Synthesis and characterization of polyphenols derived from 4-fluorobenzaldeyde: The effect of electron-donating group on some physical properties

In this study, we proposed to investigate how the effect of electron-donating methyl ( CH₃) group at p-position of amin ( NH₂) group in aminophenol (AP) compound affected thermal stability, optical, electrochemical properties, and conductivity measurement. For this reason, we choice 2-AP and 2-amino-4-methylphenol compounds and synthesized phenolic monomers by condensation reactions 4-fluorobenzaldehyde with aromatic amino phenols. Then, these monomers were converted to their polyphenol derivatives by oxidative polycondensation reactions in an aqueous alkaline medium. Structural characterizations were carried out by FTIR, NMR, and size exclusion chromatography. Cyclic voltammetry was used to determine the electrochemical oxidation-reduction characteristics. Optical properties were investigated by UV–vis and fluorescence analyses. Solid state electrical conductivities were measured on polymer films by four-point probe technique using an electrometer. Thermal data of monomer/polymer and polymers were obtained by TG-DTA and DSC techniques, respectively. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012     

The effects of temperature,radiation, and illumination on current–voltage characteristics of Au/PVA(Co,Zn-doped)/n-Si Schottky diodes

Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/(Co-Ni) nanofiber film was fabricated on silicon wafer using electrospinning technique. The topography of the produced PVA/(Co-Ni) nanofiber film was examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The Au/Poly (vinyl alcohol) (Co, Ni-doped)/n-Si Schottky diode (SD) was thermally formed in evaporating system after the spinning process. At first, the current–voltage (I–V) characteristics of Au/PVA (Co, Zn-doped)/n-Si SD was measured at the room temperature (300 K). For the investigating the effect of temperature, illumination and radiation on Au/PVA (Co, Zn-doped)/n-Si SD comparatively, the measurement was performed under the illumination intensity of 200 W, at 380K, and finally the radiation dose of 22 kGy respectively. The diode characteristics such as the zero-bias barrier height (ϕ_Bo), ideality factor (n) and series resistance (R_s) were calculated at room temperature and under the condition of high temperature, illumination, and radiation. It was found that these characteristics were affected by the illumination and radiation as well as the temperature. The density of interface states (N_ss) distribution profiles as a function of (E_c - E_ss) extracted from the forward I–V measurements were also affected by illumination and radiation even if just a bit. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012     

An adaptive signal compression system with pre-specified reconstruction quality and compression rate

Two essential properties of a signal compression method are the compression rate and the distance between the original signal and the reconstruction from the compressed signal. These two properties are used to assess the performance and quality of the method. In a recent work [B. Tümer, B. Demir?z, Lecture Notes in Computer Science-Computer and Information Sciences, volume 2869, chapter Signal Compression Using Growing Cell Structures: A Transformational Approach, Springer Verlag, 2003, pp. 952-959], an adaptive signal compression system (ACS) is presented which defines the performance of the system as a function of the system complexity, system sensitivity and data size. For a compression method, it is desirable to formulate the performance of the system as a function of the system complexity and sensitivity to optimize the performance of the system. It would be further desirable to express the reconstruction quality in terms of the same system parameters so as to know up front what compression rate to end up with for a specific reconstruction quality. In this work, we modify ACS such that the modified ACS (MACS) estimates the reconstruction quality for a given system complexity and sensitivity. Once this relation is identified it is possible to optimize either compression rate or reconstruction quality with respect to system sensitivity and system complexity while limiting the other one.     

BiLSTM and dynamic fuzzy AHP-GA method for procedural game level generation

Neural Computing and Applications - The use of games in daily life, especially in education, has been in an incline during the COVID-2019 pandemic. Thus, game-based learning environments have...     

Scheduling strategies for efficient ETL execution

Extract-transform-load (ETL) workflows model the population of enterprise data warehouses with information gathered from a large variety of heterogeneous data sources. ETL workflows are complex design structures that run under strict performance requirements and their optimization is crucial for satisfying business objectives. In this paper, we deal with the problem of scheduling the execution of ETL activities (a.k.a. transformations, tasks, operations), with the goal of minimizing ETL execution time and allocated memory. We investigate the effects of four scheduling policies on different flow structures and configurations and experimentally show that the use of different scheduling policies may improve ETL performance in terms of memory consumption and execution time. First, we examine a simple, fair scheduling policy. Then, we study the pros and cons of two other policies: the first opts for emptying the largest input queue of the flow and the second for activating the operation (a.k.a. activity) with the maximum tuple consumption rate. Finally, we examine a fourth policy that combines the advantages of the latter two in synergy with flow parallelization.     

On methods of defuzzification of parametrically represented fuzzy numbers

A comparative analysis of such methods of defuzzification of fuzzy numbers as WABL (Weighted Averaging Based on Levels), centroid, and mean of maxima (MOM) is presented in the study. Analytic formulas are presented for calculating the defuzzification values for parametrically represented fuzzy numbers of triangular and trapezoidal form.     

Parallel force measurement with a polymeric microbeam array using an optical microscope and micromanipulator

An image analysis method and its validation are presented for tracking the displacements of parallel mechanical force sensors. Force is measured using a combination of beam theory, optical microscopy, and image analysis. The primary instrument is a calibrated polymeric microbeam array mounted on a micromanipulator with the intended purpose of measuring traction forces on cell cultures or cell arrays. One application is the testing of hypotheses involving cellular mechanotransduction mechanisms. An Otsu-based image analysis code calculates displacement and force on cellular or other soft structures by using edge detection and image subtraction on digitally captured optical microscopy images. Forces as small as 250+/-50 nN and as great as 25+/-2.5 microN may be applied and measured upon as few as one or as many as hundreds of structures in parallel. A validation of the method is provided by comparing results from a rigid glass surface and a compliant polymeric surface.     

Approximation by Stancu–Chlodowsky polynomials

In this paper, we investigate convergence and approximation properties of a Chlodowsky type generalization of Stancu polynomials (we called Stancu–Chlodowsky polynomials).The rates of convergence of this generalization are obtained by means of modulus of continuity and by using the $K$-functional of Peetre. We also present and prove theorems on weighted approximation and the order of approximation of continuous functions by these operators on all positive semi-axis.