Amafabia, Daerefa-a Mitsheal¹, Montalvão, Diogo², David-West, Opukuro¹, Haritos, George¹

Structural Durability & Health Monitoring, Vol.11, No.2, pp. 91-147, 2017, DOI:10.3970/sdhm.2017.011.091

Abstract Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is the process of collecting, interpreting and analysing data from structures in order to determine its health status and the remaining life span. Composite materials have been extensively use in recent years in several industries with the aim at reducing the total weight of structures while improving their mechanical properties. However, composite materials are prone to develop damage when subjected to low to medium impacts (i.e. 1-10 m/s and 11-30 m/s respectively). Hence, the need to use SHM techniques to detect damage at the incipient initiation in composite materials is of… More >

Róger Moya^*, Lucia Fallas-Valverde, Alexander Berrocal, Dawa Méndez-Álvarez

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.5, No.3-4, pp. 208-219, 2017, DOI:10.7569/JRM.2017.634111

Abstract This study evaluated the durability in terms of decay and mechanical resistance of thermally modified (TM) wood of Tectona grandis and Gmelina arborea treated at 160, 180, 200 and 220 °C. The TM wood of both species treated above 200 °C and 180 °C respectively presents lower weight loss (WL) after 300 days exposure in field and accelerated testing. It was also found that in field testing over 180 °C, the module of elasticity (MOE) and module of rupture (MOR) of the exposed and unexposed stakes of TM wood were not affected. Accelerated tests showed More >

Felipe Orozco^1‡, Brian Alfaro-González^1‡, Yendry Corrales Ureña¹, Karolina Villalobos¹, Angie Sanchez¹, Francisco Bravo¹, José Roberto Vega¹, Orlando Argüello-Miranda^1†*

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.5, No.3-4, pp. 199-207, 2017, DOI:10.7569/JRM.2017.634110

Abstract As an outcome of millions of years of evolution, biological systems have developed different methods to interact with their surroundings. Many of these adaptations, such as secretions, light-interacting surfaces, biochemical active compounds, and many other survival strategies, are phenomena occurring at the nanometric scale. In this review, we describe how extracellular nanometric structures are responsible for manipulating energy and matter, creating some of the emergent properties of life. Iridescent colors in birds’ feathers, the manipulation of wettability of insects’ exoskeletons, the adhesive properties of nanopatterned secretions and the ability to polarize light are examples of More >

Louis C. Muller^1*, Sanette Marx¹, Hermanus C.M. Vosloo²

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.5, No.1, pp. 67-80, 2017, DOI:10.7569/JRM.2016.634130

Abstract This work reports a study of polyol synthesis through liquefaction of technical lignins in crude glycerol by means of 1H and 31P NMR spectroscopy. The polyols are intended for preparation of polyurethane foam; thus, it is important to know how different lignin types as well as crude glycerol influence and contribute to the final polyol hydroxyl contents. Polyols prepared from organosolv lignin, kraft lignin and lignosulphonate had hydroxyl numbers suitable for rigid foam of 435, 515 and 529 mgKOH/g, respectively. The polyols differed in composition with glycerol, showing significant variation. During liquefaction the glycerol content More >

Siddesha H¹, Manjunath N Hegde²

Structural Durability & Health Monitoring, Vol.11, No.1, pp. 17-41, 2017, DOI:10.3970/sdhm.2017.012.017

Abstract This paper describes the damage detection in framed structures due to the vertical support settlement and rotation of footing bases. The damage detection procedure proposed by Nobahari and Seyedpoor (2013) is used to detect the damage in the members of the frame. In the present study, instead of using the flexibility matrix (referred here as original flexibility matrix) method, the generalized flexibility matrix is used in the same algorithm and the results are compared. The algorithm uses flexibility matrix and strain energy concept to detect the damage in the members. The behaviour of the frame More >

Yan Cai^1,1, Zhiyong Li^1,2,*

Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.14, No.2, pp. 59-81, 2017, DOI:10.3970/mcb.2017.014.057

Abstract To investigate the dynamic changes of solid tumor and neo-vasculature in response to chemotherapeutic agent, we proposed a multi-discipline three-dimensional mathematical model by coupling tumor growth, angiogenesis, vessel remodelling, microcirculation and drug delivery. The tumor growth is described by the cell automaton model, in which three cell phenotypes (proliferating cell, quiescent cell and necrotic cell) are assumed to reflect the dynamics of tumor progress. A 3D tree-like architecture network with different orders for vessel diameter is generated as pre-existing vasculature in host tissue. The chemical substances including oxygen, vascular endothelial growth factor, extra-cellular matrix and… More >

Chengsheng Yuan^1,2,3, Xinting Li³, Q. M. Jonathan Wu³, Jin Li^4,5, Xingming Sun^1,2

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.53, No.4, pp. 357-372, 2017, DOI:10.3970/cmc.2017.053.357

Abstract Fingerprint-spoofing attack often occurs when imposters gain access illegally by using artificial fingerprints, which are made of common fingerprint materials, such as silicon, latex, etc. Thus, to protect our privacy, many fingerprint liveness detection methods are put forward to discriminate fake or true fingerprint. Current work on liveness detection for fingerprint images is focused on the construction of complex handcrafted features, but these methods normally destroy or lose spatial information between pixels. Different from existing methods, convolutional neural network (CNN) can generate high-level semantic representations by learning and concatenating low-level edge and shape features from… More >

Vandana Bisht^*

Frontiers in Heat and Mass Transfer, Vol.7, pp. 1-7, 2016, DOI:10.5098/hmt.7.19

Abstract In this paper the steady laminar magneto hydrodynamic (MHD) mixed convection boundary layer flow towards a vertical stretching sheet with variable fluid viscosity, radiation and in the presence of Dufour’s effect have been investigated. The governing partial differential equations are transformed into set of ordinary differential equations using similarity transformation, and then these equations have been solved numerically using Runge- Kutta method with shooting technique. Results shows that magnitude of skin friction coefficient decreases, while magnitude of heat transfer coefficient and mass transfer coefficient increases with decreasing values of viscosity variation parameter for the case More >

Dave Martin^a,b,† , Hicham Chaouki^a,b, Jean-Loup Robert^a, Donald Ziegler^c, Mario Fafard^a,b

Frontiers in Heat and Mass Transfer, Vol.7, pp. 1-9, 2016, DOI:10.5098/hmt.7.31

Abstract The two dimensional phase change problem was solved using the extended finite element method with a Lagrange formulation to apply the interface boundary condition. The Lagrange multiplier space is identical to the solution space and does not require stabilization. The solid-liquid interface velocity is determined by the jump in heat flux across the i nterface. Two methods to calculate the jump are used and c ompared. The first is based on an averaged temperature gradient near the interface. The second uses the Lagrange multiplier values to evaluate the jump. The Lagrange multiplier based approach was More >

Olvera-Mendoza EI¹, SI Lara-Cabrera¹, C Sáenz-Romero², R Lindig-Cisneros³

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.85, pp. 169-175, 2016, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2016.85.169

Abstract To quantify the effect on genetic diversity of restoring tree populations in an area under the influence of an urban heat island, we evaluated the genetic diversity of 72 Ceiba aesculifolia individuals, from a restoration experiment established from 2170 to 2260 m a.s.l. Reintroduced individuals were compared with the provenance from which the seeds were obtained, and two external provenances, for a total of 123 individuals. Samples were analyzed with three AFLP primer combinations. Polymorphisms of 38.4 to 62.5% were obtained. Genetic diversity estimated with the Simpson index ranged from 0.14 to 0.2. The provenances in More >