Camouflage of cotton fabrics in visible and NIR region using three selected vat dyes

To provide camouflage in near infrared (NIR) region and imitate reflectance profile of greenish leaves, cotton fabrics were dyed with three selected vat dyes, namely C.I. Vat Blue 6, C.I. Vat Yellow 2, and C.I. Vat Red 13. Reflectance curves of two types of fresh greenish leaves were measured as standard reference. Transmittance curve of vat dyes in acetone solution indicated that selected vat dyes have suitable structure to provide camouflage in NIR region. According to reflectance profiles, reflectance curve of Vat Blue 6 has more similarity with that of green leaf at the concentration of 0.85% owf (on weight of fiber) and 1.2% owf in comparison with those of C.I. Vat Yellow 2 and C.I. Vat Red 13. Cotton fabrics were dyed with different mixtures of the dyes to obtain a standard shade to reach camouflage in visible range. Chromatic values of dyed fabrics were measured (CIE1976 L*, a*, and b*) and two standard shades of the 1948 US army pattern, NATO and forest green, were obtained on cotton fabrics with ΔE_CMC < 2. Reflectance profiles of these two shades were located between the reflectance of green leaves. So, two vat dyes were introduced to camouflage dyes group, C.I. Vat Blue 6 and C.I. Vat Red 13, and used to achieve NATO green and forest green shades for first time. All dyed samples showed good fastness properties. The effect of washing and light exposure on camouflage properties of fabrics in visible and NIR region was inconsiderable. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 39, 200–207, 2014     

Descriptive analysis of bacterial profile,physicochemical and sensory characteristics of grape juice containing Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell wall‐coated probiotic microcapsules during storage

In this study the feasibility of incorporation of probiotic microcapsules coated with fragmented yeast cell wall in grape juice was evaluated during 60 days at 4 °C. Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium bifidum were encapsulated in alginate microbeads and coated with fragmented Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell wall and calcium alginate and were added into grape juice. At the end of storage, the survival of probiotics was higher than recommended minimum value (10⁷ cfu mL^?1) and the results demonstrated that applying yeast cell wall layer for L. acidophilus microcapsules significantly enhanced its survival while did not affect the survival of B. bifidum (P > 0.05). Generally, probiotic grape juice showed decrease in °Brix, pH and colour and increase in acidity and turbidity during storage and the presence of yeast wall layer had no significant effect on its properties expect colour and turbidity. Overall acceptance of grape juices containing yeast cell wall‐coated microcapsules scored the least.     

A robust scheduling of projects with time, cost, and quality considerations

CAM programs can generate cutting tool paths to be used by machining centres. Experience shows that CAM programmed feed rates are rarely achieved in practice during machining, especially when finishing free-form surfaces. These slower feed rates are due to the machines’ kinematic capabilities and behaviour of the numerical control (NC). To improve control over the machining process, applications need to be developed to predict the kinematic behaviour of the machines, taking the mechanical characteristics of the axes and NC capacities into account. Various models to simulate tool paths in linear and circular interpolation have been developed and are available in the literature. The present publication will first focus on the use of the polynomial model to simulate the behaviour of the machine when passing through transitions between programmed blocks with tangency discontinuities. Additional features are proposed to ensure enhancement of the match between the model and the machine’s behaviour. Analysis of machine behaviour shows that NCs do not always allow the axes to reach maximum performance levels, with an attendant loss in productivity. The present article proposes an optimisation procedure allowing control laws to be defined to reduce time spent in the transition. The contributions made by these optimised control laws are then evaluated, while impediments to their implementation are also considered.     

