Electrospinning with various machine configurations is being used to produce polymer nanofibers with different rates of output. The use of polymers with high viscosity and the encapsulation of ...nanoparticles for achieving functionalities are some of the limitations of the existing methods. A profiled multi-pin electrospinning (PMES) setup is demonstrated in this work that overcomes the limitations in the needle and needleless electrospinning like needle clogging, particle settling, and uncontrolled/uneven Taylor cone formation, the requirement of very high voltage and uncontrolled distribution of nanoparticles in nanofibers. The key feature of the current setup is the use of profiled pin arrangement that aids in the formation of spherical shape polymer droplet and hence ensures uniform Taylor cone formation throughout the fiber production process. With a 10 wt% of Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) polymer solution and at an applied voltage of 30 kV, the production rate was observed as 1.690 g/h and average fiber diameter obtained was 160.5 ± 48.9 nm for PVA and 124.9 ± 49.8 nm for Cellulose acetate (CA) respectively. Moreover, the setup also provides the added advantage of using high viscosity polymer solutions in electrospinning. This approach is expected to increase the range of multifunctional electrospun nanofiber applications.
The distinct difference between the lunar surface (Moon) and the Earth forced space research organizations (SRO) and researchers to study the geotechnical properties of the lunar soils for the ...successful execution of lunar missions. The planned Chandrayaan Missions of the Indian Space Research Organization include constructing lunar structures on the lunar surface for the future Moon colonization. The stability of such lunar structures is completely dependent upon the foundation systems adopted. The foundation systems of these lunar structures are expected to encounter various types of vibrations due to moonquakes on the lunar surface. The analysis and design of a foundation system with respect to ground motion and vibration rely on the dynamic properties of the lunar soil. Also, the characterization of dynamic soil properties like shear modulus, damping ratio, and Poisson's ratio is essential for the safe design of foundation systems. Therefore, it is imperative to evaluate the dynamic properties of the lunar soil against moonquake-induced vibrations. Past research has utilized lunar soil simulants were used to assess the lunar soil's geotechnical properties. In that order, this study explains the dynamic properties of the new lunar highland simulant LSS-ISAC-1 under simulated moonquake conditions using cyclic triaxial tests. The shear modulus and damping ratio were determined from the cyclic triaxial tests for the different relative densities (30%, 63%, and 80%), confining pressures (5 kPa–75 kPa), and frequencies to represent the loose, medium, and dense states of the lunar surface. The bender element test is also done to find the shear wave velocity and maximum shear modulus. The results were compared with the lunar soil simulant CAS-1 and lunar soils to show the reliability of the obtained test results of LSS-ISAC-1.
•A new lunar highland soil simulant (LSS-ISAC-1) was developed by ISRO using terrestrial anorthosite rocks to mimic the geotechnical properties of the highland soils of the lunar surface.•Dynamic properties of the LSS-ISAC-1 were determined using the cyclic triaxial test.•The measured dynamic properties would be considered for proposing a suitable foundation system for lunar structures considering the Moonquake effects.•Test results were compared with the actual lunar soil and lunar soil simulant CAS-1 to show the reliability of the obtained test results of LSS-ISAC-1.
