Thermodynamics of TmRhO3, Phase Equilibria, and Chemical Potentials in the System Tm-Rh-O

Phase equilibria in the system Tm-Rh-O at 1200 K is established by isothermal equilibration of selected compositions and phase identification after quenching to room temperature. Six intermetallic phases (Tm3Rh, Tm7Rh3, Tm5Rh3, Tm3Rh2, TmRh, TmRh2 +/-delta) and a ternary oxide TmRhO3 are identified. Based on experimentally determined phase relations, a solid-state electrochemical cell is devised to measure the standard free energy of formation of orthorhombic perovskite TmRhO3 from cubic Tm2O3 and beta-Rh2O3 in the temperature range from (900 to 1300) K. The results can be summarized as: Delta G(f,ox)(o) +/- 104/J.mol(-1) = -46474 + 3.925(T/K). Invoking the Neumann-Kopp rule, the standard enthalpy of formation of TmRhO3 from its constituent elements at 298.15 K is estimated as -1193.89 (+/- 2.86) kJ.mol(-1). The standard entropy of TmRhO3 at 298.15 K is evaluated as 103.8 (+/- 1.6) J.mol(-1).K-1. The oxygen potential-composition diagram and three-dimensional chemical potential diagram at 1200 K and temperature-composition diagrams at constant partial pressures of oxygen are computed from thermodynamic data. The compound TmRhO3 decomposes at 1688 (+/- 2) K in pure oxygen and at 1583 (+/- 2) K in air at standard pressure.

Identification of Active Sources in Single-Channel Convolutive Mixtures Using Known Source Models

We address the problem of identifying the constituent sources in a single-sensor mixture signal consisting of contributions from multiple simultaneously active sources. We propose a generic framework for mixture signal analysis based on a latent variable approach. The basic idea of the approach is to detect known sources represented as stochastic models, in a single-channel mixture signal without performing signal separation. A given mixture signal is modeled as a convex combination of known source models and the weights of the models are estimated using the mixture signal. We show experimentally that these weights indicate the presence/absence of the respective sources. The performance of the proposed approach is illustrated through mixture speech data in a reverberant enclosure. For the task of identifying the constituent speakers using data from a single microphone, the proposed approach is able to identify the dominant source with up to 8 simultaneously active background sources in a room with RT60 = 250 ms, using models obtained from clean speech data for a Source to Interference Ratio (SIR) greater than 2 dB.

Fluorescent Tris-Imidazolium Sensors for Picric Acid Explosive

Two new anthracene-functionalized fluorescent tris-imidazolium salts have been synthesized, characterized, and proven to be selective sensors for picric acid, which is a common constituent of many powerful explosives. Theoretical studies revealed an unusual ground-state electron transfer from picrate anion to the sensor molecules.

Enabling node repair in any erasure code for distributed storage

Erasure codes are an efficient means of storing data across a network in comparison to data replication, as they tend to reduce the amount of data stored in the network and offer increased resilience in the presence of node failures. The codes perform poorly though, when repair of a failed node is called for, as they typically require the entire file to be downloaded to repair a failed node. A new class of erasure codes, termed as regenerating codes were recently introduced, that do much better in this respect. However, given the variety of efficient erasure codes available in the literature, there is considerable interest in the construction of coding schemes that would enable traditional erasure codes to be used, while retaining the feature that only a fraction of the data need be downloaded for node repair. In this paper, we present a simple, yet powerful, framework that does precisely this. Under this framework, the nodes are partitioned into two types and encoded using two codes in a manner that reduces the problem of node-repair to that of erasure-decoding of the constituent codes. Depending upon the choice of the two codes, the framework can be used to avail one or more of the following advantages: simultaneous minimization of storage space and repair-bandwidth, low complexity of operation, fewer disk reads at helper nodes during repair, and error detection and correction.

Enabling node repair in any erasure code for distributed storage

Erasure codes are an efficient means of storing data across a network in comparison to data replication, as they tend to reduce the amount of data stored in the network and offer increased resilience in the presence of node failures. The codes perform poorly though, when repair of a failed node is called for, as they typically require the entire file to be downloaded to repair a failed node. A new class of erasure codes, termed as regenerating codes were recently introduced, that do much better in this respect. However, given the variety of efficient erasure codes available in the literature, there is considerable interest in the construction of coding schemes that would enable traditional erasure codes to be used, while retaining the feature that only a fraction of the data need be downloaded for node repair. In this paper, we present a simple, yet powerful, framework that does precisely this. Under this framework, the nodes are partitioned into two types and encoded using two codes in a manner that reduces the problem of node-repair to that of erasure-decoding of the constituent codes. Depending upon the choice of the two codes, the framework can be used to avail one or more of the following advantages: simultaneous minimization of storage space and repair-bandwidth, low complexity of operation, fewer disk reads at helper nodes during repair, and error detection and correction.