Disabling of Nanoparticle Effects at Increased Temperature in Nanocomposite Solders

The use of nanoparticles to control grain size and mechanical properties of solder alloys at high homologous temperature is explored. It is found that silica nanoparticles in the 100?nm range coated with 2?nm to 3?nm of gold can be dispersed within solders during the normal reflow soldering process, and that these particles are effective in hardening the solder and restricting dynamic grain growth during compression testing at low homologous temperature. As the homologous temperature increases towards 0.75, the effects of the nanoparticles on both mechanical properties and dynamical grain growth reduce, and by homologous temperatures of 0.86 the effects have completely disappeared. This behavior is explained by introducing the concept of an effective volume fraction of pinning nanoparticles, and the practical implications for using nanoparticles to control solder properties via Zener pinning at high homologous temperatures are discussed.     

A model and framework for human–environment interaction

This paper describes our approach for studying and prototyping human–environment interaction (HEI) within a pervasive space applied to ambient assistive living context. The objective of our approach consists in developing and implementing an HEI framework to modelling the human–machine interaction. This framework allows a customization facility for designers, developers and even end-users in defining and processing multimodal interaction. We underline the fact that the design of interaction for users with special needs do not have to be considered as orthogonal to the application but rather as a validation context which is the heart of our research laboratory activities. We have integrated our framework in demonstrator dedicated to people with disabilities to validate the concept. This paper will present the framework, the developed components of our HEI model and the prototype realised. The outcome of this research activity is to provide a multimodal processing framework to favour natural human pervasive environment by decreasing the cognitive workload necessary in a complex environment. Thus, this will contribute to achieve ubiquitous accessible space.     

Project time–cost trade-off scheduling: a hybrid optimization approach

This paper develops a hybrid approach for stochastic time–cost trade-off problem (STCTP) in PERT networks of project management, where activities are subjected to linear cost functions. The main objective of proposed approach is to improve the project completion probability in a prespecified deadline from a risky value to a confident predefined probability. To this end, we construct a nonlinear mathematical program with decision variables of activity mean durations, in which the objective function is concerned with minimization of project crashing direct cost. In order to solve the constructed model, we present a hybrid approach based on cutting plane method and Monte Carlo (MC) simulation. To illustrate the process of proposed approach, the approach was coded using MATLAB 7.6.0 and two illustrative examples are discussed. The results obtained from the computational study show that the proposed algorithm is an effective approach for the STCTP.     

Research on group search optimizers for a reconfigurable flow shop sequencing problem

A reconfigurable manufacturing system is usually designed for quick re-adjusting of production capacity in response to market changes. In this paper, we study a flow shop sequencing problem (FSSP) with controllable processing times as a special case of reconfigurable manufacturing system. It is possible to speed up the processing times through assigning additional resources or control of machine speed. After formulating this problem mathematically, a novel evolutionary procedure, entitled group search optimizer (GSO), is devised as solution method. The adapted GSO is a population-based search tool which is devised based on the producer and scrounger behavior. GSO emphasizes on imitating searching model of real-world animals. The basic GSO with four promising improvements is elaborated and discussed for addressing the FSSP with controllable processing times. A set of computational experiments is also conducted to demonstrate the applicability of proposed FSSP and performance of improved GSOs.     

Production capacity planning and scheduling in a no-wait environment with controllable processing times: An integrated modeling approach

This paper develops an integrated model between a production capacity planning and an operational scheduling decision making process in which a no-wait job shop (NWJS) scheduling problem is considered incorporating with controllable processing times. The duration of any operations are assumed to be controllable variables based on the amount of capacity allocated to them, whereas in classical NWJS it is assumed that the machine capacity and hence processing times are fixed and known in advance. The suggested problem which is entitled no-wait job shop crashing (NWJSC) problem is decomposed into the crashing, sequencing and timetabling subproblems. To tackle the addressed NWJSC problem, an improved hybrid timetabling procedure is suggested by employing the concept of both non-delay and enhanced algorithms which provides better solution than each one separately. Furthermore, an effective two-phase genetic algorithm approach is devised integrating with hybrid timetabling to deal with the crashing and sequencing components. The results obtained from experimental evaluations support the outstanding performance of the proposed approach.