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In this study, the effects of ternary system on corrosion behaviour of self compacting concrete containing self combusted rice husk ash (SCRHA) and metakaolin (MK) were studied. For that different mix proportions were prepared by replacing ordinary Portland cement (OPC) with SCRHA and MK. The OPC was replaced from 0% to 30% by SCRHA or MK as a binary system, whereas from 0% to 40% by SCRHA and MK as ternary system. In order to assess the properties of blended self compacting concrete (SCC), various tests were conducted for fresh state properties (Slump flow test, V-funnel test and L-box test), Strength properties (Compressive strength and splitting tensile strength) and durability properties (Rapid chloride penetration test and potential time study for steel corrosion). From the test results, 15%SCRHA, 10%MK and 10%SCRHA + 10%MK blended SCC showed good performance against all fresh, strength and durability properties. The test results also indicated that OPC properties can be effectively modified by the ternary system of SCRHA and MK and enhance various SCC properties.

Which functions f:R→R preserve limits of sequences? That is, which functions f:R→R satisfy f(limn→∞(an))=limn→∞(f(an)) for all convergent sequences (an) in R ? It is a well-known result of real ana...

If f and g are two functions such that \(g\circ g=f\), we say that g is a compositional square root of f. Here we discuss the question as to which maps admit a square root in this sense.

This work presents optimization of preannealing step at the end of the existing process line of Silicon solar cell device fabrication and compared it with regularly processed n-Passivated Emitter Rear Total (n-PERT) bifacial solar cell. For preannealing purpose, rapid thermal process (RTP) treatment of the device has been performed in the temperature range of 500–900 °C for 20 min duration in the existing process line. The electrical evaluations of the devices are performed via I–V measurements which are depicting variation in respective solar cell output parameters such as open circuit voltage, short circuit current and fill factor with annealing temperature. An optimized heat treatment of RTP at 700 °C suggests appreciable improvement of 0.31% in the device efficiency with improvement in other solar cell parameters such as short circuit current and open circuit voltage by 51.6 mA and 4.8 mV respectively. The measured cell parameters are analysed in detail with the variation of RTP temperature and suggest that additional heat treatment at the end of process line can results into device improvement with the increase of annealing temperature upto 700 °C, via reduction of bulk recombination in the base region without much affecting junction properties in the crystalline Si solar cell. However, high temperature (>700 °C) annealing in the device fabrication line is deteriorating device parameters as well as its efficiency which can be attributed to depletion of hydrogen in passivating layer and degradation of p–n junction properties.

Virtual lives of present generation peoples are facing lack of green environmental and good health condition. Emerging developmental applications of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) is the most necessary thing to deploy and monitor our physical world like disaster, agriculture and healthcare. For the most challenging characteristics of WSN facing energy drain out, unlike to easy or possible to replace the battery of WSN and also an end-to-end performance of reliability of data communication due to delay. Through this work made an analysis of IEEE 805.15.4 MAC with changing routing direction. Moreover, considering the CSMA/CA MAC with Redundant Radix Based Number size communication (RRBNs) system. Added to multi-hop networks with novel based routing schemes of Low Energy Routing (LER) direction. In particular, a various load condition of networks determine different performance regarding the delay, energy consumption and reliability of communication links. Finally, determine the network equations based on Markov chain model and communicating the data via RRBNs communication system and also finding the solution at critical condition for various load distribution of the WSNs.

Objective: Most of the patients with proliferative lupus nephritis (LN) have high titer of anti-dsDNA antibody and low complement levels. In this study, we tried to predict proliferative LN with serological profile. Methods: This prospective study was conducted in fifty pateints with known systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) with laboratory evidence of LN (proteinuria, microscopic hematuria, or increased serum creatinine). Serological profile (anti-dsDNA, C3, and C4) and renal biopsy were done in all patients. Results: Of 50 patients, 35 had Class IV (70%), 7 Class II (14%), 4 Class V (8%), and 4 had Class IV and V (8%) on renal biopsy. Totally, 39 (78%) patients had proliferative LN (Class IV and Class IV and V). The prevalence of anti-dsDNA, low C3, and low C4 was 97.1%, 68%, and 74% with LN and 97.4%, 84.6%, and 87.2% with proliferative LN (P < 0.001), respectively. About 72% (28 of 39 patients) with proliferative LN had the combination of anti-dsDNA positivity, low C3, and low C4 levels. However, whoever had the combination of anti-dsDNA positivity, low C3, and low C4 showed only proliferative LN on biopsy. Positive predictive value was 100% (P < 0.05). None of the patients with Class II or Class V (nonproliferative LN) had this combination of serology. Conclusion: In this study, it was found that proliferative LN can be predicted by serological profile alone. Thus it might be argued that immunosuppressive therapy (steroids and mycophenolate mofetil) may be started without renal biopsy in a known SLE patient with laboratory evidence of LN and positive serology; however, robust studies are required.

