001813   Lin G C;Gong D C;Chang C C (NO, , ) : On an economic production quantity model with two unreliable key components subject to random failures. J scient ind Res 2014, 73(3), 149-52.

This paper considers an Economic Production Quantity (EPQ) model with an imperfect machine affected by two unreliable key components that may fail randomly due to three independent sources of shocks during a production run. A no-resumption (NR) policy and an abort-resume (AR) policy are investigated. One property and various near-optimal solutions are obtained. Numerical examples are provided to illustrate the quality of these solutions by comparing them with results obtained in use of a genetic algorithm.

1 illus, 1 table, 23 ref

001812   Karthikeyan S;Elango A;Prathima A (Mechanical Engineering Dep, Syed Ammal Engineering College, Ramanathapuram, Tamilnadu, Email: kamalipaper@gmail.com) : Performance and emission study on zinc oxide nano particles addition with pomolion stearin wax biodiesel of CI engine. J scient ind Res 2014, 73(3), 187-90.

In this study, Pomolion Stearin wax oil biodiesel with zinc oxide additive was studied in a single-cylinder, stationary, air cooled and direct injection compression ignition engines as well as its effects on engine performance and exhaust emissions were studied. The Pomolion Stearin Wax oil Methyl Ester (PSWME) is mixed with the zinc oxide nanoparticles in the mass fractions of 50 ppm and 100 ppm with the aid of an ultrasonicator. The average diameter of the zinc oxide nanoparticles is less than 100nm. The properties such as flash point, kinematic viscosity, cetane number, cloud point, sulphated ash and calorific value of all blends were determined and compared with ASTM (D7467) standards. The experiments were conducted at a constant speed of 1500 rpm. The acquired data were studied for various parameters such as brake mean effective pressure (bmep), brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC), brake thermal efficiency (BTE), exhaust temperature and exhaust gases of Carbon monoxide (CO), hydro carbon (HC) and Nitrogen oxide (NOx) gases for 80% Diesel + 20% PSWME (B20), 80% Diesel + 20% PSWME + 50 ppm Zinc Oxide (D80B20ZnO50) and 80% Diesel + 20% PSWME + 100ppm Zinc Oxide (D80B20ZnO100) fuel blends at different loads, i.e., 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% were tested.

4 illus, 2 tables, 14 ref

001811   Kaleemulla K M;Satish K G (NO, , ) : Correlating the damage behaviour of polymer composites with the potential energy of the impactor. J Mater metall Engng 2014, 4(2), 1-9.

Design of structures using composites requires comprehensive evaluation and characterization of mechanical properties in both undamaged and damaged state. Composite laminates undergo combinations of mechanical loading resulting into microdamage accumulation in the plies. The first mode of damage is usually intralaminar cracking with the crack plane transverse to the middle plane of the laminate, spanning the whole width of the laminate. The density of cracks in a ply depends on layer orientation with respect to the load direction, laminate lay-up, ply thickness, material fracture toughness and certainly, potential energy of the impactor. This article addresses the issues related to damage under impact loading. An investigation of damage initiation and experimentation on a woven glass/satin epoxy composite material was performed for different potential energies of the impactor. Plain weave glass/textile satin epoxy laminate with (0/90)s orientation was investigated. Experimental data for laminate are summarized to establish a relationship between potential energy of the impactor and severity of damage.

001810   Jian-ming Z;Meng-jie H;Er-dong L;Qi-long Y; Ji-ming X;Ao-fei T (NO, School of Mechanical and Precision Instrument Engineering Xi'an Univ o, Xi'an 710048, China, Email: zjm,xjm,yuanql}@xaut.edu.cn) : Adaptive fuzzy PID control for servo motor direct-drive pump control system. J Digital Inf Mgmt 2014, 12(1), 1-7.

Direct-drive pump control system has been gradually applied to the industrial control field due to its high control precision, fast response, small throttle loss and compact structure. This paper adopts the fuzzy PID control method to resolve the hydraulic cylinder position servo control of direct-drive pump control system. The system model and fuzzy PID control algorithm was established by using AMEsim/Simulink joint simulation platform. - 273 - The step response and Sine tracking performance of the system with PID and fuzzy PID control algorithms was investigated by simulation. At the same time, the performance of PID and fuzzy PID control was studied on the self-developed electro-hydraulic servo control experiment table. The results show that the adaptive fuzzy PID control can greatly improve the performance of the PID control, and has the characteristics of fast response, short rise time, small time delay and overshoot.

10 illus, 10 ref

001809   Happy F A;Hossain M S;Rahman A (NO, , ) : Pressure data analysis and multilayer modeling of a gas-condensate reservoir. J Petrol Engng Technol 2014, 4(2), 7-15.

Kailastila gas field located at Golapgonj, Sylhet, is one of the largest gas fields in Bangladesh. It produces a high amount of condensate along with natural gas. For the high values of GOR, it may be treated as a wet gas at reservoir condition. Three main sand reservoirs are confirmed in this field (upper, middle and lower). In this study, it has been shown that reservoir parameters of this gas field can be obtained for multilayered rectangular reservoir with formation cross-flow using pressure and their semi-log derivative on a set of dimensionless-type curve. The effects of the reservoir parameters such as permeability, skin, storage coefficient, and others such as reservoir areal extent and layering on the wellbore response and pressure are investigated. Shut-in pressures are used in calculating permeability, skin factor, average reservoir pressure, wellbore storage effect and other reservoir properties. The direction of the formation cross flow is determined, first by the layer permeability and later by the skin factor. Finally, it is recommended to perform diagnostic analysis along with multilayer modeling to extract better results. Reservoir can also be considered as a multilayer cylindrical and can also use these models for other fields.

001808   Gondhak P S;Sabihuddin S (NO, , ) : Stakeholder's perception of the causede and effects of construction delays on project delivery. J Constr Engng Technol Mgmt 2014, 4(2), 22-29.

Indian construction industry is large, volatile, and requires tremendous capital outlays. Typically, the work offers low rates of return in relation to the amount of risk involved. A unique element of risk in the industry is the manner in which disputes and claims are woven through the fiber of the construction process. Delay is generally acknowledged as the most common, costly, complex and risky problem encountered in construction projects. Because of the overriding importance of time for both the owner and the contractor, it is the source of frequent disputes and claims leading to lawsuits. The growing rate of delays is adversely affecting the timely delivery of construction projects. Presently, construction industries are facing a lot of problems, considering that a paper assess construction stakeholder's perception to the causes of delays and its effects on project delivery. And also one case study is considered in this paper to elicit responses from construction stakeholders. The primary aim of this paper is to identify the perceptions of the different parties regarding causes of delays, the allocation of responsibilities and the types of delays, and method of minimizing the construction delays.

001807   Gogoi S B;Tamuli A S (NO, , ) : Recent advances in treating oil field produced water. J Petrol Engng Technol 2014, 4(2), 1-6.

Oil field produced water contains substantial quantity of oil and grease and other suspended particles and therefore, it cannot be disposed off directly or cannot be injected to the sub surface for secondary recovery purposes keeping in view of the environmental concerns. The water therefore has to be treated suitably. This article summarizes the various advanced available technologies that can be used for treating the produced water of Assam keeping in mind not only the safe disposal norms but also if the produced water has to be used as a source of fresh water.

