Colour changes of heat‐treated woods of red‐bud maple,European hophornbeam and oak

Colour evolution and colour changes were analyzed from small specimens of three heat treated wood species using the CIE L*a*b* colour space. Upon heat exposure, the wood substance became darker of species; this was accompanied by a steady reduction in lightness. As treatment conditions (e.g., time and temperature) increase, various shades of yellow were favoured for the surface of red‐bud maple wood (Δb = 1.22–9.79). For European hophornbeam wood, increased times at elevated temperatures make a blue (?b) colour the better choice. The total colour difference (ΔE) of the surfaces of wood substrates appear to be well correlated with the treatment temperature and time. The FTIR spectra suggest that the level of modification was insufficient for removing the major cell wall constituents of the wood substrates. All heat‐treated samples showed much less stability against colour difference in outdoor conditions. For red‐bud maple, the greatest improvement was achieved for samples that were treated at 150°C for 2 h (ΔE = 3.12). However, heat‐treated oak wood hadmuch less stability of colour difference for treatment conditions of 150°C for 10 h. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 2010.     

The influence of annealing treatment on the molecular structure and the mechanical properties of isotactic polypropylene fibers

An investigation was carried out on the effects of annealing treatment on the molecular structure and the mechanical properties of isotactic polypropylene fibers annealed in an air heated environment at temperatures ranging from 60 to 140°C. Analysis of the equatorial X‐ray diffraction traces showed the presence of a three phase system of amorphous‐smectic‐monoclinic forms and revealed the transformation of the metastable smectic form to the highly stable monoclinic form as the annealing temperature is increased, resulting in an enhanced degree of crystallinity and the crystallite size. The improvements in the degree of crystallinity and the crystallite size became more remarkable above 120°C. Evaluation of the crystallinity was carried out using an analysis of density, infrared spectroscopy, and X‐ray diffraction methods whereas the state of the molecular orientation was evaluated using polarized infrared spectroscopy measurements only. Polarized infra‐red spectroscopy measurements after the curve fitting procedure showed a slight increase of the molecular orientation of the helical chain segments present in the crystalline phase represented by the IR bands at 841 and 998 cm^?1 whereas the amorphous structure represented by the IR band at 974 cm^?1 showed no significant change with increasing annealing temperature. The improvement in the molecular orientation of the crystalline phase became more remarkable above 120°C. Tensile strength of the annealed fibers increased with increasing annealing temperature but the elongation at break and the initial modulus were not affected as much as the tensile strength. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011.     

pH‐ and temperature‐induced release of doxorubicin from multilayers of poly(2‐isopropyl‐2‐oxazoline) and tannic acid

We present a simple strategy to prepare doxorubicin (DOX) containing hydrogen‐bonded films of poly(2‐isopropyl‐2‐oxazoline) (PIPOX) and tannic acid (TA) which release DOX in acidic conditions while releasing a minimal amount of DOX at physiological pH. Water soluble complexes of TA and DOX (TA ? DOX) were prepared prior to film construction. PIPOX and TA ? DOX were deposited at the surface at pH 6.5 using the layer‐by‐layer (LbL) technique. We found that multilayers released a minimal amount of DOX at physiological pH due to further ionization of TA with increasing pH and enhanced electrostatic interactions between TA and DOX. In contrast, pH‐induced release of DOX was observed in moderately acidic conditions due to protonation of TA as the acidity increased and electrostatic interactions between TA and DOX decreased. Moreover, we found that raising the temperature from 25 °C to 37.5 °C increased the amount of DOX released from the surface. This can be rationalized with the conformational changes within the multilayers correlated with the lower critical solution temperature behaviour of PIPOX and increased kinetic energy of DOX molecules. Considering the acidic nature of tumour tissues and important biological properties of PIPOX and TA, these multilayers are promising for pH‐ and temperature‐triggered release of DOX from surfaces. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry     

Electrical Properties of MOS Capacitor with TiO2/SiO2 Dielectric Layer

Silicon - The TiO2/SiO2 film being the dielectric layer was grown on the n-Si wafer using radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering. Thus, the Au/TiO2/SiO2/n-Si metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS)...     

Poly(2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate)/boric acid composite hydrogel as soft contact lens material: Thermal,optical, rheological,and enhanced antibacterial properties

The present work proposes to fabricate a composite hydrogel material that well characterized, transparent, biocompatible, and self‐antibacterial as potential soft contact lens material. For this purpose, poly(2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (PHEMA)/boric acid (BA) composite hydrogels were successfully prepared by chemical crosslinking with BA through in situ polymerization using different BA ratios between 1 and 10% w/w. Afterward, the compositions, thermal stability, transparence, oxygen permeability, water uptake capacity, swelling ratio as well as morphological and rheological properties, in vitro degradability, in vitro cytotoxicity, and antibacterial properties of the all prepared materials were analyzed using a series of different techniques. The thermal stability, hydrophilicity, water uptake, oxygen permeability gradually increased depending ratio of BA, which is desirable for biomaterial. While the transparence and refractive index decreased, the composite hydrogels, except for BA content of 10 wt %, maintained enough transparency to be used for contact lens. In addition, PHEMA/BA composite hydrogels exhibited good cytocompatibility (PHEMA‐1%BA and PHEMA‐3%BA) and excellent antibacterial activity against Gram‐positive (Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecium) and Gram‐negative (Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) bacteria. Overall, the results demonstrated that the obtained PHEMA/BA composite hydrogels could be considered as self‐antibacterial contact lens and a potential composite biomaterial for other applications. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018 , 135, 46575.     

