Poly(Acrylamide-Sepiolite) Composite Hydrogels: Preparation, Swelling and Dye Adsorption Properties

Summary Polymer-clay hydrogel composite was prepared on the basis of polyacrylamide (PAAm) gel containing the clay mineral sepiolite. The properties of swelling and dye adsorption of poly(acrylamide-sepiolite) (AAm/Sep) composite hydrogel were investigated. The parameters of swelling and diffusion in water and dye solutions were calculated for the AAm and AAm/Sep hydrogels. It was found that the equilibrium swelling degree of obtained composite higher than that of AAm gel. Spectroscopic analysis of composite and composite-dye systems was done with FT-IR method. Adsorption of monovalent cationic dyes such as Basic Blue 12 (BB-12) Basic Blue 9 (BB-9), and Basic Violet 1 (BV-1), was studied on the composite. In the adsorption experiments, S (Sigmoidal) type for composite gel adsorption isotherms in the Giles classification system was found. Adsorption studies indicated that the amounts of adsorbed dyes on the AAm/Sep composite hydrogel were increased with following order; BB-12 > BB-9 > BV-1. The composite hydrogel may be considered as good candidate for environmental application to retain more water and dyes.     

Modeling and solving mixed-model assembly line balancing problem with setups. Part I: A mixed integer linear programming model

This paper is the first one of the two papers entitled “modeling and solving mixed-model assembly line balancing problem with setups”, which has the aim of developing the mathematical programming formulation of the problem and solving it with a hybrid meta-heuristic approach. In this current part, a mixed-integer linear mathematical programming (MILP) model for mixed-model assembly line balancing problem with setups is developed. The proposed MILP model considers some particular features of the real world problems such as parallel workstations, zoning constraints, and sequence dependent setup times between tasks, which is an actual framework in assembly line balancing problems. The main endeavor of Part-I is to formulate the sequence dependent setup times between tasks in type-I mixed-model assembly line balancing problem. The proposed model considers the setups between the tasks of the same model and the setups because of the model switches in any workstation. The capability of our MILP is tested through a set of computational experiments. Part-II tackles the problem with a multiple colony hybrid bees algorithm. A set of computational experiments is also carried out for the proposed approach in Part-II.     

Prediction of suspended sediment concentration from water quality variables

This study investigates use of water quality (WQ) variables, namely total chromium concentration, total iron concentration, and turbidity for predicting suspended sediment concentration (SSC). For this purpose, the artificial neural networks (ANNs) and regression analysis (RA) models are employed. Seven different RA models are constructed, considering the functional relation between measured WQ variables and SSC. The WQ and SSC data are fortnightly obtained from six monitoring stations, located on the stream Harsit, Eastern Black Sea Basin, Turkey. A total of 132 water samples are collected from April 2009 to February 2010. Model prediction results reveal that ANN is able to predict SSC from WQ data, with mean absolute error (MAE) of 10.30 mg/L and root mean square error (RMSE) of 13.06 mg/L. Among seven RA models, the best one, which has the form including all independent parameters, produces results comparable to those of ANN, with MAE = 14.28 mg/L and RMSE = 15.35 mg/L. The sensitivity analysis results reveal that the most effective parameter on the SSC is total chromium concentration. These results have time- and cost-saving implications.     

Thermal characterization of n‐alkyl maleate‐styrene‐allyl propionate terpolymers

Thermal characterization of maleic anhydride‐styrene‐allyl propionate (MA‐St‐AP) terpolymer and its ester derivatives named as n‐alkyl maleate and shown as nPr MA‐St‐AP, nBu MA‐St‐AP, nPn MA‐St‐AP, and nBz MA‐St‐AP was carried out. The thermal characterization was performed using thermal analysis techniques such as TGA, DTA, DSC, and TMA. Different results were observed between the original terpolymer and its ester derivatives. Thermal stabilities of the terpolymer and its ester derivatives were compared by using various measurements plotted as TGA, DTA, DSC, and TMA curves. The increase in the alcohols' carbon numbers added to the original terpolymer results in ester derivatives with different thermal stability behavior. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 103: 600–604, 2007     

Activities of MFI-Supported Rhenium Catalysts for the Aromatization of Methane: Effect of Cationic Form of the Inorganic Carrier

MFI type inorganic carrier was used in two different cationic forms, hydrogen and calcium respectively. MFI-supported molybdenum and rhenium catalysts were prepared. The activities of the catalysts were compared for the aromatization reaction of methane. Higher activity values were attained with the catalysts supported on HZSM-5. Aromatics were also observed with the catalysts supported on CaZSM-5, despite their deficiency in acid sites. Highly dispersed rhenium is expected to be formed with the use of the inorganic carrier in calcium form. On the other hand, lower reaction rates were observed with rhenium supported on CaZSM-5, in spite of the improved dispersion of the active rhenium species on this catalyst. This was interpreted in terms of the critical role of the acid sites in the conversion of methane to aromatics, compared to the improved dispersion of the active metal.     