^iia

001806   Gandhak P S;Wankhade R (NO, , ) : Safety issues with tower crane and remedial measures. J Constr Engng Technol Mgmt 2014, 4(2), 14-21.

Tower cranes are the focus of execution on today's typical building construction sites. Tower crane has to hoist and transport a variety of loads near and above people, under crowded conditions, occasionally with overlapping work zones, and often within time, budget, and labor constraints. This leads to the safety risk on sites that are intrinsically hazardous. This paper identifies the major factors affecting safety of tower-crane and evaluates the degree to which each factor influences ongoing safety on site. It uses accidental data on accident alone is ruled out as a source of information due to the countless number of incidents that go unreported, the common inability of accidental data is to provide root causes, as a predictor of accidents. With the limited resources available for safety improvement and accident prevention, greater attention must be paid by all parties involved to those factors evaluated as highly affecting site safety due to tower-crane work.

001805   Fuska J;Kubinsky D;B rek V;Halaj P;Len rt R (NO, , ) : TIN model of water reservoir bottom and assessment of model accuracy. J Remote Sensing GIS 2014, 5(1), 27-33.

Natural and anthropogenic processes are causing changes in topography of water reservoir bed. These changes are connected to the income and outcome of the sediment to the water reservoir, so the water depth and total reservoir volume changes too. Knowledge of topography of the water reservoir bed and its changes can be useful for calculation of total actual amount of the sediment, - 271 - for calculation of the actual volume of water in current water level, or it can be used for creation of area-capacity curves of the reservoir. This paper deals with the possibility of the creation of TIN (triangulated irregular network) model of the water reservoir bed and also for the assessment of the accuracy of the created TIN model. The idea of accuracy assessment is the evaluation of differences between modeled cross sections and the real elevations of the reservoir bed. Input data are the points collected with the GPS and depth measuring with the level staff (contact measuring) and the points collected with the GPS receiver and sonar during sailing in the reservoir (non-contact measuring). Then the data are processed in the ArcGIS 9.3 software and the TIN model of the reservoir bed is created. The cross sections of the model and the real elevations of the reservoir bed are created in the AutoCAD 2009 software. This method is demonstrated in the swimming pool in Topolcany. Bottom of the swimming pool is plain with good possibility to estimate real elevations of the points at its surface. The comparison of the modeled cross sections with the real bottom elevation offers evaluation of the accuracy of the method that can be obtained in the field work in the proper water reservoirs (fish ponds, irrigation reservoirs, etc.).

8 ref

001804   Felix S N;Kollu P;Raghupathy B P C;Jeong S K; Grace N (Centre for Nanotechnology Research, VIT Univ, Vellore-632 014, Email: balapraveen2000@yahoo.com) : Electrocatalytic activity of Cu₂O nanocubes-based electrode for glucose oxidation. J chem Sci 2014, 126(1), 25-32.

A direct electrocatalytic activity of glucose oxidation on cuprous oxide modified glassy carbon electrode is reported. Cu₂O nanocubes were synthesized by a simple wet chemical route in the absence of surfactants. Purity, shape and morphology of Cu₂O are characterized by XRD, SEM, XPS and DRS-UV. The Cu2O nanocubes-modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) exhibited high electrocatalytic activity towards glucose oxidation compared with bare GCE electrode. At an applied potential of +0.60 V, the Cu₂O electrode presented a high sensitivity of 121.7 μA/mM. A linear response was obtained from 0 to 500 μM, a response time less than 5 s and a detection limit of 38 μM (signal/noise=3). The Cu₂O nanocubes-modified electrode was stable towards interfering molecules like uric acid (UA), ascorbic acid (AA) and dopamine (DA). In short, a facile chemical preparation process of cuprous oxide nanocubes, and the fabricated modified electrod allow highly sensitive, selective, and fast amperometric sensing of glucose, which is promising for the future development of non-enzymatic glucose sensors.

7 illus, 2 tables, 52 ref

001803   Fayomi O S I;Abdulwahab M;Popoola A P I (Chemical Dep, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa, Email: sunnyfayomi@yahoo.co.uk) : Potentials of Elaeis guineensis and Pinus sylvestris as binders on foundry core strength. J scient ind Res 2014, 73(3), 173-6.

Potential of foundry sand core binders made with palm oil (Elaeisguineensis) and pine oil (Pinussylvestris) were investigated. Core specimens made with Ota silica base sand bonded with percentage of cassava starch in admixed proportion of Elaeis guineensis and Pinus sylvestris were tested for tensile, compressive strength, permeability and time of collapse to establish the binder's efficiency. Tensile strength of the green baked core were oven baked at 50°C, 100°C 150°C and 200°C; cooled to room temperature and tested with universal strength machine. The combined evaluation of the oils at higher percentages of starch addition indicates a significant improvement on the foundry properties. The cylindrically shaped permeability specimens were tested with permeability meter. Study revealed that cores baked at 150°C for palm oil attained a significant strength at lower baking periods than others. Pine oil showed an improve properties at 6% cassava starch at 200°C

^ssc2 illus, 2 tables, 20 ref

001802   Dayakar T;Venkateswara Rao K;Chakra C S (Centre for Nano Science & Technology, IST, Jawaharlal Nehru Technological Univ, Hyderabad, Email: kalagadda2003@gmail.com) : Preparation and characterization of MgFe₂O₄/TiO₂ nano particles by combined process for sensor applications. Invertis J renewable Energy 2014, 4(2), 87-92.

The trinary or tetranary metal oxides has lot of prominence in the application of fields in science and technology. Most of the transition metal oxides have the compatibility with neighbor metal or transition metal oxides. Recent trends fallows the developments of nano size materials of metal and metal oxide particles are highly pursued because of their importance in different fields of science and technology applications. In all the transition metal oxides, MgFe₂O₄ is mixed with TiO₂ is a potential candidate for the many applications. MgFe₂O₄ was made by solution combustion process, TiO₂ was added to the sample to (MgFe₂O₄)_1-x/(TiO₂)_x i.e., (0<60>X<60>1.0) by wet grinding for 2 hr, then mixed powder was annealing to a temperature of 500oc. Further these materials were used for sensor application. The MgFe₂O₄ is mixed with TiO₂ nano particles were characterized by studying their structure with X-ray diffraction, optical studies were carried out with UV-Vis spectrophotometer and the thermal analysis with TG/DTA.

7 illus, 4 tables, 3 ref

001801   Choubey A;Sinha G R;Rai A (NO, , ) : Application of image denoising through comorbid pixel regularization algorithm based on neuro-fuzzy rule. Res Rev: J embedded syst Applic 2014, 2(2), 7-11.

This study presents a novel approach of image denoising for medical images. Since, for medical diagnosis, action of object extraction plays a vital role but such jobs are limited with the visual observation and there is no denying from the fact that the medical images are subjected to noise which makes it difficult for the medical practitioner to extract features from such noisy images. Therefore, for accurate decisions it is required that such images should be free from noise. But coming up with a denoising algorithm is pretty strainful, since fine details in relevance with the diagnostic information should not be destroyed during the process of noise removal. Hence, in the study we addressed the solution of this problem with the novel technique to the visual quality of medical images.