In this paper we report In 2 O 3 /CdSe quantum dot based non-volatile resistive memory device with ON/OFF ratio ∼1000. Indium nanostructures were grown by oblique angle deposition technique in a thermal evaporator. Indium oxide nanostructures had size ranging from 20 nm to 100 nm as observed from TEM and AFM methods. The facile device fabricated with a layer of CdSe quantum dot on indium oxide film exhibited excellent endurance characteristics over 100,000 switching cycles. Retention tests showed good stability for over 4000 s. Memory operating mechanism is proposed based on charge trapping/de-trapping in quantum dots with indium oxide acting as barrier leading to Coulomb blockade. The mechanism is supported by negative differential resistance (NDR) observed exclusively in the ON state.

Tokamaks are the most proficient devices for acquiring nuclear fusion energy from high-temperature, ionized gas termed as Plasma. Mostly, tokamaks are utilized the toroidal magnetic plasma component and poloidal magnetic plasma component to retain and automatic control. Similar characteristics of two operational amplifiers should be needed in the integration system to calculate the drift value. Inductive magnetic sensors are routinely utilized on existing Tokamaks, are well comprehended and they oblige signal integration to focus the strength of the magnetic field. However, the signal integration failed to solve the problem of deciding the stability of the controlled systems. The Sample and Hold Amplifier (SHA) is an essential part of the sampling (Analog Devices, 2009) to digital convert (ADC). The proposed method is used for eliminating the offset drift of the Integrator for long pulse operations. Adaptive Self Organizing Fuzzy Radial Basis-Function Neural Network Controller (ASFRBNC) and DAC amplifiers are able to adjust the signal for utilization of the PCS and DAS dynamic ranges. The loop processing has done with MATLAB Simulink process. This tokamak has 100s pulse lengths, oblige integrators with better attributes in drift and noise with the long pulse lengths. The proposed system was implemented in Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) chip with the use of Verilog Hardware Description-Language (Verilog HDL). The experimental results shown that the proposed method obtained 745 Slices, 61 Flip-Flops (FF), 46 I/O buffers (IOBs), 1221 4bit Look up Tables (LUT) and synchronized with the maximum 50.36MHz clock frequency. The obtained hardware results have been matched with the MATLAB simulation results.

The sensing response of the chief Silicane nanosheet with the pollutant gases CO, NO, CO2, NO2 and SO2 are mainly investigated in this research article using ab-initio method. The formation energy is calculated initially, in order to ensure the stability of Silicane nanosheet and its value is calculated as −4.143 eV/atom. Further to ensure the dynamical stability of Silicane nanosheet, phonon band spectrum is plotted. The electronic characteristics and geometrical stability of Silicane nanosheet are investigated before performing the adsorption studies. Then the reaction between the chief substance Silicane nanosheet and the pollutant gases are analysed, with the help of adsorption energy, Bader charge transfer, energy band gap, and a change in band gap, together with DOS and energy band spectrum. Without pollutant adsorption, the energy band gap of Silicane nanosheet is observed as 3.167 eV. Though, the energy band gap of Silicane nanosheet is varied due to the adsorption of CO, NO, CO2, NO2 and SO2. Thus, the end result of this research indicates that Silicane nanosheet can be utilized as an effective sensing material for sensing pollutant gases particularly NO, NO2 and SO2.

