Ultrasonic study of binary mixtures of acetone with chlorobenzene at different frequencies

The ultrasonic velocity (C) and density (ρ) have been measured at different frequencies (1MHz, 3MHz and 5 MHz) in the binary mixtures of acetone with chlorobenzene over the entire range of mole fraction at temperature 303.16K. The data of C and ρ have been used to evaluate the isentropic compressibility (β), intermolecular free length (L_f) and acoustic impedance (Z) and their excess values to elucidate the molecular association in the mixture. The variation of these parameters with solute (acetone) indicates the nature of interaction present in the binary mixture.     

The Kolkata Paise Restaurant problem and resource utilization

We study the dynamics of the “Kolkata Paise Restaurant problem”. The problem is the following: In each period, N agents have to choose between N restaurants. Agents have a common ranking of the restaurants. Restaurants can only serve one customer. When more than one customer arrives at the same restaurant, one customer is chosen at random and is served; the others do not get the service. We first introduce the one-shot versions of the Kolkata Paise Restaurant problem which we call one-shot KPR games. We then study the dynamics of the Kolkata Paise Restaurant problem (which is a repeated game version of any given one shot KPR game) for large N. For statistical analysis, we explore the long time steady state behavior. In many such models with myopic agents we get under-utilization of resources, that is, we get a lower aggregate payoff compared to the social optimum. We study a number of myopic strategies, focusing on the average occupation fraction of restaurants.     

Mössbauer Study of Oxygenated Iron-Phthalocyanines,a Precursor of Magnetic Storage Material

⁵⁷Fe transmission Mössbauer spectroscopy and X-ray diffractometry were used to study - and -polymorphs of iron phthalocyanines (FePc) to get information about their oxygenation in connection with controlled pyrolysis of flat layered phthalocyanines initiated by radicals at relatively low temperatures, to form acicular carbide particles encaged in carbon. Mössbauer spectroscopy and XRD revealed that the oxygenation of both - and -polymorphs of FePc was successfully achieved. New Mössbauer spectral components (doublets) appeared upon the oxygenation in both and FePc. This can be attributed to iron microenvironments containing oxygen between the layers of iron phthalocyanines.     

Mach-Zehnder interferometer-based tree architecture for all-optical logic and arithmetic operations

Interferometric devices for optical processing have been of great interest in recent years. Semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA)-based Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) has already taken a significant role in the field of ultra-fast all-optical signal processing. Optical tree architecture (OTA) provides important contributions in optical interconnecting networks. In this communication, we have tried to exploit the advantages of both OTA and SOA-based MZI switches. We have proposed SOA-MZI-based tree architecture, a new and alternative scheme, for integrated all-optical logic and arithmetic operations. This architecture can enable one to perform all-optical processing of signals, including two input logic operations, half-adder, full-adder, full-subtractor, one-bit data comparator, etc.     

Demixing of severely overlapped H NMR resonances and interpretation of anomalous intensity pattern of dipolar coupled A3 spins in a weakly aligning medium

The increasing scientific and industrial interest towards metabonomics takes advantage from the high qualitative and quantitative information level of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. However, several chemical and physical factors can affect the absolute and the relative position of an NMR signal and it is not always possible or desirable to eliminate these effects a priori. To remove misalignment of NMR signals a posteriori, several algorithms have been proposed in the literature. The icoshift program presented here is an open source and highly efficient program designed for solving signal alignment problems in metabonomic NMR data analysis. The icoshift algorithm is based on correlation shifting of spectral intervals and employs an FFT engine that aligns all spectra simultaneously. The algorithm is demonstrated to be faster than similar methods found in the literature making full-resolution alignment of large datasets feasible and thus avoiding down-sampling steps such as binning. The algorithm uses missing values as a filling alternative in order to avoid spectral artifacts at the segment boundaries. The algorithm is made open source and the Matlab code including documentation can be downloaded from www.models.life.ku.dk.     

Observation of enhanced two-photon absorption in ZnS quantum dots at an ultraviolet wavelength

Two-photon absorption(2PA) in zinc sulphide(ZnS) and Mn2+-doped ZnS quantum dots is reported by the z-scan technique,with nanosecond pulsed laser radiation at 355 nm.The observed values of the 2PA cross section of all the samples are 105 times larger than that of bulk ZnS.     

Synthesis of ordered ZnO nanowire arrays from aqueous solution using AAO template

In this paper we report a simple method that enables the easy fabrication of ordered ZnO nanowire arrays using Anodic Aluminium Oxide (AAO) template. We have used a vacuum injection technique to fill solution into the pores of an AAO template. The AAO template has been fabricated by a two-step anodization process using 0.3 M oxalic acid (H₂C₂O₄) solution under a constant voltage of 40 V. The AAO template formed through this process has been detached from Al substrate via an anodic voltage pulse using perchloric acid (HClO₄) solution (70%). The nanowires of ZnO have been synthesized by injecting the saturated Zn(NO₃)₂ solution into the pores of the detached AAO template using a vacuum pump. The ZnO nanowires synthesized by this technique have been found dense & continuous with uniform diameter throughout the length of the wire. The structural characteristics of AAO template and ZnO nanowires have been studied by Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM), Atomic force microscope (AFM) and Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM).