021155   Goyal R;Sidhu B S;Chawla V (NO, , ) : Investigation of oxidation behaviour of plasma sprayed carbon nanotubes-alumina coated asme-SA213-T22 boiler tube steel. J Nanosci Nanoengng Applic 2017, 7(2), 10-22.

In this research work, carbon nanotubes reinforced Al2O3 coated ASME-SA213-T22 boiler tube steel was investigated for high temperature oxidation behaviour at 900i,° temperature in the air. The coatings were deposited using plasma spray technique and NiCr was used as bond coat before applying CNTs-Al2O3 coatings. The hot corrosion studies were conducted on uncoated as well as plasma spray coated specimens in air at 900° under cyclic conditions. The thermogravimetric technique was used to establish kinetics of corrosion. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive x-ray analysis (SEM/EDAX) techniques were used to analyse the corrosion products. The CNTs reinforced Alumina coatings enhance resistance to corrosion significantly.

021154   Goma Kumari K C;Rawool H M;Charabarti S (Electrical Engineering Dep, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai-400 076, Email: subhanandachakrabarti@gmail.com) : Demonstration of fabricated midwave infrared InAS/GaSb type-II superlattice-based focal plane arrays. Def Sci J 2017, 67(2), 149-53.

In this study, fabricated 320 x 256 infrared focal plane arrays (FPAs) were realised using a GaSb/InAs-based type-II superlattice heterostructure for midwave infrared (MWIR) imaging. We report here the optimized fabrication and characterization of single-pixel infrared detectors and FPAs. MWIR spectral response up to 5 μm of these single-pixel detectors was evident up to 250 K. Responsivity was measured to be 1.62 A/W at 0.8 V and 80 K. Current-voltage characteristics at room temperature (300 K) and at low temperature (18 K) revealed the resistance and dark current variation of the device in the operating bias region. Moreover, good thermal images were obtained at device temperatures up to 150 K for low-temperature targets. Low noise equivalent difference in temperature was measured to be 58 mK at 50 K and 117 mK at 120 K.

8 illus, 1 table, 11 ref

021153   Flavia Princess Nesamani I;Raveendran G; Prabha V L (ECE Dep, Karunya Univ, Coimbatore-641 114, Email: flavia@karunya.edu) : Design of triple gate for sub-threshold low power applications. Def Sci J 2017, 67(2), 169-72.

A novel design of triple gate MOSFET structure with metal gate and an underlap channel is proposed to minimise the short channel and corner effects. The gate metal used is titanium nitride as well as source and drain is diffused with titanium nitride so as to increase the drive capability of the device. To obtain subthreshold threshold voltage operation of the device, the gates are kept symmetric and the gate electrodes corner segments are rounded off to minimise leakage. The device shows significant improvement over conventional double gate FinFET and triple gate device without gate corner round off device in terms of I_on, I_off ratio, DIBL, subthreshold slope, rise time, fall time.

11 illus, 9 ref

021152   Fialho V;Fortes F;Vieira M (Faculdade de Ciencias e Tecnologia - FCT/DEE - Departamento de Engenha, Universidade Nova de Lisboa-UNL, Lisbon) : Local oscillator phase noise model for EVM estimation and optimization. IETE J Res 2017, 63(1), 45-52.

This work presents a local oscillator (LO) phase noise model and its experimental validation for carrier to phase noise ratio (CPNR) and error vector magnitude (EVM) evaluation on a radio frequency (RF) transceiver. The proposed LO model is based on a type II charge pump phase locked loop with a combined phase noise source from the voltage controlled oscillator and input reference with a low pass characteristic. The obtained results of CPNR and signal to phase noise ratio are based on numerical simulations and validated with experimental measurements based on a commercial RF transceiver chip. The EVM of the transmitted RF channel is also measured and compared with CPNR.

15 illus, 13 ref

021151   Cui F;Wu G;Ma T;Li W (School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beihang Univ, Beijing-100 191, Email: guoqingwu@buaa.edu.cn) : Effect of ceramic properties and depth-of-penetration test parameters on the ballistic performance of armour ceramics. Def Sci J 2017, 67(3), 260-8.

Through an analysis on the relationship among ceramic properties, the depth of penetration (DOP) test parameters and the ballistic performance of armour ceramics based on literatures, the effects of ceramic type, tile thickness and projectile velocity on the ballistic performance of different kinds of ceramics were investigated systematically. The results show that the ballistic performance of different armour ceramics mainly depends on its density, and by using thin ceramic tiles or under high velocity impact, the ceramic composite armour could not provide effective ballistic protection. Furthermore, the differences in the ballistic performance of armour ceramic are found due to the different ballistic performance criteria and DOP test conditions. Additionally, the slope of the depth of penetration (not include tile thickness) (P_a) versus tile thickness has negative correlation with flexural strength of ceramics, indicating the flexural strength can be one of the criteria to evaluate the performance of armour ceramics.

6 illus, 4 tables, 40 ref

021150   Chowdhury O R;Kim H g;Park J (Information and Communication Engineering Dep, Sunchon National Univ, Suncheon, Republic of Korea) : Modelling and numerical analysis of a novel wave energy converter. IETE J Res 2017, 63(1), 53-9.

This paper presents the numerical study of a new schematic for extracting marine energy through offshore wave energy harvesting and analyzes the design factors as well as environmental factors that create deviations in the energy efficiency. Though the device has some similarities to a traditional Backward Bent Duct Buoy, this invention is double-chambered and the whole power take-off set-up remains inside the device. It is a floating-type wave energy converter with a buoyancy material which can produce electric power from the movement of air inside the device from one chamber to another without interacting with the outside atmosphere which ensures device longevity and better performance of the system in rough ocean weather and normal weather alike. As the device has two chambers opposite to one another it can make efficient use of waves out of phase. The paper includes MATLAB simulated results for mechanical power obtainable from a bidirectional wind turbine inside the device.

9 illus, 2 tables, 12 ref

021149   Choudhary M K;Sharma M;Nair P (NO, , ) : Development of characterization techniques of various nanocomposites. J Nanosci Nanoengng Applic 2017, 7(2), 7-9.

Nanotechnology is basic research and development that is a phenomenon in laboratories all over the world. A nanometer (nm) is one thousand millionth of a meter. For comparison, a red blood cell is approximately 7,000 nm wide and a water molecule is almost 0.3 nm across. Nano-scale is a scale where the properties of materials can be very different from those at a larger scale. Nanoscience is a study of phenomena and manipulation of materials at atomic, molecular and macromolecular scales, where properties differ considerably from those at a larger scale. Composites made from particles of nanosize ceramics or metals smaller than 100 nm can suddenly become much stronger than predicted by existing materials. This review focuses on overview of characterization methods and their advantages for research and development perspectives.

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021148   Choudhari M N;Kittur J K (Mechanical Engineering Dep, Alpha College of Engineering, Bangalore) : "Fatigue and fracture toughness behavior of A1 2219/B₄C particulate metal matrix composites". Int J latest Technol Engng Mgmt appl Sci 2017, 6(1), 10-15.

In the present study, the fatigue and fracture toughness behavior of Al 2219/B4C - 340 - particulate metal matrix composites is investigated. The composites were fabricated by reinforcing B4C particles of 125microns with varying wt% of 2 and 4, using stir casting process. The performance of the prepared composites was compared with the alloy Al 2219 to study the improvement in fatigue and fracture toughness behavior as a result of reinforcement particles. The homogeneous dispersion of the reinforcement particles in the matrix was examined using optical microscope. The result reveals that the addition of B4C improves both fatigue strength and fracture toughness of composites over the alloy, further by increasing the wt% of B4C reinforcement in the matrix, there was a significant improvement in both the properties. As load increases there was decreasing cycles which indicates load has more effect on the fatigue strength. Overall, fatigue strength and Fracture toughness of the composites was improved to 63.97% and 33.34% respectively with respect to 4wt% B4C particles reinforcement compare to base alloy.