The proposed research article investigates on the adsorption behaviour of the prime substance blue phosphorene nanosheet (BPNS) with the pollutant vapours CO, CO2, NO and NO2 by utilizing ab-initio method. Initially the BPNS stability is guaranteed by calculating its formation energy and it is calculated as −4.149 eV/atom. Before performing the adsorption studies, the structural and electronic characteristics of BPNS are investigated. Then the interaction between the prime substance BPNS and the pollutant vapours are analysed with the support of adsorption energy, energy band gap, Bader charge transfer, and a change in band gap together with DOS and energy band structure spectrum. The humidity effects on BPNS have also been studied by sensing the H2O molecule. The energy band gap of BPNS without pollutant adsorption is observed as 1.999 eV. Though, the adsorption of CO, CO2, NO and NO2 vary the energy gap of BPNS. Thus, the outcome of this research suggests that BPNS can be used as an efficient sensing material for pollutant vapours especially NO and NO2 even in the humidity environment.

In this article, subsets of $${\mathbb {N}}$$ that can arise as sets of periods of the following subshifts are characterized: (i) subshifts of finite type, (ii) transitive subshifts of finite type, (iii) sofic shifts, (iv) transitive sofic shifts, and (v) arbitrary subshifts.

Negative differential resistance device (NDR) fabricated by spin coating of organic/inorganic hybrid nanostructures at room temperature, is reported in the present paper. The coated organic layer is MEH-PPV (poly-[2-methoxy-5-(2′-ethyl-hexyloxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene] and inorganic layer is ZnO nanoparticles. The device shows negative differential resistance at low voltage and I–V characteristics of the device show multiple peaks at low voltage values. A value of 13 and 4 for the peak- to-valley ratio of current are reported in bi-layer and single layer structures respectively. Depending on the observed NDR signature, operating mechanisms are explored based on carrier (resonant) tunneling process and donor like trap mechanisms. This results show that the MEH-PPV/ZnO thin films gives good performance and is relevant for applications in optoelectronic devices such as a negative differential resistance.

We report a Ti-TiOx/CdSe-ZnS core-shell quantum dot based bipolar nonvolatile resistive memory device. The device exhibits an ON/OFF ratio of 100 and is reproducible. The memory device showed good retention characteristics under stress and excellent stability even after 100,000 cycles of switching operation. The switching speed measured was around 15 ns. The devices are solution processed at room temperature in ambient atmosphere. The operating mechanism is discussed based on charge trapping in quantum dots resulting in the Coulomb blockade effect with a ZnS shell layer and metal-oxide layer acting as the barrier to confine the trapped charges. The proposed mechanism is validated by a three terminal device designed exclusively for this purpose.

The novel organic nonlinear optical single crystals of 2-amino-6-methylpyridinium 4-hydroxybenzoate (2A6MP4HB) were grown from methanol solvent using isothermal solvent evaporation technique. The 2A6MP4HB was found to crystallize in monoclinic system with centrosymmetric space group P21/c. The microanalyses confirmed the stoichiometric compositions of 2A6MP4HB. The thermal stability and decomposition of newly identified 2A6MP4HB have been explored by thermogravimetric/differential thermal analysis and differential scanning calorimetric analysis. The temperature dependence specific heat capacity of title compound has been analysed through modulated differential calorimetric analysis (MDSC). The MDSC study suggested that 2A6MP4HB could possess high optical damage threshold, which is an essential requirements for optical devices. The UV–Vis–NIR spectral study indicates that newly obtained 2A6MP4HB single crystal has the transparency window 350–1100 nm, which is useful for optoelectronic applications. From Z-scan technique, the nonlinear refractive index, nonlinear absorption coefficient and third-order nonlinear susceptibility of newly designed 2A6MP4HB single crystal are found to be −5.6166 × 10−12 cm2 W−1, 5.0887 × 10−6 cm W−1 and 8.3551 × 10−10 esu, respectively. The room temperature mechanical behaviours of 2A6MP4HB have been tested using Vickers microhardness tester, and the results showed that the title compound belongs to soft material category. All these studies have been performed for the first time and aimed to explore the useful and safe region of thermal, optical and mechanical properties to enhance its usefulness for device fabrications.

