Characterization of acylmono-, mono-, di-, tri- and tetraglycosylsterol and saponin in Adzuki bean (Vigna angularis) seeds

Five sterylglycosides (acylmono-, mono-, di tri- and tetraglycosylsterol) and a saponin were isolated from Adzuki beans and characterized. In the glycosylsterols, the principal component sterols were sitosterol and stigmasterol; the major sugar component was glucose. The glucose units were shown to be linked by β1,6-bonds. The three oligoglycosylsterols were shown to be gentiobiosylsterol, gentiotriosylsterol and gentiotetraosylsterol; the latter two are novel sterylglycosides. The saponin was identified as glucopyranosyl-(β1→2)-glucopyranurosyl-(β1→3′)-soyasapogenol B (Azukisaponin I) which had previously been found in Adzuki beans.     

The restrained torsional response of open section carbon fibre composite beams

The analysis procedure outlined in this paper essentially makes use of the existing isotropic theories of torsion suitability modified to account for the non isotropic nature of typical carbon fibre composite material.

The warping and St Venant torsional stiffnesses of the beams are determined using the appropriate equivalent engineering elastic constants of the composite material which correspond to the membrane and bending modes of action respectively.

The differential equation governing the constrained torsional equilibrium of the open section beams is solved exactly in the paper for Z and channel sections with some emphasis being given to the influence of ply stacking sequence.

Theoretical results are presented in graphical form and these depict the variations in warping displacement, warping shear flow and longitudinal or axial constraint force intensity with applied torque for the cantilever beam condition with torque applied at the free end.

The paper also gives details of finite element studies of the composite beams and of an experimental programme of work pertaining solely to the behaviour of composite Z beams.

Comparisons between theory, finite element and experiment are presented and these are seen to give exceptionally close agreement.

It is clearly indicated that fibre orientation significantly influences the restrained torsional behaviour of thin-walled open-section composite beams. It is also clear that the use of the appropriate equivalent engineering elastic material constants in the theory is able to closely predict actual behaviour.     

Estimation of real GDP and unrecorded economy in Turkey based on environmental data

This paper estimates the real gross domestic product (GDP) and unrecorded economy for Turkey using the Kalman filter technique. Using different tests, most of the research articles on energy policy investigate the causal relationship between energy consumption and GDP for different countries. On the other hand, other studies on climate change try to show the effects of both energy consumption and GDP on carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission. Since the unreported economy has an important weight in developing countries where the recorded (or official) GDP suffers from considerable measurement problems, investigation of the relationship between the recorded GDP and energy consumption may lead to biased results. In this paper, the economic variables (GDP, country population) as well as environmental variables (CO₂ emission, forest area) are used in order to estimate GDP, which is an unobserved variable in our model. The results clearly indicate that: first, the true GDP in Turkey, that our model estimates, is higher than the observed (recorded) GDP in the whole period of observation (1973–2003) and the size of unrecorded economy varies between 12 and 30 percent of the observed GDP; second, the gap between the true GDP and the observed GDP has an increasing trend; third, if the change in GDP per primary energy supply is smaller than the change in CO₂ per primary energy supply, then there may exist unrecorded economy.     

开挖扰动区内岩石的压密特性和强度恢复性研究

 利用交替变换荷载速率试验研究压密后岩石试样的强度恢复和荷载速率依存性。首先,分别对田下凝灰岩、来待砂岩、河津凝灰岩和三城目安山岩4种岩石试样在空心圆筒内进行压缩破坏,然后持续轴向加载,压密破坏后的岩石试样。从空心圆筒中推出压密后的试样,进行单轴压缩下的交替变换荷载速率试验,即按一定应变或位移间隔,对同一试样交替施加高低2种不同的荷载速率,得到对应于2种荷载速率的应力–应变曲线。在整个交替变换荷载速率试验过程中,应力随荷载速率的切换而增减。从交替变换荷载速率试验得到的应力–应变曲线上的荷载速率切换点出发,利用3次样条曲线拟合得到2条对应于高低2种荷载速率的应力–应变曲线,并求解强度点处荷载速率依存性参数n。试验结果表明,田下凝灰岩、来待砂岩和河津凝灰岩的强度恢复现象明显,单轴抗压强度随着压密试验中轴向最大荷载的增加而增加,但没有观察到三城目安山岩的强度恢复现象。当压密试验中的最大轴向荷载较大时,压密后的试样的荷载速率依存性与完整试样的基本一致。当压密试验中的最大轴向荷载较小时,从极大和极小2个方面求解荷载速率依存性参数n,得出完整试样的n值介于压密试样的极大值 和极小值 之间,且差值不大。研究结果表明,在进行适当支护之后,随着时间的推移,开挖扰动区内的岩石存在强度恢复的可能性,且今后利用数值模拟考虑开挖扰动区内的岩石强度恢复特性和时间依存性时,在本构方程中可以采用与完整围岩区域一样的参数,从而简化数值模拟程序。     

