Properties of alite cements

For carrying out a comprehensive investigation on physical and mechanical properties of alite mortars and concretes, large quantities of monoclinic alite were produced at the University of California at Berkeley. Laboratory-size specimens were employed to determine strength, drying shrinkage, and sulfate resisting characteristics of mortars and concretes made with alite cements. Small amounts of gypsum (3%) addition accelerated the setting and hardening of the alite cements, however, large amounts (6%) resulted in strength deterioration. Drying shrinkage of alite concretes was significantly lower than portland cement concretes of the same fineness. Long term sulfate immersion of concrete specimens made with an alite cement caused serious spalling and strength loss.     

Thermoplastic olefin/clay nanocomposites: Morphology and mechanical properties

Thermoplastic olefin (TPO)/clay nanocomposites were made with clay loadings of 0.6–6.7 wt %. The morphology of these TPO/clay nanocomposites was investigated with atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X‐ray diffraction. The ethylene–propylene rubber (EPR) particle morphology in the TPO underwent progressive particle breakup and decreased in particle size as the clay loading increased from 0.6 to 5.6 wt %. TEM micrographs showed that the clay platelets preferentially segregated to the rubber–particle interface. The breakup of the EPR particles was suspected to be due to the increasing melt viscosity observed as the clay loading increased or to the accompanying chemical modifiers of the clay, acting as interfacial agents and reducing the interfacial tension with a concomitant reduction in the particle size. The flexural modulus of the injection moldings increased monotonically as the clay loading increased. The unnotched (Izod) impact strength was substantially increased or maintained, whereas the notched (Izod) impact strength decreased modestly as the clay loading increased. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 92: 928–936, 2004     

Water Desalination a perspective for membrane processes in India

A crying need of the day in India is to supply safe drinking water to its villages, towns and cities. Though the urban needs are partially met by organized water supply schemes, acute water shortages are felt at various times in this sector also with the expanding industrialization of the country. In many areas of arid and semi-arid regions, only brackish waters are available which are unfit for human consumption.Research and development effort at CSMCRI on the two membrane processes, reverse osmosis and electrodialysis, during the past decade has been reviewed. Some of the current activities in the rural sector and the future potential for these two processes in tackling the pressing needs of potable water to the rural masses in India are outlined. In the industrial sector, these two processes have immense potentialities in pollution abatement and water reuse.     

Estimation of the Kubelka—Munk scattering coefficient from single particle scattering parameters

Computer colour matching of paints is based on the determination of the Kubelka—Munk absorption (K) and scattering coefficients (S) of pigments. K and S are sensitive to particle size in the range of sizes employed in paint technology. The K—M theory does not provide any guidelines for the correction of the values of K and S with a change in particle size. On the other hand the Mie theory linear scattering coefficient can be calculated from a knowledge of size and refractive index of the pigment. A number of relations correlating the K—M scattering coefficient and the linear scattering coefficient have been proposed in the literature. Attempts are made to estimate the K—M scattering coefficient using a relation suggested by Mudgett and Richards and to make a comparison with experimental values. The Mie theory equations being complex, simplified equations applicable to pigment sizes for the calculation of Mie theory parameters are proposed. The viability of the simplified equations has been established by comparing the results with those obtained using the full Mie equations.The K—M scattering coefficient for titanium dioxide pigments has been determined from reflectance measurements. The particle size of titanium dioxide has been determined by a light scattering method. The K—M scattering coefficient calculated from the linear scattering coefficient obtained using the simplified expressions agrees with experimental results. This suggests a method for the correction of the values of K and S with changes in pigment particle size.     

Survey of denoising,segmentation and classification of magnetic resonance imaging for prostate cancer

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Prostate cancer (PCa) has become the second most dreadful cancer in men after lung cancer. Traditional approaches used for treatment of PCa were manual, time...     

Thermal degradation of foamed polymethyl methacrylate in the expendable pattern casting process

The thermal degradation of foamed polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) patterns in the expendable pat-tern casting process has been studied. Various physical transitions that may occur during the degradation of PMMA have been determined using scanning electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and thermogravimetric analysis, and the effects of polymer density on the degradation characteristics have been investigated. The results indicate that, when exposed to elevated temperatures, the polymer beads collapse at about 140 to 200 °. The collapsed beads melt at 260 ° and begin to volatilize. Peak volatilization temperatures are on the order of 370 °. The end temperature for volatilization is between 420 and 430 °. The initial density of the polymer does not have a significant effect on the transition tem-peratures associated with degradation.     