We present an all-solution processed bipolar non-volatile resistive memory device with CdSe quantum dot/metal–metal oxide/quantum dot structure. The two terminal device exhibits excellent switching characteristics with ON/OFF ratio >104. The device maintained its state even after removal of the bias voltage. The switching time is around 14 ns. Device did not show degradation after 4000 s retention test. The memory functionality was consistent even after multiple cycles of operation (100,000) and the device is reproducible. The switching mechanism is discussed on the basis of charge trapping in quantum dots with metal oxide serving as the barrier. The mechanism is supported by observation of variation in capacitance–frequency measurements.

The title compound, 2-amino-4-picolinium-nitrophenolate-nitrophenol (2A4PNN), has been synthesized and optical quality single crystals of 2A4PNN were grown by solution growth technique. The crystal structure was solved by single crystal X-ray diffraction method. The 2A4PNN molecule was found to possess intermolecular herringbone structure and to crystallize in orthorhombic crystal system with a noncentrosymmetric space group of Pna21 (Point group mm2). The functional groups of 2A4PNN were confirmed through FT-IR and Raman vibrational spectroscopic studies and NMR spectrum was recorded to study its molecular structure. The UV–Vis and photoluminescence spectra were recorded to explore its optical transmittance and emission properties respectively. The SHG efficiency and phasematchability were investigated through Kurtz and Perry powder technique using sieved/graded powders derived from polycrystals of 2A4PNN. The laser damage threshold studies of 2A4PNN single crystal were performed on (1 0 0) plane using a pulsed Nd:YAG laser (1064 nm). The third-order optical properties of 2A4PNN single crystal were measured by Z-scan technique. In addition, the quantum chemical studies were performed on the isolated 2A4PNN molecule using density functional theory (DFT) calculations at the B3LYP/6-311++G (d, p) basis set.

Background: Whether coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) should be performed on- or off-pump remains a matter of debate. We aim to present our experience with off-pump CABG. Early clinical outcome and adverse events were analyzed over the time course of the study. Methods: A total of 4310 patients undergoing isolated off- pump CABG from January 2002 until December 2016 at the Malabar Institute of Medical Sciences in India were included. Preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative, as well as follow-up data were prospectively collected. To analyze the differences of patient characteristics and outcomes over time, five-year periods were created (early: 2002-2006; middle: 2007-2011; late: 2012-2016). Traditional techniques of quality control monitoring were applied. Results: The mean age of our patients was 59 ± 9 years, and 13% (533) were female. Postoperative mortality was observed in 0.7% (25), acute renal failure and stroke in 0.2% (8) each, and mediastinitis in 1.2% (53) of the patients. Despite the progressive worsening of the patient risk profile, significant improvement in mortality was observed over time, while stroke, acute renal failure, and mediastinitis remained similar. Continuous quality control monitoring revealed that the system was within the control boundaries for the entire period of the study. The current probability of 30-day mortality or conversion to on-pump CABG is about 0.5%. Conclusion: Off-pump CABG is safe and effective for patients undergoing CABG. It can provide superior results compared to on-pump CABG, particularly when performed by a dedicated off-pump surgeon.

Excess carrier lifetime plays a crucial role in determining the efficiency of solar cells. In this paper, we use the frequency dependence of inphase and quadrature components of modulated electroluminescence (MEL) to measure the relaxation time (decay) of excess carriers. The advantage of the MEL technique is that the relaxation time is obtained directly from the angular frequency at which the quadrature component peaks. It does not need knowledge of the material parameters like mobility, etc., and can be used for any finished solar cells which have detectable light emission. The experiment is easy to perform with standard electrical equipment. For silicon solar cells, the relaxation time is dominated by recombination and hence, the relaxation time is indeed the excess carrier lifetime. In contrast, for the CIGS solar cells investigated here, the relaxation time is dominated by trapping and emission from shallow minority carrier traps.

Growth of thin and flexible organic semiconductor crystal Anthracene (AN) has been achieved in a very short duration. This simple, yet an effective approach was serendipitously found to yield high quality crystal with typical dimensions of 22×23×0.15–0.50 mm 3 within a duration of about 30 min whereas a conventional method could take about 7–10 days to achieve similar dimensions. Further, these crystals were seen swirling and settling down slowly at the bottom of the growth flask. These factors were favorably utilized to place the Anthracene crystals firmly on prefabricated flexible substrates when they were kept in different heights within the solutions. This systematic approach also facilitated the fabrication of organic field effect transistor (OFET) and the results obtained were encouraging.

