The interaction of pressure, in-plane moment and torque loadings on piping elbows

This study concerns the load interaction behaviour of 90° smooth piping elbows with circular cross-section and long straight tangent pipes. The finite element method is used for stress analysis of elbows having a wide range of bend and pipe factors. The main aim of the study is to establish the first yield interaction behaviour when an elbow is subjected to a combination loading of in-plane bending, torsion and internal pressure. The study shows that load interaction is influenced by pipe factor, bend radius and load coupling effect, with thinner elbows being affected to a larger degree.     

Uncovering secrets behind low-resistance planing craft hull forms through optimization

There has always been significant interest within the naval architectural research community to identify ship hull forms with low resistance. While numerous design optimization frameworks have been proposed over the years to support the activity, very little attention has been paid towards the process of gaining an understanding of ‘what makes a good ship design superior?’. Furthermore, there have been limited attempts to identify computationally cheap indicators that can be used to distinguish between good and poor designs. A recent technique named discovery of innovative design principles, which is aimed at understanding the relationship between the design variables, is incorporated in this work. In this article, optimal high-speed planing craft hull forms with minimum calm-water resistance are identified through the use of three state-of-the-art optimization algorithms. Collections of such designs are then used to uncover insights into the underlying relationships between the variables. The importance of such relationships is further analysed to identify computationally cheap performance indicators that can be used in lieu of detailed calm-water resistance calculations. Such indicators are useful at the concept and preliminary design stages, where one needs to sieve efficiently through a number of candidate designs to identify the better ones for further analysis.     

Antibacterial performance of Ag nanoparticles and AgGO nanocomposites prepared via rapid microwave-assisted synthesis method

Silver nanoparticles and silver-graphene oxide nanocomposites were fabricated using a rapid and green microwave irradiation synthesis method. Silver nanoparticles with narrow size distribution were formed under microwave irradiation for both samples. The silver nanoparticles were distributed randomly on the surface of graphene oxide. The Fourier transform infrared and thermogravimetry analysis results showed that the graphene oxide for the AgNP-graphene oxide (AgGO) sample was partially reduced during the in situ synthesis of silver nanoparticles. Both silver nanoparticles and AgGO nanocomposites exhibited stronger antibacterial properties against Gram-negative bacteria (Salmonella typhi and Escherichia coli) than against Gram-positive bacteria (Staphyloccocus aureus and Staphyloccocus epidermidis). The AgGO nanocomposites consisting of approximately 40 wt.% silver can achieve antibacterial performance comparable to that of neat silver nanoparticles.     

Optical tomography: Image improvement using mixed projection of parallel and fan beam modes

Mixed parallel and fan beam projection is a technique used to increase the quality images. This research focuses on enhancing the image quality in optical tomography. Image quality can be defined by measuring the Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) and Normalized Mean Square Error (NMSE) parameters. The findings of this research prove that by combining parallel and fan beam projection, the image quality can be increased by more than 10% in terms of its PSNR value and more than 100% in terms of its NMSE value compared to a single parallel beam.     

Aflatoxins: Occurrence in red chilli and control by gamma irradiation

Chilli is one of the valuable spices commercialised globally, added as condiments in various cuisines and is easily susceptible to aflatoxin contamination (produced mainly by Aspergillus flavus) during pre- and post-harvesting stages. The important factors such as temperature, moisture content and humidity affect the growth of fungi producing aflatoxins. Chillies contaminated with aflatoxins could be carcinogenic and thus can pose a threat to the general population leading to the loss of international trade market. Therefore, to overcome this problem, there is a need for some effective and novel technologies such as gamma irradiation. Gamma irradiation minimises the toxicological effects of aflatoxins by inhibiting the growth as well as the proliferation of Aspergillus species. In this work, the natural occurrence of aflatoxins including the contribution of gamma irradiation on either eliminating or controlling the aflatoxins in red chilli is reviewed.     

A comprehensive study of clustering ensemble weighting based on cluster quality and diversity

Pattern Analysis and Applications - Clustering as a major task in data mining is responsible for discovering hidden patterns in unlabeled datasets. Finding the best clustering is also considered as...     

Novel FGbSA: Fuzzy-Galaxy-based search algorithm for multi-objective reconfiguration of distribution systems

Reconfiguration according to different criteria is an important problem in distribution systems. This paper presents a new method for optimal multi-objective reconfiguration of distribution system based on the Galaxy-based Search Algorithm (GbSA). To avoid the convergence problem, the input and output data are normalized in the same range using fuzzy sets. The main objectives of the proposed algorithm have been considered as power loss reduction, voltage profile improvement and increase of the system load balancing. The proposed technique has been investigated using the IEEE 33-bus test system and a real distribution network i.e. Tai-Power 11.4-kV distribution system. The obtained results revealed the superiority of the proposed fuzzy-GbSA method in terms of accuracy compared to the GbSA and other intelligent search algorithms such as Genetic Algorithm (GA) or Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). Furthermore, the proposed algorithm efficiently converged to the optimum solution compared to the other intelligent counterpart algorithms.     

A smart repair embedded memetic algorithm for 2D shape matching problems

Shape representation plays a major role in any shape optimization exercise. The ability to identify a shape with good performance is dependent on both the flexibility of the shape representation scheme and the efficiency of the optimization algorithm. In this article, a memetic algorithm is presented for 2D shape matching problems. The shape is represented using B-splines, in which the control points representing the shape are repaired and subsequently evolved within the optimization framework. The underlying memetic algorithm is a multi-feature hybrid that combines the strength of a real coded genetic algorithm, differential evolution and a local search. The efficiency of the proposed algorithm is illustrated using three test problems, wherein the shapes were identified using a mere 5000 function evaluations. Extension of the approach to deal with problems of unknown shape complexity is also presented in the article.     

An improved,rapid, ELISA technique for detection of pork in meat products

The demand for analysts to determine the purity, quality and safety of food products is increasing. Adulteration of meat products with meat form other species is a particular problem. Determination of species of origin is possible using immunological assays. This paper reports a novel approach to the problem and discusses improvements and modifications of such immunologically based assays. These increase the sensitivity to 10 my g ^?1 of the adulterant species (pork) and permit automation and standardisation of the assay, increasing the reliability and rapidity compared with other methods.