Filler material plays an important role in improving the properties of hybrid composites. In the present work, the effect of ceramic fillers (Al
2
O
3
and SiC) was investigated on the chemical ...resistance and water resistance of short bamboo fiber-reinforced composites. Epoxy composites with short bamboo fiber reinforcement (without and with alkali treatment) were fabricated using hand lay-up method. Aluminum oxide (Al
2
O
3
) and silicon carbide (SiC) particles were used as filler materials. Alkaline treatment of the bamboo fibers was done using 5% NaOH for fabricating one set of composite . Chemical resistance of the composites samples was studied towards the acetic acid, sodium hydroxide, ammonium hydroxide, sodium carbonates, benzene, toluene, carbon tetrachloride solutions. Water absorption behavior was also studied for all the samples. A comparative analysis was carried out between different sets of composite samples. Results showed that the chemical resistance and water resistance of the composites increase significantly with the incorporation of fillers. Also, the alkali-treated composites achieved improved resistance against chemicals and water, as compared to untreated composites.
Present work incorporates the fabrication of short bamboo fiber reinforced polymer composites with Cenosphere fly ash as a filler. Alkali treatment was given to the short bamboo fibers and the ...composite samples were fabricated using both the untreated and alkali treated fibers. Erosion wear behavior has been studied for both groups of composites. Air jet type test rig has been used for the erosion study following the design of experiments approach using Taguchi's orthogonal arrays. Optimal parameter settings have been identified using the Taguchi approach to minimize the erosion rate. Influence of the input parameters (Impact angle, Impact velocity, Filler Content) has been investigated on the erosion resistance of composites and the variance has been studied using ANOVA. Surface morphology has also been studied to see the impact of erosion. Results have indicated that the wear rate of both category of composites is significantly affected by the size of erodent, impact velocity, impingement angle as well as the filler content. A major improvement in the erosion behavior of the samples have been reported with the addition of Cenosphere.
PurposeThe software development team reviews the testing phase to assess if the reliability growth of software is as per plan and requirement and gives suggestions for improvement. The objective of ...this study is to determine the optimal review time such that there is enough time to make judgments about changes required before the scheduled release.Design/methodology/approachTesting utilizes majority of time and resources, assures reliability and plays a critical role in release and warranty decision-making reviews necessary. A very early review during testing may not give useful information for analyzing or improving project performance, and a very late review may delay product delivery and lead to opportunity loss for developers. Therefore, it is assumed that the optimal time for review is in the later stage of testing when the fault removal rate starts to decline. The expression for this time point is determined using the S-curve 2-D software reliability growth model (SRGM).FindingsThe methodology has been illustrated using the real-life fault datasets of Tandem computers and radar systems resulting in optimal review time of 14 weeks and 26 months, respectively, which is neither very early in testing nor very near to the scheduled release. The developer can make changes (more resources or postpone release) to expedite the process.Originality/valueMost of the literature studies focus on determination of optimal testing or release time to achieve considerable reliability within the budget, but in this study, the authors determine the optimal review time during testing using SRGM to ensure the considerable reliability at release.
Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are common and contribute inordinately to maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. Although not completely understood, recent clinical trials have provided ...important insights into pathogenesis of preeclampsia. Preeclampsia is considered a systemic disease with generalized endothelial dysfunction and risk of future cardiovascular disease. This review revisits the definitions and classifications of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy; discusses updates on pathophysiology, prevention, and early prediction of preeclampsia; reviews current management guidelines; and discusses potential risks and benefits associated with treatment. Improvement in management and outcomes of women with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy seems in sight in the near future.
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify and quantify the key components of the overall cost of software development when warranty coverage is given by a developer. Also, the authors have ...studied the impact of imperfect debugging on the optimal release time, warranty policy and development cost which signifies that it is important for the developers to control the parameters that cause a sharp increase in cost.Design/methodology/approachAn optimization problem is formulated to minimize software development cost by considering imperfect fault removal process, faults generation at a constant rate and an environmental factor to differentiate the operational phase from the testing phase. Another optimization problem under perfect debugging conditions, i.e. without error generation is constructed for comparison. These optimization models are solved in MATLAB, and their solutions provide insights to the degree of impact of imperfect debugging on the optimal policies with respect to software release time and warranty time.FindingsA real-life fault data set of Radar System is used to study the impact of various cost factors via sensitivity analysis on release and warranty policy. If firms tend to provide warranty for a longer period of time, then they may have to bear losses due to increased debugging cost with more number of failures occurring during the warrantied time but if the warranty is not provided for sufficient time it may not act as sufficient hedge during field failures.Originality/valueEvery firm is fighting to remain in the competition and expand market share by offering the latest technology-based products, using innovative marketing strategies. Warranty is one such strategic tool to promote the product among masses and develop a sense of quality in the user’s mind. In this paper, the failures encountered during development and after software release are considered to model the failure process.
Adolescence is a distinct period that is crucial for setting the foundation for long-term health.
To assess the nutritional status, physical fitness, and physical activity of adolescents.
The present ...cross-sectional study recruited 100 adolescents purposively. Information regarding general profile and lifestyle-related factors was collected using a questionnaire. Anthropometric data such as height, weight, BMI, and body fat% were collected using appropriate equipment. Physical fitness was assessed using a battery adapted from FITNESSGRAM® and PAQ-A assessed the physical activity. Dietary intake was analysed using a 2-day 24-hour dietary recall.
The study revealed, 19% of the participants were overweight and 6% were obese. The majority (74%) were physically inactive and 15% had high body fat %. There was lower consumption of energy, carbohydrates, iron, and calcium, than the recommendations. Also, physical activity scores were negatively associated with macronutrient intake and trunk lift (strength and flexibility) p < 0.05. Data showed lower physical fitness scores. BMI and hand-grip strength was positively correlated p < 0.05. Push Ups (endurance) and Standing Broad Jump (power) showed a negative correlation with body fat%. Tennis ball throw and PACER (cardiorespiratory fitness) were positively associated with protein intake. A multiple regression analysis significantly showed that a unit increase in cell phone usage increases body fat% by 11.64 units. Standing broad jump increases by 38.6 cm and decreases with 28.76 cm with a unit increase in playing outside and tuitions timings respectively.
Poor nutritional status, physical fitness, and physical activity were reported among adolescents. It is imperative to plan intervention strategies to improve the overall health of adolescents.
Reproductive function in women with end stage renal disease generally improves after kidney transplant. However, pregnancy remains challenging due to the risk of adverse clinical outcomes.
We ...searched PubMed/MEDLINE, Elsevier EMBASE, Scopus, BIOSIS Previews, ISI Science Citation Index Expanded, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials from date of inception through August 2017 for studies reporting pregnancy with kidney transplant.
Of 1343 unique studies, 87 met inclusion criteria, representing 6712 pregnancies in 4174 kidney transplant recipients. Mean maternal age was 29.6 ± 2.4 years. The live-birth rate was 72.9% (95% CI, 70.0-75.6). The rate of other pregnancy outcomes was as follows: induced abortions (12.4%; 95% CI, 10.4-14.7), miscarriages (15.4%; 95% CI, 13.8-17.2), stillbirths (5.1%; 95% CI, 4.0-6.5), ectopic pregnancies (2.4%; 95% CI, 1.5-3.7), preeclampsia (21.5%; 95% CI, 18.5-24.9), gestational diabetes (5.7%; 95% CI, 3.7-8.9), pregnancy induced hypertension (24.1%; 95% CI, 18.1-31.5), cesarean section (62.6, 95% CI 57.6-67.3), and preterm delivery was 43.1% (95% CI, 38.7-47.6). Mean gestational age was 34.9 weeks, and mean birth weight was 2470 g. The 2-3-year interval following kidney transplant had higher neonatal mortality, and lower rates of live births as compared to > 3 year, and < 2-year interval. The rate of spontaneous abortion was higher in women with mean maternal age < 25 years and > 35 years as compared to women aged 25-34 years.
Although the outcome of live births is favorable, the risks of maternal and fetal complications are high in kidney transplant recipients and should be considered in patient counseling and clinical decision making.
Online reviewers are site users who share their opinion & experience over the internet and influence the perception & purchasing intentions of potential customers. Therefore, considerable attention ...is needed to identify credible and trustworthy online reviewers. For marketing through electronic-word-of-mouth (eWOM), it is important to find those online reviewers who have the potential to spread the product image efficiently and can positively influence the buying intention of potential customers. In this paper, we develop an innovative model based on data envelopment analysis (DEA) to identify good quality reviewers that have a commendable impact on readers or potential customers, by considering the determinants related to credibility, trustworthiness, expertise, travel experience, and identity disclosure of online reviewers as inputs/outputs in the DEA-based models. We have also ranked the reviewers using the balance index (BI) based technique. The results of this paper will aid the e-marketers to understand the variables related to reviewers which help them in finding the highly influential reviewers available on their website. The managerial and theoretical implications are also discussed for the practitioners, business managers, and researchers in the e-service sector.
The crucial part of the software development cycle is software maintenance. The demands included in the software management are fault fixes and request to change or bring a new feature. If priority ...is not given to these demands, then it may lead to customer dissatisfaction, inefficient planning, and software failure as well. Therefore, it is important to study the severity of the bug reports to maintain the efficiency of the software. Various research has been conducted in the past to predict the severity of the paper using text mining focusing only on the content of the bug reports. The sentiment of the user while reporting a bug also plays a vital role. In this study, we will be focusing on two aspects, that is, sentiment and content to improve the prediction. We propose a prediction model based on LDA to study the content aspect and emotion analysis to study the sentiment aspect. The model is validated on the datasets collected from the Eclipse project using Convolutional Neural Network (CNN). The results show that the CNN model effectively utilizes the content and sentiment aspect of the data to handle the severity prediction. CNN has weight sharing feature that decreases the number of parameters used for training. It also improves generalization and overfitting is avoided The Accuracy, Precision, Recall, and F‐measure are improved when both aspects are taken into account rather than considering only content.
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