Excellent open circuit voltage $(V_{oc})$ reported by Si Heterojunction (Si-HJ) solar cells has been a topic of considerable interest among the PV community. One of the reasons attributed to this large $V_{oc}$ is the reduction of interface recombination due to the presence of an inversion layer at a-Si:H/cSi interface. Here, we employ deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) measurements of silicon heterojunction cells (Si-HJ) to probe process induced interface traps at the a-Si:H/cSi interface. Interestingly, contrary to literature reports, we find both majority and minority peaks in differently processed Si-HJ solar cells - a result which could have interesting implications towards performance optimization.

It is reported that a novel third order organic nonlinear optical material namely, Pyrrolidin-1-ium 2-chloro-4-nitrobenzoate 2-chloro-4-nitrobenzoic acid (PCNCN) has been synthesized and grown by isothermal solvent evaporation solution growth technique. Single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that PCNCN belonged to monoclinic crystal system with a centrosymmetric space group of P21/c. The morphology of the as grown PCNCN crystal compared well with that obtained by theoretically generated morphology. The molecular vibrations of PCNCN were analyzed through Fourier transform infrared and NMR spectrum analyses. Optical properties such as transmittance, photoluminescence, and laser damage threshold were studied. The thermal stability of PCNCN was measured through TG-DTA measurement. The dielectric properties such as dielectric constant, dielectric loss, ac conductivity and activation energy of PCNCN single crystal were studied as a function of frequency at different temperatures. The PCNCN single crystals were further characterized for their third order nonlinear optical properties such as nonlinear absorption coefficient, nonlinear refractive index and optical limiting behavior using continuous wave Nd: YAG laser. The quantum chemical investigations were performed using B3LYP/6-311++G(d, p) basis set.

This research is mainly focused on the behaviour of the concrete and composite framed structures when such structural buildings are subjected to special loadings such as seismic loading. To evaluate the forces and failures in such building subjected to seismic forces linear dynamic statistical analysis method - Response spectrum analysis is carried out. This method results us with a complete response of time history at each and every particular joint by showing its displacements and member forces. In this an RC framed structure of M25 grade of concrete with G+7 storey and also a Composite structure of G+6 storey is modelled in ETABS as per Indian Standard Code 1893: 2002 Part(I). The building is situated in Himachal Pradesh with a seismic intensity of zone factor V. The concept of strong column weak beam is adopted here throughout the paper. Response spectrum analysis technique was used with the help of ETABS for both the composite and reinforced concrete structure. The results were explained in detail having the parameters in consideration with the base shear, storey deflection and storey drift are compared for each model.

Synthesis, characterisation and single crystal X-Ray studies of 2-(4-methoxyphenyl)-1,4,5-triphenyl-2,5-dihydro-1H-imidazole are reported. Here after the compound is denoted as TSI. Small Angle X-Ray Diffraction (SXRD) showed that the crystal belonged to Monoclinic, P21/c group. The electronic and structural properties of TSI were investigated by DFT and TD-DFT methods. This molecule is a good candidate to be used in OLED devices because of high electron transport mobility and low λe value. The difference between λe and λh is smaller so that it has a better hole-electron transport balance in OLED devices. The calculated static first order hyperpolarizability β(000), showed that the material exhibited good non-linear optical behaviour and could be used for NLO devices. Fukui indices were calculated to identify the reactive sites of the title compound.

In this paper we attack four mutually related problems about the periods of linear combinations of vectors. The first problem is to find all the possible numbers that can be the T-period of \(u+v\) when the T-period of u and the T-period of \(v\) are known; where T is a linear operator on a vector space. The other three problems lead to some consequences of the first result.

In this study, the characteristics of DGMOSFET were obtained using mathematical modeling. The variations of characteristics were analyzed with different conditions into consideration. Different parameters behavior is analyzed, such as Transcapacitance variation with the gate voltage, threshold voltage variation with respect to lateral straggle parameter and temperature, mobile charge density variation is also analyzed and also the drain characteristics of the DGMOSFET. The maximum drain current is obtained as 40 mA. The work is done using SPICE simulation software. The results obtained are in greater coherence with previous theoretical investigations.

