Applicability of Wireless Sensor Networks in Precision Agriculture: A Review

Wireless Personal Communications - Data security is currently become a serious concern in wireless communication system for both the users and providers. Without a secure medium, the data...     

Length–weight relationships of five catfish species (Siluriformes) from the Ganga River,India

Knowledge of the length–weight relationships (LWRs) of fish is an important tool to understand fish body form, growth pattern, stock management and their conservation. The present study focused on investigating the length–weight relationships for five catfish species, Pachypterus atherinoides (Bloch, 1794), belonging to family Horabagridae; Batasio batasio (Hamilton, 1822) family Bagridae; Bagarius yarrelli (Sykes, 1839), family Gogangra viridescens (Hamilton, 1822); and Sisor rhabdophorus (Hamilton, 1822) belonging to family Sisoridae. Specimens were collected from the middle stretch of the Ganga River in India from November 2016 to May 2018. A total of 174 specimens of five fish species were collected, and their total lengths were measured to the nearest centimetre and the body weight to the nearest gram. The value of the parameter slope (b) of LWRs of the five species ranged from 2.86 (B. yarrelli) to 3.16 (G. viridescens), with a mean value of 2.99. The results of the present study documented the new maximum total length (TL) for P. atherinoides and S. rhabdophorus. The present study also provides the first reference regarding LWRs for S. rhabdophorus.     

Active,passive and transpassive dissolution of a nickel base super alloy in concentrated acid mixture solution

The electrochemical and corrosion behaviour of a nickel base super alloy (C-263) has been investigated in the deaerated binary and ternary solution mixture of concentrated phosphoric acid, acetic acid, sulphuric acid, nitric acid or water using potentiostatic technique at 35°C. The possibilities of electropolishing of this alloy in these solution mixtures have been also explored. The alloy showed distinct active, passive and transpassive behaviour in the experimental solutions. The alloy remained active and turned passive in the negative potential region. Transpassive dissolution of the alloy is observed and electropolishing is achieved in this region. The best electropolishing is obtained in 50% H₃PO₄ + 40% CH₃COOH + 10% H₂SO₄. Higher content of water in the electrolytic solution is not useful for electropolishing of the alloy The experimental results also suggest that a current plateau in the transpassive potential region is not a sufficient condition to achieve electropolishing.     

IBM's Linux watch, the challenge of miniaturization

Nearly four years in development, the IBM Linux watch contains a complete computer system that runs Linux, displays X11 graphics, and has wireless connectivity. The system fits in a case that could pass as a slightly unusual analog timepiece with a somewhat odd shape and an extraordinarily brilliant face. The developers have created two versions of the watch, one with an organic light-emitting diode display and the other with a liquid crystal display. Still considered a research prototype, the watch already runs some personal information management applications, and it can communicate with PCs, PDAs, and other wireless-enabled devices, viewing condensed e-mail and directly receiving pager-like messages. Eventually, users will be able to access various Internet-based services, such as up-to-the-minute information about weather, traffic conditions, the stock market, and sports     

ERD facility for analysis of hydrogen and deuterium in solids

Hydrogen is the lightest element in nature, and so, its detection and quantitative analysis is difficult by the conventional methods utilized for other elements. In the recent years the technique of elastic recoil detection analysis (ERD) using 1–2 MeV He⁺ beam has been developed to quantitatively and simultaneously analyze hydrogen and its isotopes in solids. Such a facility has been set up using the 2 MeV Van-de-Graaff accelerator at IIT Kanpur. It facilitates H and D analysis in a material up to a depth of ∼ 1μm with a detection sensitivity of 0·1 at.% and depth resolution of about 300 ?. The application potential of this setup is illustrated by presenting the results of measurements performed on Al:H:D systems prepared by plasma source ion implantation and highT _c YBCO pellets exposed to humid atmosphere.     

Salt-tolerant and thermostable alkaline protease from Bacillus subtilis NCIM no. 64

The proteolytic activity produced by a Bacillus subtilis isolated from a hot spring was investigated. Maximum protease production was obtained after 38 h of fermentation. Effects of various carbon and nitrogen sources indicate the requirement of starch and bacteriological peptone to be the best inducers for maximum protease production. Requirement for phosphorus was very evident, and the protease was secreted over a wide range of pH 5-11. The partially purified enzyme was stable at 60 degrees C for 30 min. Calcium ions were effective in stabilizing the enzyme, especially at higher temperature. The enzyme was extremely salt tolerant and retained 100% activity in 5M NaCl over 96 h. The molecular weight of the purified enzymes as determined by SDS-PAGE was 28,000. The enzyme was completely inactivated by PMSF, but little affected by urea, sodium dodecyl sulfate, and sodium tripoly phosphate.     

Thermal stability and high-temperature wear of Ti–TiN and TiN–CrN nanomultilayer coatings under self-mated conditions

Ti–TiN and TiN–CrN nanomultilayers were thermally stable retaining uniform and sharp layer interfaces up to 24 h at 773 K, without any oxidation or phase transformation accompanying each individual layer. Decreasing the multilayer spacing resulted in an increase in the hardness in both cases. The coating hardness was found to be independent of the substrate type, when applied on HS718, Ti64 and HCHCr substrates. In scratch testing, the multilayers displayed a better resistance to the onset of failure, as compared to the monolayer TiN. The substrate plasticity played an important role in determining the coating failure mode. Self-mated wear tests revealed the CrN–TiN system to exhibit the best wear behaviour, both at room temperature and at 773 K. The Ti–TiN coatings are more accommodative with all three substrates, as compared to TiN–CrN and TiN.