A new weighted optimal combination of ANNs for catalyst design and reactor operation: Methane steam reforming studies

Catalyst design and evaluation is a multifactorial multiobjective optimization problem and the absence of well‐defined mechanistic relationships between wide ranging input‐output variables has stimulated interest in the application of artificial neural network for the analysis of the large body of empirical data available. However, single ANN models generally have limited predictive capability and insufficient to capture the broad range of features inherent in the voluminous but dispersed data sources. In this study, we have employed a Fibonacci approach to select optimal number of neurons for the ANN architecture followed by a new weighted optimal combination of statistically‐derived candidate ANN models in a multierror sense. Data from 200 cases for catalytic methane steam reforming have been used to demonstrate the veracity and robustness of the integrated ANN modeling technique. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 58: 2412–2427, 2012     

Hole effects on lateral buckling of laminated cantilever beams

In this study, the effects of hole diameter and hole location on the lateral buckling behaviour of woven fabric laminated composite cantilever beams have been investigated. In the experimental studies, two different groups of samples were used; samples with a single circular hole and samples with no hole. The critical buckling load for each sample was then determined experimentally. For the numerical analyses, ANSYS 10.0 finite element program was utilized. It has been noted that there is a good agreement between experimental results and those of finite element analyses. On the basis of this harmony, the numerical analyses of some models having different dimensions and fiber orientations have been done by changing length and width of the beam, diameter and location of the hole. It has been concluded that the effects of the hole diameter and hole location on the lateral buckling behaviours is very important, especially for the short beams.     

Fabrications of Surface Nanocomposite by Friction Stir Processing to Improve Mechanical and Microstructural Properties of Low Carbon Steel

Friction stir processing was used to fabricate metal matrix composites on the surface of low carbon steel. In this research for making 2 mm surface MMC, the groove method was applied to fabricate TiB₂ nanocomposite via cylindrical tool made of tungsten carbide. Microstructural properties of FSPed samples were studied by optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. To evaluate mechanical properties, the micro hardness and tensile properties of MMC were measured. The results indicated that the surface nanocomposite produced by this method had excellent properties. The microstructure of surface MMCs became fine (ferrite grain size became about 1–2 µm) with no defect and porosity. Moreover by adding TiB₂ nanoparticles to the low carbon steel matrix alloy, mechanical properties were improved. Micro hardness can become 200HV higher than that of the base metal. The surface nanocomposite also exhibited better tensile strength when sample yield stress increased to about 28 %.     

Investigation of Lake Sapanca water pollution,Adapazari, Turkey

Lake Sapanca has been the only source of drinking and recreational water for the city of Adapazari, Turkey. This paper reports a study of the variation of nutrient loading and trophic state of the lake, and also water quality parameters of Lake Sapanca compared to those of the neighbouring Lake Iznik. Through one year, samples were taken every three months from 15 different points on the streams feeding and draining off the lake. Nitrate, NO₂‐N, NH₃‐N, TKN, PO₄‐P concentrations on the 12 streams fe and three draining off points were determined. Then, loading, discharge, and accumulation amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus causing eutrophication were calculated and the trophic state of the lake was determined. A simple model was used to analyse the response of Lake Sapanca when the phosphorus loading rate was changed. Through this model, the variation of different parameters (t, M, K, Q, V and A) with respect to phosphorus concentration (C) was studied to identify effects and results. The consequences of an eutrophic state and measures to protect the lake are also discussed.     

Immobilization of glucose oxidase on 3D graphene thin film: Novel glucose bioanalytical sensing platform

Electrochemical biosensors are responsible for quantification of analytes for medical diagnostics applications. They are considered as a promising means to investigate the content of a biological sample owing to the direct exchange of a biological process to an electronic output signal. Novel characteristics of nanocarbon materials attracted much attention for fabrication of numerous electrochemical biosensors with developed analytical capacities. This paper aims to provide perceptions of 3D graphene-based electrochemical biosensors and to demonstrate its application in glucose detection. The developed glucose biosensing platform exhibits excellent catalytic activity towards glucose detection over a wide linear range of up to 6 mM with sensitivity of 1.63 μA mM^?1 cm^?2 and the stability of electrode is around 76.9% after one month. The facile and easy electrochemical approach used for the preparation of 3DG–GOD modified GCE may open up new horizons in the production of cost-effective biosensors.     