In SDR, it is advantageous if the data is transmitted using the best among the various modulation techniques with respect to SNR. The receiver has the ability to automatically identify the modulation technique and demodulate it. This process involves a novel method where a pilot sequence helps in identifying the type of modulation at the receiver. Ten modulation techniques are used in this study and their performance is studied. Further, error detection and correction is done to the received data using hamming encoder. This study also discusses about the error handling capability and detection of the position in which the error occurs. This work can be implemented in remote locations and in emergency situations where a particular modulation technique is used based on the available QoS.

The core and surface terminal groups are the two main catalytic sites in a dendrimer. In most of the reported examples, the catalytic sites in dendritic catalysis are the surface terminal functional groups. This perspective article concerned with the dendrimer based catalysis, involving these two catalytic sites and the dendrimer cavities. The interior cavities provide the nanoscale reactor sites, by creating reverse micelle like appearance for catalysis. In exploring the significant achievements in this area, a low generation PAMAM dendrimer with amphiphilic nature, having a polymeric core with large number of pendent amino groups was synthesized and concentrated its catalytic activity. The key features with respect to positive and/or negative catalytic activity was highlighted by synthesizing various aryl and heteroaryl 2-substituted benzimidazoles. The synthesized dendritic organocatalyst was proved to be amazingly reactive and gave high yield of products within a few minutes at room temperature with low catalyst loading. Here, a new stable hemiaminal, the species rarely been detected and much less isolated in bulk, was obtained during the synthesis of benzimidazoles. Moreover, this is the first reported method for the synthesis of benzimidazoles, using the homogeneous PAMAM dendrimer as a basic organocatalyst.

Millimeter-Wave INnovation Technology Research Center (MINT), Dongguk University,Seoul 100-715, Republic of KoreaThe electrical characteristics of ITO/MEH–PPV (poly-[2-methoxy-5-(2-ethyl-hexyloxy)-1,4-phenyl-enevinylene])/ZnO/Al structure device were studied. I–V characteristics of the device show stablerectifying diode behaviour with large current. Based on this result, a carrier tunneling process mech-anism and injection and transport mechanism are suggested to explain the phenomenon. Theresults show that the MEH–PPV/ZnO thin film gives good performance and is relevant for applica-tions in optoelectronic such as a light-emitting diode.

Methanol and aqueous extracts of Delonix elata (Bojer ex Hook.) Raf. (Fabaceae) and Spathodea campanulata P. Beauv. (Bignoniaceae) were evaluated for their antimicrobial activities against nine bacterial species: Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pneumonia, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumonia, Salmonella typhi, Proteus vulgaris and Shigella flexneri and two fungal species: Aspergillus niger and Candida albicans. The susceptibility of the microorganism to the extracts of these plants was compared with each other and with selected antibiotics. All these plants were effective against three or more of the pathogenic microorganisms. This in vitro study corroborated the antimicrobial activity of the selected plants used in folklore medicine. Key words: Medicinal plants, infectious diseases, solvents, disc diffusion methods, microbial pathogens.

Organic thin film transistors were fabricated using evaporated zinc phthalocyanine as the active layer. Parylene film prepared by chemical vapour deposition was used as the organic gate insulator. The annealing of the samples was performed at 120 °C for 3 h. At room temperature, these transistors exhibit p-type conductivity with field-effect mobilities ranging from 0·025–0·037 cm2/Vs and a (Ion/Ioff) ratio of ∼103. The effect of annealing on transistor characteristics is discussed.

