An investigation of neuro-fuzzy systems in psychosomatic disorders

A neuro-fuzzy model for diagnosis of psychosomatic disorders is proposed in this paper. The symptoms and signs are collected from the patients through oral interview. For the linguistic nature of patient's inputs, an artificial domain is created and fuzzy membership values are defined. The fuzzy values are fed as inputs to feedforward multilayer neural network. The network is trained using Backpropagation training algorithm. The trained model is tested with new patient's symptoms and signs. Further, the performance of the diagnosing capability is compared with medical expert. The performance of the model is also compared with probability model based on Bayesian Belief Network and statistical model using Linear Discriminant analysis     

Bending strength of composite laminates with an elliptical hole

Great efforts have been made in analyzing the strength of notched laminates under in-plane loadings. However, no work has been reported on notched laminates under bending, because of the complexity of theoretical stress analysis. In this study, a simplified approach has been used to analyze the notched strength of laminated composites with an elliptical hole under bending. This approach combines notched sample experiments and finite element results. Based upon the consideration that not only the stress distribution at one ply, but also the stress variation across the laminate thickness, should be taken into account, two failure models are presented: a modified point stress model and a modified average stress model. Two characteristic parameters are presented to evaluate the notched strength of the laminated plates.     

A Cascading Auction Protocol as a Framework for Integrating Process Planning and Heterarchical Shop Floor Control

A new contract net-style auction protocol is proposed as a framework for integrating process planning and shop floor control in heterarchical manufacturing systems. Process planning is partitioned into on-line and off-line activities; off-line process planning decisions are represented in a graph format and used as input for on-line process planning activities performed by machine controllers. Triggered by the opening round of an auction, the final on-line stages of process planning are dovetailed with the resource allocation process in the shop floor control system. The auction process allows final process planning decisions to be based on timely information, relying on the distribution of static process planning information rather than the distribution of a model of dynamic shop floor status and allowing a controller to identify all the primary and secondary resources and operations that must be provided for the incremental processing of a part.     

Effect of various concentrations of lead nitrate on the induction of micronuclei in mouse bone marrow

The frequency of micronuclei was evaluated in the bone marrow of mice of either sex administered with 0, 0.625, 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, 20, 40 and 80 mg/kg b.wt of lead nitrate at 12, 24 and 36 h post-treatment. The frequency of micronucleated polychromatic erythrocytes (MPCE) and micronucleated normochromatic erythrocytes (MNCE) increased significantly at 12, 24 and 36 h after treatment with lead nitrate compared to non-drug treated controls. The frequency of micronuclei did not show a dose related increase and the elevation in the frequency of micronuclei was fluctuating type. One important observation which emerged from this study was that the male mice were more sensitive to the induction of micronuclei compared to female mice. This was evidenced by higher frequencies of MPCE in males than females at all the doses for all the post-treatment time periods. The lead nitrate treatment resulted in a spurt in the erythropoiesis as is evidenced by a significant increase in the ratios of polychromatic to normochromatic erythrocytes (P/N ratio) compared to non-drug treated controls at 12, 24 and 36 h post-treatment. The P/N ratio was significantly higher in females than males at 12 and 24 h post-treatment.     

Shape, wear & mechanical properties of spray formed hypoeutectic Al-Si alloys

Manufacturing process through spray forming leads to give near-net-shape and fine grain microstructure. In this process Si particles, which are not distributed uniformly in conventional casting process, are distributed uniformly throughout the casting. In the present study disc shape spray form castings were made of Al-6.91Si and Al-10.1Si alloys, and then their shape, wear and mechanical properties were studied. The shape of the deposit was observed to be the most uniform at 30o inclination angle of the substrate. The hardness and tensile strength value of spray formed alloys shows the increment in the mechanical property in contrast to as cast alloys. The wearing properties of Al-10.1Si alloy were found to be better than that of the Al-6.91Si alloy.     

