High‐performance liquid chromatography of some natural dyes: analysis of plant extracts and dyed textiles

In this study, wool fibre samples were mordanted by means of 25% alum mordant solution. The mordanted wool samples were dyed in 50%Reseda luteola L. (weld), 20%Rhamnus petiolaris Boiss (buckthorn) and 50%Datisca cannabina L. (bastard hemp) dyebaths. A reverse‐phase high‐performance liquid chromatography with diode‐array detection method was utilised for the identification of dyes in the dyed wool samples and the plant extracts. The extraction of dyes was carried out with a hydrogen chloride/methanol/water (2:1:1; v/v/v) mixture.     

Metal-graphene interaction studied via atomic resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy

Distributions and atomic sites of transition metals and gold on suspended graphene were investigated via high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy, especially using atomic resolution high angle dark field imaging. All metals, albeit as singular atoms or atom aggregates, reside in the omni-present hydrocarbon surface contamination; they do not form continuous films, but clusters or nanocrystals. No interaction was found between Au atoms and clean single-layer graphene surfaces, i.e., no Au atoms are retained on such surfaces. Au and also Fe atoms do, however, bond to clean few-layer graphene surfaces, where they assume T and B sites, respectively. Cr atoms were found to interact more strongly with clean monolayer graphene, they are possibly incorporated at graphene lattice imperfections and have been observed to catalyze dissociation of C-C bonds. This behavior might explain the observed high frequency of Cr-cluster nucleation, and the usefulness as wetting layer, for depositing electrical contacts on graphene.     

Experimental and Theoretical Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) Study on the Temperature-Dependent Structural Changes of Methylsulfanylmethane

Methylsulfonylmethane (or dimethyl sulfone), a naturally produced and vitally important organosulfur compound in living organisms, was irradiated with gamma rays, and the produced radicals were investigated using electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy at different temperatures. The structure and behavior of the radical changed when the temperatures varied. The hyperfine splitting of the CH(3) group was small, and the (33)S splitting was relatively high between 80 and -50 °C. When the temperature was between -50 and -160 °C, the (33)S splitting became small and the CH(3) splitting was higher. However, the group kept rotating; therefore, only the isotropic splitting values were measured, and the g-values were anisotropic. When the temperature decreased below -180 °C, the CH(3) group stopped rotating, and the hydrogen splitting values became nonequivalent due to an inhomogeneous electron distribution. The observed structures can be explained by referring to both the experimental and theoretically calculated values reported.     

Repetitive model refactoring strategy for the design space exploration of intensive signal processing applications

The efficient design of computation intensive multidimensional signal processing applications requires dealing with three kinds of constraints: those implied by the data dependencies, the non-functional requirements (real-time, power consumption) and resources availability of the execution platform. Modeling and Analysis of Real-time and Embedded systems (MARTE) UML profile through its repetitive structure modeling (RSM) package is well suited to model the inherent parallelism within these applications, a compact representation of parallel execution platforms and the distributive mapping of one on another. The execution of such a specification respects the whole set of constraints defined upon, while the quality of the scheduling is directly linked to the quality of the mapping of the multidimensional structures (data arrays or parallel loop nests) into time and space. We propose here a strategy to use a refactoring tool dedicated to this kind of application that allows to find good trade-offs in the usage of storage and computation resources and in parallelism (both task and data parallelism) exploitation. This strategy is illustrated on an industrial radar application.     

Socioeconomic status in ankylosing spondylitis: relationship between occupation and disease activity

OBJECTIVE: To identify the socioeconomic status through occupation of a large cohort of patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and to determine possible relationships between occupation and clinical variables. METHODS: We analyzed the employment status of 1,044 patients with AS. RESULTS: 85% of patients (890 of 1,044) were in full employment at the time of the assessment compared to 15% who were unemployed. When 50 employed patients were compared to 50 unemployed cases, the latter had increased disease activity and lower psychosocial well being. CONCLUSION: Employed patients from the higher occupational group (I), had less disease activity, and lower pain and depression than patients from the lowest occupational group (IV).     

Defining spinal mobility in ankylosing spondylitis (AS). The Bath AS Metrology Index

OBJECTIVE: To determine the most appropriate clinical measurements for the assessment of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) to develop the new metrology index. METHODS: One hundred and ninety-three individuals with AS were studied. The patients reflected the entire spectrum of cases of AS. Metrology was performed on 327 occasions. First the metrology (20 measurements) of 43 patients was analyzed. From this, 5 simple clinical measurements were defined which most accurately reflect axial status: cervical rotation, tragus to wall distance, lateral flexion, modified Schober's, and intermalleolar distance. These measurements were assessed for reliability, speed and both inter and intraobserver variability in another 40 patients. RESULTS: Analysis of the first group of 43 patients and a subsequent group of 54 patients, using the 5 measurements that constitute this new Bath AS Metrology Index (BASMI), demonstrated that they accurately and reliably mirror the 20 clinical measurements assessed previously (r = 0.92, p < 0.001). In a new group of 40 patients the measurements were demonstrated to be accurate and reproducible for both intraobserver variability (r = 0.99, p < 0.001) and interobserver variability (r = 0.97, p < 0.001). In a further 56 patients, admitted for inpatient therapy, an improvement in the BASMI from 3.34 (SD 2.71) to 2.16 (SD 2.42) was noted over a period of 3 weeks (regardless of disease severity) which indicates a sensitivity to change (chi 2 = 6.55, p < 0.01). The mean improvement over baseline was about 30%. CONCLUSION: Five clinical measurements provide a composite index (BASMI) and define disease status in AS. The BASMI is quick (7 min), reproducible and sensitive to change across the disease spectrum.     

A new metaheuristic approach based on orbit in the multi-objective optimization of wireless sensor networks

Wireless Networks - Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is a research area which has been used in various applications and has continuously developed up to now. WSNs are used in many applications,...     

Utilization of trommel sieve waste as an additive in Portland cement production

Large quantities of industrial wastes form in boron industry in Turkey every year. These wastes have dual problems of disposal and health hazards. The wastes such as borax slime, tincal waste, concentration wastes and thromel sieve waste (TSW) contain impurities that accelerate the normal setting and hardening of building materials produced from them. In this study, it was aimed to stabilize TSW produced during manufacture of borax from tincal. The effects of TSW added on the mechanical properties of Portland cement prepared by adding TSW to clinker were investigated. The utilization of TSW in cement industry as an additive was tested and compared with other materials.