Three-dimensional complex construct fabrication of illite by digital light processing-based additive manufacturing technology

Illite is a group of clay minerals that are expected to be widely used in catalyst fabrication, radioactive element adsorption, and so forth, due to its excellent adsorption properties. However, the shape control limitation of the illite product should be overcome to maximize its utilization and properties. We herein propose additive manufacturing (AM) as one of the best solutions to solve this structural drawback. Digital light processing (DLP) technology with the film-type of the material supplying system was adapted instead of the general vat-type DLP system to increase illite printability. The photo-curability and printability of illite-contained photocurable suspension were optimized. The color effect due to different ferric oxide content in yellow- and white-illite which influence the photopolymerization process also adjusted thoroughly. White illite showed better photo-curability and could be increased solid loading than yellow illite. The defect-free illite products with three-dimensional complex structures, which cannot be produced by typical ceramic processes, were obtained by DLP technology for both yellow- and white-illite after sintering at 1100°C. The overcoming of shape control limitation of illites by ceramic AM proved in this study has excellent potential for expanding illite utilities in various applications.     

Computational intelligence for microarray data and biomedical image analysis for the early diagnosis of breast cancer

The objective of this paper was to perform a comparative analysis of the computational intelligence algorithms to identify breast cancer in its early stages. Two types of data representations were considered: microarray based and medical imaging based. In contrast to previous researches, this research also considered the imbalanced nature of these data. It was observed that the SMO algorithm performed better for the majority of the test data, especially for microarray based data when accuracy was used as performance measure. Considering the imbalanced characteristic of the data, the Naive Bayes algorithm was seen to perform highly in terms of true positive rate (TPR). Regarding the influence of SMOTE, a well-known imbalanced data classification technique, it was observed that there was a notable performance improvement for J48, while the performance of SMO remained comparable for the majority of the datasets. Overall, the results indicated SMO as the most potential candidate for the microarray and image dataset considered in this research.     

Photophysical Parameters of Functional Transparent Polymethyl-Methacrylate/Double-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Nanocomposite Sheet Under UV-Irradiation

Polymethyl-methacrylate (PMMA)/double-walled carbon nanotubes DWCNTs was prepared by using casting technique and studying with different spectroscopic techniques. UV/Vis spectral analysis shows that, the transmittance reaches to 92 % for blank PMMA and decreases to 87 % for PMMA doped with 0.01 DWCNTs composite. The calculated refractive index and absorption coefficient increase, while the estimated values of Urbach energy decreased after embedding CNT into PMMA matrix. The optical band gap values were observed to vary slightly with doping amount. Photoluminescence (PL) spectra show that there is no shift in the emission peak position upon doping with CNTs, but PL intensity is enhanced.     

The 12<Superscript>th</Superscript> World Conference on Titanium presents research and applications of “wonder metal”

The International Conference on Titanium was begun in 1968 to assess the national significance attached to the development of titanium in relation to the technical needs of the participating countries. The conference, held every four years, attracts strong international participation. This article reviews the 12^th World Conference on Titanium, hosted by the Nonferrous Society of China and held in Beijing, China, 19–24 June 2011.     

A noise constrained least mean fourth (NCLMF) adaptive algorithm

The learning speed of an adaptive algorithm can be improved by properly constraining the cost function of the adaptive algorithm. In this work, a noise-constrained least mean fourth (NCLMF) adaptive algorithm is proposed. The NCLMF algorithm is obtained by constraining the cost function of the standard LMF algorithm to the fourth-order moment of the additive noise. The NCLMF algorithm can be seen as a variable step-size LMF algorithm. The main aim of this work is to derive the NCLMF adaptive algorithm, analyze its convergence behavior, and assess its performance in different noise environments. Furthermore, the analysis of the proposed NCLMF algorithm is carried out using the concept of energy conservation. Finally, a number of simulation results are carried out to corroborate the theoretical findings, and as expected, improved performance is obtained through the use of this technique over the traditional LMF algorithm.     

Water absorbance and thermal properties of sulfated wheat gluten films

Wheat gluten films of various thicknesses formed at 30–70°C were treated with cold sulfuric acid to produce sulfated gluten films. Chemical, thermal, thermal stability, and water uptake properties were characterized for neat and sulfated films. The sulfated gluten films were able to absorb up to 30 times their weight in deionized water. However, this value dropped to 3.5 when the film was soaked in a 0.9% (w/w) NaCl solution. The films were also soaked 4 times in deionized water, and each soaking resulted in a reduced water uptake capacity. The temperature of film formation had no effect on the final water uptake properties. Also, thinner films had higher concentrations of sulfate groups than thicker films; this resulted in higher water uptake values. In addition, sulfated gluten films had comparable glass‐transition temperatures but lower thermal stabilities than the neat gluten films. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010     

Modification of wheat gluten with citric acid to produce superabsorbent materials

Wheat gluten was reacted with citric acid to produce natural superabsorbent materials able to absorb up to 78 times its weight in water. The properties of the modified gluten samples were characterized using Fourier Transform Infra‐red (FTIR) spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and water uptake. The reaction between gluten and citric acid was examined for gluten : citric acid ratios of 0.38 : 1 to 0.75 : 1 at temperatures from 100 to 130°C. More citric acid reacted for samples containing higher citric acid concentrations and at higher temperatures. FTIR analyses indicated the presence of carboxylate groups on the modified gluten samples, which resulted in modified samples having higher water uptake values than neat gluten. The sample with a gluten:citric acid ratio of 0.5 : 1 and reaction temperature of 120°C had the largest water uptake value. Also, all modified gluten samples had lower thermal stability than neat gluten. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013