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This paper deals with the application of fast single-shot multiclass proximal support vector machine for fault diagnosis of a gear box consisting of twenty four classes. The condition of an inaccessible gear in an operating machine can be monitored using the vibration signal of the machine measured at some convenient location and further processed to unravel the significance of these signals. The statistical feature vectors from Morlet wavelet coefficients are classified using J48 algorithm and the predominant features were fed as input for training and testing multiclass proximal support vector machine. The efficiency and time consumption in classifying the twenty four classes all-at-once is reported.

The wavelet transform (WT) is used to represent all possible types of transients in vibration signals generated by faults in a gear box. It is shown that the transform provides a powerful tool for condition monitoring and fault diagnosis. The vibration signal of a spur bevel gear box in different conditions is used to demonstrate the application of various wavelets in feature extraction. In present work, a discrete wavelet, Daubechies wavelets (db1-db15) is used for feature extraction and their relative effectiveness in feature extraction is compared. The major steps in pattern classification are feature extraction and classification. This paper investigates the use of discrete wavelets for feature extraction and a Decision Tree for classification. J48 Decision Tree algorithm has been used for feature selection as well as for classification. This paper illustrates the powerfulness and flexibility of the discrete wavelet transform to decompose linear and non-linear processing of vibration signal.

A field experiment was conducted during the kharif (June–September) and rabi (October–January) seasons of 2005–2006 to study the effect of a maize — sunflower cropping system on the weed flora shift. The results revealed a change in weed species, i.e. the appearance of new species and the elimination of certain weed species due to the cropping system. The density of Dinebra retroflexa was high during the 1 st year maize cropping period, but Panicum repens became dominant when sunflower was grown after maize. Cyperus rotundus , originally the dominant sedge, was smothered by Cynodon dactylon due to zero tillage. Dactyloctenium aegyptium was the dominant weed species in maize, while Parthenium hysterophorus was the dominant weed species in sunflower. The proportions of Datura fastuosa, Parthenium hysterophorus, Trianthema portulacastrum, Amaranthus viridis, Amaranthus polygamus, Flaveria austerlagica, Gynandropsis pentaphylla and Portulaca quadrifida were higher during the 1 st year maize cropping season, while later their density was gradually reduced due to the inclusion of sunflower in the system.

During the past decade the use of alternative fuels for diesel engine has received considerable attention. The interdependence and uncertainty of petroleum-based fuel availability and environmental issues, most notably air pollution, are among the principal forces behind the movement toward alternative sources of energy. Several alternative fuels are available, but all of them are hydrocarbon-based fuels, which cannot eliminate the net carbon emissions. One alternative is to make use of a non-carbon fuel like hydrogen. In the present investigation, hydrogen was used in a diesel engine in the dual-fuel mode with diesel as a primary fuel. Experiments were conducted to determine the optimized injection timing, injection duration, and hydrogen flow rate. From the results it is observed that the optimum timing in port injection is 5° before gas exchange top dead center (BGTDC) with an injection duration of 30° crank angle (CA) and in manifold injection at gas exchange top dead center (GTDC) with an injection d...

Over the past two decades considerable efforts have been undertaken to develop and introduce new alternative fuels for the conventional gasoline and diesel. Many alternative fuels, both liquid and gaseous, have been experimented and some have even been commercialized such as ethanol, natural gas, etc. Hydrogen has been considered as an excellent fuel to replace the petroleum-based fuels due to its clean burning characteristics. In the present experimental investigation, hydrogen was injected in the intake manifold and diesel fuel was injected inside the engine cylinder in the conventional manner. Hydrogen injection parameters such as injection timing, injection duration and quantity of hydrogen injected were optimized based on the performance and emission characteristics. Exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) technique was adopted to reduce the oxides of nitrogen emission. From the results it was observed that for hydrogen diesel dual fuel (DF) engine, the optimal operating parameters for hydrogen injection were start of injection at gas exchange top dead centre with injection duration of 30° crank angle with the hydrogen flow rate of 7.5 litres per minute (lpm). With EGR the optimized condition was found to be 20% for the entire load. The brake thermal efficiency with 20% EGR increases by 16% at 75% load as compared with diesel, while at full load it reduces by 8% due to the recirculation of exhaust gases that results in a reduction of intake oxygen concentration compared with part load. NOX emission decreases by five and half times, while other emissions increase by 1.4 times as compared with DF engine. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

