Prediction of the colorimetric parameters and mass loss of heat‐treated bamboo: Comparison of multiple linear regression and artificial neural network method

In this study, the colorimetric parameters (L*, a*, b*) and mass loss of heat‐treated bamboo were investigated, and the obtained results were modeled by using two methods: multiple linear regression (MLR) and artificial neural network (ANN). First, bamboo samples were exposed to heat treatment at different temperatures (110°C, 140°C, 170°C, and 200°C) and durations (15, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90, and 115 minutes) in a laboratory oven. Then, the colorimetric parameters (L*, a*, b*) and mass loss of each sample were measured after each period of heat treatment. All data were modeled by using two methods separately for each parameter and the performances of these proposed methods were compared. It was found that color change and mass loss increased with increasing temperature and duration of heat treatment. Mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) values of all obtained MLR ranged from 0.64% to 10.63%, while the all MAPE values of ANN were found to be lower than 1.5%. Based on these results, it can be said that MLR and ANN could be used to evaluate the changes on the selected properties of heat‐treated bamboo samples. On the other hand, it should be emphasized that the ANN gave more accurate results than the MLR method because of its learning capability.     

A New Slip-Line Field Modeling of Orthogonal Machining with a Rounded-Edge Worn Cutting Tool

In this study, a new slip-line field model and its associated hodograph for orthogonal cutting with a rounded-edge worn cutting tool are developed using Dewhurst and Collins's matrix technique. The new model considers the existence of dead metal zone in front of the rounded-edge worn cutting tool. The ploughing force and friction force occurred due to flank wear land, chip up-curl radius, chip thickness, primary shear zone thickness and length of bottom side of the dead metal zone are obtained by solving the model depending on the experimental resultant force data. The effects of flank wear rate, cutting edge radius, uncut chip thickness, cutting speed and rake angle on these outputs are specified.     

Polymerization of vegetable oils and their uses in printing inks

Ink vehicles were prepared by the polymerization of vegetable oils. By controlling the polymerization conditions, the desired viscosity, color and molecular weight could be achieved for a variety of vegetable oils with a broad range of iodine values and fatty acid compositions. The effect of temperature and catalyst on polymerization rates were evaluated, and polymerization rate constants were calculated. Of the oils tested, the polymerization rate constant of safflower oil was the highest, followed by soybean, sunflower, cottonseed and canola oils in decreasing order. Use of a catalyst shortened the heating time by about 25–50% or lowered the polymerization temperature requirement by 25–30°C.     

Electrolyte and solvent effects of electrocoated polycarbazole thin films on carbon fiber microelectrodes

Carbazole was electrochemically synthesized on carbon fiber microelectrodes (CFMEs) in different electrolyte and solvent media. The characterization of polycarbazole thin films formed on micron sized carbon fiber electrodes was performed by electrochemical methods (i.e., cyclic voltammetric measurements, solid state conductivity measurements (four point probe), spectrophotometric methods (ultraviolet/visible spectroscopy (UV–vis), ex situ spectroelectrochemistry, fourier transform infrared reflectance spectroscopy (FTIR-ATR)) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The best electrolyte and solvent in regards to yield, conductivity and charge for the electro-grafting was sodium perchlorate in acetonitrile, whose conductivity was 3.60 mS cm⁻¹, had a yield of 89% and had a charge of 5.50C. The effects of scan rate, feed ratio, supporting electrolyte and solvent type on the electropolymerization are discussed.     

Biodegradation of estolides from monounsaturated fatty acids

Mono- and polyestolides, made from oleic acid, meadowfoam oil fatty acids and erucic acid, were subjected to biodegradation with mixed cultures of Penicillium verucosum, Mucor racemosus, and Enterobacter aerogenes. Fermentations were continued for 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, or 30 d. Meadowfoam oil and its fatty acids, oleic acid and soybean oil were also biodegraded under the same conditions. After 10 d, oleic acid and soybean oil were degraded 99.8 and 99.2%, respectively; meadowfoam oil and its fatty acids were degraded 89.0 and 97.7%, respectively. After 30 d, oleic acid-derived poly- and monoestolides were degraded 98.6 and 90.0%, respectively, meadowfoam estolides were degraded 75.7%, and erucic acid estolides were degraded 84.0%.     

