Gabapentin-induced coma in a patient with renal failure

We describe a 60-year-old woman who became comatose after a single dose of gabapentin for right-sided sciatalgia. The patient was improved by hemodialysis. Gabapentin toxicity should be considered when mental status changes develop in patients with renal failure after even a single dose.     

FUNGIBILITY OF MATCHING CONDITIONAL GRANTS TO LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

Abstract. This article finds that about 31 cents of every dollar of matching conditional grants to upper-tier municipalities in Ontario, Canada were converted into fungible resources during the period 1977–1992. As a result these grants did not stimulate local economic activities, as desired by the donor. In particular, the expenditure response to these grants is reduced by almost 25 percent due to fungibility. The implied fungibility ratio is also found to vary across municipalities and service categories. Fungibility of grants is 15 percent higher in the transportation sector than in the health sector and in both sectors the estimated ratio is lower than the corresponding ratio based on U.S. data. It is further found that a municipality, with a regional structure, larger size, and lower proportion of statutory expenditure, tends to convert larger amounts of grants into fungible resources than others.     

Prediction of Excess Air Factor in Automatic Feed Coal Burners by Processing of Flame Images

In this study, the relationship between the visual information gathered from the flame images and the excess air factor k in coal burners is investigated. In conventional coal burners the excess air factor k. can be obtained using very expensive air measurement instruments. The proposed method to predict k for a specific time in the coal burners consists of three distinct and consecutive stages; a) online flame images acquisition using a CCD camera, b) extraction meaningful information(flame intensity and brightness)from flame images, and c) learning these information(image features) with ANNs and estimate k. Six different feature extraction methods have been used: CDF of Blue Channel, Co-Occurrence Matrix, L_∞-Frobenius Norms,Radiant Energy Signal(RES), PCA and Wavelet. When compared prediction results, it has seen that the use of cooccurrence matrix with ANNs has the best performance(RMSE = 0.07) in terms of accuracy. The results show that the proposed predicting system using flame images can be preferred instead of using expensive devices to measure excess air factor in during combustion.     

Temperature sensing properties of self-crystalized Ba2LaF7: Tb3+ glass ceramics

Fluorescence intensity ratio (FIR) techniques for temperature sensing based on the thermally-coupled energy levels (TCELs) of two excited states of rare earth ions are widely investigated. However, their performance in lower temperature detection are poor because of thermal decoupling between two emitting levels with relatively large energy gap. On the other hand, most of luminescent thermometer materials so far reported are in powder form, which suffer from severe light scattering and high hygroscopicity. Fortunately, transparent glass ceramics offer an alternative to improve optical property as well as stability of luminescent materials. Hence, herein self-crystallized 20% Tb³⁺ doped transparent Ba₂LaF₇ glass ceramics were synthesized by traditional high-temperature melting method to examine its temperature sensing ability by employing the two low-lying states ⁷F₅ and ⁷F₆ of Tb³⁺, which are thermally coupled even at lower temperature. Under the resonance excitation of ⁷F₅ → ⁵D₄ transition at 543 nm, the emission intensity of ⁵D₄ → ⁷F₆ enhances with the temperature rising from 300 K to 630 K. The maximum relative sensitivity reaches 2.88% K^?1 at 300 K, which is better than the previous results reported. Moreover, the repeatability of the integrated intensity of ⁵D₄ emission of Tb³⁺ under eight consecutive heating-cooling cycles indicates that the sample has a good reliability and reusability. All results suggest that the 20% Tb³⁺ doped transparent Ba₂LaF₇ glass ceramics are one of the excellent candidate materials for optical thermometers.     

Natural functionalisation of a traditional textile “Ehram”

This study is focused on the natural functionalisation of a traditional woven fabric called “Ehram”. Which is a wool based woven fabric constituted from wool yarns that are originally coloured and used in different cities of the Eastern Anatolian Region, Turkey. Because these fabrics were originally coloured (pigmented), the study aimed to functionalise them with minimal colour changes from their original colour. For this aim; lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) which is also a natural source of pleasant odour was used in finishing of Ehram. The colour changes by the application of the lavender on Ehram and the benefits that come out from the use of lavender were then analysed and presented in the study. In this respect, antibacterial activities (against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli) of dyed samples were tested within the scope of the study. In addition, colour measurements (K/S and CIE L*a*b* C* and h^o) and FTIR (Fourier-transform infrared) microspectroscopy analyses of dyed fabric samples were made and microscope images were taken. It was observed that lavender with a copper-based mordanting agent can present antibacterial activity against S. aureus and E. coli in Ehram.     