To determine the condition of an inaccessible gear in an operating machine the vibration signal of the machine can be continuously monitored by placing a sensor close to the source of the vibrations. These signals can be further processed to extract the features and identify the status of the machine. The vibration signal acquired from the operating machine has been used to effectively diagnose the condition of inaccessible moving components inside the machine. Suitable sensors are kept at various locations to pick up the signals produced by machinery and these signals are very meaningful in condition diagnosis surveillance. To determine the important characteristics and to unravel the significance of these signals, further analysis or processing is required. This paper presents the use of decision tree for selecting best statistical features that will discriminate the fault conditions of the gear box from the signals extracted. These features are extracted from vibration signals. A rule set is formed from the extracted features and fed to a fuzzy classifier. The rule set necessary for building the fuzzy classifier is obtained largely by intuition and domain knowledge. This paper also presents the usage of decision tree to generate the rules automatically from the feature set. The vibration signal from a piezo-electric transducer is captured for the following conditions - good bevel gear, bevel gear with tooth breakage (GTB), bevel gear with crack at root of the tooth (GTC), and bevel gear with face wear of the teeth (TFW) for various loading and lubrication conditions. The statistical features were extracted and good features that discriminate the different fault conditions of the gearbox were selected using decision tree. The rule set for fuzzy classifier is obtained by once using the decision tree again. A fuzzy classifier is built and tested with representative data. The results are found to be encouraging.

Over the past two decades there has been a considerable effort to develop and introduce alternative transportation fuels to replace conventional fuels, gasoline and diesel. Environmental issues are the principal driving forces behind this effort. To date the bulk of research has focused on the carbon-based fuels such as reformulated gasoline, methanol and natural gas. One alternative fuel to carbon-based fuels is hydrogen which is considered to be low polluting fuel. In the present experimental investigation hydrogen was injected into the intake manifold by using an injector. Using an electronic control unit (ECU) the injection timing and the duration were controlled. From the results it is observed that the optimum injection timing is at gas exchange top dead center (GTDC). The efficiency improved by about 15% with an increase in NOX emission by 3% compared to diesel. The smoke emission decreased by almost 100%. A net reduction in carbon emissions was also noticed due to the use of hydrogen. By adopting manifold injection technique the hydrogen–diesel dual fuel engine operates smoothly with a significant improvement in performance and reduction in emissions.

Hydrogen is expected to be one of the most important fuels in the near future to meet the stringent emission norms. In this experimental investigation, the combustion analysis was done on a direct injection (DI) diesel engine using hydrogen with diesel and hydrogen with diethyl ether (DEE) as ignition source. The hydrogen was injected through intake port and diethyl ether was injected through intake manifold and diesel was injected directly inside the combustion chamber. Injection timings for hydrogen and DEE were optimized based on the performance, combustion and emission characteristics of the engine. The optimized timing for the injection of hydrogen was 5° CA before gas exchange top dead center (BGTDC) and 40° CA after gas exchange top dead center (AGTDC) for DEE. From the study it was observed that hydrogen with diesel results in increased brake thermal efficiency by 20% and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) showed an increase of 13% compared to diesel. Hydrogen-DEE operation showed a higher brake thermal efficiency of 30%, with a significant reduction in NOx compared to diesel.

Hydrogen is receiving considerable attention as an alternative fuel to replace the rapidly depleting petroleum-based fuels. Its clean burning characteristics help to meet the stringent emission norms. In this experimental investigation a single-cylinder diesel engine was converted to operate in hydrogen—diesel dual-fuel mode. Hydrogen was injected in the intake manifold and the diesel was injected directly inside the cylinder. The injection timing and the injection duration of hydrogen were optimized on the basis of performance and emissions. Best results were obtained with hydrogen injection at gas exchange top dead centre with an injection duration of 30° crank angle. The flowrate of hydrogen was optimized as 7.5l/min with optimized injection timing and duration. The optimized exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) flowrate was 20 per cent at 75 per cent load. The optimized timings were chosen on the basis of performance, emission, and combustion characteristics. The EGR technique was adopted in the hydrogen—diesel dual-fuel mode by varying the EGR flowrate from 0 per cent to 25 per cent in steps of 5 per cent. The maximum quantity of exhaust gases recycled during the test was 25 per cent (up to 75 per cent load); beyond that unstable combustion was observed with an increase in smoke. The brake thermal efficiency with 20 per cent EGR decreases by 9 per cent compared with diesel. The nitrogen oxide (NO x) emission in hydrogen manifold injection decreases by threefold with 20 per cent EGR operation at full load. The NO x emission tends to reduce drastically with increase in the EGR percentage at all load conditions owing to the increase in heat capacity of the exhaust gases. The smoke decreases by 80 per cent in the dual-fuel operation compared with diesel at 75 per cent load.

The condition of an inaccessible gear in an operating machine can be monitored using the vibration signal of the machine measured at some convenient location and further processed to unravel the significance of these signals. This paper deals with the effectiveness of wavelet-based features for fault diagnosis using support vector machines (SVM) and proximal support vector machines (PSVM). The statistical feature vectors from Morlet wavelet coefficients are classified using J48 algorithm and the predominant features were fed as input for training and testing SVM and PSVM and their relative efficiency in classifying the faults in the bevel gear box was compared.

