A novel approach to the design of DSP systems using minimum complexity Finite State Machines

The paper presents a new and different approach to the design and realisation of Digital Signal Processing (DSP)systems by utilising Finite State Machines (FSM). The DSP system is modelled by mapping all its potential states into an FSM, whose complexity is usually very high. The FSM mirrors the complete functionality of the system and thus describes its behaviour in full detail. Examples for FSMs of first and second order digital recursive filters are provided and the current version of the software simulating the FSM corresponding to any linear time-invariant DSP system is described. The potential of this approach including state reduction techniques as well as the inclusion of non-linear DSP systems is also outlined, and further future research intentions are briefly explored

Damage detection and quantification in composite beam structure using strain energy and vibration data

10.1088/1742-6596/842/1/012027Journal of Physics: Conference Series84211202

Damage localization and quantification of composite stratified beam structures using residual force method

10.1088/1742-6596/842/1/012028Journal of Physics: Conference Series84211202

Comparative Effects of Silver Nanoparticles, Sucrose and Sodium Chloride as Osmotic Solutions for Tomato Slices: Antioxidant Activity, Microbial Quality and Modelling with Polynomial Regression Model

This study has reported comparative effects of silver nanoparticles  (AgNPs),  sucrose and sodium chloride as osmotic solutions on antioxidant activity and microbial quality of 10 mm tomato slices. 40 g of tomato slices were dehydrated osmotically (OD) at different temperatures (60, 70 and 80 °C) and time (30, 60, 90, 120 150 and 180 min).Water loss, solid  impregnation, water and solid diffusivities of tomato slices were found to increase with increase in solution temperatures and concentrations with AgNPs having the greatest influence. Antioxidant activities using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl increased with increase in solution concentrations but decreased with increase in temperature. Three-wayANOVA(R2=0.998) revealed additive statistically significant effects of osmotic agents,  concentrations and temperatures on antioxidant activity;   F(8,54)=67.854,P=0.00. Polynomial regression analysis with response surface methodology validated experiments such that for each unit increase in concentration and temperature, antioxidant activity increased with good coefficients of determination; sucrose (R2 = 0.87), NaCl, (R2 = 0.89) andAgNPs (R2 = 0.91). Potato dextrose and nutrient agars were used for isolating and identifying microorganisms in OD tomato slices. Tomato slices dehydrated with AgNPs had the highest microbial inhibition of fungi with growth occurring after 7 days, unlike in treatments with sucrose and NaCl where fungal growth appeared after 2 and 5 days, respectively. Aspergillus niger was the most prevalent fungus. It can be concluded that AgNPs may serve as a viable means to dehydrate and preserve tomatoes without loss of antioxidant activity.Keywords: Osmotic dehydration, polynomial regression, response surface, antioxidant activity, three-way ANOVA, silver nanoparticles

New water-based copolymer nanoparticles and their use as eco-friendly binders for industry of flexographic ink, part I

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to prepare, characterise and evaluate nano-emulsions of copolymers of various compositions as eco-friendly binders for flexographic ink industry. Design/methodology/approach: Various nano-emulsions of copolymers were prepared using styrene (St), butyl acrylate (BuAc), acrylic acid (AA) and acrylamide (AAm) monomers by means of a conventional seeded emulsion polymerisation technique, using K2S2O8 as the initiator. The characterisation of the prepared emulsions was performed using Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). A selection of copolymers was formulated with pigments and additional ingredients, as water-based flexographic inks. The inks were characterised for their viscosity, pH, degree of dispersion, water resistance and colour density. Findings: It was found that the low viscosity of the prepared copolymers may reduce the film thickness of the flexographic inks and may also increase the spreading of the ink on the surface. As a result, stable modified polyacrylate-based latex with improved physico-mechanical properties were obtained. The prepared latexes were showed improving and enhancing in water resistance; gloss values, and the print density that ranged from 2.06 to 2.51 and the maximum gloss values (39 and 48) were also obtained. Also, these binders provide excellent adhesion properties for both the pigment particles and the base paper. Practical implications: This study focuses on the preparation of new water-based copolymer nanoparticles and their use as eco-friendly binders for flexographic ink industry. Social implications: The ink formulations developed could find use in industrial-scale printing. Originality/value: Eco-friendly environment ink formulations for printing on paper substrates are novel

Isolation and characterization of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAS) producing bacteria from brackish stream

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are biopolymers which have similar characteristics with petrochemical plastics but a step better due to its biodegradable property. A total of 23 strains were isolated from two different brackish sources. In order to detect the PHAs granules, the PHAs producing bacteria were first screened with Sudan Black B staining. Twenty strains were observed with lipid granules and were subjected to further confirmation with Nile blue staining. From the Nile blue staining, only 10 strains have the ability in producing PHAs and 2 were identified as strong PHAs producers. This study focuses on the 2 strains named S1 and L1. Further identification procedure was carried out and found that strain S1 and L1 belongs to Pseudomonas sp. L1 strain was found to be promising for PHAs production since it accumulated PHAs for about 88.3%. The PHAs produced by this strain was analyzed using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) analysis and was identified as poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (P-3HB)