001800   Chopra K N (Applied Physics Dep, Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Technology, Rohini, GGSIP Univ, New Delhi-110 086, Email: kchopra.2003@gmail.com) : An overview of novel sources of renewable energy with special emphasis on waste-to-energy conversion and the compressed air production using vechile suspension. Invertis J renewable Energy 2014, 4(2), 101-6.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the various forms of the novel renewable sources - Nuclear Power, Compressed natural gas, Radiant energy, Wave Power, and Tidal Power, These have been termed as novel, since the - 269 - work on them is still at the early stages of development. The advantages and the utility of each of these renewable sources of energy have been briefly discussed. In addition, the evolving unconventional technologies - Waste-to-Energy Conversion and the Compressed Air Production using Vehicle Suspension; as the sources of renewable energy have been technically analyzed. Mathematical Formulation of the Efficiency of the Compressor Turbine for the Compressed Air Production has also been presented. The paper is expected to be useful for the researchers and the technologists in this fast evolving field of immense global importance.

2 illus, 15 ref

001799   Chandel T;Singh B (NO, , ) : Design and simulation of micro cantilever for MEMS applications. J Elect Des Technol 2014, 5(2), 25-31.

Micro-cantilevers belong to MEMS set of devices and are often used for detection of forces in micromechanical sensors (e.g., pressure sensors and accelerometers) and probe for force sensor to atomic force microscope used as transducers, transport mechanisms, relays, switches, resonators, etc. This paper presents as to how the displacement of micro-cantilever is affected by the load applied to the micro-cantilever. The effect of width change on the displacement of the cantilever is also analyzed. The micro-cantilever is designed using COMSOL Multiphysics and the mathematical analysis of the effect of different loads and width change on the cantilever is done using MATLAB software. The analysis is done for different materials (polysilicon, tungsten and copper). Then the theoretical and simulated results are compared. It has been observed that the value of displacement increases with the increase with applied boundary load and decreases with the increase in the width of the cantilever.

001798   Budinsky V (Ad Hoc Group of Experts, UNECE, , ) : Main challenges for AHGE on cleaner electricity production from coal and other fossil fuels - proposed activities and priorities in the coming period. Indian J Pwr River Valley Dev 2013, 63(7-8), 114.

001797   Balaji G;Cheralathan M (Mechanical Engineering Dep, SRM University, Chennai-603 203, Email: balaji.g@ktr.srmuniv.ac.in) : Experimental reduction of NOx and HC emissions in a CI engine fuelled with methyl ester of neem oil using p-phenylenediamine antioxidant. J scient ind Res 2014, 73(3), 177-80.

Biodiesel, a renewable substitute to conventional diesel and offers cleaner combustion including reduced particulate matter, carbon monoxide and unburned hydrocarbon emissions. However, several studies point to increase in NOx emissions for biodiesel fuel compared with conventional diesel fuel. In this paper, the experimental investigation of the effect of antioxidant additive (p-phenylenediamine) on NOx and HC emissions in a methyl ester of neem oil fuelled direct injection diesel engine has been reported. The antioxidant additive is mixed in various concentrations (0.010 to 0.040 % (w/w)) with methyl ester of neem oil and was tested in computerized 4-stroke water-cooled single cylinder diesel engine of 3.5 kW rated power. Results show that the antioxidant additive is effective in controlling the NOx and HC emissions of methyl ester of neem oil fuelled diesel engines.

2 illus, 1 table, 12 ref

001796   Amith V;Rao S;Mutalikdesai S (NO, , ) : Evaluation of mechanical property and optimization of the dry sliding wear behavior of carbon black-alumina-epoxy-glass composite by using design of experiments. J Mater metall Engng 2014, 4(2), 21-31.

The research work is mainly focused on investigating the effects of wear parameters: filler content (0%, 4% CB, 4% Al₂O₃, and 2% CB + 2% Al₂O₃), applied load (4.905, 9.810, 14.710, and 19.62 N), sliding distance (20, 30, 40, and 50 mm) by using Design of Experiments (DOEs) approach. The experimental results were analyzed using MINITAB V16 scientific graphical and data analysis software. Signal-to-Noise (S/N) ratio, analysis of variance (ANOVA) proved that the most influencing factor is filler and load and the minimum value of wear rate is obtained in 4% Al₂O₃ and moderate wear rate is shown by 2% CB + 2% Al₂O₃, specimen and it as a very good tensile strength of 20,759.785 N, and has a very minimum absorption of 0.784%. So finally (2% CB + 2% Al₂O₃) specimen is a very good wear resistance, tensile, and also absorption property. The overall improvement in the material property is achieved due to the very good dispersion and also establishment of interfacial bond between carbonblack and aluminium oxide nanopowder in epoxy resin filler. So it is a very economic and next generation material with highly improved properties which has a - 268 - lot of applications.

001795   Al-Ani R;Al-Saadie A (NO, , ) : Cost objective model for construction equipment replacement policies. J Constr Engng Technol Mgmt 2014, 4(2), 1-13.

Most construction companies, particularly companies whose projects are primarily constructed with earthmoving equipment, depend heavily on their construction equipment fleets, which represent substantial locked capital investment and require acceptable utilization levels to recover expenses incurred and losses from this investment. The equipment, which possesses a finite physical and economic life, inevitably requires replacement, and equipment maintenance costs increase with the equipment life. Different methodologies are employed to establish the replacement schedules of construction equipment, including a cost optimization model that identifies the best schedule for optimizing (minimizing) expenses. This paper investigates the mechanics of one of the most widely used replacement analysis theories and its implementation in a practical and simple mathematical cost optimization model. This research develops an objective function, which utilizes data sheets provided by equipment manufacturers that can be applied to any type of heavy construction equipment. A Matlab program was employed as a decision-making computer-aided tool to assist the project manager or the procurement department in setting the replacement policies for the company projects.

001794   Abidin Z Z;Salleh M M A;Harun M Y;Bakar Abu (Chemical and Environmental Engineering Dep, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra, Malaysia, 43400, Email: zurina@eng.upm.edu.my) : Biosorption of Zn (II) from aqueous solution by jatropha curcas press cake. J scient ind Res 2014, 73(3), 191-4.

Biosorption of Zn (II) from aqueous solution using Jatropha curcas press cake was comparatively investigated over a range of variables (contact time, pH, and initial metal concentration) by batch adsorption experiments. Highest Zn (II) removal (~40 mg/L) was attained using 0.5g adsorbent for 100 minutes - 267 - with initial Zn (II) concentration of 50 mg/L and pH 4. The adsorption data was best fitted with Langmuir isotherm (R^{2= 0.99) and follows second order kinetic rate equation (R2 <62> 0.99). FTIR analysis revealed the availability of phenol, alcohol and carboxyl functional groups in Jatropha curcas press cake for the biosorption. XRD results confirmed the presence of Zn (II) in the press cake after adsorption process. These findings concluded that Jatropha curcas press cake is a suitable biosorbent for removing Zn (II) in heavy metal polluted wastewater.}

2 illus, 1 table, 16 ref

000894   Yuan W;Guan D;Eui-Nam H;Lee S (Computer Science and Technology Dep, Kyung Hee Univ, Seoul, Korea) : Harness human sensor networks for situational awareness in disaster reliefs: a survey. IETE Tech Rev 2013, 30(3), 240-7.

