Investigation of the Microstructural,Mechanical and Corrosion Properties of Grade A Ship Steel-Duplex Stainless Steel Composites Produced <Emphasis Type="Italic">via</Emphasis> Explosive Welding

Grade A ship-building steel-AISI 2304 duplex stainless steel composite plates were manufactured via explosive welding. The AISI 2304 plates were used to clad the Grade A plates. Optical microscopy studies were conducted on the joining interface for characterization of the manufactured composite plates. Notch impact, tensile-shear, microhardness, bending and twisting tests were carried out to determine the mechanical properties of the composites. In addition, the surfaces of fractured samples were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and neutral salt spray (NSS) and potentiodynamic polarization tests were performed to examine corrosion behavior. Near the explosion zone, the interface was completely flat, but became wavy as the distance from the explosion zone increased. The notch impact tests indicated that the impact strength of the composites decreased with increasing distance from the explosion zone. The SEM studies detected brittle behavior below the impact transition temperature and ductile behavior above this temperature. Microhardness tests revealed that the hardness values increased with increasing distance from the explosion zone and mechanical tests showed that no visible cracking or separation had occurred on the joining interface. The NSS and potentiodynamic polarization tests determined that the AISI 2304 exhibited higher corrosion resistance than the Grade A steel.     

The use of basalt powder as a natural heterogeneous catalyst in the Fenton and Photo-Fenton oxidation of cationic dyes

The use of naturally present heterogeneous catalysts has recently been an essential issue in the Fenton and photo-Fenton processes. In this study, the uses of basalt as a catalyst for the Fenton and photo-Fenton reactions for methylene Blue (MB) and Basic Red 18 (BR18) degradations were investigated. Basalt was selected because of the presence of the iron (III) oxide in the structure. Basalt was characterized by X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis to obtain the chemical composition and the crystalline phase. The surface charge and the surface area were obtained by zeta potential and Brunauer Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) were utilized to explore the functional group and the surface morphology. Fenton and photo-Fenton processes were applied to explore the best degradation method. Adsorption was also tested and the adsorption process had minimum removal efficiency (12% for MB and 17% for BR18). The removal efficiencies for MB and BR18 by the Fenton process were 87% and 28%, respectively. The photo-Fenton process had maximum removal efficiency with 100% for MB and 70% for BR18. The optimum conditions were 70 mg/L dye concentration, 5 mM H₂O₂, 1.0 g/L basalt loading and pH 2. Basalt has shown reuse capability as a catalyst for three consecutive cycles.     

Synthesis,Thermal and Morphological Properties of Polyurethanes Containing Azomethine Linkage

This paper presents synthesis, photophysical, electrochemical, thermal and morphological properties of Schiff bases containing various side-group substitutions and polyurethanes (PUs) containing azomethine linkage. Morphological properties of PUs containing azomethine bonding were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). SEM images showed that PU containing azomethine consist of semi-crystalline particles. Thermal transitions in PUs containing azomethine units were studied using DSC. The obtained DSC curves showed that PUs containing azomethine are semi-crystalline materials due to they contain both crystallization and melting peaks. Electrochemical properties also investigated by using cyclic voltammetry (CV). According to the cyclic voltommagrams and CV data, PUs containing azomethine have below 2.0 eV electrochemical band gap.     

The effects of the pretreatment of intravenous high dose methylprednisolone on Na(+)-K(+)/Mg(+2) ATPase and lipid peroxidation and early ultrastructural findings following middle cerebral artery occlusion in the rat

The sodium-potassium activated and magnesium dependent adenosine-5'-triphosphatase (Na(+)-K(+)/Mg(+2) ATPase EC.3.6.1.3.) activity and lipid peroxidation and early ultrastructural findings were determined in rat brain at the acute stage of ischaemia produced by permanent unilateral occlusion of the middle cerebral artery (MCA). The effects of the pretreatment with intravenous high-dose methylprednisolone (MP) on these biochemical indices and ultrastructural findings were also evaluated in the same model. The rats were divided into four groups. In group I, 10 rats were used to determine Na(+)-K(+)/Mg(+2) ATPase activity and the extent of lipid peroxidation by measuring the malondialdehyde (MDA) content and normal ultrastructural findings. In group II on 20 rats, only subtemporal craniectomy was done in order to determine the effects of the surgical procedure on these indices and findings. This group was treated intravenously with saline solution before occlusion. In group III with MCA occlusion, saline solution was administered intravenously to 20 rats in the same amount of methylprednisolone used in group IV, ten minutes before the occlusion. In Group IV, a single high-dose (30 mg/kg) of methylprednisolone was administered intravenously, ten minutes before occlusion in 20 rats. After occlusion of the middle cerebral artery, Na(+)-K(+)/Mg(+2) ATPase activity was decreased promptly in the first ten minutes in the ischaemic hemisphere and remained at a lower level than the contralateral hemispheres in the same group and the normal levels in group I, during 120 minutes of ischaemia. A single dose methylprednisolone pretreatment prohibited the inactivation of Na(+)-K(+)/Mg(+2) ATPase. On the other hand, there was significant difference in malondialdehyde content between group I and group III. Malondialdehyde levels were significantly increased following ischaemia and a non-significant increase was observed in the contralateral hemisphere. Methylprednisolone treatment significantly decreased malondialdehyde content on the side of the ischaemic hemisphere. We conclude that there is a positive relationship between membrane-bound enzyme Na(+)-K(+)/Mg(+2) ATPase activity, malondialdehyde content and early ultrastructural changes in the treated group with MP. These data suggest that the pretreatment injection of high doses (30 mg/kg) methylprednisolone contribute to the protection of the brain from ischaemia with stabilization of the cell membrane by effecting the lipid peroxidation and the activation of Na(+)-K(+)/Mg(+2) ATPase.     