7 illus, 1 table, 10 ref

021147   Chitravalavan;Seyezhai R (NO, PRIST Univ, Thanjavur-613 403) : Study and analysis of switched mode DC - DC converter topologies for telecommunication system. Int J latest Technol Engng Mgmt appl Sci 2017, 6(6), 87-95.

The growing trend in power demand and efficiency requirements of modern telecommunication systems is in need of PFC converter at the front end. The presence of non-linear loads results in poor power factor. Also, there is a need to reduce the ripple present at both the input and output end of the DC to DC boost converter so as to improve the supply power factor of the system. This paper reveals a comparative study of ripple present in inductor current, output current and output voltage of three different topologies of DC-DC converters namely dc-dc boost converter, interleaved boost converter and soft switching interleaved boost converter. This paper also highlights the significance of each converter by computing the efficiency. The simulated waveforms have been demonstrated using MATLAB/SIMULINK. The performance of three different dc - dc boost converter topologies is investigated and the results are verified. The results reveal that soft switched gives a higher efficiency compared to the other topologies.

23 illus, 1 table, 15 ref

021146   Chavda R;Pande S;Verma A (NO, , ) : Design and structural analysis of ground electronic package. J Prod Res Mgmt 2017, 7(2), 8-16.

Electronic packaging (EP) is widely used for support and enclosure or housing of electronic component. This paper includes design of EP and comparisons of analytic and static structural analysis for deformation of EP. Design of EP is carried by commercial software PTC Creo Parametric 2.0. It consists of five main parts and some other additional parts and to run the analysis. The design includes mounting of electronic circuits; improving testing capability and reliability, a way for heat dissipation and reducing manufacturing cost and time. Finite element analysis (FEA) of EP has been carried out using ANSYS workbench 15.0 software. Two types of latches (Product of Southco Company Ltd.) are used in EP for easy movement of tray (EP) in cage. Mechanisms of latch are push to open and push to close. These mechanisms are used for easy visual inspection on solder side and component side. E4 latch and A4 latch are respectively plastic latch and metal latch. Force is required for latching and due to this force, package is deformed. Fixed supports that have been considered at the different faces, where bolts have been attached and loading conditions have carried by latch force. Comparison of free body analysis and software simulation has been carried out.

021145   Charan C;Pandey R (Electronics and Communication Engineering Dep, National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra-136 119, Email: chhagan.charan@nitkkr.ac.in) : Adaptive spectrum-sensing algorithm for cognitive radio networks based on the sample covariance matrix. Def Sci J 2017, 67(3), 325-31.

A novel adaptive threshold spectrum sensing technique based on the covariance matrix of received signal samples is proposed. The adaptive threshold in terms of signal to noise ratio (SNR) and spectrum utilisation ratio of primary user is derived. It considers both the probability of detection and the probability false alarm to minimise the overall decision error probability. The energy- based spectrum sensing scheme shows high vulnerability under noise uncertainty and low SNR. The existing covariance-based spectrum sensing technique overcomes the noise - 339 - uncertainty problem but its performance deteriorates under low SNR. The proposed covariance-based scheme effectively addresses the low SNR problem. The superior performance of this scheme over the existing covariance-based detection method is confirmed by the simulation results in terms of probability of detection, probability of error, and requirement of samples for reliable detection of spectrum.

6 illus, 20 ref

021144   Chandru R A;Chappa S;Bharath R S;Oommen C; Raghunandan B N (Aerospace Engineering Dep, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru-560 012, Email: arun.chandru@gmail.com) : Micro-fibre based porous composite propellants with high regression rates. Def Sci J 2017, 67(3), 240-4.

Harnessing energy at micro-scale from high energy sources has gained significance in recent times for space propulsion and other applications. Conventional solid rocket propellants have advantages in terms of being efficient, compact and safe to handle, though with much lower regression rates as compared to solid explosives. An approach to high regression rates in composite propellants is demonstrated in the present work by the enhancement of fuel-oxidiser interaction, and by the incorporation of micro-scale porosity into the propellant grain. The porous polystyrene-ammonium perchlorate grain designed in this work, based on electrospun micro-fibres and aqueous impregnation, exhibits burning rates more than 25 times as compared to the non-porous grain. Such high regression rates using insensitive propellant compositions have practical implications in the development of micro-thrusters, and in gas generating devices such as MAV launch systems and turbine starters. Detailed preparatory procedure, characterisation techniques, and flame regression studies are included in this paper.

7 illus, 1 table, 7 ref

021143   Chandrakar R;Singh A (NO, Technocrats Institute of Technology and Excellence, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh) : Replacement of cement and sand in concrete with waste marble product. Int J latest Technol Engng Mgmt appl Sci 2017, 6(6), 147-9.

Marble is also a type of building material especially for the construction in palaces and monument, which will increase the strength with the age. reported many studies in literature on the concrete performance, containing the waste marble dust powder or waste marble aggregate. It is observed in this study that the combination of marble dust and any other ingredient has higher modulus or higher compressive strength than the individual for 7dayand 28 days of curing respectively. the combination of high proportion of marble dust increases the strength.this study was based on the experimental investigation on the cement and sand both are the partially replaced in concrete, and then observed that the compressive strength, flexure and split tensile strength is increase up to a certain percentage. But if cement and sand both are replaced at same time than it is get decreased.

3 illus, 3 tables, 10 ref

021142   Bhatt N J;Kanzariya B R (Civil Engineering Dep, Government Engineering College, Rajkot-Guajrat) : Experimental investigations on pitcher irrigation: yield optimization and wetting front advancement. Int J latest Technol Engng Mgmt appl Sci 2017, 6(6), 103-8.

This study presents details about experimentation with Pitcher Irrigation (PI) for growing horticulture crops performed at village Jiva of Surendranagar district of Gujarat state (India). Representative soil sample taken from the farm was tested for soil classification in accordance with IS 2720 (Part-IV) - 1985 and IS 460- 1978. The results of irrigation water quality test and soil nutrient test suggested that the electrical conductivity (EC) of the irrigation water and the soil was very high. Optimum yield is obtained when the plants of peas (Pisam Sativum) are at a distance of 9 cms and the plants of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) are at a distance of 13 cms from the corresponding pitcher's outer wall. The size of pitchers does not significantly affect the yield. However, for maximum economic returns small pitchers having capacity of 11 litres shall be utilized. The wetting pattern was like a balloon and extended to a horizontal distance of 25 cms and to a depth of 70 cms from the ground level. The wetting front had started reducing after 120 hours and was completely gone after 9 days. In view of the observed moisture distribution under pitchers for alkaline soil with saline irrigation water some shallow rooted vegetables crops (up to 30 cm depth) such as celery, lettuce, onions, potatoes, radish, and moderately deep rooted (30-60 cm depth) vegetable crops such as broccoli, beans, cabbages, carrots, cauliflower, cucumbers, muskmelon, peppers, tomatoes, and zucchini can be grown by employing pitcher irrigation technique. The Benefit-Cost ratio from small sized pitcher irrigation was 136.82% higher than the Benefit-Cost ratio from large sized pitcher irrigation. The experimentation confirmed the fact that this indigenous method can be successfully employed even for unfavorable land and water. The cost to be incurred for adopting these methods is quite less in comparison to drip irrigation and thus can be adopted by small and medium scale farmers. The method is labor intensive. Adoption of PI at large scale requires a cistern and a pipe network for frequent filling-up of pitchers. The use of this method is more suited to small-scale irrigated agriculture. PI has no environmental impacts, is cost effective, and most importantly is also not using any electricity for its operation. Efficient water management by using this indigenous technique can offer a solution to looming water crisis world over.