Exhaust gas recirculation, EGR, is one of the most effective means of reducing NOx emissions from IC engines and is widely used in order to meet the emission standards. In the present work, experimental investigation has been carried out to study the NOx reduction characteristics by exhaust gas recirculation in a dual fueled engine using hydrogen and diesel. A single cylinder diesel engine was converted to operate on hydrogen-diesel dual fuel mode. Hydrogen was injected in intake port and diesel was injected directly inside the cylinder. The injection timing and injection duration of hydrogen were optimized initially based on the performance and emissions. It was observed that start of injection at 5° before gas exchange top dead center (BGTDC) and injection duration of 30° crank angle gives the best results. The flow rate of hydrogen was optimized as 7.5 lpm for the best start of injection and injection duration of hydrogen. Cold exhaust gas recirculation technique was adopted for the optimized injection parameter of hydrogen and flow rate. Maximum quantity of exhaust gases recycled during the test was 25% beyond this the combustion was not stable resulting in increase in smoke.

Diesel engines are the most trusted power sources in the transportation industry. They intake air and emit, among others, the pollutants NO X and particulate matter. Continuous efforts and tests have tried to reduce fuel consumption and exhaust emissions of internal combustion engines. Alternative fuels are key to meeting upcoming stringent emission norms. We study hydrogen as an air-enrichment medium with diesel as an ignition source in a stationary diesel engine system to improve engine performance and reduce emissions. Stationary engines can be operated with less fuel than neat diesel operations, resulting in lower smoke levels and particulate emissions. Hydrogen ( H 2 ) -enriched air systems in diesel engines enable the realization of higher brake thermal efficiency, resulting in lower specific energy consumption (SEC). NO X emissions are reduced from 2762 to 515 ppm with 90% hydrogen enrichment at 70% engine load. At full load, NO X emission marginally increases compared to diesel operation, while both smoke and particulate matter are reduced by about 50%. The brake thermal efficiency increases from 22.78% to 27.9% with 30% hydrogen enrichment. Thus, using hydrogen-enriched air in a diesel engine produces less pollution and better performance.

The internal combustion engines have already become an indispensable and integral part of our present day life style, particularly in the transportation and agricultural sectors [Nagalingam B. Properties of hydrogen. In: Proceedings of the summer school of hydrogen energy, IIT Madras, 1984]. Unfortunately the survival of these engines has, of late, been threatened due to the problems of fuel crisis and environmental pollution. Therefore, to sustain the present growth rate of civilization, a nondepletable, clean fuel must be expeditiously sought. Hydrogen exactly caters to the specified needs. Hydrogen, even though “renewable” and “clean burning”, does give rise to some undesirable combustion problems in an engine operation, such as backfire, pre-ignition, knocking and rapid rate of pressure rise [Srinivasa Rao P. Utilization of hydrogen in a dual fueled engine. In: Proceedings of the summer school of hydrogen energy, IIT Madras, 1984; Siebers DL. Hydrogen combustion under diesel engine conditions. Hydrogen Energy 1998;23:363–71]. The present investigation compares the performance and emission characteristics of a DI diesel engine with gaseous hydrogen as a fuel inducted by means of carburation technique and timed port injection technique (TPI) along with diesel as a source of ignition [Swain N, Design and testing of dedicated hydrogen-fueled engine. SAE 961077, 1996]. In the present study the specific energy consumption, NOx emission and the exhaust gas temperature increased by 6%, 8% and 14%, respectively, and brake thermal efficiency and smoke level reduced by 5% and 8%, respectively, using carburation technique compared to baseline diesel. But in the TPI technique, the specific energy consumption, exhaust gas temperature and smoke level reduced by 15%, 45% and 18%, respectively. The brake thermal efficiency and NOx increased by 17% and 34%, respectively, compared to baseline diesel. The emissions such as HC, CO, and CO2 is very low in both carburation and TPI techniques compared baseline diesel.

With higher rate of depletion of the non-renewable fuels, the quest for an appropriate alternative fuel has gathered great momentum. Though diesel engines are the most trusted power sources in the transportation industry, due to stringent emission norms and rapid depletion of petroleum resources there has been a continuous effort to use alternative fuels. Hydrogen is one of the best alternatives for conventional fuels. Hydrogen has its own benefits and limitations in its use as a conventional fuel in automotive engine system. In the present investigation, hydrogen-enriched air is used as intake charge in a diesel engine adopting exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) technique with hydrogen flow rate at 20 l/min. Experiments are conducted in a single-cylinder, four-stroke, water-cooled, direct-injection diesel engine coupled to an electrical generator. Performance parameters such as specific energy consumption, brake thermal efficiency are determined and emissions such as oxides of nitrogen, hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide, particulate matter, smoke and exhaust gas temperature are measured. Usage of hydrogen in dual fuel mode with EGR technique results in lowered smoke level, particulate and NOx emissions.

