Application of ozone gas for the stripping of fabric ink‐jet‐printed with reactive dyes

In this study, a novel process utilizing ozone was carried out for colour stripping of fabrics misprinted with reactive dyes in ink‐jet machines. The results of ozone applications were compared with conventional colour stripping process performed by thiourea dioxide (TUDO) and soda ash. In trials, cotton‐based and viscose‐based woven fabrics were used as these fabrics were the most utilized at the textile mill in which this study was performed. Different ozone treatment times (30, 45, 60 or 90 min) were tested to find optimum process time and it was found that process times depended on fabric type. Particularly, colour stripping on high density and thick fabrics were harder than low density and thin fabric types. Fabric strengths, whiteness indexes and chemical oxygen demand (COD) values were measured. Also energy, chemical and water consumptions were calculated. Consequently, it was found that the reduction of the COD value of effluent was up to 98%. The calculations showed that the savings in time and cost in ozone treatment were up to 77%. Satisfactory colour stripping and tensile strengths were achieved.     

Investigation of mean glandular dose versus compressed breast thickness relationship for mammography

The relationship between the mean glandular dose (MGD) and the compressed breast thickness (CBT) is commonly used for the presentation of mammographic dose survey results and could also be useful for the assessment of individual breast doses retrospectively in case of lack of necessary dosimetric instrumentation. The high data scattering from the best fit reduces the reliability of this technique. The aim of this study was to investigate the accuracy of this relationship using the data collected from a patient survey and phantom experiment. Patients were divided into three different groups according to their breast glandularities, which were predicted from the inspection of previous mammograms. X-ray beam qualities that will be used in patient examinations were determined according to breast thickness and predicted glandularities. The MGD versus CBT relationship for all the examined patients resulted in a poor correlation (R(2) = 0.28). This relationship was separately obtained for each glandularity group and also for sub-groups of specific beam qualities. The best correlation (R(2) = 0.73) was obtained for the fatty breast group and Mo/Mo combination. A low correlation (R(2) = 0.34) was observed in the mid-glandularity group due to inclusion of a wide range of glandularities in this group. In the case of the dense breast group, although the glandularity range was narrow, there were e still high data scattering (R(2) = 0.25). This was probably due to the use of Mo/Rh and Mo/Mo combinations. This is validated by obtaining the MGD-CBT relationship specific to Mo/Mo combination (R(2) = 0.61).     

Equilibrium and kinetic mechanism for Reactive Black 5 sorption onto high lime Soma fly ash

Batch adsorption studies were carried out for the sorption of C.I. Reactive Black 5, a reactive dye, onto high lime fly ash, obtained from Soma Thermal Power Plant (Turkey), to be low cost adsorbent. The effect of various experimental parameters such as contact time, adsorbent dose and initial dye concentration were investigated. Determination of the adsorption equilibrium concentrations was determined by UV-vis spectrophotometry analytical method. Equilibrium data were fitted to the Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm equations and the equilibrium data were found to be well represented by the Freundlich isotherm equation. The adsorption kinetics of C.I. Reactive Black 5 onto high lime fly ash were also studied to characterize of the surface complexation reaction. A pseudo-second-order mechanism has been developed to predict the rate constant of the adsorption, the equilibrium capacity and initial adsorption rate with the effect of initial concentration. A single-stage batch adsorber design of the adsorption of C.I. Reactive Black 5 onto high lime fly ash has been studied based on the Freundlich isotherm equation.     

Propylene Epoxidation: High-Throughput Screening of Supported Metal Catalysts Combinatorially Prepared by Rapid Sol–Gel Method

The gas phase oxidation of propylene using molecular oxygen was studied on a variety of supported metal catalysts. The most promising PO activity was obtained for Cu supported on high surface area SiO₂ and the multimetallic systems exhibit synergistic effects that increased the desired PO yield by several folds for Ag promoted with Cu on SiO₂ after screening a large number of catalysts by a high throughput testing technique.     

Prediction of the colorimetric parameters and mass loss of heat‐treated bamboo: Comparison of multiple linear regression and artificial neural network method

In this study, the colorimetric parameters (L*, a*, b*) and mass loss of heat‐treated bamboo were investigated, and the obtained results were modeled by using two methods: multiple linear regression (MLR) and artificial neural network (ANN). First, bamboo samples were exposed to heat treatment at different temperatures (110°C, 140°C, 170°C, and 200°C) and durations (15, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90, and 115 minutes) in a laboratory oven. Then, the colorimetric parameters (L*, a*, b*) and mass loss of each sample were measured after each period of heat treatment. All data were modeled by using two methods separately for each parameter and the performances of these proposed methods were compared. It was found that color change and mass loss increased with increasing temperature and duration of heat treatment. Mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) values of all obtained MLR ranged from 0.64% to 10.63%, while the all MAPE values of ANN were found to be lower than 1.5%. Based on these results, it can be said that MLR and ANN could be used to evaluate the changes on the selected properties of heat‐treated bamboo samples. On the other hand, it should be emphasized that the ANN gave more accurate results than the MLR method because of its learning capability.     

