Evaluation of Natural Gas Supply Security in Turkey with Future Projection

Natural gas is one of the key energy resources for Turkey due to fact that 32% of annual primary energy supply and 45% of annual electricity production is obtained from natural gas with also common usage of residential and industrial zones. In this study, the supply security of natural gas was taken into consideration with strategic criteria of energy policy with the SWOT （strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats） analysis and the future projection for Turkey. It has been concluded on geopolitics criteria, domestic production and research for resources must be stimulated as high as possible and participation to abroad resources must be implemented.     

Development and characterisation of polyaniline/polyamide (PANI/PA) fabrics for electromagnetic shielding

In this study, novel conductive fabrics were developed by polymerising of aniline onto the polyamide (PA)-knitted fabrics. The fabric treatment was done by the chemical polymerisation method at 0.5, 0.8 and 1.2?M aniline concentrations. Hydrochloric acid as acidic medium and ammonium per sulphate as oxidant were employed during the polymerisation process. The polyaniline (PANI)-treated PA fabric structures were fully characterised and evaluated in terms of their electromagnetic shielding effectiveness, absorption and reflection characteristics and tensile properties. Additionally, the fabrics were examined by scanning electron microscope (SEM) for the surface morphology and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy for the chemical functionality. The electromagnetic shielding effectiveness, absorption and reflection characteristics were determined by Network Analyzer with a frequency ranged from 15 to 3000 MHz. The electrical characteristics were measured by the two ends method. It has been concluded that the bursting strength values of the treated fabrics reduced when the amount of monomer in the concentrations decreased as compared to the untreated fabrics. It is interesting to note that 1.2 M treated fabric had the highest bursting strength values as compared to the other treated fabrics. It was also found that 0.5 M concentration of PANI-treated fabric had the lowest surface resistivity due to this it showed the highest conductivity value. Another important finding is that the 0.5 M-aniline treated fabric had the highest shielding effectiveness.     

Interaction of cell culture with composition effects on the mechanical properties of polycaprolactone-hydroxyapatite scaffolds fabricated via selective laser sintering (SLS)

In the current study PCL/HA composites were fabricated using SLS as two- and three-dimensional lattice structures and exposed to a cellular component (MC 3T3 osteoblast-like cells). The main aims were to determine the mechanical differences due to powder composition and to observe the physical and mechanical changes pertaining to cell presence. These structures were characterized by compressive mechanical testing, and the effects of cell culturing and degradation on mechanical properties of the scaffolds with different PCL/HA compositions were determined. Moreover, changes in the scaffold morphology due to the cell culture conditions were determined by μ-CT analysis.Cells steadily grew on the scaffolds for 21 days with preferential distribution around the macropores and initially PCL/HA(15%) composites had higher cell numbers. Removal of loosely sintered parts was observable during the culturing period. Cell culture conditions did not change the compressive moduli significantly but had a distinct effect on compressive strength. For PCL/HA(15%) composites, an initial loss in strength caused by cell culture was reversed by longer cell exposure, with compressive strength of the structures restored to the initial properties (p ≤ 0.05). μ-CT measurements showed widespread morphological changes in the scaffolds, such as a decrease in the roughness of the struts. In general, in the initial period composites with lower HA content (15 wt.%) showed better metabolic activity compared to the higher HA content, however by day 14 the performance of the two compositions was equal. These results suggest that changes in sintering due to the differences in powder composition can have profound effects on the short and long term mechanical properties of the scaffold particularly under cell culture conditions, and this should be closely considered for SLS processing of scaffolds.     

Attenuated total reflection-infrared nanofluidic chip with 71 nL detection volume for in situ spectroscopic analysis of chemical reaction intermediates

We present a micromachined silicon attenuated total reflection-infrared (ATR-IR) crystal with integrated nanofluidic glass channels which enables infrared spectroscopic studies with only 71 nL sample volume. Because of the short path length through silicon, the system allows IR spectroscopy down to 1200 cm(-1), which covers the typical fingerprint region of most organic compounds. To demonstrate proof-of-principle, the chip was used to study a Knoevenagel condensation reaction between malononitrile and p-anisaldehyde catalyzed by different concentrations of 1,8-diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undec-7-ene (DBU) in solvent acetonitrile. By in situ measurement, it was demonstrated for the first time that at certain concentrations of DBU, reaction intermediates become stabilized, an effect that slows down or even stops the reaction. This is thought to be caused by increased ionic character of the solvent, in which protonated DBU stabilizes the intermediates. This clearly demonstrates that infrared mechanistic studies of chemical reactions are feasible in volumes as little as 71 nL.     

Statistical investigation of wave power potential in the North Aegean Sea

Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy - Wave energy is recognized as a significant renewable energy source with a high energy density and very low environmental impact. Today, in parallel...     

Effects of sintering and zirconmullite doping on nanostructural vacancies of bovine hydroxyapatite by positron techniques

In this study, the nanostructural vacancy behavior of bovine derived hydroxyapatite (BHA) doped with powder zirconmullite (ZM) contents of 5, 7.5, 10 and 12.5 wt.% were presented at sintering temperatures of 1000, 1100, 1200 and 1300°C. ZM-doped BHA (ZM-BHA) was characterized by X-ray diffraction and positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS). Density and hardness behavior were measured with respect to increasing sintering temperature. PALS results indicate that the longest lifetime component τ₃ of ortho-positronium (o-Ps) localized at open spaces is attributed to the vacancy site and almost constant with the ZM contents and the sintering temperatures to have a mean value of 0.680 ns (corresponding to the radius of 0.997 nm). This average value is ascribed to the OH group defects along the main crystalline line. On the other hand, the o-Ps intensity attributed to the number of vacancy sites increases almost linearly with ZM additives and sintering temperatures. The intensity is also related to the density and hardness of ZM-BHA in terms of ZM contents.