On the beamforming design for efficient interference alignment

An efficient interference alignment (IA) scheme is developed for k-user single-input single-output frequency selective fading interference channels. The main idea is to steer the transmit beamforming matrices such that at each receiver the subspace dimensions occupied by interference-free desired streams are asymptotically the same as those occupied by all interferences. Our proposed scheme achieves a higher multiplexing gain at any given number of channel realizations in comparison with the original IA scheme, which is known to achieve the optimal multiplexing gain asymptotically.     

Natural Bactericidal Surfaces: Mechanical Rupture of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Cells by Cicada Wings

Natural superhydrophobic surfaces are often thought to have antibiofouling potential due to their self-cleaning properties. However, when incubated on cicada wings, Pseudomonas aeruginosa cells are not repelled; instead they are penetrated by the nanopillar arrays present on the wing surface, resulting in bacterial cell death. Cicada wings are effective antibacterial, as opposed to antibiofouling, surfaces.     

Effect of garlic consumption on total antioxidant status and some biochemical and haematological parameters in blood of rats

BACKGROUND: The effect of diet garlic supplementation on total antioxidant status (TAS), nitric oxide (NO) and routine biochemical and haematological parameters was investigated in blood of rats. A total of 30 male rats were divided equally into two groups. Each of 15 rats of treatment group was fed 600 mg kg^?1 garlic solution in distilled water by gavage and controls only received distilled water. After garlic consumption for 1 month, blood serum total antioxidant, nitrate and some biochemical and haematological tests including serum lipids parameters, blood sugar, complete blood count (CBC), and haemoglobin were measured. RESULTS: The garlic treatment group showed significantly increase in the mean level of TAS from 0.77 ± 0.10 mol L^?1 to 1.18 ± 0.11 mol L^?1 (P < 0.01) and nitrate (a NO metabolite) from 0.78 ± 0.06 µmol L^?1 to 1.44 ± 0.27 µmol L^?1 (P < 0.05) in the blood sera of rats compared with the controls. There were no significant differences between the routine biochemical and haematological parameters. CONCLUSION: Garlic consumption should have antioxidant properties and may not affect the lipids profile and total blood cell counts. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry     

A heuristic-based multi-choice goal programming for the stochastic sustainable-resilient routing-allocation problem in relief logistics

Neural Computing and Applications - Natural or man-made disasters impose destructive effects like human injuries and urban infrastructure damages, which lead to disruptions that affect the entire...     

Dimensional management for aerospace assemblies: framework implementation with case-based scenarios for simulation and measurement of in-process assembly variations

Tolerances within an assembly are defined during the setting of engineering specifications in the design phase. However, during assembly process execution, certain assembly variations arise from the individual components, manufacturing imperfections, material compliance, the means by which they are fastened and the assembly sequence used. The implementation work reported in this article utilises in-process assembly measurement information for predicting dimensional variation of the aero structure assembly process. A framework is exploited in the case study for predicting the dimensional influence of (1) designed tolerances, (2) designed assembly processes and (3) component and sub-assembly level measurement data for revising the assembly sequence if any concessions were issued on manufactured components. Considerable learnings are achieved while managing dimensional variation of in-process aerospace assembly structure. Dimensional variation simulation is found to be overestimating variation spread even after considering compliance of non-rigid components. Thus, in-process measurement data (component and sub-assembly level) has to be integrated in the variation analysis in order to reduce variation spectrum. Case-based scenarios are discussed where design and measurement data can be utilised for estimating dimensional variation of the in-process assembly.     

Nanocrystalline Growth Activation Energy of Zirconia Polymorphs Synthesized by Mechanochemical Technique

The synthesis of ZrO_2 by mechanochemical reaction using ZrCI_4 and CaO as raw materials and subsequent annealing of the products were investigated.The effect of thermal treatment on the structural evolution and morphological characteristics of the nanopowders was studied by X-ray diffractometry,Raman spectroscopy,transmission electron microscopy,scanning electron microscopy,differential thermal analysis and Rietveld refinement.The results showed that the average crystallite size of ZrO_2 was less than 100 nm up to around1100 ℃.The activation energy for ZrO_2 nanocrystallite growth during calcination was calculated to be about13,715 and 27,333 J/mol for tetragonal(t-ZrO_2) and monoclinic(m-ZrO_2) polymorphs,respectively.Mechanism of the nanocrystallite growth of the ZrO_2 polymorphs during annealing is primarily investigated.     

Classification of imprecise data using interval Fisher discriminator

In this paper, an imprecise data classification is considered using new version of Fisher discriminator, namely interval Fisher. In the conventional formulation of Fisher, elements of within‐class scatter matrix (related to covariance matrix between clusters) and between‐class scatter matrix (related to covariance matrix of centers of clusters) have single values; but in the interval Fisher, the elements of matrices are in the interval form and can vary in a range. The particle swarm optimization search method is used for solving a constrained optimization problem of the interval Fisher discriminator. Unlike conventional Fisher with one optimal hyperplane, interval Fisher gives two optimal hyperplanes thereupon three decision regions are obtained. Two classes with regard to imprecise scatter matrices are derived by decision making using these optimal hyperplanes. Also, fuzzy region lets us help in fuzzy decision over input test samples. Unlike a support vector classifier with two parallel hyperplanes, interval Fisher generally gives us two nonparallel hyperplanes. Experimental results show the suitability of this idea. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Effects of processing on mycotoxin stability in cereals

The mycotoxins that generally occur in cereals and other products are not completely destroyed during food‐processing operations and can contaminate finished processed foods. The mycotoxins most usually associated with cereal grains are aflatoxins, ochratoxins, deoxynivalenol, zearalenone and fumonisins. The various food processes that may have effects on mycotoxins include cleaning, milling, brewing, cooking, baking, frying, roasting, flaking, alkaline cooking, nixtamalization, and extrusion. Most of the food processes have variable effects on mycotoxins, with those that utilize high temperatures having the greatest effects. In general, the processes reduce mycotoxin concentrations significantly, but do not eliminate them completely. This review focuses on the effects of various thermal treatments on mycotoxins. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry