Energy based approach for the evaluation of damage under partial slip and gross sliding condition

Three possible contact conditions may prevail at a contact interface depending on the magnitude of normal and tangential loads, that is, stick condition, partial slip condition or gross sliding condition. Numerical techniques have been used to evaluate the stress field under partial slip and gross sliding condition. Cattaneo and Mindlin approach has been adapted to model partial slip condition. Shear strain energy density and normalized strain energy release rate have been evaluated at the surface and in the subsurface region. It is apparent from the present study that the shear strain energy density gives a fair prediction for the nucleation of damage, whereas the propagation of the crack is controlled by normalized strain energy release rate. Further, it has been observed that the intensity of damage strongly depends on coefficient of friction and contact conditions prevailing at the contact interface. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Polymorphic phase transition among the titania crystal structures using a solution-based approach: from precursor chemistry to nucleation process

Nanocrystalline titania are a robust candidate for various functional applications owing to its non-toxicity, cheap availability, ease of preparation and exceptional photochemical as well as thermal stability. The uniqueness in each lattice structure of titania leads to multifaceted physico-chemical and opto-electronic properties, which yield different functionalities and thus influence their performances in various green energy applications. The high temperature treatment for crystallizing titania triggers inevitable particle growth and the destruction of delicate nanostructural features. Thus, the preparation of crystalline titania with tunable phase/particle size/morphology at low to moderate temperatures using a solution-based approach has paved the way for further exciting areas of research. In this focused review, titania synthesis from hydrothermal/solvothermal method, conventional sol-gel method and sol-gel-assisted method via ultrasonication, photoillumination and ILs, thermolysis and microemulsion routes are discussed. These wet chemical methods have broader visibility, since multiple reaction parameters, such as precursor chemistry, surfactants, chelating agents, solvents, mineralizer, pH of the solution, aging time, reaction temperature/time, inorganic electrolytes, can be easily manipulated to tune the final physical structure. This review sheds light on the stabilization/phase transformation pathways of titania polymorphs like anatase, rutile, brookite and TiO2(B) under a variety of reaction conditions. The driving force for crystallization arising from complex species in solution coupled with pH of the solution and ion species facilitating the orientation of octahedral resulting in a crystalline phase are reviewed in detail. In addition to titanium halide/alkoxide, the nucleation of titania from other precursors like peroxo and layered titanates are also discussed. The nonaqueous route and ball milling-induced titania transformation is briefly outlined; moreover, the lacunae in understanding the concepts and future prospects in this exciting field are suggested.

A versatile, RCM based approach to eudesmane and dihydroagarofuran sesquiterpenoids from (-)-carvone: a formal synthesis of (-)-isocelorbicol

An enantiospecific and diversity oriented approach to a range of functionalized eudesmane, nor-, iso-, and dihydroagarofuran frameworks from (-)-carvone is delineated. The cornerstone of this approach is the installation of the quaternary carbon center through reductive opening of the carvone epoxide and setting-up of RCM reaction to generate the bicyclic eudesmane framework. Various options like carbocation mediated oxycyclization and intramolecular hydroxy directed epoxide opening have been explored for the construction of the bridged tetrahydrofuran moiety. Among the several eudesmane and dihydroagarofurans accessed during the present study, one has been previously elaborated to iso-celorbicol, thus constituting its formal synthesis. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An Optical How Feature and McFIS Based Approach for 3-Dimensional Human Action Recognition

We propose to develop a 3-D optical flow features based human action recognition system. Optical flow based features are employed here since they can capture the apparent movement in object, by design. Moreover, they can represent information hierarchically from local pixel level to global object level. In this work, 3-D optical flow based features a re extracted by combining the 2-1) optical flow based features with the depth flow features obtained from depth camera. In order to develop an action recognition system, we employ a Meta-Cognitive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (McFIS). The m of McFIS is to find the decision boundary separating different classes based on their respective optical flow based features. McFIS consists of a neuro-fuzzy inference system (cognitive component) and a self-regulatory learning mechanism (meta-cognitive component). During the supervised learning, self-regulatory learning mechanism monitors the knowledge of the current sample with respect to the existing knowledge in the network and controls the learning by deciding on sample deletion, sample learning or sample reserve strategies. The performance of the proposed action recognition system was evaluated on a proprietary data set consisting of eight subjects. The performance evaluation with standard support vector machine classifier and extreme learning machine indicates improved performance of McFIS is recognizing actions based of 3-D optical flow based features.