Electrodeposition was performed in a conventional three-electrode cell. Ag / AgCl was used as the reference electrode to which all potentials were referred. The working and counter electrodes were made of titanium (Ti, 99.99%) and platinum, respectively. The Ti substrates and counter electrode were polished and cleaned with distilled water prior to the deposition process. An EG&G Princeton Applied-Research Potentiostat (Versastat model) driven by the Electrochemical-Analysis-System software (model 270) was used to control the electrodeposition process and to monitor the current and voltage profiles. The electrolytes were prepared by using analytical-grade reagents and deionized water. Sodium tartrate was used to chelate with Zn 2 + to obtain a Zn-tartrate complex. Nitrogen gas was flowed into the solutions prior to mixing to remove any dissolved O 2 . Hydrochloric acid was added to prevent the formation of hydroxyl species and insoluble compounds. The depositions were carried out at room temperature by varying the deposition potential to determine the optimal conditions of deposition of zinc-sulfide thin films.

In recent days, the importance of environment and energy have been emphasized and, among various energy sources, the fuels for automotive use are attracting attention as they are closely related to day-to-day life. The fossil fuels that are widely used have some serious problems. One of these problems is the limit in reserves, the second problem is that they cannot be recycled, and another problem is that they produce many exhaust emissions. Therefore, various research studies on alternative fuels have been carried out to find a substitute for fossil fuels. Hydrogen, a non-carbon fuel, can meet zero-emission vehicles standards in the future and can be commercially used as a fuel, even though it has a number of technical and economical barriers. For this paper, experiments were conducted to determine the optimized injection timing, injection duration, and injection quantity of the fuel for a manifold injected hydrogen-operated engine using diesel fuel as an ignition source for hydrogen. In the manifold injection technique, the optimized condition is the start of injection at gas exchange top dead centre (TDC) with an injection duration of 30° crank angle (CA) with a hydrogen flowrate of 7.5 l/min. The brake thermal efficiency is found to increase by 9 per cent compared with diesel fuel. Smoke is found to be lower for all hydrogen flowrates at all the load conditions owing to the absence of carbon in hydrogen. CO emissions vary from 0.03 to 0.12 vol% compared with from 0.08 to 0.14 vol% in a diesel fuel investigation. The exhaust gas temperature is found to be slightly higher by 7 per cent for the hydrogen operation compared with diesel fuel. Manifold injection systems with diesel fuel as the ignition source operate smoothly, show improved performance, and emit less pollution than diesel fuel does. It is possible to operate the direct-injection diesel engine smoothly using hydrogen in dual-fuel mode for the entire load spectrum.

The aim of the present study was to determine the effect of 2-hydroxy 4-methoxy benzoic acid (HMBA), the active principle of Hemidesmus indicus, an indigenous Ayurvedic medicinal plant in India. We investigated the effect of HMBA on hyperlipidaemia induced by ethanol, exploring food intake, body weight, and hepatic and plasma lipids and lipoproteins. Male Wistar rats weighing 130–180 g were given ethanol (5 g kg−1 p.o.) daily for 30 days. Subsequently, ethanol-fed rats were given HMBA intragastrically at a dose of 200 μg kg−1 per day for 30 days. At the end of the total experimental period of 60 days, plasma concentrations of total cholesterol (CHO), triglycerides (TG), lipoproteins (LP), phospholipids (PL), free fatty acids (FFA) and lipoprotein lipase (LPL), and hepatic CHO, TG and PL were measured. Treatment of ethanol-fed rats with HMBA significantly decreased plasma CHO, TG, LP, PL and FFA and hepatic CHO, TG and PL, and increased plasma LPL concentrations compared with values in untreated ethanol-fed rats (all P < 0.05). Food intake and average body weight at the end of the experimental period were significantly increased by HMBA administration. In conclusion, administration of HMBA decreased lipids and lipoprotein concentrations significantly in an animal model of ethanol-induced hyperlipidaemia.

During the last decade the use of alternative fuels for diesel engine has received renewed attention. The interdependence and uncertainty of petroleum based fuel availability and environmental issues, most notably air pollution, are among the principal forces behind the movement towards alternative source of energy. Hydrogen is expected to be one of the most important fuels in the near future for solving greenhouse problem for protecting environment and saving conventional fuels. In this experimental investigation, a diesel engine using hydrogen as fuel was investigated with diesel as an ignition source for hydrogen. Hydrogen was injected into the intake port, while diesel was injected directly inside the cylinder. The parameters such as injection timing and injection duration of hydrogen were varied for a wider range at a constant injection timing of 23 ∘ before injection top dead center (BITDC) for diesel. The hydrogen flow rate was kept constant at 10 lpm for varied load conditions. The maximum brake thermal efficiency of 29.4% was obtained at full load for the optimized injection timing at top dead center (TDC) with injection duration of 90 ∘ crank angle (CA). The oxides of nitrogen ( NO X ) emission tends to reduce to a lower value of 705 ppm at full load condition for the optimized injection duration at TDC and with an injection timing of 60 ∘ CA compared to neat diesel fuel operation. The smoke emission reduces by three fold for the hydrogen-operated engine at optimized conditions. Using port-injected hydrogen there is an increase in brake thermal efficiency of the engine with a greater reduction in emissions.

Cobalt(II)–titanium(IV)-substituted barium ferrite forming the chemical formula of BaCo x Ti x Fe 12−2 x O 19 ( x = 1–6) have been investigated using X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD), Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The specimen of magnetoplumbite (M-type) Co–Ti-substituted BaFe 12 O 19 were synthesised via sol–gel method using ethylene glycol as precursor. Significant increase in line broadening of the XRD patterns were observed indicating the decrease of particle sizes due to the Co(II)–Ti(IV) substitution. BaCo 3 Ti 3 Fe 6 O 19 showed the highest coercivity but moderate saturation and remnant magnetisations. HRTEM imaging showed that Co(II)–Ti(IV) substitution in the system of BaCo x Ti x Fe 12−2 x O 19 ( x = 1–6) produced no drastic change in the structure of the M-type ferrites. Most of the M-types crystals examined by HRTEM displayed a long axis perpendicular to the c -axis of the M-type structure. Disordered crystals showing the intergrowth between Co–Ti-substituted barium ferrite and the spinel-structured iron oxide were detected.

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is one of the most common diseases in society. A large number of studies are in progress to identify natural substances that are effective in reducing the severity of ALD. 2-Hydroxy-4-methoxy benzoic acid (HMBA), the active principle of Hemidesmus indicus, an indigenous Ayurvedic medicinal plant in India, is expected to significantly inhibit the development of liver injury in ethanol administration. It is expected to reduce the severity of liver damage in terms of body weight, hepatic marker enzymes, oxidative stress, antioxidant status and histological changes in ethanol-induced hepatotoxic rats. Hepatotoxicity was induced by administering 20% ethanol (5 g kg−1 daily) for 60 days to male Wistar rats, which resulted in significantly decreased body weight and an increase in liver-body weight ratio. The liver marker enzymes aspartate transaminase, alanine transaminase, alkaline phosphatase, γ-glutamyl transpeptidase and lactate dehydrogenase were elevated. In addition, the levels of plasma, erythrocyte and hepatic thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, hydroperoxides and conjugated dienes were also elevated in ethanol-fed rats as compared with those of the experimental control rats. Decreased activity of superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, reduced glutathione, vitamin C and α-tocopherol was also observed on alcohol administration as compared with experimental control rats. HMBA was co-administered at a dose of 200 μgkg−1 daily for the last 30 days of the experiment to rats with alcohol-induced liver injury, which significantly increased body weight, significantly decreased the liver-body weight ratio, transaminases, alkaline phosphatase, γ-glutamyl transpeptidase and lactate dehydrogenase, significantly decreased the levels of lipid peroxidative markers, significantly elevated the activity of enzymic and non-enzymic antioxidants in plasma, erythrocytes and liver and also increased levels of plasma and liver vitamin C and α-tocopherol at the end of the experimental period as compared with untreated ethanol-administered rats. The histological changes were also in correlation with the biochemical findings. The results suggest that HMBA administration may afford protection against ethanol-induced liver injury in rats.

Interspecific hybrids between 2 cultivated varieties (MCU 5 and MCU 7) of tetraploid cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) and diploid perennial species G. raimondii were synthesized. The resulting triploid F1s were pollen sterile and exhibited irregular meiosis with frequent formation of univalents and multivalents. Mean chromosome association of the triploid hybrids were 11.50 I+9.97 II+2.31 III+0.16 IV and 0.50 I+11.35 II+0.96 I. Successful synthesis of hexaploids involoving G. raimondii by doubling the genomes of the triploid hybrids with 0.1% colchicine and enhancement of fertility status in hybrids is reported for the first time. The mean chromosomal association of hexaploid hybrids were 4.05 I+26.91 II+4.45 III+1.23 IV+0.32 V and 1.26 I+25.81 II+1.18 III+5.19 IV respectively. The heterozygosity of triploid and hexaploid hybrids was also confirmed through SSR marker analysis. Further utility of the developed hybrids with respect to jassid resistance breeding in cotton is discussed.

