Thermal expansion characteristics of a titanium modified austenitic stainless steel: measurement by high-temperature X-ray diffraction and modelling using Grüneisen formalism

The thermal expansion of a titanium modified, swelling resistant austenitic stainless steel designated as D9 is studied by measuring the lattice parameter as a function of temperature in the range 300-1300 K by high-temperature X-ray diffraction technique. The thermal expansion data thus obtained is in reasonable agreement with the typical thermal expansion values reported for similar nuclear grade austenitic stainless steels. However, at temperatures exceeding 900 K, the measured thermal expansivity exhibits a pronounced non-linear increase due partly to the precipitation of complex carbide and intermetallic phases. The high-temperature thermal expansion data obtained in the present study are augmented by modelling the low-temperature thermal expansion behaviour by Grüneisen formalism.     

Analysis of Caching and Replication Strategies for Web Applications

Developers often use replication and caching mechanisms to enhance Web application performance. The authors present a qualitative and quantitative analysis of state-of-the art replication and caching techniques used to host Web applications. Their analysis shows that selecting the best mechanism depends heavily on data workload and requires a careful review of the application's characteristics. They also propose a technique for Web practitioners to compare different mechanisms' performance on their own     

Efficient integration of fine-grained access control and resource brokering in grid

In this paper, we present a novel resource brokering service for grid systems which considers authorization policies of the grid nodes in the process of selecting the resources to be assigned to a request. We argue such an integration is needed to avoid scheduling requests onto resources the policies of which do not authorize their execution. Our service, implemented in Globus as a part of Monitoring and Discovery Service (MDS), is based on the concept of fine-grained access control (FGAC) which enables participating grid nodes to specify fine-grained policies concerning the conditions under which grid clients can access their resources. Since the process of evaluating authorization policies, in addition to checking the resource requirements, can be a potential bottleneck for a large scale grid, we also analyze the problem of the efficient evaluation of FGAC policies. In this context, we present GroupByRule, a novel method for policy organization and compare its performance with other strategies.

Applications of Beryllium and Its Alloys

Whereas the beryllium metal is an ideal choice for many applications in nuclear and space technology, its alloys with copper, aluminium, nickel, titanium, oxide and beryllides are equally important and find numerous applications not only in hightech areas, but also in various other fields. This paper presents an appraisal of these uses of beryllium.     

Study of the feasibility of involving male student volunteers in case holding in an urban tuberculosis programme

AIMS: To investigate the effect of the angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor, benazepril, on pulmonary function. METHODS: We investigated the influence of benazepril, on lung function and the interaction with inhaled salbutamol (0.1 to 6.6 mg) and histamine (0.03 to 30.69 g l-1) in normal subjects. Benazepril 20 mg, salbutamol 8 mg, propranolol 160 mg, and placebo were given orally once daily over 10 days. RESULTS: On day 8, there was no difference in the area under the salbutamol dose-response curves between benazepril, placebo and oral salbutamol (P > 0.05), propranolol shifted the curves to the right (P < 0.05). On day 10, histamine challenge resulted in following PD35sGaw values (geometric mean and 95% CI): with placebo 1.02 (0.95-1.09) g l-1, benazepril 1.04 (0.99-1.08), salbutamol 1.19 (1.13-1.25), propranolol 0.57 (0.50-0.65). CONCLUSIONS: Benazepril had no influence on baseline lung function, caused no interaction with inhaled salbutamol and the bronchial response to histamine was similar to placebo. However, our findings in normal subjects cannot be extrapolated automatically to asthmatics.     

Optimization of Liquid Scintillation Counter for Tritium Estimation in Water Samples

Radiochemistry - The liquid scintillation counting procedure for tritium quantification in environmental samples was optimized with respect to sample to cocktail volume ratio, fixing of region of...     