Power·delay product in COSMOS logic circuits

In this simulation work, we use COSMOS logic devices—a novel single gate CMOS architecture recently announced [1]—in multi-input logic gates, assessing its performance in terms of power·delay product. We consider three different multi-input logic circuits: a two-input NOR gate, a three-input NOR gate, and a three-input composite NOR/NAND (NORAND) gate. For this power·delay analysis, the transient TCAD simulations are employed in a mixed-mode approach where circuit and device simulations are coupled together, culminating in the delay response of the circuits as well as the static/dynamic current components. The analysis shows that all circuits, except the 3-input NOR gate, has acceptable characteristics at low-power applications and static leakage limits all COSMOS circuits at high-bias conditions.     

Investigation of microhardness and thermo-electrical properties in the Sn–Cu hypereutectic alloy

Sn–3 wt% Cu hypereutectic alloy was directionally solidified upward with different growth rates (2.24–133.33 μm/s) at a constant temperature gradient (4.24 K/mm) and with different temperature gradients (4.24–8.09 K/mm) at a constant growth rate (7.64 μm/s) in the Bridgman-type growth apparatus. The measurements of microhardness of directionally solidified samples were obtained by using a microhardness test device. The dependence of microhardness HV on the growth rate (V) and temperature gradient (G) were analyzed. According to these results, it has been found that with the increasing the values of V and G the value of HV increases. Variations of electrical resistivity (ρ) and electrical conductivity (σ) for casting samples with the temperature in the range of 300–500 K were also measured by using a standard dc four-point probe technique. The variation of Lorenz coefficient with the temperature for Sn–3 wt% Cu hypereutectic alloy was determined by using the measured values of electrical and thermal conductivities. The enthalpy of fusion for same alloy was determined by means of differential scanning calorimeter from heating trace during the transformation from eutectic liquid to eutectic solid.     

Variable Step-Size Constant Modulus Algorithm Employing Fuzzy Logic Controller

The Constant Modulus Algorithm (CMA), although it is the most commonly used blind equalization technique, converges very slowly. The convergence rate of the CMA is quite sensitive to the adjustment of the step size parameter used in the update equation as in the Least Mean Squares (LMS) algorithm. A novel approach in adjusting the step size of the CMA using the fuzzy logic based outer loop controller is presented in this paper. Inspired by successful works on the variable step size LMS algorithms, this work considers designing a training trajectory that it overcomes hurdles of an adaptive blind training via controlling the level of error power (LOEP) and trend of error power (TOEP) and then obtains a more robust training process for the simple CMA algorithm. The controller design involves with optimization of training speed and convergence rate using experience based linguistic rules that are generated as a part of FLC. The obtained results are compared with well-known versions of CMA; Conventional CMA, Normalized-CMA [Jones, IEEE conference record of the twenty-ninth asilomar conference on signals, systems and computers (Vol. 1, pp. 694–697), 1996], Modified-CMA [Chahed, et al., Canadian conference on electrical and computer engineering (Vol. 4, pp. 2111–2114), 2004], Soft Decision Directed-CMA (Chen, IEE Proceedings of Visual Image Signal Processing, 150, 312–320, 2003) for performance measure and validation.     

Emerging Functions for snoRNAs and snoRNA-Derived Fragments

The widespread implementation of mass sequencing has revealed a diverse landscape of small RNAs derived from larger precursors. Whilst many of these are likely to be byproducts of degradation, there are nevertheless metabolically stable fragments derived from tRNAs, rRNAs, snoRNAs, and other non-coding RNA, with a number of examples of the production of such fragments being conserved across species. Coupled with specific interactions to RNA-binding proteins and a growing number of experimentally reported examples suggesting function, a case is emerging whereby the biological significance of small non-coding RNAs extends far beyond miRNAs and piRNAs. Related to this, a similarly complex picture is emerging of non-canonical roles for the non-coding precursors, such as for snoRNAs that are also implicated in such areas as the silencing of gene expression and the regulation of alternative splicing. This is in addition to a body of literature describing snoRNAs as an additional source of miRNA-like regulators. This review seeks to highlight emerging roles for such non-coding RNA, focusing specifically on “new” roles for snoRNAs and the small fragments derived from them.     

Synthesis and characterizations of poly(ether)/poly(phenol)s including azomethine coupled benzothiazole side chains: the effect of reaction conditions on the structure,optical, electrochemical,electrical and thermal properties

A new Schiff base, 4-((6-ethoxybenzothiazole-2-ylimino)methyl)benzene-1,2-diol (3,4-HBAEBT) was synthesized by the condensation reaction of 3,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde (3,4-HBA) and 2-amino-6-ethoxybenzothiazole. The Schiff base, then, was converted to its polymer derivatives by oxidative polycondensation reaction in both organic (P-1) and aqueous alkaline medium (P-2). Spectral observations indicated different structural properties for each polymerization condition. Organic and aqueous alkaline medium produced poly(ether) and poly(phenol) structures, respectively. The obtained polymers were separately studied with respect to optical, electrochemical, electrical and thermal properties. With exception of thermal degradation behaviors, the other investigated properties as well as morphological characteristics of both polymers were considerably different. In the fluorescence measurements a solvatochromic effect was recorded and the emission colors of the polymers could be changed as turquoise-green by solvent change.