A novel scheme to detect the best cloud service provider using logarithmic operational law in generalized spherical fuzzy environment

Knowledge and Information Systems - Generalized spherical fuzzy number (GSFN) is an extension of spherical fuzzy number (SFN) which deals the uncertainties involved in the real-life problems in...     

An Efficient Parallel Block Compressive Sensing Scheme for Medical Signals and Image Compression

Wireless Personal Communications - Compressive Sensing or Compressed sensing (CS) is a latest technique used for compression of medical signals and medical images which benefits both the speed and...     

A comparative study on the metaheuristic-based optimization of skew composite laminates

Engineering with Computers - Plate structures are the integral parts of any maritime engineering platform. With the recent focus on composite structures, the need for optimizing their design and...     

Self-consistent non-linear physics based predictive model for the computation of THz-signal attenuation in fog with varying visibility in tropical climatic zone

Microsystem Technologies - Absorptive and dispersive properties of atmospheric hydrometeors, affect the propagation of millimetre-wave and submillimeter wave signals. In adverse weather condition,...     

HSWOA: An ensemble of hunger games search and whale optimization algorithm for global optimization

The search for food stimulated by hunger is a common phenomenon in the animal world. Mimicking the concept, recently, an optimization algorithm Hunger Games Search (HGS) has been proposed for global optimization. On the other side, the Whale Optimization Algorithm (WOA) is a commonly utilized nature-inspired algorithm portrayed by a straightforward construction with easy parameters imitating the hunting behavior of humpback whales. However, due to minimum exploration of the search space, WOA has a high chance of trapping into local solutions, and more exploitation leads it towards premature convergence. The concept of hunger from HGS is merged with the food searching techniques of the whale to lessen the inherent drawbacks of WOA. Two weights of HGS are adaptively designed for every whale using the respective hunger level for balancing search strategies. Performance verification of the proposed hunger search-based whale optimization algorithm (HSWOA) is done by comparing it with 10 state-of-the-art algorithms, including three very recently developed algorithms on 30 classical benchmark functions. Comparison with some basic algorithms, recently modified algorithms, and WOA variants is performed using IEEE CEC 2019 function set. Statistical performance of the proposed algorithm is verified with Friedman's test, boxplot analysis, and Nemenyi multiple comparison test. The operating speed of the algorithm is determined and tested with complexity analysis and convergence analysis. Finally, seven real-world engineering problems are solved and compared with a list of metaheuristic algorithms. Numerical and statistical performance comparison with state-of-the-art algorithms confirms the efficacy of the newly designed algorithm.     

Implementation of service systems on the shop-floor level in financial service companies. Empirical evidence from Australia and Germany

This article presents the practices of Australian and German financial service providers regarding the implementation of shop-floor control within different types of service systems. The results delivered in this article should serve as a guideline for future research to develop and adapt methods for shop-floor control in financial service systems. Interviews with 25 experts from the Australian and German financial services industry reveal novel insights into the practice of shop-floor control, suggesting that methods and concepts from manufacturing are only used to a limited extent for shop-floor control. Shop-floor control is mostly used to react quickly to unexpected deviations due to a low usage of forecasts and information systems. Thus, there seems to be improvement potential in the financial services industry in comparison with in the manufacturing industry in terms of shop-floor control. Further research within the production research area should use the empirical insights to test and adapt existing methods and to develop new ones, taking cultural differences into account.     

Improvement of lubrication and cooling in grinding

The presence of air boundary layer around a grinding wheel impedes the proper entry of cutting fluid into grinding zone and thereby lubrication and cooling are hampered. It leads to the thermal damage to the workpiece and rapid wheel wear. This experimental work is aimed at increasing the lubrication and cooling effects in grinding by a novel method of using scraper board. The experiments are conducted, using the scraper board, to find the critical region where the air pressure is zero. The coolant jet has then impinged into the grinding zone which is maintained within the critical region. The requirement of specific energy, surface texture, and mechanical properties of the ground surface are analyzed and compared with the traditional grinding and the grinding at various positions of scraper board. Results show that the grinding ratio improved by 35.6and 119%, surface roughness decreased by 36 and 54.2%, while the requirement of specific energy is reduced by 50.8 and 57.3% when scraper board is positioned at the critical distance in comparison to the 57.5° position and no scraper board, respectively. The results indicate that the introduction of fluid in the present method can improve the process efficiency and the product quality effectively.     

