Sensitivity improvement using optimized heater design for dual axis thermal accelerometers

This paper investigates the sensitivity improvement of an air filled cavity based thermal accelerometer. The accelerometer does not contain any solid proof mass and it is realizable in CMOS technology. The sensitivity has been improved by a new square ring shaped heater structure. The sensitivity of accelerometer performance is compared with other different heater shapes. It is found that, heater design having higher heat dissipation in the suspended beam gives higher sensitivity. The simulation is carried out using commercial FEM simulator COMSOL Multiphysics. For the peak heater temperature of 609 K, the proposed square ring shaped heater provides a sensitivity of 0.335 K/g. Under same conditions, sensitivity of an accelerometer with a meander shaped heater structure is only 0.098 K/g and diamond shaped structure is 0.229 K/g.     

Richardson extrapolation technique for singularly perturbed parabolic convection–diffusion problems

This paper deals with the study of a post-processing technique for one-dimensional singularly perturbed parabolic convection–diffusion problems exhibiting a regular boundary layer. For discretizing the time derivative, we use the classical backward-Euler method and for the spatial discretization the simple upwind scheme is used on a piecewise-uniform Shishkin mesh. We show that the use of Richardson extrapolation technique improves the ε-uniform accuracy of simple upwinding in the discrete supremum norm from O (N ⁻¹ ln N + Δt) to O (N ⁻² ln² N + Δt ²), where N is the number of mesh-intervals in the spatial direction and Δt is the step size in the temporal direction. The theoretical result is also verified computationally by applying the proposed technique on two test examples.     

A stability-based distributed routing mechanism to support unicast and multicast routing in ad hoc wireless network

An ad hoc network can be envisioned as a collection of mobile routers, each equipped with a wireless transceiver, which are free to move about arbitrarily. In ad hoc wireless networks, even if two nodes are outside the wireless transmission range of each other, they may still be able to communicate in multiple hops using other intermediate nodes. However, the dynamics of these networks, as a consequence of mobility and disconnection of mobile hosts, pose a number of problems in designing routing schemes for effective communication between any pair of source and destination. In this paper, a stability-based unicast routing mechanism, that considers both link affinity and path stability in order to find out a stable route from source to destination, is proposed. It is then extended to support multicast routing as well where only local state information (at source) is utilized for constructing a multicast tree. The performance of the proposed scheme is evaluated on a simulated environment to show that the stability-based scheme provides a unified framework for both unicast and multicast routing and reduces the probability of route error drastically in both the cases.     

High temperature creep of polyvinyl chloride

The creep behaviour of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) has been studied in the temperature range 280 to 340° F under constant stress varying from 3.4 to 22.7 p.s.i. It is shown that the steady-state creep rate is an exponential function of stress as suggested by Norton but the exponent decreases with temperature. The activation energy for creep is determined using an activated-state rate process and it is found to be a decreasing function of stress with a higher value at temperatures 320° F and above. It is shown that the time dependent strain can be represented by $$\gamma = \gamma _0 + \dot \gamma _s t + \gamma _T \left[ {1 - \exp \left( { - K\dot \gamma _s t} \right)} \right]$$ where γ ₀ is the instantaneous strain on stressing, \(\dot \gamma _s\) the secondary creep rate, γ _T transient strain, and K is a constant. Scanning electron micrograph studies of the fracture surface and the change in activation energy apparently support the probability of two different deformation mechanisms i.e., domain flow and chain segmental or molecular flow at temperatures below and above 320° F, respectively.     

Conversion of monolithic gels to glasses in a multicomponent silicate glass system

Multicomponent silicate glasses of composition (wt%) 66SiO₂-18B₂O₃-7Al₂O₃-6Na₂O-3BaO were prepared by three sol-gel processes which differed primarily in the extent of hydrolysis of the metal alkoxide precursors. Gels which were prepared from solutions in which a stoichiometric excess of water was added, causing extensive replacement of OR groups (R (C _x H(_2x+1))^s–1 by hydroxyl groups, were converted to fully dense, organic-free, monolithic glasses at temperatures near the glass transition temperature. Gels containing large numbers of OR groups showed enhanced densification at lower temperatures due to condensation reactions, but these gels could not be converted to fully dense, organic-free glasses. This investigation has shown that at least three possible densification mechanisms might be operative during the gel to glass conversion: volume relaxation, condensation reactions and viscous sintering.A US Department of Energy Facility.     