Objective: Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is a condition that has been studied over decades and whose pathogenesis has still not been well defined. Various open and minimally invasive procedures are in vogue for the treatment of intractable TN. All these procedures have their complications and recurrence rates. Percutaneous retrogasserian glycerol rhizotomy (PRGR) is one of the minimally invasive procedures that have been popular for quite a long time. Material and Methods: This paper is a prospective study analyzing the results of 93 patients with refractory TN who were treated with PRGR. Results: There was an immediate pain relief in 96.8% of patients and long-term pain relief in 89.4% of patients, with a mean follow-up duration of 18.8 months. Recurrence of pain was seen in 10.4% of patients. Conclusions: The PRGR is a simple, safe, cost-effective procedure without any need for expensive equipment and with a good outcome that is compared to the other relatively more expensive open and minimally invasive procedures.

Web services are playing a very important role in various business-based applications. There are an enormous amount of web services present and they are creating a huge web traffic. The organizations are trying to reduce the web traffic by having cluster-based web servers. It is a vital task to handle these cluster-based web servers while they have a varying load on it. These servers should be highly scalable and available. Load balancing is an important technique to provide rapid response to the requests of the client. As the process of load balancing occurs fault tolerance should be taken care of. This paper focuses on the scalable, fault-tolerant, and load balancing mechanism of cluster-based web servers. The distributed spanning tree structure is used for balancing the client requests among the cluster-based servers. An architecture based on DST is proposed in this paper for cluster-based web servers.

The Naredi Formation of Kutch, Gujarat, India, is early Eocene in age and marks the first marine transgression above the last Deccan traps. Sediment deposition occurred in a shallow inner shelf environment that varied from a brackish lagoon to brackish, normal inner shelf and to marginal marine environments. The section can be divided into 2 main transgressive cycles interrupted by a regression phase that is marked by a well-defined sequence boundary marked by a root-bearing paleosoil. Three intervals yielded common to abundant benthic foraminiferal assemblages. Planktic foraminifera are few to rare and restricted to the top of the section, except for Chiloguembelina trinitatensis . An early Eocene age can be attributed to the Naredi section based primarily on larger benthic foraminifera (SBZ8 to SBZ11, equivalent to planktic foraminiferal biozones E4 to E6), rare planktic foraminifera, the stable isotope curve and its correlation with marine sections and sequence stratigraphy. Sediments of the transgression/regression cycles were derived from physical and chemical-weathering processes of basaltic rocks as indicated by the different geochemical proxies. Carbon isotope analyses of bivalve shells and organic matter reveal a negative excursion that is correlative with the global Early Eocene excursion. The presence of fish bones, fish teeth and organic matter can be related to the Early Eocene climatic optimum. Clay mineral data from the Naredi Formation indicate variably hot humid to arid climate conditions.

Electrodeposition in the presence of triethanolamine in aqueous solution was found to offer some improvements in the synthesis of nickel selenide thin film. The presence of triethanolamine also showed its capacity for improving the longevity of the deposition as well as the adhesion of the deposited films on the titanium substrate. Photoelectrochemical analysis reveals outstanding photoactivity for the thin film deposited at −0.70 V, while the optical study shows an energy gap of about 2.0 eV. The film exhibited p-type semiconductor behavior. The scanning electron microscope results showed that the samle deposited in the presence of triethanolamine produced better and smoother surface coverage and bigger grain size.

Electrochemical assisted photodegradation of oxalate ions using titanium dioxide coated on indium tin oxide glass substrates were studied. The titanium dioxide (TiO2) films were prepared by dip-coating method. The photodegradation study under illumination with halogen and ultraviolet lamp was carried out using linear sweep voltammetry. The effect of heat treatment, light source, intensity of light, concentration of oxalate ion, number of dip-coating and applied potentials have been investigated. Ultraviolet light was found to induce higher photodegradation reaction compared to halogen lamp.

Tin selenide thin films have been deposited on indium tin oxide glass slides in alkaline medium. The method is based on simple bath deposition technique that requires less chemicals and monitoring. Uniform and well-adhered films were obtained upon required deposition period. X-ray, morphology, optical and photoelectrochemical study was carried out for the as-deposited film. The films were polycrystalline and covered the surface of the substrate completely. Photoelectrochemical test shows a p-type conduction mechanism. The band gap was found to be about 1.25 eV with direct transition.

A unique method for the integration of process planning and scheduling in a batch-manufacturing environment is reported. This integration is essential for the optimum use of production resources and for the generation of realistic process plans that can be readily executed with little modification. The integration problem is modelled at two levels: process planning and scheduling, which are linked by an intelligent facilitator. The process-planning module employs an optimization approach in which the whole plan solution space in terms of available machines, tools, tool accessibility and precedence constraints is first generated and a search algorithm is then used to find the optimal plan. For a given set of jobs, the scheduling module takes the optimal plans for each job and generates a schedule based on a given criterion, as well as the performance parameters (machine utilization and number of tardy jobs). An unsatisfied performance parameter is fed back to the facilitator, which then identifies a partic...

