Surface Hardening of High-Strength Low Alloy Steels (HSLA) Dual-Phase Steels by Ball Burnishing Using Factorial Design

Burnishing is used increasingly as a finishing operation which gives additional advantages such as increased hardness, fatigue strength, and wear resistance. Experimental work based on 3⁴ factorial design was carried out to establish the effects of ball burnishing parameters on the surface hardness of high-strength low alloy steels (HSLA) dual-phase (DP) steel specimens. Statistical analysis of the results shows that the speed, feed, lubricant and ball diameter have significant effect on surface hardness.     

Rehabilitating oustees in the Narmada basin,India

The plan for 3155 water projects is absolutely necessary for the socioeconomic development of the neglected Narmada basin. However, neither the 45‐year development target nor its cost (Rs 200 billion) is realistic. The environmental cost associated with the rehabilitation of 1.31 million oustees within the valley should be fully internalized in the development plan. In this article, submergence effects are estimated by extrapolation, and a socioeconomic and cultural profile of the oustees is presented. The feasibility of four possible resettlement alternatives is examined, keeping in view the objectives of rehabilitation and the performance of completed and ongoing projects. Guidelines are suggested for the preparation of a rehabilitation plan.     

Least squares large margin distribution machine for regression

Better prediction ability is the main objective of any regression-based model. Large margin Distribution Machine for Regression (LDMR) is an efficient approach where it tries to reduce both loss functions, i.e. ε-insensitive and quadratic loss to diminish the effects of outliers. However, still, it has a significant drawback, i.e. high computational complexity. To achieve the improved generalization of the regression model with less computational cost, we propose an enhanced form of LDMR named as Least Squares Large margin Distribution Machine-based Regression (LS-LDMR) by transforming the inequality conditions alleviate to equality conditions. The elucidation is attained by handling a system of linear equations where we need to measure the inverse of the matrix only. Hence, there is no need to solve the large size of the quadratic programming problem, unlike in the case of other regression-based algorithms as SVR, Twin SVR, and LDMR. The numerical experiment has been performed on the benchmark real-life datasets along with synthetically generated datasets by using the linear and Gaussian kernel. All the experiments of presented LS-LDMR are analyzed with standard SVR, Twin SVR, primal least squares Twin SVR (PLSTSVR), ε-Huber SVR (ε-HSVR), ε-support vector quantile regression (ε-SVQR), minimum deviation regression (MDR), and LDMR, which shows the effectiveness and usability of LS-LDMR. This approach is also statistically validated and verified in terms of various metrics.

     

Studying single nanocrystals under high pressure using an x-ray nanoprobe

In this report, we demonstrate the feasibility of applying a 250-nm focused x-ray beam to study a single crystalline NbSe(3) nanobelt under high-pressure conditions in a diamond anvil cell. With such a small probe, we not only resolved the distribution and morphology of each individual nanobelt in the x-ray fluorescence maps but also obtained the diffraction patterns from individual crystalline nanobelts with thicknesses of less than 50 nm. Single crystalline diffraction measurements on NbSe(3) nanobelts were performed at pressures up to 20 GPa.     

Flow structure and scour around circular compound bridge piers – A review

Large amount of literature is presently available on the topic of scour around uniform piers and its control. However, relatively fewer studies have been carried out so far on the topic of flow field and scour around compound piers. The state of art on the topic of flow structure and scour around circular compound piers is presented herein. The available literature reveals that variations in foundation and pier geometry significantly affect the maximum depth of scour and its temporal variation. In case of compound piers the scour depth is highly sensitive to the change in elevation of the top surface of the foundation well. As compared to uniform piers, a reduction is observed in maximum depth of scour around compound pier when the top surface of the well is kept below the general level of river bed. These observations however are yet to be quantified. Results from an experimental study on flow field around the compound piers are also presented.     

Conjugation of curcumin with PVP capped gold nanoparticles for improving bioavailability

Curcumin, a natural polyphenolic compound, has astounding therapeutic applications but lacks in bioavailability mainly due to its poor solubility in water. Polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) which is a proven drug carrier has been used to facilitate the conjugation of curcumin with gold nanoparticles and to improve the solubility of curcumin in water. In this conjugate diaryl heptanoid chromophore group of curcumin which is a much needed group in biomedical applications remains intact as observed from FTIR and UV–vis spectroscopy analysis. The work shows good promise for such conjugates as therapeutic-cum-imaging materials in biomedical field.     

Anticorrosion Potential of Flectofenine on Mild Steel in Hydrochloric Acid Media: Experimental and Theoretical Study

Journal of Failure Analysis and Prevention - The inhibition effect of Flectofenine on corrosion of mild steel in 1M HCl solution was investigated by using traditional weight loss method and...     

Role of carrier material in encapsulation of yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) by spray drying

ABSTRACT

Yeast was encapsulated using different carrier materials and their combinations to explore the possible synergistic effect of carrier material during encapsulation using spray drying. Freeze-drying was performed for comparison. The dried cell powders were analyzed for the quality aspects (morphology, flowability, and storage stability). The best results were observed, with a combination of whey protein and corn starch (cell survival: 82.37% and yield: 56%, w/w) with a shelf life of 6 months (with only 10% reduction in cell survival). The survival was found to be 40% without any carrier material, which decreased to less than 25% within 4 weeks.     

Properties of Dried and Intermediate Moisture Honey Products: A Review

This review discusses the processing techniques proposed for the production of dried and intermediate moisture honey products, as well as their properties. Stickiness is the major problem in the drying of sugar rich products like honey, that depend on the type of sugar and temperature of operation, which are related to the glass transition temperature. Some additives are usually added to the sugary feed to increase the glass transition temperature and concurrently the sticky point temperature. In the case of honey-fruit spreads, nutritional and sensory characteristics can be enhanced by replacing part of sugar with honey. Co-crystallization of honey with sucrose could be used to preserve the honey flavor. These diversified honey products provide better taste and nutrition to the consumer besides enhancing the utilization of honey.