Modeling mineral phase change chemistry of groundwater in a rural-urban fringe

This research paper aims to determine the genetic origin of the chemical elements in groundwater. It deals with the results of physicochemical parameters, to evaluate the hydro-geochemistry of groundwater in rural-urban fringe of district Bareilly, India. Pre- and post-monsoon sampling has been carried out, which reveals inter-seasonal variability effect on the hydro-geochemical processes. Geochemical modeling especially computation of saturation index was undertaken using the WATEQ4F model. Majority of samples fall in the category of undersaturation, which further suggests that groundwater still has potential to dissolve more minerals. Chemical categorizations of groundwater samples were performed with the help of the Aquachem model. Grouping of groundwater on the Piper diagram reveals a common composition and origin. In most of the area, water facies is of Ca(2+)-HCO(3)(-) type in both the seasons. It also indicates that in pre-monsoon, ion exchange is the dominant process, whereas in post-monsoon, both ion exchanges as well as reverse ion exchanges are reported in the groundwater of the study area.     

Delineation of Groundwater Potential Zones in Arid Region of India—A Remote Sensing and GIS Approach

The present research is an attempt to find out the groundwater potential zones within an arid region of India supported by the scientific investigation of lithology, geomorphology, geohydrological characterization of geological formations and their interrelationship. Thematic layers of drainage, lithology, geomorphology, lineaments, slope, soil, digital elevation model, rainfall, landuse/land cover and well inventory have been generated by using ancillary data, digital satellite image, water level data of 90 observation wells for last 11?years (2000?C2010), litholog data along with ground truthing. The groundwater potential zones have been classified into five categories like very poor, poor, moderate, good and excellent. The potential zones were obtained by weighted overlay combination using the spatial analyst tool in ArcGIS 9.2. During weighted overlay analysis, the ranking was given for each individual parameter of each thematic map and weights were assigned according to their influence such as lithology (20?%), geomorphology (15?%), lineament density (15?%), drainage density (15?%), soil (10?%), slope (10?%), rainfall (5?%), land use and land cover (5?%) and digital elevation model (DEM) (5?%) and it was found that the potential zones in terms of very poor, poor, moderate, good and excellent zones covered 13.7?%, 42.8?%, 27.3?%, 10.8% and 5.4% respectively of the total area. The result also has been validated by yield data collected from existing sources and it confirms that the higher yield categories are falling within excellent groundwater potential zones where yield ranges from 23 to 40.3?l/s and lower values ranging from 8.1 to 10.6?l/s are falling within poor groundwater potential zones.     

Porous Titania Thin Films Grown by Anodic Oxidation for Hydrogen Sensors

Porous titanium dioxide (Titania) thin films were grown by anodic oxidation using high purity (99.7%) titanium foil in a dilute sulphuric acid (1 M) medium. The anodization process was carried out for 30 minutes with 20 mA/cm² and 50 mA/cm² current densities. The samples were characterized by XRD, SEM, and AFM techniques. It was found that the grown porous titania films were less sensitive to 500 ppm hydrogen in air ambient below 300°C; however, the sensitivity and response behavior of the film at 300°C are very much dependent on the growth conditions. Particularly, the films grown at current density 50 mA/cm² and 1 M acid concentration exhibited the lowest response time of 151 sec at 300°C.     

Preparation of Adrenochrome Hydrogel Patch, Gel, Ointment, and the Comparison of Their Blood Coagulating and Wound Healing Capability

The aim of this study is to make an effective blood coagulant and wound healing agent, which on its topical application on ruptured skin would help in instant coagulation of blood and ongoing healing of wound. The hydrogel has been prepared by mixing 28% w/v gelatin and 21% w/v PVA in distilled water, and heated to 40°C followed by addition of a blood coagulant at a lower temperature. Beeswax, alcohol, liquid paraffin, and adrenochrome were mixed, triturated, and heated accordingly to prepare adrenochrome ointment. Polyvinyl alcohol and glycerin were mixed and heated and the drug was added at a lower temperature, and stored at 4-5°C to form adrenochrome gel. Gelatin alone has cell adhesion property. Adrenochrome is a blood coagulant. Therefore, gelatin with adrenochrome in hydrogel has a synergistic effect in wound healing. To evaluate the efficacy of these three different formulations, incisions were made on the backs of three mice and simultaneously adrenochrome containing hydrogel patch, gel, and ointment were applied on the wound and observed at regular intervals for half an hour to examine the rate of blood coagulation and kept under observation for 2 days to study the rate of wound healing. The efficacy of all these three formulations was compared to appraise the most effective blood coagulating and wound healing agent.