Tuning PL emission energy and bandgap with Ni dopant of MgO thin films

In this study, for the first time, the effect of Nickel (Ni) additive on Magnesium oxide (MgO) thin films produced by using successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction technique (SILAR) was investigated. Absorption, photoluminescence (PL), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and scanning electron microscope (SEM) measurements were executed to examine how the optical, structural and morphological properties of the samples were affected by the addition of Ni. In the absorption analysis, it was noted that the band gaps of the MgO samples decreased from 4 eV to 3.5 eV with the increase of Ni dopant concentrations. Also, the transmittance values of MgO nanostructures decreases with the increase of Ni contribution, and in the same way, the reflection measurements show that the reflection of MgO decreases with the increase of Ni doping. PL measurements revealed that the fabricated structures radiate around 410 nm and 730 nm. According to XRD measurements, besides the cubic structure of the samples, NiO formations were detected inside the MgO thin film samples due to the increase in Ni dopant. XPS measurements have proven the presence of Ni doping in MgO. SEM measurements showed that all samples exhibited nanowall structure. All these results demonstrate that Ni doping on MgO thin films can be achieved by using SILAR deposition technique.     

Reuse of glass waste in the manufacture of ceramic tableware glazes

Today, various studies are carried out to spread the understanding of sustainability. The sustainability of production processes gains importance in corporate areas. In this study, the use of glass waste instead of frit used in glaze compositions in the ceramic industry was evaluated. The chemical and physical properties of glass wastes on samples were examined. The glaze formulations were prepared using 3%, 5%, and 8% by weight of glass waste instead of frit. Glass wastes were added to glaze compositions and 12 different glaze formulation studies were carried out. Transparent, Opaque, and Matte test glazes were prepared with glass waste added glaze formulations, and these glazes were applied to ceramic bodies. SEM (scanning electron microscope) analysis of standard glaze and glass waste added glazes was performed to determine the microstructural and morphological characterizations. Also, surface whiteness, brightness, L*a*b values, glaze flows, harcort test results, and final water absorption values were compared. As a result of the studies, it has been determined that it is appropriate to use 3% glass waste by weight instead of the frit in the production of ceramic tableware.     

Effect of yttrium-stabilized bismuth bilayer electrolyte thickness on the electrochemical performance of anode-supported solid oxide fuel cells

Lowering operating temperature and optimizing electrolyte thickness, while maintaining the same high efficiencies are the main considerations in fabricating solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). In this study, the effect of yttrium-stabilized bismuth bilayer electrolyte thickness on the electrical performance was investigated. The yttrium-stabilized bismuth bilayer electrolyte was coated on the nickel–samarium-doped composite anode/samarium-doped ceria electrolyte substrate with varying bilayer electrolyte thicknesses (1.5, 3.5, 5.5, and 7.5 μm) via dip-coating technique. Electrochemical performance analysis revealed that the bilayer electrolyte with 5.5 μm thickness exhibited high open circuit voltage, current and power densities of 1.068 V, 259.5 mA/cm² and 86 mW/cm², respectively at 600 °C. Moreover, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy analysis also exhibited low total polarization resistance (4.64 Ωcm²) at 600 °C for the single SOFC with 5.5 μm thick yttrium-stabilized bismuth bilayer electrolyte. These findings confirm that the yttrium-stabilized bismuth bilayer electrolyte contributes to oxygen reduction reaction and successfully blocks electronic conduction in Sm_0.2Ce_0.8O_1.9 electrolyte materials. This study has successfully produced an Y_0.25Bi_0.75O_1.5/Sm_0.2Ce_0.8O_1.9 bilayer system with an extremely low total polarization resistance for low-temperature SOFCs.     

Determination of Optimum Velocity for Various Nanofluids Flowing in a Double-Pipe Heat Exchanger

Piping is one of the most important issues in the cost of process factories. It is known that 80% of bought equipment cost or 20% of overhead capital can belong to piping cost in a fluid-process factory. Pipe diameter and therefore flow velocity strongly affect the existing value of the factory regarding the consumed electric energy and fitting cost of pipes, pumps, and valves. We give a detailed cost analysis model for the pure fluids of water, motor oil, glycerin, ammonia, methanol, ethanol, ethylene glycol, and propane and their nanofluid mixtures with Ti and TiO₂ particles in liquid phase flowing in the tube side of a double-pipe heat exchanger. Pressure drop and pumping power values increase with flow velocity but total cost values show an arc with it. The clear outcome is that there is a minimum cost value as a result of the analyses for each investigated fluids. Moreover, validation of the model is performed by plotting the calculated items in figures such as total heat transfer coefficient versus Reynolds number, pressure drop versus Reynolds number, and friction factor versus mass flow rate. Characteristics of the trend lines in these figures are seen as they should be.