Complete, accurate, and up-to-the-minute situational awareness can help disaster relief organizations stabilize the dangers and prevent further losses. Social media (SM) users can be regarded as human sensors since they are analogous to the response of physical sensors to stimuli. Human sensor network (HSN) provides a way to capture situational awareness information coming directly from the grassroots observers in the disasters. The disaster relief organizations can utilize the HSN data to gain the real-time live situations. It saves time and money. This paper surveys on the works of viewing SM as HSNs and extract the situational awareness information from HSN in disaster reliefs. It is found that HSN data, used together with other scientific data, can contribute to better situational awareness in the disaster reliefs.

3 illus, 45 ref

000893   Yi Y;Li C;Lee K (Electronics and Radio Engineering Dep, Kyung Hee Univ, Suwon, Korea) : Optimum spread code applied in indoor visible light data transmission for optical multipath dispersion reduction. IETE Tech Rev 2013, 30(3), 233-9.

An an indoor visible light communication (VLC) system, diffuse channels are very easily caused by numerous reflections of the optical signals from the obstacle surface, resulting in optical multipath dispersion which can further reduce the bit error rate (BER) performance of wireless communication system. In this paper, we investigated non-directed LOS links and optimized the design of this short-range communication model using white light-emitting diodes illumination. In our VLC system, we proposed spreading scheme to combat the severe effects of multipath dispersion. We compared the BER performances of four spread codes on the diffuse channel: pseudo random code, Walsh code, m-sequence code, and gold code. Through the analysis and comparison of simulation results-, Obtained the optimum spread code, namely Walsh code, which can alleviate the serious effects of multipath dispersion.

8 illus, 2 tables, 18 ref

000892   Xu J;Zhou X;Han J;Li F;Zhou F (Software College, Northeastern Univ, Shenyang, China) : Data authentication model based on reed-solomon errorcorrecting codes in wireless sensor networks. IETE Tech Rev 2013, 30(3), 191-9.

Considers the problem of authenticating the packets transmitted over a Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) controlled by an adversary who may perform arbitrary attacks on the packets: He may drop or modify the chosen packets. The prior works on the data authentication problem of WSN have focused on a less powerful adversarial network model or have examined a considerably more restrictive setting with specific timing or structural assumptions about WSN. We also model the ability of WSN to modify a data of n packets with a parameter: the survival rate α (0 <60> α ≤ 1) denoting the fraction of the packets that are guaranteed to reach any particular receiver unmodified. Combining error-correcting codes with standard cryptographic primitives, our approach gives almost the same security guarantees as if each packet was individually signed, but requires only one signature operation for the entire data and adds to each transmitted packet only a small amount of authentication information. We prove the security and correctness of our scheme and analyze its performance in terms of communication overhead and computational effort at the sender and the receiver. Also compare our scheme with other typical data authentication model of WSN, and the results show that our scheme not - 312 - only provides the authenticity authentication, but also has the lower overhead. Therefore, our model is suitable for application in large-scale WSN.

4 illus, 18 ref

000891   Vijayan P K;Kamble M T;Nayak A K;Vaze K K; Sinha R K (Reactor Design and Development Group, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay, Mumbai-400 085, Email: vijayanp@barc.gov.in) : Safety features in nuclear power plants to eliminate the need of emergency planning in public domain. Sadhana 2013, 38(5), 925-43.

Following the Fukushima accident, the safety features of Nuclear Power Plants (NPP) are being re-examined worldwide including India to demonstrate capabilities to cope with severe accidents. In order to restore public confidence and support for nuclear power, it is felt necessary to design future NPPs with near zero impact outside the plant boundary and thus enabling elimination of emergency planning in public domain. Authors have identified a set pf safety features which are needed to be incorporated in advanced reactors to achieve this goal. These features enabling prevention, termination, mitigation and containment of radioactivity for beyond design basis accidents arising from extreme natural events are essential for achieving the goal of elimination of emergency planning in public domain. Inherent safety characteristics, passive and engineered safety features to achieve these functions are discussed in this paper. Present trends and future developments in this direction are also described briefly.

7 illus, 21 ref

000890   Vaze K K (Reactor Deisgn and Development Group, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai-400 085, Email: kkvaze@barc.gov.in) : Structural integrity aspects of reactor safety. Sadhana 2013, 38(5), 971-97.

Overall goal of nuclear power plant safety is to protect individuals, society and the environment from undue radiological hazard so that nuclear power production does not significantly add to the health risks to which individuals and society are already exposed. This paper addresses the safety principles followed during the design phase of life cycle of a nuclear power plant. The principles followed such as safety classification, design rules based on failure modes, detailed stress analysis, stress categorization, consideration of design basis events, failure probability, flaw tolerance, leak-before-break are described. Engineering structures always contain flaws, albeit of very small size. Fatigue and fracture are the two important failure modes affected by flaws. Thus flaw tolerance becomes very important. This is assessed by applying fracture mechanics principles. The R6 procedure, which is used for evaluation of structures containing flaws, has been incorporated in the software BARC-R6. Improvements by way of shell-nozzle junction pull-out, adoption of hot wire GTAW with narrow gap technique have been brought out. Post Fukushima incidence, resistance to seismic loading and containment design have assumed great importance. The - 311 - paper describes these aspects in detail. Regulatory aspects of seismic design regarding siting, Seismic margin assessment, base isolation, retrofitting are the aspects covered under seismic design. Under the action of seismic loading, the piping in a nuclear power plant piping is vulnerable to a phenomenon called ratcheting. The process of seismic margin assessment and consideration of ratchetting has been backed up by a large experimental data. The experiments carried out on structures and piping components form a part of the paper.

32 illus, 1 table, 20 ref

000889   Tarun T L;Padmakar J P;Eswara Prakash W V (Mission Development Group, ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore-560 017, Email: taruntl@isac.gov.in) : Normalization of special processing schemes for real-time and offline LEO spacecraft health data. J Spacecraft Technol 2014, 25(1), 29-35.

Spacecraft health monitoring is a mission critical activity that spans the entire life of the spacecraft. Precise and efficient software tools are required to realize this task and one such tool developed at ISAC is SCHEMACS (Spacecraft Health Monitoring, Analysis and Control Software). SCHEMACS enables the processing of real-time and offline spacecraft telemetry data into subsystem parameters that indicate the health of the subsystem as well as the spacecraft. In general, real-time and offline processing has been evolved around table-driven and code-driven architectures with the former being superior in view of the long term maintenance. Parameter definition table was constituted by the commonly used processing schemes; however sparingly used schemes were written using special processing software. Over the time with technology development, many special processing algorithms and 64-bit data formats became common for spacecraft subsystems. The increased number of special processing schemes led to the identification of schemes with common behaviour and normalize them befitting into the parameter definition table. Different methods used to achieve normalization include the extensive use of arithmetic expressions (AEXP), 64 bit data processing (IEEE-64) and Look-up Table (LUT). The normalized schemes were deployed for missions including YouthSat, Megha Tropiques and Risat-1 with considerable saving in special processing software.

