Three-dimensional numerical analysis of geocell reinforced shell foundations

The effects of geocell reinforcement on the behavior of shell foundations were studied using PLAXIS 3D finite element software. For this purpose, conical and pyramidal geometries were adopted as shell foundations. The real honeycomb shape of geocell and rigid body behavior of shells were simulated in PLAXIS 3D. The numerical models for shell foundations and geocell reinforced foundations were separately validated using several laboratory studies in the literature. The validated models were extended to the shell foundations resting on geocell reinforced sandy beds. The inclusion of geocell-reinforcement provided more than 70% reduction in the settlement of pyramidal and conical shell foundations. The stress transferred to the sand beds were reduced and distributed a wider area compared to the unreinforced cases. The maximum improvement in the bearing capacity and the settlement were observed in the case of conical shell foundation. The effect of adopted geocell and shell configuration on the foundation behavior was also analyzed for realistic prototype foundation size.     

Effect of Al, B, Ti and Zr additive elements on the electrochemical hydrogen storage performance of MgNi alloy

MgNi, Mg_0.9(M)_0.1Ni and Mg_0.8(M)_0.2Ni (M = Al, B, Ti, Zr) type alloys were synthesized by mechanical alloying and their electrochemical hydrogen storage characteristics were investigated. X-ray diffraction studies showed that although 15 h milling was enough to obtain amorphous/nano-crystalline MgNi alloy structure, the dissolution of all Ni in the main phase required at least 25 h milling. The discharge capacities of alloys were observed to increase sharply up to 15 h milling. Further increase up to 25 h did not cause change in the discharge capacities considerably. Titanium improved MgNi alloy discharge performance significantly. Although Al deteriorated the initial discharge capacity of MgNi alloy, it improved the alloy capacity retention rate. Despite the absence of any positive effect of B, Zr had limited positive effect on the alloy cyclic stability. It was estimated that up to 80% discharge level there was no considerable degradation by the anodic reaction in MgNi alloy since uncharged MgNi alloy stayed in the cathodic regime.     

Electrochemical hydrogen storage characteristics of Mg–Pd–Ni ternary alloys

Mg_1?xPd_xNi (x = 0.03, 0.05, 0.06, 0.07, 0.08, 0.10, 0.20) type alloys were synthesized by mechanical alloying and their electrochemical hydrogen storage characteristics were investigated. The XRD studies showed that Mg₆Pd and Mg–Pd phases form in the high-Pd-containing alloys. The discharge capacities of the alloys increased sharply up to 15 h milling. Further increase up to 25 h did not cause change in the discharge capacities considerably. Among the Mg_1?xPd_xNi ternary alloys, Mg_0.93Pd_0.07Ni alloy was observed to exhibit the best charge/discharge cyclic performance. The hydrogen storage capacity of the high-Pd-containing alloys (Mg_1?xPd_xNi; x > 0.07) deteriorated as Pd content of the alloy increased. This observation was attributed to the Mg–Pd phase formations. According to the EIS experiments as Pd atomic ratio increased up to 0.07 the charge transfer resistances of the alloys decreased. Further increase in Pd atomic ratio, however, brought about the increase in the charge transfer resistances.     

Growth and development impact of sustainable nutrition education: An experimental study

Healthy societies are formed by learning and maintaining sustainable healthy eating behaviors from childhood. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of short-term sustainable nutrition education on growth and development parameters of preschool children. This study is an experimental design with pretest–posttest control group. This study was carried out in two kindergartens between February 2022 and June 2023 in Turkey. The education group received 4 months of dietary behavior training. The dietary scale and anthropometric measurements were administered at the first and last meetings. Data were analyzed with 95% confidence interval. The study was completed with 174 children. A statistically significant difference was found, especially in body weight (p < 0.05) and body weight percentile values (p < 0.05) in the posttest of the education group. A statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) was found between the groups in the eating behavior scale posttest score. Nutrition education in schools is important in promoting healthy eating habits. Nutrition education improves eating behavior positively. To maintain healthy eating behaviors, however, the continuity of education is necessary. In addition, as growth and development are physical processes, it is recognized that growth and development cannot be assessed by nutrition alone.     

Carrier-Free Enzyme Immobilizates for Flow Chemistry

For the development of efficient and green industrial processes, the combination of biocatalysis and flow chemistry holds great promises. Flow chemical utilization of biocatalysts, essentially made possible by the immobilization (or retention) of enzymes in flow reactors, has attracted increased academic attention during recent years. In the present review we present an overview of immobilization strategies suitable for flow chemistry, particularly focusing on recently developed carrier-free immobilization methods, highlighting advances in the field and presenting future trends.     

A combined fuzzy AHP and fuzzy TOPSIS based strategic analysis of electronic service quality in healthcare industry

Service sector is under pressure to deliver continuing performance and quality improvement while being customer-focused. In recent terms, there exists web based or electronic service quality (e-sq) concept. With the birth of electronic commerce, it has become important to be able to monitor and enhance e-sq. Therefore, this study will examine the e-sq concept and determine the key components of e-sq. The e-sq framework is employed by the aid of service quality (SERVQUAL) methodology as the theoretical instrument. Finally, proposed e-sq framework is illustrated with a web service performance example of healthcare sector in Turkey by using a combined multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) methodology containing fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and fuzzy technique for order performance by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS). The work presented in this paper shows the applicability of the e-sq framework in explaining the complexity of aspects observed in the implementation of healthcare services via internet.     

Strategic analysis of healthcare service quality using fuzzy AHP methodology

Managers in the service sector are under pressure to demonstrate that their services are customer-focused and that continuous performance improvement is being delivered. It is essential that customer expectations are properly understood and measured under the constraints that organizations must manage. The majority of the work to date has attempted to use the SERVQUAL (service quality) methodology in an effort to measure service quality. In this study, firstly the concept and factors of service quality are examined. Then a fuzzy AHP (analytic hierarchy process) is structured to evaluate the proposed service quality framework. A case study in healthcare sector in Turkey is presented to clarify the methodology.