Molecular Diversity Assessment Using Sequence Related Amplified Polymorphism (SRAP) Markers in Vicia faba L.

Sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) markers were used to assess the genetic diversity and relationship among 58 faba bean (Vicia faba L.) genotypes. Fourteen SRAP primer combinations amplified a total of 1036 differently sized well-resolved peaks (fragments), of which all were polymorphic with a 0.96 PIC value and discriminated all of the 58 faba bean genotypes. An average pairwise similarity of 21% was revealed among the genotypes ranging from 2% to 65%. At a similarity of 28%, UPGMA clustered the genotypes into three main groups comprising 78% of the genotypes. The local landraces and most of the Egyptian genotypes in addition to the Sudan genotypes were grouped in the first main cluster. The advanced breeding lines were scattered in the second and third main clusters with breeding lines from the ICARDA and genotypes introduced from Egypt. At a similarity of 47%, all the genotypes formed separated clusters with the exceptions of Hassawi 1 and Hassawi 2. Group analysis of the genotypes according to their geographic origin and type showed that the landraces were grouped according to their origin, while others were grouped according to their seed type. To our knowledge, this is the first application of SRAP markers for the assessment of genetic diversity in faba bean. Such information will be useful to determine optimal breeding strategies to allow continued progress in faba bean breeding.     

The influence of multi-pass friction stir processing on the microstructural and mechanical properties of Aluminum Alloy 6082

Samples with one through three passes with 100% overlap were created using friction stir processing (FSP) in order to locally modify the microstructural and mechanical properties of 6082-T6 Aluminum Alloy. A constant rotational speed and three different traverse speeds were used for processing. In this article, the microstructural properties in terms of grain structure and second phase particles distribution, and also the mechanical properties in terms of hardness and tensile strength of the processed zone were addressed with respect to the number of passes and traverse speeds. The parameter combination which resulted in highest ultimate tensile strength was further compared with additional two rotation speeds. FSP caused dynamic recrystallization of the stir zone leading to equiaxed grains with high angle grain boundaries which increased with increasing the number of passes. The accumulated heat accompanying multiple passes resulted in increase in the grain size, dissolution of precipitates and fragmentation of second phase particles. Increasing the traverse speed on the other hand did not affect the grain size, yet reduced the particles size as well as increased the particle area fraction. Hardness and tensile test results of the stir zone were in good agreement where increasing the number of passes caused softening and reduction of the ultimate tensile strength, whereas, increasing the traverse speed increased the strength and hardness. Increasing the tool rotational speed did not have a significant influence on particle mean diameter, ultimate tensile strength and hardness values of the stir zone, whereas, it caused an increase in mean grain size as well as particle area fraction.     

Robust and secure fractional wavelet image watermarking

This paper presents an efficient fractional wavelet transform (FWT) image watermarking technique based on combining the discrete wavelet transform (DWT) and the fractional Fourier transform (FRFT). In the proposed technique, the host image is wavelet transformed with two resolution levels, and then, the middle frequency sub-bands are FRFT transformed. The watermark is hidden by altering the selected FRFT coefficients of the middle frequency sub-bands of the 2-level DWT-transformed host image. Two pseudo-random noise (PN) sequences are used to modulate the selected FRFT coefficients with the watermark pixels, and inverse transforms are finally applied to get the watermarked image. In watermark extraction, we just need the same two PN sequences used in the embedding process and the watermark size. The correlation factor is used to determine whether the extracted pixel is one or zero. The proposed fractional wavelet transform (FWT) image watermarking method is tested with different image processing attacks and under composite attacks to verify its robustness. Experimental results demonstrated improved robustness and security.     

Modelling of creep in continuous RC beams under high levels of sustained loading

A nonlinear theoretical model is developed in this paper for the long-term analysis of continuous reinforced concrete beams. The model accounts for creep, cracking, nonlinear behaviour in compression, shrinkage, aging, yielding of the reinforcement. The constitutive relations follow the modified principle of superposition, which are presented in the form of nonlinear rheological generalized Maxwell models with strain and time dependent springs and dashpots that account for material nonlinearity and aging of the concrete. The governing equations are presented in an incremental form, and are solved through a step-by-step algorithm in time along with the numerical shooting method for the solution along the beam. An iterative procedure is implemented at each time step for the determination of the rigidities and the creep strains. The capabilities of the model are demonstrated through numerical examples. The results show that creep and shrinkage have various influences on the structural response, and they may decrease the load carrying capacity and the factor of safety of continuous reinforced concrete beams with time.     

