A Novel Self-Organizing Approach to Automatic Traffic Light Management System for Road Traffic Network

Wireless Personal Communications - Traffic network is basically a “network of networks” consisting of mainly two types of networks: road network and a travel network. Due to drastic...     

Biodegradation of gelatin–g-poly(ethyl acrylate) copolymers

Gelatin-g-poly(ethyl acrylate) copolymers were prepared in an aqueous medium, using K₂S₂O₈ initiator. The composition of the graft copolymers was dependent upon temperature and duration of the reaction. The number of grafting sites was small and molecular weight of the grafted poly(ethyl acrylate) branches was high. Three copolymer samples with grafting efficiencies of 33.3%, 61.0%, and 84.0%, were tested for their microbial susceptibility in a synthetic medium employing a mixed inoculum of Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Serratia marcescens and the percent weight losses were 12%, 10.1%, and 6.0%, respectively, after 6 weeks of incubation. The extent of degradation seems to decrease with increasing grafting efficiency. There was initial rapid weight loss accompanied by the exponential increase in bacterial population and pH of the culture medium during the first week. The nitrogen analysis also showed the utilization of the polymer. A parallel set of experiments, carried out by employing the samples as the only source of both carbon and nitrogen, showed a marginal but definite increase in the utilization of the polymer.     

Plant‐mediated synthesis of silver and gold nanoparticles and their applications

Nanobiotechnology deals with the synthesis of nanostructures using living organisms. Among the use of living organisms for nanoparticle synthesis, plants have found application particularly in metal nanoparticle synthesis. Use of plants for synthesis of nanoparticles could be advantageous over other environmentally benign biological processes as this eliminates the elaborate process of maintaining cell cultures. Biosynthetic processes for nanoparticles would be more useful if nanoparticles were produced extracellularly using plants or their extracts and in a controlled manner according to their size, dispersity and shape. Plant use can also be suitably scaled up for large‐scale synthesis of nanoparticles. In view of this, we have reviewed here the use of plants or their extracts in the synthesis of silver and gold nanoparticles for various human applications. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry     

LoCaL: Link-optimized cone-assisted location routing in flying ad hoc networks

Recently, flying ad hoc networks (FANETs) has become a core research area in wireless networks that involves multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). It is widely used in modern warfare for surveillance, monitoring and reconnaissance. The routing in FANETs poses a more significant challenge due to limited energy and frequent link disconnection between the UAVs. Consequently, an effective route is always required to ensure data transmission between UAVs. Therefore, this research proposes a link-optimized cone-assisted location (LoCaL) routing protocol for FANETs. The main goal of the proposed LoCaL is to enhance the link duration between the UAVs in which a source selects a forwarding UAV from a given set of neighbours by estimating the residual energy, link duration time and safety degree parameters. Proposed LoCaL provides better stability and less frequent route breaks between source and destination. Further, the mathematical formulation of the proposed approach is presented through the utility function to enhance the route stability by selecting all those relay UAVs in the cone-shaped request zone, which reduces the routing overhead in discovering the route. Finally, the performance of the LoCaL has been presented through key indicators such as energy consumption, routing overhead, message delivery ratio, network lifetime and delay compared to the existing approaches.     

Pulsed laser action in Tm,Ho:LuLiF/sub 4/ and Tm,Ho:YLiF/sub 4/ crystals using a novel quasi-end-pumping technique

A number of good quality thulium and holmium-codoped LuLiF/sub 4/ and YLiF/sub 4/ single crystals were successfully grown by the Czochralski crystal growth method under a CF/sub 4/ atmosphere. Using a novel diode-pumped, quasi-end-pump scheme incorporating two lens ducts, pulsed laser action is achieved in 5%Tm, 0.5% Ho:LuLiF/sub 4/ and 5%Tm, 0.5% Ho:YLiF/sub 4/ crystals, at various pulse repetition frequencies and temperatures. At 10 Hz and at an operating temperature of 273 K, slope efficiencies (optical to optical efficiencies) with respect to the incident pump energies of 12.9% (9.2%) and 7.4% (5.2%) were demonstrated in the grown Tm, Ho:LuLiF/sub 4/ and Tm, Ho:YLiF/sub 4/ crystals, respectively. Free running laser output energies in excess of 30 mJ (LuLiF/sub 4/) and 17 mJ (YLF) were measured.     

Performance study of horizontal branch in building drainage system

Self-siphonage of traps of sanitary appliances caused by full-bore water discharge affects the performance of horizontal branches in building drainage sustems. Relationships have been established correlating flow, diameter and slope of branch pipes connected to main drainage stack for permissible loss of water seal with recourse to an experimental investigation in the laboratory on a range of wash-basins, as is usual in office buildings, with a view to developing a performance oriented design procedure. A measure has also been suggested to control development of negative pressure caused by self-siphonage.     

Lipid production by Lipomyces starkeyi using sap squeezed from felled old oil palm trunks

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Polyphenols of chickpea and blackgram as affected by domestic processing and cooking methods

The effects of soaking, cooking, autoclaving and sprouting on the polyphenol contents of eight cultivars of chickpea (Cicer arietinum) and four of blackgram (Vigna mungo) were studied. All the treatments reduced the polyphenols of the legume seeds, but to a varying extent. Sprouting and autoclaving had the most pronounced effect; ordinary cooking and soaking were relatively less effective.     

Room temperature ferromagnetism in Co-incorporated TiO2 thin films

Observation of room temperature ferromagnetism (RTFM) in nano-crystalline Co-incorporated titanium dioxide [Ti(1-x)Co(x)O2(x = 0.05)] thin films prepared by spray pyrolysis technique is reported. While only the anatase phase was detected in as-deposited 5 at.% Co-incorporated TiO2 film, a small amount of rutile phase developed following its vacuum annealing. Besides, no X-ray diffraction peak corresponding to cobalt metal could be detected in any of the two films. SQUID magnetometry of both pristine and Co-doped thin films at room temperature elucidated distinct ferromagnetic behavior in 5 at.% Co-incorporated as-deposited film with saturation moment M(s) approximately 5.6 emu/cm3 which got enhanced up to 11.8 emu/cm3 on subsequent vacuum annealing. From the zero field cooled magnetization measurement we confirmed the absence of Co-metal clusters. The electrical resistivity was found to be greater than 108 omega-cm for the films. Based on the magnetic and electrical measurements the origin of RTFM has been attributed to the bound magnetic polaron (BMP) model.