Glow-discharge-modified activated carbon cloths as skin substitutes

In this study, activated carbon cloths (ACCs) were modified in a glow-discharge apparatus by using 2-hydroxyethyl-methacrylate (HEMA), dimethyl-aminoethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA), and hydroxymethyldisiloxane (HMDS) plasmas. Scanning electron micrographs exhibited the formation of the polymeric films on the ACCs after glow-discharge modification. The adsorption experiments were performed using model solutes, i.e., creatinine, vitamin B-12, and trypsin. No significant change was observed in the adsorption capacities of the ACC/PHEMA and ACC/PDMAEMA composites compared with the original ACC adsorption capacity. However, there was a pronounced decrease in the case of the ACC/PHMDS. Oxygen permeabilities of both the original and modified ACCs were measured in a flow-through gas chamber. The oxygen permeabilities of the original and modified forms were 817 and 3.5-5 cm3/s.cm2.cm Hg x 10(-7), respectively. Water-vapor permeabilities of the composites were obtained by using a standard water-cup assembly. Permeabilities varying between 921 and 10,300 g/m2.day were found. Microorganism impermeabilities of the ACCs were demonstrated by using model PS monosize polymeric particles with a diameter of 0.2 micron. The particle permeability of the original ACC was 65.6 mg/m2.day. Almost no particle permission was observed through the modified ACCs.     

Current density measurements in direct methanol fuel cells

The current density in the fuel cell is the direct consequence of reactions taking place over the active surface area. Thus, measurement of its distribution will lead to identification of the location and nature of reactions and will give opportunity to improve the overall efficiency of fuel cells. Within this study, the current density distribution in a direct methanol fuel cell was analyzed by segmenting the current collector into nine sections. Besides, the effect of the different operating parameters such as molarity, flow rate and reactant gas on the current density distribution was analyzed.     

Application of the PSO–SVM model for recognition of control chart patterns

Control chart patterns are important statistical process control tools for determining whether a process is run in its intended mode or in the presence of unnatural patterns. Accurate recognition of control chart patterns is essential for efficient system monitoring to maintain high-quality products. This paper introduces a novel hybrid intelligent system that includes three main modules: a feature extraction module, a classifier module, and an optimization module. In the feature extraction module, a proper set combining the shape features and statistical features is proposed as the efficient characteristic of the patterns. In the classifier module, a multi-class support vector machine (SVM)-based classifier is proposed. For the optimization module, a particle swarm optimization algorithm is proposed to improve the generalization performance of the recognizer. In this module, it the SVM classifier design is optimized by searching for the best value of the parameters that tune its discriminant function (kernel parameter selection) and upstream by looking for the best subset of features that feed the classifier. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm has very high recognition accuracy. This high efficiency is achieved with only little features, which have been selected using particle swarm optimizer.     

Thermally Pretreated 46% Pt/Vulcan XC72: Characterisation by TGA/DSC/TEM and Cyclic Voltammetry

We report a study of thermal stability and impact of thermal pretreatment procedures for 46% Pt/Vulcan XC72 (Tanaka) fuel cell catalyst. Stability in air and in inert gas (nitrogen, argon, helium) has been investigated by thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), TGA‐mass spectrometry (TGA‐MS) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Two distinct low temperature mass loss processes (100–200 and 285–300 °C) were observed, each exhibiting unique pretreatment temperature dependencies. TGA‐MS data in helium show fragment ions that suggest the thermal degradation processes are associated with decomposition of materials such as processing aids. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) reveals a modest increase in average Pt nanoparticle size upon thermal pretreatment. After a pretreatment protocol based on TEM and thermal characterisation (300 °C/15 min, N₂), the electrochemically active surface area did not increase. At the kinetically controlled potential region (E >0.8 V) there was a small drop in current density for treated 46% Pt/C in comparison with as‐received catalyst. The slowing in ORR kinetics is significant. Apparently, the removal of organic components, which would improve mass transport, is negated by increased nanoparticle size.     

Multilevel statistical inference from functional near-infrared spectroscopy data during stroop interference

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is an emerging technique for monitoring the concentration changes of oxy- and deoxy-hemoglobin (oxy-Hb and deoxy-Hb) in the brain. An important consideration in fNIRS-based neuroimaging modality is to conduct group-level analysis from a set of time series measured from a group of subjects. We investigate the feasibility of multilevel statistical inference for fNIRS. As a case study, we search for hemodynamic activations in the prefrontal cortex during Stroop interference. Hierarchical general linear model (GLM) is used for making this multilevel analysis. Activation patterns both at the subject and group level are investigated on a comparative basis using various classical and Bayesian inference methods. All methods showed consistent left lateral prefrontal cortex activation for oxy-Hb during interference condition, while the effects were much less pronounced for deoxy-Hb. Our analysis showed that mixed effects or Bayesian models are more convenient for faithful analysis of fNIRS data. We arrived at two important conclusions. First, fNIRS has the capability to identify activations at the group level, and second, the mixed effects or Bayesian model is the appropriate mechanism to pass from subject to group-level inference.