Impact of adhesive ingredients on adhesion between rubber and brass-plated steel wire in tire

Proficiency on underlying mechanism of rubber-metal adhesion has been increased significantly in the last few decades. Researchers have investigated the effect of various ingredients, such as hexamethoxymethyl melamine, resorcinol, cobalt stearate, and silica, on rubber-metal interface. The role of each ingredient on rubber-metal interfacial adhesion is still a subject of scrutiny. In this article, a typical belt skim compound of truck radial tire is selected and the effect of each adhesive ingredient on adhesion strength is explored. Out of these ingredients, the effect of cobalt stearate is found noteworthy. It has improved adhesion strength by 12% (without aging) and by 11% (humid-aged), respectively, over control compound. For detailed understanding of the effect of cobalt stearate on adhesion, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy are utilized to ascertain the rubber coverage and distribution of elements. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results helped us to understand the impact of Cu_XS layer depth on rubber-metal adhesion. The depth profile of the Cu_XS layer was found to be one of the dominant factors of rubber-metal adhesion retention. Thus, this study has made an attempt to find the impact of different adhesive ingredients on the formation of Cu_XS layer depth at rubber-metal interface and establish a correlation with adhesion strength simultaneously.     

Study of Compatibilized Liquid Crystalline Polymer/Cyclic Olefin Copolymer Blends

The technology to produce compatibilized blends of liquid crystalline polymer and highly amorphous cyclic olefin copolymers through two novel approaches were studied. The first approach was to use silane-functionalized halloysite nanotube as nonspecific compatibilizer and the second method was reactive compatibilization. The study of blends and their resulting microstructure; their thermal, mechanical, and viscoelastic properties were investigated. The kinetic study of blends compatibilized through both routes was performed.     

Sustainable supply chain management in Indian organisations: an empirical investigation

The present work is an attempt to investigate the adoption of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) practices amongst manufacturing and process based organisations in India and its impact on organisational performance encompassing all three dimensions of sustainability. SSCM practices conceived in the present study include environmental management practices (EMP), socially inclusive practices for employees (SPE), socially inclusive practices for community (SPC), operations practices (OP) and supply chain integration (SCI) which were treated as exogenous variables. Organisational performance considered in this study includes five dimensions, namely environmental performance (EPR), employee-centred social performance (ESP), community-centred social performance (CSP), operations performance (OPR) and competitiveness, which were regarded as endogenous variables. The analysis was carried out with the help of structural equation modelling considering natural logarithm of manpower as a control variable. Few major findings are mentioned. EMP does not have any significant association with OPR, nor does it result in competitiveness. However, when jointly mediated through both EPR and OPR, EMP leads to competitiveness. SPC has significant negative association with competitiveness, when only direct relationship is considered. However, indirect relationship between SPC and competitiveness shows significant positive association when mediated through CSP. The resultant total effect between SPC and competitiveness turns out to be insignificant. Further, OPR fully mediates the relationship between OP and competitiveness. Managerial implications of the findings are discussed.     

Routing Correlated Data with Fusion Cost in Wireless Sensor Networks

In this paper, we propose a routing algorithm called minimum fusion Steiner tree (MFST) for energy efficient data gathering with aggregation (fusion) in wireless sensor networks. Different from existing schemes, MFST not only optimizes over the data transmission cost, but also incorporates the cost for data fusion, which can be significant for emerging sensor networks with vectorial data and/or security requirements. By employing a randomized algorithm that allows fusion points to be chosen according to the nodes' data amounts, MFST achieves an approximation ratio of 5/4log(k + 1), where k denotes the number of source nodes, to the optimal solution for extremely general system setups, provided that fusion cost and data aggregation are nondecreasing against the total input data. Consequently, in contrast to algorithms that only excel in full or nonaggregation scenarios without considering fusion cost, MFST can thrive in a wide range of applications     

Evaluation of a parallel branch-and-bound algorithm on a class ofmultiprocessors

We propose and evaluate a parallel “decomposite best-first” search branch-and-bound algorithm (dbs) for MIN-based multiprocessor systems. We start with a new probabilistic model to estimate the number of evaluated nodes for a serial best-first search branch-and-bound algorithm. This analysis is used in predicting the parallel algorithm speed-up. The proposed algorithm initially decomposes a problem into N subproblems, where N is the number of processors available in a multiprocessor. Afterwards, each processor executes the serial best-first search to find a local feasible solution. Local solutions are broadcasted through the network to compute the final solution. A conflict-free mapping scheme, known as the step-by-step spread, is used for subproblem distribution on the MIN. A speedup expression for the parallel algorithm is then derived using the serial best-first search node evaluation model. Our analysis considers both computation and communication overheads for providing realistic speed-up. Communication modeling is also extended for the parallel global best-first search technique. All the analytical results are validated via simulation. For large systems, when communication overhead is taken into consideration, it is observed that the parallel decomposite best-first search algorithm provides better speed-up compared to other reported schemes     

Prevalence of hepatitis B and C virus infections among haemodialysis patients in Pune (western India)

Vascular injuries may occur as complications of elbow dislocation and usually involve the brachial artery. A case report is presented in which only the radial artery was compromised as a result of the dislocation.     

Bandwidth Adaptation Algorithms for Adaptive Multimedia Services in Mobile Cellular Networks

The fluctuation of available link bandwidth in mobilecellular networks motivates the study of adaptive multimediaservices, where the bandwidth of an ongoing multimedia call can bedynamically adjusted. We analyze the diverse objectives of theadaptive multimedia framework and propose two bandwidth adaptationalgorithms (BAAs) that can satisfy these objectives. The firstalgorithm, BAA-RA, takes into consideration revenue and``anti-adaptation' where anti-adaptation means that a user feelsuncomfortable whenever the bandwidth of the user's call ischanged. This algorithm achieves near-optimal total revenue withmuch less complexity compared to an optimal BAA. The secondalgorithm, BAA-RF, considers revenue and fairness, and aims at themaximum revenue generation while satisfying the fairnessconstraint defined herein. Comprehensive simulation experimentsshow that the difference of the total revenue of BAA-RA and thatof an optimal BAA is negligible. Also, numerical results revealthat there is a conflicting relationship between anti-adaptationand fairness.     

Mobility management for VoIP service: Mobile IP vs. SIP

Wireless Internet access has gained significant attention as wireless/mobile communications and networking become widespread. The voice over IP service is likely to play a key role in the convergence of IP-based Internet and mobile cellular networks. We explore different mobility management schemes from the perspective of VoIP services, with a focus on Mobile IP and session initiation protocol. After illustrating the signaling message flows in these two protocols for diverse cases of mobility management, we propose a shadow registration concept to reduce the interdomain handoff (macro-mobility) delay in the VoIP service in mobile environments. We also analytically compute and compare the delay and disruption time for exchanging signaling messages associated with the Mobile IP and SIP-based solutions.     

Springback analysis of thin rectangular bars of non-linear work-hardening materials under torsional loading

A theoretical analysis of the springback of narrow rectangular strips of non-linear work-hardening material under torsional loading has been carried out. This theoretical analysis is supported by experimental results for rectangular mild steel strips of different thicknesses and lengths. Finally an analytical generalized expression relating angle of twist to twisting moment and residual angle of twist per unit length for rectangular strips under plastic torsion is obtained in non-dimensionalized form. A comparison between the results obtained for bars of non- linear and linear work-hardening materials loaded under torsion is also made.