Subset simulation method including fitness-based seed selection for reliability analysis

Probability estimation of rare events is a challenging task in the reliability theory. Subset simulation (SS) is a robust simulation technique that transforms a rare event into a sequence of multiple intermediate failure events with large probabilities and efficiently approximates the mentioned probability. Proper handling of a reliability problem by this method requires employing a suitable sampling approach to transmit samples toward the failure set. Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) is a suitable sampling approach that solves the SS transition phase using the failed sample of each simulation level as the seed of next samples. This paper is aimed to study the seed selection effect on the SS accuracy through several seed selection approaches inspired by the genetic algorithm and particle filter and using the main PDF of the variables to assign a mass function probability to each subset sample in the failure domain. Roulette wheel (I, II), tournament and proportional probability techniques are then employed to choose the weighed samples as seeds to be placed in the MCMC to transmit the samples. To examine the capability of each approach, reliabilities of some engineering problems were investigated and results showed that the proposed approaches could find proper failure sets better than the original SS method, especially in problems with several failure domains.

     

Multi-wavelength Q-switched Erbium-doped fiber laser with photonic crystal fiber and multi-walled carbon nanotubes

A simple multi-wavelength passively Q-switched Erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) is demonstrated using low-cost multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs)-based saturable absorber, which is prepared using polyvinyl alcohol as a host polymer. The multi-wavelength operation is achieved based on non-linear polarization rotation effect by incorporating 50?m long photonic crystal fiber in the ring cavity. The EDFL produces a stable multi-wavelength comb spectrum for more than 14 lines with a fixed spacing of 0.48?nm. The laser also demonstrates a stable pulse train with the repetition rate increasing from 14.9 to 25.4?kHz as the pump power increases from the threshold power of 69.0?mW to the maximum pump power of 133.8?mW. The minimum pulse width of 4.4?μs was obtained at the maximum pump power of 133.8?mW while the highest energy of 0.74 nJ was obtained at the pump power of 69.0?mW.     

A heuristic method for feeder reconfiguration and service restoration in distribution networks

A sequential switch opening method is proposed for minimum loss feeder reconfiguration in this paper. The algorithm is further extended for service restoration. The method is based on the branch power flow rather than the current flow as reported in earlier methods. The final algorithm arrives at opening of a branch in a loop carrying minimum resistive power flow to make the network radial causing minimum loss. The test results reveal that the proposed method yields optimal configuration with reduced computation burden and better restoration plan.     

Silicone secondary cross-linked IPN based on poly(vinylacetate-co-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) and SiO2

Silicone secondary cross-linked interpenetrating polymer networks (IPNs) of poly(vinylacetate-co-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (PVAc-HEMA) and SiO₂ were prepared by free radical polymerization and condensation methods. The resulting copolymers were characterized by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Thermal properties of the copolymers were studied by using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The morphology of copolymers was also investigated by optical microscopy (OM) and then the effects of silicone concentrations, the reflux time, and composition on the phase morphology of the IPNs of PVAc-HEMA/SiO₂ were discussed. The broadening of the transition region was observed with the increase of the prolongation of the reflux time and the tendency of the aggregation of silicon in the surface was also observed with Teflon as a substrate plate. However, an optically transparent film was easily achieved at higher temperature due to the chemical cross-link and physical entanglement between the two phases of PVAc-HEMA and SiO₂.     

Thermomechanical properties of poly(lactic acid) films reinforced with hydroxyapatite and regenerated cellulose microfibers

Novel composite films constituted of poly(lactic acid) (PLA), hydroxyapatite (HAp), and two types of regenerated cellulose fillers—particulate and fibrous type—were produced by melt extrusion in a twin‐screw micro‐compounder. The effect of the film composition on the tensile and dynamic mechanical behavior and the HAp dispersion in the PLA matrix were investigated thoroughly. Appearance of crazed regions and prevention of HAp aggregation in the PLA matrix were elucidated in the composites with up to 15 wt % particulate cellulose content, which was the main reason for only slight reduction in the tensile properties, and consequently trivial degradation of their pre‐failure energy absorption as compared to neat PLA films. Superior dynamical energy storage capacities were obtained for the particulate cellulose modified composites, while their fibrous counterparts had not as good properties. Additionally, the anisotropic mechanical behavior obtained for the extruded composites should be favorable for use as biomaterials aimed at bone tissue engineering applications. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131, 40911.