineers. For example, although La₂Zr₂O₇ (LZO) and La₂Hf₂O₇ (LHO) pyrochlores have similar chemical compositional and crystallographic structural features, they demonstrate different luminescence properties both before and after doped with Eu³⁺ ions. Based on our earlier work, LHO-based nanophosphors display higher photo- and radioluminescence intensity, higher quantum efficiency, and longer excited state lifetime compared to LZO-based nanophosphors. Moreover, under electronic O²⁻→Zr⁴⁺/Hf⁴⁺ transition excitation at 306 nm, undoped LHO nanoparticles (NPs) have only violet blue emission, whereas LZO NPs show violet blue and red emissions. In this study, we have combined experimental and density functional theory (DFT) based theoretical calculation to explain the observed results. First, we calculated the density of state (DOS) based on DFT and studied the energetics of ionized oxygen vacancies in the band gaps of LZO and LHO theoretically, which explain their underlying luminescence difference. For Eu³⁺-doped NPs, we performed emission intensity and lifetime calculations and found that the LHOE NPs have higher host to dopant energy transfer efficiency than the LZOE NPs (59.3% vs 24.6%), which accounts for the optical performance superiority of the former over the latter. Moreover, by corroborating our experimental data with the DFT calculations, we suggest that the Eu³⁺ doping states in LHO present at exact energy position (both in majority and minority spin components) where oxygen defect states are located unlike those in LZO. Lastly, both the NPs show negligible photobleaching highlighting their potential for bioimaging applications. This current report provides a deeper understanding of the advantages of LHO over LZO as an advanced host for phosphors, scintillators, and fluoroimmunoassays.     

Vicarious calibration experiment in support of the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer

On June 11, 2000, the first vicarious calibration experiment in support of the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) was conducted. The purpose of this experiment was to acquire in situ measurements of surface and atmospheric conditions over a bright, uniform area. These data were then used to compute top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiances, which were correlated with the camera digital number output, to determine the in-flight radiometric response of the on-orbit sensor. The Lunar Lake Playa, Nevada, was the primary target instrumented by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for this experiment. The airborne MISR simulator (AirMISR) on board a NASA ER-2 acquired simultaneous observations over Lunar Lake. The in situ estimations of top-of-atmosphere radiances and AirMISR measurements at a 20-km altitude were in good agreement with each other and differed by 9% from MISR measurements. The difference has been corrected by adjusting the gain coefficients used in MISR standard product generation. Data acquired simultaneously by other sensors, such as Landsat, the Terra Moderate-Resolution Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MODIS), and the Airborne Visible and Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS), were used to validate this correction. Because of this experiment, MISR radiances are 9% higher than the values based on the on-board calibration. Semiannual field campaigns are planned for the future in order to detect any systematic trends in sensor calibration.