Cathodic electrodeposition in the presence of EDTA in aqueous solution was used to prepare Cu2S thin film deposited on Ti substrate. The effect of deposition potential, concentration and deposition time was studied to determine the optimum condition for electro-deposition process. Cyclic voltammetry was performed to elucidate the electrodic processes that occur while potentials for electrodeposition were applied to determine the optimum potential for electrodeposition. The thin films are characterised by X-ray diffractometry. The photoactivity of the deposited films and their conduction types were evaluated using photoelectrochemical technique. The band gap energy and type of optical transitions were determined from optical absorbance data.

Tin selenide were prepared chemically in alkaline aqueous solution. The crystalline powder was coated onto microscope glass slides using polyvinyl alcohol solution. The coatings were subjected to annealing at various temperatures to study the effect towards the structure, morphology and composition of the material. The product prepared was characterised using various techniques. The photoresponse for the samples were also studied. The photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell configuration was p-SnSe | (0.01 M K4Fe(CN)6¾0.01 M K3Fe(CN)6.3H2O¾0.1 M Na2SO4| Pt).

Cathodic electrodeposition in the presence of sodium dodecyl-sulphate in aqueous solution was used to prepare CuSe thin film deposited on titanium substrates. The effect of deposition potential, concentrationand deposition time were studied to determine the optimum condition for the electrodeposition process. The films were characterized by X-ray diffractrometry. Scanning electron microscopy was used to studythe morphology of the deposits. The photoresponse of the films prepared was analysed using linear sweep voltammetry in the presence of sodium thiosulphate.

Seborrhoeic keratosis is a benign tumour composed of epidermal keratinocytes, displaying varying morphological features, frequently pigmented and more common in the elderly. Various clinical and histopathological variants have been described. A genetically determined predisposition to Seborrhoeic keratosis is largely accepted. We report a case of multiple Seborrhoeic keratoses of childhood onset and transmitted for three generations in her family members as an autosomal dominant trait.

A bidentate and a quadridentate Schiff base having NS and NNSS donor sequences were prepared by condensing S-benzyldithiocarbazate (NH2NHCSSCH2Ph) with 2,3-butanedione (1:1 and 1:2 mole ratio). NiII and CuII complexes of these ligands were studied and characterised by elemental analyses and various physico-chemical techniques. The nickel complexes, [Ni(NS)2] and [Ni(SNNS)], were diamagnetic with square-planar and five-coordinate structures, respectively. The copper complex was, however, pentacoordinated. The ligands and the complexes were screened for anticancer activity against T-lymphoblastic leukemic cells (CEM-SS) and colon cancer cells (HT-29). The NS Schiff base was strongly active against leukemic cells with a CD50 value of 2.05 μg cm−3. The nickel and copper complexes were found to be stronger antioxidants than Vitamin E.

Two tridentate Schiff bases having ONS and NNS donor sequences were prepared by condensing S-benzyldithiocarbazate (NH2NHCSSCH2Ph) (SBDTC) with pyridine-2-carboxaldehyde and salicylaldehyde, respectively. Complexes of these ligands with NiII, ZnII, CrIII, CoII, CuII, and SnII were studied and characterized by elemental analyses and various physico-chemical techniques. NiII, CuII, ZnII and SnII complexes were four-coordinate while the CrIII, SrIII and CoIII complexes were six-coordinate. The ONS Schiff base was moderately active against leukemia, while its zinc, antimony and cobalt complexes were strongly active against leukemic cells with DC50 = 0.35–5.00.

A significant group of patient with estrogen receptor (ER) α positive breast tumors fails to appreciably respond to endocrine therapy. An increased understanding of the molecular basis of estrogen-mediated signal transduction and resultant gene expression may lead to novel strategies for treating breast cancer. In this study, we sought to identify the dysregulated genes in breast tumors related to ERα status. Microarray analyses of 31 tumor samples showed 108 genes differentially expressed in ERα (+) and ERα (–) primary breast tumors. Further analyses of gene lists indicated that a significant number of dysregulated genes were involved in mRNA transcription and cellular differentiation. The majority of these genes were found to have promoter-binding sites for E74-like factor 5 (ELF5; 54.6% genes), E2F transcription factor 1 (E2F1; 22.2% genes), and nuclear transcription factor Y alpha (NFYA; 32.4% genes). Six candidate genes ( NTN4, SLC7A8, MLPH, ENPP1, LAMB2, and PLAT) with differential expression were selected for further validation studies using RT-qPCR (76 clinical specimen) and immunohistochemistry (48 clinical specimen). Our studies indicate significant overexpression of all the six genes in ERα (+) breast tumors as compared to ERα (–) breast tumors. In vitro studies using T-47D breast cancer cell line confirmed the estrogen dependant expression of four of the above six genes ( SLC7A8, ENPP1, LAMB2, and PLAT). Collectively, our study provides further insights into the molecular basis of estrogen-dependent breast cancer and identifies “candidate biomarkers” that could be useful for predicting endocrine responsiveness.