5 illus, 3 tables, 14 ref

021141   Babu K V N;Edla D R (Computer Science and Engineering Dep, National Institute of Technology Goa, Ponda) : New algebraic activation function for multi-layered feed forward neural networks. IETE J Res 2017, 63(1), 71-9.

Number of attempts have been made in the past to improve the generalization performance of artificial neural networks (ANN). Internal adjustment in ANN deals with tuning of various parameters like learning rate, activation function, etc. Majority of activation functions that exist in the literature are transcendental in nature. In this paper, a novel parametric algebraic activation (PAA) function has been proposed. The function PAA is a generalized function of which Elliott activation function is a special case. PAA is a family of S-shaped curves and satisfies all the important properties of activation functions. This activation is employed on resilient propagation algorithm (RPROP) learning - 337 - algorithm. Comparative performance evaluation with the widely known activation functions has been carried out on various benchmark datasets taken from University of California Irvine (UCI) machine learning repository. Comparative performance evaluation in terms of number of epochs and testing error of the proposed PAA has been made with the standard activation functions. It has been observed that decrease in number of epochs and testing error for the proposed PAA in RPROP is highly statistically significant for most of the UCI datasets when compared with standard activation functions. Thus incorporating PAA in RPROP can make it more powerful for classification.

4 illus, 5 tables, 36 ref

021140   Babu K V;Madhusudan V;Ganesh V (EEE Dep, JNTUA, Ananthapuramu) : TSS based composite power system reliability evaluation considering demand response. Int J latest Technol Engng Mgmt appl Sci 2017, 6(6), 150-4.

Electrical Power Systems are large & complex systems in the world. Reliability is inherent characteristic of power system that describes the ability to perform an intended objective. By properly investing on planning and operational stages the likelihood of customer interruptions can be reduced. With the increased interconnections and ever growing demand for electricity reliability assessment of large electrical systems is gaining attention in the recent times. This paper proposes Truncated State Space (TSS) based reliability evaluation by considering demand response. In Reliability assessment, large numbers of system states have to be evaluated for computation of indices which is computationally cumbersome. To overcome this, state space can be condensed by eliminating the states with insignificant probabilities. The state space is further reduced by considering demand response characteristics. Reliability indices like ELC, EENS are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. With the combination of demand response characteristics and TSS the reliability of the system is significantly improved. Reliability test systems like RBTS-6 bus system and IEEE-24 bus reliability test systems are used to implement the proposed method.

6 illus, 3 tables, 12 ref

021139   Ashok Kumar M;Anusha N P;Sharan A (Physics Dep, Pondicherry Univ, Puducherry-605 014, Email: 85asho@gmail.com) : FDTD modelling of 1D photonic crystal for thermal masking application with CPML absorbing boundary condition. Def Sci J 2017, 67(2), 224-9.

Periodic structures of double positive and double negative metamaterial of thickness of λ/4 is designed to stop long-wave infrared and mid-wave infrared frequencies for masking from infrared detection devices. Band-gaps are obtained by calculating reflection and transmission coefficients at probe point close to the front and back - 336 - faces of the periodic structure. 1D- finite difference time domain method is implemented in Matlab to study the electromagnetic wave propagation which is incident normal to a periodic stack of double positive and double negative metamaterial of having refractive indices of 9 and -6 respectively, at centre wavelength. Drude model is adapted to model double negative medium. Band-gap obtained are compared with the conventional photonic crystal by replacing the double negative medium with a double positive medium with the magnitude of refractive index same as that of double negative medium. Band-gap obtained confirms the presence of Zero-n band-gap in DPS-DNG photonic crystal which is wider than the reflection band in conventional photonic crystal; nearly twice in mid-wave infrared region and five times in long-wave infrared region. A novel and highly efficient convolutional perfectly matched layer absorbing boundary condition is used to terminate the infinite computational finite difference time domain lattices.

6 illus, 2 tables, 25 ref

021138   Anubham S K;Junjuri R;Myakalwar A K;Gundawar M K (Advanced Centre of Research in High Energy Materials, Hyderabad Univ, Hyderabad-500 046, Email: manoj@uohyd.ac.in) : Approach to reduce the sample consumption of LIBS based identification of explosive materials. Def Sci J 2017, 67(3), 254-9.

An experimental design based on spectral construction, which has potential to minimise the sample consumption, the number of laser shots and time required to collect the data from laser induced breakdown spectroscopy for identification of the explosive materials is reported in the study. This approach is an ideal solution in the field of hazardous material detection, where the availability of the sample can be a serious limiting factor. The experimental data recorded on a set of five high energy materials has been considered to test the performance of the proposed methodology. Multiple spectra are constructed by assuming a normal distribution at each wavelength of the spectrum, where random numbers are generated using the mean and standard deviations obtained from arbitrarily chosen five experimental spectra from each class. The newly generated spectra are called as synthetic spectra. The correct classification obtained from - K - nearest neighbour combined with principal component analysis and partial least square - discriminant analysis demonstrated very promising results. The correct classification rates differed by only 4 per cent - 7 per cent as compared to conventional approach where experimental spectra alone are considered for the analysis. Further, when RDX is excluded, the obtained results are almost identical with conventional approach.

4 illus, 1 table, 37 ref

021137   Anand J;Perinbam J R P;Meganathan D (ECE Dep, KCG College of Technology, Anna Univ Chennai, Chennai) : Q-learning-based optimized routing in biomedical wireless sensor networks. IETE J Res 2017, 63(1), 89-97.

The information regarding any abnormal behaviour in the physiological parameters of a patient should reach the remote healthcare personal immediately in real time, so as to take - 335 - corrective action promptly and save the life. Biomedical wireless sensor network (BWSN) plays a vital role in this connection because it can be attached to the patient without causing any inconvenience to him/her and can communicate to any remote healthcare office without any delay. BWSN consists of individual nodes to collect the patient's information and communicate it to the remote health centre if the value of sensed signal is beyond normal range. The nodes deployed within the patients form a BWSN, and the network has to send the information from the source to the remote sink in an efficient way. The network should choose an optimized path for this communication, so that the node's lifetime is increased. This paper presents a Q-learning-algorithm-based routing concept to route the sensed information if required from the individual node to the remote healthcare station. Simulations are made with a set of mobile biomedical wireless sensor nodes within an area of 100 m x 100 m flat space operating for 600 seconds of simulation time. Results show that the Q-learning-based approach requires less time to route the packet from the source node to the destination remote station.

7 illus, 1 table, 33 ref

021136   Altaf E;Ajay Kumar (NO, Instrument Research and Development Establishment, Dehradun-248 008, Email: eyneenaltay@irde.drdo.in) : Design and development of compact hand held target acquisition device. Def Sci J 2017, 67(2), 154-8.

A compact, lightweight hand held target acquisition device, comprising of an infra red imager, colour CCD camera, eye safe laser range finder, global positioning system and digital magnetic compass has been developed. The aim was to develop a compact, lightweight, modular and man-portable multi function electro-optical system with a recognition range of 1 km for vehicles and 500 m for human movement enabling day and night time surveillance, target ranging capability, ability to generate coordinates of the operator and estimation of target coordinates. Hand Held target acquisition device operates on 12 V DC, has integrated signal processing for all the sensors and display electronics with a weight of 3 kg. Overview of the system, design methodology, performance modeling, range simulation of both the IR imager and colour CCD camera and field results have been presented.

