A differential geometric method for kinematic analysis of two- and three-degree-of-freedom rigid body motions

In this paper, we present a novel differential geometric characterization of two- and three-degree-of-freedom rigid body kinematics, using a metric defined on dual vectors. The instantaneous angular and linear velocities of a rigid body are expressed as a dual velocity vector, and dual inner product is defined on this dual vector, resulting in a positive semi-definite and symmetric dual matrix. We show that the maximum and minimum magnitude of the dual velocity vector, for a unit speed motion, can be obtained as eigenvalues of this dual matrix. Furthermore, we show that the tip of the dual velocity vector lies on a dual ellipse for a two-degree-of-freedom motion and on a dual ellipsoid for a three-degree-of-freedom motion. In this manner, the velocity distribution of a rigid body can be studied algebraically in terms of the eigenvalues of a dual matrix or geometrically with the dual ellipse and ellipsoid. The second-order properties of the two- and three-degree-of-freedom motions of a rigid body are also obtained from the derivatives of the elements of the dual matrix. This results in a definition of the geodesic motion of a rigid body. The theoretical results are illustrated with the help of a spatial 2R and a parallel three-degree-of-freedom manipulator.

A short, formal synthesis of (+/-)-2-pupukeanone

A short approach to (+/-)-2-pupukeanone, starting from 2,6-dimethylcyclohexenone employing a combination of Michael-Michael reaction and an intramolecular rhodium carbenoid C-H insertion as key reactions, is described.

Reliability Based Design Optimization for Internal Stability of Reinforced Soil Structures Using Pseudo‐Static Method

Seismic design of reinforced soil structures involves many uncertainties that arise from the backfill soil properties and tensile strength of the reinforcement which is not addressed in current design guidelines. This paper highlights the significance of variability in the internal stability assessment of reinforced soil structures. Reliability analysis is applied to estimate probability of failure and pseudo‐static approach has been used for the calculation of the tensile strength and length of the reinforcement needed to maintain the internal stability against tension and pullout failures. Logarithmic spiral failure surface has been considered in conjunction with the limit equilibrium method. Two modes of failure namely, tension failure and pullout failure have been considered. The influence of variations of the backfill soil friction angle, the tensile strength of reinforcement, horizontal seismic acceleration on the reliability index against tension failure and pullout failure of reinforced earth structure have been discussed.

A convenient enantiospecific methodology for (-)-(1R,5S)-1,5-dimethylbicyclo[3.3.0]octa-2,7-dione: A formal total synthesis of (-)-ceratopicanol

An enantiospecific formal total synthesis of (-)-ceratopicanol starting from the readily and abundantly available monoterpene (R)-limonene is described. A combination of Claisen rearrangement-intramolecular diazo-ketone cyclopropanation-regiospecific reductive cyclopropane cleavage reactions are employed for the stereo- and regiospecific generation of the two vicinal ring junction quaternary carbon atoms.

A new parallel overlapped domain decomposition method for nonlinear dynamic finite element analysis

In this paper a new parallel algorithm for nonlinear transient dynamic analysis of large structures has been presented. An unconditionally stable Newmark-beta method (constant average acceleration technique) has been employed for time integration. The proposed parallel algorithm has been devised within the broad framework of domain decomposition techniques. However, unlike most of the existing parallel algorithms (devised for structural dynamic applications) which are basically derived using nonoverlapped domains, the proposed algorithm uses overlapped domains. The parallel overlapped domain decomposition algorithm proposed in this paper has been formulated by splitting the mass, damping and stiffness matrices arises out of finite element discretisation of a given structure. A predictor-corrector scheme has been formulated for iteratively improving the solution in each step. A computer program based on the proposed algorithm has been developed and implemented with message passing interface as software development environment. PARAM-10000 MIMD parallel computer has been used to evaluate the performances. Numerical experiments have been conducted to validate as well as to evaluate the performance of the proposed parallel algorithm. Comparisons have been made with the conventional nonoverlapped domain decomposition algorithms. Numerical studies indicate that the proposed algorithm is superior in performance to the conventional domain decomposition algorithms. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Studies on the structural and ionic transport properties at elevated temperatures of La1-xMnO3 +/-delta synthesized by a wet chemical method

