Single Point Incremental Forming and the Forming Criteria for AA3003

Single Point Incremental Forming (SPIF) is a modern method of forming sheet metal, where parts can be formed without the use of dedicated dies. The ability of SPIF to form a part is based on various forming parameters. Previous work was not accomplished with the help of design of experiments, thus reducing the number of parameters varied at any time. This paper presents two designs of experiments, which formalise the forming parameters critical in SPIF and the degree to which they affect formability.     

Effect of calcination temperature on the low-temperature oxidation of CO over CoOx/TiO2 catalysts

A 5 wt% CoO_x/TiO₂ catalyst has been used to study the effect of calcination temperature on the activity of this catalyst for CO oxidation at 100 °C under a net oxidizing condition in a continuous flow type fixed-bed reactor system, and the catalyst samples have been characterized using TPD, XPS and XRD measurements. The catalyst after calcination at 450 °C gave highest activity for this low-temperature CO oxidation, and XPS measurements yielded that a 780.2-eV Co 2p_3/2 main peak appeared with this catalyst sample and this binding energy was similar to that measured with pure Co₃O₄. After calcination at 570 °C, the catalyst, which had possessed practically no activity in the oxidation reaction, gave a Co 2p_3/2 main structure peak at 781.3 eV which was very similar to those obtained for synthesized Co_nTiO_n+2 compounds (CoTiO₃ and Co₂TiO₄), and this catalyst sample had relatively negligible CO chemisorption as observed by TPD spectra. XRD peaks indicating only the formation of Co₃O₄ particles on titania surface were developed in the catalyst samples after calcination at temperatures ≥350 °C. Based on these characterization results, five types of Co species could be modeled to exist with the catalyst calcined at different temperatures. Among these surface Co species, the Type A clean Co₃O₄ particles were predominant on a sample of the catalyst after calcination at 450 °C and highly active for CO oxidation at 100 °C, and the calcination at 570 °C gave the Type B Co₃O₄ particles with complete Co_nTiO_n+2 overlayers inactive for this oxidation reaction.     

Effects of Edible Insect Tenebrio molitor Larva Fermentation Extract as a Substitute Protein on Hepatosteatogenesis and Proteomic Changes in Obese Mice Induced by High-Fat Diet

Mealworms (Tenebrio molitor larva) are an edible insect and a protein-rich food; however, research on mealworms as a substitute protein is insufficient. In this study, mealworm fermentation extract (TMP) was assessed as a replacement for soy protein (SP) in a control diet (CON) or a high-fat diet (HFD) of mice for 12 weeks. TMP substitution reduced body weight, body weight gain, body fat mass (perirenal and mesenteric), fat size, glucose intolerance, and insulin resistance compared to the HFD-SP group. TMP alleviated hepatic steatosis (lipid contents and lipid droplets) in high-fat-fed mice and down-regulated the PPARγ, CD36, and DGAT2 gene levels. Proteomic analysis showed that a HFD for 12 weeks up-regulated 20 proteins and down-regulated 17 proteins in mice fed SP. On the other hand, TMP reversed the protein profiles. TMP significantly down-regulated KHK, GLO1, ATP5H, SOD, and DDAH1 and up-regulated DLD, Mup1, CPS1, Ces3b, PDI, and HYOU1 compared to the HFD-SP group. These proteins are involved in the glucose, lipid, and amino acid metabolism, as well as in oxidative stress and endoplasmic reticulum stress. Thus, substituting SP for TMP helped improve HFD-induced obesity, steatosis, and insulin resistance in mice. These results suggest that TMP is a potential substitute for commonly used protein sources.     

A laser-technology-based lifting-path tracking system for a robotic tower crane

As the number of high-rise buildings increases, so does the use of tower cranes, the number of which now tops 3000 per year in Korea. Accordingly, the safety issues of high workspaces and efficiency issues of repeated work arise in the process of lifting materials to high places. As an alternative to traditional tower cranes, we are developing a robotic tower-crane system. By developing a robotic crane system, we expect the productivity to improve by 9.9%–50% based on the results of previous studies. In this study, we examine the feasibility of a laser-technology-based lifting-path tracking system for a robotic tower-crane system. There have been efforts to develop a robotic tower crane but they could travel only through preplanned paths or had blind stop problems. We proposed a robotic tower-crane system with a laser device, an encoder, and an accelerometer, and tested the feasibility of the system under indoor, outdoor, and swinging conditions. In the process, we developed a software application to receive and record data from the laser device. The test results showed the feasibility of a proposed lifting-path tracking system for a robotic tower crane under various outdoor conditions. Several limitations have been also recognized.     