6 illus, 5 tables, 12 ref

021135   Alad R H;Chakrabarty S (Faculty of Technology, Electronics & Communication Dep, Dharmsinh Desai Univ, Nadiad) : Computation of capacitance matrix of orbiting spacecraft bodies. IETE J Res 2017, 63(1), 3-10.

This paper presents the method of moments (MoM)-based analysis for the computation of capacitance matrix and charge distribution of a three-dimensional spacecraft body. The integral equations which are formed by relating the unknown charge density on the satellite body represented by metallic cuboid and solar panel consisting of two rectangular plates to the potential on the surface of these bodies are solved using MoM. In order to apply the MoM, the surfaces of the metallic bodies are discretized using non-uniform triangular subsections. The numerical data on the capacitance and charge distribution of this structure are presented. The validity of this analysis has been established by comparing the data on capacitance available in the literature for metallic cuboid with metallic plates with the data on capacitance computed by the present method for similar structures.

6 illus, 3 tables, 16 ref

021134   Al-Mosawi A I (NO, , ) : Technological procedure for recycling of pet waste to achieve the sustainable environment concept. J Nanosci Nanoengng Applic 2017, 7(2), 29-34.

In this research, polyethylene terephthalate bottles (PET) waste were added to styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) to manufacture road bumps, as a technological procedure for recycling this waste In order to maintain a clean and sustainable environment. Polyethylene terephthalate bottles were cut as grooved strips and - 334 - added to bump SBR batch with various percentages (0-100 pphr). Mechanical tests were performed before and after the addition of PET waste includes: tensile strength, hardness, and resilience. Nanoparticles of carbon black, zinc oxide and sulfur were used, and compare the results with samples with micro particles additions. The result shows that the developed and manufactured bump SBR in this research conforms to the mechanical characteristics of the original bump model especially with nanoparticles additives, and the best results obtained with the nanoparticles additions.

021133   Akcal M U;Ure N K (Aeronautics and Astronautics Dep, Istanbul Technical Univ, Istanbul, Turkey, Email: akcalm@itu.edu.tr) : Predictive missile guidance with online trajectory learning. Def Sci J 2017, 67(3), 332-8.

This study presents a predictive guidance scheme for tactical missiles. The modern day targets, with improved manoeuverability, have revealed insufficient performance of the conventional guidance laws. The underlying cause of this poor performance is the reactive nature of the conventional guidance laws such as proportional navigation (PN) and pure pursuit (PP). Predictive guidance offers an alternative approach to the classical methods by taking proactive actions by estimating target's future trajectory. However, most of the existing predictive guidance approaches assume that the interceptor have a model of the target dynamics. A guidance strategy is developed in this study, that can learn the target dynamics iteratively and adapt the interceptor actions accordingly. A recursive least squares (RLS) estimation algorithm is employed for learning and estimating the possible future target positions, and a fixed horizon nonlinear program is employed for selecting the optimal interception action. Monte-Carlo simulations show that the guidance algorithm introduced in this work demonstrates a significantly improved performance compared to the alternatives in terms of interception time and miss distance.

6 illus, 3 tables, 20 ref

021132   Aggarwal V;Goyal A (Research Dep, Innovation and Consultancy, I.K Gujral Punjab Technical Univ, Kapurthala, Punjab-144 603) : Performance analysis of paper packing system using markov modelling. Int J latest Technol Engng Mgmt appl Sci 2017, 6(6), 207-12.

Paper finishing system is a subsystem of paper manufacturing plant. The system consists of rewinders, cutters and packing unit, arranged in series parallel combination. The system is analysed for its full availability and reduced availability. A mathematical model based on Markov death birth process is formulated for analysis. The failure and repair rates of the various components of the system are taken as constant. Probability considerations at various stages of the system give differential equations, which are solved using Laplace Transform to obtain the state probabilities. Results show that availability of the system improves with increase in repair rates whereas decreases with increase in failure rates. The analysis would certainly be beneficial for the management to design and decide future strategy of production.

10 illus, 1 table, 10 ref

021131   Abhilash S S;Thottackkad M V (Mechanical Engg Dep, Sree Chitra Thirunal College of Engineering, Trivandrum) : Trajectory planning of a one degree of freedom assistive robotic knee. Int J latest Technol Engng Mgmt appl Sci 2017, 6(1), 1-5.

The invention of Hybrid Assistive (HAL) Limb was chosen as one of the important inventions for the mankind. Hybrid Assistive Limb is mainly of two types. HAL controlled by bio electrical signals sensed from the human body and HAL operated by external microcontroller based electrical devices. This thesis mainly concentrates for the development of the latter. These types of devices possess operating easiness and assistance to physically handicapped people. These devices are less complex in operation and cheaper than the former. The use of passive devices may cause inconveniences in daily routines and difficulties in mobility for the user. Current robotics orthotic devices have advantages over passive devices because it is capable of aiding the knee and reducing the knee stress without affecting the mobility of the user. The objective of this work is to study and develop a portable active orthotic device that can be used for rehabilitative purposes. The 3D model of the proposed assistive mechanism has been created. This structure is - 333 - then analysed. Trajectory planning of the knee joint by considering human walking pattern is also done. The position velocity and acceleration of the joint with respect to time has been plotted using MATLAB and the results obtained are discussed.

5 illus, 1 table, 13 ref

020057   Wang K;Ling J;Nie J;Yu Q (School of Materials Science and Engineering, Changzhou Univ, Changzhou, 213164, P.R. China, Email: kemin-wang@hotmail.com) : Synthesis and characterization of comb-type multifunctional macromonomer as alternative monomers for light-cured unfilled dental resins. J Polym Mater 2016, 33(2), 379-92.

A comb-type multifunctional macromonomer G10 has been synthesized and characterized to replace triethylene glycol dimethylacrylate (TEGDMA) as a new type macromonomer in 2,2-bis(4-(2-hydroxy- 3-methacryloxypropoxy) phenyl)-propane (Bis-GMA) dental resin system. Photopolymerization kinetics of the dental resin system were monitored by real-time IR (RTIR). The volume shrinkage of - 307 - photopolymerized samples was determined. The mechanical properties of cured samples were recorded by dynamic mechanical analyzer (DMA) and universal testing machine. Simultaneously, the water sorption and solubility of cured samples were detected according to ISO 4049 standards. The cells adhesion properties and cytotoxicity of dental resin system were determined. Results showed that G10 led to the increase of both the double bond conversion and the rate of polymerization. The system demonstrated lower shrinkage when TEGDMA was partially or totally replaced by G10. With the increase of G10 content, the tensile strength were Young's modulus and improved, but elongation at break of the formulation was decreased. Dynamic mechanical analysis indicated that the glass transition temperature of all experimental resins were almost identical, and the modulus and heterogeneity degree of Crosslinked network of Bis-GMA /TEGDMA /G10 (70/30/0 wt%) system greater. The values of water sorption and solubility were decreased as the increase of G10 content. The cells adhesion properties of the surface in dental resin system were good with the G10 content increased, when the comb-type multifunctional macromonomer G10 totally replace TEGDMA, the system of Bis-GMA /TEGDMA /G10 (70/30/0 wt%) was nontoxic. The obtained results clearly suggested that the comb-type multifunctional macromonomer G10 could as a new type macromonomer for dental composite.

7 illus, 2 tables, 36 ref

020056   Vinod Kumar (NO, Steel Authority of India Limited, Ranchi-834 002, Email: vkumar@sail-rdcis.com) : Thermo-mechanical simulation using gleeble system-advantages and limitations. J Metall Mater Sci 2016, 58(2), 81-8.