Examination of the ECG signal classification technique DEA-ELM using deep convolutional neural network features

Multimedia Tools and Applications - The accurate separation of ECG signals has become crucial to identify heart diseases. Machine learning methods are widely used to separate ECG signals. The aim...     

Hydrogen production by aqueous phase catalytic reforming of glycerine

Hydrogen is believed to be the one of the main energy carriers in the near future. In this research glycerine, which is produced in large quantities as a by-product of biodiesel process, was converted to hydrogen aiming to contribute to clean energy initiative. Conversion of glycerol to hydrogen was achieved via aqueous-phase reforming (APR) with Pt/Al₂O₃ catalyst. The experiments were carried out in an autoclave reactor and a continuous fixed-bed reactor. The effects of reaction temperature (160-280 °C), feed flow rate (0.05-0.5 mL/dak) and feed concentration (5-85 wt-% glycerine) on product distribution were investigated. Optimum temperature for hydrogen production with APR was determined as 230 °C. Maximum gas production rate was found at the feed flow rates around 0.1 mL/min. It was also found that hydrogen concentration in the gas product increased with decreasing glycerol concentration in the feed.     

Hydrogen production from the methanolysis of ammonia borane by Pd-Co/Al2O3 coated monolithic catalyst

The aim of this study is to enable high hydrogen production yield from catalytic methanolysis of ammonia borane (AB) in the presence of a cordierite type ceramic monolithic. The monolithic channel surfaces were coated with Al₂O₃ by wash-coating method and then this layer was impregnated with 1 wt%Pd-2 wt%Co bimetallic catalyst. SEM-EDX and multi-point BET analysis were used in order to characterize the catalyst. The experimental studies were conducted in a continuous flow type reactor, which was used for the first time in this study. The reactions were carried on low temperature (40 °C), and with various AB feed concentrations and flow rates. It was found that the highest hydrogen production yield (88.5%) was obtained from AB flow rate of 3.3 mL/min, and AB feed concentration of 0.1 wt%. It was concluded that Pd-Co/Al₂O₃ coated monolithic, which is a stable, active and low-cost catalyst, was a very promising catalyst for on-board hydrogen production from the methanolysis of ammonia borane.     

The response of polymer optical fiber (POF) to bending and axial tension for the application of a POF sensor for automotive seat occupancy sensing

The automotive industry is a promising area for innovations in the field of polymer optical fiber (POF) sensors as the industry currently uses the POF mostly for data transmissions. Since an optical fiber sensor has a high bandwidth, is small in size, is lightweight, and is immune to electromagnetic interference, it offers higher performance than that of its electrical-based counterparts such as the strain gage, elastomeric bladder, and resistive sensor systems. This enhanced performance makes an optical fiber sensor a suitable material for sensing seat occupancy for improved safety features in automobiles. The overall goal of this research is to develop a textile-based optical fiber sensor for automotive seat occupancy with high accuracy and reproducibility. In this study, the bending and tensile loading responses of POF were investigated, where two perfluorinated (PF) graded index (GI) POFs with two different core/cladding diameters, 62.5/750 and 62.5/490 μm, were used. The bending loss and the light attenuation against the applied axial stress were measured by a photon counting optical time-domain reflectometer. The critical bending diameters were analyzed: Cytop-1 (62.5/750 μm)?≥?38.10 mm, Cytop-2 (62.5/490 μm)?≥?44.45 mm. Furthermore, the elastic sensitive strain regions (x), where the stress-induced loss was recoverable, of the POFs at a 76.2 mm gage length at a strain rate of 4 mm/min were determined: Cytop-1: 3% ≤ x ≤ 3.5%, Cytop-2: 3.1% ≤ x ≤ 3.3%. The Cytop-1 was found to be less sensitive to bending and to have greater elastic sensitive strain range relative to the Cytop-2. In this study, a theoretical approach of the PF GI POF behavior to bending and axial tension was provided. The results demonstrated the feasibility of POFs as optical fiber sensors for automotive seat occupancy sensing.