Fast Quantum-Dot Cellular Automata Adder/Subtractor Using Novel Fault Tolerant Exclusive-or Gate and Full Adder

Quantum-dot Cellular automata is a promising area to implement digital systems at nano scale level. Adders and subtractors are widely used in almost every digital information processing system. This work targets to design an efficient 8-bit adder/subtractor that can perform addition as well as subtraction by using a novel control signal distribution scheme. To perform controlled inversion of inputs a novel exclusive-or gate with fewer cells is proposed. During Quantum-dot Cellular automata circuit fabrication, missing cell defects have the potential to affect the performance of a circuit. The proposed designs have higher fault resistance to missing cell defects compared to the existing state-of-the-art designs. Results demonstrate that the proposed design has (N-2) less clock phases compared to the existing state-of-the-art designs. The proposed design can be extended to implement any N-bit adder/subtractor. All the designs are designed and verified using coherence vector simulation engine in QCADesigner.

     

Time reversal technique for health monitoring of metallic structure using Lamb waves

Time reversal active sensing using Lamb waves is investigated for health monitoring of a metallic structure. Experiments were conducted on an aluminum plate to study the time reversal behavior of A₀ and S₀ Lamb wave modes under narrow band and broad band pulse excitation. Damage in the form of a notch was introduced in the plate to study the changes in the characteristics of the time reversed Lamb wave modes experimentally. Time–frequency analysis of the time reversed signal was carried out to extract the damage information. A measure of damage based on wavelet transform was derived to quantify the hidden damage information in the time reversed signal. It has been shown that time reversal can be used to achieve temporal recompression of Lamb waves under broadband signal excitation. Further, the broad band excitation can also improve the resolution of the technique in detecting closely located defects. This is demonstrated by picking up the reflection of waves from the edge of the plate, from a defect close to the edge of the plate and from defects located near to each other. This study shows the effectiveness of Lamb wave time reversal for temporal recompression of dispersive Lamb waves for damage detection in health monitoring applications.     

The isomeric compounds nimbolide and isonimbolide

Nimbolide [systematic name: (4α,5α,6α,7α,15β,17α)‐7,15:21,23‐diepoxy‐6‐hydroxy‐4,8‐dimethyl‐1‐oxo‐18,24‐dinor‐11,12‐secochola‐2,13,20,22‐tetraene‐4,11‐dicarboxylic acid γ‐lactone methyl ester], C₂₇H₃₀O₇, was isolated from the leaves of Azadirachta indica, and its isomer, isonimbolide [systematic name: (4α,5α,6α,7α,15α)‐7,15:21,23‐diepoxy‐6‐hydroxy‐4,8‐dimethyl‐1‐oxo‐18,24‐dinor‐11,12‐secochola‐2,16,20,22‐tetra­ene‐4,11‐dicarboxylic acid γ‐lactone methyl ester], was prepared from a novel rearrangement reaction of nimbolide, using boron trifluoride etherate and tetra­butyl­ammonium bromide. The reaction conditions are probably responsible for the ether cleavage, double‐bond rearrangement and reformation of the ether linkage. As a result, there are conformational changes in two cyclo­pentane rings and the side‐chain –CH₂COOMe group. In isonimbolide, an (24) hydrogen‐bond motif is observed.     

Synthesis, structural characterization and antibacterial activity of 2,6-diacetylpyridine bis(benzenesulfonohydrazide) Schiff bases and their copper(II) complexes

2,6-Diacetylpyridine bis(benzenesulfonohydrazide) Schiff bases (L¹, L² and L³) and their Cu(II) complexes of the general formula [CuL·H₂O] were synthesized and characterized by various spectroscopic techniques. The crystal structure of [CuL³·(py)]·py was investigated by single crystal X-ray structure analysis. The Cu(II) cation has near square pyramidal, penta-coordinate geometry. The binegatively charged tetradentate Schiff base is asymmetrically coordinated to the Cu(II) ion via the pyridine N atom, the azomethine N atom, the sulfonyl O atom and the deprotonated hydrazine N atom. There is a pyridine molecule apically coordinated to the Cu(II) ion. All the Schiff bases and their copper(II) complexes were screened by the disc diffusion method against multi-drug resistant (MDR) gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values were also determined. These results show that the antibacterial activity of the Schiff bases against Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is enhanced when they are chelated with the copper(II) ion.     

Synthesis, characterization and radiolytic properties of bis(oxalato)borate containing ionic liquids

Previously unreported bis(oxalato)borate (BOB) ionic liquids (ILs) containing imidazolium, pyridinium, and pyrrolidinium cations were prepared from the corresponding halide salts by reaction with sodium bis(oxalato)borate (NaBOB), and their properties are reported. Pulse radiolysis experiments revealed that the BOB anion scavenges solvated electrons with rate constants of 3×10⁸ M⁻¹ s⁻¹ in the ionic liquid C₄mpyrr NTf₂ and 2.8×10⁷ M⁻¹ s⁻¹ in water. This reactivity indicates that BOB ILs may be too sensitive to be used as neat solvents for nuclear separations processes in high radiation fields but may still be useful for preventing criticality while processing relatively “cold” fissile actinides.     

Single-molecule spectroscopy of fluorescent proteins

The discovery and use of fluorescent proteins has revolutionized cellular biology. Despite the widespread use of visible fluorescent proteins as reporters and sensors in cellular environments the versatile photophysics of fluorescent proteins is still subject to intense research. Understanding the details of the photophysics of these reporters is essential for accurate interpretation of the biological and biochemical processes illuminated by fluorescent proteins. Some aspects of the complex photophysics of fluorescent proteins can only be observed and understood at the single-molecule level, which removes averaging inherent to ensemble studies. In this paper we review how single-molecule emission detection has helped understanding of the complex photophysics of fluorescent proteins.