Cancer predisposition, radiosensitivity and the risk of radiation-induced cancers. IV. Prediction of risks in relatives of cancer-predisposed individuals

Individuals carrying cancer-predisposing germline mutations are known to be at a higher risk for cancers than those who do not carry them. This is also true of their biological relatives because they have a higher probability of being carriers of such mutant genes than unrelated individuals in the population. Further, there are now sufficient grounds for assuming that cancer-predisposed individuals may also be at a higher risk for cancers induced by ionizing radiation. In our earlier work, we examined the impact of this heterogeneity (with respect to cancer predisposition and radiosensitivity differentials) on risks of radiation-induced cancer at the population level. This paper is focused on the question of risks of radiation-induced cancer in relatives of cancer-predisposed individuals. Using an autosomal dominant model of cancer predisposition and radiosensitivity developed earlier and applying it to breast cancer risks associated with mutations in the BRCA1 gene, we show that: (1) The risk ratio (i.e. the ratio of risk of radiation-induced cancer in relatives to that in unrelated individuals) in the population increases with the degree of biological relatedness of the relative, being higher for close than for distant relatives; incomplete penetrance of the mutant gene "dilutes" this risk ratio. (2) The proportion of excess radiation-induced cancers in relatives (i.e. the attributable fraction) is higher than in unrelated individuals. (3) In relatives, the proportion of excess cancers due to radiosensitivity differentials alone depends on the strength of predisposition, the radiosensitivity differentials assumed, the radiation dose, the proportion of cancers due to predisposition, the mutant gene frequency and the penetrance of the mutant gene. This is in contrast to the situation for unrelated individuals, for whom the above-mentioned proportion is dependent on the first three but not on the last three of these factors. Further, even when the proportion of excess cancers is small, most of it is due to radiosensitivity differential alone both in unrelated individuals and in relatives. (4) For values of predisposition strength and radiosensitivity differential <10, even when the estimated frequency of a mutant BRCA1 gene is 0.0047 and the proportion of breast cancers due to these mutations is 38% (as is the case for Ashkenazi Jewish women under age 30), the increase in breast cancer risks is only marginal even for first-degree relatives. (5) These findings support the conclusion that increases in radiation risks to relatives (compared to those in unrelated individuals), to be detectable epidemiologically, will occur only when the mutant alleles are common and the strength of predisposition and radiosensitivity differentials are conjointly dramatic.     

Thin film evaporation in microchannels with interfacial slip

We investigate the role of interfacial slip on evaporation of a thin liquid film in a microfluidic channel. The effective slip mechanism is attributed to the formation of a depleted layer adhering to the substrate–fluid interface, either in a continuum or in a rarefied gas regime, as a consequence of intricate hydrophobic interactions in the narrow confinement. We appeal to the fundamental principles of conservation in relating the evaporation mechanisms with fluid flow and heat transfer over interfacial scales. We obtain semi-analytical solutions of the pertinent governing equations, with coupled heat and mass transfer boundary conditions at the liquid–vapor interface. We observe that a general consequence of interfacial slip is to elongate the liquid film, thereby leading to a film thickening effect. Thicker liquid films, in turn, result in lower heat transfer rates from the wall to liquid film, and consequently lower mass transfer rates from the liquid film to the vapor phase. Nevertheless, the total mass of evaporation (or equivalently, the net heat transfer) turns out to be higher in case of interfacial slip due to the longer film length. We also develop significant physical insights on the implications of the relative thickness of the depleted layer with reference to characteristic length scales of the microfluidic channel on the evaporation process, under combined influences of the capillary pressure, disjoining pressure, and the driving temperature differential for the interfacial transport.     

Selection of industrial robots using compromise ranking and outranking methods

Selection of a robot for a specific industrial application is one of the most challenging problems in real time manufacturing environment. It has become more and more complicated due to increase in complexity, advanced features and facilities that are continuously being incorporated into the robots by different manufacturers. At present, different types of industrial robots with diverse capabilities, features, facilities and specifications are available in the market. Manufacturing environment, product design, production system and cost involved are some of the most influencing factors that directly affect the robot selection decision. The decision maker needs to identify and select the best suited robot in order to achieve the desired output with minimum cost and specific application ability. This paper attempts to solve the robot selection problem using two most appropriate multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods and compares their relative performance for a given industrial application. The first MCDM approach is ‘VIsekriterijumsko KOmpromisno Rangiranje’ (VIKOR), a compromise ranking method and the other one is ‘ELimination and Et Choice Translating REality’ (ELECTRE), an outranking method. Two real time examples are cited in order to demonstrate and validate the applicability and potentiality of both these MCDM methods. It is observed that the relative rankings of the alternative robots as obtained using these two MCDM methods match quite well with those as derived by the past researchers.