Development of flame retardancy properties of new halogen‐free phosphorous doped SiO2 thin films on fabrics

In this study, flame retardancy properties of fabrics treated with phosphorous (P) doped and undoped SiO₂ thin films were developed by sol–gel technique. As to this aim, P‐doped and undoped SiO₂ film were coated on cotton fabric from the solutions prepared from P, Si‐based precursors, solvent, and chelating agent at low temperature in air using sol–gel technique. To determine solution characteristics, which affect thin film structure, turbidity, pH values, and rheological properties of the prepared solutions were measured using a turbidimeter, a pH meter, and a rheometer machines before coating process. The thermal, structural, and microstructural characterization of the coating were done using differential thermal analysis/thermograviometry, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X‐ray diffractometry, and scanning electron microscopy. In addition, tensile strength, wash fastness, flame retandancy, and lightness properties of the coated fabrics were determined. To compensate the slight loss of tensile strength of samples, which occurred at the treated fabrics with P‐doped Si‐based solutions, the cotton fabrics were coated with polyurethane films during second step. In conclusion, the flame retardant cotton fabric with durability of washing as halogen‐free without requiring after treatment with formaldehyde was fabricated using sol–gel processing for the first time. Moreover the cotton fabrics, which were treated with P‐doped Si‐based solutions and then coated with polyurethane at second step, still has got nonflammable property. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2007     

Lipid characteristics and phenolics of native grape seed oils grown in Turkey

Grape seed oils of seven native Turkish cultivars (namely Atfi, Mazruna, Black Kerkü?, Zeyti, Verdani, Karfoki, and Kerkü?) were evaluated for their fatty acids, tocols, phytosterols as well as total phenolics and oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) values. Among the fatty acids, linoleic acid (18:2ω6) was the most abundant (56.38–68.56%), followed by oleic acid (16.45–29.38%, 18:1ω9), palmitic acid (8.19–9.44%, 16:0), and stearic acid (3.74–4.98%, 18:0). Total tocopherols and tocotrienol amounts varied in the range of 102.30–305.43 and 251.47–468.22 mg/kg, respectively. Beta‐sitosterol was the most abundant sterol among grape cultivars whose concentration ranging from 64.19 to 71.62%. Total phenolic content ranged from 2.19 to 4.70 mg of gallic acid equivalents/100 g oil, being lowest in Zeyti and highest in Verdani. With respect to antioxidant activities, a large variation in ORAC values was observed among grape seed oils (ranging from 1048 µmol of Trolox equivalents (TE)/100 g in Karfoki to 2569 µmol of TE/100 g in Mazruna). Practical applications: The crude grape seed oils extracted from different cultivars are a good source of nutrients, fat‐soluble bioactives, and health‐promoting components.     

Fire retardant properties of intumescent polypropylene composites filled with calcium carbonate

This study was aimed to investigate the influence of calcium carbonate (CaCO₃), a widely used filler, on the fire retardancy of intumescent polypropylene composites. Two intumescent systems based on (1) mixture of ammonium polyphosphate (APP) and pentaerythritol and (2) surface‐modified APP (m‐APP) were examined. In terms of steady heat release rate, total heat evolved, and fire growth index determined by mass loss calorimetry, m‐APP performed markedly superior to APP‐pentaerythritol. The presence of CaCO₃ in both intumescent formulations caused significant losses in fire retardant performance assessed by mass loss calorimetry, limiting oxygen index and UL‐94 tests. Peak rates of heat release and mass loss during combustion, and total heat evolved on combustion were increased, whereas time to ignition was decreased. Characterization of fire residues ascribed the mechanism of deterioration in fire retardancy to the formation of porous and nonexpanded crystalline calcium phosphate/CaCO₃ residues during combustion rather than the amorphous protective intumescent chars formed in the absence of CaCO₃. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2011. © 2011 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Genetic Dominant Variants in STUB1, Segregating in Families with SCA48, Display In Vitro Functional Impairments Indistinctive from Recessive Variants Associated with SCAR16

Variants in STUB1 cause both autosomal recessive (SCAR16) and dominant (SCA48) spinocerebellar ataxia. Reports from 18 STUB1 variants causing SCA48 show that the clinical picture includes later-onset ataxia with a cerebellar cognitive affective syndrome and varying clinical overlap with SCAR16. However, little is known about the molecular properties of dominant STUB1 variants. Here, we describe three SCA48 families with novel, dominantly inherited STUB1 variants (p.Arg51_Ile53delinsProAla, p.Lys143_Trp147del, and p.Gly249Val). All the patients developed symptoms from 30 years of age or later, all had cerebellar atrophy, and 4 had cognitive/psychiatric phenotypes. Investigation of the structural and functional consequences of the recombinant C-terminus of HSC70-interacting protein (CHIP) variants was performed in vitro using ubiquitin ligase activity assay, circular dichroism assay and native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. These studies revealed that dominantly and recessively inherited STUB1 variants showed similar biochemical defects, including impaired ubiquitin ligase activity and altered oligomerization properties of the CHIP. Our findings expand the molecular understanding of SCA48 but also mean that assumptions concerning unaffected carriers of recessive STUB1 variants in SCAR16 families must be re-evaluated. More investigations are needed to verify the disease status of SCAR16 heterozygotes and elucidate the molecular relationship between SCA48 and SCAR16 diseases.     