Assessment of energetic heterogeneity of coals for gas adsorption and its effect on mixture predictions for coalbed methane studies

This study explains the single-component and binary mixture adsorption studies on two different coals from the Zonguldak Basin (Northwestern Turkey). Assessment of energetic heterogeneity of coal surface and its effect on the equilibrium binary gas adsorption are discussed. Single component adsorption tests were performed using methane and carbon dioxide at 30°C. Binary mixtures prepared with 10, 15 and 20% carbon dioxide were also tested at the same temperature. Various single-component adsorption isotherms were fitted to the experimental data of single gases. The data obtained from these models were interpreted to determine the energetic heterogeneity of the coals towards adsorption of methane and carbon dioxide. Ideal adsorbed solution (IAS) theory was used to predict the data and discrepancies between experimental data, and the model predictions were interpreted. Results showed that coals exhibit a heterogeneous behavior in gas adsorption. This heterogeneity can be different for each coal–gas pair and the extent of the heterogeneity makes the binary gas predictions differ from the experimental data. The deviations between IAS and experimental data increase as the amount of gas, to which the coal shows high heterogeneity, increases in the mixture.     

Energy efficiency in pumps

In this paper, “energy efficiency” studies, done in a big industrial facility’s pumps, are reported. For this purpose; the flow rate, pressure and temperature have been measured for each pump in different operating conditions and at maximum load. In addition, the electrical power drawn by the electric motor has been measured. The efficiencies of the existing pumps and electric motor have been calculated by using the measured data.

Potential energy saving opportunities have been studied by taking into account the results of the calculations for each pump and electric motor. As a conclusion, improvements should be made each system. The required investment costs for these improvements have been determined, and simple payback periods have been calculated.

The main energy saving opportunities result from: replacements of the existing low efficiency pumps, maintenance of the pumps whose efficiencies start to decline at certain range, replacements of high power electric motors with electric motors that have suitable power, usage of high efficiency electric motors and elimination of cavitation problems.     

Estimation and evaluation of sub-bands on LF and HF base-bands in HRV for Ventricular Tachyarrhythmia patients

Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is an efficient tool for assessment of Sympathovagal Balance (SB) and classification of cardiac disturbances. However, its index may be not enough for classification and evaluation of some disease. This study presents 32 new sub-bands over LF and HF base-bands that are accepted in the literature. Moreover, it determines dominant sub-bands over both base-bands in VTA database. These sub-bands are obtained using Wavelet Packet Transform (WPT) and evaluated using Multilayer Perceptron Neural Networks (MLPNN). Results are compared with obtained results from normal datasets. The domination effects of these sub-bands are assessed according to comparison of each other related to MLPNN training and test accuracy percentages by selecting different width of windows. As a result, obtained results showed that the LF zone including LF₁, LF₂ and LF₃ sub-bands on 0.0390625–0.0859375 Hz frequency range is the most dominant over the LF base-band and, the HF zone including HF1, HF2 and HF3 on 0.1953125–0.28125 Hz frequency range is the most dominant over the HF base-band. In normal datasets, distinctive domination effect has not been determined.     

An introduction to the special issue section on “The 7th International Conference on Photosynthesis and Hydrogen Energy Production in Honor of Nathan Nelson and T. Nejat Veziroğlu, 19–25 June 2016, Pushchino,Russia”

The research in photosynthesis and hydrogen energy production provides a unique opportunity for transforming sustainable solar energy into our energy system. This special issue presented the selected and invited papers from the International Conference on Photosynthesis Research for Sustainability in honor of Nathan Nelson and T. Nejat Veziro?lu which was held on June 19–25, 2016, in Pushchino, Russia. These papers offered readers with some of the most recent and exciting progresses in photosynthesis and hydrogen energy production. The potential limitations and future efforts with open questions were also offered to stimulate the further research endeavors in the field.     

The effect of martensite volume fraction and particle size on the tensile properties of a surface-carburized AISI 8620 steel with a dual-phase core microstructure

This study is focused on the production of a dual-phase steel structure in the core of a surface-carburized AISI 8620 cementation steel and the effect of martensite volume fraction (MVF) and martensite particle size (MPS) on tensile properties. Experimental results showed that, compared with specimens with a fully martensitic microstructure in the core, those with a dual-phase microstructure in the core exhibited slightly lower tensile and yield strength but superior ductility without sacrificing surface hardness. In specimens with a dual-phase microstructure in the core, the tensile strength increased and ductility decreased with increasing MVF. Both the tensile strength and the ductility increased with decreasing MPS at constant MVF. The best combination of tensile strength and ductility was obtained with a fine MPS at a constant MVF of 25%.