2 illus, 4 tables, 4 ref

000888   Sutrakar V K;Pillai A C R;Roy Mahapatra D (NO, Aeronautical Development Establishment, Bangalore-560 075, Email: vijay.sutrakar@gmail.com) : Orientation, size, and temperature dependent ductile brittle transition in NiAl nanowire under tensile loading- a molecular dynamics study. Def Sci J 2014, 64(2), 179-85.

In the present paper, thermo-mechanical response of B2-NiA1 nanowire along the <100>, <110>, and <111> orientations has been studied using molecular dynamics simulations. Nanowire with cross-sectional dimensions of <126>20x20 Å^{2, <126>25 x 25 Å2, and <126>30x30 Å2 and temperature range of 10 K-900 K has been considered. A Combined effect of size, orientation, and temperature on the stress-strain behavior under uniaxial tensile loading has been presented. It has been observed that <111> oriented NiAl nanowire that is energetically most stable gives highest yield stress which further reduces with <110> and <100> orientations. A remarkable ductile brittle transition (DBT) with an increase in temperature has also been reported for all the orientations considered in the present - 310 - study. The DBT observed for the nanowire has also been compared with the reported DBT of bulk B2-NiAl obtained from experiments. Alternate technique has also been proposed to increase the toughness of a given material especially at lower temperature regions, i.e. below DBT.}

6 illus, 27 ref

000887   Suri A K (Materials Group, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay, Mumbai-400 085, Email: aksuri50@gmail.com) : Material development for India's nuclear power programme. Sadhana 2013, 38(5), 859-95.

Area of materials research has registered a phenomenal growth in the recent years, assiduously accepting and assimilating ideas, concepts and analytical as well as experimental methodologies and techniques form almost all scientific disciplines, thereby demonstrating its remarkably multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary character. The focus of the materials programme of this centre is to provide materials, processes and processing solutions to the emerging needs of evolving indigenous nuclear energy systems by proactive research and development on a continuing basis. The initial stage of our activities was formulated around three stage Indian nuclear power programme. In stage I, material issues related to in-core materials with emphasis on development of fabrication routes of zirconium alloys for structural application were addressed. Subsequently the thrust areas were development and characterization of mixed oxide fuel, advanced zirconium alloys, structural steels, superalloys, neutron absorber materials based on boron carbides and borides, and shape memory alloys. The research was useful for in-service performance evaluation, safety assessment, residual life estimation and life extension of nuclear reactors built during stage I i.e., PHWRs and BWRs. It also included developments which would permit rapid expansion of nuclear power initially through fast breeder reactor based on mixed oxide fuel and later based on metallic fuels. For the 3rd stage, multilayer coatings, graphite coolant tube, BeO, refractory metals and alloys, heat-treated zirconium alloys are being developed for CHTR, ADSS and AHWR. The materials being developed for fusion programme are low Z and high Z material for plasma facing application, Cu-alloys for heat sink, austenitic steels, RAFMS and ODS for structural and NbTi, Nb₃Sn and Nb₃Al superconductors, lithium titanate, lithium silicate breeders, and Pb-Bi coolant. A brief overview of the materials research activities currently being pursued at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre is presented in this article.

14 illus, 6 tables, 52 ref

000886   Srivastava G P (Electronics and Instrumentation Group, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai-400 085, Email: gyan25@yahoo.com) : Electronic in nuclear power programme of India. Sadhana 2013, 38(5), 897-924.

Presents an overview of state-of-the art developments in electronics for nuclear power programme of India. Indigenous activities in instrumentation and control (I&C) in the areas of detector development, nuclear instrumentation, monitoring and control electronics and special sensors paved the way to self-reliance in nuclear industry. Notable among the recent I&C systems developed for 540 MWe reactors are Liquid Zone Control System (LZCS), flux mapping system and advance reactor regulating system. In a nuclear plant, apart from ensuring functional requirements, design of electronics needs to meet high level of reliability, safety and security standards. Therefore, a lot of importance is attached to activities such as design review, testing, operation, maintenance and qualifications of I&C systems. Induction of computer based I&C systems mandated a rigorous verification process commensurate with the safety class of the system as specified in Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) safety guides. Software reliability is assured by following strict development life cycle combined with zero-defect policy and is verified through verification and validation (V&V) process. Development of new technique| in data transmissions with optical fibres as transmission medium and wireless networks in control systems is being pursued. With new I&C systems, efforts were made to utilize the same hardware and software platforms for various plant applications, i.e., for standardization. Thrust was given to use Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) and Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC) in order to improve the reliability of system by reducing component count. It has become imperative to develop modern contemporary solutions like ASICs, HMCs, System on Chip (SOC) and detector mounted electronics and towards that various ASICs and HMCs have been developed in-house to meet the - 309 - challenges.

20 illus, 1 table, 5 ref

000885   Singh A K;Subba Rao K (NO, Defence Electronics Research Laboratory, Hyderabad-500 005, Email: singh.ak@dlrl.drdo.in) : Digital receiver-based electronic intelligence system configuration for the detection and identification of intrapulse modulated radar signals. Def Sci J 2014, 64(2), 152-8.

An- optimum electronic intelligence system configuration incorporating the state of the art technologies and achieving the highest parameter accuracies while processing the complex intrapulse modulated radar signals is presented in this paper. The system is based on the quad digital receiver, a state of the art single board solution for the detection and analysis of modern radar signals. The system consists of base line interferometry configuration for high accuracy direction finding measurement with sector selection based on amplitude direction finding technique. Advanced signal processing algorithms with time frequency analysis are implemented in real time in field programmable gate array to extract all the basic as well as advanced parameters of frequency and phase modulations such as chirp, barker, and poly-phase (Frank, P1-P4) codes in addition to the pulse and continuous wave signals. The intercepted intrapulse modulated signal parameters have been extracted with very high accuracy and sensitivity.

6 illus, 3 tables, 10 ref

000884   Shinde S M;Deshmukh S B;Sawant S N (NO, College of Agriculture Nagpur, Maharashtra) : Integrated nutrient management studies in isabgol. Bioinfolet 2014, 11(1B), 227-8.

Maximum plant height, number of tillers per plant, number of spikes per plant length of spikes,- seed per plot and seed yield per hectare were recorded with the application of 75% RDF + 2.51 ha^{-1 FYM + Azotobactor + PSB.}

1 table, 7 ref

000883   Saxena N K;Sharma S K (Fire Research Division, Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee-247 667) : Studies on generation of smoke and toxic combustion products from fire retarded materials. Indian J envir Prot 2013, 33(2), 145-51.

Various fire retardant compositions based on ammonium phosphates, borate salts, amides, organophosphate halogenated compounds and antimony oxides have been developed for imparting flame retardancy in cotton fabrics. Besides, a few fire retardant intumescent and non intumescent coatings have also been suggested to reduce the burning behaviour of wood based materials. Although these treatments exhibit good fire retardancy, their effect on generation of smoke and toxic combustion products is not very well understood. Fire performance, emission of smoke and toxic combustion products have been evaluated employing standard methods. The treatments are found to be quite effective in reducing fire hazards. Generation of smoke and toxic combustion products appears to be affected by characteristics of the material as well as the nature of fire retardants employed.

