An electricity production study by Rhodobacter sphaeroides

Microbial fuel cells are a type of bio-electrochemical system which can capture electrons produced by microorganisms. In this study, it is aimed to increase the electrogenic capacity of photosynthetic microbial fuel cells in a newly designed fuel cell. Rhodobacter sphaeroides, non-sulfur purple bacterium, was grown in anodic part of the fuel cells against permanganate as a cathodic electrolyte. Platine and graphite were used as the anodic and cathodic electrode, consequently. The distance between two electrodes was 1.5 cm. The concentrations of cathodic electrolyte were optimized. By the end, it is made to reach the highest anode potential (1.006 V) and electrogenic capacity (851.82 μA) in 5 mM permanganate concentration. The internal resistance was calculated as 1170 Ω. In these conditions, the current density with 2.1 cm² cathodic surface is 405.63 mA/m². These are the highest value of electricity generation potential of R. sphaeroides within the known PMFCs.     

The changes in the Mechanic Properties of a direct tableting agent Microcrystalline Cellulose by Precompression

In the manufacturing of tablets, direct tableting agents are not only used in direct compression, but are also used in wet granulation and slugging methods. These agents are effective only if their particle size and form is appropriate. However, the precompression, milling and grinding which are applied in the slugging method changes the particular properties of these agents.

In this study, microcrystalline cellulose tablets were prepared both by direct compression and slugging. The consolidation, compressibility and flow properties of the two mixed powders were compared. Finally, it was observed that the compressibility of the mixed powder was influenced negatively by the slugging method.     

An investigation of mechanical and metallurgical properties of explosive welded aluminum-dual phase steel

The aim of this paper is investigation of microstructure and property relationship in aluminum-HSLA steel and aluminum-dual phase steel bimetals fabricated by explosive welding technique. Dual phase steel was produced by intercritical annealing and water quenching from 1.45Mn-0.2Si-0.186C HSLA steel. Hardness, tensile shear strength, tensile strength, toughness and microstructure of explosively welded aluminum-HSLA steel and aluminum-dual phase steel were evaluated. Both bimetals have a straight bonding interface. It was also seen that plastic deformation of dual phase steel was higher than HSLA steel near interfaces of bimetals. The hardness was increased near the bond interface of bimetals. Tensile and tensile shear strength tests showed that aluminum-dual phase steel is superior than aluminum-HSLA steel. Also, impact toughness of aluminum-dual phase steel was found significantly higher than that of aluminum-HSLA steel.     

Modeling of a blending and marine transportation planning problem with fuzzy mixed-integer programming

Transportation management is an area that remains critical to overall logistics and supply chain success. The problem of multi-commodity, multi-period blending and marine transportation planning in a wheat supply chain is addressed in this paper. In real world problems, practical situations are often not well-defined and thus cannot be described precisely. Therefore fuzzy mathematical programming becomes a valuable extension of traditional crisp optimization models. This research resolves the blending and marine transportation planning problem using fuzzy mixed-integer programming (FMIP) method. Two types of fuzzy mathematical programming models are used. A real-life example is used to illustrate the potential savings which can be attained by using fuzzy models. Results obtained in this study clearly demonstrate that FMIP provides a better and more flexible way of representing the problem.     

Influence of weathering on the engineering properties of Harsit granitic rocks (NE Turkey)

Weathering and hydrothermal alteration of the granitic rocks in the Eastern Black Sea Region (NE Turkey) are important phenomena affecting the engineering projects in the region. The study investigated the probable paths of rock-forming mineral transformations due to weathering in the Harsit granitoid rocks, the changes of the major oxides as a consequence of weathering and the effects of weathering on the engineering properties. To identify the changes in the major oxides, the volume concentrations were considered in relation to the dry density. Chemical leaching during weathering was shown to be significant in changing the minerals. It was concluded that the engineering properties of the weathered granitic rocks can be most reliably predicted by P-wave velocity.      

