Development of Nanocrystalline Cellulose (NCC) from Microcrystalline Cellulose (MCC) via Dissolution using Ionic Liquid: 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hydrogen sulfate (BMIM HSO4)

Nanocrystalline Cellulose (NCC) was prepared by dissolution of Microcrystalline Cellulose (MCC) using Ionic Liquid: 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hydrogen sulfate (BMIM HSO4) at dissolution temperatures of 70 °C, 80 °C, and 90 °C, and dissolution time of 30 minutes and 1 hour respectively. Morphological properties of NCC and MCC were examined using Field Electron Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM). Chemical characterization of NCC was performed for the analysis of crystallinity (Xc) using X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and to analyze the bonds that are present in NCC and MCC using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). FTIR was also used to analyze the chemical bonds in unused BMIM HSO4 and regenerated BMIM HSO4. Reduction of MCC particle size by BMIM HSO4 dissolution was clearly observed from FESEM images. The crystallinity of NCC obtained through dissolution of MCC in BMIM HSO4 showed a significant increase due to the degradation of amorphous region in cellulose. Both MCC and NCC have the same chemical bonds. Chemical bonds in regenerated BMIM HSO4 were unchanged, indicating that BMIM HSO4 can be recycled and reused

A Distributed Epigenetic Shape Formation and Regeneration Algorithm for a Swarm of Robots

Living cells exhibit both growth and regeneration of body tissues. Epigenetic Tracking (ET), models this growth and regenerative qualities of living cells and has been used to generate complex 2D and 3D shapes. In this paper, we present an ET based algorithm that aids a swarm of identically-programmed robots to form arbitrary shapes and regenerate them when cut. The algorithm works in a distributed manner using only local interactions and computations without any central control and aids the robots to form the shape in a triangular lattice structure. In case of damage or splitting of the shape, it helps each set of the remaining robots to regenerate and position themselves to build scaled down versions of the original shape. The paper presents the shapes formed and regenerated by the algorithm using the Kilombo simulator.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, GECCO-18 conferenc

A Swarm intelligence based approach to the mine detection problem

In this paper, we have applied a swarm intelligence based technique to a mine detection problem. Swarm intelligence techniques are used to model robotic agents to solve the problem. Studies made on the ant colonies, which is a typical member of the family of swarms, are applied in devising the techniques for the agents. Ant colony models bestow intelligence not only at the individual level, but more at the collective level (the interactions produced by the individual members in trying to solve a common problem). An analysis of the results obtained with a computer simulation of the mine detection is also presented

How the planning, engineering and politics of transportation established, preserves and perpetuates the automobile city

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning; and, (S.M. in Transportation)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2012.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Cataloged from student submitted PDF version of thesis. Page [167] blank.Includes bibliographical references (p. 161-166).The last eight decades of urban transportation planning and engineering in the United States have been dominated by the hegemony of the automobile. Auto-oriented planning of the transportation and land use system has had a profound impact on the built environment both in greenfield developments and neighborhoods that predated the auto. The pedestrian quality of cities has been eroded by the automobile, and urban renewal in the United States erased many neighborhoods strongly oriented around walking and transit use. Equally pervasive as the auto itself is the place for the car in the institutional cultures and practices involved in shaping the city. The shortcomings of mobility-oriented transportation planning have been well critiqued, even from the very early days of Interstate building. In recent decades there has been a flurry of interest in articulating sustainable transportation policies to provide multi-modal accessibility and to consider the interactions between transportation, land use, and other policy realms such as health, energy, environment and equity. The current impending crisis of aging and ailing highway structures in the United States presents a momentous opportunity to reassess the need and purpose of such infrastructure, and to rebuild, reconceptualize, or remove it in a matter more consistent with current policy goals and planning processes - rather than the ones in place when initially built. Despite the interest, need and opportunity to reconceptualize aging infrastructure in America to support a more sustainable reshaping of land use and activity patterns, the potential to do so is heavily impaired by a transportation planning process that is still dominated by the tools, methods and assumptions, political biases, procedural failures, and instilled human behaviors of the first highway-building era. The McGrath Highway in Somerville, MA is used as a case study to discuss how persistence of 1950s technical, procedural and political dysfunctions threaten to undermine this opportunity. Short-term actions and strategies to avoid this impending fate are suggested for McGrath Highway with applicability to a wider national context of similar opportunities.by Vignesh Krishnamurthy.S.M.in TransportationM.C.P

Knowledge and awareness on administration of local anesthesia and its various complications faced by undergraduate and postgraduate dental students - a cross sectional study

Local anaesthetics are an inseparable part of dental practice. Local anesthesia helps in relieving pain of the patient and also makes the comfortable during the dental procedure.also makes it painless as possible. Although they are effective in controlling pain, without proper knowledge of the safe dose and methods of administration inevitable complications arise. This study was done to assess knowledge and awareness of dental students on administration of local anesthesia and its various complications. An online survey was conducted with the help of Google forms was distributed to 103 undergraduate students pursuing dentistry. The questionnaire consisted of 15 questions that were based on dosage, administration and complication of local anesthesia. After obtaining the responses, data was tabulated in excel sheet and was subjected to statistical analysis. Results show that 40.8% agree that 4.4 mg/kg is the maximum dosage of 2% lidocaine with adrenaline, 45.6% students agree the importance of aspiration. 24.3% students know the complication of transient amaurosis to be blindness. 34% students know that ocular complications arise due to local anesthetic administration. No statistically significant difference noticed with the responses based on gender and educational status (p-value > 0.05). The overall knowledge and awareness about local anesthesia and its complications were only moderate among the undergraduate and postgraduate dental students. Postgraduates showed a better knowledge when compared to undergraduates

Investigation of the Effect of Ski Jump on the Flow Dynamics around Generic Aircraft Carrier

The landing operation on an aircraft carrier is a complicated and risky process. Unlike land-based operations, the landing area available on carriers is in continuous motion in all the six degrees of freedom. The ski jump, flight deck, hull, and superstructure of the carrier interact with the oncoming wind’s flow-field which creates a turbulent airflow behind the carrier. This ‘burble effect’ is very dangerous and has caused various mishaps in the past. To complement the work being undertaken at IIT Delhi to study the flow dynamics in the carrier environment, the present study investigates the effect of ski jump and superstructure on the flow around the generic aircraft carrier (GAC). Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) studies are undertaken to simulate the airwake and establish a baseline with the ski jump. Subsequently, further studies are carried out to analyse the sensitivity of the wake to changes in carrier geometry. The introduction of the ski generates a major proportion of turbulence encountered in the aft by the approaching pilot. This is reduced significantly by optimising ski jump geometry in various ways