Regularized nonnegative shared subspace learning

Joint modeling of related data sources has the potential to improve various data mining tasks such as transfer learning, multitask clustering, information retrieval etc. However, diversity among various data sources might outweigh the advantages of the joint modeling, and thus may result in performance degradations. To this end, we propose a regularized shared subspace learning framework, which can exploit the mutual strengths of related data sources while being immune to the effects of the variabilities of each source. This is achieved by further imposing a mutual orthogonality constraint on the constituent subspaces which segregates the common patterns from the source specific patterns, and thus, avoids performance degradations. Our approach is rooted in nonnegative matrix factorization and extends it further to enable joint analysis of related data sources. Experiments performed using three real world data sets for both retrieval and clustering applications demonstrate the benefits of regularization and validate the effectiveness of the model. Our proposed solution provides a formal framework appropriate for jointly analyzing related data sources and therefore, it is applicable to a wider context in data mining.     

An overview on the cellulose based conducting composites

Biopolymer based composites have been employed in numerous applications with increasing interest not only due to renewable, eco-friendly nature, but also because of the flexibility in processing conditions and competitive cost of their end products. The conductive materials from biopolymers have been found applicable in robots, medical imaging, sensitive membranes, actuators, visual displays, electronic wiring and shielding, and components in batteries. Cellulose is one of the most abundant biopolymers in the nature, which has received special attention for development of conducting materials due to biocompatibility for protein and drug immobilization and ability to form the composites with synthetic polymers. The present review is aimed to provide concisely the current status in this field of conducting composites from cellulose, with brief discussions of associated problems and future applications.     

Gold nanorods mediated controlled release of doxorubicin: nano-needles for efficient drug delivery

Use of cysteamine hydrochloride (Cys-HCl) protected gold nanorods (GNRs) as efficient carrier of widely used anti-cancer drug doxorubicin using folic acid as navigational molecule is presented in this work. GNRs were found to have excellent drug loading capacity of >97 %. A detailed comprehension of in vitro drug release profile under ideal physiological condition was found to obey 1st order kinetics at pH 6.8, 5.3 and 7.2, an ideal milieu for drug delivery to solid tumours.     

Correction to: Pool Fires in Chemical Process Industries: Occurrence,Mechanism, Management

Journal of Failure Analysis and Prevention - In the original version of this article, Vipin’s name was incorrect. It is correct as reflected here. The original article has also been corrected.     

Flow Behaviour of Modified 9Cr–1Mo Steel at Elevated Temperatures

In this investigation, the flow behaviour of modified 9Cr–1Mo steel at elevated temperatures is reported. To understand the flow behaviour of the steel, tensile tests were performed at nominal strain rate of 3 × 10^?3 s^?1 and temperatures in the range of 300–823 K. The yield strength and ultimate tensile strength were found to decrease with increase in temperature with a plateau in a intermediate temperature regime (523–673 K). Serrations were also observed in the tensile curve at intermediate temperatures which caused plateau/peak in tensile behaviour of material and was a typical manifestation of dynamic strain ageing. An attempt was made to represent the flow behaviour of the material using different constitutive equations viz., Hollomon, Ludwik, Swift, Ludwigson and Voce. It was observed that the Voce equation could describe the experimental flow curve at different temperatures quite well. Instantaneous work hardening rate with respect to flow stress exhibited two stages of hardening especially at relatively lower temperatures.     

Drugs – Do we need them? Applications of non-pharmaceutical therapy in anterior eye disease: A review

Natural products have been in use long before the introduction of modern drug therapies and are still used in various communities worldwide for the treatment of anterior eye disease. The aim of this review is to look at the current non-pharmaceutical modalities that have been tried and assess the body of existing evidence behind them. This includes alternative medicine, existing non-pharmaceutical therapy and more recent low and high tech solutions.A detailed search of all available databases including MEDLINE, Pubmed and Google was made to look for English-language studies for complementary and alternative treatment modalities (CAM), natural therapies and new modalities for anterior eye disease such as blepharitis, dry eye and microbial keratitis. We have included a broad discussion ranging from traditional treatments like honey and aloe vera which have been used for centuries, to the more recent technological advances like Intense Pulsed Light (IPL), LipiFlow and photoactivated chromophore for corneal cross linking in infectious keratitis (PACK-CXL).Alternative management strategies may have a role in anterior eye diseases and have a potential in changing the way we currently approach them. Some of the available CAM could play a role if incorporated in to current management practices of not only chronic diseases like blepharitis and dry eye, but also acute conditions with significant morbidity like microbial keratitis. Further large-scale randomized control trials stratified by disease severity are required to improve our understanding and to evaluate the use of non-pharmaceutical therapy against current practice.     

Study of Non-lubricated Wear of the Al–Si Alloy Composite Reinforced with Different Ratios of Coarse and Fine Size Zircon Sand Particles at Different Ambient Temperatures

In the present work, a detailed study of ceramic reinforcement of different size ranges in the matrix of LM13 alloy on the friction and wear behavior has been carried out. For this purpose, LM13/Zr composite containing 10 wt% zircon sand particles of different size ranges using stir casting process has been developed. Zircon sand particles were incorporated in two ways: firstly as single size reinforcement and secondly dual size reinforcement. Durability of the composites was tested by finding the wear rate of the composite against the steel disk by pin-on-disk method. Addition of zircon sand particles in the LM13 alloy improves the hardness of the composite as well as wear resistance. Wear rate of the developed composites was tested under different test conditions by varying the applied load and ambient temperatures. Wear rate of the composite changes significantly at different ambient temperatures. SEM analysis of the worn surfaces was done to know the operative wear mechanism.     

In vitro ageing and wear behaviour of ceria stabilized zirconia toughened alumina (CSZ-TA) bio-ceramic

15–25 wt% zirconia (stabilized with 14 mol% ceria) toughened alumina was synthesized by co-precipitation technique. The synthesized powders were calcined at different temperatures, compacted and conventionally sintered following two steps sintering process. Uniformly distributed submicron sized grains with Vickers' hardness value up to 1730±6HV20 were achieved after conventional sintering. In order to assess the ageing behaviour, samples were hydrothermally treated (in vitro) at 134 °C under 0.2 MPa in presence of simulated body fluid. Rietveld refinement of the X-ray diffraction patterns was carried out to estimate the phase content after calcination, sintering and after different stages of hydrothermal treatment. No significant phase change (only ∼3%) was observed even after 100 h of hydrothermal treatment. Very few bulged grains (resulted from the tetragonal to monoclinic phase transformation) on the surface and slight decrease in hardness value were observed after hydrothermal treatment. Fretting wear in dry condition was carried out taking ball on flat geometry for 10⁵ cycles at different loads before and after hydrothermal treatment. Wear volumes were directly estimated from the surface scanning of the wear scar using profilometer. Transition of wear and its related mechanisms at different loads along with the effect of ageing on wear were discussed.