Plasma polymerization‐modified bacterial polyhydroxybutyrate nanofibrillar scaffolds

The design and the development of novel scaffold materials for tissue engineering have attracted much interest in recent years. Especially, the prepared nanofibrillar scaffold materials from biocompatible and biodegradable polymers by electrospinning are promising materials to be used in biomedical applications. In this study, we propose to produce low‐cost and cell‐friendly bacterial electrospun PHB polymeric scaffolds by using Alcaligenes eutrophus DSM 545 strain to PHB production. The produced PHB was characterized by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). Nanofibrous scaffolds were fabricated via electrospinning method that has a fiber diameter approximately 700–800 nm. To investigate cell attachment, cell growth, and antioxidant enzyme activity on positively and negatively charged PHB scaffold, PHB surface was modified by plasma polymerization technique using polyethylene glycol (PEG) and ethylenediamine (EDA). According to the results of superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity study, PEG‐modified nanofibrillar scaffolds indicated more cellular resistance against oxidative stress compared to the EDA modification. As can be seen in cell proliferation results, EDA modification enhanced the cell proliferation more than PEG modification, while PEG modification is better as compared with nonmodified scaffolds. In general, through plasma polymerization technique, surface modified nanofibrillar structures are effective substrates for cell attachment and outgrowth. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013     

Conduction Efficiency and Strength of Electronically Conductive Adhesive Joints

Electronically conductive adhesives are being considered as an alternative to solder for interconnection in microelectronics. In order to gain insight regarding electrical and mechanical performance properties of this class of adhesive interconnections, overlap joints were made. Joint resistance and mechanical bond strength were measured before and after environmental stressing.     

Seismic vulnerability, behavior and design of tunnel form building structures

Multi-story reinforced concrete tunnel form buildings are one of the common structural types in regions prone to high seismic risk due to the buildings inherent earthquake resistance and ease of construction. Despite their good performance during earthquakes in 1999 in Turkey, and abundance of such structures scattered worldwide, current seismic codes and design provisions provide insufficient guidelines for their seismic design. As a compensatory measure, a series of modal and nonlinear static analyses are conducted by emphasizing the characteristic dynamic behavior of tunnel form buildings including impacts of wall-to-wall and wall-to-slab interaction and effects of torsion and wall-openings on the load transfer mechanism and seismic performance. A new formula for explicit determination of their fundamental period is developed in addition to a recommended response reduction factor and reinforcement detailing around shear-wall openings.     

振动荷载下级配碎石颗粒运动及其能量特征试验研究

大空隙级配碎石因其良好的透(排)水性能逐渐用作“海绵城市”路面结构的基层填料,但振动荷载作用下填料颗粒在重新排列过程中的运动姿态变化以及能量状态空间分布规律仍不明确。文章基于颗粒堆积理论设计了不同级配的碎石填料,开展不同激振参数组合下的室内新型平板振动压实试验,在试样内部不同位置处放置新型智能颗粒传感器(SmartRock)实时监测压实过程中颗粒的运动姿态变化,由颗粒加速度响应分析填料内部运动能量的时空演变规律,进而提出基于颗粒运动和能量分布的填料压实质量评价新指标。研究结果表明,级配碎石填料振动压实过程可明显分为两个不同阶段：第一阶段大部分能量耗散于碎石颗粒的竖向运动及空隙的压缩,占主导的颗粒竖向运动未形成致密的骨架结构;第二阶段颗粒主要发生水平面内的平动以及竖直面内的滚动,颗粒的长轴取向逐渐趋近于“平躺”状态,大部分能量耗散于颗粒间空隙的填充,颗粒逐渐互相紧密咬合嵌挤并形成稳定的骨架结构。试样中上部颗粒的运动指标可较好地评判压实状态,当颗粒水平向运动能量从逐渐增大过渡到逐渐减小至几乎没有任何能量分布但竖向能量分布突增时,表明试样已达到较优的压实状态,新的颗粒运动和能量指标可为连续压...     