Characteristics of brick used as aggregate in historic brick-lime mortars and plasters

Mortars and plasters composed of a mixture of brick powder and lime have been used since ancient times due to their hydraulic properties. In this study, raw material compositions, basic physical, mineralogical, microstructural and hydraulic properties of some historic Ottoman Bath brick-lime mortars and plasters were determined by XRD, SEM-EDS, AFM, TGA and chemical analyses. The mineralogical and chemical compositions, microstructures, morphologies and pozzolanicities of the brick powders and fragments used as aggregates in the mortars and plasters were examined to find out the relationship between hydraulic properties of the mortars and the bricks. The characteristics of bricks used in the bath domes were also determined to investigate whether the brick aggregates used in mortar and plasters were prepared from these bricks. The results indicated that the mortars and plasters were hydraulic owing to the presence of crushed brick powders that have good pozzolanicity. The brick powders had high pozzolanicity because they contained high amounts of calcium-poor clay minerals in their raw materials that were fired at low temperatures. On the other hand, bricks used in the domes had poor pozzolanicity with different mineralogical and chemical compositions from bricks used in mortars and plasters. Based on the results of the analysis, it was thought that the bricks manufactured with high amounts of clays were consciously chosen in the preparation of hydraulic mortars and plasters.     

In situ image processing capabilities of ARM-based micro-controllers

Dealing with visual data is the key for environmental monitoring tasks in Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks (WMSNs). Tasks such as object detection, recognition, and/or tracking do require extracting and using the right information from the inherently large amount of visual data. The widely accepted solution of legacy WSNs, transmitting the acquired data to a central base station for further processing, would render a WMSN totally useless because of the unacceptable use of bandwidth and energy. Therefore, we consider the in situ processing as a viable solution for WMSNs. However, processing power and memory capacity restrictions of existing multimedia sensor nodes along with their power consumption are the limiting factors for wide-spread use of in situ processing. Nevertheless, recent technological improvements and introduction of the new ARM cores encourage us to evaluate the image processing capabilities of ARM7/ARM9/ARM11 based micro-controllers for in situ processing in WMSNs. In this work, we first discussed the architectural design differences among the various ARM cores. Then we classified image processing algorithms into three categories. Then, we evaluated the performance of each microcontroller by running a set of basic image processing algorithms necessary for object detection, recognition, and/or tracking. The test results show that ARM11 runs up to 6–30 times faster than ARM9 and ARM7, respectively. Besides, ARM11 consumes up to 5–7 times less energy than ARM9 and ARM7 for the same type of operations.     

Development of a machine tool selection system using AHP

The selection of appropriate machines is one of the most critical decisions in the design and development of an efficient production environment. In this study, we propose a decision support system for machine tool selection using an effective algorithm, the analytic hierarchy process. In the selection process, we first consider qualitative decision criteria that are related to the machine properties. Reliability and precision analyses may be included in the detailed evaluation procedure. Furthermore, the decision-maker may take into account the economical considerations through cost analysis. In addition, the robustness of the selection procedure may be evaluated using sensitivity analysis. An illustrative example of machine tool selection using the proposed methodology and the software implementation are provided.     

Vibrational Energy Transport in Hybrid Ordered/Disordered Nanocomposites: Hybridization and Avoided Crossings of Localized and Delocalized Modes

Vibrational energy transport in disordered media is of fundamental importance to several fields spanning from sustainable energy to biomedicine to thermal management. This work investigates hybrid ordered/disordered nanocomposites that consist of crystalline membranes decorated by regularly patterned disordered regions formed by ion beam irradiation. The presence of the disordered regions results in reduced thermal conductivity, rendering these systems of interest for use as nanostructured thermoelectrics and thermal device components, yet their vibrational properties are not well understood. Here, the mechanism of vibrational transport and the reason underlying the observed reduction is established in detail. The hybrid systems are found to exhibit glass‐crystal duality in vibrational transport. Lattice dynamics reveals substantial hybridization between the localized and delocalized modes, which induces avoided crossings and harmonic broadening in the dispersion. Allen/Feldman theory shows that the hybridization and avoided crossings are the dominant drivers of the reduction. Anharmonic scattering is also enhanced in the patterned nanocomposites, further contributing to the reduction. The systems exhibit features reminiscent of both nanophononic materials and locally resonant nanophononic metamaterials, but operate in a manner distinct to both. These findings indicate that such “patterned disorder” can be a promising strategy to tailor vibrational transport through hybrid nanostructures.