Structural transformation and ionic transport properties are investigated on wet-chemically synthesized La1-xMnO3 (X=0.0-0.18) compositions. Powders annealed in oxygen/air at 1000-1080 K exhibit cubic symmetry and transform to rhombohedral on annealing at 1173-1573 K in air/oxygen. Annealing above 1773 K in air or in argon/helium at 1473 K stabilized distorted rhombohedral or orthorhombic symmetry. Structural transformations are confirmed from XRD and TEM studies. The total conductivity of sintered disks, measured by four-probe technique, ranges from 5 S cm(-1) at 298 K to 105 S cm(-1) at 1273 K. The ionic conductivity measured by blocking electrode technique ranges from 1.0X10(-6) S cm(-1) at 700 K to 2.0X10(-3) S cm(-1) at 1273 K. The ionic transference number of these compositions ranges from 3.0X10(-5) to 5.0X10(-5) at 1273 K. The activation energy deduced from experimental data for ionic conduction and ionic migration is 1.03-1.10 and 0.80-1.00 eV, respectively. The activation energy of formation, association and migration of vacancies ranges from 1.07 to 1.44 eV. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Enantioselective Formal Synthesis of Palmerolide A

Enantioselective formal synthesis of macrolactone palmerolide A, a polyketide marine natural product, is described. Key strategies in the synthesis include the oxidative furan ring-opening of a chiral furyl carbinol for the installation of the 1,4-dienol core and a Jung nonaldol-aldol reaction for the dienamide core.

Study of Brittle-to-ductile-transition in Pt-aluminide bond coat using micro-tensile testing method

The Brittle-to-ductile-transition-temperature (BDTT) of free-standing Pt-aluminide (PtAl) coating specimens, i.e. stand-alone coating specimens without any substrate, was determined by micro-tensile testing technique. The effect of Pt content, expressed in terms of the thickness of initial electro-deposited Pt layer, on the BDTT of the coating has been evaluated and an empirical correlation drawn. Increase in the electrodeposited Pt layer thickness from nil to 10 mu m was found to cause an increase in the BDTT of the coating by about 100 degrees C.

Investigation of dielectric, piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties of b-axis grown triglycine sulphate single crystal

Large single crystal of triglycine sulphate (dimension 100 mm along monoclinic b-axis and 15 mm in diameter) was grown using the unidirectional solution growth technique. The X-ray diffraction studies confirmed the growth/long axis to be b-axis (polar axis). The dielectric studies were carried out at various temperatures to establish the phase transition temperature. The frequency response of the dielectric constant, dielectric loss and impedance of the crystal along the growth axis, was monitored. These are typically characterized by strong resonance peaks in the kHz region. The piezoelectric coefficients like stiffness constant (C), elastic coefficient (S), electromechanical coupling coefficient (k) and d (31) were calculated using the resonance-antiresonance method. Polarization (P)-Electric field (E) hysteresis loops were recorded at various temperatures to find the temperature-dependent spontaneous polarization of the grown crystal. The pyroelectric coefficients were determined from the pyroelectric current measurement by the Byer and Roundy method. The ferroelectric domain patterns were recorded on (010) plane using scanning electron microscopy and optical microscopy.

Structure and Photocatalytic Activity of Ti 1- x M x O 2±δ (M = W, V, Ce, Zr, Fe, and Cu) Synthesized by Solution Combustion Method

The W, V, Ce, Zr, Fe, and Cu metal ion substituted nanocrystalline anatase TiO2 was prepared by solution combustion method and characterized by XRD, Raman, BET, EPR, XPS, IR TGA, UV absorption, and photoluminescence measurements. The structural studies indicate that the solid solution formation was limited to a narrow range of concentrations of the dopant ions. The photocatalytic degradation of 4-nitrophenol under UV and solar exposure was investigated with Ti1-xMxO2±δ. The degradation rates of 4-nitrophenol with these catalysts were lesser than the degradation rates of 4-nitrophenol with undoped TiO2 both with UV exposure and solar radiation. However, the photocatalytic activities of most metal ion doped TiO2 are higher than the activity of the commercial TiO2, Degussa P25. The decrease in photocatalytic activity is correlated with decrease in photoluminescence due to electron states of metal ions within the band gap of TiO2.