Thermo-mechanical simulation studies using Gleeble System have found extensive application in almost all spheres of metal processing industries including process optimization, development of new alloys, quality/yield improvement and material characterization, etc. Physical simulation unlike numerical simulation being very close to the real world process can be very helpful in near exact reproduction of the process and in turn better results if carried out carefully. However, it has certain limitations too which must be clearly understood before planning for a study. Therefoere, such studies need to be carried out with precaution to achieve desired results. Otherwise, the simulated results may not find appreciation with actual processing. These limitations can be machine specific or understanding specific. For example, thermal gradient along length is advantageous for HAZ or continuous casting simulation but it limits the scope for hot tensile test due to low uniform temperature zone across gauge length. Similarly, most of the research papers published on hot compression to understand the hot workability or development of processing map are based on on-heating experiments involving heating the material to deformation temperature followed by deformation at different strain rate and temperature. The results generated are sometime used to optimize an industrial process which involves different thermal cycle of reheating the material to high temperature, soaking followed by cooling to deformation temperature and are unable to produce desired results.

020055   Vijayakumar K;Srinivasan K V (NO, National Design and Research Forum The Institution of Engineers (India, Queens Road Opp. Indian Express, Bangalore-560 001, Email: nk.aero@gmail.com) : Unsteady low-reynolds number aerodynamic analysis for flapping wing mav executing A 3D motion. J Aerospace Sci Technol 2017, 69(3), .

There is an emerging interest in the field of Nano Aerial Vehicles (NAV) especially of smaller size. These types of vehicles originally developed from the concept of insects, hummingbirds, flying beetles and bats fights. The main objective of this research work is trying to execute a 3D motion (figure of eight) to estimate lift and drag for 3D flapping wing and analysed with the help of computational fluid dynamics, which is related to grid deformation, finite volume method, dynamic mesh and User Defined Function (UDF)for the geometric model with 200mm wing span and 70mm chord. The numerical simulation was carried out at a free stream velocity of 5 m/s. A comprehensive research was carried out to estimate the lift and drag under this condition. The 3D motion helps in better prediction of aerodynamic lift as close to nature and this study is a pointer towards the swarm operations

8 illus, 12 ref

020054   Verma H K;Samadhiya N K;Singh M;Prasad V V R; Goel R K (NO, CSIR-CIMFR Regional Centre, Roorkee, Email: drharsh77@gmail.com) : Investigations of rock mass damage induced by blasting in tunnelling. J Rock Mech Tunnelling Technol 2016, 22(1), 49-61.

Drilling and blasting is preferred method of rock excavation world-wide due to low initial investment, cheap explosive energy, easy acceptability among the blasting engineers, possibility to deal with different shapes and sizes of openings. Although, drill and blast method has witnessed significant technological advancements, it has inherent disadvantage of deteriorating surrounding rock mass due to development of network of fine cracks in it leading to safety and stability problems. The damage in the peripheral rock mass culminates in the form of overbreak and damaged zone. Overbreak increases project cost by more than 15%. The damaged zone extends beyond overbreak. Although significant efforts have been made to assess damage to the surrounding rock mass using different methods, easier solution based on easily available site parameters is still lacking. Authors have carried out field investigations at five different tunnels located in Himalaya, India to formulate an empirical correlation for prediction of blast induced damage for wide range of rock mass quality Q values (0.04 - 17.8). The proposed correlation is based on specific charge, perimeter charge factor, maximum charge per delay, advancement and confinement factor and rock mass quality rating Q. All the parameters used in empirical correlations are readily available to the site engineers and does not require laboratory testing. Data sets of 113 experimental blasts are collected from the five tunnel sites. The proposed empirical correlation has been validated using ultrasonic tests on rock core samples obtained from one of the experimental location.

7 illus, 1 table, 25 ref

020053   Verma A;Mitra S;Saha S K (NO, Irrigation Research Institute, Roorkee, Email: shankarkumar.saha@yahoo.in) : Tunnelling through river borne material by pre-excavation grouting technique- a case study. J Rock Mech Tunnelling Technol 2016, 22(2), 125-32.

The river borne material (RBM) zone consists of very loose strata where seepage of water is found to - 305 - be appreciable in comparison to other types of relatively massive rock strata. Under this condition, the tunnel excavation is not possible by conventional method either by full face drilling & blasting or by heading and bench method with fore-poling or multiple drift methods. These method of tunnelling are time consuming and also uneconomical in this type of strata. Moreover, the possibility of undermining is always there. To overcome these problems and for safer and faster tunnel excavation, pre-excavation grouting method with cement based grouts & chemical grouts (Colloidal silica, polyurethane, epoxy resins, etc.) has proved to be a very effective solution. In this method, the boreholes are suitably drilled from the tunnel excavation face into the virgin rock just in front of the face and the grouts (cementitious and/or chemical materials) are pumped-in and allowed to set. After required setting, excavation of tunnel is started through the injected and sealed rock volume. The excavation of head race tunnel (HRT) beneath the RBM zone of Dhanari Gad in Maneri Bhali Hydroelectric Project Stage-II, located in lower Himalayan region (Uttarakhand, India), has been successfully carried out with the help of pre-excavation grouting technique in comparatively lesser time.

5 illus, 2 tables, 12 ref

020052   Sitaram N;Venkatesh Babu M (NO, School of Aeronautical Sciences Hindustan Institute of Technology and, Rajiv Gandhi Salai (OMR), Padur Kelambakkam (Via), Chennai-603 103, Email: nsitaram.iitm@gmail.com) : Design, fabrication, calibration and validation of a nine hole probe for measurement of flow with large angles. J Aerospace Sci Technol 2017, 69(3), 380-7.

The design and fabrication details of a nine hole pressure probe for measurement of flow with large angles are presented. The probe is calibrated at a velocity of 40 m/s in a yaw range of ±90° and a pitch range of-70° to 90° at intervals of 10°. The calibration space is divided into 9 zones, in each of which pressure from one of the nine holes is maximum. Calibration coefficients based on the pressures from this hole and other holes around this hole are defined in each of these zones. Additional data acquired during the calibration are used to validate the data reduction method. The errors in total and static pressures and flow velocity and angles are found to be small.

9 illus, 3 tables, 8 ref

020051   Singh R;Sarwade D V (NO, Central Soil and Material Research Station, New Delhi, Email: rajbal.singh@nic.in) : Evaluation of shear strength parameters in jointed rock mass. J Rock Mech Tunnelling Technol 2016, 22(1), 21-36.

This paper deals with a unique experience in interpretation of shear strength parameters of jointed rock mass determined by the results of sixteen in situ shear tests conducted in left and right bank drifts of proposed bridge abutments. The main rock type found in the area was blocky dolomitic limestone. The shear strength parameters were determined by conducting in situ shear tests for rock to rock interface. The shear strength parameters i.e., values of cohesion (c) and friction angle (φ) were interpreted from eleven blocks at left abutment and five blocks at right abutment. The shear strength parameters of rock mass were further evaluated by using data of all sixteen blocks from both abutments. As the rock mass was jointed and fractured with few shear zones, the shear strength parameters were evaluated only for residual values because the peak values could not be differentiated, which was clear from the shear stress versus shear displacement curves of all sixteen blocks. Because of variations in the shear strength parameters, it was recommended to utilise data of eleven blocks for analysis from both the abutments at the exact locations of bridge.