Controlling the Structure of Manganese(II) Phosphates by the Choice and Ratio of Organophosphate and Auxiliary Ligands

Tetranuclear manganese(II) phosphates [Mn(dipp)(bpy)]₄?4 H₂O ( 1 ) and [Mn₄(dmpp)₂(dmppH)₄(bpy)₄(H₂O)₂]?H₂O ( 2 ) have been prepared from Mn(OAc)₂?4 H₂O and 2,6‐diisopropylphenyl phosphate (dippH₂) or 2,6‐dimethylphenyl phosphate (dmppH₂) in the presence of 2,2′‐bipyridine (bpy). In contrast, the reaction between [Mn(bpy)₂(OAc)(ClO₄)]?H₂O and dippH₂ affords [Mn(bpy)₂(dippH)]₂?2 ClO₄?2 CH₃OH ( 3 ). The reactions of Mn(OAc)₂?4 H₂O, dippH₂, and pyridine (py) or 3,5‐dimethylpyrazole (dmpz) in CH₃CN under reflux afford hexanuclear complexes [Mn₆(dipp)₆(py)₈]?2CH₃CN ( 4 ) and [Mn₆(dipp)₆(dmpz)₆(AcOH)₂]?2 H₂O ( 5 ), respectively. Although compounds 1 and 2 are tetrameric, the former is a closed cubane‐like structure resembling the D4R secondary building unit of zeolites, whereas the latter exists in a staircase structure with fused Mn₂O₄P₂ rings. The core structure of 3 contains a Mn₂O₄P₂ eight‐membered ring that resembles the S4R building block of zeolites. Single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction studies reveal that compounds 4 and 5 have a similar core structure and differ from each other by the neutral ligands coordinated to manganese ions. All six phosphate ligands exist in a doubly deprotonated [(RO)PO₃^2?] form and exhibit two types of binding modes [5.222] and [3.111]. An interesting feature of compounds 1 – 5 is that although they are oligonuclear complexes, there is an absence of oxido bridges. The magnetic properties of compounds 1 – 5 have been investigated in the temperature range 5–298 K, and it was found that all the compounds obey the Curie law.     

A new synthetic route to cyclophosphadithiatriazenes: synthesis and X‐ray structural characterization of the first spirocycle containing thiadiazaphosphetidine and phosphadithiatriazene heterocycles

The phosphetidine 2,4‐Di‐tert‐butyl‐3‐chloro‐1λ⁶‐thia‐2,4‐diaza‐3‐phosphetidine‐1,1‐dioxide, O₂S (^tBuN)₂PCl, reacts with tetrasulfur tetranitride, S₄N₄, in benzene under reflux to afford the novel 4,6‐spirocycle in moderate yield. The deep‐blue crystals of the spirocycle are airstable and high melting in nature. The spiro phosphorus atom subtends a four‐membered P^VS^VIN₂ ring which is saturated, and a six‐membered P^VS N₃ ring which is unsaturated. The single‐crystal X‐ray structure of this first example of the spirocycle reveals a planar PSN₂ ring and a puckered PS₂N₃ ring and the molecule is symmetric in nature. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

CFD–DEM study of effect of bed thickness for bubbling fluidized beds

The effect of bed thickness in rectangular fluidized beds is investigated through the CFD–DEM simulations of small-scale systems. Numerical results are compared for bubbling fluidized beds of various bed thicknesses with respect to particle packing, bed expansion, bubble behavior, solids velocities, and particle kinetic energy. Good two-dimensional (2D) flow behavior is observed in the bed having a thickness of up to 20 particle diameters. However, a strong three-dimensional (3D) flow behavior is observed in beds with a thickness of 40 particle diameters, indicating the transition from 2D flow to 3D flow within the range of 20–40 particle diameters. Comparison of velocity profiles near the walls and at the center of the bed shows significant impact of the front and back walls on the flow hydrodynamics of pseudo-2D fluidized beds. Hence, for quantitative comparison with experiments in pseudo-2D columns, the effect of walls has to be accounted for in numerical simulations.     

Adsorption and photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue using high surface area titanate nanotubes (TNT) synthesized via hydrothermal method

Removal of methylene blue (MB) via adsorption and photocatalysis using titanate nanotubes (TNTs) with different surface areas were investigated and compared to commercial titanium dioxide (TiO₂) P25 Degussa nanoparticles. The TNTs with surface area ranging from 20 m²/g to 200 m²/g were synthesized via hydrothermal method with different reaction times. TEM imaging confirmed the tubular structure of TNT while XRD spectra indicated all TNTs exhibited anatase crystallinity. Batch adsorption rate showed linearity with surface properties of TNTs, where materials with higher surface area showed higher adsorption rate. The highest MB adsorption (70%) was achieved by TNT24 in 60 min whereas commercial TiO₂ exhibited the lowest adsorption of only 10% after 240 min. Adsorption isotherm studies indicated that adsorption using TNT is better fitted into Langmuir adsorption isotherm than Freundlich isotherm model. Furthermore, TNT24 was able to perform up to 90% removal of MB within 120 min, demonstrating performance that is 2-fold better compared to commercial TiO₂. The high surface area and surface Bronsted acidity are the main reasons for the improvement in MB removal performance exhibited by TNT24. The improvement in surface acidity enhanced the adsorption properties of all the nanotubes prepared in this study.