Large-scale SRAM-based IP lookup architectures using compact trie search structures

SRAM-based pipelined architectures for high-speed IP lookup using Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) has recently attracted a great deal of attention from researchers. Due to the limited amount of on-chip memory and the number of I/O pins of FPGAs, compact data structures providing high memory efficiency are in great demand.     

Feedback control for multi-resource usage of virtualised database server

Virtualisation and cloud computing have recently received significant attention. Resource allocation and control of multiple resource usages among virtual machines in virtualised data centres remains an open problem. Therefore, in this paper, our focus is to control CPU (central processing unit) usage and memory consumption of a virtual database machine in a data centre under a time-varying heavy workload. In addition to existing work, we attempt to control multiple outputs, such as the CPU usage and memory consumption of a virtualised database server (DBVM), via changing multiple server parameters, such as the CPU allocation and memory allocation, in real time. We indicated that a virtualised database server might be modelled as a linear time-unvarying system. We obtained and compared both MIMO (multi input–multi output) and multiple SISO (single input–single output) models of that system. We designed multiple SISO feedback controllers to achieve desired CPU usages and memory consumptions under workload.     

Surface analysis and adsorption behavior of caffeine as an environmentally friendly corrosion inhibitor at the copper/aqueous chloride solution interface

Abstract

Corrosion inhibitors based on environmentally friendly and harmless products are currently being studied and developed. The corrosion inhibition properties of caffeine (1,3,7-trimethylxanthine) on copper corrosion in aqueous chloride solution (3.5?wt.% NaCl) are analysed here using stationary and transient electrochemical methods, and a theoretical study based on density functional theory is carried out. Caffeine is a very competitive compared to the chemical inhibitors that are often used for copper protection. Electrochemical and impedance experiments reveal that the protective efficiency of caffeine reaches a value of 96% at a concentration of 10^?2?mol L^?1. Based on these results, the Langmuir model appears to be the best representation of the adsorption of caffeine onto the copper surface. Scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to determine the surface morphology and the chemical composition of the copper surface in chloride media, in the absence and presence of caffeine. The results show the development of a mechanism of corrosion inhibition. In order to confirm the correlation between the inhibitory effect and the molecular structure of caffeine, quantum chemical parameters are used to calculate its electronic properties.     

Polymeric absorbent for water sorption based on chemically crosslinked poly (acrylamide/2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid sodium salt) hydrogels

Summary Swelling equilibrium of polyelectrolyte copolymer gels containing of acrylamide (AAm) and 2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid sodium salt (AMPS) have been studied as a function of copolymer composition. AAm/AMPS hydrogels were prepared by free radical solution polymerization in aqueous solution of AAm with AMPS as anionic comonomer and two multifunctional crosslinkers such as ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) and trimethylolpropane triacrylate (TMPTA). Swelling experiments were performed in water at 25 °C, gravimetrically. The influence of AMPS content in hydrogels was examined. Swelling of AAm/AMPS hydrogels was increased up to 1018% (for containing 2% AMPS and crosslinked by EGDMA) 15246% (for containing 8% AMPS and crosslinked by TMPTA), while AAm hydrogels swelled up to 804% (crosslinked by TMPTA)–770% (crosslinked by EGDMA). The values of equilibrium water content of the hydrogels are 0.8851–0.9935. Diffusion behavior was investigated. Water diffusion into hydrogels was found to be non-Fickian in character.     

AHP and multichoice goal programming integration for course planning

Course planning is one of the important problems in the education systems of universities. The processes cannot continue efficiently without planning, and various interruptions can appear in the system. This way decisions concerning which courses, when, how, and for what purposes should be answered by considering the available resources and stakeholders’ preferences. Besides, universities aiming to be in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) have to adapt their systems to the Bologna process in order to create a lifelong student‐centered, learning‐oriented area based on quality assurance. In this study, an integrated approach based on the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and multichoice goal programming (MCGP) model was proposed to construct an efficient course plan following the Bologna process. The proposed approach was applied in an industrial engineering department.