Fatty acid composition of 19 species of fish from the black sea and the Marmara Sea

Evidence suggests that differences in fatty acid composition among various fish species may be due to differences in diet or to environmental factors such as temperature, salinity, and depth at which the fish are caught. The beneficial effects of a diet containing fish on cardiovascular or other diseases have been associated with their high content of eicosapentaenoic (20∶5n-3) and docosahexaenoic (22∶6n-3) acids. In this study we analyzed the fatty acid composition of the flesh of 18 different species of marine fish and of cultured rainbow trout. The fish were obtained from the Black and the Marmara Seas, both of which have unique biological and ecological systems as well as eutrophication and pollution. The contents of 20∶5n-3 and 22∶6n-3 in the marine fish ranged from 4.2 to 13.3 wt% of total fatty acids, and from 6.6 to 40.8 wt%, respectively. The most important differences from other studies on oceanic fish were the tendencies toward higher percentages of 16∶0 and 22∶6n-3. The n-3 series of polyunsaturated fatty acids were present as 32.4±1.9% of the total fatty acids. The present study suggests that mature and immature Pomatomus saltator, as well as Engraulis encrasicolus, Mullus surmuletus, Sardina pilchardus, Mugil cephalus, and Sarda sarda may be preferred for the Turkish diet as a result of their high 20∶5 n-3 and 22∶6 n-3 contents. The cultured rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss is not as good a source of n-3 fatty acids as are the marine fish.     

The CO-catalyzed conversion of H2S to H2 + sulfur part 2. The thermal decomposition of COS

The pyrolysis of COS has been studied over the temperature range 300 to 750°C using a variety of catalysts. The observed product distribution confirmed that two parallel reaction paths: 2 COS → 2 CO S₂ (2) and 2 COS → CO₂ + CS₂ (4) are involved in the decomposition. The decomposition yield increased with rising temperature, accompanied with a shift in selectivity. At temperatures lower than ～700°C the disproportionation reaction 4 was predominant, whereas at temperatures higher than 700°C, reaction 2 was favoured. In the high-temperature region (700 to 750°C) it was possible to achieve full suppression of reaction 4 with added CS₂. The pyrolysis of COS was also studied in a reactor packed with quartz chips without catalysts at high temperatures. Between 800 and 900°C, up to 99% conversion (with respect to the thermodynamic limit) could be achieved, with the almost complete absence of the disproportionation reaction 4. The results point to the commercial potential in the two-step reaction sequence: for the economic conversion of hydrogen sulfide to hydrogen and sulfur.     

Two-level and hybrid ensembles of decision trees for high performance concrete compressive strength prediction

Accurate prediction of high performance concrete (HPC) compressive strength is very important issue. In the last decade, a variety of modeling approaches have been developed and applied to predict HPC compressive strength from a wide range of variables, with varying success. The selection, application and comparison of decent modeling methods remain therefore a crucial task, subject to ongoing researches and debates. This study proposes three different ensemble approaches: (i) single ensembles of decision trees (DT) (ii) two-level ensemble approach which employs same ensemble learning method twice in building ensemble models (iii) hybrid ensemble approach which is an integration of attribute-base ensemble method (random sub-spaces RS) and instance-base ensemble methods (bagging Bag, stochastic gradient boosting GB). A decision tree is used as the base learner of ensembles and its results are benchmarked to proposed ensemble models. The obtained results show that the proposed ensemble models could noticeably advance the prediction accuracy of the single DT model and for determining average determination of correlation, the best models for HPC compressive strength forecasting are GB–RS DT, RS–GB DT and GB–GB DT among the eleven proposed predictive models, respectively. The obtained results show that the proposed ensemble models could noticeably advance the prediction accuracy of the single DT model and for determining determination of correlation (R²_max), the best models for HPC compressive strength forecasting are GB–RS DT (R²=0.9520), GB–GB DT (R²=0.9456) and Bag–Bag DT (R²=0.9368) among the eleven proposed predictive models, respectively.     

Discrete time/cost trade-off problem: A decomposition-based solution algorithm for the budget version

This paper investigates the budget variant of the discrete time/cost trade-off problem (DTCTP). This multi-mode project scheduling problem requires assigning modes to the activities of a project so that the total completion time is minimized and the budget and the precedence constraints are satisfied. This problem is often encountered in practice as timely completion of the projects without exceeding the budget is crucial. The contribution of this paper to the literatures is to describe an effective Benders Decomposition-based exact algorithm to solve the DTCTP instances of realistic sizes. Although Benders Decomposition often exhibits a very slow convergence, we have included several algorithmic features to enhance the performance of the proposed tailored approach. Computational results attest to the efficacy of the proposed algorithm, which can solve large-scale instances to optimality.     

The effect of red phosphorus on the fire properties of intumescent pine wood flour – LDPE composites

Red phosphorus (RP) was used to improve the fire performance of wood flour – low density polyethylene (LDPE) composites containing ammonium polyphosphate (APP). The fire performance of LDPE‐based composites was investigated by using limiting oxygen index (LOI), UL‐94 standard, thermogravimetric analysis, and cone calorimeter. The addition of 30 wt% APP increased the LOI value from 17.5 to 24.2 and still burned to clamp (BC) in UL‐94 test. The RP showed beneficial effect when combinedly used with APP. The maximum beneficial effect was seen at ratio of 5:1 (APP : RP) with the highest LOI value of 27.2 and UL‐94 rating of V0. RP showed its beneficial effect via increasing the gas phase action of the flame retardant system. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.