Thermoelectric properties of Bi-added Co4Sb12 skutterudites

Void filling in (I) Bi-x-added Co4Sb12 or (II) Sb/Bi substitution of Co4Sb12-xBix has been investigated for structural and thermoelectric properties evaluation. X-ray powder data Rietveld refinements combined with electron probe microanalyses showed a polycrystalline and practically Bi-free CoSb3 skutterudite phase as the major constituent as well as a secondary Bi phase in the grain boundaries. For series I alloys, the electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient and thermal conductivity were measured as a function of temperature in the range from 450 to 750 K. The electrical conductivity of all the samples increased with increasing temperature, showing a semiconducting nature with smaller values of the Seebeck coefficient for higher Bi fractions. Conduction over the entire temperature range was found to arise from a single p-type carrier. Thermal conductivity showed a reduction with Bi added in all the samples, except for Bi0.75Co4Sb12, and the lowest lattice thermal conductivity was found for a Bi-added fraction of 0.5. The maximum zT value of 0.53 at 632 K is higher than that of Co4Sb12.

MAST: multi-script annotation toolkit for scenic text

This paper describes a semi-automatic tool for annotation of multi-script text from natural scene images. To our knowledge, this is the maiden tool that deals with multi-script text or arbitrary orientation. The procedure involves manual seed selection followed by a region growing process to segment each word present in the image. The threshold for region growing can be varied by the user so as to ensure pixel-accurate character segmentation. The text present in the image is tagged word-by-word. A virtual keyboard interface has also been designed for entering the ground truth in ten Indic scripts, besides English. The keyboard interface can easily be generated for any script, thereby expanding the scope of the toolkit. Optionally, each segmented word can further be labeled into its constituent characters/symbols. Polygonal masks are used to split or merge the segmented words into valid characters/symbols. The ground truth is represented by a pixel-level segmented image and a '.txt' file that contains information about the number of words in the image, word bounding boxes, script and ground truth Unicode. The toolkit, developed using MATLAB, can be used to generate ground truth and annotation for any generic document image. Thus, it is useful for researchers in the document image processing community for evaluating the performance of document analysis and recognition techniques. The multi-script annotation toolokit (MAST) is available for free download.

Lexicon-free, novel segmentation of online handwritten indic words

Research in the field of recognizing unlimited vocabulary, online handwritten Indic words is still in its infancy. Most of the focus so far has been in the area of isolated character recognition. In the context of lexicon-free recognition of words, one of the primary issues to be addressed is that of segmentation. As a preliminary attempt, this paper proposes a novel script-independent, lexicon-free method for segmenting online handwritten words to their constituent symbols. Feedback strategies, inspired from neuroscience studies, are proposed for improving the segmentation. The segmentation strategy has been tested on an exhaustive set of 10000 Tamil words collected from a large number of writers. The results show that better segmentation improves the overall recognition performance of the handwriting system.

Multivalent glycoliposomes and micelles to study carbohydrate-protein and carbohydrate-carbohydrate interactions

This tutorial review describes multivalent carbohydrate-protein and carbohydrate-carbohydrate interaction studies that utilize self-assembled aggregates of thermodynamically stable liposomes and micelles. Strategies to prepare multivalent glycoliposomes and micelles include: (i) insertion of synthetic glycolipids into matrix lipids; (ii) preparation of glycolipids that aggregate to liposomes and micelles and (iii) modification of the hydrophilic surfaces with desired sugars. Several design strategies have been developed in order to obtain constituent glycolipids, having multivalent sugar moieties and their subsequent interactions with proteins were assessed in relation to the type of linkers that connect the hydrophilic and lipophilic segments. Lipophilic segments other than alkyl chains have also been developed. Polymer based glycoliposomes and micelles form an emphasis. Further, glycoliposomes facilitate studies of carbohydrate-carbohydrate interactions. An overview of the various types of glycoliposomes and micelles used to study carbohydrate-protein and carbohydrate-carbohydrate recognition phenomena is presented.

Anomalous magnetic behavior of La0.6Sr0.4MnO3 nano-tubes constituted with 3-12 nm particles

Uniform La0.6Sr0.4MnO3 (LSMO) nanotubes of an average diameter 180 nm were synthesized by a modified sol-gel method employing nanochannel porous anodic alumina templates. The nanotubes were characterized chemically and structurally by XRD, SEM, EDX, and TEM. Postannealed (700 degrees C for 1 h hour) nanotubes were found to be polycrystalline from XRD and SAED studies. To get further insight into the nanotube structure, HRTEM studies were done, which revealed that obtained LSMO nanotubes were structurally constituted with nanoparticles of 3-12 nm size. These constituent nanoparticles were randomly aligned and self-knitted to build the nanotube wall. Investigation of magnetic properties at this structured nanoscale revealed remarkable irreversibility between the zero field cooling (ZFC) and field cooling (FC) magnetization curves accompanied with a peak in the ZFC curve indicating spin-glass-like behavior. Structural defects and compositional variations at surfaces and grain-boundaries of constituent nanoparticles might be responsible for this anomalous magnetic behavior.

