This study investigates preparation of melamine formaldehyde / montmorillonite nanocomposite coatings and evaluates its abrasion resistance property as a new material for wood based panel products. The ultrasonicated MF resin/clay blends with different clay loadings were applied in the form of coatings to the saturated decorative paper to prepare thermoset prepregs. Morphology and structure of ...

In this paper, the general solution of steady-state two-dimensional non-axisymmetric mechanical and thermal stresses and mechanical displacements of a hollow thick cylinder made of fluid-saturated functionally graded porous material (FGPM) is presented. The general form of thermal and mechanical boundary conditions is considered on the inside and outside surfaces. A direct method is used to sol...

Based on the differential transformation method, a semi-analytical solution is developed for free vibration and modal stress analyses of variable thickness two-directional functionally graded circular plates with restrained edges, resting on elastic foundations. Variations of the material and geometry parameters are monitored by five distinct exponential functions. The presented non-dimensional...

The C-statistic, measuring the rank concordance between predictors and outcomes, has become a standard metric of predictive accuracy and is therefore a natural criterion for variable screening and selection. However, as the C-statistic is a step function, its optimization requires brute-force search, prohibiting its direct usage in the presence of high-dimensional predictors. We develop a smoot...

In respect to the issues on protecting intellectual property, particular for artistic works in electronic form, some sorts of techniques could be put on a copyright material image to ensure its ownership authentication. In this research, signatories’ biometric fingerprint watermark message in digital format will be embedded into a copyright material image by Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) – on...

In multiple regression problems when covariates can be naturally grouped, it is important to carry out feature selection at the group and within-group individual variable levels simultaneously. The existing methods, including the lasso and group lasso, are designed for either variable selection or group selection, but not for both. We propose a group bridge approach that is capable of simultane...

We consider the problem of variable selection for the single-index random effects models with longitudinal data. An automatic variable selection procedure is developed using smooth-threshold. The proposed method shares some of the desired features of existing variable selection methods: the resulting estimator enjoys the oracle property; the proposed procedure avoids the convex optimization pro...

(2012) Group inquiry to aid organisational learning in enterprises. Disclaimer The University of Gloucestershire has obtained warranties from all depositors as to their title in the material deposited and as to their right to deposit such material. The University of Gloucestershire makes no representation or warranties of commercial utility, title, or fitness for a particular purpose or any oth...