Review of anthropometric considerations for tractor seat design

Tractor driving imposes a lot of physical and mental stress upon the operator. If the operator's seat is not comfortable, his work performance may be poor and there is also a possibility of accidents. The optimal design of tractor seat may be achieved by integrating anthropometric data with other technical features of the design. This paper reviews the existing information on the tractor seat design that considers anthropometry and biomechanical factors and gives an approach for seat design based on anthropometric data. The anthropometric dimensions, i.e. popliteal height sitting (5th percentile), hip breadth sitting (95th percentile), buttock popliteal length (5th percentile), interscye breadth (5th and 95th percentile) and sitting acromion height (5th percentile) of agricultural workers need to be taken into consideration for design of seat height, seat pan width, seat pan length, seat backrest width and seat backrest height, respectively, of a tractor. The seat dimensions recommended for tractor operator's comfort based on anthropometric data of 5434 Indian male agricultural workers were as follows: seat height of 380 mm, seat pan width of 420–450 mm, seat backrest width of 380–400 mm (bottom) and 270–290 mm (top), seat pan length of 370±10 mm, seat pan tilt of 5–7° backward and seat backrest height of 350 mm.

Relevance to industry

The approach presented in this paper for tractor seat design based on anthropometric considerations will help the tractor seat designers to develop and introduce seats suiting to the requirements of the user population. This will not only enhance the comfort of the tractor operators but may also help to reduce the occupational health problems of tractor operators.     

Transfer in variable-reward hierarchical reinforcement learning

Transfer learning seeks to leverage previously learned tasks to achieve faster learning in a new task. In this paper, we consider transfer learning in the context of related but distinct Reinforcement Learning (RL) problems. In particular, our RL problems are derived from Semi-Markov Decision Processes (SMDPs) that share the same transition dynamics but have different reward functions that are linear in a set of reward features. We formally define the transfer learning problem in the context of RL as learning an efficient algorithm to solve any SMDP drawn from a fixed distribution after experiencing a finite number of them. Furthermore, we introduce an online algorithm to solve this problem, Variable-Reward Reinforcement Learning (VRRL), that compactly stores the optimal value functions for several SMDPs, and uses them to optimally initialize the value function for a new SMDP. We generalize our method to a hierarchical RL setting where the different SMDPs share the same task hierarchy. Our experimental results in a simplified real-time strategy domain show that significant transfer learning occurs in both flat and hierarchical settings. Transfer is especially effective in the hierarchical setting where the overall value functions are decomposed into subtask value functions which are more widely amenable to transfer across different SMDPs.     

Unsupervised strategies for shilling detection and robust collaborative filtering

Collaborative filtering systems are essentially social systems which base their recommendation on the judgment of a large number of people. However, like other social systems, they are also vulnerable to manipulation by malicious social elements. Lies and Propaganda may be spread by a malicious user who may have an interest in promoting an item, or downplaying the popularity of another one. By doing this systematically, with either multiple identities, or by involving more people, malicious user votes and profiles can be injected into a collaborative recommender system. This can significantly affect the robustness of a system or algorithm, as has been studied in previous work. While current detection algorithms are able to use certain characteristics of shilling profiles to detect them, they suffer from low precision, and require a large amount of training data. In this work, we provide an in-depth analysis of shilling profiles and describe new approaches to detect malicious collaborative filtering profiles. In particular, we exploit the similarity structure in shilling user profiles to separate them from normal user profiles using unsupervised dimensionality reduction. We present two detection algorithms; one based on PCA, while the other uses PLSA. Experimental results show a much improved detection precision over existing methods without the usage of additional training time required for supervised approaches. Finally, we present a novel and highly effective robust collaborative filtering algorithm which uses ideas presented in the detection algorithms using principal component analysis.     

Ergonomic evaluation of hospital bed design features during patient handling tasks

Patient handling tasks (e.g., transportation and repositioning) are important causes of musculoskeletal disorders among healthcare workers. The purpose of this study was to evaluate, during two patient handling tasks, the physical demands resulting from alternative hospital bed design features. Twenty-four novice participants were involved in two laboratory-based studies. The effects of a steering lock and adjustable push height were evaluated during a patient transportation task using perceptual responses and measures of performance and physical demands, and the effect of a bed contour feature was determined based on patient sliding distance during repeated bed raising/lowering. Use of the steering lock reduced the number of adjustments during bed maneuvering by 28% and decreased ratings of physical demands. Use of the adjustable push height reduced shoulder moments by 30%. With the contour feature, patient sliding distance was reduced by ∼40% over 12 raise/lower cycles. These results suggest that the steering lock and adjustable push height features can reduce physical demands placed on healthcare workers during patient transportation tasks. Although patient sliding distance was reduced using the contour feature, assessing direct effects of this feature on physical demands (e.g., reduced need for workers to reposition patients) will require further investigation.

Relevance to industry

Hospital bed design features have the potential to reduce physical demands required of healthcare workers, yet there have been only limited empirical studies of these. Findings of the two current studies suggest that proactive ergonomic considerations in hospital bed design can reduce these physical demands.