4 tables, 13 ref

000882   Saravanakumar A;Senthilkumar K (NO, Madras Institute of Technology Campus, Anna Univ, Chennai-600 044, Email: Saravanakumar_a@yahoo.com) : Exploitation of acoustic signature of low flying aircraft using acoustic vector sensor. Def Sci J 2014, 64(2), 95-8.

Acoustics is emerging as a significant complementary modality to be explored and exploited in the development of Intelligence and surveillance systems that traditionally rely on technology rooted in electro-magnetic field phenomena. An application of the current interest is the detection and localization of the sound sources on battlefield using Acoustic sensors in ground and on board unmanned aerial vehicle. In this work a nonlinear least-square cepstrum and auto correlation methods are made to estimate the motion parameters of a low flying aircraft whose narrowband acoustic energy emissions were received by a ground-based Acoustic vector sensor. The data obtained from the sensor were processed and analyzed using digital signal processing approach. This passive technique is applied to real acoustic sensor data under the condition that the vehicle flies at a constant velocity and the trajectory is a straight line. The performances of both methods are evaluated and compared using actual acoustic data.

5 illus, 10 ref

000881   Salman M I;Abdulhasan M Q;Ng C K;Noordin N K; Sali A;Ali B M (Computer and Communication Systems Engineering Dep, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, UPM Serdang, 43400, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia) : Radio resource management for green 3GPP long term evolution cellular networks: review and trade-offs. IETE Tech Rev 2013, 30(3), 257-69.

Conventional design of cellular systems aims to maximize the system capacity and spectral efficiency due to sustainable growth of data rate requirements. As the energy consumption becomes relatively high, energy-efficient design for cellular systems is highly required to save energy as well as reducing the undesirable carbon dioxide emitted by these systems. However, reducing the energy consumption will degrade other system performances such as the data rate and quality of service. Therefore, joint optimization for overall system performances should be achieved. In this paper, the energy-efficient radio resource - 307 - management (RRM) for Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems is addressed. After a brief introduction to LTE radio resource block and LTE frame, different types of energy efficiency metrics are defined to give a better understanding to the energy efficiency perspectives. The energy-efficient approaches related to link adaptation and RRM are explained. The state-of-the-art energy-efficient schedulers are also discussed, and a comprehensive comparison between them is adopted in this paper. Moreover, many trade-offs, challenges, and open issues are addressed to optimize the system performances.

8 illus, 8 tables, 68 ref

000880   Sahin M E;Okumus H I (Physics Dep, Recep Tayyip Erdogan Univ, 53100 Rize) : Fuzzy logic controlled parallel connected syndhronous buck DC-DC converter for water electrolysis. IETE J Res 2013, 59(3), 280-8.

A fuzzy Logic Controlled parallel connected synchronous buck DC-DC converter for water electrolysis system is presented. General design of a fuzzy logic controller, based on Matlab/Simulink is performed. This design can be compared with Proportional Integrated Proportional Derivative controller. The complete control system has been developed, analyzed and validated by simulation study. Performances have then been evaluated in detail for different study conditions. The stability of converter has been analyzed different nonlinear electrolyses loads.

14 illus, 17 ref

000879   Safari A;Rezaei N (Electrical Engineering Dep, Ahar branch, Islamic Azad Univ, Ahar, Iran, Email: a-safari@iau-ahar.ac.ir) : Design of multi-objective damping controller for gate-controlled series capacitor. Sadhana 2014, 39(2), 363-76.

This paper proposes an optimization procedure based on eigenvalues to carry out the stabilization function of the Gate-Controlled Series Capacitor (GCSC) in a power system. It is aimed to provide a reliable damping framework by means of a GCSC based multi-objective damping controller. The proposed method employs Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) to search for optimal parameter settings of a widely used multi-objective lead-lag damping controller. The eigenvalue analysis is considered as the cornerstone of the performed studies in order to investigate the multi-objective methodology in which the unstable or lightly damped modes are scheduled to effectively shift to some prescribed stability zones in the s-plane. The effectiveness of the suggested approach in damping local and interarea oscillations modes in a multi-machine power system, over a wide range of loading conditions, is confirmed through eigenvalue analysis and time simulation.

11 illus, 4 tables, 17 ref

000878   Renu V;Suresh Kumar G (Ocean Engineering Dep, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai-600 036, Email: renuvalsala@gmail.com) : Temporal moment analysis of solute transport in a coupled fracture-skin-matrix system. Sadhana 2014, 39(2), 487-509.

In the study, method of temporal moments has been used to analyse the transport characteristics of reactive solute along fracture in a coupled fracture-skin-matrix system. In order to obtain the concentration distribution within the fracture, a system of coupled partial differential equations for fracture, fracture-skin and rock-matrix has been solved numerically in a pseudo two-dimensional domain using implicit finite difference method. Subsequently, lower order temporal moments of solute have been computed from the concentration distribution to analyse the transport characteristics of solutes in the fracture. This study has been done by considering an inlet boundary condition of constant continuous source in a single fracture. The effect of various fracture-skin parameters like porosity, thickness and diffusion coefficient on the transport of solutes have been studied by doing sensitivity analyses. The effect of nonlinear sorption and radioactive decay of solutes have also been analysed by carrying out simulations for different sorption - 306 - intensities and decay constants. Numerical results suggested that the presence of fracture-skin significantly influences the transport characteristics of reactive solutes along the fracture.

16 illus, 2 tables, 33 ref

000877   Ranji A R (Ocean Engineering Dep, AmirKabir Univ of Technology, Hafez Ave., Tehran, 15914, Iran, Email: rahbar@aut.ac.ir) : Buckling analysis of partially corroded steel plates with irregular surfaces. Sadhana 2014, 39(2), 511-24.

Corrosion is a long-term, inevitable process, lessens the thickness and load carrying capacity of structures. Old steel structures are more vulnerable to buckling, yielding and fracture due to corrosion. In lieu of a detailed analysis, average thickness assumption is employed for general type of corrosion. However, the estimation of load carrying capacity reduction of corroded structures typically need a much higher level of accuracy, since the actual corroded plates would have irregular surfaces. The objective of this article is to determine the effect of general corrosion on reduction of elastic buckling strength of both-sided partially corroded plates with irregular surfaces. Eigenvalue analysis using finite element method is employed for Euler stress calculation of corroded plates. The effects of different influential parameters are investigated and it is found that, aspect ratio of plate, location of corroded area, standard deviation of thickness diminution and concentration of corrosion have influence on reduction of elastic buckling strength. Reduction of elastic buckling strength is very sensitive to the amount of corrosion loss. The higher the amount of corrosion loss, the more reduction of elastic buckling strength.

12 illus, 4 tables, 12 ref

000876   Premalatha K;Anantha Kumar T;Natarajan A M (NO, Bannari Amman Institute of Technology, Sathyamangalam-638 401, Email: kpl_barath@yahoo.co.in) : Dorsal hand vein recognition-based on local gabor phase quantization with whitening transformation. Def Sci J 2014, 64(2), 159-67.

