Synthesis and Properties of Boron Doped NaxCo2O4 Nanocrystalline Ceramics

Sodium cobalt oxide (NaCo₂O₄) nanofibers with diameters ranging between 20 and 200?nm were prepared by electrospinning a precursor mixture of PVA/(Na–Co) acetate. This was the first time any such attempt was made. Afterwards, the electrospun nanofibers were subjected to calcination treatment. The characteristics of the fibers were investigated using a Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, a X-ray diffractometer, and a scanning electron microscopy. The boron doped and undoped NaCo₂O₄ nanofibers calcined at 850?°C were polycrystalline of the γ Na_xCo₂O₄ phase having diameters ranging between 20 and 60?nm with grain sizes of 5–10?nm, and the nanofibers calcined at 800?°C were single crystals having linked particles or crystallites with particle sizes ranging between 60 and 200?nm. The results indicated a significant effect of calcination temperature on the crystalline phase and morphology of the nanofibers. It could be seen in the SEM micrograph of the fibers that when boron was added, this resulted in the formation of cross-linked bright-surfaced fibers. The average fiber diameter for boron doped and undoped fiber mats were 204 and 123?nm, respectively. The grain diameters of boron doped and undoped nanocrystalline sintered powders were measured as 140 and 118?nm, respectively.     

Natural radioactivity levels of granites used in Turkey

Thirty granite samples commonly used in Turkey were surveyed for natural radioactivity. Concentrations of natural radionuclides in all samples were determined by gamma-ray spectroscopy with hyper-pure germanium detector. The activity concentrations measured for (226)Ra and (232)Th ranged from 0.7±0.1 to 186±1 Bq kg(-1), and from 0.5±0.1 to 249±2 Bq kg(-1), respectively. The activity concentrations obtained for (40)K varied from minimum detectable activity (0.4 Bq kg(-1)) to 1935±11 Bq kg(-1). The radium equivalent activity (Ra(eq)), the absorbed dose rate (D), the external hazard index (H(ex)) and the annual effective dose equivalent were also calculated and compared with the international recommended values. Granite samples were also analysed mineralogically. It was observed that the presence of large amount orthoclase and radiogenic accessory minerals are the sources of high activity concentration levels.     

Identification of insect damaged wheat kernels using transmittance images

Transmittance images of wheat kernels are used to classify insect damaged and undamaged wheat kernels. The colour histograms of pixel intensities of the wheat images were used as the feature vectors. Combination of the linear model and a radial basis function network, in a committee, resulted in a false positive rate of 0.1 at the true positive rate of 0.8 and an area under the receiver operating characteristics curve of 0.92.     

Impact of cyclic wetting–drying on swelling behavior of lime-stabilized soil

In this study, the impact of cyclic wetting and drying on swelling behavior of lime-stabilized clayey soils has been investigated. Swelling potential and swelling pressure tests have been carried out on soil mixtures with various amounts of kaolinite–bentonite clays, and on a high plasticity clayey soil sample. The tests have been repeated after the addition of lime to the lime-treated samples in different preparation. In each cycle the tested samples were allowed air dry to their initial water content thus shrinking to their initial height, which is called ‘partial shrinkage’ method. The results showed that the initial beneficiary effect of lime stabilization was lost after the first cycle and the swelling potential increased at the subsequent cycles. On the other hand, the swelling potential and the swelling pressure of the untreated soil samples started decreasing after the first cycle and they reached equilibrium after the fourth cycle.     

Polyphase adaptive filter banks for fingerprint image compression

A perfect reconstruction polyphase filter bank structure is presented in which the filters adapt to the changing input conditions. The use of such a filter bank leads to higher compression results for images containing sharp edges such as fingerprint images     

Dynamic modeling and analysis of a four-bar mechanism coupled with a CVT for obtaining variable input speeds

This paper proposes a novel concept to obtain variable input speeds for a four-bar mechanism driven by an A.C. motor. In such a system, a continuously variable transmission (CVT) is proposed to use instead of an inverter-controlled motor. By this way, the speed variability which is crucial for obtaining different manufacturing and transportation processes can be provided by mechanically. Thus, more efficient system can be achieved than classical motor controlled systems since the CVT allows electrical motor to run at its nominal point in all conditions. For analyzing the dynamics of this new system, a theoretical model is established regarding that a half toroidal CVT is added between the motor and the mechanism. The simulation results associated with the systems with and without a CVT are presented by comparing to each other. The results indicate that the four-bar mechanism equipped with a CVT is feasible for the entire range of possible reduction ratios of the CVT.     

The inclination effect on the performance of water-filled heat pipes

Heat pipes have been used in wide ranges of applications today including solar engineering. During this research study, the inclination dependent performance of water filled heat pipes was investigated both theoretically and experimentally for solar energy applications. The results showed that the performance of water-filled heat pipes are strongly dependent on the inclination and the heat source temperatures. As a general result, the heat transfer capability of water filled heat pipes is reduced dramatically below a 45° tilt angle.     

Multichannel ECG data compression by multirate signal processingand transform domain coding techniques

A multilead electrocardiography (ECG) data compression method is presented. First, a linear transform is applied to the standard ECG lead signals, which are highly correlated with each other. In this way a set of uncorrelated transform domain signals is obtained. Then, the resulting transform domain signals are compressed using various coding methods, including multirate signal processing and transform domain coding techniques