Conflict resolution using game theory and rough sets

Conflicts occur naturally in the real world at all levels of society, individually, in groups or society as a whole. Almost all the existing conflict resolution models are unilateral in their decision‐making process. They do not consider the actions of the involved parties simultaneously. Therefore, in this paper, we aim to design a novel conflict resolution model based on game‐theoretic rough sets by constructing a game between all the concerned parties (players), computing the payoff of different strategies and classifying them following equilibrium rules. The proposed model yields more realistic and accurate results as it explores all possibilities and is flexible in determining different threshold values relative to the complexities of real‐life problems. Three real‐life conflict situations are solved with the proposed model, and a comprehensive analysis is done to validate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.     

Analysis of conditions favourable for small vertical axis wind turbines between building passages in urban areas of Sweden

This paper presents the analysis of installing the vertical axis wind turbines between the building passages on an island in Stockholm, Sweden. Based on the idea of wind speed amplification due to the venture effect in passages, practical measurements were carried out to study the wind profile for a range of passage widths in parallel building passages. Highest increment in wind speed was observed in building passages located on the periphery of sland as wind enters from free field. Wind mapping was performed in the island to choose the most favourable location to install the vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT). Using the annual wind speed data for location and measured amplification factor, energy potential of the street was calculated. This analysis verified that small vertical axis wind turbines can be installed in the passage centre line provided that enough space is provided for traffic and passengers.     

Supercritical Impregnation of Active Components into Polymers for Food Packaging Applications

Supercritical impregnation is one of the novel technologies exploited for incorporation of active components into packaging material. This technique uses carbon dioxide as solvent to incorporate the active components in the polymeric matrix. The major advantages of using supercritical carbon dioxide as a solvent rely on the possibility to operate under mild temperature and so to process with thermo-sensitive active components. This technique permits the impregnation of diverse natural and synthetic polymers which is the main advantage of this process. This review covers recent developments in the application of supercritical impregnation technology for incorporation of active components in polymers for food packaging applications.     

Densities,ultrasonic speeds,refractive indices,and COSMO analysis for binary mixtures of dichloromethane with acetone and dimethylsulfoxide at T = (298.15, 303.15, and 308.15) K

Experimental densities (ρ), ultrasonic speeds (u), and refractive indices (n_D) of binary mixtures of dichloromethane (DCM) with acetone (ACT) and dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) were measured over the whole composition range at T?=?298.15, 303.15, and 308.15?K. From the experimental data, excess molar volume (V^E), deviations in isentropic compressibility (Δk_s), deviations in intermolecular free length (ΔL_f), deviations in refractive index (Δn_D), and deviations in ultrasonic speed (Δu) were calculated. Moreover, the Benson–Kiyohara theory was applied to the binary mixtures to obtain the theoretical Δk_s values. The COSMO calculations depending on density functional theory were utilized to estimate the σ-profiles for the DCM, ACT, and DMSO. The interpreted σ-profile trends were found supportive with the experimental findings. Applicability of different empirical and semi-empirical relations of refractive index data were tested against the measured results, and good agreement has been obtained. The possible results of intermolecular molecular interactions among mixture components were interpreted.     

Binary phase solid‐state photopolymerization behavior of acrylate cryogels under different light sources

Two types of cryogels were obtained using 2‐hydroxyethyl acrylate (HEA) and 2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) by homogeneous mixing with poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) as crosslinker at subzero temperature followed by photopolymerization with two different light initiation sources (high‐pressure Hg arc lamp and UV‐LED).The solution was frozen unidirectionally at ?60 °C before polymerization and finally photopolymerized at the same temperature. The cryogels were characterized using photo‐DSC, UV–vis and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy techniques. The cryogels cured with an LED light showed a higher polymerization rate and better morphological characteristics than ones cured with a high‐pressure Hg arc. The water intake ratio of HEA/PEGDA was higher than HEMA/PEGDA for both curing sources. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018 , 135, 46686.     

Passive detection of image forgery using DCT and local binary pattern

With the development of easy-to-use and sophisticated image editing software, the alteration of the contents of digital images has become very easy to do and hard to detect. A digital image is a very rich source of information and can capture any event perfectly, but because of this reason, its authenticity is questionable. In this paper, a novel passive image forgery detection method is proposed based on local binary pattern (LBP) and discrete cosine transform (DCT) to detect copy–move and splicing forgeries. First, from the chrominance component of the input image, discriminative localized features are extracted by applying 2D DCT in LBP space. Then, support vector machine is used for detection. Experiments carried out on three image forgery benchmark datasets demonstrate the superiority of the method over recent methods in terms of detection accuracy.     

Sliding mode control for a fractional‐order non‐linear glucose‐insulin system

By providing the generalisation of integration and differentiation, and incorporating the memory and hereditary effects, fractional‐order modelling has gotten significant attention in the past few years. One of the extensively studied and utilised models to describe the glucose–insulin system of a human body is Bergman''s minimal model. This non‐linear model comprises of integer‐order differential equations. However, comparison with the experimental data shows that the fractional‐order version of Bergman''s minimal model is a better representative of the glucose–insulin system than its original integer‐order model. To design a control law for an artificial pancreas for a diabetic patient using a fractional‐order model, different techniques, including feedback linearisation, have been applied in the literature. The authors’ previous work shows that the fractional‐order version of Bergman''s model describes the glucose–insulin system in a better way than the integer‐order model. This study applies the sliding mode control technique and then compares the obtained simulation results with the ones obtained using feedback linearisation.Inspec keywords: nonlinear control systems, feedback, variable structure systems, differential equations, medical control systems, diseases, control system synthesis, sugar, nonlinear dynamical systemsOther keywords: fractional‐order nonlinear glucose‐insulin, hereditary effects, fractional‐order modelling, extensively, utilised models, glucose–insulin system, Bergman''s minimal model, nonlinear model, integer‐order differential equations, fractional‐order version, original integer‐order model, fractional‐order model, Bergman''s model, sliding mode control technique     

Respiratory effects in people exposed to arsenic via the drinking water and tobacco smoking in southern part of Pakistan

In this study, a survey has been conducted during 2005-2007 on surface and groundwater arsenic (As) contamination and its impact on the health of local population, of villages located on the banks of Manchar lake, southern part of Sindh, Pakistan. We have also assessed the relationship between arsenic exposure through respiratory disorders in male subjects with drinking water and smoking cigarettes made from tobacco grown in agricultural land irrigated with As contaminated lake water. The biological samples (blood and scalp hair) were collected from As exposed subjects (100% smokers) and age matched healthy male subjects (40.2% smoker and 59.8% non smokers) belong to unexposed areas for comparison purposes. The As concentration in drinking water (surface and underground water), agricultural soil, cigarette tobacco and biological samples were determined by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry. The range of As concentrations in lake water was 35.2-158 µg/L (average 97.5 µg/L), which is 3-15 folds higher than permissible limit of World Health Organization (WHO, 2004). While the As level in local cigarette tobacco was found to be 3-6 folds higher than branded cigarettes (0.37-0.79 µg/g). Arsenic exposed subjects (with and without RD) had significantly elevated levels of As in their biological samples as compared to referent male subject of unexposed area. These respiratory effects were more pronounced in individuals who had also As induced skin lesions. The linear regressions showed good correlations between As concentrations in water versus hair and blood samples of exposed subjects with and without respiratory problems.