The hand vein pattern is a biometric feature in which the actual pattern is the shape of the vein network and its characteristics are the vein features. This paper investigates a new approach for dorsal hand vein pattern identification from grey level dorsal hand vein information. In this study Gabor filter quadrature pair is employed to compute locally in a window for every pixel position to extract the phase - 305 - information. The phases of six frequency coefficients are quantized and it is used to form a descriptor code for the local region. These local descriptors are decorrelated using whitening transformation and a histogram is generated for every pixel which describes the local pattern. Experiments are evaluated on North China University of Technology dorsal hand vein image dataset with minimum distance classifier and the results are analyzed for recognition rate, run time and equal error rate. The proposed method gives 100 per cent recognition rate and 1 per cent EER for fusion of both left and right hands.

4 illus, 4 tables, 25 ref

000875   Pandey K;Sahu L K (NO, FIT Engineering College (Applied Science Dep), Mawana Road, Meerut-250 001, Email: lokelsh@prl.res.in) : Emissions of volatile organic compounds from biomass burning sources and their ozone formation potential over India. Curr Sci 2014, 106(9), 1270-9.

Thousands of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the Earth's atmosphere exist which play an important role in various photochemical processes. However, the global model simulations of tropospheric chemistry deal with limited data of speciated VOCs. In the present study, author have used the Global Fire Emissions Database inventory of VOCs emitted from biomass burning in India during the period from 1997 to 2009. We have also analysed data of some VOCs measured in the upper troposphere over India for the year 2008. In this study, the major species analysed are C2H4, C₂H₄O, C₂H₆, C₂H₆S, C₃H₆, C₃H₆S, C₃H₈, C₅H₈, CH₃OH, higher alkanes, higher alkenes, terpenes and toluene lumps. The biomass burning emissions of VOCs show large inter-annual variation. For example, the annual emission estimates of non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHCs) and CH₃OH varied in the range 100-470 and 46-211 Gg yr^{-1 respectively. The major biomass sources were broadly categorized as deforestation, fuel-wood, forest and agricultural residues. The agricultural residue burning is the most dominant among the several biomass burning sources contributing to the emissions of CH₃OH (59%), isoprene (80%) and toluene (72%). On the other hand, the major sources for NMHCs emission were agricultural residues and deforestation during all the years. The fire count data detected using the satellite-based Along Track Scanning Radiometer have been used to directly refer to the seasonal and inter-annual variations of biomass burning activities. We have estimated the propylene-equivalent concentrations of different light NMHCs measured in the upper troposphere over India. Role of stratospheric intrusion in the distribution of NMHCs has been analysed using the potential vorticity data.}

6 illus, 2 tables, 42 ref

000874   Palaniappan R;Sundaraj K;Ahamed N U;Arjunan A;Sundaraj S (Al-Rehab Research Group, Malaysia Perlis Univ, Kampus Pauh Putra, Perlis-Malaysia) : Computer-based respiratory sound analysis: a systematic review. IETE Tech Rev 2013, 30(3), 248-51.

Over the years, lung auscultation has been used as an effective clinical tool to monitor the state of the respiratory system. Lung auscultation provides valuable information regarding the patient's respiratory function. Recent technical advances have led to the development of computer-based respiratory sound analysis which serves as a powerful tool to diagnose abnormalities and disorders in the lung. This paper provides a comprehensive review on computer-based respiratory sound analysis techniques employed by various researchers in the past. The search for articles related to computer-based respiratory sound analysis was carried out on electronic resources - 304 - such as IEEE, Springer, Elsevier, Pub Med, and ACM digital library databases. Around 55 article$ were identified and were subjected to a systematic review. In this review, we examine lung sound/lung disorder, sensor used, sensor locations, number of subjects, signal processing methods, classification methods, and statistical methods, employed for the analysis of lung sounds by previous researchers. A brief discussion is undertaken on the overview from the previous works. Finally, the review is concluded by discussing the possibilities and recommendations for further improvements.

^iia2 illus, 4 tables, 70 ref

000873   Ozmen H B;Inel M;Meral E (Civil Engineering Dep, Usak Univ, 64200 Usak, Turkey, Email: minel@pau.edu.tr) : Evaluation of the main parameters affecting seismic performance of the RC buildings. Sadhana 2014, 39(2), 437-50.

Low and mid-rise reinforced concrete (RC) buildings consist of an important portion of the building stock in many earthquake prone countries. Therefore understanding their seismic behaviour is important for mitigation studies. This study aims to evaluate how much and when; seismic code, number of stories, concrete strength, amount of transverse reinforcement and infill-wall contribution parameters are important for seismic performances of RC buildings. Seismic performances of the models reflecting different cases are determined for different performance levels and seismic loading conditions. Based on the considered values of the parameters, it is concluded that: modern code specifications and higher transverse reinforcement 50%, the concrete strength up to 66%, infill-walls 15% and number of story 55% increase the seismic performance for life safety level. Evaluations on the effect of the considered parameters for different performance levels and seismic loadings in relation with other parameters are also given in this paper.

3 illus, 5 tables, 22 ref

000872   Nambath N;Moyade P K;Ansari A;Gupta S (Electrical Engineering Dep, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai-400 076, Email: allmin@gmail.com) : Analog domain adaptive equalizer for low power 40 Gbps DP-QPSK receivers. Sadhana 2014, 39(2), 409-18.

Electrical domain equalization of chromatic and polarization mode dispersion is attractive in coherent optical communication links. Digital coherent receivers used for this purpose are based on high speed ADCs followed by DSP, which dissipate excessive amount of power and are very costly to implement. We propose analog coherent receiver to drastically reduce the power consumption, size and cost. An adaptive feed forward equalizer for 40 Gbps dual polarization quadrature phase shift keying (DP-QPSK) systems, which processes signals in analog domain itself, is demonstrated using circuit and system simulations. The equalizer, designed in 90 nm CMOS technology, consumes 450 mW of power and occupies 1.8 mm x 1.1 mm chip area. System simulations are used to show that blind equalization is also possible when this approach-is used in decision directed mode.

8 illus, 14 ref

000871   Mittal S;Asan Sukriya H M;Ghatpande N D; Ekkundi R S (Power System Group, ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore-560 017, Email: skmittal@isac.gov.in) : Novel magnetically isolated high side DC drive for 70V thruster and its application as isolated analog TM in high voltage spacecrafts. J Spacecraft Technol 2014, 25(1), 1-7.

Telecommand and Telemetry function provides the essential capability of remote control and monitoring of Satellite's subsystems once in orbit. The Telecommand signals should be isolated on board inside the subsystems. A non-isolated interface e.g. Relay driver involving a low level CMOS signal (5V) and Raw Bus (28-42V) may result in spurious operation of the indented function due to extraneous ground currents. Similarly Telemetry signal must be transferred across the isolation boundary to remove any ground loop induced noise. Historically isolation device use the optical or magnetic techniques. Opto-coupler is an effective and low cost isolation solution however they perform poor for analog signal isolation due to variation in its Current Transfer Ratio (CTR) under various operating conditions of voltage, temperature, etc. Also there is an expression of doubt about their life more than 15 years such as GEOSAT mission. On the other hand, magnetic isolation by the usage of transformer is a good solution for analog signal isolation, but their size increases for low frequency signal and their use becomes impossible for DC signal isolation such as analog telemetry monitoring. This paper presents a novel magnetic isolation technique for both telecommand and telemetry signal which makes transformer size independent of signal frequency and even transfer the DC signal such as analog telemetry across the isolation boundary with high accuracy and reliability. The method has been implemented and tested successfully. Test plots endorsing its accuracy and good signal linearity are also presented.

