Effect of Microstructure on Exhaust Manifold Cracks Produced From SiMo Ductile Iron

Ductile cast irons are used as high temperature materials in internal combustion engines,because they are microstructurally stable at high operating temperatures.SiMo granular graphite cast irons contain Fe2 MoC and M6C carbide precipitates due to their higher concentration of both silicon and molybdenum.The microstructure of these cast irons consists of carbides dispersed within the ferrite matrix.The microstructural change and the crack formation mechanism in manifolds produced from SiMo ductile iron are studied.Chemical analysis,optical and scanning electron microscope studies have been completed and evaluated.     

Contact Fatigue Failure of a Tapered Roller Bearing Used in a Lorry Wheel

Tapered roller bearings, which are also known as angular-contact bearing, are suitable for supporting radial and axial loads. The more frequent types of defects in such bearings are caused by contact fatigue in these machine components, and this examination focuses on a contact fatigue failure in a tapered rolling bearing. The examination included visual inspection, microscopic analysis (optical and scanning electron microscope), and microhardness measurements. These measurements were conducted to help understand the failure mechanisms. Based on the results of visual examination and microstructure and fracture surface analysis, it was determined that the tapered roller bearing failed by contact fatigue that was caused by overloading of the bearing.     

Cadmium and lead contamination in vegetables collected from industrial, traffic and rural areas in Bursa Province, Turkey

Cadmium and lead contamination of vegetables produced in rural areas of Bursa Province, Turkey, was found to be less contaminated than vegetables grown close to heavy traffic and industrial activities. The highest levels of cadmium and lead were found in lettuce; the lowest levels in vegetables were found in leeks. The lead levels in spinach grown in traffic areas were at least twofold higher than those found in industrial areas. For other vegetables, the results from industrial and traffic areas were almost identical. Lettuce grown in traffic areas had the highest amount of cadmium (0.81 +/- 0.25 mg kg(-1)) and lead (1.59 +/- 0.45 mg kg(-1)), whilst leeks grown in rural areas had the lowest levels of lead (0.10 +/- 0.03 mg kg(-1)) and cadmium (0.05 +/- 0.01 mg kg(-1)) compared with other vegetables. This study shows that people and animals living in the same area in Bursa are always exposed to metallic pollution and in turn the consumption of contaminated vegetables could lead to increased dietary intake.     

Polymer Film Supported Bimetallic Au–Ag Catalysts for Electrocatalytic Oxidation of Ammonia Borane in Alkaline Media

Nano-Micro Letters - Ammonia borane is widely used in most areas including fuel cell applications. The present paper describes electrochemical behavior of ammonia borane in alkaline media on the...     

Effect of thyrotropin-releasing hormone on Na(+)-K(+)-Adenosine triphosphatase activity following experimental spinal cord trauma

The mesencephalic trigeminal nucleus (Vme) neurons are primary sensory neurons transmitting orofacial proprioceptive sensation. The neurons innervating the periodontal ligaments and the masticatory muscles are intermingled with each other in the caudal part of the Vme. After fluorescent tracers, propridium iodide and bisbenzimide were applied to the inferior alveolar nerve and the masseter nerve on the same side of the rat, and a doubled-labeled neurons were observed in ipilateral Vme, mainly in the caudal part, and a few in the middle, rostral part. This reflects simultaneous innervation of both the periodontal ligaments and the masseter spindles by collaterals of peripheral process of single Vme neurons.     

Microbial quality, and effect of cooking on survival of Salmonella, in Kokariç

A special preparation from the small intestine of lamb, called kokariç, is widely consumed in Turkey. In this study, Salmonella was not isolated from raw kokariç. Conventional ways of cooking, except precooking, destroyed Salmonella in artificially contaminated kokariç. The microbial quality of cooked kokariç bought from street sellers was not safe for public health consumption because of environmental contamination.     

Fuzzy clustering complex-valued neural network to diagnose cirrhosis disease

In this study, fuzzy clustering complex-valued neural network (FCCVNN) was proposed to classify portal vein Doppler signals recorded from 54 patients with cirrhosis and 36 healthy subjects. This proposed neural network is a new model for biomedical pattern classification. The FCCVNN was composed of three phases: fuzzy clustering, calculation of FFT values and complex-valued neural network (CVNN). In first phase, fuzzy clustering was done to reduce the number of segments in training pattern. After that, FFT values of Doppler signals were calculated for pre-processing and then obtained values, which include real and imaginary components, were used as the inputs of the CVNN for classification of Doppler signals. Classification results of FCCVNN were evaluated by the different performance evaluation criterion in literature. It shows that Doppler signals were classified successfully with 100% correct classification rate using the proposed method. Moreover, the rates of sensitivity and specificity were calculated as 100% using FCCVNN method. These results were seen to be appropriate with the expected results that are derived from physician’s direct diagnosis. This method would be assisted the physician to make the final decision.     

Adsorption of phenol by MMT-CTAB and WPT-CTAB: Equilibrium,kinetic, and thermodynamic study

In this study, the phenol adsorption capacity of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide modified clays (MMT-CTAB) and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide modified pulp tea (WPT-CTAB) were studied. In batch adsorption experiments performed with MMT-CTAB, the effects of parameters such contact time, phenol concentration, pH of solution and adsorbent dosage were investigated. The effect of temperature on phenol adsorption onto MMT-CTAB and WPT-CTAB was examined; equilibrium and thermodynamic studies were completed. The highest phenol removal was found at pH 4.0 for MMT-CTAB and WPT-CTAB. To analyze the kinetics of phenol adsorption onto MMT-CTAB, the pseudo first-order and pseudo second-order kinetic models were applied. The kinetic data fitted better to the pseudo second-order model than the pseudo first-order kinetic model for MMT-CTAB. The characterization of adsorbents in phenol adsorption was clarified with the FTIR technique. Thermodynamic parameters such as ΔH°, ΔS° and ΔG° were calculated for each adsorption process. The adsorption process was found to be exothermic and spontaneous for phenol adsorption by MMT-CTAB and WPT-CTAB. The results were analyzed with the Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin and Harkins–Jura equations using linearized correlation coefficients at different temperatures. The Langmuir equation was found to best represent the equilibrium data for phenol adsorption onto MMT-CTAB and WPT-CTAB.