EBSD investigation of the microstructure and microtexture evolution of 1050 aluminum cross deformed from ECAP to plane strain compression

Electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) was used to document the microstructure and texture developed due to cross deformation of commercial purity 1050 aluminum alloy. The materials are first deformed in equal channel angular pressing die (ECAP) to different number of passes; 1,4, 8, 12, and 16 passes, via route B_C and then deformed in plane strain compression (PSC) to two axial true plastic strain values of 0.5 and 1.0. Deformation path change was proven to be a very effective tool for manipulating the evolution of microstructure and microtexture. The study provides a documentation of the evolution of microstructure parameters namely cell size, misorientation angle, fraction of submicron grain size, and fraction of high angle grain boundaries. These microstructure parameters were investigated on two planes; the plane normal to the loading direction in PSC (RD–TD) and that plane normal to the transverse direction (RD–ND). These microstructure parameters are compared to those achieved due to the ECAP process only. The ideal rolling texture orientations are depicted and crystal orientation maps were generated. The spatial distribution of grains having these orientations is revealed through these maps. The fraction of the main texture components for a 10° spread around the specified orientations is experimentally calculated and a quantitative idea on the evolution of microtexture is also presented.     

Antimicrobial activity of some new 4‐arylazo‐3‐methylthiophene disperse dyes on polyester fabrics

A series of novel 4‐arylazo‐3‐methylthiophenes was synthesized by the heterocyclization of 2‐arylhydrazono‐2‐acetyl thioacetanilide derivatives with a variety of α‐halogenated reagents, such as chloroacetone, phenacyl bromide, ethyl chloroacetate, and chloroacetonitrile. The structures of the synthesized thiophene derivatives were confirmed by ultraviolet–visible, IR, and ¹H‐NMR spectroscopic techniques and elemental analysis. The synthesized dyes were applied to polyester fabrics as disperse dyes, and their fastness properties were evaluated. The dyed polyester fabrics displayed antibacterial efficacy against Gram‐positive (Staphylococcus aureus) and Gram‐negative (Escherichia coli) bacteria. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011     

Krill herd algorithm based on cuckoo search for solving engineering optimization problems

This paper presents a hybrid krill herd (CSKH) approach to solve structural optimization problems. CSKH improved the Krill herd algorithm (KH) by combining KU/KA operator originated from cuckoo search algorithm (CS) with KH. In CSKH, a greedy selection scheme is used and often overtakes the original KH and CS. In addition, in order to further enhance the assessment of CSKH, a fraction of the worst krill is thrown away and substituted with newly randomly generated ones by KA operator at the end of each generation. The CSKH is applied to five real engineering problems to verify its performance. The experimental results have proven that CSKH algorithm is well capable of solving constrained engineering design problems more efficiently and effectively than the basic CS and KH algorithm.

     

Mechanical properties,microstructure and texture of single pass equal channel angular pressed 1050, 5083, 6082 and 7010 aluminum alloys with different dies

Four important commercial aluminum alloys, namely 1050, 5083, 6082 and 7010AA are processed through a single pass via two equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) dies with different geometries (die angles of 90° and 120°). Electron back scattered diffraction (EBSD) is applied on the flow plane of the processed samples. Large scans with a step size of 7 μm for grain size distribution and texture measurements, as well as small scans with a step size of 0.1 μm for determination of cell size distribution, were performed. Hardness and simple compression are employed to evaluate the mechanical properties of the ECAP processed samples. Shear bands in the ECAP processed 7010AA was a major feature that led to failure in all samples subjected to further simple compression. The hardness as well as the stress–strain behavior was similar in the ECAP processed 6082 and 5083AA. The die geometry and the strain involved in the single pass influenced the overall texture intensity developed in the wrought alloys (1050 and 5083AA) and had minimal influence on the texture intensity of the heat treatable alloys (6082 and 7010AA). Low angle grain boundaries dominated the microstructure of all alloys for all testing conditions.