15 illus, 2 ref

000870   Mehta G;Singh S P (Electrical Engineering Dep, Indian Institute of Technology, Rorrkee) : Power quality improvement through grid integrationof renewable energy sources. IETE J Res 2013, 59(3), 210-18.

Renewable energy sources (RES) are rapidly gaining popularity for sustainable power generation, they being less polluting and using readily available resources. This paper presents the modelling, control, and design analysis of a single-stage, three-phase RES-based distributed generation system where the grid-interfacing inverter is controlled to perform multi-functions by simultaneously incorporating active power filter (APF) functionality. The RES is connected to the DC-side of the voltage source inverter for interfacing with the grid. The inverter is utilized as power converter to inject the power generated from the RES to the PCC and shunt APF to compensate load current harmonics, load reactive power demand, and load current imbalance under distorted supply voltage conditions. Both these functions may be accomplished either individually or simultaneously. Thus, the designed controller either regulates the power flow between the RES and the grid or works as an APF or performs both the functions simultaneously. Simulation in MATAB and experimentation using DSP is carried out to verify the operation and the control principle.

13 illus, 3 tables, 14 ref

000869   Manoj Kumar P;Misra B N;Thyagaraj M R;Rajan G V C (Scientific and Remote Sensing Satellite Integration Div, System Integration Group, ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC), Airport Road, Bangalore-560 017, Email: pmanoj@isac.gov.in) : Automated detection of spacecraft harness micro insulation damage by wet probe test. J Spacecraft Technol 2014, 25(1), 37-43.

Every Spacecraft harness is tested for the integrity of its insulation material. This paper presents the design and the development of a test system called the Wet Probe Test (WPT) and its automation to detect spacecraft harness insulation damage. The technique involves dipping the spacecraft harness in a conductive medium, applying a potential across the medium and the harness conductor core and measuring the resistance across it. This process is also automated by means of a switching electronics module commanded by a PC based test system controller in order to identify the connector with a faulty harness. The principle of operation and - 302 - automation of the system is explained in detail in this paper.

12 illus, 2 tables, 4 ref

000868   Mandal D;Pal P C;Kumar S (NO, Government Engineering College, Chaibasa-833 215, Email: dinbandhumandal@gmail.com) : Disturbance of SH-type waves due to moving stress discontinuity in an anistropic soil layer overyling an inhomogeneous elastic half-space. Sadhana 2014, 39(2), 451-65.

The disturbance and propagation of SH-type waves in an anisotropic soil layer overlying an inhomogeneous elastic half-space by a moving stress discontinuity is considered. Stress discontinuity moves with non-uniform velocity and is impulsive in nature. The displacements are obtained in exact form by the method due to Cagniard modified by de Hoop. The numerical result is calculated for special cases and the natures are depicted graphically.

10 illus, 15 ref

000867   Lee Y;Lee T (NO, Korea Advance Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon-305 701, Korea, Email: taesik.lee@kaist.edu) : Network-basedc metric for measuring combat effectiveness. Def Sci J 2014, 64(2), 115-22.

A conceptual definition of combat effectiveness is the overall capability of a force to produce a desired outcome from combat against an enemy force. An ability to measure combat effectiveness is critical to strategic and tactical decision making; however, it is a challenging task to develop an operational metric for combat effectiveness due to the large complexity presented by the rich context of a combat environment. The present paper contends that, under a direct fire engagement, combat effectiveness can be reasonably assessed by the prevalence of attack opportunities a given force creates in a combat environment. The paper proposes a method to quantitatively measure combat effectiveness of a military force in a direct fire engagement environment. The proposed metric is based on a meta-network representation that captures various aspects of a combat environment. Using a meta-network representation, two types of basic unit structures of attack opportunity - isolated and networked - are identified, which are then used as a basic element for measuring combat effectiveness. Prevalence of network motifs in a networked combat environment and availability of attack opportunities are computed as a measure of a military force's combat effectiveness.

6 illus, 3 tables, 20 ref

000866   Laosuwan T;Pattanasethanon S;Sa-ngiamvibool W (Electrical and Computer Engineering Dep, Faculty of Engineering, Mahasarakham Univ, Maha Sarakham 44150, Thailand) : Automated cloud detection of satellite imagery using spatial modeler language and ERDAS macro language. IETE Tech Rev 2013, 30(3), 183-90.

Cloud detection from satellite imagery has been an important method of observing cloud covered areas. Presently, there are several algorithms for cloud detection, but there is no existing integrating frame and tools. The author used the software development tools within the commercial software ERDAS Imagine. The integrated software tools were the Imagine Developers' Toolkit and the C programming language. ERDAS Imagine includes its own Graphical User Interface scripting language known as ERDAS Macro Language, and its own modeling language, known as Spatial Modeling Language. The novel module of software tools can convert raster data to brightness temperature and includes a special set time function, cloud top height, and cloud cover area. This study demonstrates successful cloud detection and classification from the Multi-functional Transport Satellite-2, which will be useful in Thailand's efforts to forecast flood risks and provide early warnings of rain-causing clouds.

9 illus, 3 tables, 33 ref

000865   Khosla P K;Khanna R;Sood S P (NO, Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory, Chandigarh-160 003, Email: pkk7@yahoo.com ) : Analysis of magneto-inductive system for rocket sled velocity measurement beyond mach 1.5. Def Sci J 2014, 64(2), 143-51.

The rail track rocket sled (RTRS) national test facility at Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL) has been established to provide simulated flight environment for carrying out aero dynamic studies, terminal studies and kinematic studies of variety of test articles. The sled velocity is a critical parameter in evaluation trials. This velocity is also used to ensure that the maximum speed and allowable g loading does not exceed the value which the test article will experience under free flight in air. Overseas, the facilities have been set up to attain velocities ranging from sub-sonic to hypersonic. The rocket sled at TBRL can be presently accelerated to travel along the rail track at velocities up to 500 m/s and capability is being built to increase velocity beyond 500 m/s. Signals acquired from existing magneto-inductive arrangement have been analysed in the present work. The experiments indicate that with increase in velocity the rate of change of flux increases, the amplitude of induced emf also increases but terminal voltage decreases and shape of the acquired pulse gets distorted. The parameters of magneto-inductive pick up have been modified in such a way that there is improvement in amplitude and shape of the received pulse with increase in velocity. The improved signals have been analysed and simulation results validated with feasible experiments. This paper also discusses issues, challenges and proposes recommendations in improving the sensor for measurement of velocity beyond Mach 1.5. It has been found that it is prudent to reduce the inductance by reducing the number of turns and changing the core from soft iron core to air core which will improve the response of inductive pick up coil at high velocity.

10 illus, 5 tables, 10 ref