Complexes of Co(II) and Cu(II) with the ligand 1-nitrobenzyl-2-nitrophenylbenzimidazole (NBPBI) have been synthesized. These complexes were characterized using various physico-chemical techniques like elemental analyses, conductance, magnetic susceptibility measurements, UV-visible, near-IR, IR, cyclic voltammetry, EPR, and thermal studies. The analytical data show that the cobalt complexes have the general formula, [CoL2X2], (where, L = NBPBI and X = Cl, Br, or I) and the copper complexes [CuL2X2] (where, L = NBPBI and X = Cl or Br). These studies suggest a tetrahedral structure for the cobalt(II) complexes and a square planar geometry for the copper(II) complexes. Cyclic voltammetric studies of the [CuL2Cl2] complex indicate that the redox reaction is irreversible and the reaction involves one electron transfer. The ‘g’ values obtained from the EPR spectra of the copper(II) complexes suggest square planar geometry for these complexes. TG traces of the complexes show three stages of decompositio...

Hydrazinium hydrogenmaleate (HHM) and hydrogenfumarate (HHF) have been prepared and characterized by analytical, spectral and thermal studies.Bis-hydrazine metal maleates and fumarates of the general formula MX(N2H4)2, where M=Co, Ni or Zn and X=maleate or fumarate have been prepared by the reaction of corresponding metal nitrate hydrates with a mixture of maleic or fumaric acid (1 part) and hydrazine hydrate (4 parts). Electronic spectra and magnetic susceptibility measurements indicate that all are high-spin octahedral complexes. The IR data show that the bonding of the hydrazine and maleate/fumarate dianion to the metal ion is bidentate. Thermal decomposition studies show that the simple hydrazinium salts undergo melting followed by endothermic decomposition into gaseous products, whereas the metal complexes undergo violent exothermic decomposition to give either metal or metal oxide as the final product.

The influence of Crataeva nurvala bark decoction was studied in calcium oxalate stone forming rats, in relation to oxalate metabolism in liver. The activities of the major oxalate synthesizing enzymes in liver namely, glycollate oxidase (GAO) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were significantly increased in the calculogenic group. Bark decoction treatment lowered the liver GAO activity considerably. Transport ATPases (Na+, K+ and Ca2+-ATPases) and alkaline phosphatase were enhanced in rats fed calculi producing diet, while the activities of acid phosphatase, inorganic pyrophosphatase and aminotransferases were slightly reduced. Bark decoction administration produced a marginal decrease in Na+, K+-ATPase and increase in aspartate aminotransferase activities, without significantly altering other enzyme activities. The decrease in liver GAO activity seen during bark decoction treatment, with concomitant decrease in kidney oxalate level, may prove beneficial as a prophylactic measure in preventing stone recurrence.

Hydrazinium ethylenediaminetetraacetatometalate complexes of the type, N2H5 [M(Hedta)·H2O] were subjected to systematic TG/DTG analysis. The decomposition process consists of three stages. Kinetic parameters were evaluated for each of these stages using the Coats-Redfern equation.

Controlling unstable nonlinear systems with neural networks can be problematic. Two examples show that evolutionary programming provides a feasible method for addressing such control problems. >

The proposed work deals with Fault classification a fault location techniques for parallel overhead transmission lines. Fault location is carried out by measuring the distributed line model of faulted line parameters. Different system faults such as LG, LLG and LLLG on a protected transmission line should be detected, classified a located rapidly in order to bring the system to the normal state. A novel application of neural network approach with three variance of feed forward neural networks such as the one with Back propagation algorithm (BPN), Radial basis function (RBF) network and Cascaded correlation feed forward network (CFBPN) is proposed for the protection of double circuit transmission line has been demonstrated in this work. The proposed method uses line current values to learn the hidden relationship in the input patterns. Using the proposed approach, fault detection, classification, location and faulted phase selection could be achieved. An improved performance is experienced once the neural network is trained sufficiently and suitably, thus performing correctly when faced with varied system parameters and conditions. Results of performance studies show that the proposed neural network-based modules outperform the performance of conventional fault selection algorithms. Among the ANN modules, result of RBF network is found to be better than the other two networks in terms of accuracy.