SYNTHESIS AND IMPLEMENTATION OF NiZnFe 2 O 4 FERRITES TO DESIGN EMBEDDED SYSTEM FOR HUMIDITY MEASUREMENT
2 ABSTRACT: Along with magnetic properties, the spinel ferrites exhibit promising electrical properties, deployment of which results into evolution of new area of applications as the electronic sensor materials. The electrical properties significantly depend upon the environmental compositions, for which it has been exposed. The electrical resistance of these sensor materials varies not only with gas concentration but also with change in water vapour concentration. With the view to develop an embedded technology based smart sensor module for humidity measurement a sensor material NixZn1-xFe2O4 are synthesized by chemical method and characterized by XRD and IR tools. The x-ray powder diffraction reveals the formation of single phase spinel ferrite, which is also supported by the IR absorption bands attributed to tetrahedral (A) site and octahedral (B) sites. Employing embedded philosophy, the sensor module is designed about AVR ATmega8L microcontroller for humidity measurement. The thick film of materials under investigation, prepared by screen painting technique, is used to sense the concentration of water molecules. Analog part of the system is wired about highly precise instrumentation amplifier AD620. Deployment of on-chip ADC of 10-bit resolution causes to increase in the preciseness of the results. The system is calibrated to the humidity in RH%. The data shown by the system under investigation reveals close match with the standard data.
Liquid-Phase Synthesis of Nickel Nanoparticles stabilized by PVP and study of their structural and magnetic properties
We have synthesized nickel nanoparticles using nickel chloride as a precursor in ethanol using PVP (Poly Vinyl Pyrrolidone) as a surfactant and hydrazine hydrate as reducing agent at 60 °C in a facile manner. The structural analysis showed that particles are face-centered cubic and monodisperse within the PVP matrix with average size about 3 nm. The magnetic analysis shows the superparamagnetism of the single-domain nickel nanoparticles with the blocking temperature (Tb) exists around 14 K with clear hysteretic effect observation below this blocking temperature. Copyright © 2011 VBRI press.
Improvement of scopolamine-induced memory impairment by Z-ajoene in the water maze in mice
Z-ajoene, a major compound containing sulfur in oil-macerated garlic products, exhibited inhibitory effects against scopolamine-induced memory impairment in mice using the Morris water maze test. The effects of Z-ajoene were observed dose-dependently (0.25-25 mg/kg). At the highest dosage, the memory performance of mice was improved compared to normal mice. The acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity in the brain was reduced by administration of Z-ajoene dose-dependently. However, alliin and diallyl disulfide, organosulfur compounds from garlic, did not improve memory performance nor AChE inhibitory effect. These results suggest that Z-ajoene may act on the cholinergic system and on memory impairment caused by excess activity of AChE.