Ionomeric poly(urethane semicarbazides) with azobenzene groups in the main chain – studies on photoswitching behaviour and mechanical properties

Poly(urethane semicarbazide) anionomers containing azobenzene chromophores in the main chain were prepared by chain extending the isocyanate terminated prepolymers with chromophoric dihydrazide. Variations were done with respect to the hard segment content and the nature of the diisocyanate and the effect of the variations on the thermal, mechanical properties and wettability were studied. The polymers in solution showed reversible photoisomerization behaviour evinced by UV/vis spectroscopy in which irradiation of polymer solutions with UV light was observed as a decrease in intensity of absorbance corresponding to trans-form and increase in the absorbance of cis-form. The back relaxation took place in the presence of visible light. Photoswitching or the wettability of the films induced by the reversible cis–trans isomerization of the azobenzene chromophores was experimentally shown from water contact angle measurements. Irradiation of the films with 365 nm light effected a decrease in the water contact angle. X-ray diffraction results indicated dense arrangement of crystallized hard segments in compositions containing higher hard segment content. Thermal stability up to 300 °C was exhibited by the polymers as shown by thermogravimetric analysis and the phase separated morphology was confirmed by dynamic mechanical analysis. Tensile strength measurements showed that the films with increasing hard segment content exhibited increasing tensile strength and modulus but decreasing values of elongation.     

A scheme for mechanical assembly design and assembly line layout conceptualization

A scheme in this paper makes possible to analyze a complex assembly design at an early design stage and generate assembly sequences efficiently. The designer's knowledge is used to obtain the preference module set. The modulability of the set is tested and used to generate assembly sequences hierarchically. Sequences generated by this scheme reflect the designers' preference for modules and facilitates to figure out an assembly line layout from an assembly design. The applicability of the scheme is verified in an example.     

Catalyst‐Free Synthesis and Characterization of Metastable Boron Carbide Nanowires

Catalyst‐free growth of boron carbide nanowires is achieved by pyrolysis of diborane and methane at 650–750 °C and around 500 mTorr in a quartz tube furnace. Electron‐diffraction analysis using a novel diffraction‐scanning transmission electron microscopy (D‐STEM) technique indicates that the crystalline nanowires are single‐crystal orthorhombic boron carbide. TEM images show that the nanowires are covered by a 1–3 nm thick amorphous layer of carbon. Elemental analysis by electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) shows only boron and carbon while energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy (EDX) and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) show the presence of oxygen as well as boron and carbon.     

Modified solution combustion route for the preparation of plasma sprayable ceria powder

Plasma sprayable grade ceria powder was prepared by the solution combustion method. This is the first report on the application of solution combustion for the synthesis of plasma sprayable grade oxide powders. The fuels and fuel ratios used in the solution combustion were modified to achieve adequate flowability. It was found that when a mixture of fuels like glycine and ammonium acetate was used, the combustion process yielded larger agglomerates. Phase purity of the powders was confirmed by powder XRD. The morphology of the particles was determined by scanning electron microscopy.     

Influence of cell shape and aggregate formation on the optical properties of flowing whole blood

We studied the influence of shape and secondary, or intercellular, organization on the absorption and scattering properties of red blood cells to determine whether these properties are of any practical significance for optical evaluation of whole blood and its constituents. A series of measurements of transmittance and reflectance of light from bovine blood in a flow cuvette was conducted with a 650-900-nm integrating sphere at shear rates of 0-1600 s(-1), from which the influence of cell orientation, elongation, and aggregate formation on the absorption (mu(a)) and the reduced scattering (mu(s)') coefficients could be quantified. Aggregation was accompanied by a decrease of 4% in mu(s)' compared with the value in randomly oriented single cells. Increasing the degree of cell alignment and elongation as a result of increasing shear rate reduced mu(s)' by 6% and mu(a) by 3%, evaluated at a shear rate of 1600 s(-1). Comparison with T-matrix computations for oblate- and prolate-shaped cells with corresponding elongation and orientation indicates that the optical properties of whole blood are determined by those of its individual cells, though influenced by a collective scattering factor that depends on the cell-to-cell organization. We demonstrate that cell morphological changes must be taken into consideration when one is conducting whole blood spectroscopy.