We present the results of the search for an isotropic stochastic gravitational wave background (GWB) at nanohertz frequencies using the second data release of the European Pulsar Timing Array (EPTA) ...for 25 millisecond pulsars and a combination with the first data release of the Indian Pulsar Timing Array (InPTA). A robust GWB detection is conditioned upon resolving the Hellings-Downs angular pattern in the pairwise cross-correlation of the pulsar timing residuals. Additionally, the GWB is expected to yield the same (common) spectrum of temporal correlations across pulsars, which is used as a null hypothesis in the GWB search. Such a common-spectrum process has already been observed in pulsar timing data. We analysed (i) the full 24.7-year EPTA data set, (ii) its 10.3-year subset based on modern observing systems, (iii) the combination of the full data set with the first data release of the InPTA for ten commonly timed millisecond pulsars, and (iv) the combination of the 10.3-year subset with the InPTA data. These combinations allowed us to probe the contributions of instrumental noise and interstellar propagation effects. With the full data set, we find marginal evidence for a GWB, with a Bayes factor of four and a false alarm probability of 4%. With the 10.3-year subset, we report evidence for a GWB, with a Bayes factor of 60 and a false alarm probability of about 0.1% (≳3
σ
significance). The addition of the InPTA data yields results that are broadly consistent with the EPTA-only data sets, with the benefit of better noise modelling. Analyses were performed with different data processing pipelines to test the consistency of the results from independent software packages. The latest EPTA data from new generation observing systems show non-negligible evidence for the GWB. At the same time, the inferred spectrum is rather uncertain and in mild tension with the common signal measured in the full data set. However, if the spectral index is fixed at 13/3, the two data sets give a similar amplitude of (2.5 ± 0.7) × 10
−15
at a reference frequency of 1 yr
−1
. Further investigation of these issues is required for reliable astrophysical interpretations of this signal. By continuing our detection efforts as part of the International Pulsar Timing Array (IPTA), we expect to be able to improve the measurement of spatial correlations and better characterise this signal in the coming years.
Using the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA), the low-frequency Square Kilometre Array precursor located in Western Australia, we have completed the GaLactic and Extragalactic All-sky MWA (GLEAM) ...survey, and present the resulting extragalactic catalogue, utilizing the first year of observations. The catalogue covers 24 831 square degrees, over declinations south of +30... and Galactic latitudes outside 10... of the Galactic plane, excluding some areas such as the Magellanic Clouds. It contains 307 455 radio sources with 20 separate flux density measurements across 72-231 MHz, selected from a time- and frequency-integrated image centred at 200 MHz, with a resolution of ...2 arcmin. Over the catalogued region, we estimate that the catalogue is 90 per cent complete at 170 mJy, and 50 per cent complete at 55 mJy, and large areas are complete at even lower flux density levels. Its reliability is 99.97 per cent above the detection threshold of 5..., which itself is typically 50 mJy. These observations constitute the widest fractional bandwidth and largest sky area survey at radio frequencies to date, and calibrate the low-frequency flux density scale of the southern sky to better than 10 per cent. This paper presents details of the flagging, imaging, mosaicking and source extraction/characterization, as well as estimates of the completeness and reliability. All source measurements and images are available online. This is the first in a series of publications describing the GLEAM survey results. (ProQuest: ... denotes formulae/symbols omitted.)
Astronomical wide-field imaging of interferometric radio data is computationally expensive, especially for the large data volumes created by modern non-coplanar many-element arrays. We present a new ...wide-field interferometric imager that uses the w-stacking algorithm and can make use of the w-snapshot algorithm. The performance dependences of casa's w-projection and our new imager are analysed and analytical functions are derived that describe the required computing cost for both imagers. On data from the Murchison Widefield Array, we find our new method to be an order of magnitude faster than w-projection, as well as being capable of full-sky imaging at full resolution and with correct polarization correction. We predict the computing costs for several other arrays and estimate that our imager is a factor of 2–12 faster, depending on the array configuration. We estimate the computing cost for imaging the low-frequency Square Kilometre Array observations to be 60 PetaFLOPS with current techniques. We find that combining w-stacking with the w-snapshot algorithm does not significantly improve computing requirements over pure w-stacking. The source code of our new imager is publicly released.