Fabrication of calix[4]pyrrole nanofilms at the glassy carbon surface and their characterization by spectroscopic, optic and electrochemical methods

meso-Octamethylcalix[4]pyrrole (CP) and meso-heptaethylcalix[4]pyrrole-meso-4-aminophenyl (4APCP) modified glassy carbon (GC) electrodes were prepared by the electrochemical oxidation in acetonitrile solution. Binding of the calix[4]pyrroles with the glassy carbon surface was investigated that it is through the etheric linkage revealed from the reflection-absorption infrared spectroscopy (RAIRS). Surface films of CP and 4APCP were investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV), ellipsometry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, RAIRS and the contact angle measurements. The thicknesses of the films were determined by ellipsometry which confirmed that the film was multilayer and homogeneous over the surface. Ellipsometric measurements also provided that the CP and 4APCP film thicknesses were 2.49 nm and 4.58 nm for 6 CV cycle modification, corresponding to 66 μF/cm² and 106 μF/cm² capacitances obtained by CV. The wetting behavior was examined by contact angle measurements and found that the hydrophobicity of the GC-4APCP surface was higher than that of GC-CP, probably due to the aromatic meso substituent present in the former.     

Production and characterization of pyrolytic oils by pyrolysis of waste machinery oil

The main objective of this work is to propose an alternative method for evaluation of the waste machinery oil which is an environmental problem in Turkey. For this purpose, pyrolysis of waste machinery oil was conducted in a tubular reactor. Effect of the experimental conditions (various temperatures, catalyst type) on the formation of pyrolytic oil, gas, and char was investigated. Nickel supported on silica and zeolite (HZSM-5) were used as catalysts. Properties of the pyrolytic oils were characterized by gas chromatograph equipped with a mass selective detector (GC–MS), gas chromatography with flame ionization detector (GC–FID for boiling point range distribution), nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H NMR) spectroscopy, higher heating value measurement, and elemental analysis. The behavior of the metals in the waste machinery oil and the pyrolytic oil samples was also quantitatively detected by inductively coupled plasma (ICP) analysis. As, Cd and Cr contents of the all pyrolytic oils were found as <0.05 ppm, while Cu content of the pyrolytic oils varied between 0.3 ppm and 0.61 ppm. Only Vanadium contents of the pyrolytic oils obtained at 800 °C (0.342 ppm) and in the presence of HZSM5 (0.57 ppm) increased compared to that obtained by waste machinery oil (0.1 ppm). Lower metal contents of the pyrolytic oils reveal that pyrolysis of the waste machinery oils leads to the formation of environmental friendly pyrolytic oils with higher heating values.     

Probabilistic Model for the Assessment of Cyclically Induced Reconsolidation (Volumetric) Settlements

A maximum likelihood framework for the probabilistic assessment of cyclically induced reconsolidation settlements of saturated cohesionless soil sites is described. For this purpose, over 200 case history sites were carefully studied. After screening for data quality and completeness, the resulting database is composed of 49 high-quality, cyclically induced ground settlement case histories from seven different earthquakes. For these case history sites, settlement predictions by currently available methods of Tokimatsu and Seed (1984), Ishihara and Yoshimine (1992), Shamoto et al. (1998), and Wu and Seed (2004) are presented comparatively, along with the predictions of the proposed probabilistic model. As an integral part of the proposed model, the volumetric strain correlation presented in the companion paper is used. The accuracy of the mean predictions as well as their uncertainty is assessed by both linear regression and maximum likelihood methodologies. The analyses results revealed that (1) the predictions of Shamoto et al. and Tokimatsu and Seed are smaller than the actual settlements and need to be calibrated by a factor of 1.93 and 1.45, respectively; and (2) Ishihara and Yoshimine, and Wu and Seed predictions are higher than the actual settlements and need to be calibrated by a factor of 0.90 and 0.98, respectively. The Wu and Seed procedure produced the most unbiased estimates of mean settlements [i.e., their calibration coefficient (0.98) is the closest to unity], but the uncertainty (scatter) of their predictions remains high as revealed by the second to last smaller R2 value, or relatively higher standard deviation (σε) of the model error. In addition to superior model predictions, the main advantage of the proposed methodology is the probabilistic nature of the calibration scheme, which enables incorporation of the model uncertainty into mean settlement predictions. To illustrate the potential use of the proposed model, the probability of cyclically induced reconsolidation settlement of a site after a scenario earthquake to be less than a threshold settlement level is assessed.