13 illus, 3 tables, 10 ref

020050   Shashikala A R;Sridhar B S (NO, R.L. Jalappa Institute of Technology, Doddaballapur, Bangalore-561 203, Email: saarudi@yahoo.com) : Corrosion studies of electroless chromium based coatings. J Metall Mater Sci 2016, 58(1), 19-24.

Chromium-Phosphorous and Nickel-Chromium-Phosphorous coatings were developed by electroless process, using different complexing agents. The action of these complexing agents was synergistic in nature, - 304 - giving good quality coating. The corrosion resistance of the coatings was evaluated by galvanostatic polarization, impedance and salt spray tests. The coatings offered good corrosion resistance in acidic medium. Microhardness of the Chromium-Phosphorous and Nickel-Chromium-Phosphorous coatings was measured and it is found that incorporation of nickel improved hardness as well as corrosion resistance.

020049   Sharma K K (NO, , Rohtang Tunnel, Border Roads Organisation, Manali, Email: kksharma18.iitd@gmail.com) : Roof collapse in rohtang tunnel during construction. J Rock Mech Tunnelling Technol 2016, 22(1), 11-20.

Collapse in tunnels during construction in Himalayan region may occur due to various reasons. High overburden over tunnel causes increase in rock load. High overburden in weak rock mass creates squeezing ground condition while that in hard/brittle rock may cause rock burst problem. Stress flow along foliation under high overburden and deep seated slope movement may also give rise to high deformation in a particular direction in tunnel. In North portal drive of Rohtang tunnel, alternate layers of migmatite and mica schist are being encountered. Mountain is very steep and overburden rises upto 1.9 km. High deformations are being observed in crown area of the tunnel. Problems being faced in North portal drive include bending of lattice girders, cracks in shotcrete layer, fall of shotcrete/rock block etc. In October 2013, a stretch of crown area of approximately 50 m in length suddenly collapsed. Overburden in this area was approximately 1200 m. It took almost two months to repair the collapsed area. To counter the problems and prevent such occurrence in future; a thick layer of shotcrete, longer rock bolts, regular repairing of cracked shotcrete layers and daily 3D deformation monitoring are being followed.

13 illus, 2 tables, 6 ref

020048   Shaikh A A;Kashyap B P;Chauthai A (Kalyani Centre for Technology and Innovation, Bharat Forge Ltd., Pune-411 036, Email: afroz.shaikh@bharatforge.com) : Identification of favorable hot working condition for Ti-6 Al-4V. J Metall Mater Sci 2016, 58(1), 9-18.

The hot working performance of Ti-6Al-4V alloy is sensitive to its process parameters and initial microstructure. It has a very narrow range of process parameters. Therefore, to identify favorable hot working conditions, hot compression tests in the temperature range of 700-1000° and strain rate range of 0.1-100 s^-1 were conducted on Gleeble 3500 thermo-mechanical simulator. The experimental results show that deformation temperature and strain rate have significant effect on the flow stresses. Flow stress increases with increase in strain rate and decrease in deformation temperature. The stress-strain curves, generated by compression test, show three types of behavior: flow hardening, flow softening and steady state flow. The activation energy for deformation was determined to be 484 kJ/mol which is much higher than that for self-diffusion in α-Ti and β-Ti (150 kJ/mol). Using Dynamic Materials Modelling (DMM) principle, the favorable condition for hot working of Ti-6Al-4V alloy has been established. Furthermore, optimum condition among favorable conditions has also been established. The same has been validated with the help of microstructural analysis.

020047   Sarwar H I M A;Khan S;Chandel E T A (NO, , ) : Infrared polymer solar cell. J Nanosci Nanoengng Applic 2017, 7(1), 12-14.

Nanotechnology is the designing of practical frameworks at the sub-atomic scale. This spreads both current work and ideas that are more advanced. In its unique sense, "nanotechnology" alludes to the anticipated capacity to build thing from the base up, utilizing strategies and instruments being created today make it finish superior items. The polymer is a vast particle, or macromolecule. In view of their expansive scope of properties, both manufactured and characteristic polymers play a fundamental and omnipresent part in regular day to day existence. The polymer materials use nanotechnology and contain the first solar cell able to harness the sun's invisible, infrared rays. Solar cell plays an important role in today's world. It is a renewable source of energy. It is much more efficient than conventional solar cells. In this paper, by the use of nanotechnology we implemented the infrared polymer solar cell having more advantages over conventional solar - 303 - cells.

020046   Sajwan G;Rukhaiyar S;Singh M (Civil Engineering Dep, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, Email: singhfce@iitr.ac.in) : Polyaxial compressive strength of concrete cubes representing rock. J Rock Mech Tunnelling Technol 2016, 22(2), 81-98.

The deep underground structures and deeply buried facilities in rocks are subjected to high confining pressure and failure takes place under the influence of multiaxial state of stress. The compressive strength obtained from conventional rock triaxial testing cannot predict the actual strength behaviour when the rock is under polyaxial state of stress. A solution based on the polyaxial state of stress conditions is very much required. The present study is an attempt toward understanding strength behaviour of rocks under polyaxial stress condition. Polyaxial compressive strength of concrete cube representing rock specimen (hereinafter referred as model rock) was determined by conducting tests in polyaxial rock testing machine. Concrete of M20 grade was used to represent model of rock material. The rock specimens having dimensions of 100mm x 100mm x 100mm were loaded to failure under various combinations of intermediate and minor principal stresses. The minor principal stress, σ₃ was varied from 2.5 to 10 MPa and the intermediate principal stress, 02 varied from 2.5 to 30 MPa. The major principal stress, σ₁ was increased at a rate of IMPa/min until failure occurred. It is observed that the intermediate principal stress has substantial effect on strength of such modelled rock. Applicability of various polyaxial strength criteria in vogue has been assessed by comparing error in prediction of polyaxial strength. It was observed that the least error in prediction was shown by modified Mohr-Coulomb criterion followed by modified Weibols and Cook criterion.

9 illus, 7 tables, 27 ref

020045   Sahoo G;Vinod Kumar;Singh B;Saxena A (NO, R&D Centre for Iron & Steel, SAIL, Ranchi, Jharkhand-834 002) : Hot ductility study on high P and Cu containing low alloy steel. J Metall Mater Sci 2016, 58(3), 153-8.

Six numbers of laboratory heats of 25 kg each were made using a high frequency induction melting furnace. Various elements, viz, Ni, Cu, P and Si in the range of 0.01-2.0%, 0.22-0.47%, 0.12-0.19% and 0.40-0.86%, respectively were added during melting of the steels. Carbon and sulphur contents were kept at low levels, i.e., 0.05-0.087% and 0.005-0.01%, respectively. Hot tensile tests were carried out using Gleeble-350° simulator, which - 302 - revealed reduction in area in excess of 70% at all deformation temperatures and at slow strain rate (0.005/s) testing conditions for all the experimental steels excluding low Si (0.40%) containing steels. The lower hot ductility (RA value <60>30%) of these steels resulted in brittle failure at 850°, which corresponds to the temperature experienced during straightening operation of continuous casting. On the other hand, hot ductility of low Si containing steels was significantly increased (RAvalues greater than 70%) at higher strain rate (6.5/s).

020044   Reddy A V S;Karunanidhi S;Padhi R;Reddy D N (NO, Directorate of Control Systems Laboratory Research Centre Imarat, DRDO, Hyderabad-500 069, Email: sudhakar.reddy@rcilab.in) : Flow field simulation tool of solid propulsion control systems for missile applications. J Aerospace Sci Technol 2017, 69(3), 345-60.

