Enhancing the prediction of type 2 diabetes mellitus using sparse balanced SVM

Multimedia Tools and Applications - The natural population-based prediction of type 2 diabetes is costly since it needs a high number of resources. Even though much research has used machine...     

Fabrication of transparent polymer-matrix nanocomposites with enhanced mechanical properties from chemically modified ZrO<Subscript>2</Subscript> nanoparticles

Optically transparent nanocomposites with enhanced mechanical properties were fabricated using stable dispersions of sub 10 nm ZrO₂ nanoparticles. The ZrO₂ dispersions were mixed with a commercially available bisphenol-A-based epoxy resin (RIMR 135i) and cured with a mixture of two amine-based curing agents (RIMH 134 and RIMH 137) after complete solvent removal. The colloidal dispersions of ZrO₂ nanoparticles, synthesized through a non-aqueous approach, were obtained through a chemical modification of the ZrO₂ nanoparticle surface, employing different organic ligands through simple mixing at room temperature. Successful binding of the ligands to the surface was studied utilizing ATR–FT-IR and thermogravimetric analysis. The homogeneous distribution of the nanoparticles within the matrix was proven by SAXS and the observed high optical transmittance for ZrO₂ contents of up to 8 wt%. Nanocomposites with a ZrO₂ content of only 2 wt% showed a significant enhancement of the mechanical properties, e.g., an increase of the tensile strength and Young’s modulus by up to 11.9 and 12.5%, respectively. Also the effect of different surface bound ligands on the mechanical properties is discussed.     

Application of economical models for dye removal from aqueous solutions: cash flow,cost–benefit,and alternative selection methods

Although there are numerous adsorption studies performed by using various adsorbents, there is no deterministic knowledge about selection of appropriate adsorbent type from present alternatives. In order to evaluate the advantages of the selected adsorbent species mathematically, researchers may use economical models such as cash flow diagrams, cost–benefit analyses, and alternative selection methods. In spite of the fact that these models have been used in many other engineering branches they are rarely applied in environmental research. In this study we have aimed to investigate usability of the mentioned economical models in adsorption of reactive azo dyes from aqueous solutions. Activated ash, a waste material, and commercial granular activated carbon were decided to be adsorbent alternatives. By applying economical models appropriate adsorbent type was selected considering both adsorption efficiencies and economical conditions. Although similar tendencies were monitored in cash flow diagrams; considering the amount of expenses activated ash exhibited remarkable advantages compared to granular activated carbon. Furthermore, results of cost–benefit analyses showed that activated ash has been advantageous when total costs and profits were evaluated together. Results of this study suggest usage of these economical models even in adsorption studies in order to provide accurate information on the selection of appropriate adsorbent type. These methods enable evaluation of economical conditions, which is generally neglected, together with the obtained removal efficiencies.     

Mesoscopic nonequilibrium thermodynamics treatment of the grain boundary thermal grooving induced by the anisotropic surface drift diffusion

A systematic study based on the self-consistent dynamical simulations is presented for the grain boundary thermal grooving problem by strictly following the irreversible thermodynamic theory of surfaces and interfaces with singularities [T. O. Ogurtani, J. Chem. Phys. 124, 144706 (2006)]. This approach furnishes us to have auto-control on the otherwise free-motion of the grain boundary triple junction without presuming any equilibrium dihedral (wetting) angles at the edges. The effects of physicochemical properties and the anisotropic surface diffusivity on the transient grooving behavior, which takes place at the early stage of the scenario, were considered. We analyzed the experimental thermal grooving data reported for tungsten in the literature, and compared them with the carried simulation results. This investigation showed that the observed changes in the dihedral angles are strictly connected to the transient behavior of the simulated global system, and manifest themselves at the early stage of the thermal grooving phenomenon.     

Theatre in the Sky: a ubiquitous broadband multimedia‐on‐demand service over a novel constellation composed of quasi‐geostationary satellites

To meet an ever‐growing demand for wideband multimedia services and electronic connectivity across the world, development of ubiquitous broadband multimedia systems is gaining a tremendous interest at both commercial and academic levels. Satellite networks will play an indispensable role in the deployment of such systems. A significant number of satellite communication constellations have been thus proposed using Geostationary (GEO), Medium Earth Orbit (MEO), or Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites. These constellations, however, either require a potential number of satellites or are unable to provide data transmission with high elevation angles. This paper proposes a new satellite constellation composed of Quasi‐GeoStationary Orbit (Quasi‐GSO) satellites. The main advantage of the constellation is in its ability to provide global coverage with a significantly small number of satellites while, at the same time, maintaining high elevation angles. Based on a combination of this Quasi‐GSO satellites constellation and terrestrial networks, the paper proposes also an architecture for building a global, large‐scale, and efficient Video‐on‐Demand (VoD) system. The entire architecture is referred to as a ‘Theatre in the Sky’. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Copolymers of ethylene with butene-1 and long chain α-olefins. I. Decene-1 as long chain α-olefin

The possibility was studied of using decene-1 as comonomer with ethylene in a slurry type polymerization with Ziegler–Natta catalysts. Under the reaction conditions used decene contents remained at the 2 wt% level in ethylene/decene-1 copolymers. When additionally butene-1 was present in the polymerization, decene-1 contents were significantly higher. A synergistic effect was identified in the reactivities of butene-1 and decene-1 in terpolymerization with ethylene. The comonomer reactions were determined and comonomer contents measured by ¹³C-NMR spectroscopy. Decene-1 content had an effect on the polymer density and crystallinity, but virtually no effect on melting temperature. With high comonomer contents an additional melting range was identified in DSC curves at about 100°C.     

Partner Selection Technique for Wireless Cooperative Communication

In wireless cooperative communication scheme, transmit diversity is achieved by coupling the distributed users. In this paper, a new partner selection algorithm is proposed. The selection scheme utilizes the basic work done by Almawgani on RS coded cooperation for wireless network. Users are classified into weak and strong ones based on the signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) uplink matrix. Users with good uplink channel SNR (strong users) are coupled with those experiencing weak uplink channel conditions (weak users). The proposed algorithm offers an improvement to the outage probability, \(P_{out}\) and power efficiency as compared to the established work. The algorithm shows a significant improvement of \(P_{out}\) at lower values of uplink SNR.