Zinc-catalyzed Williamson ether synthesis in the absence of base

Zinc powder was found to be a highly efficient catalyst for the synthesis of aromatic ethers using microwave heating in the presence of N,N-dimethylformamide as well as under stirring in an oil-bath using tetrahydrofuran as solvent without any inorganic base. This method can be used for selective mono-, di- or tri-O-alkylations.     

Effect of shear rate on the rate of radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate

The effect of shear rate on the radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate at 50°, in bulk as well as in solution, has been studied. The rate of polymerization increases by as much as 15% at high shear rates. This increase is explained in terms of changes in the initiator efficiency with shear rate.     

Neutral current effects in the parity violating nuclear force

The measurements of the ΔI = 1 part of the parity violating nuclear force when combined with information on neutral current couplings from neutrino scattering and pion production experiments allow an estimate of the isoscalar admixture in the neutral current if it has a vector axial-vector structure has been shown.     

InxGa1−xAs (x=0.25–0.35) grown at low temperature

In_xGa_1−xAs (x=0.25–0.35) grown at low temperature on GaAs by molecular beam epitaxy is characterized by Hall effect, transmission electron microscopy, and ultrafast optical testing. As with low temperature (LT) GaAs, the resistivity is generally higher after a brief anneal at 600°C. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy shows all the as-grown epilayers to be heavily dislocated due to the large lattice mismatch (2–3%). When the layers are annealed, in addition to the dislocations, precipitates are also generally observed. As with LT-GaAs, the lifetime shortens as growth temperature is reduced through the range 300–120°C; also, the lifetime in LT-In_xGa_1−xAs is generally shorter in as-grown samples relative to annealed samples. Metal-semiconductor-metal photodetectors fabricated on the material exhibit response times of 1–2 picoseconds, comparable to results reported on GaAs grown at low temperature, and the fastest ever reported in the wavelength range of 1.0–1.3 μm.     

Nucleon-nucleon interaction with tensor forces in the quark compound bag model

A model forN-N interaction proposed earlier by two of us (VSB and VKG), has been extended to incorporate the tensor component of the nuclear force. Based on the quark compound bag model (QCB), the nucleon-nucleon potential has a short range repulsive core which is non-local and has a characteristic energy dependence and is expressed in terms of the parameters relating to the six-quark compound bag. To account for the low energy properties, this repulsive core interaction is supplemented by a phenomenological non-local potential containing both central (S-wave) and tensor components and operates only outside the QCB. Using this model, we analyse and compare the results with the experimental data for the electromagnetic form factors of the deuteron, theD-state observables, such as the quadrupole moment, theD-state probability, and theD/S ratio along with then-p scattering phase shifts up to about 400 MeV.     

Optimization of Transducer Location for Novel Non-Intrusive Methodologies of Diagnosis in Diesel Engines

The health monitoring has been studied to ensure integrity of design of engine structure by detection, quantification, and prediction of damages. Early detection of faults may allow the downtime of maintenance to be rescheduled, thus preventing sudden shutdown of machines. In cylinder pressure developed, vibrations and noise emissions data provide a rich source of information about condition of engines. Monitoring of vibrations and noise emissions are novel non-intrusive methodologies for which positioning of various transducers are important issue. The presented work shows applicability of these diagnosis methodologies adopted in case of diesel engines. The effects of changing various fuel injection parameters was analyzed. Scope of using non-intrusive technique has been analyzed by changing locations of microphone. Novelty of this worklies in exploring signal processing methods for various locations around the engine test set up. Various frequency ranges of contributing noise and vibration sources were identified. Time-Frequency analysis showed the onset of various cyclic. Based on the identification of various frequency bands, it is possible to device suitable filters in order to extract more information.     

Data and device protection: A ToF‐SIMS,wetting, and XPS study of an Apple iPod nano

An important aspect of the robustness of an electronic device is its ability to resist water, fingerprints, dirt, and smudges that may compromise its ability to function and/or the information within it. Here, we report a chemical analysis by ToF‐SIMS, wetting, and XPS of the surfaces in a commercially available Apple iPod nano (8GB, MC525LL/A), which showed good resistance to its environment. This analysis reveals that the front panel (touchscreen) of the device is coated with a low free energy fluorinated polymer that may consist of short segments of a fluorinated hydrocarbon connected through ether linkages. No other part of the device appears to have this hydrophobic coating. A plasma treatment of the device leads to a deterioration of its performance. This work demonstrates how different analytical techniques can complement each other and contribute to a better understanding of a surface or a material. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A stochastic manpower planning model under varying class sizes

Solution related to different types of manpower planning problems arising in different industries and organizations are very much helpful for proper planning and implementation of different objectives. Previously those type of problems are mostly solved under the deterministic set up. Gradually several scientists have developed different types of stochastic models appropriate for solving such types of problems. The present study is an attempt to develop a stochastic manpower planning model under the set up where the classes are of varying sizes and promotion occurs only on the basis of seniority. The work of second author was supported by a research fellowship from Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (Sanction No. 9/28(611)/2003-EMR-I), India.