Performance and exhaust emissions of a biodiesel engine

In this study, the applicabilities of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) have been investigated for the performance and exhaust-emission values of a diesel engine fueled with biodiesels from different feedstocks and petroleum diesel fuels. The engine performance and emissions characteristics of two different petroleum diesel-fuels (No. 1 and No. 2), biodiesels (from soybean oil and yellow grease), and their 20% blends with No. 2 diesel fuel were used as experimental results. The fuels were tested at full load (100%) at 1400-rpm engine speed, where the engine torque was 257.6 Nm. To train the network, the average molecular weight, net heat of combustion, specific gravity, kinematic viscosity, C/H ratio and cetane number of each fuel are used as the input layer, while outputs are the brake specific fuel-consumption, exhaust temperature, and exhaust emissions. The back-propagation learning algorithm with three different variants, single layer, and logistic sigmoid transfer function were used in the network. By using weights in the network, formulations have been given for each output. The network has yielded R² values of 0.99 and the mean % errors are smaller than 4.2 for the training data, while the R² values are about 0.99 and the mean % errors are smaller than 5.5 for the test data. The performance and exhaust emissions from a diesel engine, using biodiesel blends with No. 2 diesel fuel up to 20%, have been predicted using the ANN model.     

An Analysis of the Curling Phenomenon in Viscoelastic Bimaterial Strips

A mathematical analysis is performed to obtain relations for the radius of curvature and flexural moments for initially stretched bimaterial strips in which at least one of the materials exhibits viscoelastic behavior. One practical application of this analysis is for pressure sensitive tapes. Consequently, the radius of curvature and flexural moment relations are obtained as functions of backing and adhesive thicknesses and moduli for typical pressure sensitive tapes. The analysis shows that the flexural moment decreases as the backing thickness and/or backing modulus increase. Furthermore, the flexural moment decreases as the adhesive thickness and/or adhesive modulus decreases.     

Perpendicularly Aligned,Size‐and Spacing‐Controlled Nanocylinders by Molecular‐Weight Adjustment of a Homopolymer Blended in an Asymmetric Triblock Copolymer

Perpendicularly arrayed and size‐controlled nanocylinders have been prepared by simply blending an asymmetric polystyrene‐block‐polyisoprene‐block‐polystyrene triblock copolymer with polystyrene (the minority component) homopolymers of different molecular weights. The preference for perpendicular orientation or hexagonal ordering of the nanocylinders over a large area in the asymmetric block copolymer can be controlled by adjusting the molecular weight of the blended homopolymer, and the perfection of hexagonal ordering of the perpendicular cylinders can be tuned by using a substrate whose surface tension is much different from that of the majority component of the block copolymer. Such highly controlled nanostructured block‐copolymer materials, which have been obtained by a simple method independent of film thickness and interfacial tension between the blocks and the substrates, have wide‐ranging commercial potential, e.g., for use in membranes and nanotemplates with size‐tunable pores, bandgap‐controlled photonic crystals, and other nanotechnological fields demanding a specific nanosize and nanomorphology.     

The impact of electricity market liberalization in Turkey: “Free consumer” and distributional monopoly cases

Electricity sector has grown substantially in Turkey since the early 1960s as a result of rapid industrialization and urbanization. The vertically integrated state-owned company had a legally established monopoly on the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity in Turkey. With the support and encouragement of international organizations like the World Bank, Turkey has initiated a comprehensive program to liberalize and privatize the electricity market in 2001. The liberalization of the electricity market in Turkey started in the distribution side of the market. The distribution network was divided into 21 distribution regions and in each of these, separate – initially state-owned – distribution companies have been authorized to distribute and sell electricity. The plan envisaged to complete privatization of all distribution companies until the end of 2006. This study compares the welfare implication of privatization of the distribution networks by comparing two extreme cases, a pure regional distributional monopoly case and a representative pure “free” consumer case, with a benchmark case of administered price regulation. For this purpose, we develop a simulation model of the Turkish electricity system, and use the data on generation and distribution costs. Our simulation analysis shows that substantial welfare losses occur if the distributional companies behave as regional monopolists. Our findings reiterate the importance of regulation and market design.