In order to achieve hit-to-kill miss distances against manoeuvrable ballistic missile targets, future generation missiles calls for fast response non-conventional propulsion control systems during terminal homing period in high-endo to exo-atmosphere regions augmenting aero control. Based on advances in thrust modulation controlling throat area in solid propulsion pintle motor, control systems are developed for missile Divert and Attitude Control Systems (DACS) applications using multiple nozzles in pitch/yaw directions connected to common gas generator. Control thrust vector for lateral and attitude corrections is generated with proportional distribution of total thrust in pitch/yaw directions through real time thrust modulation of pintle nozzles. Towards development of propulsion control systems based on solid propulsion, prototype systems: Thrust Controlled Motor (TCM) and Divert Thruster Flight Propulsion Control System (DTFPCS) are developed to demonstrate thrust modulation/ control thrust vector generation in solid propulsion and finalize unified controller for various missile control applications. Design & development process of prototype systems calls for flow field simulation tool for parametric design analysis/optimization and generate performance maps/Control parameters based on detailed flow distributions. Present paper presents flow field simulation tools with Steady Flow Field (SFF) model and Dynamic Flow Field (DFF) model integrating dynamics of pintle movement with steady flow solver. Parametric analysis of geometrical profiles of pintle/throat regions and effect of pintle speed on system response are presented for system design optimization. Performance maps and controller maps of prototype systems are generated based onflow field distributions for nozzle thrust modulation. Simulated results are compared with open loop hot tests and unified controller parameters are updated for control thrust vector generation. Finally flow field distributions of DTFPCS operating modes: neutral-thrust and lateral-thrust are presented demonstrating the utility of simulation tool in design analysis and system development. Present simulation tool is critical in system design optimization and unified controller development for various flight control applications with minimum number of developmental tests. Further work of integrating propellant grain geometry variation during motor hot tests, with flow field model is in progress to predict control system performance for various missile control applications.

30 illus, 1 table, 29 ref

020043   Rao G V;Priya B N S;Rao R S;Harika N (Civil Engineering Dep, GMR Institute of Technology, Rajam-532 127) : Study of infiltration rate with various concentrations of soil properties in Srikakulam coastal belt, A.P.. Indian J envir Prot 2016, 36(8), 657-62.

Infiltration rate is the volume flux of water flowing into the profile per unit of soil surface area when the soil is subjected to a shallow depth of ponding at the surface or when the water supply is not limiting. Infiltration rate is generally expressed in cm/hr. The term infiltration capacity is frequently used in hydrology to refer to infiltration rate. It is generally observed that under continued ponding, infiltration rate is high at the beginning, decreases rapidly and then more slowly until it approaches a constant rate asymptotically. Infiltration rate affects many aspects of hydrology and agriculture including runoff and water content of the soil and is related to evapotranspiration. In the present work, the Srikakulam district is selected as our study area. In order to obtain a solution for this problem the infiltration capacity of the area is found by conducting experiment at identified points and the variation of the infiltration capacity with respect to various parameters is studied. Graphs are plotted showing fluctuations in maximum and minimum infiltration at each point with the water content, density, plasticity index and the conclusions drawn. The maximum rate of infiltration is varying significantly with the water content. The maximum rate of infiltration and minimum rate of infiltration are not found to follow a particular trend with respect to density. The maximum rate of infiltration is varying significantly with the plasticity index where as the minimum rate of infiltration is not varying significantly.

7 illus, 1 table, 10 ref

020042   Quddus A S (NO, , ) : Nano-engineered materials for solar PV panels. J Nanosci Nanoengng Applic 2017, 7(1), 20-6.

A photovoltaic framework, additionally called Solar PV control framework, or PV framework, is a power framework intended to supply usable solar based power by method for photovoltaic. It comprises of a course of action of a few parts, including solar panels to retain and change over sunlight into power, a sun oriented inverter to change the electric current from DC to AC, and in addition mounting, cabling and other electrical accomplices to set up a working framework. It might likewise utilize a sun oriented following framework to enhance the framework's general execution and incorporate a coordinated battery arrangement, as costs for capacity gadgets are reducing. Entirely, a solar based cluster just envelops the troupe of sun oriented boards, the noticeable piece of the PV framework, and does exclude the various equipment, regularly compressed as adjust of framework (BOS).

020041   Prabha B;Ramesh D;Kamaraj S (Bioenergy Dep, Agricultural Engineering College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu A, Coimbatore-641 003, Email: prabha_026@yahoo.co.in) : Pyrolytic conversion of waste plastic carry bags into plastic crude oil. J appl nat Sci 2017, 9(4), 2101-4.

The utilization of plastic carry bags in our modern life is increasing every year and also increasing pressure on safe disposal of these bags. Worldwide the disposal of these kinds of plastic wastes is becoming serious issue due to their non-degradable nature. The main aim of this study is to exploit the potential of waste plastic carry bags for the production of plastic crude oil by using non-electric pyrolytic unit. The heat required for pyrolysis process supplied from biomass gas stove and coconut shell used as combustible fuel. To optimize the heating conditions for higher - 300 - plastic crude oil recovery, different quantities of coconut shell were utilized and the maximum recovery of plastic crude oil was recorded. The yield of crude oil ranged from 34.5 to 40.7 per cent for the reaction temperature ranged from 457 to 517 °C. For 4 kg fuel supplied as heating source, the crude oil recovered was 40.7 per cent at a reaction temperature of 486 °C and residence time of 58 min. The calorific value of the waste plastic carry bags and plastic crude oil was found to be 34.4 and 38.6 MJ/kg, respectively.

4 illus, 1 table, 17 ref

020040   Pathak P;Karani A;Shome M (NO, Research and Development, Tata Steel, Jamshedpur, Email: prashant.pathak@tatasteel.com ) : Development of HSLA steel with high temperature tensile properties. J Metall Mater Sci 2016, 58(2), 57-64.

The fire safety of high rise buildings, airport structures, stadium and auditorium has become a prime importance to ensure the safety of human life and demands for the development of fire resistant steel. Steel is generally defined as fire-resistant if yield ratio for the steel is in excess of 0.5 at 600° for a holding time of one hour. The Yield ratio of fire resistant steel is defined as the ratio between yield strength at a specified elevated temperature to that at room temperature and is usually specified to be greater than 0.5 for less critical applications and greater than 0.6 at 600° for the critical applications. Recent developments of fire resistant steels indicate the use of higher amounts of alloying elements primarily Mo that leads to increase in the cost of steel. Therefore the present work was intended to design a low cost leaner chemistry based Fire resistant steel that can be easily processed through hot strip route. The steel was targeted to achieve minimum of 350 MPa room temperature YS in addition to the fire resistant properties. The present work entails to Mo-V-Cr micro alloyed steel. The designed steels were characterized at room temperature and high temperature over a range of 450-600° The high temperature properties of steel were evaluated using hot tensile facility in Gleeble 1500. It was found that the steels exhibited yield ratio in excess of 0.5, which met the desired target. This ratio was found to be higher than the equivalent plain carbon steel that has the ratio below 0.3 at 600°. Fire resistance property of steel was attributed to the solute drag effect and the development of long range internal strain due to presence of coherent/semi-coherent precipitates of the micro alloying elements.

020039   Pandya A;Singh J K (NO, Indira Gandhi National Center for Arts, Janpath, New Delhi) : Transformation of chloride contaminated unstable rusts on weathering and plain carbon steels into stable forms by treatment with extact of fruit juice of indian gooseberry (amla). J Metall Mater Sci 2016, 58(1), 47-52.