Antiobese and hypocholesterolaemic effects of an Adenophora triphylla extract in HepG2 cells and high fat diet-induced obese mice

The ethyl acetate extract from Adenophora triphylla root (ATea) had strong antioxidant effect. We hypothesised that a high fat (HF) diet might induce oxidative stress and so, dietary antioxidant may have beneficial effects on hypercholesterolaemia, but the underlying mechanisms involved are not fully understood. To test this hypothesis, C57BL/6 mice were fed with HF diet for 9 weeks. In the last 4 weeks, the HF diet was supplemented with 0, 25 or 75 mg/kg ATea. ATea decreased body weight gain and both ATea doses significantly reduced the plasma and hepatic cholesterol levels of the obese mice. Analysis of the hepatic expression of proteins known to play important roles in cholesterol metabolism indicated that ATea significantly enhanced low density lipoprotein receptor (LDL receptor) and cholesterol 7α-hydroxylase (CYP7A1) expression but inhibited the 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl–CoA reductase (HMG–CoA reductase) expression in HepG2 cells and mice. No mutagenic activity was observed at high doses of ATea.     

Metrics for Quantifying the Similarities and Differences between IFC Files

Recently, several papers reported problems in data exchange using industry foundation classes (IFC). However, most comparisons were made based on a visual check, a manual count, and observation of properties that were selectively chosen. This study proposes a set of metrics for quantifying the similarities and differences between IFC files. The proposed metrics include the similarity rate, the matching rate, the globally unique identifier (GUID) preservation rate, the missing rate, and the addition rate. A long-term goal of this study is to develop a set of metrics for quantifying the information exchange rate between two IFC files. Automated identification of modified information versus newly generated information is an unsolved challenge. The proposed metrics were used in analyzing 88 IFC files generated from different systems to demonstrate the potential use of the proposed metrics.     

Influence of Water on the Compression Behavior of Decomposed Granite Soil

In order to investigate the influence of water on compression characteristics of decomposed granite soils, single-particle crushing and one-dimensional compression tests were carried out on three types of decomposed granite soils as well as on quartz-rich silica sand under both dry and wet conditions. Results showed that the initial crushing strength of a single particle was reduced and strength variability increased due to the weakening effects induced by the presence of water. Moreover, it was observed that the one-dimensional compression behavior of decomposed granite soil was related to the initial crushing strength. Finally, the magnitude of initial crushing strength was also affected by the degree of weathering of the soil.     

Incorporating social anxiety into a model of college problem drinking: Replication and extension.

Although research has found an association between social anxiety and alcohol use in noncollege samples, results have been mixed for college samples. College students face many novel social situations in which they may drink to reduce social anxiety. In the current study, the authors tested a model of college problem drinking, incorporating social anxiety and related psychosocial variables among 228 undergraduate volunteers. According to structural equation modeling (SEM) results, social anxiety was unrelated to alcohol use and was negatively related to drinking consequences. Perceived drinking norms mediated the social anxiety-alcohol use relation and was the variable most strongly associated with problem drinking. College students appear to be unique with respect to drinking and social anxiety. Although the notion of social anxiety alone as a risk factor for problem drinking was unsupported, additional research is necessary to determine whether there is a subset of socially anxious students who have high drinking norms and are in need of intervention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A scalable hybrid approach for extracting head components from Web tables

We have established a preprocessing method for determining the meaningfulness of a table to allow for information extraction from tables on the Internet. A table offers a preeminent clue in text mining because it contains meaningful data displayed in rows and columns. However, tables are used on the Internet for both knowledge structuring and document design. Therefore, we were interested in determining whether or not a table has meaningfulness that is related to the structural information provided at the abstraction level of the table head. Accordingly, we: 1) investigated the types of tables present in HTML documents, 2) established the features that distinguished meaningful tables from others, 3) constructed a training data set using the established features after having filtered any obvious decorative tables, and 4) constructed a classification model using a decision tree. Based on these features, we set up heuristics for table head extraction from meaningful tables, and obtained an F-measure of 95.0 percent in distinguishing meaningful tables from decorative tables and an accuracy of 82.1 percent in extracting the table head from the meaningful tables.     

Group technology applications for computer-integrated manufacturing

Traditionally, group technology has dealt primarily with batch-type manufacturing which is engaged with small lot sizes and a variety of products. Recently, however, due to the development and implementation of computer- integrated manufacturing, group technology has been recognized as an essential element of the foundation for the successful development and implementation of computer-integrated manufacturing through the application of the part-family concept and also a common database for CAD/CAM integration. The optimum design and effective operation of a fully automated manufacturing cell system and/ or factory systems for factories of the future require a careful analysis of all the requirements which the system must satisfy under a group technology environment.