Analysis of pre-heated crude palm oil,palm oil methyl ester and its blends as fuel in a diesel engine

Diesel engines are widely used in the surface transport system. They are the main source of economic growth of a nation. Nowadays, awareness of the environment compels people to adopt stringent emission norms. The rapid depletion of fossil fuels and the increase in the emission levels have caused concerns globally. An eco-friendly alternate is required to fulfil the growing demand. This paper focuses on alternate fuels and the importance of choosing palm oil. The energy density and higher cetane number are its major advantages. Also it reduces environmental pollution drastically. The viscosity of palm oil is a problem like other vegetable oils, which affects the fuel spray pattern. It reduces the efficiency of the combustion to a large extent. To overcome the problem, the pre-heating technique and transesterification process are adopted in this work. Performance tests were conducted on a single cylinder, four-stroke, direct injection diesel engine coupled with eddy current dynamometer, and emission was monitored using an AVL exhaust gas analyser. The results indicated that vegetable oil fuels have lower brake thermal efficiency compared to that of diesel. Pre-heated oil and methyl ester showed an appreciable reduction in hydrocarbon (HC) and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions and higher exhaust temperature and nitric oxide (NO_x) emission.     

Expression and purification of the extracellular ligand-binding domain of the atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) receptor: monovalent binding with ANP induces 2:2 complexes

The receptor for atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) is a type-I transmembrane protein containing an extracellular ligand-binding domain, a single transmembrane sequence, an intracellular kinase-homologous domain, and a guanylate cyclase (GCase) domain. Binding of ANP to the extracellular domain causes activation of the GCase domain by an as yet unknown mechanism. To facilitate studies of the receptor structure and signaling mechanism, we have expressed the extracellular ANP-binding domain of rat ANP receptor (NPR-ECD) in a water-soluble form. NPR-ECD was purified to homogeneity by ANP-affinity chromatography. SDS-PAGE gave a single 61-kDa band, which coincided with a radioactive band obtained by photoaffinity-labeling with N4alpha-azidobenzoyl-125I-ANP(4-28). Edman degradation gave a single amino-terminal sequence expected for the mature protein. Both trifluoromethanesulfonic acid and peptide-N-glycosidase F treatments yielded a 50-kDa band, indicating N-glycosylation. The molecular mass of 57 725 Da determined by mass spectrometry indicates the carbohydrate content at 16%. NPR-ECD bound ANP with an affinity comparable to that of the full-length receptor. The ligand selectivity of NPR-ECD (in the order ANP > brain natriuretic peptide > C-type natriuretic peptide) was also similar to that of the full-length receptor. HPLC gel filtration of NPR-ECD gave a peak with an apparent mass of 74 kDa. Preincubation with ANP generated a new 150-kDa peak with a concomitant decrease of the 74-kDa peak. This shift in peak positions was ANP concentration-dependent and was complete at the NPR-ECD-to-ANP molar ratio of 1:1, indicating equimolar binding. The change in the apparent native molecular weight from 74 to 150 kDa suggests that binding causes dimerization of the NPR-ECD:ANP complex to yield an [NPR-ECD:ANP]2 complex.     

Numerical Investigation of Forced Convection Conjugate Heat Transfer from Offset Square Cylinders Placed in a Confined Channel Covered by Solid Wall

Flow over two isothermal offset square cylinders in a confined channel is simulated for different Reynolds numbers to disclose the forced convection heat transfer from the heated square cylinders to the ambient fluid. The spacing between the cylinder in the normal direction and the blockage ratio are fixed. The channel walls are covered by solid walls of thickness equal to the size of the cylinder and conjugate heat transfer is considered by including these walls. Heat transfer from the cylinders to the ambient fluid as well as that conducted within the solid wall through the conjugate interface boundary are investigated in connection with Reynolds number and are reported for both steady and periodic flows. Simulation is carried out for Reynolds number varying from 10 to 100 with air as the fluid. The onset of the vortex begins when the Reynolds number equals 48. The conjugate interface temperature declines when the Reynolds number grows. The isotherms in the solid wall show two dimensionality near the cylinder region.     

Particle swarm optimization for minimizing assembly variation in selective assembly

Quality of a product is based on the quality of the mating parts. When the parts are assembled interchangeably, the assembly variation will be the sum of the component tolerances. If the assembly variation is to be less than the sum of the component tolerances, selective assembly is the only solution. In conventional selective assembly, the corresponding selective groups are assembled. In this paper, selective group combinations for assembling the mating parts is obtained using particle swarm optimization (PSO). The combination obtained has resulted in an appreciable reduction in assembly variation. The proposed algorithm has been demonstrated for a linear assembly, which consists of three components having equal dimensional distributions. The assembly variation obtained by interchangeable assembly is 36 μm. By implementing the proposed method, the assembly variations are reduced from 36 to 7.2 μm. However, this algorithm can be extended for assemblies with more number of components and with different dimensional distributions.