Presently, ternary-blended concrete is widely accepted as a building material, which is obtained from two well-known materials. It can be used for enhancing the structural properties (mechanical and durability properties) of the concrete as well as increasing the total quantity of the replacement level of cement. It is also useful to eliminate the drawbacks of the particular supplementary cementitious materials through combining with other superior quality material and reducing the overall cost of the concrete production. In this paper, the mechanical and permeability properties of self-compacting concrete (SCC) containing metakaolin (MK), rice husk ash (RHA), and a combination of MK and RHA (1:1 ratio) were evaluated and their interrelationships discussed. For this purpose, different mixtures were prepared with different amounts of MK and RHA and ordinary Portland cement (OPC) was replaced by 5 to 40 % of MK and RHA. As a result of increasing the percentage of MK, RHA, and MK + RHA, the mechanical and permeability properties of SCC improved considerably. One interesting point is observed that the sample incorporating the ternary blend of cement with 15 % MK and 15 % RHA showed better workability and mechanical and permeability properties than that of the normal SCC sample without MK or RHA. This blend was proven to be the optimum combination for achieving maximum synergistic effect. In addition, the linear relationship between chloride penetration in terms of total charge passed and the (SiO2 + Al2O3 + Fe2O3)/CaO ratio was studied.

In this paper, the durability properties of self-compacting concrete (SCC) containing rice husk ash (RHA), metakaolin (MK) and a combination of MK and RHA (1:1 ratio) were evaluated and their relationships discussed. The durability properties of the various mixtures were studied. The results showed that SCC blended with RHA and a combination of RHA and MK showed a considerable improvement in durability than unblended SCC (100% OPC). However, the performance of SCC blended with MK was unsatisfactory in an acid environment. In addition, it was found that resistance to acid attack was directly related to the silica ratio (SR).

Bulk single crystals of hydrazonium l-tartrate (HLT) an organic nonlinear optical material have been grown by isothermal solvent evaporation method using water:methanol (5:1) as solvent. The title compound crystallizes in orthorhombic system with noncentrosymmetric space group P212121. The thermal stability, thermal decomposition, and specific heat capacity of HLT have been explored by thermogravimetric/differential thermal analysis, differential scanning calorimetric analysis and modulated differential scanning calorimetric analysis. Improved photopyroelectric technique was adapted to analyze the most important thermophysical parameters in heat transfer calculations such as thermal effusivity, thermal diffusivity, thermal conductivity and heat capacity of HLT single crystal. The measured specific heat of HLT obtained from single crystal sample at 300 K is found to be about 3875 J kg−1 K−1 suggesting that the HLT could possesses high optical damage value and will be useful for the fabrication of optical devices. The anisotropic mechanical behaviors of HLT have been tested on crystallographic planes (100), (010), and (001) using Vickers microhardness tester at room temperature and the results were analyzed through classical Mayer’s law. Room temperature Vickers microhardness test reveals that hardness number of HLT are significantly different in measured orientations and interestingly (100), (001) orientations of HLT belong to soft material category, while the (010) belongs to hard material category because of Van der Waals forces. All these studies have been performed for the first time and aimed to explore the useful and safe regions of thermal and mechanical properties to enhance its usefulness for device fabrications.

This study is about the design and analysis of a reversible logic based multiplexer, that is realized using carbon nano tube transistor. Reversible logic realization of the digital circuits offers numerous advantages over conventional circuit design. Power analysis was performed using HSPICE simulation software and the results are obtained for the 2×1 and 4×1 multiplexer transient behavior. The power consumption is also obtained. Comparative analysis was performed with the conventional CMOS multiiplexer design to validate the proposed design performance.

In this study, we report the observation of memory effect in TiO2–GO nanocomposite films. Electrical properties of the prepared Al/TiO2–GO composite/ITO devices have shown stable and reproducible bipolar resistive switching behavior. The TiO2–GO composite films were prepared using solution method by spin coating technique. Observed results have shown that the inclusion of GO in the TiO2 matrix have exhibited a significant role in the resistive switching mechanism. The device has exhibited an excellent memory characteristic with low operating voltages, good endurance up to 105 cycles and long retention time more than 5 × 10 3 s .

A series of clay supported metal containing catalysts were prepared and their catalytic performance was evaluated in the synthesis of tetrasubstitued imidazoles under solvent free condition. It was found that K10 supported titanium catalyst showed higher activity compared to other catalysts. The catalysts were characterized by FTIR, XRD, TG/DTA, BET surface area and SEM. The general applicability of the method was demonstrated for the synthesis of tetra- substituted imidazoles from aldehydes and amines containing various electron donating and electron withdrawing substituents. The diversity of the catalyst was studied by synthesis of benzimidazoles and quinoxalines. The mechanism of formation of the products is explained in detail. The catalyst was found to be active for three cycles.