On an Integrated Transfer Matrix method for multiply connected mufflers

The commercial automotive mufflers are generally of a complicated shape with multiply connected parts and complex acoustic elements. The analysis of such complex mufflers has always been a great challenge. In this paper, an Integrated Transfer Matrix method has been developed to analyze complex mufflers. Integrated transfer matrix relates the state variables across the entire cross-section of the muffler shell, as one moves along the axis of the muffler, and can be partitioned appropriately in order to relate the state variables of different tubes constituting the cross-section. The paper presents a generalized one-dimensional (1-D) approach, using the transfer matrices of simple acoustic elements, which are available from the literature. The present approach is robust and flexible owing to its capability to construct an overall matrix of the muffler with the transfer matrices of individual acoustic elements and boundary conditions, which can then be used to evaluate the transmission loss, insertion loss, etc. Results from the present approach have been validated through comparisons with the available experimental and three-dimensional finite element method (FEM) based results. The results show good agreement with both measurements and FEM analysis up to the cut-off frequency. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cobalt-doped ZnO nanowires on quartz: Synthesis by simple chemical method and characterization

The synthesis of cobalt-doped ZnO nanowires is achieved using a simple, metal salt decomposition growth technique. A sequence of drop casting on a quartz substrate held at 100 degrees C and annealing results in the growth of nanowires of average (modal) length similar to 200 nm and diameter of 15 +/- 4 nm and consequently an aspect ratio of similar to 13. A variation in the synthesis process, where the solution of mixed salts is deposited on the substrate at 25 degrees C, yields a grainy film structure which constitutes a useful comparator case. X-ray diffraction shows a preferred 0001] growth direction for the nanowires while a small unit cell volume contraction for Co-doped samples and data from Raman spectroscopy indicate incorporation of the Co dopant into the lattice; neither technique shows explicit evidence of cobalt oxides. Also the nanowire samples display excellent optical transmission across the entire visible range, as well as strong photoluminescence (exciton emission) in the near UV, centered at 3.25 eV. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

One step synthesis of monoclinic VO2 (B) bundles of nanorods: Cathode for Li ion battery

One of the metastable phases of vanadium dioxide, VO2(B) bundles of nanorods and microspheres have been synthesized through a simple hydrothermal method by dispersing V2O5 in aqueous quinol. The obtained products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electrochemical discharge-charge test for lithium battery. It was found that the morphologies of the obtained VO2(B) can be tuned by manipulating the relative amount of quinol. The electrochemical test found that the bundles of nanorods exhibit an initial discharge capacity of 171 mAh g(-1) and its almost stabilized capacity was reached to 108 mAh g(-1) after 47 cycles at a current density of 0.1 mA g(-1). The formation mechanism of the VO2(B) bundles of nanorods and microspheres was also discussed. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

An experimental study on cracking evolution in concrete and cement mortar by the b-value analysis of acoustic emission technique

Notched three point bend (TPB) specimens made with plain concrete and cement mortar were tested under crack mouth opening displacement (CMOD) control at a rate of 0.0004 mm/s and simultaneously acoustic emissions (AE) released were recorded during the experiments. Amplitude distribution analysis of AE released during concrete was carried out to study the development of fracture process in concrete and mortar specimens. The slope of the log-linear frequency-amplitude distribution of AE is known as the AE based b-value. The AE based b-value was computed in terms of physical process of time varying applied load using cumulative frequency distribution (Gutenberg-Richter relationship) and discrete frequency distribution (Aki's method) of AE released during concrete fracture. AE characteristics of plain concrete and cement mortar were studied and discussed and it was observed that the AE based b-value analysis serves as a tool to identify the damage in concrete structural members. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.