Production rates of cosmogenic nuclides at the earth's surface are controlled by the intensity of energetic cosmic-ray nucleons, which changes rapidly with elevation. An incomplete knowledge of how ...nucleon fluxes vary with elevation remains a major obstacle to utilizing cosmogenic nuclides as geochronometers in applications requiring highly accurate ages. One problem is that attenuation characteristics depend on nucleon energy. Measurements of high-energy (>
50 MeV) nucleon fluxes tend to give shorter attenuation lengths than low-energy (<
1 MeV) fluxes, but these differences are not well characterized due to a lack of data at lower energies. Another problem is that the atmospheric attenuation length for nucleon fluxes varies with the geomagnetic cutoff rigidity (a parameter related to geomagnetic latitude),
R
C, and that there has been an incomplete mapping of nucleon fluxes at high
R
C (low geomagnetic latitude). We report new measurements of nucleon fluxes from altitude transects in Hawaii (
R
C
=
12.8 GV) and Bangalore, India (
R
C
=
17.3 GV). Our measurements in Hawaii of low-energy neutrons (median energy 1 eV) and energetic nucleons (median energy 140 MeV) confirm that nucleon scaling functions are energy-dependent in the range of energies at which cosmogenic nuclides are produced. Our measurements in southern India extend our previously reported scaling model for spallation reactions D. Desilets, M. Zreda, Spatial and temporal distribution of secondary cosmic-ray nucleon intensity and applications to in situ cosmogenic dating. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 206 (2003) 21–42 from
R
C
=
13.3 GV to
R
C
=
17.3 GV, nearly the highest cutoff rigidity on earth. The anomalously high cutoff rigidity over India provides a geomagnetic shielding condition that is effectively the same as would be observed at the geomagnetic equator in a dipole field with an intensity 1.2 times the modern value. This makes it possible to scale low-latitude production rates to paleomagnetic fields that are stronger than the present dipole field.
Imitating Dolphin fish-like movement is productive method for enhancing their hydrodynamic capabilities. This work aims to analyze and understand the oscillations of tail fluke of Dolphin, which can ...be used as a propulsive mechanism for underwater fish robots and vehicles. The objective of the work is to achieve the desired oscillating amplitude by simulating the NACA 0012 profile using computational models and Set up the swimming movement of the dolphin, imitating a fish like model. Computational techniques were employed to examine the propulsive capabilities of the oscillating hydrofoil, inspired by the dolphin's biological propulsion. The evolutionary of fluid pattern in the field surrounding both Dolphin fish model and the NACA0012 hydrofoil, from initial motion to cruising, was established, and the hydrodynamic impact was subsequently studied. An user-defined function (UDF) was developed to create a dynamic mesh interface with CFD code ANSYS FLUENT for establishing the oscillations of Dolphin tail across the flow field. Influencing hydrodynamic coefficients such as lift and drag coefficients at different frequencies were also obtained. The findings shown that when the acceleration of the Dolphin fish model increases, the time averaged drag force coefficient drops because The wake field's vortex disperses to have some beneficial effects and pressure of water surrounding the fish head intensifies to produce a large resistance force. Simulation results show a 98% agreement at lower frequency and speed levels but a 5% deviation at higher frequency and speed due to turbulence effects in both models. It was established that the vortex superposition enhances the Dolphin fish like model rather than lowering its positive impacts. The Strouhal number, which is obtained by the fluid field's evolution rule, can be linked to the Kármán vortex street span with reverse.
ABSTRACT
High-precision measurements of the pulsar dispersion measure (DM) are possible using telescopes with low-frequency wideband receivers. We present an initial study of the application of the ...wideband timing technique, which can simultaneously measure the pulsar times of arrivals (ToAs) and DMs, for a set of five pulsars observed with the upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (uGMRT) as part of the Indian Pulsar Timing Array (InPTA) campaign. We have used the observations with the 300–500 MHz band of the uGMRT for this purpose. We obtain high precision in DM measurements with precisions of the order 10−6 cm−3 pc. The ToAs obtained have sub-μs precision and the rms of the post-fit ToA residuals are in the sub-μs range. We find that the uncertainties in the DMs and ToAs obtained with this wideband technique, applied to low-frequency data, are consistent with the results obtained with traditional pulsar timing techniques and comparable to high-frequency results from other PTAs. This work opens up an interesting possibility of using low-frequency wideband observations for precision pulsar timing and gravitational wave detection with similar precision as high-frequency observations used conventionally.
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