Exploring the color of transition metal ions in irregular coordination geometries: new colored inorganic oxides based on the spiroffite structure, Zn2-xMxTe3O8 (M = Co, Ni, Cu)

We describe the synthesis, crystal structures, and optical absorption spectra of transition metal substituted spiroffite derivatives, Zn2-xMxTe3O8 (M-II = Co, Ni, Cu; 0 < x <= 1.0). The oxides are readily synthesized by solid state reaction of stoichiometric mixtures of the constituent binaries at 620 degrees C. Reitveld refinement of the crystal structures from powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) data shows that the Zn/MO6 octahedra are strongly distorted, as in the parent Zn2Te3O8 structure, consisting of five relatively short Zn/M-II-O bonds (1.898-2.236 angstrom) and one longer Zn/M-II-O bond (2.356-2.519 angstrom). We have interpreted the unique colors and the optical absorption/diffuse reflectance spectra of Zn2-xMxTe3O8 in the visible, in terms of the observed/irregular coordination geometry of the Zn/M-II-O chromophores. We could not however prepare the fully substituted M2Te3O8 (M-II = Co, Ni, Cu) by the direct solid state reaction method. Density Functional Theory (DFT) modeling of the electronic structure of both the parent and the transition metal substituted derivatives provides new insights into the bonding and the role of transition metals toward the origin of color in these materials. We believe that transition metal substituted spiroffites Zn2-xMxTe3O8 reported here suggest new directions for the development of colored inorganic materials/pigments featuring irregular/distorted oxygen coordination polyhedra around transition metal ions.

Probing the spin-parity of the Higgs boson via jet kinematics in vector boson fusion

Determining the spin and the parity quantum numbers of the recently discovered Higgs-like boson at the LHC is a matter of great importance. In this Letter, we consider the possibility of using the kinematics of the tagging jets in Higgs production via the vector boson fusion (VBF) process to test the tensor structure of the Higgs-vector boson (HVV) interaction and to determine the spin and CP properties of the observed resonance. We show that an anomalous HVV vertex, in particular its explicit momentum dependence, drastically affects the rapidity between the two scattered quarks and their transverse momenta and, hence, the acceptance of the kinematical cuts that allow to select the VBF topology. The sensitivity of these observables to different spin-parity assignments, including the dependence on the LHC center of mass energy, are evaluated. In addition, we show that in associated Higgs production with a vector boson some kinematical variables, such as the invariant mass of the system and the transverse momenta of the two bosons and their separation in rapidity, are also sensitive to the spin-parity assignments of the Higgs-like boson.

Wafer scale fabrication of porous three-dimensional plasmonic metamaterials for the visible region: chiral and beyond

We report on a wafer scale fabrication method of a three-dimensional plasmonic metamaterial with strong chiroptical response in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The system was comprised of metallic nanoparticles arranged in a helical fashion, with high degree of flexibility over the choice of the underlying material, as well as their geometrical parameters. This resulted in exquisite control over the chiroptical properties, most importantly the spectral signature of the circular dichroism. In spite of the large variability in the arrangement, as well as the size and shape of the constituent nanoparticles, the average chiro-optical response of the material remained uniform across the wafer, thus confirming the suitability of this system as a large area chiral metamaterial. By simply heating the substrate for a few minutes, the geometrical properties of the nanoparticles could be altered, thus providing an additional handle towards tailoring the spectral response of this novel material.

Identifying services from Legacy batch applications

Transaction processing is a key constituent of the IT workload of commercial enterprises (e.g., banks, insurance companies). Even today, in many large enterprises, transaction processing is done by legacy "batch" applications, which run offline and process accumulated transactions. Developers acknowledge the presence of multiple loosely coupled pieces of functionality within individual applications. Identifying such pieces of functionality (which we call "services") is desirable for the maintenance and evolution of these legacy applications. This is a hard problem, which enterprises grapple with, and one without satisfactory automated solutions. In this paper, we propose a novel static-analysis-based solution to the problem of identifying services within transaction-processing programs. We provide a formal characterization of services in terms of control-flow and data-flow properties, which is well-suited to the idioms commonly exhibited by business applications. Our technique combines program slicing with the detection of conditional code regions to identify services in accordance with our characterization. A preliminary evaluation, based on a manual analysis of three real business programs, indicates that our approach can be effective in identifying useful services from batch applications.

Effect of myonuclear number and mitochondrial fusion on Drosophila indirect flight muscle organization and size

Mechanisms involved in establishing the organization and numbers of fibres in a muscle are not completely understood. During Drosophila indirect flight muscle (IFM) formation, muscle growth is achieved by both incorporating hundreds of nuclei, and hypertrophy. As a result, IFMs provide a good model with which to understand the mechanisms that govern overall muscle organization and growth. We present a detailed analysis of the organization of dorsal longitudinal muscles (DLMs), a subset of the IFMs. We show that each DLM is similar to a vertebrate fascicle and consists of multiple muscle fibres. However, increased fascicle size does not necessarily change the number of constituent fibres, but does increase the number of myofibrils packed within the fibres. We also find that altering the number of myoblasts available for fusion changes DLM fascicle size and fibres are loosely packed with myofibrils. Additionally, we show that knock down of genes required for mitochondrial fusion causes a severe reduction in the size of DLM fascicles and fibres. Our results establish the organization levels of DLMs and highlight the importance of the appropriate number of nuclei and mitochondrial fusion in determining the overall organization, growth and size of DLMs. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.