Fruit juice of Indian gooseberry (Sanskrit name: Amla) is found to transform unstable rusts formed on plain carbon steel into stable phases and improve its resistance to corrosion. The results indicate that the extract of the fruit has deteriorating effect on corrosion resistance of rust of weathering steel. - 299 - Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and cyclic polarization tests are performed to assess the resistance to corrosion. XRD studies have been conducted to identify the rust phases before and after treatment of rust. The untreated rusts generated in salt spray chamber have strong phases of akaganeite and lepidocricite which on treatment with fruit extract of Amla transformed in to stabler phases of magnetite and goethite. The untreated rusts changed from red brown to black colour after its treatment with Indian gooseberry.

020038   Ozkahraman B;Acar I;Guclu G (Polymer Engineering Dep, Hitit Univ, Faculty of Engineering, Corum, 19 030, Turkey, Email: bengiozkahraman@hitit.edu.tr) : Synthesis and characterization of poly (VCL-HEA-IA) terpolymer for drug release applications. J Polym Mater 2016, 33(2), 351-63.

In the present work, poly(VCL-HEA-IA) terpolymeric hydrogels were synthesized by free radical polymerization of N-vinylcaprolactam (VCL), 2-hydroxethyl acrylate (HEA), and itaconic acid (IA) monomers using N,N'-methylene bisacrylamide (NMBA) as crosslinker and 2,2'-azobis (2-methylpropanimidamide) dihydrochloride (AMPA) as initiator. The swelling properties of these hydrogels were investigated at different pH and temperatures. Drug loading and release properties were also determined using Rhodamine B (RhB) as a model drug by UV-vis spectrophotometer at 554 nm. Drug loading capacities of hydrogels increased with increasing the ratio of hydrophilic monomer in hydrogel structure. Ionized hydrophilic groups of IA and HEA monomers increase the probability of interaction between the hydrophilic groups and the model drug in the phosphate buffer solution. To investigate the effect of different pH values on drug release, it was studied at pH 2.1, pH 5.5 and pH 7.2 in the buffer solutions at 37°C, The model drug was released in proportion to 50% within the first 8 h at different pH values. At pH 7.2, the model drug was more quickly released due to the ionization of hydrophilic groups of IA and HEA. In addition, the surface morphology of drug loaded hydrogels was examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) which revealed uniform distribution of the drug in the hydrogel structure. It is concluded that, model drug loading capacity and release amount changed with composition of hydrogels. Maximum drug release and loading capacities were observed for hydrogel which contain the highest amount of HEA and IA monomers. Poly(VCL-HEA-IA) terpolymeric hydrogels are suitable for drug delivery applications.

10 illus, 2 tables, 49 ref

020037   Nanda M;Jayanthi J;Madhan V;Nayak S (Aerospace Electronics Div, CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) Kodihalli Post, HAL Airport Road, Bangalore-560 017, Email: manjun@nal.res.in) : Integrated mutation analysis tool (IMAT) for - 298 - simulink models and their ideal implementation. J Aerospace Sci Technol 2017, 69(3), 361-72.

Mutation analysis is proving to be an effective approach in detecting the design flaws for safety system designs such as flight control systems or the stall warning systems. The drawback of these analyses is that they are time-consuming and difficult-to-use. This paper discusses about the mutation tool, IMAT, developed in-house for detecting the design flaws of safety critical systems designed in SIMULINK. The IMAT tool is developed as a plug-in to the S1MUL1NK tool suite and enhances the performance of the model-based development of safety critical systems. Some of the unique features of the tool are ease-of-use, portable, scalable, user-friendly and easy to analyse the reports.

16 illus, 2 tables, 28 ref

020036   Mukhopadhyay S (NO, , ) : Experimental studies on the capillary flow phenomena in polyimide based glass microfluidic devices. J Nanosci Nanoengng Applic 2017, 7(1), 8-11.

The polyimide based glass microfluidic devices are fabricated using the maskless lithography. Water is the only working liquid in this work. The effects of micropillar side length, microfluidic friction and surface area to volume ratio on the surface-driven capillary flow of water are studied experimentally. The surface-driven capillary flow of water is slower due to higher microfluidic friction. This work will be useful to control the water inside the microfluidic lab-on-a-chip systems for commercial applications.

020035   Mukherjee K;Matlock D K (ASPPRC, Colorado School of Mines, USA, Email: krishnendu@nmlindia.org) : Simulation of bar rolling in gleeble. J Metall Mater Sci 2016, 58(2), 65-8.

Simulation of bar rolling was attempted in Gleeble 3500. Entire bar rolling was simulated, i.e., roughening rolling at higher temperature and finishing rolling at lower temperature. Torsion module was used to simulate the large amount of deformation employed in bar rolling. The equivalent strains and strain rates appropriate for torsion deformation in Gleeble were calculated as per standard industrial schedule, from roughening rolling to finishing rolling. The cooling schedules between the roughening rolling and finishing rolling and afterwards was also maintained as per industrial conditions. An induction hardenable grade of steel was selected to evaluate the possibility of simulating bar rolling in Gleeble. The torsion-torque response of the Gleeble simulation indicates whether dynamic restoration processes are active during the deformation steps. The microstructure and hardness of the Gleeble simulated samples were compared with the industrially hot-rolled bar.

020034   Maji V B;Aguda A (Civil Engineering Dep, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, Email: vbmaji@gmail.com) : Tunnelling induced ground movement in soil and its control using face pressure. J Rock Mech Tunnelling Technol 2016, 22(2), 113-24.

Tunnelling through cities underlain by soft soil - 297 - is commonly associated with soil movement around the tunnels and subsequent surface settlement. The predication of ground movement during the tunnelling and optimum support pressure is always a great concern. The commonly used Earth pressure balance (EPB) tunnelling machines, uses the excavated soil in a pressurised head chamber to apply a support pressure to the tunnel face during excavation. This face pressure is a critical responsibility in EPB tunnelling because as the varying pressure can lead to collapse of the face. The objective of the present study is to evalute the critical supporting face pressure by observing the vertical deformation and horizontal displacement of soil body during tunnelling The face pressure and grout pressures were varied to see how they might influence the magnitude of surface settlements. A numerical model using PLAXIS-3D tunnel has been, developed to analyse the soil movement around the tunnel that includes various geotechnical conditions. The ground surrounding the tunnel is found to be very sensitive to the face pressure and grout pressure in terms of surface settlement and collapse of the soil body.

8 illus, 4 tables, 22 ref

020033   Ma R;Han X;Bao F;Gao J;Jiang S;Zhang X;Chen K;Yan C (Engineering Research Center of Nano-Geomaterials of Ministry of Educat, China Univ of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China, Email: marui.cug@gmail.com) : Preparation and characterization of polymeric ultra-low-density proppants: epoxy/phenolic resin-coated polystyrene/graphite microspheres. J Polym Mater 2016, 33(2), 259-70.

Polymeric ultra-low-density (ULD) proppants were successfully synthesized through the coating of 20-40 mesh polystyrene/graphite microspheres by epoxy/phenolic. The coated microspheres had very low densities of 1.038-1.080 g/cm³ and were suspended in 5 wt% NaCI aqueous solution. Scanning electron micrographs showed that the coated microspheres had good sphericity (≥ 0.9) with a smooth coating layer of 12.7 μm. When a crosslinked epoxy/phenolic resin layer was introduced, the acid solubility, thermostability, and compression strength of the coated microspheres were dramatically improved. When the concentration of resin impregnating solution was reached 40%, the optimal performance of ULD proppants was achieved, and the following characteristics were obtained: (1) acid solubility as low as 0.06%; (2) 5% weight loss temperature as high as 378 °C; (3) percentage of damage as low as 1.2% at 68 MPa.

5 illus, 2 tables, 38 ref